The Progression of Things

Posted on Tue Mar 11th, 2025 @ 11:03am by Lieutenant Commander Darrod Hanous & Chief Petty Officer Meredith Corden

956 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Mission 5: The Price of Paradise
Location: Chief Corden's Quarters

Meredith was curled up on her couch. She was dressed in a pair of simple black trousers and a matching black t-shirt. One leg was draped casually over the arm of the couch, the other pulled up, and she was leaning back against Darrod. Quite comfortable. Quite cozy. The Andorian Blues were playing. Meredith laughed. "Sometimes, I think Humans named this just for the pun."

Darrod was curled around Meredith, dressed similarly to her - black trousers, but a crimson t-shirt. The color was an unfortunate affectation of too many engineers, due to being on call so often, it was simpler just to dress close to uniform colors in case something needed to be done. He was listening to the music, following along, cozy and enjoying the comfortable moment of peace. He smiled slightly at her joke. "Possible - but I think this is about as 'heartfelt' as Andorian music gets. too. They really do have a lot of marches and dirges."

"I think you're right," she agreed. She turned her head to kiss him lightly. She liked that feeling. "I like spending time with you, Darrod. I like...I like you." Real original there, wasn't she? But she seemed to be in lazy relaxed mode. "I more than like you."

Darrod returned her kiss with a warmth he didn't expect of himself. He enjoyed the feeling too, the comfort and ease of being with Meredith. He looked at her and chuckled lightly. "I'll go a step further than that. I love you, Meredith." He eased against her and wrapped his arms around her. "Being with you makes life better."

Meredith smiled when she finally pulled back from the kiss. "I know," she said. She just left it there a moment. Cruel woman! Then she turned to him and grasped his hand. "I love you too, Darrod."

The moment of hanging left Darrod staring into her eyes, hoping for her to respond in kind. He knew it was going to happen, but couldn't bear even the evanescent moment of hesitation. When she finally spoke again, he pulled her in close and kissed her. "When you say that, it's the most beautiful words I've ever heard. You really do do make life better. I want to do the same for you."

She kissed him back. Gently. Softly. "You already do," she said. "I like days like this. Just nice and cozy."

Dar's response to her kiss was as gentle as the kiss started, as calm and easy as he could be. He wasn't the kind to ignore what he wanted or needed. Life was short for an Orion, and the instincts ran deep. What he and Meredith had felt real, and he wasn't going to let it pass for anything in the world. "I'm glad for that. I hope that we can find more days like this, whether we're here, or even after we retire from active service."

Retirement hadn't even been a concept in Dar's mind until Meredith. With her in his life though, he thought back to his small apartment in Los Angeles, a shuttle ride away from the Academy, where they could live in safety.

"Maybe," Meredith sounded torn. She didn't really want to retire. But she also didn't want to have a child on a starship or leave one unattended by his parents for a long time. She frowned, not unhappily, but thoughtfully. She was thinking through things a little. "Or maybe I could go into officer training or we could get a..." She took a deep breath. "I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. Things are going well."

The green man nodded with a smile. They were both seemingly afraid of running away with their passion. Still, coming from the background he did, Darrod was accustomed to a culture of faster coupling. Often too fast, if he was honest about it. "Oh, certainly, yes. I'm not planning on either of us stepping away from starship duty anytime soon. I feel more comfortable here than I would staying in one place. Maybe after another two or three tours, we can look at Starbase duty or something static."

He thought for a moment and ran his hands along her arms, holding her hands with a smile. "When you go for the Officer course, what section do you want to go into?" He wasn't trying to encourage her in any particular direction, but he hoped she wasn't thinking about becoming an Engineer - not because of her ability or competence (neither of which he doubted in the slightest), but because it might require either a dispensation or a transfer, since if she was here and an Engineer, she'd be directly under his command, and that was generally against the rules, or frowned upon at best. Still, he was certain they would make it work.

"I don't know," she hedged. "Maybe Command. I already have a lot of administrative experience and I've seen it from the yeoman's perspective. It's not...I mean..." She seemed to hesitate, less sure now. "It's a thought, anyway."

Darrod smiled and gave Meredith a gentle squeeze. "You'd be an amazing Captain. You're great with people and I know you'd do an excellent job in command." He chuckled lightly, leaning in just a bit. "I'd be happy to report to you."

"Oh, would you know?" Meredith said. Her tone was playful, teasing, but there was desire underneath.

There was a peace in the green man's smile while holding Meredith's hands, keeping her close against him while they lounged. He nodded. "Absolutely. Whatever order you give, I'll follow it." The look in his eyes made it perfectly clear that Corden wasn't the only one with a desire in this space.

 

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