Three Meters Squared

Posted on Sat 29th Jul, 2017 @ 1:38am by Lieutenant Commander Andrew Eberstark

1,285 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Unity Week
Location: Tetraball Court Stadium
Timeline: MD 3, late afternoon

Rubbing his forehead, Andrew picked up his pace as he made his way through what seemed like an endless crowd. At the start of this whole Unity Week, there was one event he was most interested in, and naturally he almost missed the start of it. However, today Andrew made a point to end his staff meeting 30 minutes earlier than normal, a fact he was sure his staff appreciated, in order to catch the entirety of the Tetraball playoffs.

Nevertheless, two system malfunctions later, Andrew found himself rushing to get to his seat in time. Finally sifting through the crowd to the Stadium, Andrew quickly approached the entrance. As he prepared to walk in, he paused, realizing that he may have unintentionally cut off someone else.

Andrew turned and began to offer his apology, "Forgive me. I was just..." he hesitated as he came face to face with a slightly annoyed blonde woman staring back at him with piercing gray eyes.

Realizing the pause went on slightly longer than usual, Andrew forced a smile as a poor cover, "Sorry for cutting you off, " stepping aside. "Please go ahead."

In a brief experienced glance, the woman took in height, hair, eyes and the scar running down the side of the man's face. Not a bad package. She sighed and then said, "It's quite alright. Everyone has tetra fever today. No reason you should be immune." She smiled to take the bite out of her tone. "I'm suffering from it myself. Even if this is leading to a possible farm team league, it's about as exciting as I expect to ever see." She preceded him in the door, checking her ticket and then the wall in front of her for the right section. As she moved off to the right, she was vaguely aware that the man was still behind her.

Taken aback slightly at the woman and the response, Andrew just smiled and followed her in. Not recognizing her as a Starfleet officer, Andrew assumed she worked at one of the various establishments on the Starbase. After making a mental note to check out more of them at a future date, he realized that she was, in fact, headed for his section of the stands.

Seeing her pause to check her ticket, Andrew walked past to his seat. "You may want to find your seat. I think the match will be starting soon."

A horn blew somewhere in the crowd, and Serena glanced down at the court. The two teams tossed their practice balls toward the judges in the middle. Tempted to be rude, she again swallowed the urge. Following the man, she said, "Yes, I'd love to, but it seems my seat is the one beyond yours ... and you're standing in my way."

Glancing around at some of the empty seats left in his section, all Andrew could do was give a defeated grin and a shake of his head at the situation. Again stepping to the side, he motioned for her to pass him yet again, "Well then, by all means take your seat."

As they both took their seats, another horn blew signaling the impending start of the match, Andrew decided to extend a hand, "Can we try this again, without me having egg on my face this time? I'm Andrew Eberstark, and I hope I haven't been too much of an annoyance so far."

With the briefest hesitation, the blonde shook hands with him, smiling slightly. "Not too much, no. Serena Alia, nice to meet you." At that moment the crowd surged to its feet and she dropped his hand to rise as well. The band played Anthem to the Stars, the song that started most sports events in the Federation. She stood watching the high screens which gave a perfect view of the stadium floor, no matter where one was seated.

As the band finished and the crowd took its seats again, one judge stood in the center with his hands raised high above his head. The crowd held its collective breath and then his hands dropped and two balls shot out of the wall toward the corners where the fifteen-person teams had stationed themselves. Play was on!

After watching for a few seconds, Serena asked, "Do you have a dog in this show?"

Pausing briefly to make sure he remembered the woman's name and not make himself look like a fool for a third time, Andrew responded while still looking at the action below, "For this particular match? Not really. I have a friend from the Academy that plays later though."

Keeping half of his attention on the match at hand, he saw the team to their right jump out to an early lead by scoring in 5 of the overall 225 possible squares, racking up points. As most of the crowd cheered with excitement, Andrew spoke aloud, "Too aggressive. Leaving too many squares open at mid-court along the perimeter."

Realizing she probably heard his analysis, "Sorry. Sometimes I think a little too much with this sport, but the tactical situations that come up, especially at the start, are fascinating."

With the action dying down slightly from the opening moments, Andrew turned from the grid to face Serena, "What about you? Have a particular interest or just here because of 'tetra fever'?"

"Umm, a little of both. I was interested to see how these outer rim planets might perform, and some of the species. It's really geared to humanoids, don't you think? Still, others have signed up and I'm interested in seeing how they do. They - oh, look!" She grabbed his arm in her excitement. "Did you see that? Six squares with one bounce off the wall! Well played!"

The crowd stomped it's approval of the Melonan team's sneaky run past the defensive players trying to block them. The scoreboard lit up with the new totals, 1,215 for the Melonans and 985 for their opponents, a team representing the Cabral sector.

"Maybe I'll root for Melona Sector," Serena said. "They are right next door!"

As they stood along with the rest of the crowd, Andrew moved closer to her, " It would be more suitable, yes. However, not impossible for a non-humanoid to contribute. Especially on the defensive side," looking back to the grid to asses the game again. "Well played indeed. They took advantage of their opponent being too aggressive at the start. We should be in for a pretty decent match."

The next few moments of the match included probing from both sides, with each possessing and losing squares at a relatively equal rate. As it continued, the tension in the crowd began to grow, sensing a build up to another fast paced portion of the match.

Turning back to Serena, taking in her blonde hair before looking back into her eyes, he asked "So who do you think is going to make the next big move?"

She laughed and said, "Well, darn, if I'm rooting for Melona, then I have to say THEY will! Are you going to oppose me and take up Cabral, then?" The whole crowd remained standing and Serena looked at one of the overhead screens to get the best view. "Oh, look, I think it's coming from the left corner right now!"

Looking to the corner, Andrew shrugged, "I have to admit, tactically, the Melonans are the more sound team at the moment."

As he finished, Cabral pressed the attack from the corner, flanking two of the Melonan defenders and aggressively taking multiple squares to bring the match to almost dead even.

Smiling as he applauded the risky move with the crowd, "Although, there is something to be said for being unpredictable don't you think?"

 

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