#ed x alara

[madmaxified]

my orville oc, fae!! cause the silly space show is rotting my brain

her species ( who have yet to be name ) are very yeti like, with horns, pairs of sharp teeth, and fur and claws. they have been hunted for sport for such a long time that they no longer really have a home planet, which means they can’t really be protected by the union :(

she joins the orville and ends up working in a brand new agricultural department, and as a sort of diplomat to help her species join the union

her and alara hold hands and kiss 🫣🤭

her sister lorna ( who is an evil space fugitive ) and her little brother darius ( who is doomed by the narrative 😞😞 )

[ineffablecaptain]

I was wondering out of the ships on The Orville, which is the most popular on here, so here’s a poll with some of them on. If yours is not on here click other and tell me which one, I’m intrigued.

[fandomnerd9602]

May I request an Alara Kitan from The Orville x Kryptonian Reader please?

Ed: Alara can you show Y/N here around?

Alara freezes in place, admiring the specimen before her…

Y/N: hi there. I’m Y/N.

Alara: K-Kryptonian?

Y/N: yes but I was raised on Earth. I-I love your ears.

Alara: I love your muscles

Y/N: what?

Alara: what?

[imaginesbymonika]

Bleeding out.

Pairing: Ed Mercer x fem!Reader

Plot: Ed says something stupid, that's it.

Warning: mentions of someone getting shot, a bit of angst but mainly fluff, comedy, Gordon being Gordon

A/N: I don't see anyone write for them, so I am going to do that!

“She’s okay.”, Kelly, who is standing a couple of meters away from her ex-husband watches his hectic movements closely:”Isn’t that what matters?” Her eyes follow him, as he walks from one side of the room to the other in what appears to be a circle: „God. Ed! Will you please calm down!”

At that, he rapidly spins around:”Calm do-.”, he lets out: ”I was supposed to be the one in there right now, not her! Kelly, that weapon was pointed straight at me.” Gordon wants to add something but is quickly cut off when the doors to one of the treatment rooms opens up. He only nods his head towards its direction and Ed instantly storms past the nurses into the room.

“Were you completely out of your mind?!”, Ed doesn’t ask her. It sounds more like an accusation. His nostrils are flaring while he clenches his fist. Meanwhile Y/N who is putting on her shoes only rolls her eyes at her captain’s behavior. But once they land on Kelly and Gordon a find smile emerges on her lips.

"Are you even listening to me?!"

“Yeah, believe it or not… I am.” He tilts his head. “But I am not going to apologize for what I did.”, Y/N shakes her head and attempts to stand up from the table. However when the pain in her leg strikes through her body like a bolt of lightning she lets out a thick groan. But before her body collapses Ed quickly moves forward to grab her by her arms: ”Please. Take it easy.”, he mumbles. He really wants to sound tough and intimidating, but the concern is lying thickly on top of his words. He sighs: ”Let’s just get you out of here, okay?”

“Wait, wait, wait. My jacket.”

“Malloy!”, Ed declares loudly before walking his friend towards the exit. Gordon blinks and glances at Kelly in disbelief: ”Seri- Seriously? What am I? A servant?” “Just take it!”, Kelly simply answers, before handing him the blue fabric:”Do it for Y/N.” The blonde woman watches how he softly whines before ultimately snatching it out of her hands. “Yeah, yeah.”

——

“So…do you think that he will tell her?” Kelly asks, while she sits down on the opposite side of the Helmsman in the cafeteria.

“What are you talking about?”, Alara, who is taking a sip of her drink furrows her forehead at the question. Gordon leans back in his chair:”That our captain is madly in love with Y/N?”, he scoffs and wipes his mouth:”I highly doubt it. His pride won’t allow it.” At the sound of two familiar voices approaching he quickly turns his head to the left: ”Would you look at that.“

Y/N who is walking toward their table smiles widely once her eyes fall on her jacket:" Oh my! Thank you so much, Gordon." She instantly puts it back on before turning to Ed, who has sat down next to Alara. He is aimlessly poking around his food with a fork. "How do you feel?", Kelly asks, giving her friend a compassionate smile. Y/N's gaze remains on Ed for a few seconds longer than probably necessary before she looks to the blonde woman:" No, yeah. I'm fine."

"Yeah, right.", Ed scoffs, and brings his fork up to his mouth. "The captain is right, Y/N. You should get some rest, and try not to get shot again. You're lucky that the bullet only hit your leg. Next time, it-." And as if Ed got punched straight into the face he looks at Gordon in pure revulson:" Next time? No, no, no. There is not going to be a next time." He turns to stare at Y/N:" Promise me right now, that you are never ever going to jump in front of me or anyone ever again."

The young woman chuckles and brings her cup of coffee up to her lips:" Yeah, right." Her voice is dry as she sits down. However when she makes eye contact with Ed again she blinks in surprise:" Oh, you were serious about that."

"Of course I am serious about that, promise me." "No, I am not going to promise you that!"

Kelly and Gordon exchange a quick look. "I will not have this conversation again!", Y/N shakes her head before quickly getting up again from her spot at the table. "Are you serious?!", Ed's voice gets more high-pitched with each passing second, and he clears his throat when he realizes how almost everyone around them is watching them. „Whatever.“, Y/N only says and walks away.

——

"You could have died! Don't you get that?!", Ed asks Y/N as he follows her down the long corridor. For the last weeks, he has done nothing but that: follow Y/N around the ship and (unsuccessfully) ask her over and over again to promise him to not put herself in harm's way ever again.

Isaac and John both turn around at the sound of their voices. "I do get that, God!", Y/N responds, annoyance clear in her voice:" Now, please stop asking me that!" "Promise me, and I am off your back for good!“

"I can feel a certain tension.", Isaac states, observing the bickering friends. "Y/N got shot because she jumped in front of the captain and now he tries to make her pledge to him, that she won't do that again.", John clarifies, and Isaac nods in understanding. "I mean, to be fair, you couldn't promise that either." "What was that?", Ed blinks and slightly tilts his head.

Y/N sits down on her chair and begins to type something into the computer:" Are you actually trying to tell me, that if I was being shot you could just watch that without wanting to interfere in any way?" A chuckle leaves her lips, almost as if she knows his response. Ed rolls his eyes:" There are a million ways to prevent that from happening without me having to jump in front of the weapon!"

The young woman swirls around in her chair:" Okay, imagine this: it's you, me, and a krill with a blaster. There is no way you can save me without sacrificing yourself. You tell me, that you could stop yourself from-." "Of course, I could!"

Y/N stares at him, while her confident smile quickly fades away: "W-What?" She closes her mouth and swallows thickly, before rapidly standing up again. "No, wait. I-.", but before any actual apology can leave his lips, Y/N has already walked out of the room.

——

"You said what?", Kelly almost chokes on her drink. "I didn't mean it.", Ed says, while rubbing the bridge of his nose: „Obviously." Gordon, who puts his knife down only shakes his head:" Tell that to her, not us. She's the one who will be left behind to bleed out, should you two ever get attacked by a member of the Krill."

