“We’ll Figure This Out As We Go”

Posted on Thu May 14th, 2026 @ 3:36am by Lieutenant Zachary Addams & Ensign Grace MacKenzie 'Sabre'

3,988 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Flight Of The Valkyries
Location: Zach’s quarters

Grace woke up slowly, rather than all in a rush, her eyes blinking as she still lay precisely where she’d fallen asleep. Her hand twitched once, unconsciously, finally releasing itself from where it had lay in another and for a brief instant she wondered where she was. Then her eyes focused on the person in front of her and her cheeks reddened as she remembered the previous evening. She smiled at him, still seeing his eyes closed and slowly, so as not to disturb him, got to her hands and knees and over far enough that she could lean out and give him a peck on the cheek before she moved off the bed to make her way back over to the bathroom to freshen up for the day.

Sleeping on a straw floor makes one a light sleeper, and ever since Zach was a teenager, he'd only needed a few hours sleep. He'd long ago learned to cat nap when he could, so he'd spent the majority of the night watching over Grace and making sure she slept soundly. When he felt the gentle pressure of soft lips on his cheek, he was immediately awake once again. He hadn't moved, and Grace's head was turned when his eyes snapped open, so she hadn't noticed. He immediately closed them in case she looked back and waited until he heard the door to his bathroom close.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes, taking a couple of deep breaths. His dreams hadn't been pleasant, but he'd gotten enough rest to make it through the day. He stretched and looked at where she'd been lying on the bed. It had been at least a month since he'd had someone in bed with him, even longer since he'd had a partner in bed with him. If he was being honest with himself, he wished he'd held her, but his sense of self preservation held him back. She was beautiful, but clearly traumatized. She was afraid, lost and in need of help. He couldn't help but relate, and that unnerved him most of all.

When the door opened again, he put his thoughts aside, looked up, and gave her a gentle smile. "Good morning," he said. "How are you feeling?"

She looked over from where she'd stopped in the doorway, giving him a shy smile in return, "Ah was tryin' not to wake you up, you looked so peaceful sleepin'." She padded her way back over to the bed, "Ah'm doin' much better, Zed, Ah'm still fuzzy on what happened yesterday, but Ah don't think it'll happen again, Ah hope it doesn't."

He looked her in the eyes, holding her gaze for several seconds until she fixed her eyes on him. He took her hand and squeezed it gently, forcing her to focus on him fully. "If it does...you find me, okay? You call my name, you come to my quarters and wait, whatever you have to do. Do you understand?" It wasn't a perfect implant of a suggestion, but he hoped it would at least trigger a flight response in her rather than fight next time.

She sat on the bed without breaking eye contact until her eyes flicked away for a moment, then returned, "Ah'll try." She said, not even sure if she was able to explain it, "But Ah don't know if Ah'd be able to make that sort of decision. Ah remember hearing someone speaking French, the hand on my shoulder, then it felt like Ah was in mud, as if someone else was in control and Ah was just along for the ride, looking out a window that had driving rain impacting it. Ah couldn't control my body, my actions, my words. Ah was speakin' French wasn't Ah? The official language of USS Foch."

"The...USS Foch?" Zach said, looking confused. "I take it you were posted there..." He could see her shiver at the name. "If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to." He squeezed her hand again.

"It was my first assignment out of the Academy, my only assignment before Ah came to Tokyo." Her voice was very soft as she looked away, "Eight of us were assigned there out of the Academy, we were on the borderline in our group of pilots, none of the major carriers would take us and we were about to be relegated to shuttles when someone from Foch came recruitin' and we wanted to be fighter pilots. We were willing to do just about anythin' to fly fighters and so we willingly signed up and took their oath, repeatin' in French of course, so we became part of their 'Foreign Legion'. We had to learn French, of course, since it was the everyday language on board."

She squeezed her eyes closed, "Punishment for infractions was always serious, 'part of the tradition' we were always told, but it was always harsher for us that weren't French. Loss of privileges, extra duties, brig time, all that sort of thing. And there was no way out." She shook her head, not expanding on what 'all that sort of thing' or any of the details meant, then opened them again, "It got to be that being in handcuffs and led off to the brig or 'other places' was the norm, and it was better to just obey their directions, to make it easier on us, less punishment."

Zach had hundreds of questions flooding his mind and each spawned a dozen more. That kind of behavior in Starfleet was...it should be impossible. It was inconceivable. And yet, here she was. On the other hand, he never thought he'd be nearly killed by a pissed off Vulcan, so there was that. He licked his dry lips and let out a breath. He could feel the desert in the air; he needed water. He reached over to his nightstand and picked up the glass he kept there, taking a long drink. He finally stopped stalling and looked back at her. "I think there are two things we need to establish between us," he said, gently.

