Name: Lance Daniels<br/>Position: Engineer<br/>Location: All over the Line, ending up back in his room<br/>Tagged: None<br/>Mentioned: Braxton, Sue, Mya<br/>Godmoded: Sue, Keri, Serenity (coordinated through PM)<br/><br/>It wasn't long before Lance was done with his maintenance duties for tonight.  After all, everything had been checked before dinner.  There were indications that something was coming loose in one of the thrusters, as one of the support arms was bearing more weight than the other, but it was not stopping it from operating correctly and could wait until they landed.  It would be easier to take care of then anyways.<br/><br/>From there he headed to his room and grabbed some vid disks and his spare datapad for Sue, who was about to have a lot of time to kill.  He knocked on the cook's door and handed them to him, expressing a bit of sympathy for what had happened, but not knowing really what to say about it.  They didn't talk long.<br/><br/>Lance gave a knock on the wall as he reached the garden bunks that greeted visitors to the bridge, or as he called it, the Plantation.  Seeing that Keri had changed into pants, he shook his head.<strong>"Damn, was hoping you'd still be wearing the dress."</strong><br/><br/>Crossing the rest of the way to her, he gave her shoulder a half pat/half stroke and sat down in the co-pilot seat.<strong>"Braxton had a bit to drink, but he's going to finish off with Mya and then take a nap.  He'll relieve you when he wakes up.  How are things going up here?  Handling okay?"</strong><br/><br/>Keri glanced up as Lance entered the bridge, her nose wrinkling slightly when he mentions his hop that she'd still be wearing her dress, "I was in a good mood when I put that on. The Captain fouled that right to Hades and back so now I'm back in my comfy gear," she said with a shrug before turning her gaze back out the window. She loved staring out at the Black. "Everything looks good on the scanners. Nothing on the sensors that shouldn't be and none of the blips that<em>are</em>there are altering course to intercept us."<br/><br/>She felt, more than saw, him take the co-pilot seat. Or what would have been the co-pilot seat if she hadn't had the panel ripped out. She didn't need anyone else mucking with the works when she was flying hard.<br/><br/>"As for the Captain, he can stay in bunk and what he likes with Mya. This kind of quiet, I don't need any relief, especially not from someone who wants to act like a gorram idjit just she can irritate the Companion. Wouldn't trust him with the controls right now if he paid be triple my cut," said, the last being muttered almost under breath and sounding rather petulant even to her own ears. Changing the subject she continued, "The Line's handing just fine. Fling like a dream like she always does for me, not even a shiver to say anything's wrong for you to look at. She's happy as can be," she added and reached up to stroke the console in front of her, a soft smile curving her lips as if she were stroking a favored pet.<br/><br/>Lance shrugged when she mentioned the change of mood.<strong>"I was in a good mood when I saw you wearing it."</strong>He considered saying more, maybe standing up for Braxton a little and admitting that Serenity had contributed a fair amount as well, but decided against it.  He didn't feel like arguing.  Instead, he leaned over and took a look at the displays for a moment, nodding in confirmation that everything seemed okay.<br/><br/><strong>"It's two days until Shadow.  You are going to need to be relieved more than once, Keri.  Sue's confined to quarters and I still have to take care of a few things.  Glad the thruster is working okay, but I'll need to spend some more time on it once we land." </strong><br/><br/>"Lance, don't tell me what I need in order to fly," she said, waving off his concerns about how much rest she may, or may not, need. "This is a milk run. I can easily set the alarms and simply crash on the couch. Or hell, in my own bunk since it's right next to the Bridge. Still if he wants to relieve me that's fine. We both know he'll call me back if there's trouble."<br/><br/>Turning her seat toward him she flashed him a quick grin before asking, in a voice clearly meant to tease her friend, "So, answer me honestly, were you disturbed by, or interested in, what our Captain was doing to the Doctor?"<br/><br/><strong>"I don't like the idea of no one being here if something does decide to come after us.  It's not safe."</strong>They'd gone through this many times before.  Lance didn't know if she just wanted to be the undisputed pilot or if she just didn't want Braxton on the bridge out of spite, but he decided not to ask.<br/><br/>Seeing the mischievous grin as she turned to face him, Lance immediately grew suspicious.  Those grins always led to something he was uncomfortable with.  The last one had led to<em>"is it true you can divert some of the power from the maneuvering thrusters to make one of these go faster?"</em>This question wasn't as inherently unsafe, though still dangerous.<strong>"I'm going to go with both.  I can honestly say I had never considered doing that in that kind of setting, and the idea is pretty hot.  However, there is no chance of me doing that."</strong>It wasn't just the idea that was hot.  Mya's body writhing paired with the lustful eyes she made at him had been an instant erection at the time, but he was not going to tell Keri he found another woman hot.