Diell Breaker (LGBT- Sci-Fi - Romance)

Chapter 3

Chapter Three 

Petrov was slowly getting to know the other officers. Fourth Lieutenant Ton Nguyen was frankly cute, only twenty two years old, with beautiful almond eyes and smooth pale brown skin to complement his cheeky smile. Petrov was smitten, even though he kept his interactions light and friendly. He would have behaved that way in any case, at least until he established whether or not Nguyen was another om and available, but his awareness of the Captain's eye upon him was even more of an incentive to keep his distance. 

The Captain seemed to watch him more than anyone else. He tried hard not to let it bother him but it was difficult not to feel intimidated. He really hoped he would tire of it soon, once he realised Petrov was not going to jump on anyone! 

Third Lieutenant Eriksen was scarcely twenty five but already had a wife and small family back on Capella. He was eager to check out the new settlement from a personal perspective, to see if it might suit them, as he and Anni both thought the fresh air and freedom of a planet would be a better place to bring up their children than the confines of the space station. He was friendly enough to Petrov but they had little in common outside the Patrol. 

The First Lieutenant, Leo Shehu was sociable to a certain point but he was about ten years older than Petrov's twenty eight years, a sober and introspective man. He preferred chess to sitting around chatting and laughing over a few drinks when they were off duty. Once Shehu discovered Petrov could play a reasonable game of chess, he commandeered him for a couple of games a week. Occasionally he let slip a dry comment that showed he had rather a keen wit and Petrov couldn't help wondering if he had suppressed the lighter side of his personality to fit in with the Captain. He made efforts to deliberately encourage that sense of humour, and a little to his surprise, gradually found himself looking forward to the other man's company. 

The trip to Fayruz was uneventful, at least until it came time for the Diell to assist the Voyager with its disembarkation process. The Diell's shuttle had already departed for the surface with its first load of crewmen to help receive the new arrivals. Now a two man team was being ported over to the Voyager via stealth pod to help from that end. Nguyen and Petrov had volunteered and were just about to insert themselves into the pod when the Captain appeared in the docking bay. He frowned at both men and cleared his throat. "Sorry Nguyen, I need you here to go down with the next shuttle." He looked around quickly. "Shehu? Can you go with Petrov?" 

The First Lieutenant looked rather surprised but stepped into the pod behind the other man without arguing. Petrov clenched his jaw. This was getting ridiculous. What had the Captain thought he was going to do? Attack Nguyen in the stealth pod?  

"Any idea what that was about?" Shehu asked him mildly, once they were out in space, being tractor beamed across to the other ship. He could almost feel the waves of frustrated anger coming off the other man. 

Petrov counted to ten. He didn't know whether to tell Shehu the truth or not. He hadn't needed to keep his sexuality a secret on the Samal and he felt uncomfortable keeping it a secret now, but the atmosphere on Diell felt almost hostile. He made up his mind. Damn it! He wasn't going to lie just to satisfy some arbitrary rule of the Captain. 

"It's because I'm an om. The Captain doesn't ... doesn't trust me." He left it at that, no need to bring Nguyen into it. 

Shehu was genuinely shocked. He had been on the Diell for ten years and he could honestly say he had never heard a man admit that about himself out loud. Just as if it was normal, as if it was nothing to be ashamed of. He found himself unconsciously pulling back within the confines of the small pod. 

Petrov was instantly aware of the withdrawal and shut his eyes for a moment. There was no point screaming. He made his voice stay calm even though he couldn't help the sarcasm, "You don't need to worry, it isn't catching! I've managed eight years in the Patrol without infecting anyone!" Rather to his surprise, Shehu apologised.  

"Of course, I'm sorry. Uh does the Captain know? Oh of course he does." Shehu answered his own flabbergasted question. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "It's just a surprise. The Captain doesn't usually ..." 

"Allow oms on his ship?" Petrov completed the sentence. He couldn't help noticing Shehu was still pressing himself as far away as he could.  

"To my knowledge you're the only one."  

"What?" he asked in disbelief. 

"To the best of my knowledge, you're the only om on the ship."