Artistic Expression

Posted on Fri Feb 21st, 2025 @ 2:21pm by Lieutenant Commander Victoria Aries & Lieutenant Commander Ferrand Beaulieu

4,198 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Let That Be Your Last
Location: CAG's Office
Timeline: Current

Ferrand occupied his office, meticulously examining the blueprints for what would soon become his new wings. This starfighter would be a Gryphon class, identical to others produced on the assembly line, yet it would bear his designation. Each pilot developed a personal connection with their aircraft; it was an integral part of their identity. The adage held true: care for your craft, and it will care for you. He was particularly mindful of this one, especially after the last one had proven to be more than just a machine in the end. It saved him.

While the Engineering team worked on the construction, Ferrand sought ways to occupy his time. Fortunately, with the assistance from Operations, the assembly process would be expedited, given that most repairs to the ship had already been finalized. He contemplated customizing the engine surfaces with a distinct color, perhaps altering the trims or trailing edges, to create a personal touch that would link him to the aircraft. Although such modifications were not strictly within regulations, most Commanding Officers or CAGs allowed for a degree of flexibility, provided the changes were not excessively ostentatious or inappropriate.

Eventually, Ferrand conceived a unique idea, though he was uncertain about its reception. He would need to present it to Victoria, who would play a significant role in this endeavor.

As his shift concluded, Ferrand promptly made his way to his quarters, eager to refine his concept before discussing it with Victoria. He anticipated her inquiries and recognized the importance of being well-prepared with answers.

****

The framework was complete and it was one of those things where that was one of the harder parts to deal with. Engines had been mounted already and the more of the armored skin that was attached to the frame, the more that the ship looked like the fighter it was intended to be. Well and truly, the hardest part of the entire project was keeping a certain someone away from the secluded bay where Victoria had assembled a handful of her techs to start building one of the Federation's fighter craft from scratch.

One of the problems with the Dreadnought was that there would be some attrition within the squadrons, but there were no fabrication facilities aboard the ship, not in the sizes needed to truly build the craft in any numbers. That was something she could rectify, however, so long as she could prove that the engineers aboard could put the birds together to the standards of the actual production facilities near the major worlds of the Federation. This one would take perhaps another week to complete, if that, because the body was nearly covered now, leaving the wings and tail areas to go, but the weapons mountings would be next. She leaned back against the wall as she watched her crew work in tandem, smiling slightly as she did so.

She checked the chrono on the wall, then started as she spotted the time. "Oh crap, Farber, let's call it a day, I was supposed to be off an hour ago, I guess time flies when we're having fun! Let's continue this tomorrow? Or the day after? We'll see what the schedule is in the morning." She gave a wave to the handful of engineers present, then vanished through the door and made her way towards Ferrand's quarters at a half-jog, determined to try to get there before him to grab a quick shower.

The hour delay had stripped Victoria of the time she needed, Ferrand was already home by this point, changed out of his uniform and into casual attire. In his hand was the same Padd he left his office with still scrolling through various ideas and details for what he had in mind. The problem was being alone in a given moment of inspiration was doubt is a frequent companion, and this time was no different. He wondered how Victoria would take the idea, would she be surprised, offended, disgusted, mortified. He simply didn't know.

His time for consideration though was brief...the doors opened, one Victoria Aries came rushing in. "Hey." Ferrand smiled in greeting.

Her eyes lit up for a moment as she saw him and a wide grin crossed her face, "Heya!" She replied, before hesitating just a moment, even as she finished unsealing the jacket that she was going to recycle just as soon as she could get it to a replicator. Who knew if he'd smell something he shouldn't know about, not yet at the least. Still, she leaned over for a quick peck on the lips, a gentle caress of his arm with her free hand, "Sorry I'm running a bit behind, one of my projects ran me over in what time I'd allocated for it."

"That's ok." Ferrand answered as she explained what kept her back. "Pretty sure there is going to be a lot of that in times to come with the Admiral on board now."

Even if tension was high as a result of that fact there was still duties to be done, a department to run and a craft to get sorted out. Walking to the Kitchen area he figured that maybe something like a light snack might be good, nothing too much but something to take the edge off at least until something else was chosen for dinner. "How are things in Engineering?"

"The same as they were before we got hammered." Victoria gave a sigh of relief, "The ship is in good shape, can take on anything else in space right now, so we're starting to catch up on the routine work that got put off for a while. Within two weeks, we're going to just be back on our regularly scheduled maintenance cycles." She moved towards the refresher door, "I'll be just a few minutes, whatcha think we should do for dinner? Something light?"

