Bethan keeps her word.

Jaquon was laid out on the floor as we stood tall in the sexo-suit.

“Does this mean we can continue where we left off?” I asked the engineering chief, hopefully.

“Unfortunately, duty calls, ensign,” the lieutenant responded.

I had a feeling that was going to be her response, but I had held out hope that we could fool around just a little bit before we finished securing the ship. The suit powered down and lowered us back to the ground. Bethan checked on Jaquon while I took command of the ship. The controls were rudimentary and I was able to figure out how to pilot it in a short time.

Bethan secured Jaquon and with the help of LaSalle and Barbieri, locked him in one of the holding cages in the hangar bay. They also managed to secure the Tevarian Bone Crusher while they were at it.

I reversed course and directed the ship back to the Hrimgnnrr home world in hopes that we would be intercepted by the Ishtar. Meanwhile, the others had managed to reclaim their uniforms. Mine was lost on the planet so I had to make do with some replicated garments.

They took shifts guarding the prisoner while I remained on navigation and communications in case the Ishtar responded to our distress signal. With all this going on, there was no opportunity for me and Bethan to sneak off and have some private time together. She’d sneak me a sly wink now and then to keep me on my toes though. It came to a stage that I was looking for any excuse to get rid of Jenny or Barbieri and have the bridge all to ourselves.

It never came to that though. Before things escalated, we got a ping from the Ishtar! We rendezvoused back to the Hrimgrnnr world where Jaquon was taken into custody. He had a lot of crimes to answer for based on the creatures he kept on board. They were handed over to Hrimgnnr authorities who promised to return or relocate them to appropriate worlds.

With all that settled, we resumed course, back to the alpha quadrant and everything went back to normal again. Well, not completely normal, since it was decided that we keep the sexo-suit for further analysis. Bethan suggested to Captain Lance that I be assigned as its pilot thanks to my exemplary work with it fighting Jaquon. That meant I would be spending more time in engineering for bench tests and action scenarios.

That was what I assumed the communique was about when Bethan chirped my communicator.

“Bethan to Ensign Trask,” she called.

I had just settled in for the night, in my nightgown. My communicator was on my nightstand. I tapped it and answered,” Trask here.”

“Can you meet me in engineering?” she said.

“I’m… out of uniform, sir, can this wait until I change?” I said.

There was a moment of pause, then she replied. “Come see me when you’re ready.”

I got dressed and headed over. It was late and the halls were empty. I assumed only the night shift would be around, but it was even more bare than that when I arrived in the engine room.

“Hello?” I called out.

“Over here, ensign,” I heard the chief respond. I followed the voice over to a side room where I found the sexo-suit sitting on a work table.

“Isn’t it a little late to be running tests, sir?” I asked. I took a step back in shock when I entered to find Bethan waiting for me, completely naked!

“Well, I wanted a little privacy for this particular test…” Bethan replied with a devilish grin. I perked my eyebrow as she patted the device. “Strip down and get on…”