Just Dinner

Posted on Fri Oct 13th, 2023 @ 2:14am by Cadet Senior Grade Riaothren(Ren) ch'Shaorhs & Cadet Senior Grade David "Dave" Holloway

2,057 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: **ARCHIVED** 1 - Cruising through the galaxy
Location: Harveys (San Francisco)
Timeline: 3 months prior to Assignment Day- 1 week after Lean On Me

Ren was feeling better about life. At least that is what he told himself, and there was some truth in that. However, that was more because he was still numb and in denial of the new reality in his life. The Jason-less reality.

He needed to get out there. Not out there dating, or even hooking up. It was still too early for him to be thinking of such things. But he didn't want to stay in his room. And he didn't want to go out there alone.

So he sent Dave a message to his PADD
/=\ Hey, I need to get out and do something, it's Saturday night. Do you want to go to Harvey's and get something to eat? My treat./=\

\=/ Oh Harvey's, I like that place. Yes! we can go out there. :) :) \=/
Dave sent a quick reply, he usually was never quick to reply, but something had changed since last week. He felt differently about Ren, Ren might not have had a change of heart, but he spent the night at his place, and with the recent breakup, Dave felt positive.

/=\Great, pick you up at 7, I mean 1900?/=\

\=/ Yes 1900 works for me. /=\

Ren arrived a few minutes early to Dave's room. He was dressed in a pair of white chinos that were snug without giving away any details and a gray Academy short-sleeved tee shirt. He pressed the chime beside the door.

Dave gave a quick once over to his hair before opening the door. Dress in a pair of denims, and a Chinese collared shirt, gray with patterns of diamonds upon it. His hair was neatly pulled to one side and his face fair. It was clear he had put some effort into dressing up and washing up for dinner. He didn't need to, but he did it still anyway.

"You clean up well," Ren said in greeting. "Do they still use that Terran term?"

"Yes, they do, and thank you." Dave smiled as he collected his jacket and stepped out, "You don't look like half-bad yourself." Dave smiled up at Ren as he began to lock up his door.

"It's kind of a long walk there, we should probably take a transporter. This is like hair of the cat," Ren said as they walked down the stairs and out into the warm night. "A week ago Jason broke up with me there. At Harvey's I mean."

"Yes, a transporter is what I was thinking of as well, wouldn't want to walk all that way." Dave rolled up the arms of his jacket as the warm air hit them stepping outside. Suddenly stopping as Ren mentioned his breakup, "Wait, are you sure you want to go to Harvey's the same place you broke up?"

"Yeah, I know, I'm a glutton for punishment. What can I say?"

"I mean... if you are sure... then I can't argue that." Dave sighed as he began walking again, it wasn't like he had any great places in mind to suggest alternatives.

"I'm not really. But I have to go anyway. It used to be my favorite place. I just have to see if I can still go there."

"I suppose, one way to look at it is, facing it head-on and challenging it so you can move past it. I've heard some say it is quite effective but also kinda like emotionally tolling."

"Why do you think I invited you along? You're an anchor. That much I know about you."

"An anchor? Oh you mean to hold you back from your emotions?" Dave wondered, of the many things he was called anchor was not one, he could only speculate what Ren meant, but he could think of one thing and that was not to let him reel into his memories with Jason and the other bad things. "I suppose it's best that you brought me along."

"I guess it depends on what you mean by holding me back. If you mean to keep me from going bat shit crazy, punching Jason in the face, then one hundred percent, if you mean not letting me express how I feel, then no."

"Yeah," it's for the best."

"... Okay punching is bad, and expressing is not... I think I can handle that." Dave gave a nod to Ren, he could do that. It didn't seem to be too hard, "What if... you want to punch someone else than Jason in the face? Or express feelings to him."

Ren laughed. "I've been to the counselor, the girl in our class, Noxi, and dealt with my anger issue. And it's a little early for me to express my feelings for anyone else."

"Ah, I see Noxi... I don't know her... just heard the name..." he was indeed quite aloof in matters of the social dynamics of the class, he didn't bother with many and the many didn't bother with him, it was quite nice for him.

"So, tell me about your day. Ever since I crashed in your room that day, we've been talking about me. Let's talk about you instead."

"Me what about me? I mean I wake up, get some coffee at the canteen and then spend most of the day in the Library, reading the latest publications. Sometimes I use the HoloDeck Sim Pod to run some simulations. Nothing much else."

"What kind of simulations?" Ren asked with genuine curiosity.

"Well, they said I am going to the Chief Engineer on board, so everything machines and drones... I still haven't gotten the hang of the hardware. Softwares I am good at, throw any virus or bug at me and I can eliminate it in a matter of minutes... but give me a wrench and ask to repair something... that is hard... One time I caused the ship's FTL drive to implode on itself and cause the burn down of a whole fleet."

