Lee sat back in his chair, flicking through the pages that he had downloaded from the computer which was about how to use a holosuite! It was a fascinating device and there was enormous potential for it. You could practically live your life in there. The people of this time seem to take using the holosuite for granted! For Lee, it was a ingenius device which was worth exploring.
He discovered he could program it without learning to physically key in the commands..just by speaking to the computer. According to the notes, he could just about have anything in a holosuite..you're only limited by your imagination. Mind you, thought Lee, there was a place in the prom where you can buy 'off the shelf' holoprograms. That was for later.
"Computer?" said Lee
<Working> repiled the toneless female voice of the computer, then silence.
"I need a holosuite programme to be set up..er..please" said Lee, almost apologically. Damn! This is a machine.
<Specify holosuite>"replied the computer
"Holosuite 8," repiled Lee, remembering the number of the holosuite which was just down the corridor from his office.
<Specifiy requirements.>
"Okay, then...see if you could handle this" said Lee, then he looked at the notes he made.
"A historical sports event. It's the 2024 FA Soccer Cup final between Liverpoor and Stoke City held in the grounds of Wembley Stadium..er..on Earth..no..county of Middlesex, England..er..on Earth." ordered Lee and then sat to hear..
<Insufficent data..specify time of start of game and end time.>
"3.00, of course..er..no make it 2.45 pm. Ending 4.30." That should also include the presentation of the cup.
<Ready. Do you wish to save the programme.>
"Yes, I do..er..Lee Football."
<Saved as Lee Football. Do you wish to confirm.> said the Computer.
"Yes!" repiled Lee.
<Program is running.>"
At last! It taken a good 30 minutes before it was ready. Now to try it. Taking a soccer scarf, a flask of hot tea and a large packet of popcorn, Lee left his office.
He entered the holosuite to find himself in the middle of the pitch watching a cheering crowd and the players warming up. Two policeman came upto him, one of him growled at him.
"C'mon son..your under arrest. No spectators are allowed..."
"Freeze programme" shouted Lee. "Change the scene to where I am seating on the south side of the stadium..er..front row!"
Immediately the scene changed. "That's better" smiled Lee. "Programe re-start."
For the next two hours, Lee engrossed himself with he atmosphere of the watching an exciting football match where he shouted, remorse, screamed and sang along with the crowd. A match that he had been waiting a long time to see...three hundred years.
"The holosuite is incredible!!" Lee exclaimed to Alicia as he prepared the ingredients from the kitchen. Alicia was in living area tidying up thinking about her recent meeting with Captain Mallory and trying hard to listen to a play by play description of a match that she didn't understand. Alicia wondered why there was a space in the corner where there should be a large plant.
Alicia stood perplexed and looked around the large space to find the plant that should be in the corner over behind the couch, helping to define the living room. She turned away from the corner and took a step over to the coffee table to straighten up several PADD's that were scattered there. She was tired, not sleeping well, and while she loved Lee--she felt distant and lost.
As Lee continue with his preparations, he stopped what he was saying and looked at his watch. Holding a wok in his hand, he leaned out of the kitchen door and said to Alicia "I have a surprise for you..look at the corner." Then disappeared into the kitchen.
Alicia sighed and stood up straight and looked to the corner that was bare, and waited. Now, what? she asked herself.
The unmistakable sight and sound of the a transport column started materialising in the corner of the room. The shape took the form of a large tank. Lee could shouted "Its for you.."
Alicia turned back to Keung and smiled before going over to examine the tank. It was a three-sided aquarium--about 50 gallons, with about a dozen varieties of fish swimming here-and-there. There were two sail fish about the size of her hand and they were bright yellow with red markings. There were several dozens of the little red and blue tetras and they darted around the tank in schools, and so many more...
Lee came out of the kitchen, drying his hands on a cloth and holding a bowl of prawn crackers.. "Now you can put to death all those stories about the Eagle's chief of security killing animals!"
He put the bowl on the table and looked admiringly at what Alicia was wearing.
Alicia had on a short black leather skirt. an electric blue silk tank top, and the jacket that she'd worn over the tank was tossed over the back of a near by chair. She'd ditched the short black boots that had also been part of the outfit.
Lee wrapped his hands around Alicia waist and gently kissed her on her neck.
She wrapped her hands over the top of his and interlocked her fingers with his and left them encircling her waist. She relaxed her neck and closed her eyes and took a deep contented breath and allowed herself for the first time since arriving in this time to emotionally and physically to respond to Lee's advances. She felt the warmth spread through her and she released his hands from hers and turned and bringing her hands up caressed his chin and jaw before lightly kissing him, and when he responded to that she suddenly deepened the kiss. She lowered her left hand and let it slide down his chest, waist, to rest on his ass. She could feel him hard and she leaned into the kiss and the embrace. Lee slid his hands beneath her tank top and starting caressing her breasts..delighted she wasn't wearing a bra.
Alicia smiled, and pulled back to catch her breath. He tenderly kissed her throat and then found her mouth again, gently biting her lower lip. She'd caught her breath and worked both her hands around and found the fastener to his pants...
