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Starfleet Academy ADMIN 150 Federation Law
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Natasha sat next to Dante tapping her stylus on the desk thinking about anything but the lecture being presented to her. ADMIN 150 was a class on basic Federation law. It was the same stuff she learned as a child about the government and later as a teenager in Civic’s class. The stuff she hadn’t learned on Starfleet General Order 1 and the Prime Directive was about as interesting as the gum stuck to the underside of the desk. She had no desire to ever be in command therefore she would never be in charge of a prime directive situation. Letting out a deep sigh she glanced at Dante sitting next to her. Dante was the poster child for a command track cadet. His attention was squarely on the professor. Her attention was squarely on Knight. How could she not stare at his profile? He had the perfect chiseled jaw, hair that sported the slightly mess spikes, and amazing hazel eyes that could make you melt from the warm fuzzies or because he was dressing you down.

“Babe,” Natasha said pulling her eyes off of him for a second as she looked out the window. “Let’s get Pho tonight. I am not sure I like it but let’s live dangerously,” she suggested.

“Huh?” Dante muttered while glancing at Nat quickly. Federation Law was about as exciting as repeatedly kicking your little toe against a door frame and he had long ago retreated into that special place in a guys mind where everything around him happened at the edge of his senses while his eyes tracked the professor, yet his vision was filled with possible scenarios from the latest Witcher holonovel and imagining Nat as his sorcerous partner in many an adventure. In these adventures diplomacy often happen with either sword or bedsheets and Dante found that far more interesting than the latest lectures.

“Oh, why do you want Pho?” He asked her, looking back at the professor but sliding his hand across to her. “You won’t like it, let’s get something like fried rice instead.”

Cadet Knight

“It’s just noodles, right? I mean who doesn’t love noodle soup,” she stretched in her seat shifting her weight. “Besides how do you know what I like and don’t like Mr. Knight,” she let the tip of her boot gently rub the back of his calf. That was the beauty of being a woman. Your foot could be in all sorts of fun positions because of a casual crossing of the legs that men looked odd trying to imitate. “Maybe I would surprise you,” she said in a tone that was typically used during their intimate times. “Wanna see how much I can surprise you Cadet....First Year…Dante…Knight,” the drew out his official name and rank slowly.

Natasha Daye (cadet Starfleet academy)

Dante tried not to grin, but in the end had to drop his head as if he was looking at his PaDD to hide the smirk. “You can’t surprise me, Cadet Daye, I’m a Command course Cadet and I’m trained to handle you. Besides I have some experience finding out what you like, remember the gymnasium, the pool, the Phaser range and that survival trip? I’m pretty sure I got pass marks for them, I know you did. If you want Pho, sure we can try it. I too like to live dangerously.”

Cadet Knight

“I dunno,” she feigned ignorance. “I mean the gym yes was as A and the survival trip scored you some extra credit with that night time Geo Cashing thing. The phaser range was only a C+ because while you had the lightening like reflexes to prime your phaser in under five seconds you did complete the course in under five minutes. Sometimes accuracy in hitting a target isn’t always the most enjoyable,” she fought to not break her aloof demeanor about the event. Shifting her body as close as she could to his seat Natasha continued talking. “Having to adjust for a slight breeze or unexpected action,” she flicked her stylus off the table. This allowed her to bend down and pick it up. It also allowed her to place her hand on the edge of his seat as a way to prop up her body as she retrieved it. With the barest of movements, she let her pinky brush the side of his leg just above the knee cap. This was truly evil but she didn’t care. “It can totally throw your game off,” she said in a low tone

Cadet Daye

“What do you mean C+?” He narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched her, forgetting to pay attention to the lecture. “I’ve never gotten a C+ in my life and we were under a time limit. You completed the course at the same time as me, I didn’t hear you complaining.” This close to her Dante could smell her soft scent, and had to adjust his seated position by crossing his leg in the familiar way Italian men did, but grinned. “Why do you have to distract me in Fed Law? It’s boring as hell but with this professor we really are living dangerously.” He smirked, he was enjoying her, he always did no matter where they were.

Cadet Knight

“Cadets Knight and Daye,” a voice rumbled out. “I am terribly sorry for interrupting you but you are aware of the personal displays of affection rule here at the academy,” Commander Carter asked in a deep baritone.

