A week, until she’s called onto the bridge

Tilly sat naked on a chair, trying to ignore the abundance of flesh in her peripheral vision as she focused on the display. It was smaller than the one she was used to, less detailed and less responsive than the console on the bridge, but it also didn’t entail being exposed to all her colleagues so she counted it as a win.

She shifted awkwardly, wanting to cross her arms every moment she wasn’t already doing something.

Days had gone by, and it never got any less mortifying. Michael brought meals to her quarters, though she hadn’t stayed for any. Tilly really wasn’t ready for that.

Sometimes she hastily hid by the side of the doorway when she had visitors, other times she tossed and turned in her bed, getting all too familiar with the feel of the bedding against her bare skin, and the rest of the time she had to work in as close to a normal fashion as she could while emphatically not leaving her room.

She chewed her lower lip, silently cursing her decision to go along with this, but all the while knowing that she probably couldn’t choose differently anyway. What kind of Starfleet officer would be if she turned down a chance at first contact?

It was hard not to feel all the more conspicuous with Discovery’s darker furnishings. Grey walls, navy sheets, and then her, pale and flushed skin, vivid red hair, right in the middle of all of it.

Tilly glanced back to the door, making sure it was still shut.

Her communicator whistled. Tilly tapped at it.

“Uh, hi?” she said.

“The, um, aliens want to talk to you,” Detmer’s voice came through the comm.

A whole week and they couldn’t even name the species. Tilly shifted.

There was something awkward enough about talking to people like this. It wasn’t like the person on the other end wasn’t completely aware of her situation, the news must have gone around the whole ship by now.

Oh, that Ensign Tilly, yep, she spends all days stark naked in her quarters, and most of the bridge already saw her like this so it wasn’t like they wouldn’t be able to picture her.

“Patch them through,” Tilly said, voice high.

“That’s not… they aren’t talking like that,” Detmer said. “It’s like before. They’re here on the bridge.”

“So-” Tilly began, before suddenly squealing. “Wait, you mean-”

“It’s not an order,” Detmer said. “But they want to talk to you, up here. They won’t say why.”

To undo this, maybe? Tilly bit her lip.

There had been others affected by whatever weird thing the aliens had done to the ship. Mostly it was insults thrown out that had led to a slight drop in iq, but that could be worked around far more easily. From what Tilly had heard she was the only one who’d ended up naked.

Which just figured.

She fiddled with her hair for a moment, trying to pull it forward over her shoulders, red curls falling down over pale skin, only to groan as she found it wasn’t long enough to even begin offering any modesty to her chest. Which left her once again with just her arms.

“I- I’ll be right there,” Tilly said.

“Are you-”

“Tilly out!” she squeaked hastily. Before she changed her mind…

Nervously she stood up, pacing her quarters slightly, bare feet against the floor, hips awkwardly brushing together. There really was no good way to do this.

Hesitantly she went to her mirror, then squeaked. Ok, that was a mistake, she really could have done without the reminder of how she looked.

Blushing, experimentally, she crossed her arms. Then dipped one arm lower, biting her lip awkwardly as she held her palm over the flare of red between her legs. That was… She didn’t want to keep that in view either, but like this her tits were still as good as out.

Tilly whimpered. Fuck it, maybe she should at least be consistent, try to end this with one body part everyone hadn’t already seen. At this rate just one, but still, one.

She lifted her arm back up, crossing both over her generous boobs, wrists over one another and hands held open to cup each, offering that extra little bit of cover. If she lifted her tits slightly she could use the wrist of the hand supporting the other to hide some of the curve of the underside, and-

Oh god, now she was turning how to cover up her tits into some overanalysed science. That figured.

Deep breaths, Tilly. Bright red she headed to her door, then ducked through before she could talk herself out of it.

Everything below her crossed arms entirely in view, Tilly sprinted down the hallway, thoroughly regretting looking in the mirror. Now she couldn’t think of anything beyond how she looked.

Her curves, how much they’d stood out even with a shaking hand in the middle, and now how much more was visible. To say nothing of her behind, her mind was going mad imagining how she looked from the rear.

Even after a week she still shrieked whenever she passed someone.

Gratefully Tilly ducked into the nearest turbo-lift.

“S-sorry, I need this!” she squeaked. “Computer, close doors! Bridge!”

The doors slid shut in someone’s face; she looked apologetically back, but couldn’t bring herself to even consider sharing the small space with someone else while she was nude.

Tilly squirmed, waiting for the ascent and simultaneously dreading it.

The doors opened onto the bridge; Tilly yelped, then yelped again as the sound drew all eyes over to her. She fidgeted, adjusting her arms nervously in a vain effort to cover a little more.

Seeing her, the woman replacing her at her station moved away; gratefully Tilly stumbled over, crouching as best she could to try and use the console as a barrier between her and everyone else.

“Ensign Tilly, thank you for coming up,” Pike said. He seemed to mean it too.

“Th-they wanted to talk to me?” Tilly said.

She couldn’t have blushed any more if she’d tried. Another naked run through the ship had never been a plan of hers.

And on top of all that embarrassment, public speaking was back to being a pain. She seriously didn’t want to start thinking of everyone naked again given that this had happened last time.

“We do,” a familiar deep voice rumbled from every corner of the bridge. “We have watched your species for the last temporal unit and seen how you acquit yourself. It is admirable; more than we would have expected given your history.”

“We thank you,” Pike said, “But why did saying that necessitate bringing Tilly up here?”

“We understand our ways are new to you,” the voice said. “Your ship is not running at full efficiency because of it. That is not something we wish to be responsible for; as a gesture of good will, we are willing to remove our enforcement of justice-”

Tilly’s eyes widened. Wait, they were going to let her get dressed again, finally?! That was almost worth the run.

“If, as a symbol of your commitment to the ideal of justice, the first affected remains subject to it,” the alien said. “Your… Ensign Tilly.”

Tilly squealed. Wait, no, they- they were going to lift it for everyone except her? She flushed.

“Is that necessary?” Pike said.

“A token of good will is necessary,” the voice said. “We will contact your Federation to initiate full first contact at your request.”

“I’m sure other crew members might be willing-”

“The first has significance,” the voice said. “Are these terms acceptable?”

Tilly stared incredulously ahead.

The tetrahedron shape was back on the viewscreen, despite the fact they’d long since moved on from where they’d first seen it.

And she was back to being naked on the bridge, and-

And apparently being naked for so long as Starfleet wanted to be on good terms with a nigh-omnipotent species. Which could be, well, a hell of a lot longer than just one week.

She whimpered. Even if there were a lot of species out there like this, most never wanted a diplomatic relationship. This was almost unprecedented. But-

Pike turned to face her; Tilly bent her knees a little more, swaying as if about to topple over but emphatically not using either arm for balance. Red-faced, arms firmly crossed, she met the Captain’s gaze.

“I can’t, won’t order you,” Pike said. “If you don’t want to everyone here will understand, but it’s your decision.”

Tilly whimpered.