That Date

Posted on Mon Jun 7th, 2021 @ 6:11am by Captain Luka Mahone & Lieutenant Veaya Zai

1,779 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: What Lies Ahead, Between, and Behind
Location: Xaeprea Beachside, Many Clicks from Haumea Colony

Luka did not know what he was getting into as he set down on the beach. The beach that was a far way off from the colony proper. All he knew was that Davna sent him off for some sort of odd flower and the contact was on this specific beach.

And it was only he who could go retrieve said flower.

Which meant Davna was up to something, but after a firm insistence that he absolutely had to be there (NOW!!!!), Luka agreed if only to assuage his small yeoman's worries. And now, as the shuttle set itself down, here he was, about as confused as ever that someone would choose a beach to sell a flower at.

Maybe it was a Ferengi thing. That the nice beach was their version of a back alley to sell illicit goods in. Luka had a brief, fleeting thought that this flower was illegally found within Ferengi culture, but he thought against thinking of it too hard. He was here now. If he discovered it was illegal, he would just have to worry about it later.

Beth was sure she was dreaming as she suddenly found herself on a beach. She looked down at the sand confused, it had been a good year since she had stood on a beach or even smelled fresh air. She closed her eyes savouring the smell of the ocean as it blew her hair wildly around her. What she would give for not wearing her uniform right now.

Luka squinted down the beachside. Was that a woman? On the beach he was told was uninhabited? This day was getting weirder and weirder. The red-uniformed man jogged over toward her, confusion clear in his face as he called out. "Hello? Hello! Are you- do you happen to be?... Working with a Ferengi right now?"

"Ferengi?" Beth questioned looking at little confused at the man as he jogged up to her. She had no weapon on her, nor anything that could be used around her. She just had to maintain her calmness.

"Yeah." Luka stopped in front of her, giving small pause. "Sorry, I should... introduce myself before I go on. Captain Luka Mahone of the Starfleet Contingent on Haumea Colony. I'm here looking for a Ferengi... flower seller?"

"Starfleet? You are Starfleet?" Beth looked at him growing more and more confused at the word Haumea... there was no colony by the name of Haumea. She looked him up and down he looked nothing like Starfleet even in a dream he would look more like she knew surely. "I really do not know anything about Ferengi I am afraid but I am Beth Leroux, NX Atlantis."

"NX..." The Atlantis was a ship made in vague passing of his current Command Training, but only in history books, and only once. "... I... are you sure? I don't mean to be rude, but that ship hasn't been in circulation for at least a century or two. And I ... feel like I would have been notified if a ship that old has docked at our orbital station."

"It's the fifth of that class. Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery and then us Atlantis." Beth frowned as he carried on talking about the ships. "Old... we are barely a year old." She stammered through as a sinking feeling hit her.

"Oh, I'm aware." Luka's brow rose. "All the NX-classes are taught during certain aspects of Command training, in case we..." Luka trailed off, mirroring her frown. How odd. Maybe too odd. "A year old? What... What were you doing before you found this beach side?"

"I believe I was walking down the corridor of my ship. I was heading to the Bridge. We have just found a ship that will secure our fuel issues." She mused softly trying to think properly. "In case what?" Beth asked already fearing the answer.

"Ah..." Rubbing the back of his neck, Luka gave a shrug. "It's... ah..." He was sure there was some part of it he wasn't allowed to tell her, considering the procedures behind time travel that were on the laundry list of things he had to remember as a Captain. He opted for a more vague approach. "In case we end up in a similar situation during our career.."

The awkwardness was evident in the vague approach. It was not an approach for Earth Starfleet but she had seen enough movies to know the issue. She took in a deep breath and looked at the ocean again. "This is the future..." Beth finally breathed out looking back at Luka.

Luka's shoulders rose in a shrug. "... Yeah," he admitted. Guilty that he could not say much more, he looked back in the direction that Beth came in. "... I suppose there might have been a weird temporal hiccup, but I would have thought we'd catch all that sort of thing on our initial scans months ago. I suppose we can't find it all, can we?"