“Yes Sir,” Dante replied, then looked around the lecture hall with a frown. “Why? Is somebody in here taking liberties with that rule?” His avoidance of the Commanders barb and cold, serious reply brought a smirk to the faces of many of the Cadets, especially considering Dante was responsible for just that kind of monitoring and leadership in many of the classes where he worked as an assistant for lower Cadet grades.

Natasha slowly turned to face the professor at the podium. “Just dropped the stylus,” she said slightly weakly holding up the writing utensil.

“Well, then we can wait until you are ready. Take your time. I will wait,” Professor Commander Carter stopped his lecture and turned his icy gaze on the two cadets on the right side of the auditorium. These two were not the only ones that did this but today they were the only ones being that obvious about it.

“Nice one, Tasia,” Dante muttered to her but the edges of his lips held a grin just for her. “Now Perkins’ favourite lackey has us in his sights, you know they have been waiting for a reason since the egg and feathers incident.”

Sliding back into her seat, Daye tried to look serious as Carter’s gaze bore holes into her forehead. “Ready,” she said placing the stylus over her PaDD as if ready to again take notes. Why Carter wouldn’t start droning on was beyond her at this point. Maybe she should have just become a civilian doctor instead of going through Starfleet.

“Are you Cadet Daye? Well then tell me how you would handle this case study. In January 2381 in the Myanmar Consortium, Frank Peters, a Federation cultural attache, shot and killed two Myanmar civilians. Peters claimed Joane Perot and Aren Hershaw attempted to rob him as he walked home. Peters maintained he acted in self-defense when he killed them. When the Myanmar Civilian Defense Force questioned Peters, he informed him he was part of the diplomatic corps and requested to be placed in touch with the Federation embassy. The Myanmar Civilian Defense Force then charged him with murder because upon further investigations they alleged Peters was an intelligence officer working under the auspices of a cultural attache. Cadet Daye, you are the Captain in charge so how do you handle the situation,” Commander Carter’s voice boomed across the auditorium.

Daye took a deep breath before she spoke. They trained her for this for the past few years. One day this could be a very real situation so she answered now as she would in the future. “I have no desire to command ever. I know this and anyone who will ever work with me will know this. My goal is to be a doctor so in this situation if I was ever placed in it, I would contact the commanding officer or some other red shirt of the proper rank, inform them of the situation, and follow any order they issued,” she said confidently. Her comment brought a few snickers mainly because they would do exactly what Daye said. Only the cadets on the command track really cared about this stuff.

“What?” Dante hissed at her from the side of his mouth. “You try and side step that one, didn’t you even listen to him? You’re the Captain, Nat.” Uncrossing his legs now that there was little need to and the comfort level had dropped, he waited for Carter to begin his rant at Nat for not paying attention.

“It was a trick question,” she adjusted her shirt smoothing out a wrinkle. “There is no one that is ever going to make me a captain,” she shrugged, “so I answered the way I would in real life,” she said in an equally low tone.

“Is that so,” the Professor leveled a heavy glare on Dante. “Well, Cadet Knight it seems your fellow cadet has put you in the hot seat. You are command track correct,” he asked the question everyone in the room already knew about Dante Knight.

Turning his head, he glared at Nat and spoke quietly. “There is a Klingon word for you that has no translation,”

“Natasha wovmoHwI’ yIn. ‘ej worship. Nope that translates,” she continued to flirt with him. Before Dante, Natasha was much more driven at the academy. Since she met him, the Natasha had relaxed a lot. Her secret plan of becoming Mrs. Dante Knight would alter many things she had thought of for her future so now, Nat was just going with the flow.

” but I’ll show you what it means later. It involves restraints.”

“Promises Promises,” she wrote on her PaDD and shifted it towards him so that he could read it.

Then, he turned back to Carter. “Yes Commander, Operations School, Security path with Advanced Tactical and Command Track extensions.”

“How would you handle this?”

Academy years

He glanced sideways at Nat and raised an eyebrow. “Later, you owe me so bad.”

