Enjoying the View

Posted on 18 Apr 2017 @ 12:51am by Lieutenant Commander Gemma Alexander & Commander Terry Walsh

1,858 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Shore Leave
Location: La'ren (Planetside)
Timeline: Shoreleave

Gemma's red hair was down on her shoulders as she finished applying the sun screen. The gentle breeze, brought the smell of the crystal blue water to those on the white sandy beach. Sentients of all sorts wore various types of bathing suits as they lounged, swam and otherwise enjoyed themselves. Gemma had on her shades and was sipping some alcoholic drink that was three different colors as she wore a simple black, two piece bikini.

Ap'eth walked back from the little shack of a bar, drink in hand. She loved the smell of the ocean water as it wafted in on the breeze. She took a quick look around the beach before she came up to Gemma. The half Klingon woman settled down in the wooden chair and put her drink in the holder. "This is nice," she said.

Gemma nodded, "Oh I love space but something about..." A very muscled Bajoran male walked by in a speedo, "planetary scenery, is worth all the sun..." She said returning her attention to Ap'eth.

Ap'eth heard the pause and then looked to where Gemma was staring. "Scenery indeed." She sat back and took a sip of her drink. "So this is La'ren."

Gemma nodded, "If we want to rent a boat, sky sailing equipment or anything the guy is that way..." Pointed to the left where a cottage like building sat in the distance. "I've not been here for a few years, was getting a rep for being Risa like but closer and with less rules..." She grinned finishing her drink, waving down a roaming waiter in beach shorts. "Supposed to be a major party when the sun goes down...good to see it's not changed..." She said thoughtfully. Remembering a certain newly minted Ensign on her 'Freedom Galaxy Cruise' just before getting assigned to her first squadron. She wondered if her picture was still in the nearby bar as a record holder, though the pictures never said what for and that was most likely for the best.

"Less rules...major party after dark... You know how to pick the planets, Gemma. So how can you tell things haven't changed that much since you were last?" asked Ap'eth.

Gemma blinked, then realized what she said, "Righto sorry must be tired. A couple of friends from the Dragons Squadron went through a few weeks back and I got a highlights reel. Makes for wistful thinking right after ones family during a shoot out I rather think so..." She looked around getting her drink from the nice looking man in beach shorts only. "And it looks the same, thank the gods some things stay the same eh?

Ap'eth started laughing. "Do not worry about it, Gemma. This sun relaxes a person to the point that you could fall asleep if you're not careful." The half Klingon woman switched out her drink for whatever he had on his plate. "But you're right, it's nice that some things stay the same no matter where you are. So where's home for you?" She took a long sip of this new drink.

"Only the best place barring yours I'm sure..." Gemma joked sipping at her drink as the light hit the tropical water just so, it really was pretty. "England, namely London...well a bit on the outskirts but when I was still young we lived everywhere it seemed, bit like caravan travelers. My Mum is a Captain now, still alive thankfully, (In Starfleet that was never a given) and my Dad is in the Diplomatic Corps. So I've seen a bit...."


She smiled, continuing after a moment of silence, "Sometimes they couldn't get their duty assignments to match up so there they'd be making googly eyes at each other on coms. It both gave me hope for the future and make me sick at the same time..." She joked, remembering fondly the strong love her parents had that could withstand such distances. "You?" She asked pulling out of her own memories, sippin her drink as the ocean breeze brought voices from distant conversations and the smell of the ocean while the sun continued to shine.

"Oh, well, a lot of places actually," Ap'eth said. "Born on a Galaxy class starship to a Klingon father and a human mother. Lived there until I was...seven...I think. Then a starbase, and another starbase, then a starship again, and so on. I've only ever been planetside on vacation. And then it was mostly beaches and the like. So I guess you could say that space has been my home. Sad, I know."

Gemma shrugged, "Nothing wrong with that, I was lucky in that I got some planet time but I spent a lot of it in space." She finished her drink and put it down on a small beach table. "I knew one guy who was so used to enclosed artificial environments, having grown up on small research vessels, it took forever for being in wide, open places to stop stressing him out. Now that's rough..." It seemed things were getting a bit serious so she glanced over at Ap'eth with a brief grin, "So big, bad Klingon is a beach bunny who knew?"

"You know something, Red? That little bit you can keep to yourself. The whole beach bunny thing doesn't leave this beach." Ap'eth laughed. She'd thought of herself as a beach lover, but never a beach bunny. "Not a soul needs to know that this big bad Klingon is any kind of a bunny." She started laughing again.