"I never said anything about letting her bleed out, Gordon.", Ed stares at him in irritation: „Gordon, I-." "But he's right.", Kelly cuts him off, managing to draw Ed's attention towards her. He sighs:" I want to, but she won't talk to me."

---

"Y/N, please."

Gordon and John both turn around. Kelly who is standing near Claire and Isaac quickly makes her way over to join her two friends at the bar. Y/N's leg seems to be entirely healed and the captain struggles to keep up with her:" I am so sorry, but you know I didn't mean what I said." "Oh really?", she unexpectedly stops walking and turns around, which makes Ed nearly bump into her: "Because you answered my question super fast."

Ed opens his mouth to respond, but when no words leave his lips he closes it again. He looks defeated and tired. Y/N clenches her jaw. However, when she notices how the others are watching them from the others side of the room she walks over to them. A shiver runs down Gordon's spine at the sight of her forced smile. "Well that's creepy.", John simply whispers. "How are you, guys.", Y/N states and sits down next to him on the empty bar stool:" My friends. Who actually care about me."

Ed runs a hand down his face:" I was just trying to protect you!" "Yeah, right.", the y/h/c haired woman lets out a high pitched fake laugh:" I do not need protection, after all I am not a child!" She turns the chair around to fully face him again:" And by the way, saying that you would let me bleed out is really not a nice thing to say, now is it."

"For the record, I am just worried about you, we- wait did you just say 'bleed out' ?", He looks past her towards the other men:" Gordon, did you tell her that? I swear to-."

"You two, will you please stop this nonsense?!“, Clair declares, her voice loud and stern:" This has been going on for over two weeks now and it is exhausting for everyone on this ship! Y/N can't you see that Captain Mercer is doing all of this because he is clearly in love with you? And Ed, didn’t you realize by now that Y/N only jumped in front of you because she is in love with you as well?"

Ed who has his index finger still near Y/N's face gradually lowers his hand, while Y/N's jaw drops. She watches in silence how all her friends leave the bar, and for a few moments, neither of them says anything before Y/N finally looks at Ed again, who clears his throat.

"Are you-." "Are you-." "I mean, yes-." "Yeah, I-."

Y/N raises her hand:" Wait, you go first." Ed sits down next to her:" Listen, I- I care about you, okay? That's why I got scared. If you somehow die while protecting me, I- I don't know how to survive that." Y/N sighs as her facial features soften. She looks down and takes his hand in hers:" Well, for what it's worth I care about you too." And without waiting for a second longer, Ed pulls her into a soft kiss. "After everything that has happened, it would be embarrassing now if you didn't."

"I still won't promise you that." "I figured that you would say that.", he answers, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear:" Guess, I will have to look out for you a bit more." "Yeah… I guess so."

[lt-alara-kitan]

Broken Pieces Shine || An Orville AU

Chapter Four: Bet Characters: Alara Kitan, Ed Mercer, Original Characters Romantic Pairing: Alara x Ed Rating: Mature Triggers: Dom/Sub elements, Dub-Con Elements, Exhibitionism elements, Coercion, Master/Slave dynamics, Oral Sex, Humiliation, adult language, dirty talk Summary: Ed x Alara || Orville Alternate Universe: Flung into deep space via the gravitational pull of a wormhole, Ed and Alara find themselves lost in international space. Even worse, they’ve run into pirates on an outlaw space station in the middle of nowhere. With untold damage done to the ship they have no choice but to dock there, and try to fit in, but when the Overlord wants to see them, their seemingly simple plan becomes their worst nightmare.

“You can come out now.” Ed called, speaking with his normal voice. She was glad he said something too, since it was getting very boring sitting in the bathroom doing nothing while she strained to hear what he might possibly be saying in his chat with Blake. She opened the door and looked at him. “So I’m going to go meet him for drinks, alone.” 

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” 

“It was his idea.” 

“Maybe because he knows I’m a Xelayan and he wants to do something to you that he also doesn’t want me to protect you from.” 

“Or he just wants to have drinks.” Ed sighed though she could tell that he wasn’t outright dismissing her, because he didn’t sound extremely confident in his suggestion that maybe this invitation was completely innocent. “Look he said something about a karaoke competition and you know I can’t resist that. It’ll be broadcasted, I guess people bet on the winners. I gave you that credit device, right? Just have fun.” 

“I don’t really understand gambling or-” 

“I know. It’s money so it doesn’t mean anything to us. It’s why we can replicate a bunch of it and it won’t matter how much you throw away, as long as it’s not all of it since we need to have something while we are here.” He said then headed into the bathroom past her. She turned and watched him and he looked in the mirror and fixed his hair a bit. 

“So you want me to watch this competition and maybe bet on it while you actually enter it, in a whole other part of the space station?” 

“Yeah, that’s the plan.” 

“And what if he does something to you and I can’t get there fast enough?” 

“Alara, it will be okay. I doubt he suspects anything and it’s better to be at the right hand of the devil than…how does the rest of that go?” 

“I’m not sure I’ve ever heard that quote before, sir.” 

“The point is that we are only here for a few days and if we are friendly with him it’s better than making enemies so uh…let’s try to avoid that.” He finished fixing his hair, patted her on the arm, and walked out of the bathroom again. She followed him. Maybe she didn’t know how that quote ended but she figured that the rest of it had something to do with not incurring the wrath of the most powerful pirate at the station. “You have the communicators right?” 

“Yes, sir.” She held up her arm, there was a very small one attached to a bracelet she was wearing that just looked like it was ordinary jewelry. 

“And I have mine.” He pointed to the cuff of his sleeve, his just looked like a fancy but otherwise normal button. “If anything goes that poorly I’ll do whatever I can to communicate with you what to do next.” 

“Okay I just hope you’re right about this.” She said. Mostly because they had a lot to talk about once he got back, that was for sure. Even if he thought that she’d forget or drop the topic completely, she didn’t intend to, but it also didn’t look like there was any time now to continue the discussion they had started before Blake had interrupted them. 

“Good, I’ll be back soon, right after this contest or whatever. I promise.” He gave her a smile and headed out of there. She sighed and turned on the monitor in the room, before flipping through the various channels of pornography and violence until she found a closed-circuit broadcast of the bar that looked like it was set up for karaoke. She could tell by the stage at the front and the various booths that surrounded the area. The contest must have been a popular thing around there because the place was almost packed. Part of her was annoyed that she’d be missing out on the fun but another part of her was kind of glad she wasn’t asked to go. 

The idea of having to stay in character as this stupid blond pet Xelayan around all these other pirates annoyed her. Besides, this way she could stay sober, study the crowd to see how they behaved, and watch Blake. If he had any weaknesses she wanted to know about them, even if it was rather doubtful that he’d let them show during a friendly singing contest. 

*****

She got herself something to eat as she sat back to watch this karaoke contest that she also was allowed to bet on, or maybe was supposed to? Ed hadn’t been entirely clear on that. Once she found the right channel to watch, which wasn’t easy because the technology on the station was extremely outdated and a bit before her time she saw a little box pop up asking her if she wanted to place a wager. 