Something in the pit of Grace's stomach dropped out, but she stayed where she was and nodded, "All right." For a moment, she considered what he could ask of her. The first, initial, thought was that he would ask that of her, but it was immediately dismissed as well. He could have done that the night before, but he'd just held her hand throughout the night.

"The first is, you are welcome here, and you are safe here. Any time you need to get away, come to my quarters. It will let you in, and the doors will lock protectively behind you until you decide to leave. You can come here day or night, whenever you need to feel safe. Understand?"

"Ah understand." Grace agreed, "But shouldn't hardly be necessary for me to intrude on you or your privacy, Ah do have my quarters, even if Ah've got three roommates, other pilots."

"Three roommates you didn't ask me to take you to last night," he noted. "So if you need to be away from others, you can come here. The second thing is, you owe me dinner," he said, smiling.

"Ah owe you dinner?" Grace asked him, now genuinely confused about it before another thought hit her mind. Is he askin' me on a date or somethin'? "What do ya' mean?"

"Well, I got about three bites of dinner last night before everything happened, and then it was early to bed with you, not that I didn't enjoy seeing you fall asleep. But...yeah. You owe me dinner."

Now she nodded in understanding, "Ah get it now and you're absolutely right, Ah really do apologize for all that, it really was an inconvenience to you, but Ah'll gladly make you dinner at some point? Though, Ah must warn you, Ah'm not a very good cook."

"Well...then I'll have to make you dinner," he said, smiling. "I'm not much of a cook either, but I'm a whiz with a replicator. Sound good?"

"But that would mean Ah'd owe you two dinners, wouldn't it?" A slight smile crossed her face, "Unless, of course, you're asking me on a date?" She paused a second, "Well, are you?"

He stared at her like a deer in headlights, realizing how he'd phrased it. No, idiot you were just being charming his brain warned him. He pulled her hand to him and kissed her palm, then her hand between his, rubbing it gently, smiling at her a bit more warmly. "Yeah, I guess it's a date," he said. He was about to congratulate himself for not completely Vulking out, when his stomach growled so loud they could hear it on the bridge, and he blushed. "Excuse me," he said.

"Ah do believe that is my fault." Grace admitted right before her own stomach growled and her hands moved quickly to cover it up, with her own face reddening, "As is that one. If Ah may suggest, we'll make one of those two dinners into breakfast instead?"

"Very good idea," he said. He stood up and helped her to her feet. "I'll freshen up and meet you in the other room." He almost bent down to kiss her, but instead, forced himself to just squeeze her hand and smiled at her.

"Ah'll see if I can rummage up somethin' on the replicator that'll work." She glanced down, "Unless Ah should find somethin' a bit more reasonable for the daytime?" She looked over at him for his opinion on the matter.

"You wear whatever makes you comfortable, but I say you look great as is," Zach said, then looked down at his own shirt and boxers. "Maybe I should get some pants on, though?" He gave a slight chuckle. He brought her hand up and kissed it again. "Back in ten, okay?"

Grace squeezed his hand, "All right, that should give me enough time to have breakfast ready, then." She smiled back at him, then released his hand and watched until he finally left her view before turning and heading for the other room. As she made her way, her mind was fluttering at what was happening. Three weeks and a couple days until she'd first came on board this ship and the difference was night and day from Foch. Clearly much of what had been told to her had been lies, but what all was?

She pulled up the menu function on the replicator and let her eyes do the 'shopping', selecting scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, home fried potatoes and pancakes while she considered even more. A date meant that he was interested in her, which itself took her back three years, more really because she'd always kept more to herself at the Academy, especially near the end when she'd been struggling. Her last real boyfriend had been back in high school, but was this actually that? If it could be that, there were limits she'd need to set, for both of their sakes. But...

Every new piece of information just brought up more questions for Grace and she barely remembered to replicate orange juice and water to go along with the food.

Zach came out of the bedroom dressed in a fresh, fully stocked uniform. He saw the table and his stomach rumbled again. "Good choices," he said, smiling at her.

Grace’s eyes opened wide as he was in uniform and she, most definitely was not and she swallowed, “Ah just figured that a larger breakfast was better than smaller, given last night’s lack thereof.” She tried not to panic internally, berating herself for not replicating her normal flight suit that was the uniform de rigieour for the pilots here on Tokyo. She managed to force a smile as she began to bring everything over to the table, because it was far too late to run off and do that now, plus, he was being a gentleman and hadn’t ogled her, that she was aware of at least.