Lee was planning to go further when he remembered something. "The soup!" he suddenly remembered, turning to rush into the kitchen taking a laughing Alicia with him. She leaned against the counter and snagged a piece of chopped up carrot from his cutting board and nibbled aluringly while he stirred and tossed in more ingredients. She sighed, but knew that if they'd gone any farther dinner would be ruined or Kat would arrive and find them rolling on the floor...
The door entry sounded. It was Kat who was coming for dinner.
Katianna had actually been home to help Kara get the kids dinner. Laurissa was disappointed that her mother wasn't going to sit and eat with her, but sort of perked up knowing that she was going to meet friends and not go to the holo suites. For some reason the holosuites really bothered her when Katianna would go there by herself to train. Laurissa would never speak of why it bothered her, except that she always missed her momma when she left. But Katianna had a sense it was more than that.
After she feed Daniel and helped bath and change him, she handed him over to Kara for the rest of the evening. She then read a book to Laurissa. But as soon as she was finished, she kissed her daughter and gave her a hug.
"Time for me to go," she said. "I'll be back late . . . So you mind Kara, all right?"
Laurissa nodded. "I love you, Momma."
"I love you too, Little one," she smiled, as she shifted into black pants and a long sleeved, form fitting black shirt.
At that, she got up and walked out of the quarters. It didn't her long to reach Alicia and Lee's quarters. She hit the sensor and waited for the door to slid open. As it did, she stepped through and into the main room. She looked around and saw that it was already starting to look homey. She smiled.
"Nice job so far," she said as she looked at Alicia with a smile. "It's really coming along."
"Yeah, I think so too," Alicia replied, guiding Katianna to the couch.
Lee came to Katianna and handed her a drink. As she took a sip it was a cold and sweet. She recognized it as iced Jasmine tea. "Thank you," she replied.
"It's a very cold refreshing drink. If you excuse me, I need to go back into the kitchen. Dinner will be ready soon. Help yourself to the prawn crackers." offered Lee..
Katianna stood as her eyes immediately gravitated toward the large aquarium where a large potted plant that had almost been a tree had been, she thought. She went to it, after grabbing a cracker to nibble, and watched as the fish swam around. Alicia had followed her to the aquarium.
"I take it these are new?" Katianna asked with a smirk.
"Had you gotten here any earlier you would have gotten to see it arrive." Both women continued to watch the fish swim while Lee finished up in the kitchen.
"He always did know how to surprise a girl with a gift," she replied with a twinkle in her green eyes. "So have you named the fish yet."
Alicia laughed and pushed Katianna's shoulder.
Alicia got really quiet and had a thoughtful expression on her face and Kat worried that she'd triggered another memory when Alicia laughed this warm throaty sound and said, "Silly, you name cats, dogs, and lizards...name fish? That's good." She turned and walked over and took a seat on the couch. And she took the glass of ice tea that Lee handed over to her. "Thank you." She said with a wink.
"They are beautiful . . ." Katianna replied just starring. It almost gave her a sense of peace watching them swim. Some article suddenly popped into her mind about the calming affect of watching Earth fish swimming in an aquarium. She supposed it was true, as she took another sip of her drink. "So how was your day today?"
"Oh you know, meetings, tidying up the apartment, contemplating universal peace..." Alicia's voice died away to a whisper. Alicia stood and looked at Katianna like she truly was seeing the woman as she was for the first time since they were rejoined.
"Here we go," said Lee, as he carried in a large bowl of soup and laid it on table.
Without hesitation Katianna and Alicia took seats at the table as Lee also served. It did smell good, Katianna thought. This was probably the most interested in food she'd been in awhile . . .
"This really smells delicious," she replied.
"It's shark fin soup." said Lee as he took the ladle and filled the soup bowls before passing one to the two girls. "Help yourself"
Alicia had had this particular soup before and had thought it very flavorful then found it to be just as so now--"where did you find the ingredients Lee?" She asked adding some wasabi to the broth to spice it up a notch.
"Didn't you fix this on the Eagle?" Katianna asked. She had remembered Lee cooking on the Eagle and this tasted so familiar, but she hadn't had it in so long. It was good on her tongue and comforting to her stomach.
"A few times." he replied with a smile.
Seating and eating the wonderful soup, Alicia remarked, "But seriously, Kat, it's all still so new being here and getting used to the size of the station alone and trying to decide on my career. How are things with you?" She asked choosing to use chopsticks to eat with.
Suddenly Keung's dark eyes looked seriously at Katianna, but Katianna had been picking up on Alicia's emotions. She was having a hard time adjusting to this new century and basically new galaxy around her. The last thing Katianna was going to do was burden her with her problems. She couldn't scare her friend . . . Alicia had enough to deal with, she thought.
"So how are things with you and your family?" asked Lee.
"Oh, things are . . . okay," Katianna replied, with a slight shrug. "You know how it is. Some days are good, some days are bad . . . That's just life, right? So what about you two? What do you think of the Starbase so far?" she asked.