“Peters cannot claim Diplomatic Immunity as a mere Cultural Attache as he is not the Ambassador to the Myanmar Consortium, Commander. As a non-Starfleet Member but a Federation Official he must submit himself to the legal and cultural process on the world he has been assigned to, his request for contact with the Embassy is to make them aware of the incident but his legal representation must have come from Myanmar. “

“Yes but,” Carter immediately broke in yet Dante continued talking over him.

“That however becomes void with the Myanmar Consortium having charged him with murder as an Intelligence Agent, because that means they have charged him with Espionage for the Federation on Myanmar territory and that is a direct accusation against the Federation. That of course means the Federation is now directly involved in his case, it is not restricted to the Prime Directive and it becomes a requirement that he be given Federation Legal Counsel who will be working not only to clear him, but to preserve Diplomatic Relations with the Consortium who are not Federation Members, hence us having an Embassy there. As the Captain in charge of Starfleet and Federation resources in the area it becomes my responsibility to become his Legal Representative, unless the time frame allows for a specialist to arrive to take over.”

Carter tapped the podium with his finger debating what to say next. Cadet Knight’s answer was flawless.

Here, Dante stopped and looked at Nat. “See, it was hardly difficult was it Dr Hyde?”

Cadet Knight

“Only until I create an intergalactic incident which you know is not out of the realm of possibilities Dante,” she said in a neutral tone with a deadpan expression twiddling the stylus between her fingers. “Besides the only person I ever need to control is you. Hey,” she shifted in her seat looking at what she defined as her boyfriend. Dante had only recently broken it off with Ashley but in her mind, he was as good as taken even if she hadn’t gotten her name tattooed on his arm yet. “Did you know that when I am a medical chief I have the power to call you incompetent for duty,” she said with a quizzical expression on her face. It was not that she was asking for a response. It was purely rhetorical but the look on Natasha’s face told Dante that it was something new she had learned.

Cadet Daye

“Um, yes, that is kinda a big reason why the Medical Chief is so scary, and you better not get any thoughts of declaring me incompetent for duty and ordering me to bed rest any time soon, Nat.” He narrowed his eyes at her, suspecting how her mind was working after her little Klingon phrase. “Well the bed rest bit, sure, but not the incompetent for duty bit. I think we established already that I am very good at my duty.”

Turning to her, he forgot Carter for a moment. “Did you only actually just realize that? What exactly were you doing during Fed Medical Law?”

Cadet Knight

“Messaging you,” she winked at him. Natasha was only interested in the medical classes to which she performed extremely well in. The classes on politics and who salutes who when you pass them while walking past each other on a sidewalk were not on her radar. Now that she had meet Dante, spending time with him was a close second to her classes. “You know that was the day you responded with nods, an icon, yes, no, or bahahahaha,” she replied with his standard responses to messages. There were time he wrote something long enough for her to take a drink or get comfortable as she read; however, this was not the norm even when it wasn’t text. Dante tended to be a typical man that was happy just being with her. When he was in the mood to talk it generally led to more physical activities that reduced their vocabulary to vocalizations instead of real words.

“Mr. Knight. Ms. Daye are you both done discussing whatever it is you need to,” the professor gazed at them with half a look of annoyance and half a look of resignation.

“I am,” Natasha offered helpfully turning to face the front of the class.

“I am so glad,” the professor said humorlessly. “Mr. Knight would you stand up please,” he directed with a wave of his hand.

“Your in truh huh ble,” Daye said low under her breath as if they were ten instead of twenty.

“Mr. Knight this room is filled with cadets that would fill a bridge staff due to their specialties. I have an assignment for you this weekend. I would like you to call out the names of your fellow classmates that will now participate in a little weekend exercise. If you would please select your command crew.” The moans were like a physical wave that rippled throughout the room. The students in the room began to assume one of several poses. Some sat perfectly still like a statue adopting the if I don’t move they won’t see me strategy of avoiding work. Others slumped down in the seat opting for the out of sight out of mind approach to not being selected. There were also those few overzealous cadets that turned their gaze to Dante begging to be picked.

Only one cadet stood up ramrod straight. “Cadet Effram Wilkes Johnson volunteers for duty sir,” his voice belted out like Herman’s Hornsby’s in the gym.

Cadet Natasha Daye