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The crew was growing tired, that much was obvious by the blank stares at PADDs and the sluggish movements on controls. Shore leave was desperately needed. But the Federation didn't have an outpost in this sector. So they found the closest Class M planet they could and Aloy sent Erend and Varl down to confirm whether it was safe and suitable for the crew to relax on.
Their initial reports were positive. The planet was beautiful, idyllic even, though Varl reported an encounter with a strange creature. The fact that it had not been found by the men and had never been seen by Erend, had Varl making a report that he was unfit for duty on grounds of mental stress.
Aloy announced to the crew that they should prepare for shore leave and retreated to the Captain's quarters. She would vehemently deny that she jumped when her XO spoke from the corner of the room where he stood waiting with a very typical stern expression and a PADD in hand.
She tried not to flush as she thought of earlier, when she'd mistaken Yeoman Zo for him and requested a backrub.
“Commander Kotallo. You startled me.” She chided.
“My apologies Captain. It was not my intention. There is something I wished to discuss with you.” He said in his usual straightforward manner.
“Carry on, Mr. Kotallo.” She said with a tired wave of her hand.
“Something I found in Dr. Varl’s logs. There is a crewmate aboard who is showing signs of excess stress and fatigue. Their reaction time is down 9 to 12 percent, associational rating is down Norm -3.”
Aloy's brow furrowed. She didn't think things had gotten that bad on her ship. “That's unacceptably low.”
Kotallo nodded and continued. “They are becoming irritable and quarrelsome, yet they refuse to use rest hours or use rehabilitative services aboard the ship. Now they have that right, but we found-”
“I will remind you, a crewmate's right ends where the safety of the ship begins Mr. Kotallo.” Aloy interrupted sharply.
“I couldn't agree more, Captain.”
“That crewmate will take shore leave on my orders. What is their name?”
“Ah. Yes. The crewmate’s name is….” Kotallo hadn't looked up from the PADD at all while he gave the report, but he did now with an irritatingly smug smile and said, “Aloy.”
Aloy's face fell into a frown as she looked at her XO.
He just smiled all the more broadly.
“Enjoy yourself, Captain. It's an interesting planet. I'm sure you'll find it quite pleasant. Very like Earth.”
--
Aloy was flummoxed as she looked around her. Just a mass of rocky outcroppings and sand paths. No sign of the man that had supposedly attacked Yeoman Zo. Things weren’t adding up. Varl, her Chief Medical Officer seeing a strange creature being chased, Erend, her best security officer finding a mint condition six shooter revolver, and this, a strange man attacking and then disappearing. At least she had called off the shore leave. No one else on her ship was going to get hurt today.
She was exhausted and just wanted to rest, preferably using Kotallo as a pillow.
She shook her head violently. She couldn’t be having those kinds of thoughts about her XO. Well, shouldn’t be. She couldn’t seem to stop them from springing to her mind.
She felt like she blinked and suddenly he was there. Not in the manner of a teleporter, but really there, in front of her.
“Kotallo? What are you doing here? You said you would take your leave aboard the ship.”
“I decided against it, Captain. I believe I would prefer to be here.” He said.
As if that wasn’t going to make her swoon. No. No swooning. She insisted mentally. Something was wrong here. Her second-in-command wasn’t prone to changing his mind at the drop of a hat like that. Nor did he ever show anything but the most dedicated professionalism. There was no way he was interested in her.
She attempted to hail Varl again. He answered but was clearly distracted. Aloy would bet a full month of synthol rations that he was distracted with Yeoman Zo.
She checked in with Nel. Nel spoke to the further oddities of the planet. Their readings had clearly said no life-forms, but she had seen a flock of birds. It didn’t make sense.
“I want all of our people planetside to meet in the glade.” Aloy put out on the general frequency. “I would like some answers as to what is happening here.”
She turned back to look at the Notallo and found him gone. Disappeared like Zo’s attacker.
Kotallo’s voice crackled over the communicator. “Captain. I’m getting odd readings from down there. Some sort of power field.”
“Specify, Commander. What kind of power field?”
“A highly sophisticated one. It’s draining our power and beginning to affect our communications array.”
“Are you able to pinpoint the location?”
“It could be coming from below the planet’s surface. The patterns indicate industrial activity.”
“Very well. Keep me posted, Mr. Kotallo. We will investigate further down here. Captain out.”
“Hey Aloy!” Erend shouted from a little lower rocky outcrop.
“Erend. I’m glad you’re alright.” She called back as she started to descend.
“Did I see Kotallo up there with you? I thought that pointy head decided to stay on the ship.”
“Erend, we’ve talked about this.”
“Right. Sorry Captain. But where’d he go?”
“It wasn’t him. Must be another of the strange occurrences of this planet.” Aloy said, her mouth turning downwards. “We’ve got to get to the glade. Everyone should be congregating there. If the message got through. Something is interfering with our communications array.”
“Our phasers too, Captain. Mine is completely out of juice.”
“Great. So we have no idea what is tormenting us, and we’re defenseless against it.”
The spinning, glittery haze of the teleporter started to color the air in front of them and coalesced into the form of Kotallo.
“Mister Kotallo. I believe my orders were that no one else was to leave the ship.”
“Unavoidable, Captain. Our communications array is completely down now and our teleporters are no longer working. The unusual power field I told you about is soaking up all the energy at its source. I determined we would have enough power to beam down one more person.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re here. We could use the help.” Aloy told him with a smile.
“Wait, we’re stuck down here?” Erend asked loudly.
“Until we can figure out what’s happening, Mr. Erend.” Aloy replied with a tired voice.
--
All had been figured out and sorted. The planet had been designed as a theme park of sorts. All imaginings could come true, new and old, battle and love, fear and triumph. Anything could have been made to happen.
Aloy found she was too tired to remain planetside. So she left her crew to enjoy the delights of the planet with a stern warning to keep themselves in one piece and beamed back aboard with Kotallo.
She went to her quarters and collapsed onto her berth. She was exhausted. She almost wanted to ignore when her door chime sounded. It could only be one person and he couldn’t complain, she was resting finally.
She stood and opened the door.
Kotallo unsurprisingly stood on the other side and she waved him in.
“Today was a rather long day, Mr. Kotallo, I find I’m a little too tired for a game of Strike.”
“As much as I always enjoy honing your talent with the game, Captain, I came here to speak about something else.”
“Speak freely, Commander.”
“Erend told me he saw something interesting down there.”
Aloy tried to keep her expression schooled. Erend and his big damn mouth. “Oh?”
“Yes. Another version of me. Speaking with you. Not long before I beamed down.”
Well, there wasn’t much use in lying, was there?
“Yup.” She answered shortly.
“On a planet where all fantasies come true.” He said.
She wouldn’t meet his eyes. Wouldn’t see the disappointed face he would make at this breach of professionalism. She kept her gaze on the floor.
“Aloy.” He said.
She couldn’t deny him when he used her name and looked up. He was suddenly so much closer than he had been a moment before.
His hand crossed the distance between them and cupped her cheek.
“Had I been down there, you would not have had to rely on a fallacious thing.”
She swallowed hard. “I knew it wasn’t you.”
“And how was that?”
“You wanted me.”
“Oh Aloy. That was probably the most true thing about it.” He said, closing the distance between their bodies and bringing his mouth down to hers.