With sadness she said, "It's nothing like the starbases of our time." She looked up and met her friends eyes and shook her head, "You know what I mean."
Lee looked at Katianna and knew what she'd done, but couldn't do anything at the moment. He'd wait for another opportunity as they ate.
Dinner was full of conversation about the Station. About who they had met, what they had done and what they still wanted to do. As dinner drew to a close they all helped clear the table and head to the living room. As they all sat down, Katianna asked,
"So what do you like best?" she said.
Picking at her food, Alicia shrugs a shoulder and responds, quietly, "--I'm not sure."
"I like the food courts..kind of remind of me of the eating places in the 20th Century..as for the holosuite..now that is something," said Lee.
"Yeah, my personal favorite is the holo suites. I have so many programs I might as well have a library for rent," Katianna laughed, her green eyes gazing at her friends, but she could feel that her time was growing short.
"So" said Lee as helped himself to some chicken "Anything special going on.".
"Nothing special is going on," she replied, suddenly she made it a point to finish her tea. She looked at a chronometer she kept on her and suddenly she said. "I'm sorry, I have to go."
"Hey..there's sweets to come yet. Do you need to go?" appealed Lee.
"I just need to go," she replied. "Thanks for dinner. It was great! We'll have to do it again sometime." Then before either of them could stop her, she was gone out the door.
Something didn't sit well with Lee. He knew she was just trying to get away, but not why. He had to go after her.
Waving a piece of chicken in the air, Lee said "There's something definitely bothering Kat. She's quite distracted by something. She wants to talk but somehow its difficult for her... with both of us here."
"Yeah, I noticed," said Alicia. "Look, I'll clean up here." She stood and started collecting dishes, and said, "You go after her and tell me later what happens ".
Lee quickly darted out of their quarters wondering if he would be able to find her.
After checking Holo Pursuits and not finding Katianna Lee decides to take a chance and try their quarters to see if maybe Kat had changed her mind and gone there. [Alicia did Kat return our quarters?]
Alicia was laying on the couch studying a PADD, and replied, "no."
[Any idea where she might have gone?] He asked.
"Hmmmm, I was just looking at one of the PADDs she loaned me and if she isn't on the holo deck then try a bar called 'Soma'."
[Thanks, I'll be home and tell you what I know after I talk with her.]
Alicia sighed and then smiled, and said, "See you then." She broke the contact.
Katianna had almost gone to Holo Pursuits, but she had decided against it. Instead she found herself wandering into Soma with it's loud music, swirling lights and people dancing on the dance floor. She liked this time of night. It had great music, but it wasn't overwhelmingly busy yet. She went to the bar and saw Troy. As soon as he saw her he smiled.
"Hey, Commander, what can I get you?"
"Commander?" Katianna replied raising an eyebrow. "That's being a bit formal, isn't it, Troy?" She smiled softly.
"Well, have to keep up appearances sometimes," he replied winking at her. "So what can I get you, Kat?"
"Rum and Cola," she replied. "Make it half and half"
"Are you okay?" he asked, with some concern. "It's been awhile since I've seen you in here."
She sighed. "That's the big question of the hour," she replied as she rolled her head on her shoulders.
He quickly made the drink. "You know, if you want to talk . . ."
She laughed softly. "I already see your sister twice week. It's mandatory at the moment."
"Ah!" he replied as he wiped the bar. "That good a time lately, huh?"
"Yeah . . ." she replied as she took the drink and downed half of it. It wasn't long before it was all gone. She tapped the bar. Troy nodded and fixed her another. As she finished that and began on her third, she was beginning to feel more relaxed. Suddenly, she felt a presence beside her. As she looked, she saw Lee and smiled. "Hi . . . Sorry I left. I had to . . ."
"Can I get your friend anything?" Troy asked.
"A long glass of diet coke, ice and lemon." he said.
Katianna finished her third drink. "Set me up with another," she said to Troy.
"Are you sure you don't want to back off a little?" he asked from concerned eyes.
She shook her head. "Nah, I'm okay. Just keep them coming for awhile."
"Okay . . ." he replied, sounding not so sure of the order.
She got her fourth rum and cola and started drinking it a little slowly than the others. "I couldn't tell you in front of Alicia . . . I'm sorry . . . When I walked in I could just feel that she's got enough to deal with trying to adjust to being 100 years plus in the future. She doesn't need my burdens to bear on top of that . . ." She took a sip of her drink and looked away. "I don't know that she could handle it right now . . . It's my problem and I wouldn't say I'm coping stellar either."
Lee took a swig of his drink. "Why?"
"You want to know?" she replied.
"Yes, I do really want to know, Kat." said Lee.
She downed her fourth drink and a fifth was placed in front of her. She picked it up and took a sip. "I can't tell you in here. We have to be alone . . This is too exposed . . ." She sighed, she downed her drink, motioned to Troy she was done and got up. "Follow me . . ."
She lead Lee out of Soma. Then through the Promenade and to Holo Pursuits. At first he resisted. "Let me take you back to that Prairie on Bajor."
"Okay..let's go." said Lee, who was interested.