It took her another few minutes to figure out how to even do that but once she had she was able to place a large bet on Ed. Obviously she was going to bet on him, not only because he was her Captain but because she’d heard him sing during karaoke nights on the ship. It was possible that there was someone better than him in that crowd but it seemed unlikely. 

The song that he sang wasn’t very familiar to her, definitely not one she’d ever heard at one of their karaoke nights but he did an amazing job. The others before and after him ranged from outright terrible to a point they were booed off the stage to about average. Then it was Blake’s turn. It wasn’t surprising that he would go last. She had to admit even if she thought he was a skeevy bastard he put on a great show and had an amazing voice, though it also wasn’t a song she was familiar with. Probably earth songs from the 90s or something. It sounded similar to a lot of the music she’d heard Gordon playing. 

When the contest had ended she watched the list of contenders shift around on the screen as one by one names were knocked out and the voting count grew. Ed was neck and neck with Blake until the very end when somehow, he won. Which meant that she had won. A very large number flashed on the screen with wording that she was a winner, but since she really didn’t have a great grasp on the concept of money or credits or a whole currency based system she wasn’t too excited about that. If anything she was just nervous because he’d beaten the guy that everyone referred to as The Overlord. 

The broadcast shut down after that switching over to what looked like some ancient black and white film after a plesant female voice said that the credits would be transferred to her account, or more accurately, Shark’s account since that was how she’d placed the bet in the first place. Ed had already explained to her that she wasn’t really supposed to have money. She finished off her drink then got up and headed into the bathroom to shower. It had been a long day, a long, weird day, and she was looking forward to getting some sort of rest. Though she knew she really wouldn’t be able to until Ed got back and was safe. 

*****

Though she had decided to lay down in the bedroom she hadn’t intended to doze off. However, between the drinks and the food she was far more tired than she anticipated and ended up doing it anyway. That was until she heard the door open. She sat up and turned to look in that direction to see Ed stumble his way in and practically collapse on the bed. It didn’t take a genius to tell he was drunk she could smell it on him. The clock on the wall said it was three in the morning. 

“Captain?” 

“You….you are so…just so beautiful you know that?” He asked, rolling over onto his back to look up at her. 

“And you are very drunk.” 

“Yes but I know…I know the truth and I…I gotta say it.” 

“Do you?” She rolled her eyes and pulled him more onto the bed which was easy considering her strength. “Let’s get you undressed and uh maybe a bit more comfortable.” 

“I need to pay you back. A lot.” 

“Pay me back for what?” 

“You know….before….in the office?” He whispered, but he did it loudly so it almost made no difference that he was whispering in the first place. He placed his hands over hers and then sat up, kneeling there to look her in the eyes. “With the blow job.” 

“Captain you don’t-”

“SHHHHH” He pressed two fingers against her lips firmly. “I gotta do it, I wanna do it, I always want to do it I have…I have to taste you.” 

“Maybe not when you’re drunk, I don’t think-” 

“You’re not drunk.” 

“And…?” 

“You can say yes or no and I think we both know that it’s a yes kind of situation.” He grinned and pulled her into a sloppy but somehow very nice kiss. He wasn’t wrong about what he was saying she definitely did want it but she didn’t want it in that way. She found herself kissing back for a moment before she realized it would be wrong to allow him to go through with this even if she definitely would like it and had thought about it herself. Too many times to count. There had been so many lonely nights and fantasies and with what he was saying before (when he was sober) she didn’t think he was lying to her now. Or that this was just drunk talk. Well, dishonest drunk talk. He surely meant everything he was saying, it just wasn’t anything he would ever say to her while sober. Not in this way, exactly. She pushed him back gently. 

“You are right, I do want this, but I don’t want it when you are drunk and either can’t remember doing it or regretting it later. Wouldn’t sober you appreciate that sober me is telling this to drunk you?” 

“What?” He went back to try to kiss her then paused as his eyes searched the room like he was thinking really hard about something. “Oh….oh yeah sober me, he’s a real stick in the ass you know.” 

“Not all the time.” She said and patted his cheek. “So, then you agree that this should wait?” 

“No…I mean…no I don’t want it to wait because I want you so badly I’ve wanted you in the worst way for the longest time, you have no idea what you do to me…” He whined loudly then closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “But….but I know sober me would not like drunk me doing any of this to you so…sober it is.” He very clumsily managed to get out of the shirt he was wearing before he collapsed with his head half way on the pillow and was very quickly asleep. 

“I kind of hate myself for stopping that.” She muttered knowing he wouldn’t really hear it but it still felt better to say it outloud to someone, helped a bit with the intense arousal and sexual frustration she was feeling. She laid down again and watched him for a moment before she started to drift off to sleep herself. At least this entire situation made for some very good dream scenarios. 

*****

When she woke up the next morning she was surprised to find that Ed wasn’t asleep next to her. She yawned and got up to head for the bathroom. Though right outside of the door she could hear someone in there puking. It made sense because of how drunk Ed was the night before. She went to get him some tea hoping that would help settle his stomach and she was standing there with it when he came out, only in his underwear. 

“You really shouldn’t be seeing me like this.” 

“I’ve seen worse.” She held out the cup and saucer to him. He smelled it lightly then took it from her and went to sit on the couch. 

“Ginger…something?” 

“Ginger, lemon, and a bit of honey. Think that’s good for the stomach, well, it worked for me ever since Dr. Finn suggested it.” He nodded and took a small sip. “Besides, the best cure for a hangover is hydrating.” 

“I’m aware of that.” He muttered, “Do you think that thing can make aspirin or…?” Before he could get an answer from her the monitor across from the couch flickered on. Blake was there looking at both of them. Her first instinct was to cover up since she’d only slept in a fairly skimpy nightgown that she’d gotten from the replicator but she realized as a pet behavior like that would look suspicious. 

“Shark, there you are. Was thinking of inviting you to breakfast, my quarters.” 

“I think I over did it a bit last night, yeah, perhaps lunch would be better?” Ed suggested somehow slipping back into that British accent he had been doing before. It was pretty amazing that he was able to keep things together enough to know when to be in character and when not to be. Never faltering on that accent either. 

“Let me put it this way, it’s not a request and it’s not polite. You will be here for breakfast with your pet at zero eight-hundred hours. Understood?” Ed kind of glanced in her direction but seemed to realize that trying to confirm this arrangement with her would look stupid so he cleared his throat and gave a nod. 

“Breakfast it is.” He agreed. 

“Good. I will send someone to escort you.” The screen went black immediately after and Ed set the tea down on the table in front of him, his hands trembling slightly. 

“What was that about?” He asked. 

“I think you’d know better than me because I don’t have a clue. The only thing I saw last night was you winning the competition and then it switched to some old movie.” 

“This isn’t good.” 

“Well, maybe it’s not, he didn’t directly say what he wanted so-” She was interrupted when he hurried past her to go into the bathroom. Seconds later she heard puking again. With a sigh, she went over to the replicator to get herself something clean to wear. Hopefully she’d have time for a shower before they were hauled off to this suddenly urgent and mandatory breakfast meeting. 