"I was just about to throw something together." He replied watching her walk away towards the door. He still wasn't sure exactly what to eat so cobbled together some cheese, ham, various salami slices, crackers, jam and assorted marmalades. As he did this he wondered about his idea, how she might react, what she might say or worse case, she'd change the way she thought or viewed him.

She opted for the sonic shower, it was faster and did just about the same job, even if she preferred the feel of water. But this meant that with a change of clothes, she was now much more comfortable than when she walked in and wouldn't have the giveaway scent of machinery on her anymore. As she padded out in now-bare feet, she snagged one of his crackers, a square of cheese and a piece of salami, "Snacking sounds like a good idea," She said with a smile and then a crunch, "As little or as much as we want, eh?"

"Figured why not, wasn't sure too if you were going to come here or your place so I held off just in case." Picking up the board he walked it over to the table that sat in front of the sofa. The issue at hand pounded in his mind, to put his idea forward but also worry the potential reaction. "Here we are." He said breaking the silence as he put it on the table.

"If I'd gotten here when I promised to, I'd have made something a bit heartier, but I ran late." She gave a sheepish grin before she dropped into the sofa, "So how's the search for a new fighter? Hopefully someone is sharing their cockpit to give you enough flight time?"

"Speaking of a fighter." It was pretty much now or not at all. She'd not judged him before on anything so why should this be any different....maybe because it directly included her. "I wanted to run an idea by you." Standing up again he walked to the desk where the Padd he had sat with his ideas. "I was thinking of something to put on it." He handed over the Padd to Victoria of various design examples.

"Oh?" Victoria became intrigued by the first of the images and began to page through several of them, then snorted in laughter at one of them, turning it around to show what was intended to be her in a bright frilly blue dress being blown as if by a wind, showing a fair bit of shapely leg in heels, "I think I would be positively dowdy if I were wearing something like this! Maybe someone's older sister-like?" She pondered for a moment, "Thinking like World War 2-era nose art?"

"In a manner of speaking yes." Ferrand spoke. Though he was a little confused, and worried. Dowdy as he understood it meant unattractive or unfashionable, which was not a good thing. He wondered if something more standard would go down better, instead of the one he had in mind.

Once again she'd been paging through some of the options, eyebrows raising twice and then a slight smile as she found one other that she showed him, "This is much better for proper nose art.. Have you decided on a name for your bird? Or no name at all, just stick with the callsign?"

"Not a name yet, but I was wondering if...you'd be the nose art." Ferrand asked, he wasn't sure how she'd answer given her earlier description of what she saw.

"I certainly would expect to be!" Victoria laughed, grinning at him. She'd sort of figured the question was coming since he'd handed over the PADD and seen what was on it, "I mean, if you wanted one of those starlets like Alexis Silverstar, I could understand that, but wouldn't be happy with some other random woman going up on your fighter." The one she'd shown him was a bathing suit that was close to having a technical malfunction.

"Actually, I was hoping it would be you instead." Ferrand spoke softly, though he could understand what she meant about a random woman on something so personal.

Victoria placed the PADD face-down in front of her on the table and leaned forward, a broad grin on her face, "What were you envisioning me wearing? If you had your druthers, that is?" It was almost a teasing tone of voice, but she cocked her head slightly, "You don't have to worry about me being offended no matter what, I promise."

"Well, that would depend, since it would be you and not just me seeing you." Especially during maintenance and cleaning of the craft. "You're the Chief Engineer and one of the senior officers. So it's also your reputation in play here." He added.

She snagged one of his hands and grasped it in both of hers, "Damn straight, it's my reputation as your girlfriend." Victoria brought his hands up to her lips to kiss them briefly, "Look, Ferrand, I know all about the egos of pilots and you try to hide yours and do a good job of it, but back in the days of propeller and turbine driven aircraft, the pilots took pride in their decorations and they used their girls as examples to show them off. I dare someone to come to me and treat me like a hooker based off of whatever we put on the nose. Putting me on their means that I'm there with you, whenever you leave the hanger."

Ferrand took the padd and pulled up three options that he considered which made him start his doubt and wonder. He set three images to scroll or pause for Victoria to scroll herself. "Something like this." Now came the wait to see how she would react.

Victoria took a close look at all three of the options, considering them in turn. After going back and forth between them, she finally selected the one with what was the old United States Flag in it, "I think I like this one best. A bikini is never a bad thing to wear for keeping your guy's spirits up, is it?"

Taking a look himself he had another question. "Do you have one?" He planned to hand paint it, a matter of pilot pride on the issue but while the bikini was selected, type and design had to be considered too if he was going to take a picture of it to paint from.

