Title: Loyal Opposition (2/6)
Author: Iodinemoon
Rating: PG-13 for language
Summary: Part II - The Redshirt Rule (Cupcake). Cupcake wears a redshirt. He's doomed, he knows it and it's substantially less cracky than it sounds. A series of ficlets looking at the Enterprise crew through the eyes of the people that oppose them.
Author's Notes: I've always wondered why those nameless redshirts didn't mutiny on Kirk.
Part I - Daddy Issues (Frank) *********
The Redshirt Rule
It’s common knowledge Ensign Johnny ‘Cupcake’ Matthews hates Captain James T. Kirk. Just not for the reasons everyone thinks.
No, Ensign Matthews’ hate has little to do with a bar fight in Iowa and a lot to do with The Redshirt Rule. Devised by the bottom ranked enlisted officers of the Security division, it states:
a) If an Away team has at least one member of each uniform colour (this will always include the Captain), one will not return and
b) The team member killed in action will be wearing a red shirt.
For some sick reason this is considered hilarious if your friends aren’t the ones who are dying.
That’s why Matthews hates Kirk. The irrational belief that if the Captain didn’t beam down to the surface, his comrades would come back alive. The other divisions call The Redshirt Rule a coincidence at the least and a statistical anomaly at most - never the truth. It is an inebriated Lt. Batting who points out that dead men can’t tell the difference.
The only reprimand Matthews receives whilst on the Enterprise is when a blue-shirted Carter whispers coward as a reluctant Ensign Denna steps onto the transporter pad. Matthews shoves him against the wall in front of three superior officers and tells him that he better learn respect or it will not matter if his shirt is blue or if his parents are rich or if he’s the fucking Captain because Matthews will make sure he never speaks again. The second day Matthews is in the brig he misses Quera Denna’s memorial service.
Sixteen months later when the Bridge includes a Security officer on a rescue mission, Matthews simply overrides the Chief’s signature and assigns himself duty because he’s tired of funerals and he’s Cupcake and he can.
When he finds their reckless Captain lying barely conscious in a dank dungeon, the irrational part of him wishes Kirk were dead to prove The Redshirt Rule wrong. The sane part thinks it’s fucking sad he considers himself more capable of killing his Captain than keeping himself alive.
“You’re going to be fine, sir.”
The line between belief and truth is obscured by the blood of his predecessors but if Kirk looks at him strangely and pulls himself together then it doesn’t really matter which side the statement falls on.
When the Captain reappears in the transporter room, leaning heavily on McCoy and Spock, a collective sigh is heard across the Enterprise. The crew of 1, 200 know their Captain is safe. The ship limps on.
Only 48 people care Ensign Matthews reappears as well.
The rule falters.
Part III - Another Life (Ayel)