Zach watched her carefully, eyes narrowing. "Tell me what's bothering you," he said, gently.

“Ah, umm…” Grace trailed off, but steeled herself, “Ah thought that this was going to be be casual and the like, or Ah’d have put on my own uniform and all that.”

Zach looked down at himself and gave her an apologetic look. "I told you I used my tricks as my defense against the world. They make me feel safe and protected. I can only do so many tricks in my undershorts, at least magic related." He tried to give a dopey grin, but didn't quite make it. "I've modified my uniform to contain most of my smaller accoutrements. It gives me...confidence." He reached into the air and pulled out the gold coin that had captivated her the other night and placed it in her palm. "I want you to feel safe, so I thought I'd put on my armor." He put his hand on hers. "But if it'd make you feel better, I can change. You're beautiful as you are, you don't have to dress up." He blinked and realized he meant to say 'comfortable' but knew it was too late to course correct that one. Get a grip, Zed, he thought.

“No, it’s all right, if it makes you feel safer, how could Ah ask you to change that about you? If Ah didn’t feel safe last night, Ah would have run, Ah think, well, not if Ah had still been ‘that way’, but after you got me back to bein’ me, Ah would have left if Ah hadn’t felt it was safe to be here with you. If your magic tricks make you feel better, then by all means, don’t let me stop you, but Ah would never intentionally hurt you, not before and especially not now. Ah’m still adjustin’ to the changes here, it’ll take me a while to discover what ‘normal’ is here on Tokyo, because it is one helluva difference from Foch.”

He nodded. "So I'm gathering," he said. He looked at her a moment more, wanting to know more, but not wanting to push. Finally, he gave her hand one more squeeze, then sat up. "So, before this gets cold, I say we tuck in," he said, smiling again.

“You know, Ah think you’re right.” Grace managed a more normal smile, releasing his hand and finally taking a seat, “So, if we are gonna consider dinner, whenever we have it, as a date, perhaps Ah should know more about the guy that Ah’m apparently gonna be dating?” Her eyes twinkled with some genuine humor in them as she grabbed a piece of bacon and took a remarkably delicate bite of it, “You know, just the basics, so Ah know that you aren’t that psycho serial killer that Momma always told me Ah’d meet in one of the big cities?”

He choked on a bite of sausage and forced it down. "Uh no, not a serial killer," he said, coughing and clearing his throat. "More like, that mysterious, charming, suburban guy who seems way too cute to be as nice as he is." He winked and grinned. "What do you want to know? If I can answer, I absolutely will."

Grace grabbed the ketchup bottle and poured some out on her plate as she giggled at his reaction, which was half the point of the question in the first place, “Well, nothin’ much, Ah figure only half of your life story should be good enough? But seriously, what sort of hobbies do you have and all that jazz? Ah know you kin do magic tricks, cards and sleight of hand tricks, not that Ah could do them or even know how they’re done, really, but what makes you, you? Any dreams? Anythin’ you love to do, or hate to do?”

"Well, some of those topics may be second or third date material," he said. "But, the long and short is, I'm originally from a place called Connecticut, on Earth, although I didn't live there long enough to really remember it. My family travelled often for my parents' work. My father dealt with rare and historical artifacts, and my mother was an expert on several artists and their works, so they were scouted for help in museums often. It was them; myself; my younger brother, Erik; and my younger sister, Sarah. As we got older, they decided we needed 'stability' so they settled on Vulcan. I lived there until I was thirteen. He paused, a shadow crossing over his face and he pushed it aside eating his breakfast.

"I didn't really have time for hobbies as a teenager," he said, carefully. "I like the snow, I don't mind the beach but only if I'm in the water. I play poker, and I like to tinker with tech when I have a new ideas for an illusion. Other than that? I'm a bit of a homebody. For me, a chance to just lie quietly and relax is a gift, although ideally someone's in my arms at the time." He blushed and cleared his throat. "I don't know if I'm a simple man, but I try to be. I love a good steak or a good burger. Barbecue of any kind really, especially ribs. And I've yet to meet a dessert I don't love. Definitely have a weakness in the form of a sweet tooth."

He looked at her. "And what about you? What makes those green eyes glitter and makes you smile? I need to make sure I stock up on it." He put his easygoing smile back on and gave her the floor.

