Into the Dragons Den

Posted on 05 Oct 2010 @ 2:27am by

2,827 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: M6: Blood of the Innocent
Location: Holodeck
Timeline: MD 2, 19:30 hours

ON:

James had requested... no that wasn't the right word, he had extorted this date out of his Chief of department by being a pain in the ass. Too late to back down now and he wasn't about to give her the chance to back out and so at the arranged time he was stood before her door in a smart but casual outfit and holding not a bunch of flowers but instead a padd full of information about his last mission posting. He had served aboard a Luna class starship assigned to deep space. He had come across some truly amazing sites and he also knew that much of that data was still being reconstructed. He had of course given his notes and files to help but nothing was being official released until it was all ready, this padd had his work in it along with photos, she would never have see it before.

He pressed the chime to let her know he was here and then stepped back giving her space and prayed to the gods that she gave him a chance.

Meru had worried needlessly over what she was going to wear, she went from a slinky sexy red dress, to a plain white dress to a mini skirt and v-neck blouse to a pair of comfortable navy blue slacks and a comfortable white blouse with a curved neckline. The last outfit seemed somewhat casual, somewhat business like and seemed to give the perfect message, "I look good, but you still can't have me"

She kissed her sleeping son on the forehead and said goodbye to the nanny. Then she opened the door and saw James at the door, "Hi....good evening. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for us to speak about our...expectations." She tried not to let his good looks distract her from her goal.

He smiled brightly noting the outfit and reached out with the padd he had brought with him, "That sounds like a good idea, shall we go?" he said turning a little to face towards the turbolift.

Anara took the padd in hand and looked over it as she followed him out of her quarters toward the turbo lift. She noticed the beautiful images, "This is...very beautiful. I thought we were just going to eat in the Mess Hall..."

"What gave you that impression?" he asked her as the stepped into the lift and James ordered the computer to whisk them to the nearest holodeck. It would take just seconds but it was enough time for her to reply to his questions.

"I...uhh...I'm not sure I completely understand your intentions, James. Maybe you can clear that up for me?" she spoke plainly. She was tired of the mind games they had been playing, it seemed smart to simply be straight forward about what he wanted from her.

"I like you, and i want to get to know you, and in time maybe move past just talking, however long that takes" he had never been a ladies man, hell he was charming and good looking but he lacked what people would call 'A closing move'. The few women he had slept with had almost jumped him, not that he ever complained.

"And is that the reason you kissed me? Do you think it's okay for you to just randomly grab a woman and kiss them as if their body doesn't belong to them? Do you understand the re precautions for forcing yourself on someone? Some might call that sexual assault, Lieutenant junior grade Ravenor," she spoke firmly as they continued moving in the turbo lift.

"And some may call it romantic and spontaneous Lieutenant Anara" he replied just as the doors opened before the holodeck door. To say that she was playing hard to get was somewhat of an understatement she was bordering on out right hostile.

"Are you going to apologize? I think you owe me that at least," she continued.

"Say sorry for a kiss between us, i may have started it but you didn't try and stop me?" he knew he was pushing her a little here and it was also possible she would just turn around and leave. "I am sorry for the manner in which i kissed you, angry is never a good way to start any relationship and for that i am sorry" he decided that it was best to say it anyway, she wouldn't hear it often though.

Anara immediately blushed when he mentioned that she didn't try to stop him. Her mouth opened and then closed, "I...accept your apology. I don't know if a relationship is really right for me....right now. Especially since I am your superior officer. I imagine that would be difficult for you."

"Why?" he asked, he had no idea what she meant and then it dawned upon him "Oh, i have no problem having a working and personal relationship with the same person, and friendships are relationships as well. We can never have too many friends" he ignored the blush that was spreading across her face and instead programed the holodeck and opened the doors. Beyond was a busy plaza, hundreds of holo people chatted and crossed paths all seemed in high spirits.

Anara nodded quietly. She wasn't sure what else to say, when the doors opened and she saw the busy plaza. Her eyes widened a bit as she came into the plaza, looking at the people who were walking about.