Beth said nothing as she just breathed in fresh air for the first time in nearly a year. It was soothing to her soul and calmed the raging storm that had been in her since they were flung across the galaxy with 80 souls onboard. "I would not change it. Breathing fresh air I had forgotten how much I have missed wind." She admitted.

"I'm glad this isn't all bad then," Luka offered with a small smile. He was at ease with her relaxation, turning to stare out over the horizon as his original search was forgotten. "The planet here has a good breeze, and this is a nice beach. I didn't even know this was here."

"Been nearly a year since we have seen a planet," Beth said sadly just savouring it all as she knew it would soon be over and she would be back on the Atlantis with her people. "Take advantage of it, Captain. Savour the freedom you have with this."

Luka tilted his head to one side. "I guess we have different views of freedom. I almost miss the stars. Almost." He could not help but admit to relishing the fact that his feet were on the ground, but there were days... "Well, I guess that Ferengi isn't around. Maybe you'd like to stick around a little longer?"

"But they are still an option for you. You can jump in a ship and go to who knows where when you want. That is not an option for me or my crew. We are confined to our ship." Beth smiled as she saw a figure in the distance. "I think that might be your Ferengi." She commented with a bit of a smile as she pointed.

"My Ferengi?" Luka looked out in the direction gestured, squinting until he could make out the signature Ferengi ears and that knowing smile. Oh good. "Oh that Ferengi. Right."

The figure was quick on his approach, carrying a big bushel of flowers in his arms. He seemed to be humming a melody, but to what song was a mystery to both of them. "Ah! What a cute little couple!" He didn't let either of them get a word in before the flowers were being presented to Beth. "This must be what that cute Orion girl meant when she said to meet you here."

“I am not his date.” Beth quickly murmured but it was already too late and she was not being listened to. “You we’re meeting a date here?” She asked Luka.

"I didn't think I was," Luka commented, turning to the Ferengi flower seller. "Sir, if you don't mind, the 'cute Orion girl' in question... what did she tell you?"

The Ferengi man waved a hand. "You don't have to be so formal, we're friends here aren't we?" He didn't wait for an answer. "She told me that you would be out on the beach with a lovely woman - or man, she was not specific and didn't seem to know - and thought that a lovely bouquet of our finest Risian elder lilies were going to assist in any wooing - or not wooing. Shall I add some music? Our mutual Orion friend said to bill her later for-"

"No, no we're fine." Luka let out a sigh, turning his diplomatic Captain voice on. "Your flowers are greatly appreciated, and I'm hoping this miscommunication does not provide confusion."

"Ah, but surely every lovely woman appreciates fine flowers," the seller stated smoothly, smiling wide at Beth.

"I do but I have no need for them," Beth assured still trying to work out what was going on and where she was. She had been asleep she was sure of it. Maybe this was the dream of someone who was beyond exhausted.

The Ferengi seller frowned, and Luka stepped in, taking the flowers from him. "Haha, they're lovely," the Captain stated. "We'll make sure they're enjoyed." He watched as the seller, still mildly annoyed, walked off in the direction of a small shuttle.

Luka smiled at Beth. "Well, date or not... We should at least find you a place to settle until we can figure out what happened to get you to this timeline. I'll leave the choice of whether you want to return or not to you - though we'd have to go over the ramifications of the latter option."

Beth nodded. "I am not sure what is going on at all," Beth admitted confused as she rubbed her eyes. The sun was something she had not seen in nearly a year and it was lovely but irritating to her eyes and skin being so pale. "But I really do need to get out of the sun."

"That we can certainly do." Luka tapped his commbadge, looking off in the direction of the Colony. "This is Captain Mahone. I have two on the incoming, and we may want to give DTI a ring about it."

A voice rang through his comm as he turned back to Beth. ='Sir, come again?'=

"I... You know what, just one on the incoming." The Captain shook his head, rubbing his temples. Whatever anomaly had caused Beth to appear had whisked her back to wherever she came from... or worse.

"But contact Ground Control and see if they've had any traffic on a Ferengi vessel." He turned back toward his shuttle, making his way back. Either this was a weird event and he'd have to have a scan done of the area, or he was making it all up, and someone would have to do a scan on him.

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