[openthisjarofpicklesforme]

So, I know I’ve been gone awhile...

and that probably won’t change (unless Alara returns to the show and gives me more to work with on the Edlara front,) but I’ve been binging season 3 on HULU and I’ve just really been missing Alara. There have been several plots so far that Alara could have had a great impact on in a wonderful way.

Not to mention, that without the chemistry between Ed & Alara, the show just seems to be missing something.

Regardless, I was just wondering if anyone else was missing this character/ship as the show progresses forward.

[jimothystu]

Ed x Alara - “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

Fandom: The Orville Requested by an anon: “Could you do an Ed x Alara imagine? Maybe Alara comes to Ed's rescue and he sees her in a different light. And Alara realizes that while others are intimidated by her strength, Ed loves her all the more for it.” Word count: 1.6k Warnings/notes: This is my official first imagine for The Orville - I hope it’s okay! Feedback is always appreciated. If you have any requests for the characters of The Orville (ships or reader-inserts) send them in!

Ed lay on the slab of wood his captors called a bed, thoughts of the events leading up to that moment playing in his mind. The Orville had been exploring a binary star system when they made contact with a species called the Klin. The Klin had invited members of The Orville to come down to the surface, but as the shuttle was on its way to the surface, warcrafts had shot them down. The attackers were of a small faction of the Klin who were xenophobic and opposed all contact with people who weren’t from their world. Dozens of them had surrounded the crashed shuttle with high-yield guns and they demanded that whoever was in charge to go with them or else they would kill them all.

Ed was brought to a small building on the far side of a mountain. He was asked many questions: who he was, where he came from, what he was doing on their planet, that sort of thing. He had told them the truth about everything until they asked for details about the Orville’s tactical systems. He had had a feeling that they were going to want details about the ship in order to launch an attack. He didn’t say anything else after that, and he payed the price. They used what felt like steel-toed boots to kick him in the ribs and they used their large fists to punch him in the face. It had hurt like hell, but Ed remained silent and after a while his captors grew frustrated and locked him into a small room with a bed and a small light, but no windows.

He had been there for what felt like forever. In reality it was nearly two days, but of course he didn’t know that. They’d barely fed him during that time, nor did they give him much to drink, so his head was more than a little fuzzy.

He heard voices from down the hall. They sounded alarmed. He lifted his head and listened. Then, he heard weapon’s fire and he sat up quickly, wincing at the pain in his chest.

“Captain?” a faint voice called.

At first, he thought he was imagining it, then he heard it again and stood up. Ed quickly went to the door and banged on the hard metal, ignoring the pain he was in. “In here!”

“Captain?” Alara’s voice asked through the door.

Ed sighed out in relief and smiled. “Alara, thank God. Mind opening this jar of pickles for me?”

“With pleasure, sir. Stand back,” she said.

Ed moved to the far end of the room. “Okay! Go for it!”

The sound of metal creaking filled the room and within a few seconds the door and the wall around it started to tip inwards, falling to the ground with a loud bang.

Alara stepped over the door. “Captain, are you all right?”

Ed nodded, but as he took a step forward a sharp pain shot through his chest and he gasped, bending at the waist and clutching his side. Alara rushed to him, wrapping an arm around his waist.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, trying not to let her worry for him be heard.

“They hit my ribs pretty hard,” he said through gritted teeth. “I think they’re broken.”

“Claire will fix you up when we get back to the Orville.” She wrapped his arm around her shoulders and carefully helped him out.

Gordon came running down the hall with several other security officers with him. “Ed! You okay?”

“Just a few broken ribs, nothing I can’t handle,” he replied with a forced smile.

Gordon nodded. “The shuttle’s waiting outside. We should go before any more of these people get here.”

Ed nodded and stumbled alongside Alara. “What happened? How did you guys find me?” he asked.

“It wasn’t easy,” Gordon said as they stepped outside.

Ed squinted against the bright sun.

“This faction has found a way to mask all of their bio-signs,” Gordon continued, “And they have a dampening field all around their buildings that hides them from all scans. It’s like they’re cloaked to all technology. Nothing can detect it.”

“After they took you,” Alara said, “we managed to repair the shuttle, but we had no way of knowing where they took you. We had tried to track them after they left, but our scanners didn’t work and they had gone through a very dense forest so we couldn’t find them on foot.”

They got onto the shuttle and Alara helped ease Ed onto a chair. He nodded his thanks to her.

“We returned to the Orville and tried to locate your bio-signs,” she said, sitting in the seat across from him. “Whatever dampening field they use masked your bio-sign as well.”

Gordon took the shuttle up and they started to make their way back to the Orville.

Ed nodded slowly. “So, how did you find me?”

“Alara found you,” Gordon said. “It was quite impressive, really.”

Alara blushed softly and shrugged modestly. “I figured that if we couldn’t use the sensors, we’d have to use our brains to figure out where you were. So, I spoke to the Klin officials and looked at topographical maps of the continent we landed on. I ruled out some locations based on various factors: being too close to the Klin, being too open, that sort of thing. So, we narrowed it down to a few spots. The Klin officials helped us by deploying some ships to monitor the areas we were searching, in case someone tried to shoot us down again. Their buildings aren’t cloaked to the naked eye, so we had to go to the locations and search around on foot.”

“Sorry for not coming sooner,” Gordon said, glancing back at his friend. “But it took us a while to find you. Kelly and Bortus were in the other shuttle looking, as well.”

Ed smiled slightly. “Thank you. All of you.” As he said it, though, his eyes were only focused on Alara.

--

Ed rang the doorbell to Alara’s quarters and bit his lip. Would it be weird for him to show up at her quarters so late? It was too late for him to reconsider, though. The bell was rung.

The door opened, revealing Alara in her pyjamas. “Captain,” she said, sounding a little surprised.

“Hey, Alara, I know it’s late. Can I come in?” he asked.

Alara nodded and stepped aside. “Is there something wrong? Did Claire let you leave sickbay?”

“Yeah, I’m as good as new,” he assured her. “I just… wanted to thank you again. What you did was truly impressive, and I can’t thank you enough.”

Alara smiled slightly. “Just doing my job, sir.”

Ed laughed lightly. “You say that, but I don’t know of anyone else who exceeds the job expectations as much as you do.”

“Thank you, sir,” she said with a modest smile.

“Oh please, we’re off duty, you don’t have to call me sir.”

“All right… captain?”

He smiled. “Ed’s fine.”

Alara nodded slightly. “Would you like a drink?”

“That would be great,” Ed said.

Alara went to her synthesizer and got two drinks. She handed one to him.

“Thanks,” he said and held up his glass, pleased that she knew what he liked. “To you and your brilliant mind.”

Alara tapped her glass against his and they both took a drink.

“You know, Alara, I was thinking,” Ed said slowly. He didn’t want to come off as sounding inappropriate or anything, but he felt he need to tell her how he was feeling. “I really appreciate and admire your strength. Mental and physical.”

“You do?” she asked, not quite knowing where he was going with that.

Ed nodded and took another drink. “It’s remarkable what you’re capable of doing. It’s like… it’s like you have super-powers.”