"I've got a couple, but I don't think either of them would work right for this.." Victoria mused for a moment, "But that just means we can replicate a few to try on and see which one you like better, or..." She stood up and stretched, "Hold on one minute, I'll be right back." Then she made her way back to his bedroom again.

She was as good as her word and in just a bit more than a minute had emerged from his bedroom wearing not much more than a set of emerald green bra and panties with a sarong that bared one hip enough to show the lace from the mostly-hidden panties, but did nothing above her waist, "What about this?"

Ferrands face lit up, but not all for the reasons that might be expected. As a career pilot Ferrand didn't really invest much time in dating, if any. His face flushed a deep red though any woman would get the feeling this wasn't because it was bad, but because it was something else. Victoria was his first Girlfriend and she wasn't shy in expressing herself around him, even going at his own pace to keep him comfortable. Eyes wide, quickened heart rate, his brain telling him she'd just changed for him, taking an interest in something for him for his fighter. "I uh....ummm." His cheeks burned fiercely. "You look...amazing."

The Frenchman almost looked cute with his flushed face.

She cocked her hip at him, eyes bright at his apparent enjoyment at her change of attire. This relationship was very refreshing, someone who didn't take something like she was wearing now just for granted and she hoped that she'd be able to keep surprising him in a good way. Victoria sauntered towards him, "I'd hope so! But, would something like this be all right to put on your fighter's nose? Would you be comfortable with it?" She leaned over the armrest of the couch to smile at him.

"Would you be ok with you on there, in that?" He really worried about putting her reputation at risk, she was now one of the Admiral's senior officers, the Chief Engineer on the largest ship in service. "Maybe we could go to the holodeck, simulate the fighter and have the computer superimpose various poses and images of you in different outfits?" In his mind he was trying to make everything just right, nose art was considered a good luck charm and he wanted everything to be perfect.

"I wouldn't suggest this if I weren't." Victoria grinned at him, "For one, it'd give you a bit more of an incentive to not get shot up again for fear of scuffing the picture." She gave him a wink to let him know she was just poking fun at him, "And we absolutely could get some holodeck time to try things out, I can replicate some stilettos there, too, make my legs look longer. And once you decide just how you'd like me to look, and yes, that's super important to me that you like it, I'm sure we can provide the hull panels to make it easier for you to paint on rather than working at an awkward angle."

"Um....." There was one thing, an addition, a slight change perhaps that he had in mind. His face didn't burn so strongly now but there was still visible redness to it. "Would it be ok to find something that would suit..." He paused. Asking her to wear something already didn't sit fully with him, even if the reason behind it was a genuine one. "Stockings maybe?" When Victoria made that run to his fighter after he crash landed word had swept through, respectfully, about how a blonde haired woman ran across the flight deck, skirt bunched up, stockings displayed in her haste. That was a thing most remembered, she was the Girlfriend, she mattered to the pilot.

Ferrands face lit up, but not all for the reasons that might be expected. As a career pilot Ferrand didn't really invest much time in dating, if any. His face flushed a deep red though any woman would get the feeling this wasn't because it was bad, but because it was something else. Victoria was his first Girlfriend and she wasn't shy in expressing herself around him, even going at his own pace to keep him comfortable. Eyes wide, quickened heart rate, his brain telling him she'd just changed for him, taking an interest in something for him for his fighter. "I uh....ummm." His cheeks burned fiercely. "You look...amazing."

The Frenchman almost looked cute with his flushed face.

She cocked her hip at him, eyes bright at his apparent enjoyment at her change of attire. This relationship was very refreshing, someone who didn't take something like she was wearing now just for granted and she hoped that she'd be able to keep surprising him in a good way. Victoria sauntered towards him, "I'd hope so! But, would something like this be all right to put on your fighter's nose? Would you be comfortable with it?" She leaned over the armrest of the couch to smile at him.

"Would you be ok with you on there, in that?" He really worried about putting her reputation at risk, she was now one of the Admiral's senior officers, the Chief Engineer on the largest ship in service. "Maybe we could go to the holodeck, simulate the fighter and have the computer superimpose various poses and images of you in different outfits?" In his mind he was trying to make everything just right, nose art was considered a good luck charm and he wanted everything to be perfect.

"I wouldn't suggest this if I weren't." Victoria grinned at him, "For one, it'd give you a bit more of an incentive to not get shot up again for fear of scuffing the picture." She gave him a wink to let him know she was just poking fun at him, "And we absolutely could get some holodeck time to try things out, I can replicate some stilettos there, too, make my legs look longer. And once you decide just how you'd like me to look, and yes, that's super important to me that you like it, I'm sure we can provide the hull panels to make it easier for you to paint on rather than working at an awkward angle."