“Bless your heart,” Grace said with another flush of red to her cheeks as she took a drink of juice to cover that up. The way she said it, though, was with a soft smile, which meant she really meant it, “Well, if you like barbecue, if we ever get back near earth, you’re comin’ home with me to taste some really good stuff. I’m actually from some podunk town out in the grasslands of Texas, the type where high school was for an entire county’s worth of kids, because it was that sparsely populated.” She speared a sausage and took a nibble from it, “Ah did a bit of cheerleadin’ there, was one of the leads in my school’s musical theater, but don’t think Ah had a great singin’ voice. With about three hundred kids total across all the grades there, there wasn’t a lot of competition. But what Ah was best known for was rodeo.” Her eyes glittered when she said that.

“In fact, you’re lookin’ at Miss Teen Texas durin’ my junior and senior years, because Ah was rather good at ridin’ and ropin’, but it was the talent part that really got me goin’.” She mimed pulling a gun from her side in a QuickDraw, “Ah was a trick shooter, with six-shooters and a Winchester rifle, vintage rebuilt, all of them. One thing between then and now is that Ah don’t miss. Gimme the rifle and any target out to a hundred meters and it’s toast, two hundred if it’s a bit larger, and nowadays it’s the same when Ah’m flying, which is one reason Ah really love it.” She sighed, “Ah do like playin’ the guitar, but Ah lost mine right after the Academy.” That was where she stopped going on, changing the subject, “Ah’ve got a pretty big family back home, three sisters, two brothers, all older than me and living’ their lives, Ah haven’t talked to them or my parents in a long time. But for the last couplea years? Ah haven’t really had much in the way of hobbies, no opportunities to do it.”

Zach could absolutely see her as a cheerleader, and the more excited she got, the bigger his smile got. "A natural performer, then," he said. "I bet we could come up with some good sharp-shooting tricks together." He flicked his wrist, pulling a card out of the air and mimed tossing it up for her to shoot. He waved the card away and finished his plate. "Well, when we figure out the whens and wheres of dinner, we'll have to discuss how to see your skills in action."

“So long as you keep in mind that Ah am out of practice.” Grace argued, “And if you’re wantin’ me to shoot the actual hearts out of the cards, that one may be about fifty feet. The card at a three hundred, for sure, but precision needs to be a bit closer.” She scooped up the last of the eggs on her plate at that point, "But Ah'll knock your socks off when I'm back in form!"

Zach's grin had reached ear-to-ear status. "I don't doubt it," he said. He put his fork down on his empty plate. "Done a heck of a job so far." He snapped his fingers as an idea hit him. "You should stop by engineering and maybe we can create some specialized sights for you. Help you get your accuracy back in no time."

For once, Grace looked affronted, "What sort of girl do you think Ah am? Why would Ah want sights? Ah could use some help replicatin' some guns, though," Her 'outrage' turned into a smile, "Gotta get the triggers just right, the lever-action on the Winchester is especially important."

Zach grinned, and had the decency to look apologetic. "All right, proper props it is, then. But before we go getting ourselves in trouble replicating them, maybe we should stick to the holodeck. I'd kinda like to keep my job, if it's all right with you."

She gave him a look, "If we must, we must. And these aren't props, actual guns firin' actual bullets. The trick bullets that other people use don't fly the same." She reached out to grab his hand. "When would be a good time for me to show up? It's only a couplea days until we deploy, Ah think we're running a few contingency plans today in the sims."

"I'm on Beta shift, typically, but I spend some time on Alpha and Gamma as well. And now and again I check in on Delta. Stop by in the late afternoon, or early evening and you'll most likely catch me." He held her hand back. "And I'm sure I'd be grateful for an excuse to clock out early."

"Then Ah'll be happy to give you that excuse." Grace decided for him, "But, Ah suppose we should probably be gettin' all ready for our days, Ah mean, you're all ready, it looks like, but Ah'm a bit underdressed to get ready to go flyin'." She gave him a wry smile.

He returned the smile and briefly contemplated telling her to call in sick, and they'd just go back to cuddling in bed and talking, but he knew that wouldn't work, and he had repair teams to meet with, and too much to do before they reached their next target. "I suppose we should," he said, surrendering to the evils of common sense.

As they stood up, he held onto her hand. "I hope you have a good day," he said, giving her hand a squeeze. "And we'll grab dinner soon."

She smiled at him and after a few seconds of hesitation, leaned in to give him another quick peck on the cheek. "You too, and thank you, again, for everything."

Post By:

Lt. Zachary Addams
Chief Engineer
USS Tokyo

Ensign Grace MacKenzie
Fighter Pilot
USS Tokyo

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