Alara laughed softly. “I don’t think anyone’s thought of me as having super-powers before.”

“Well, I do.” He looked at her sincerely. “You’re brave beyond belief, you’re stronger than literally anyone I’ve ever met, and you have more stamina than most of the crew combined. It’s just… you’re incredible.”

Alara looked down at her drink, trying to stop the eruption of butterflies in her stomach. “Captain—Ed, I don’t know what to say.”

Ed decided to just blurt out what he was feeling and be done with it: “Look, I know it might not be recommended by Union policies, but I think I’m falling in love with you.”

At that, she looked up quickly, eyes wide. “You… you are?”

He nodded, trying to remain cool and collected. “I’m in constant awe of you, Alara. Not just your strength, but your kindness, your resilience, your sense of humour, all of it. I know you think most guys are intimidated by you, but I’m not.”

“You’re not?” she asked quietly.

“Not even in the slightest,” he replied. “Okay, well, maybe if I ever make you mad.”

Alara smiled. “What about Kelly?”

“She’s moved on, and I have too. I’ll always love her, but not in the way that I once did, and not in the way that I want to love you. If you don’t feel the same way just let me know and we can forget I ever said anything.”

“I…” Alara bit her lip. Could this really be happening? It felt too good to be true. She took in a breath and decided to risk it. “I think I feel the same way.”

A wide grin spread across Ed’s face. “So, would it be all right if I kissed you?”

“It wouldn’t be breaking any Union policies, would it?” she asked, though she was already leaning her head up closer to his.

When Ed spoke, his breath fanned Alara’s face. “If it is, screw it.”

“That’s not a very captain-y thing for you to say,” she murmured.

Ed’s smile reached his eyes. He cupped her face with his free hand and pressed his lips against hers.

If you enjoy my writing, please consider supporting me on Ko-Fi

[mitzrayim]

Anybody ship Ed and Alara from The Orville or is it just me?

[pretzelduck]

An evening encounter with Alara has the potential to turn Ed Mercer's day from bad to good but first he has to survive misunderstandings and bad jokes.

*Ed/Alara fic*

[supagirl]

Alara, you wanna open this jar of pickles?

[scorpi14]

Honestly I ship these 2 too.

“Alara, you wanna open this jar of pickles for me?”

[kokoreanoftheorville]

What is a ‘Dragon’? (Captian Ed Mercer x Nadira) Part 1

Pairing: Captain Ed Mercer x Nadira (Original Female Character)

Series Synopsis: Nadira is the only Kakorean aboard the Orville and indeed feels lonely no matter how much she denies it to anyone who asks. So Ed decides to reach out to her, hoping to make her feel comfortable. It turns out they bond more than either of them expected.

Author's Notes: This was meant to just be a one-shot, but I didn't want to write a long one-shot, so this is now gonna be a little series. So have fun with that, I guess. 

"Lieutenant Nadira's finished her report about the treaty. She says she sent it to you, Captain." Alara informed Ed, glancing over her shoulder to check if he nodded. 

Glancing down at his comscanner, he received the notification of the document. He nodded "Yep, got it." This was going to be a fun report. It had been a few days since the Navarian-Bruidian conflict and... eventual agreement over Lopovius. 

No one was daring to mention what had happened with Darulio, especially  Ed and Kelly. They were both trying to bang the retepsian. At the same time, the lone Kakorean ran herself silly around the ship to accommodate the two warring species. 

Ed's brows furrowed as he thought about it. "Alara," Ed spoke up, lifting his gaze to the xelayan as she turned to him curiously. "Has Nadira left her office today? At all?" 

"I don't think so, sir. I saw her this morning for breakfast. But once her shift started, she hasn't made a move." Alara's brows as she recalled the movements of her friend, her lips formed into a hard line, slowly nodding her head, confirming to Ed and herself of her thoughts. 

Ed nodded in return, shifting in his chair as he stared at the comscanner. His fingers tapped at the armrest relentlessly. The trail for them was smooth, which was excellent! But it left Ed's head unoccupied, left to swarm with random thoughts. 

The Captain abruptly stood from his chair, telling Kelly that he'd be back soon. The blonde blinked, opening her mouth to question what he was doing, but he was gone before the words could be sounded. With a sigh, Kelly moved to the Captain's chair.

Ed's path was uninterrupted and swift, it wasn't long before he was standing in front of the Relations Office where Nadira resided. He tapped the large button on the screen beside the door. The loud beep earning a hesitant 'Come in.' from the woman inside. Ed stepped inside, looking up to greet the Kakorean. 

Nadira's dark purple eyes shot up from her work. She blinked upon seeing Ed, her scaly ears pointing shooting up to match her expression. "Captain! What brings you here?" She asks, closing her desk screen to give Ed her full attention. 

"Sorry, am I not welcome?" He asked, the corner of his lips quirking upwards in an amused smirk. 

"Huh? No-No-No-No! I just didn't expect--" The Kakorean fumbled, standing from her chair and waving her clawed hands frantically. 

"Nadira. It's alright, I was joking,"  Ed chuckled as he gestured for her to relax. He watched as she returned to her seat, her shoulders slumping along with her wings and ears. Ed found himself smiling softly as he observed the way Nadira would react. It reminded him of Earth's cats, it was cute. 

"My apologies, Captain. Guess I've been tense lately..." Nadira admitted, scratching the side of her head sheepishly. 

"Yeah... about that, uh, do you wanna get a drink? Later tonight." Ed blurted out, quickly shutting his mouth already kicking himself for just suggesting this out of the blue. Was she even comfortable around him? Yeah, he was too forward. Ed raised his hands to dismiss the idea. 

"Drinks? With me?" Nadira interrupted, raising an eyebrow as she gestured to herself. "If I may ask sir; why?" She tilted her head.

Ed sighed, stepping forward to sit on the chair before her desk. Running a hand through his hair, he looked back at Nadira with furrowed brows, while she looked back at him with confusion and curiosity. 

"I feel bad." He said, but Nadira simply continued to tilt her head, subtly requesting that he elaborate. "You, Alara and the rest of the crew were handling everything while I was..." He attempted to choose the right word for what happened, his hands coming up like he was physically trying to build the name. He ultimately huffed in defeat, then shrugging his shoulders "... you know." 

Nadira's lips morphed into a smile, gentle and kind. She spoke softly, "Captain. It wasn't your fault. No one on this ship expected what happened. In fact, I'm still annoyed that I wasn't informed of this, or that the Union didn't know." She chuckled, then shrugging her shoulders. "But that's behind us. Well, we'll remember if we have another retepsian on board."

"Oh, god no." Was Ed's immediate reaction to the idea, surprising the Kakorean. Nadira snorted, swiftly covering her mouth with her hand, but it didn't stop her giggling from being heard. 

"I'm s-sorry, C-Captain," Her wings unfolded from her back, moving to cover her face as she attempted to regain her composure. "That was inappropriate and rude, I'm so sorry!" 

"Hey," Ed stood up, reaching out, placing his hand upon the blue scales of her wing and gently moving the limb away. "It's alright, Nadira. I'm not offended." He offered a little smile. Which grew wider as Nadira's wings to shifted away to show an embarrassing blush on her face. 