The Andorian fought a losing battle to keep from laughing. "You destroyed a whole fleet? Did you just tell me that to make me laugh or did you actually do that? I mean if you actually did it, that's what sims are for. I once crashed a shuttle into Starfleet headquarters. The important thing is if you learned from your mistake."

"Why would I joke about that?" He spoke with a dead serious face, rendering a fleet useless was quite a feat in itself, "I will haven't been able to complete that dim. What I now know is what not to do..." He sighed shaking his head before looking up, "Now I know not to cut the red wire." Now that was a joke, some good old-fashioned Human humour.

Humor which was completely lost on the Andorian. "Red wire? What kind of red wire?"

Dave looked at Ren in disbelief, he wasn't sure if Ren was joking with him or actually serious, "The red wire...a s in the wire for danger... you know they show in old movies... if you cut up the red wire the bomb usually goes off.."

"Ohhh. I get it now, but that's kind of a Terran thing. Maybe we should do something in the holodeck together, I've got a few ideas. You know if you want to. And, I mean fun things, not cadet simulation things."

"There are other ways to use a HoloDeck than cadet simulation." Obviously, the news came like a surprise to him, but it was an opportunity to learn something new. "Yes, we should do it, how could I not know something like that? You have done this before?"

"Plenty of times. We could reenact something from Earth's past, we could step into the pages of your favorite book. Well, your favorite book that's not a technical manual, or I have one I wrote myself, where we are on a shuttle that is chased by Orion pirates that crash lands on a small planet and we have to survive inhospitable conditions and the pirates that land on the planet to chase us. What do you think?"

"We can do that!?" There was excitement in his voice, it was clearly a new concept for him, "I thought we could only run the preloaded missions in the HoloDecks. And you write HoloDeck Simulations? I never knew that!" Perhaps a little too excited, clearly the idea of a trip in a virtual realm seemed to excite him more than the real world for sure.

"Running our own programs is frowned upon, but not strictly forbidden. And, I once stole the Commandant's Captain's Yacht, remember? No one is going to say anything about it as long as we're careful. Why can't we have fun playing with each other"

"Wait, that came out wrong. I meant together."

"...I thought it was an offense to run programs other than the one available in the HoloDeck Librabry and those authorized by the on-duty technicians.." He spoke with some doubt as he said it, he was quite sure it was against the rules to use HoloDeck for personal Simulations. His face reddened at Ren's comment but he spoke naught of it.

Ren's shoulders rose and fell his antennae quirked toward his companion. Lowering his voice he said, "It's only violating the rules if we get caught."

Dave dropped his voice as well, speaking conspiratially, "And have you done this before, are you sure we won't get caught."

"Yes, I've done this before. Not a lot, but some. I haven't got caught yet."

"Okay, I'll trust you, but if the librarian catches us, I am not there." He was firm in that, he had a perfect track record and he didn't want to do anything to break that. "This simulation you have written... have you tried it yourself before as well?"

"Not yet. I think a simulation like this is better when you have two people. So, this will be virgin territory for both of us."

"Okay okay. So first, there is nothing unexpected in the sim right? Nothing I should be worried about. I will be prepared for it."

"I can't promise there won't be any surprises. I actually programmed a couple of curve balls into the program. But, we'll keep the safety protocols up. Trust me."

"What sort of curveballs?" Dave asked a mix of concern and curiosity on his face. Perhaps it would do him good to face unexpected situations. The HoloDeck Sims helped with it, but he had run through almost all of them now. How many more unexpected things could be there?

"That's the beauty of it, I don't know. They're random. Maybe it's one, maybe it's four or five We'll find out together and have to react.

"Random? But they must have some constraints, right? What if it causes a natural disaster, like an earthquake or an eruption? Or it has an invasion..."

"Dave, take a breath. Yes, there are some constraints. It's more to do with weather conditions, or is the pond really frozen all the way through, or will there be a pack of wolves after us in addition to the Klingons? I'm not going to do something that will blow a world, even an imaginary one that is far, far away."

He did take a breath as Ren explained, "Ah okay, constraints are good..." Dave seemed to relax a little, but not enough, "But that still leaves so many options that can happen, or that can not happen. You have to be sure of everything..." That was a far-fetched idea even for Dave, "... well not everything, at least most of the things."

Both of Ren's antennae curled backward at his friend's remarks. "Well, I can relate that some surprises suck, like Jason dumping me, or my getting detention when I borrowed that shuttlecraft. But all life is a risk. I mean you had to know that joining Starfleet meant there was going to be risk."

"That is not...." Dave went to retaliate as he spoke about Jason but soon moved on to other topics. "I know there is risk... but it is a calculated risk, something I can handle. Complete risk and calculated risk have a great difference you know. If it is quantifiable then it can be calculated."



David Holloway
Senior Cadet
Chief Engineer Officer
U.S.S Stardancer


Ren ch' Shaorhs
Senior Cadet
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Stardancer

 

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