The Lady in Red

Posted on Mon 24th Sep, 2018 @ 12:40pm by Eddie Hunt

1,015 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Oblivion
Location: Casino, Tivoli Gardens
Timeline: MD 13, 2220

The band was playing a slow number. Much of the crowd that had been there earlier was gone, with only a few couples remaining on the floor. Each couple was lost in their own world, unable, as Rilke had said so long ago, to answer with certainty whether it was raining or not.

The Captain was there. Suzuki was a lovely woman, with the kind of beauty which came with expensive bio-sculpting. She wore her dress uniform, the scarlet satin tunic decorated with the ribbons of awards. Few eyes even noticed her, though, because of the woman she was dancing with. The blue-eyed blonde seemed made of curves; the ultramarine wrapped halter-neck dress she wore left her back bare and plunged nearly to her navel in front.

They were not dancing indecorously close, the Captain and her wife. Sarah knew Hikari loved cleavage as well as the next sentient, and had chosen the dress for that purpose; dancing too close would limit the view. "How's your leg?" Sarah asked.

"I have legs?" Hikari quipped. "I hadn't noticed."

Sarah smiled. "Still," she said. "Let's sit the next one out."

"Are you getting tired?" Hikari asked.

"Of dancing with you? Never in this life."

On the stage, the chanteuse built toward the end of the song, "Outside there's thunder snow, but here we go; playing music slow, soft and low; and baby, don't you know? our love can only grow!"

Hikari smiled as the tune ended, and slid her hand down Sarah's arm, leading her toward the edge of the dance floor. "I could use some rehydration," she admitted. "And perhaps a bite to eat."

Meanwhile, Eddie had been standing at the casino bar, sipping on his lime cordial. The bar was nothing extraordinary, rather simple looking in fact. You might even have missed it if you was too busy playing the games around the place. The restaurant that was attached to it was a bit more glamorous. The thought process is that people wouldn't be stopping at the bar for too long, whereas for food, they would sit down and spend a bit more time so he would prefer to advertise the restaurant. It only done really basic foods, but offered all kinds of variety of meat to people. There were vegetarian options, but they weren't as bulked out as the meat variety.

Eddie looked at the fairly small crowd at the bar waiting to be served. There were four bar staff behind trying to keep up with the orders. Considering it was opening night, they were doing a fairly convincing job of it. Eddie picked up his Lime Cordial and decided it was time to move to the restaurant. He hadn't eaten since the morning due to all the excitement and his belly had started to make the sounds out loud to go with it.

The Suzukis made their way to the bar, Sarah's hand tucked decorously into Hikari's elbow. "Do they even serve food in the bar?" Sarah asked her wife.

"You're asking me because I've been here so often?" Hikari teased. "I'm just hoping they have something which isn't fermented."

As Eddie moved off, he noticed a woman pass him whom he was familiar with only by a name and a photo from his research before he got on the base, the opportunity was too good to pass not to say something, "Captain Hikari?"

The Captain and her wife exchanged a smirk. "Captain Suzuki," corrected the curvaceous blonde. "Humans from Earth's eastern hemisphere tend to place their family name first, followed by the personal name."

"But in principle yes," said the Asian woman. "What can I do for you?"

"Apologies Captain Suzuki. I would just like to introduce myself, I'm the casino owner - Eddie Hunt," He went quiet as he realised that he didn't know what else to say to the Captain. He was too quick to point her out without knowing what to say. Only a little while ago he was talking to Cheya about meeting the Captain. What a coincidence!

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hunt." The Captain's smile suited her too-beautiful-to-be-true face: open and easy. "I'm always glad to see people moving in and revitalizing parts of our Station. You've done a marvelous job, and we are enjoying... ah, but my manners! Allow me to introduce my wife, Sarah."

"Charmed, I'm sure," the curvaceous blonde responded. "To further confuse things, I'm from the East Bay, not Japan at all, so I put my given name first."

Eddie smiled, "I will be sure to make a note of it somewhere," He continued to smile. "It's nice to meet the pair of you, I'm glad you could make it to the opening as well. How long have you two been married, if you don't mind me asking that is?"

"Do we mind?" Hikari looked at Sarah, her tone teasing.

"At least he's not asking, 'geeze, why'd you marry the fat chick!'" Sarah responded with a laugh. She looked at Hunt. "Thirteen years, and if you're doing the math in your head, our daughter is only four years old, so no... it wasn't a shotgun wedding."

Eddie's eyes widened and managed a small smile, not sure on how to react, "That's so nice to hear that you've been together for a long time. Do you work for Starfleet as well?"

The Captain chuckled. "Mr. Hunt, don't let Sarah's self-depreciating sense of humor throw you off."

Sarah grinned. "I'm a full-time mom at the moment, but I used to be a scientist."

"She still is a scientist," Hikari corrected. "She simply no longer holds a Starfleet commission."

Sarah shrugged, looked at her wife fondly. "I realized I'd topped out, and being Athena's Mom seemed like a more important job."

Eddie smiled at the pair, "Parenthood is always the most important job in life, I can only wish I have my own in the future," Eddie pondered on that thought, "Anyway ladies, I must be going, and I'm sure you don't want to get stuck talking to me all night as well."

 

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