Both sat in silence as their eyes shifted, eventually making contact. Ed cleared his throat, stepping back sheepishly while Nadira rubbed the back of her neck similarly. 

"Uh, so are you interested in having a drink?" Ed asked, breaking the timid silence. 

Nadira glanced to the side, then returning her gaze to her Captain. She smiled and nodded. "I am. It sounds nice. Thank you, Captain." 

"Call me, Ed. See you tonight after our shifts. Mess Hall?" He asked.

"Mess Hall." Nadira confirmed, "See you tonight... Ed." His name came out hesitantly like she was testing it out on her tongue. Both smiled at the sound of it before returning to their posts—both anxious for the night ahead. 

[mari-beau]

Kelly: It's just... It's hard to explain. It's like a drug.

Alara: Was it like that with Ed?

The Orville 1x09 Cupid’s Dagger

[lt-alara-kitan]

Broken Pieces Shine || An Orville AU

Chapter Three: Performance Characters: Alara Kitan, Ed Mercer, Original Characters Romantic Pairing: Alara x Ed Rating: Mature Triggers: Dom/Sub elements, Dub-Con Elements, Exhibitionism elements, Coercion, Master/Slave dynamics, Oral Sex, Humiliation, adult language, dirty talk Summary: Ed x Alara || Orville Alternate Universe: Flung into deep space via the gravitational pull of a wormhole, Ed and Alara find themselves lost in international space. Even worse, they’ve run into pirates on an outlaw space station in the middle of nowhere. With untold damage done to the ship they have no choice but to dock there, and try to fit in, but when the Overlord wants to see them, their seemingly simple plan becomes their worst nightmare.

Knowing that she didn’t have the luxury to waste time and keep hesitating she reached up to unzip the pants Ed was wearing. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to let him know that she was okay with this, well, more so than if they had been alone together and doing it privately. It wasn’t like there was any other choice here, not a better one. Either do this or something far worse and painful would happen. Possibly even a situation where she was forced to do it to this other guy instead. Some random stranger. She didn’t know if Ed had considered the same thing but he wasn’t stupid so he probably already had an idea. With her hands trembling just a bit she managed to get his pants open and his cock exposed. She leaned in to nuzzle it a bit before running her tongue over the length. He was already half way to being fully aroused so she had to assume that he wasn’t totally repulsed by her but not much of what she was doing was really getting him all the way there like she needed. Wrapping her hand around the base of his cock and marveling at how well-endowed he was she glanced up at him. 

“It’s okay, sir, I like an audience.” She said as if none of this bothered her when in reality she was screaming inside about this whole situation. Hopefully, it would be enough and not too inconspicuous of her to say. He didn’t reply and she wasn’t sure he was looking at her as much as he was just generally looking in her direction but with his eyes entirely out of focus. She didn’t press for an answer before taking him into her mouth. This wasn’t something she was unfamiliar with doing in general but she never thought she’d be doing it to her captain. The man that she’d had a crush on since she’d gotten on board and a man that she didn’t think even noticed her as much as she wanted to be noticed. 

She took her time, working her mouth and tongue over him as she slid more into her mouth and down her throat bobbing her head up and down and exaggerating her gags in an effort to get him more aroused. It was happening but it was kind of slow. She started to speed up her efforts, attempting to think of what more she could do to reassure him that also wouldn’t be suspicious when suddenly there was a hand on the back of her head. She could feel his fingers lace through her hair and pull on it just a bit. 

“That’s right…such a good little pet.” He breathed, still somehow using that accent. She hated to admit that she was aroused by all of this. It wasn’t something that she should be experiencing because of the situation but if this had to be done then they might as well enjoy it to the fullest extent possible, right? “Take it all in…fucking choke on it.” Suddenly she was shoved forward until he was almost all the way down her throat and she really was, in essence, choking to some level. Had she not been as experienced as she was, she probably would have panicked but she didn’t. It was easier, in a lot of ways, to let him guide her into what he wanted and what he liked but most importantly, she really liked. 

Due to her strength and the intimidating presence she had with most every human male, none of them had ever attempted to grab her and control her or do anything like that. She could have easily resisted had she been against it but she wanted him to do that. Wanted someone to take control instead of it having to be her all the time. His dominant voice, stance, and hold, was only serving to further fuel her arousal and with a good grip on her he started to move her back and forth at a more brutal pace. She relaxed and let it happen as best she could even with tears running down her cheeks from the effort. His moans were like music to her ears even as she lost more and more oxygen and her vision started to tunnel. Suddenly, she was shoved back, completely away from him. She gagged then coughed, as she tried to catch her breath, wondering what happened that he would stop this so abruptly. 

“Look at me.” He commanded and she didn’t hesitate to look up as she attempted to stifle another few coughs. “Say you want it, fucking whore.” 

“I…I want it…” She panted, her voice more than a bit raw from what he had been doing moments before. He slapped her across the face, which was completely unexpected but sent a spark of arousal through her like she’d never felt before. 

“You can do better than that, yeah? Say you fucking want it.” He ordered again, grabbing her by her chin to turn her back and force her to look up at him. His other hand came down to grip her hair, yanking her head back at a somewhat painful and almost impossible position. She was like putty in his hands though. The vision of him standing over her like that with his cock about ready to orgasm, fuck had she never wanted anything more than that. 

“I do fucking want it, please…I need your cock I need…I need you…your cum…I’m just a filthy, little…whore…” She pleaded in the most desperate yet innocent voice she could manage to muster at the moment. 

“Open your mouth.” He told her and she complied very quickly with the order opening her mouth and even sticking out her tongue. Her eyes looking up at him pleading, not for him to stop but to give her all that he had. It only took a few strokes of his cock from his own hand before he did cum. The vast majority of it got in her mouth and on her tongue though some of it dripped down her chin and over her neck. His cry was a strangled cry of pleasure and she could feel a shiver through him as he finished and let go of her hair. “Fucking swallow it, bitch.” She nodded and closed her mouth to swallow quickly. The warmth of her own pleasure trickling down to her very core. He quickly fixed himself up and zipped his pants shut then turned to look at Blake while she did what she could to get the rest of the cum off of her chin and neck, sucking on her fingers so she wouldn’t waste it but also because she assumed should that if she did any different than that it would seem suspicious. 

“Very good, I have to admit I’m surprised. Usually they aren’t so easily tamed.” Blake said. 

“She wasn’t at first but I’m a faster learner. So, anything else you need us for or can we get out of here for a bit?” Ed asked. 

“In a hurry?” 

“It’s been a few days on that ship which, if you haven’t noticed is quite a bloody mess of parts, nearly didn’t make it here.” Ed explained, “Was hoping for maybe a room, some good food and drinks and to wait for the repairs to be done.” Blake sat up at his desk and looked over something on his computer monitor for a moment. 

“You’re right. Estimated two to three days for general repairs, even more if you want it fixed up so it’s not as easy to trace.” Blake said. “Your guys can do that?” He asked, “For how much extra?” 

