I'll tell you one thing about Gaila

She's smart.

Of course that's not the first thing you notice about her, not by far.

Hell sometimes its hard to even make eye contact.

I remember the first time I met her, in Captain Pike's office. I wanted to stop by to tell him I'd been reading his dissertation on the Kelvin, trying to earn some brownie points in an effort to expedite the whole " you could have your own ship in eight years" thing.

And there she was.

She was sitting at a chair in front of his desk. From behind she could have been just another girl. Just another redhead. I prefer blondes myself, or at least I did.

"Cadet Kirk, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Pike said from his desk chair.

Then she turned around and smiled at me.

I was a goner .

Even before I felt the phermones waft my way her smile made me stare. I had heard about Orion women, seen them in the dirty magazines passed around during sleepovers in the seventh grade and later in the internet pornography links that one friend or another would email me from time to time. But nothing could prepare me to have one two feet away and smiling at me. Smiling with gold lipstick and a spark in her eye that clearly said" you might be fun to play with".

"Just thought I'd stop by and say hello, but maybe I should come another time, you look like you have company."

Pike smirked, he knew as well as I did that it would take a charging mugato to get me to leave that room before I had her name..or for that matter just plain had her.

"Kirk this is Cadet Gaila. She's an engineering mathmatics major, Gaila this is James Kirk, formerly Iowa's only genius level repeat offender."

"Call me Jim," I said reaching out to shake her hand. I saw her shoot Pike a sidelong glance before returning the handshake. Her hand was soft and warm and if I didn't know better I would have sworn she was biting the inside of her lip as our hands made contact.

"So Gaila," I said stroking the inside of her palm with my thumb before letting go( can Orions blush?I swear her cheecks turned a darker green when I touched her) "Do you have a first name to go along with those beautiful eyes?"

I said eyes because they were nice, and it would have been tactless to say" gorgeous full breasts that I'm dying to have in my mouth".

Pike snorted,"Lay off, Kirk. I won't have one of the academy's best students wasting time with the likes of you."

The girl smiled again and giggled "Gaila is my first name. Last names are such a silly earth thing"

What was it with women only giving me half a name lately?