#primedirectives

          Still he had respect for the Janeway. She was a strong captain, and a bright woman. And he knew better than to argue with her. 

            “You wanted to see me?” 

          “I don’t know--” Fingers rub over his beard. He had lost hope for returning home, and while that was still something but a hope, it was better than living the rest of his life on some planet he had never heard of until he had landed on it. “I rather like it, don’t you?”

          His smile is warm and bright. He can’t say for sure if she’d like it, it was something more for him but from one former captain to another, a change of pace, something to escape in could be good. “You’ll have to trust me though--”

24. My muse roughly kisses yours. 

Undercover ops always bugged the hell out of her.

It was hardly Abigail’s first rodeo and the weight of having to play a honey trap was lifted from her shoulders, but the lack of control never sat well. Planning for every contingency’s difficult to accomplish with unknown variables and the white-haired woman on her arm, while not entirely unfamiliar, was unknown enough to heighten her already vigilant senses. Protecting the then Queen of Wakanda and attempting to keep the fear of a diplomatic crisis at bay didn’t help.

For the record, Ororo didn’t seem particularly bothered about her royal status. If anything, nostalgia tinted her smile as they walked through the market arm in arm. “It reminds me of Cairo,” she commented, a wicked glint dancing merrily in her eyes. “Did Hank ever tell you I used to be a thief? I was quite good, actually.”

“Oh?” She glanced over her companion’s shoulder, disguising it by settling her arm there.

“It was more survival than anything else, though I still hold a certain fondness for it,” the queen rhapsodized, sneaking in a glance over her companion’s verdant head. “I worked best alone, but I knew duos and trios who were quite successful,” she continued with a meaningful look that suggested the three would-be assailants would be converging on them as soon as they reached the square. “The higher your quota, the bigger your reward, so the competition could get quite heated.“

Heated. Running on borrowed time and the square was only a few feet away.

Heated. The solution presented itself immediately. Quickly, she took advantage of her arm around Ororo’s shoulders and maneuvered her against a wall. Abigail silenced her gasp with her mouth, the kiss unhinged and desperate. Judging by the fingers threading carefully through her hair, Ororo didn’t seem to mind. They stayed that way until the queen murmured in her ear that their would-be assassins had gone.

Letting go, both women smoothed down their clothes, attempting to recover themselves. Slightly breathless laughter rang out as Ororo met her gaze again.

“Goddess! You are an excellent distraction.”