“Capes.” Lois shook her head and scowled. Keeping up with the latest fashions had never been her thing, but her mother had insisted that she dress up for her latest shore leave.

She plucked at the skintight fabric and sighed. She felt like an old fashioned neon sign. The small cape she’d finally, begrudgingly agreed to wear pulled at her shoulders and she grimaced.

Anything to keep the peace.

She felt the shuttle settling into position, and she waited a moment before standing. She was the only passenger on the shuttle; the other members of the crew had already come for shore leave three days ago. Lois had been making as many excuses as she could. Meeting with family was the last thing she wanted to do.

The door slid open and Lois stared at the sea of color before her. The crowd was a bit overwhelming, with every bright color in the rainbow represented in an eye gouging cacophony . There was not a dark or subdued color to be seen.

And the capes…there they were in the hundreds and thousands. People with symbols of every kind on their chests, on their capes. All Lois could call it was gaudy.

An attractive man in a distinctive blue suit stepped up onto the landing platform beside her. He wore a red cape and boots, and for some reason,, a large red S on his shirt.

“Ms. Lane,” he said. “I’m Clark Kent with the San Francisco tribune.”

Lois shook her head and said, “I’m not sure I have anything to say to you, Mr. Kent. Shouldn’t you be talking to the captain, or someone at Starfleet?”

“I thought you might have a unique perspective. You were on the away team…how does it feel to be in the record books as the ensign who has survived the most away missions?”

“I’ve survived three, Mr. Kent. I’m planning to testify to Starfleet that the red shirts ensigns are forced to wear are a hazard.”

Clark nodded. “Now that you are getting a promotion, you are out of the danger zone. What do you have to say to other ensigns in the time before Starfleet makes these changes?”

Lois said, “Stay close to the captain.”

She saw her mother and sister waving in the distance.

“I’ve got to go, Mr. Kent.”

He smiled, and Lois felt an unexpected surge of attraction. “Enjoy your stay, Ms. Lane.”

“Call me Lois.”

His smile turned to a frown, and a moment later, Lois heard the shock of a sonic boom.

She turned, and saw a shuttle trailing fire and smoke, tumbling end over end. The crowd below began screaming as hot pieces of burning metal rained down upon them.

For a moment, Lois thought the ship was going to smash into the crowd, but suddenly it pulled out of it’s dive. It pulled up faster than should have been possible, and a moment later it began to drift down toward the landing platform beside Lois’s.

There was a man underneath the ship, his hands holding it over his head. Lois felt her breath catch in her throat. He was like nothing she’d ever seen. He was beautiful, he was powerful.

He was gray.

In a sea of eye catching colors, he stood out. He wore an archaic suit, like something out of the holodeck novels. A tie, clean pressed slacks, and something on his nose. It took Lois a moment to recognize them as spectacles.

The crowd surged forward as he set the shuttle safely to the pad and ripped the twisted door open with his bare hands.

“Who are you,” Lois asked.

The man smiled, his teeth seemingly, impossibly white.

He checked inside and said, “The inertial dampeners were mostly working. Everybody is going to be all right.”

“What a super man,” someone muttered beside her.

He smiled again, larger than life, and a moment later he was gone.

Lois felt stunned, as though the wind had been knocked out of her.

This was the man she was going to marry.

She felt a tug behind her and grimaced.

Stupid capes.