"Um....." There was one thing, an addition, a slight change perhaps that he had in mind. His face didn't burn so strongly now but there was still visible redness to it. "Would it be ok to find something that would suit..." He paused. Asking her to wear something already didn't sit fully with him, even if the reason behind it was a genuine one. "Stockings maybe?" When Victoria made that run to his fighter after he crash landed word had swept through, respectfully, about how a blonde haired woman ran across the flight deck, skirt bunched up, stockings displayed in her haste. That was a thing most remembered, she was the Girlfriend, she mattered to the pilot.

If Ferrand wasn't still red from the earlier outfit, he sure was now. For most it would have been hard to believe that Victoria was his first Girlfriend, the reputation of pilots as it was Ferrand was one of the few exceptions to the rule. The idea that she was standing in there, in that and that she'd be immortalized in image form on the nose of his fighter in that or something close to it both rang loudly in his head. Silence lingered for a moment as he took in the view of her standing there seemingly without care or bother what she was wearing just to make a point that she was perfectly fine with the idea.

"Um..yeah." He started. "We can use the holodeck to make a sofa or chair or what ever else I guess to complete the picture if needs be and use a scan to superimpose it to the nose of the fighter."

Victoria smiled coyly at him and inside was absolutely giddy. Okay, maybe it wasn't quite the 'nice' thing to tease him as she did like this, but she loved the honest reactions from him. With past boyfriends and the like, it had all been more... Normalized, for the better sense of the word, seeing someone looking as she was dressed now, or even less with little to no fanfare. This was absolutely refreshing to her and a little shiver of excitement ran up her spine. Though she mustn't frighten him off, that would be no good, "Tell you what, once we have our photo shoot, I may let you in on a bit of a surprise I have."

"Ok, yeah, let's do that." He spoke mustering up the words through all else. "Thank you though, for doing this." It meant a lot to him for her to agree to this, putting herself in that position that others might see her in that way, on a fighter where others could easily see her and put her reputation on the line.

"If we wanted to do this now, I know that we could use holosuite 14. It's been offline for maintenance on the emitters, but it's supposed to be completed by end of shift, which was... Half an hour ago. Next shift is running the diagnostics on it, so it won't be available for the general public until the morning." Victoria smiled, "Though I'll have to put on something else over this for the walk down, that's for sure."

"Could we do it as the final bit of the rebuild. Once its painted and styled, this be the final touch to it so its complete?" Every pilot was different and he was just the same, to pilots a craft was as much a part of them as most things in life but for Ferrand though Victoria was it. He wanted her image to the very last thing applied to the fighter, it would make it whole for him, she'd be there when he went out and be there when he returned home.

Victoria hesitated for a moment, "But I'm not quite sure about how my schedule will work out for later this week?" It was a half-statement, half-question, "Certainly it can be the final touch and you can be the one to put it on, too, but... About that surprise?"

"Surprise?" Ferrand replied, He'd not considered her work schedule in this as clearly as he thought he had, she was the Chief Engineer after all and while Victoria tried her level best to be there for his idea, the ship and the Admiral waited for no one.

"Well, you see, we'd gotten ahead on getting the ship back into shape and so a few of us put our heads together and found a part of the hanger that had been cordoned off from the damage. Low priority for repair because it was mostly cosmetic and all." The engineer shrugged, "So we started to see if we could actually produce a replacement bird from scratch! Aaaaand... She's almost done."

"Almost done." He spoke taking a few steps forward. This was amazing news, he'd be able to fly again and in a fighter hand built by Victoria and her teams. This wasn't some run of the mill right off the production line, it was all in house build and that made it even more special. This was a play of emotion on his face ranging from the original red face from Victoria's appearance to the smile at the dawning realization his fighter was almost ready for him. "Thats....incredible." It was all coming together.

"I really was going to try to put off telling you until she was completed, but it's been getting harder and harder to not tell you." Victoria grinned widely, "We're mounting the pulse phasers the day after tomorrow along with the microtorpedo launchers before sealing the hull. Engines are already in and tested, framework is pristine and electronics were installed by me, personally."

"Thank you." He spoke after a few moments, this meant so much to him, all of it. He couldn't wait to take the craft out for a flight to get accustomed to it. "In that case, did we want to go to the holodeck then, if duties might interrupt us later." Victoria was right though, the art would be the last thing installed on the craft.

"Well then," Victoria started back towards the bedroom again, with a smile, "Let me put on something a bit less... Showy for the walk to the holodeck, then you can have me dress up to your heart's content until you see what you want on your bird."

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