He smiled at her reaction, "look up" he said to her quietly, this wasn't a moment to be destroyed with loud speaking, above them was a glass roof, many meters above them. On the other side of the glass a water, lot of it, miles in fact. It was bright as well, flood lights were casting multi-colored hues across the outside of the hull. Fish of all sizes and other sea life, free moving and plants stuck to the hull could be seen coating the gently rising structure around them.

Her mouth dropped open as she looked at the ceiling. She watched the fish move about in awe. The colors of their scales seem to glisten as they move, "What is this place...?"

"My home city" he said "It lays on the ocean floor 4 miles below the waves and rising 5 miles above them, i live this place"

"Wow...it's gorgeous. It's like being in a reverse aquarium. We are the fish and they are the outside world..." she spoke quietly.

He was grinning now "There is life on this world that loves these depths, when we built the city we made sure that we kept our light level low, least to the outside, and our energy emissions low as well, until we realized that the life down here loved the light and energy. We opened the windows and with in a year life had taken hold, it was like sinking a ship to act as a reef, that was 200 years ago, we now life as one with the ocean around us"

"I have heard of bio-domes but this something quite different. Why at the bottom of the sea? There isn't any land?" she asked curiously. She put her hand to the glass and watched a small fish moved past her fingers.

"We have four cities like this one and a dozen around the planet on land" he said "Some of us like living 9 miles high while other like living 4 miles below the oceans thats who we are, when we build we build big"

Anara laughed softly at the sound of obvious pride in his voice. She spoke softly, "Fascinating..." She walked around, curious to see what else he had planned. From the moment she met, James- she felt an instant connection, a connection that made her want to turn on her heels and run. Things seem to be going well with just her and her son and a part of her doesn't want to ruin that dynamic. She didn't want to introduce Edom to a variety of men who would end up leaving her and her son. It could be emotionally traumatic.

"This way" he said pointing towards a set of glass doors, beyond looked to be only ocean. "It is known as the 'sea spot' by the locals and is one of the best places to eat in the entire city, oh and the food is replicated, i am sorry about that" he didn't think replicated food was half as good as real food, but he had programed the ones on this ship to be much tastier then normal.

"That's okay..I wasn't expecting this at all, so..replicated food is fine. You know...most guys wouldn't want to date someone who has a child. That doesn't...daunt you at all?" she asked seriously as she followed him through the doors and down the hallway.

"Children are the next generation, they carry on the teachings and grace of their parents. Having a child doesn't make you any less attractive, or cleaver, or appealing to me. Your son is part of who you are and it is you i wish to know, to do that fully i must accept him and i do willingly" he was leading her into what was in affect a bubble. The ocean held back by powerful force fields but there was no sign of these, only the deep blue purple of the water at this depth.

Anara didn't know what to say about his explanation regarding her having a child. She thought most men would rather avoid being in a relationship where they might have to watch their girlfriend's kid. Although she did remember seeing that James connected with Edom fairly quickly.

Her mouth dropped open as they came to another part of the city, "Oh my goodness. I've never seen anything so beautiful in all my life. I feel like I could just reach out and touch it. It's somehow more of a intense visual with the use of a force field rather than glass. The intensity of color is actually quite fascinating.." She remarked as she moved closer to the wall. "The undulations of each wave appear to be 23.2 mm with a crest of 14.4 mm. The range of color from a dark fade to a pure blue..."

He listened to her, his specialty was the Ocean and everything about it and this was why. It was strange for anyone to see life at this depth, the Federation had a few deep sea colonies but nothing that came this close or this deep. Outside the field there was a variety life flitting around, "Oh" he said and reach out over her shoulder to guide her gaze "That is a shark" he said, there clear similarities with the Sharks on Earth with one difference, this shark had a twin dorsal fines in a V-Shape on the graceful creature.

