Destined | Christopher Pike

Chapter Thirty Eight

If Emma thought keeping her relationship with Chris a secret was hard, it became even harder after they married. All the two of them wanted to do was be together. They wanted to hold hands while walking down the halls of the Enterprise in their down time. They didn't want to fear being caught in his room alone, especially late at night. Mostly, they just wanted to acknowledge their marriage to everyone. However, while difficult, neither of them would trade it for the world. The time would come one day even if that meant sneaking around for longer.

It was slightly easier since Nyota found out. She would no longer question why Emma came strolling into their room late at night. She had even covered for her a few times. For that, Emma was extremely grateful. She was sure Una had her own suspicions. She noted the way the older woman watched her, especially around when she was around Chris. Emma tried her hardest to remain as professional as she could when she was around her husband. Sometimes it was easy, other times it wasn't.

Emma busied herself in the science division of the Enterprise as they prepared for an off world mission. It had only been two weeks since she had married Chris, but it had been the best two weeks of her life. She finally felt like she had found her place in the universe. She had an amazing job that kept her busy and interested and an amazing husband whom she loved more than anything. Everything was just...perfect. It scared her at times. At any point something could happen to either one of them. It came with the job as a Starfleet officer, but she trusted her Captain.

They had discovered an uninhabited planet on their journey to discovering new worlds. There was so no record of it in the Federation which meant the crew of the Enterprise were going to be the first to find it. It caused excitement to spread amongst the crew. This is what many of them had signed up to do. It wasn't very big, maybe half the size of earth. From above it looked to be covered entirely in land with a few waterways in it. The surface appeared to be once similar to the deserts in Arizona.

Almost half the crew were preparing to land on it's surface, including Emma. She would be in charge of taking soil and if they found any, water samples so they could observe it's make up. She stuffed as many items as she could into the leather satchel that hung across her body. She needed to be able to keep her hands in close proximity to her phaser just in case danger arose. They never knew what they would encounter on an unknown planet.

Once everyone who was beaming down to the planet was packed, the five science officers headed towards the transport room. She knew Chris, along with a few other security officers, were the first ones to step foot on the planet. It was usually for everyone's safety. She felt for the simple gold band on her right hand and let out a deep breath. This would be the first off ship mission they would complete since they got married and it felt...strange to her. She couldn't quite put her finger on. Part of her thought maybe she was just worried? She had more to lose now than she did before.

She shook her head to free any negative thoughts before stepping onto the platform to be beamed down. It was always a peculiar feeling. Almost as if your body was being turned into liquid for a few seconds. Emma always found her self to be slightly queasy right after the beaming was completed. One second she was inside the Enterprise. The next she felt red dirt crunching beneath her boot. The planet was beautiful in an eerie way. For miles it seemed to be nothing but endless red dirt with a few plants and flowers here and there.

To her right, however, were Rocky Mountains made of the same red dirt that extended into the the blistering sky. The sun was much hotter than anything she had ever felt before. It had to be close to 110° F on the surface. She made a mental note to record that information, but she was sure there was no way anyone could forget the heat. She found Chris standing about a hundred feet from her talking to Una while he scanned the area for any signs of danger. She knelt down onto the ground and began to pull her supplies out.