The reporter, Del Norton from Galactic News glanced at his tricorder as he reviewed his video notes on the Best of Earth Inn. "mmm" he thought "Stills feel like I advertising the place!" He took a long swig from his glass.
The Best of Earth Inn – a favourite for homesick Earthers.
The Best of Earth is a modern lakeside inn set in three acres of gardens and pastures. It is a perfect base for exploring. The Inn was originally built between 1670 and 1707 on Earth and was transported to the planet, carefully restored and modernized. The Best of Earth keeps the spirit of timeless hospitality alive, Comfort epitomized, attention to detail paramount, relaxation assured. The perfect retreat for a week or weekend, a special night or simply for a drink. The Restaurant has a long standing reputation as one of the most distinguished. Bedrooms are all individually designed to the highest standards with lots of personal touches and luxuries A favourite haunt for off world customers such as Earthers and Starfleeters Facilities include a transporter and a holosuite.
Putting his empty class on the table, he looked up from her tricorder The food and hospitality were not only the reasons that attracted visitors but the reputation of the proprietors themselves, Keung and Alicia Dervies-Lee. Between them their ages combined nearly six hundred years! Nothing unusual in that... many races had long lives such as the Vulcans. Perfect example being retired ambassador Spock from Vulcan. It was the fact that the Earth owners had somehow managed to survive the stresses of time travel. Lt. Commander Keung Lee came to the 24th Century in a damaged orbital shuttle in a state of suspended animation. Rescued by a starship and consequently joined Starfleet as a security officer on board the Eagle. It was here he met Communications office Alicia Dervies. Whilst on a mission, the couple's shuttlecraft were caught in a wormhole which projected the ship 100 years into the future where they had been rescue by a ship from Starbase 901.
It was no secret that the couple had a distinguished career as Starfleet officers. It was all on the public domain. What Norton was really interested in finding out were unconfirmed stories about their involvement with special forces. Norton had discovered that Lee was a special forces operative back in the 20th Century and played a key part in dealing with antiterrorism elements. So it would be no surprise to Norton to if Lee continued this role when he was with Starfleet. After all, Lee had written and hosted a number of documentaries about the different roles of the military over the centuries. Alicia Devries-lee was also reputed to be involved with Starfleet special forces especially when it came to communication innovations. In fact the Video Tricorder that Norton was using had a processor communication chip designed by Alicia. So it came as a complete puzzlement to Norton as to why two celebrated Starfleet officers in their 40s (relatively!) left ten years ago to become simple country bumpkin innkeepers... Keung Lee's words, not Norton's! Talk from his own sources in Starfleet indicated that if the couple stayed where they were, they would be operating at a higher level in Starfleet... admiral perhaps an ambassadorship.
However it was not Norton's brief (to his dismay) to find out the reasons for the couples resignation. His job was to do a story on the attractions of the planet as part of a documentary series on life on Federation planets. Norton checked the time. He had to leave if he was to going to meet his producers deadlines.
He turned to Alicia Devries-Lee who he was interviewing sitting opposite him.
"Well, Alicia. I think that wraps everything up. I will have to go." Said Norton "Now I like to say good bye to Lee."
"Thank you for coming and we welcome you to come and stay sometime." She smiled and cocked her head to the left and led the way out of the bar.
Norton leaned forward to Alicia "Just off the record. What's the real reason why you two left Starfleet?"
She laughed and paused in the doorway, leading to the bar, and said, "This offer came up and we missed home so much ourselves that we couldn't pass on it." Alicia straightened her dress to show off her calves to avoid answering any more questions from Norton.
Over by the far corner of the bar, Keung Lee observed the interview from where he was as he served a couple of customers. He didn't like the way Norton probed him about his experiences in Starfleet and looking at Alicia's body language, she didn't like it either. Typical hack! Always looking for different angles. His thought was interrupted by a customer attracting his attention. Lee turned and recognized the customer. He was a bald Earthen with a full beard and had the look of a man who enjoyed his food. Eddie Morgan, a former Starfleet security officer who once served with Lee on Starbase 901.
"Keung, it is you!" exclaimed Morgan.
Lee grinned. He haven't seen Morgan for nearly twelve years. The man had certainly changed! Morgan "So what brings you here to this neck of the woods. Last I heard you were piloting a freight bucket in the Solain Quadrant."
"Still am!" winked Morgan. Lee poured him a beer.
"Lee, I see you found a friend -- care to introduce me?" said Alicia sliding up to Lee.
"Alicia! Don't you recognize a former workmate!" smiled Morgan.
"Ah," She said with a smile at both men, "Aye, I hadn't recognized you from the door. Hope you can stay with us for a few days? Lee -- I'm off to check on the kitchen staff, lets all have dinner together tonight."
"Thanks for the invite. I'm only here for a couple of nights picking up a shipment tomorrow." explained Morgan.
"Dinner sounds great. Chance to catch up on old times. What time?" "How about 7:00 in the Restaurant?" suggested Alicia.
"That's fine," Morgan replied and checked his watch. "Ah must be off. I have to meet a client."
Later that evening the restaurant was full as usual! Keung and Alicia sat with Morgan in an alchole which had a window which overlooked the lake. It been an interesting evening so far as the three shared memories about their lives with Starfleet and swapped stories about former comrades The duty manager appeared looking anxious and whispered something to Alicia. Keung could make out the word 'kitchen problem."
"Excuse me, gentlemen." said Alicia as she stood up. "Problem in the kitchen that needs sorting out." As she left the table with the Duty Manager, Keung looked appreciatively at the backless dress which hugged Alicia and wondered for a second whether she was trying to impress Morgan!!
As Alicia walked toward the saloon style doors that separated the kitchen from dinning room she threw a quick look over her shoulder and winked at Lee. He smiled and took a sip of his ale, 'nah,' he thought to himself Morgan isn't her type. In the kitchen she found water shooting half a meter into the air as one of the antique facets had broken and there was about 3cm's of water starting to cover the floor. "Don't just stand there." she stammered as she pushed the busboy towards the disaster area, "Under the cupboard there is a knob that turns of the water. GO!" As he twisted the knob the water stopped spewing. She looked at her feet and shook her head as she snagged a dish towel and walked toward the entry area to have a seat and dry off her feet and shoes. "Now mop up this mess." She said to no one in particular. The place was ancient and they knew from the start that there were going to be problems like this from time to time.
Keung refilled Morgans glass who was also looking at Alicia. He lifted his glass. "To the best of times, mate!" as Morgan swilled his drink. Keung noticed something about Morgan's attitude throughout the evening. From time to time in their conversations, Morgan's eyes was drawn to the other customers in the restaurant as though he was looking for someone in particular. Must ask Alicia later tonight if she spotted anyting unusual in Morgan's manner.
Later that night in their quarters as Alicia was sliding out of her dress, she heard Keung ask, "Notice anything odd tonight at dinner?" She smiled as she pulled on a sleep shirt and crawled onto the bed to watch him get out of his party clothes. "Hmmm--only that you really like that black dress of mine." She purred and saw him smile, but then added in a more serious tone, "Morgan seemed really distracted tonight -- looking around a lot and I swear I saw him avoiding the couple at table three until they left at 9pm but he was interested at the guy sitting at the bar and kept twisting his ring. And I swear if he shuffled his feet and kicked me under the table one more time I was going to kick him back."
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