"I hadn't known these were programed into this program" he muttered as they watched it swim around the large graceful curve of the bubble they were in. "It is almost 22 meters long and only lives at this depth. Normally we wouldn't have seen these creatures but the light from the city draws them close to us. It is strange, there isn't any light down here and we come along 200 years ago and build this city, light the sea up and instead of driving these light sensitive creatures away we draw them to us and they build their homes around the city."

Anara watched the animal in fascination. She had never known someone to take observations the same way she did it. It was actually quiet invigorating. "I could stare at this for days on end, but I admit that I am quite famished. We should move on to dinner. Is there a menu or do I simply order whatever I wish?"

"Order what you wish" he said "Although the specialty here is ironically is a bird much like Chickens on Earth, i think they might have Chickens given how they taste, but it is the way they are cooked here." They took a seat at the edge of the room facing each other with the Ocean to the side.

"I'm actually in the mood for sea food. I don't know if that sounds odd considering where we are eating.." she responded as she sat in the chair.

"What brought you to Science?" he asked her having no clue about the women before him who he was so drawn to, he thought it might be a good idea to get to know her.

Anara shrugged her shoulders, "I've always been interested in Science...even when I was a little girl. It drove me crazy...when I lived in that village on the refugee planet and watched the villagers continue to do things in such primitive ways. I tried to speak to them about making their life better, about trying to experiment with how things were done and they refused to listen to me. That's why I left onto a Star Fleet ship. I knew that I would have a better chance to continue experiments and I was right.."

"What about yourself? What brought you to science?" she asked seriously.

"Look around" he said "i grow up in this city, surrounded by the natural world. Even though my people are a military culture we still love the natural world and when my time came to join the forces i decided i wanted to understand my world and so joined the Science Corps." James smiles "And once my time was up i joined the fleet so i could explore other worlds. It is the Oceans i love, my mother says i should have been born a fish. I am as at home in the water as i am on land"

He feel silent for a moment looking out the window, he did miss his home a great deal, out of no where he vocalized his thoughts "When we leave our world to join starfleet we don't return until we are due to. You see i left and joined the fleet at 18, i will leave starfleet at 48 if i am lucky to live that long and only then will i return home."

Anara nodded, listening to him as he reminisced about home. She didn't really think of such things. She guessed that her home was the one with Marissa, but a part of her had never felt that it was really home. She smiled as a waiter came their way. She ordered a ice tea and a seafood pasta with scallops, shrimp and calamari.

James ordered mixed fruit smoothie and cal'bulie burger with a side of chips and salad. He did love his cal'bulie and was looking forward to getting his mean, even if it wasn't real. "At the risk of getting an answer i don't like why did you agree to come tonight?"

"Mainly to get you to shut up and focus on work. I like to have all of my science officers working at top efficiency," she said firmly. She looked down at the table, "I admit that I am attracted to you, but I don't trust very easily."

"Then i am greatly honored that you would even come out with me." he said "Although i feel it is only fair that i warn you that i am not your normal kind of officer, i will fight and die for the Federation and my fellow crew but i do take life with a pinch of humor. I enjoy my work and i wont hide that."

"I think it's important to follow protocol and it's especially important to complete projects in a timely fashion. I love every aspect from forming a hypothesis to recording observations, to organization and final reports. Of course presentations are really the bread and butter of what I love. When you see how your hard work has impacted your ship....that's quite a rush of adrenaline and pride," she added. She thanked the waiter when her drink and food came. She took a long swallow of her tea.

The rest of the evening passed with a a pleasant atmosphere, the two of them talked about their work. Their personal life's remained shrouded in mystery, it would have to be a subject for a later conversation. James walked Meru back to her quarters and bid her a good night.

Anara was surprised at how much she and James got along. There was a part of her that wanted to take things to the next level, but she knew that she couldn't rush things with him. She gave him a hug goodnight. Then she went into her quarters to check on her son. She kissed Edom's sleeping head, gave her farewells to the nanny and went to bed alone.

OFF:

Lieutenant Meru Anara
Chief Science Officer
USS Achilles


&

Lieutenant Junior Grade James Ravenor
Science Officer

 

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