“Keep putting on shows like that with your little pet and you’ll be a VIP around here in no time. Won’t even have to charge you.” Blake replied. She didn’t like the sound of that, at all. No doubt that whatever this guy had in mind it was going to get a lot more personal and kinky than just a blow job. She clenched her jaw to keep from saying anything about it though. 

“So what, we’re like friends now?” 

“Now? Yeah, sure…could change in the future but I don’t see why it would.” Blake shrugged and then stood up. “Let me get my assistant to show you to your quarters.” He pressed some button on his desk and a few moments later a rather attractive but petite redhead appeared in the doorway after the door had slid open. She was wearing a black leather mini-dress and stilettos. She also had a patch over her eye. Not something entirely ordinary where they were from since just about any body part could be replicated and replaced. Though given the look of this space station and the old-fashioned technology it obviously relied on, they probably didn’t have nearly the things they would need to do something like that. 

“You needed something, sir?” The woman asked, her hand going up to her neck where she wore a leather collar. She messed around with it, tugging at it like it was uncomfortable, her fingers right above the letters that spelled out her name in gold plating. Beth. 

“Take them to one of the nicer suites, everything should be complimentary here for Shark and his pet so let the staff know.” Blake said. 

“Of course.” The woman replied, even though she looked and sounded quite unhappy about being ordered around. Ed gave a tug on her leash and a motion with his hand to indicate that she should stand up so she did. 

“I’ll be seeing you later you know, we can get a drink, maybe take in a show.” Blake said as he reached for the box with the cigarettes in them again. 

“You couldn’t keep me from that, bet you have some awesome shows on here too.” 

“More than you could imagine.” Blake chuckled, a sound that was almost as evil as the grin spreading across his face. A small shudder of disgust ran down her spine as she was pulled forward and ordered to move. At least they would be leaving that office, but for how long they would be leaving was anyone’s guess. It seemed like Blake had a thing for her, or Xelayans in general and the sooner they were out of this place, the better. 

*****

When they got to the room, Ed detached her from the leash and she walked in to get a good look around. The technology was old and seemed very steampunk, at least from what her limited knowledge of that was and it came from Gordon. As to how accurate he was, she didn’t know, but he seemed like he would have been some level of authority on it, far more than she was. It was still a very nice room, a suite like Blake had requested. They were in a small foyer area but she could see off into the back there was a lounge and a few doors probably one that led to the bedroom and one that led to a bathroom. 

“This is indeed a nice room, please send Blake my utmost gratitude uh….what was your name, love?” Ed asked the woman. She turned to look at both of them, because she thought it had been pretty obvious since there was a name on the collar. Which was only reinforced by the woman pointed right at it. 

“I know you can read if you can fly a shuttle all the way here, unless she did all the work.” Beth snapped at him. 

“Right.” Ed nodded, “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you too.” Beth rolled her eyes and left without saying another word. The door slid shut and Ed stepped up to lock it with a bolt on the side. He then walked into the room, brushing past her almost dismissively and hurried to one of the doors at the other side of the lounge. He pressed the button on the side and it slid open to reveal a bathroom, which he immediately entered, the door slid shut behind him. She raised a brow wondering what was going on here exactly but as she approached to ask him if he was okay she could hear loud retching from the other side of the door. 

“C-Captain…” She called, knocking on the door lightly trying to get his attention. “Are you um-”

“Give me a moment.” He called breathlessly, then there was some more retching. Well, that was nice to hear after she’d done everything and gotten so aroused over it. Maybe he found her way more disgusting than she’d initially thought. Not wanting to annoy him further if he was already puking his guts out she wandered around the room until she found something that looked like a replicator. She ordered a shot of Xelayan tequila and downed it before setting the glass on the end table by the couch and taking a seat herself. 

After some more retching and coughing in the bathroom she could hear water running. Then the door opened and Ed walked over to the same replicator and ordered the same thing as she just had, downing the shot before he walked over to the window, not even sparing her a glance. She frowned. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know that it was going to be awkward coming back here with him after all of that but he didn’t have to be such an ass about it if he’d hated it so much. It was making her feel like she wanted to cry, but not before maybe puking a few times as well. 

“Captain if I’m that repugnant to you-” 

“Oh no…no no no…you’re not. Fuck.” He shook his head, “Sorry, sorry….I uh…not that wasn’t about you or anything you did or how I feel about you I promise.” 

“Then what is it because you can’t be unaware of how this looks, right?” 

“No I’m…I’m not unaware no.” He shook his head and came over to where she was sitting, taking a seat in the chair across from her. “I’m disgusted with myself.” 

“For what?” 

“Everything? What I did in there was completely uncalled for, I should have done something or fought harder or-” 

“Look,” She said, “You and I both know that trying to get out of that situation would have made things a lot worse for the two of us, right?” 

“Yes but-” 

“We did what we had to do and I am glad it was you and not him or some other guy he could have potentially called in there to do it with, you didn’t violate me in any way that I would consider unreasonable under the circumstances.” 

“Alara, how I spoke to you, how I touched you, what I did-” 

“You feel bad about that?” 

“Don’t you?” 

“No I…” She felt her face get hot as she started to blush and she looked away from him again. “I liked it more than I should have because I…I like you a lot and I just didn’t think…it’s okay, Captain.” 

“You can call me Ed I think titles are kind of over after something like that.” 

“Well, Ed, what I said still stands and is the truth.” She sighed, “But if you don’t like me like that and we aren’t supposed to really be anything more than Captain and Lieutenant then-” 

“I liked it too but there’s a lot of things at play here that I can’t just come out and say.” He cut her off. She opened her mouth to ask him what he was talking about when they where interrupted by some sort of comm signal and the monitor on the wall coming to life. It was Blake on screen looking back at the two of them. “Go get cleaned up, I know I’m gonna want to use you again later.” 

“Yes sir,” She said, wondering why he felt the need to dismiss her to have this conversation but it wasn’t like she could tell him otherwise if Blake the Overlord was watching. She got up and headed to the bathroom. 

“I heard you like the accommodations, best I could do on short notice.” Blake said, “Tell me was my assistant rude to you at all?” 

That was the last thing she could hear clearly before the bathroom door slid shut behind her. From inside she could here some low muttering and she could tell the difference between Ed’s voice and Blake but she couldn’t make out any words no matter how hard she tried. She started to run the water at the sink to wash her face as she looked around for a toothbrush or some mouthwash. She knew that the situation here was only going to get a lot worse over the coming days but it seemed like it might at least be bearable if Ed didn’t despise her like she initially thought. They could get through this, they were both strong, intelligent, adults. Trained Union officers. There was no way some random space pirate could get the best of them as long as they stayed in character, right? 

[eienvine]

Because the world needs more Orville fanworks

So is anyone watching The Orville? And if so, can we talk about Kelly and Ed? I haven't even made up my mind whether I like the show yet, but I already ship those two SO HARD. (Is their ship name Mercson? Is that the plan?) Anyway this ficlet popped into my head and demanded to be written, and since I am feeling too lazy at the moment to get The Orville added as a category on AO3, I thought I’d put it on my old friend The Tumblr. Just a short and (bitter)sweet little moment between the captain and the XO.

