Part II - Loophole

Posted on Sat Jan 31st, 2026 @ 9:37pm by Lieutenant Adrianna Baciami & Lieutenant Commander Sabastian Walker

1,165 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Shore Leave - Starbase 1

ON:


"About taking over the family as Queen B, yes. Job would suit you and I think I can get Vincy here banished to Earth for the rest of his contract but not doing anything without your say so."

Adrianna looked at Vance. She'd hoped to find a solution before telling him about her family duties. She'd promised to not keep anything from him again and yet, here she was keeping all of this from him. "Vance--" she began before looking at Sab, growling, "you have had a difficult day, and I will try and say this as politely as I can: get out."

He sighed. "Fine but talking is important. Let me know about the Earth thing but most of all talk to Gio. He loves you and is worried." Sabastian turned and walked away.

Adrianna waited for Sab to leave before turning to Vance, "I was going to talk to you... But I wanted some options first. Amore mio, I didn't mean to keep something from you."

He smiled at her. "I trust you." He walked over and took her hand. "We can talk about it another time if you are not ready."

Adrianna sighed, "no. I should tell you." She looked down at their hands, "remember when you said: one last mission and then we'll retire to some planet in the middle of nowhere, just us, maybe a few children, but ultimately just get away from your life as a smuggler... And we never got that opportunity. Well, we have that opportunity again, but it's not a planet somewhere, it's Italy. And we can't, because you have a contract. I'm desperately trying to get you out of it." Adrianna ran her fingers through her hair, "the youngest in the family always inherits the vineyard. It's my duty to keep it running and to build a family there. But I can't leave you. I do t want to be apart again. I just got you back. And even if you were to work in Rome with Starfleet, that's not helping me on the vineyard-- the whole point is that our lives become about that."

"What about hiring someone to help?"

Adrianna shook her head, "it's a long standing tradition. The youngest, seemingly the most hopeless, takes over the vineyard with their spouse and raises the next generation. Keep traditions alive. I can't do that without you by my side and you were dumb enough to sign a lifetime contract. So unless you plan on meeting your maker again..." Adrianna paused, a thought going through her head and an expression that clearly showed that she was thinking something over, a soft chuckle leaving her lips, "unless you died... Do you have a copy of your contract?"

He sighed. "Yeah. Adrianna, I'm all for tradition but sometimes you have to modernize."

"You said to me on our last mission together that you wanted to marry me and then you had plans to retire on some planet," Adrianna said, "one last mission, you said. And then it all went to hell and we never got that. But I said to you then that it wouldn't last because you loved your job too much. Times have changed. So answer me this: if you had the opportunity to leave Starfleet behind to come start a very traditional life with me-- could you do it? Not would. Could."

He sighed. "I don't know," he said honestly.

At least he was honest. Adrianna shouldn't have been hurt, and yet she felt it. They'd talked about running away and getting away from a life of piracy when she was undercover and yet now... Well, things had changed. Her jaw went slack and she tried to speak, but know words came out. She broke her gaze with him and nodded. "Ok," she almost whispered. But it wasn't ok. Had their life really been a fantasy? Had their love really been that too? Or had life just changed to the point where they could both just be honest with themselves? She sighed and stood up, heading to their bedroom. This hurt more than she was willing to admit, but she didn't have the words to say anything.

Vance held up a hand. "Don't misunderstand. The I don't know if I could is based on how iron clad my Starfleet contract is. If you're asking that. If you are asking if I could physically, mentally, emotionally then yeah. It would be nice to work with the Earth and raise a family and fix houses and equipment on the farm. Yeah. In that sense I’m good to go."

Adrianna froze and looked at Vance silently. She was quiet for a good few seconds, looking at him and trying to see if he was lying. Once satisfied that he wasn't, she took a breath and nodded, "find me your contract, I have an idea... But it may mean you change your name to Baciami-- like that time we got Mags out of jail in the gamma quadrant."

"Um...I think I should tell you something."

Adrianna looked at him cautiously, "now who's keeping secrets... 'Do as I say, not as I do', hm?"

He sighed. "It's not really a secret I just kind of wanted to check with your brothers about something. I mean I want you to be okay with it but...I wanted to make sure they were okay with it."

Adrianna's face dropped in the way it did when she started to get angry. "What did you do..." She slowly asked in an accusatory, dark tone.

He walked over to a drawer and pulled out a Padd. "I wanted to make sure that it was okay to take your name. I was never attached to mine so... It was a way I could honour your parents. I already filled the application. Gio just responded this morning. You're the last person to say yes or no." He handed her the Padd.

Of all the things that Vance could have said, that was the last thing that she had expected. It was written all over her face. She just blinked at him. After a few moments of processing she looked down at the application and then back up at him, "don't send this until I've seen your contract. We may be able to get you out of it and then we can retire early and work a vineyard together, with a child or two... Maybe more. I'm used to big families." She cupped his cheek and kissed him lovingly, "I love you, amore mio."

"I love you too." He smiled. "Now I got to go meet Sir Hugs A Lot." He snorted. "The new Science Guy. Engineering is buzzing about this doofus."

Adrianna smiler, "don't kill him, don't be mean... But don't hug me until you've showered after."

He laughed. "Get this he has purple eyes, like Zai did."

"Si, and a lack of personal space. I'm sure I'll run into him too."

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