Alexander laughed, then humor still in her eyes but her voice held the ring of truth, "What happens on La'ren Beach stays on La'ren Beach. Your secret is safe with me...". Briefly she held up two fingers in an old 'scout's honor' gesture. She caught the nickname and that reminded her of something, "You know..."She said consideringly, "if you want a new call sign, you need to come up with one and get the others to use it. You know the old saying if you won't they will type thing."

"Sounds good to me," she said. "And as far as the call sign, I have a bad feeling it's pretty much stuck. They tell me that my fellow pilots give them out and it's usually because of something embarrassing. Like, my name sounding like a sneeze...Sneezy. Honestly, I'd rather have that one that some of the others I've heard."

Alexander nodded ruefully, "Oh aye it can get bad, perhaps you're right but you can still own it proper. I got lucky. No doubt when my first squadron saw me carrying a long bow with my gear they thought they'd be funny and call me 'Archer' little do they know it's a badge of honor."

She paused wondering if she should tell this story but then decided if you couldn't trust your follow pilots who could you trust. "...but they got respectful toot sweet when I shot a Naucasian in the rear on shoreleave with it." She smiled at the memory, "On a frontier world, good distance away. Wind was perfect. He was going to stab some poor ops petty officer with a knife and I was on my way to the archery range with no other weapon so what's a pilot ta do?" She asked with a grin.

Ap'eth cracked up laughing. "You did what?! Gods, Gemma! That's great! I bet you learned exactly how fast you could run after that." She couldn't hardly get that out between the fits of laughter. Picturing that happening...it was too good.

Gemma laughed as well at the memory, her blue eyes sparkling with a mischievous humor, and when she could speak again she nodded, "My feet didn't touch the ground..." she agreed. One would think an arrow to the backside would slow or stop a person, not so with a Naucasian. An enraged Naucasian with an arrow in his rear is oddly motivated to chase the offender.


"Fortunately all he had to go off of was a dark blur with red hair and oddly enough like many predators does not think to look up..." At Ap'eth look she nodded, "Yeppers up a tree like a damned spider monkey. I thought about shooting him again but I'd have to drop him proper or he'd rip my head off along with my arms and that was too far..."

She finished another drink brought by the cute waiter, winking at him as he smiled and backed away, "I'm just lucky the petty officer picked up the knife as evidence against the Nauscian. Who never actually knew for sure who it was until I was safe enough, I was cleared but my Squadron CO wanted to be safe too I was unofficially banished to my quarters for the duration..." She had a very self-satisfied grin like a smug cat, "Worth it."

Ap'eth couldn't hold it in any longer. Her Klingon got the best of her and she roared with laughter. The things this girl got into... Once she calmed down, she said, "I'll admit, I haven't done anything like that before. I've headbutted a few nasty boys in high school. Oh, wait. There was that time at that Academy. My parents were furious, too. I was dating a member of Red Squad, right. Without going into details, I managed to get him to show me their flight simulator. Later that week, I used the code he put into the keypad and took it for a spin. Little did I know as a wet-behind-the-ears Cadet that Security was alerted to an after-hours use of Academy training equipment. They came in with this guy and caught me. Apparently they had pulled the code that was used and found his location. He was in his dorm. Nowhere near as dramatic as yours, but is certainly jacked up my records...unauthorized use of Academy equipment and stolen access codes."

Gemma nodded impressed, "Nice, I was a bit wild but only after I'd started to hang with pilots that I got truly corrupted..." She blinked and tried to look innocent then grinned unable to maintain, "Seriously though newbie cadet? That's impressive..." She said giving a thumbs up. "That's a different kind of big brass ones. Good for you, if you color in the lines all the time how will you get wise? After all, all wisdom boils down to 'I screwed up first here's what I learned'.

"Yeah, no kidding." Ap'eth took another drink and nodded. "This is most certainly the life." She put her legs out as far as she could and stretched them. She left them stretched out so they could be easily seen by anyone walking by. "I have a feeling this is going to be one of the best shore leaves I've had in a long time."

"No doubt..." Gemma said, "And on that note the line for the mini gliders, 'kites', is shorter let's have a go..." At Ap'eth nod they both stood, Gemma winking at the cute waiter and mouthing the word 'later' before returning her attention to her friend, and went to make the most of it.

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