Rating: K

Pairing: Kelly Grayson/Ed Mercer (Mercson, I believe?)

“So what’s the deal with Alara?”

Kelly looks up from her lunch as Ed walks into her office and drops into the seat in front of her desk. “What do you mean?” she asks, although deep down she suspects she knows.

“I don’t know,” he shrugs as he casually reaches out and steals one of the cherry tomatoes off her plate. The move takes her back a year and a half and more, to a thousand meals just like this: the pair of them together, chatting casually over the table, with Ed eating her tomatoes because he knows she doesn’t like them. The thought gives her a pang of nostalgia that she violently shoves back into its usual deep dark corner of her heart. “She’s been kind of weird,” he explains after a moment’s thought. “Sort of jumpy and on edge, almost . . . nervous, you know what I’m saying?”

Yes, Kelly knows exactly what he’s saying, and she wonders how to respond. Alara is her friend, and she doesn’t want to embarrass her. To answer truthfully would feel like betraying a confidence, even though Alara hasn’t actually told her anything; what Kelly knows is the result of observation, not confession.

But on the other hand, Ed is her captain, and if she has information about a personnel issue that could affect how the senior officers interact with each other, maybe she should say something. Imagine if it led to sloppy behavior on a mission, or in a landing party: the results could be disastrous.

(And on a third hand, he’s more than her captain. Alara might be a friend but Ed is . . . well, she has no idea what she and Ed are to each other, but she knows that whatever it is, it’s strong, stronger than her friendship with Alara. It has not escaped her wry, resigned notice that even now, sixteen months after the divorce, Ed is still the most significant relationship in her life.)

“I’m just worried, I guess,” Ed is continuing. “Those could be indicators of stress. Are we overworking her? I know she’s well trained, and she’s strong as an ox, but she’s still so green; twenty-three is pretty young to be a chief security officer. Should I lessen her hours until she’s feeling better?”

“Don’t do that,” Kelly says immediately. She doesn’t want to undermine the tenuous respect that Alara is starting to command among the crew, especially not when stress and overworking are not actually what’s ailing the young Xelayan. “It’s just . . .” How to put this in a way that won’t embarrass her young friend? “It’s being around you, to be honest. She’s kind of got a little hero-worship thing going on.” That’s essentially the truth, anyway.

Ed’s eyebrows raise in surprise.

“It’s actually really normal for young recruits to develop that kind of admiration for their commanding officers,” she says. “I mean, you remember the first captain I served under, Captain Cardaleer? I followed him around with stars in my eyes for the first six months. I actually used to take notes on all his crew-wide debriefings.”

“I see,” says Ed with understanding in his face. Too much understanding, actually; she can see at a glance that he heard all the things that she carefully didn’t say. So much for discretion. She never could hide much from Ed . . . except the affair, of course. “You mean she’s got a little bit of a–yeah, in retrospect, that actually explains a lot. So what should I do?”

“Don’t do anything,” she says immediately. “If you say anything you’ll just embarrass her. Give her a few months and it’ll wear off; she’ll find someone new to admire.” It occurs to her, not for the first time, how lucky she is to be serving under Ed; she can only imagine what her previous captain would have done with the fact that one of his young underlings was harboring a crush on him. An XO shouldn’t have to spend half her time comforting heartbroken crew members and trying to keep her captain from causing an HR nightmare.

But Ed wouldn’t do that–not with a subordinate, especially one who is so young and so new to the Union. He’s got his faults, but deep down, he’s a good guy. Always was, always will be.

Kelly goes on. “She’s smart, and a good officer; I don’t think you have to worry about getting any love letters or anything.”

He gives her that little smile of his, the one that just sort of beams at her like she’s done something wonderful, the one that used to be exclusively hers, the one that she’s never been able to resist. “If you say so, Kel. I trust you.” He grabs another of her tomatoes. “What’s the deal with that, though? I thought she’d been dating some guys on the ship. None of those worked out?”

She shrugs. “Apparently most of the guys she’s tried to date on the ship have been really put off by the fact that she’s stronger than them.” She hesitates, then adds, “I think that’s one thing Alara likes about you. You see her strength as something to be admired, not something she should be ashamed of.”

He chuckles and leans back in his chair. “I didn’t do it to get her to fall for me, but I do stand by that attitude. It’s one of the things that makes her awesome.”

Kelly laughs and rolls her eyes. “I wish more guys felt that way. And not just about strength. Some males can be really threatened by female competence.”

Ed snorts. “Which I’ve never understood What’s the appeal in being with someone who needs you to do everything for them? I always find competence sexy. I mean, that’s why I first asked you . . . out . . .” He trails off, wincing a little, and fixes his gaze on something on the wall behind her.

They’ve gotten better about not bringing up their past; some days she can pretend that they’ve never been anything except professional colleagues. It’s probably better that way. And in that spirit, she should drop this, she really should. But her mouth doesn’t listen to her brain. “Really? That was what you liked about me?”

He meets her eyes then, grinning a little shyly. “Well, yeah. You remember that hand-to-hand combat class we had? You kicked my butt; I was sore for days. And you were so good that I just thought, ‘I need to know that girl.’”

This is the most they’ve talked about their romantic history since they were trapped in that Calivon zoo. And maybe it has Ed feeling a little vulnerable too, because he clearly feels the need to break the silence with a joke. “You know, I just said something really nice about you. You should return the favor. My ego needs some stroking.”

She laughs aloud at that. “All right,” she says, and thinks back to those early days at Union Point, when she first started noticing her over-eager, over-optimistic, over-sincere classmate with the warm brown eyes. Then, ignoring the little pang in her chest: “The first thing I noticed about you . . . well, I mean, you were such a hard worker, and so smart; we all knew you’d do great things. But what I liked about you was how you wanted to believe the best of everything and everyone. You weren’t naive, you just preferred . . . to hope for the best. I’d always been so relentlessly practical, so to be around your optimism was, I don’t know. Nice.”

Optimism you took from him, says a voice in her head that she’s mostly managed to keep quiet the last few months. She hates herself for cheating because she lost Ed, but she also hates herself for cheating because she made Ed lose his way, as well as his hopeful outlook on life. And his ability to trust others, adds the voice, and she savagely tells it to shut up because if she starts down that path of self-flagellation, she’s going to be in a bad mood all day.

Ed is nodding thoughtfully. “It’s not as cool as beating people up, but I’ll take it.”

She chuckles, and he slaps his hands down on his knees in a final sort of way. “So, do nothing? That’s your advice?” She nods and he smiles. “You always have been better at solving my problems than I have,” he says–something that’s become a bit of a joke between them ever since the first time he said it, after their first mission together on the Orville.

“That’s why they pay me the big bucks,” she says–another joke between them, from long ago.

There’s that little smile again, the one that–yes, she admits it–has her heart rate subtly accelerating. “Thanks, Kel,” he says, and rises from his chair, and leaves the office.

And Kelly sits quietly at her desk, her eyes fixed on her office door, for a long time after he’s gone.