<br/><br/>Lance's comment about it being unsafe for Keri to be the only one on the Bridge for an extended period of time simply garnered him a tongue stuck out his way before she leaned over and snatched a blanket that was stretched across the back of her sofa. Locking her controls she flung the blanket around her shoulders and leaned back, bare feet lifted and perching up on the control panel.<br/><br/>Hearing his prevarication to her question she simply laughed and shook her head, "Should have known another man would find it hot. You're all so damned visually oriented anyway and Mya is a gorgeous girl. Hell if I swung that way I might have found the Captain's little display hot myself. As it is I'm not a voyeur, most of the time, and am surely not interested in watching the Captain rutting, or working his way up to it, while I'm trying to keep my dinner down!"  she added with a laugh and a fresh shake of her head.<br/><br/><strong>"Your concern for our welfare is inspirational."</strong>Lance shook his head at Keri as she kicked back as though ready to fall asleep.<strong>"You know, with Braxton as sexually adventurous as he's becoming, I'm not sure I'd want to be unconscious in any common area."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"Oh, don't even try that.  You asked because it <em>at least</em> intrigued you.  Had I not said that I would never do it you'd probably have me two knuckles deep by now."</strong>He chuckled as the rant in his head built steam.<strong>"I bet...that the reason you changed was that your dress was soaked right through.  At least we know the real reason you told Braxton to wash his hands before coming to the bridge."</strong><br/><br/>"Ewww. That's all I can say to the idea of<em>anything</em>the Captain might do intriguing me!"<br/><br/>With a smirk at the rest of his comment however she rolled her head against the back of her chair, looking over at him from half lidded eyes, a few small locks of strawberry blonde hair falling across her face giving an angelic, almost gamine look while her voice dropped a notch and she teased, "If I actually wanted you two knuckles deep Lance, do you really think you're having just said you wouldn't do so would be a problem?"<br/><br/>Before he could respond she laughed and turned her head to look back out the window once more, "And just to satisfy your curiosity, my friend, my dress is perfectly clean. The Captain might be a handsome man but he's not the sort to be a temptation to me."<br/><br/>He watched her contentedly as she relaxed, always thinking her beautiful when on the verge of sleep.  She ruined the moment a touch with her question, staving off a response with an answer to his taunting rant.  He nodded once to acknowledge it before answering sincerely.<strong>"Yes.  I think that you would be extremely considerate of what someone said they wouldn't feel comfortable with."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"I'll let you get some sleep, Keri."</strong>He stood up and took a step closer, kissing the top of her head before taking a couple of steps toward the door, stopping shy of it.<br/><br/><strong>"By the way, a handsome man?  You women are too visually stimulated."</strong><br/><br/>Keri let a soft laugh fill her chest when Lance kissed to the top of her head. It made her feel safe, at home. Just when she'd started considering Lance like an older brother she enjoyed tormenting she wasn't sure, but she did. He was her best friend on board the ship and she treasure him even when she was taunting him.<br/><br/>"You know I wouldn't actually do anything you weren't comfortable with goofy. Though I<em>will</em>tease you mercilessly about it later!" she promised even as her eyes were starting to drift closed. She should have been uncomfortable, perched between the pilot's chair and her console as she was, but she, apparently, still had a child's ability to sleep anywhere..especially when that anywhere had the best view of the Black on the ship.<br/><br/><em>"By the way, a handsome man?  You women are too visually stimulated."</em><br/><br/>"Just jealous. You'd be handsome too if anyone could see through that all that hair on your face. Ever hear of a razor..."she mumbled, not even sure if he heard her while she drifted off into sleep. She'd wake instantly if one of the sensor alarms went off or someone else came on deck.<br/><br/>From the Plantation, Lance made his way to Serenity's shuttle and knocked.  Fortunately, she did not have anyone still visiting.  She welcomed him in and they talked for a bit, Lance awkwardly telling her about Sue being confined to his room and Serenity confessing that she was going to try to push Braxton's buttons less, which Lance was grateful for.  From there the conversation was pretty light.  Serenity told him that she had a client lined up as soon as she landed, and that he was welcome to help her pick out her dress for her meeting with him.  They went to her closet, Serenity going through dresses and talking about them while Lance looked at them over her shoulder, his arms wrapped around her waist, pressed very lightly against her.  The reason it was very lightly was that whenever she felt his bulge pressing too firmly against her behind, she'd reach back with a firm, yet gentle hand and push him back.<br/><br/>He spent quite a bit of time with her, until finally it was time for him to return to his room, all but emptying himself as he imagined those moments developing differently.