Becoming Friends

Posted on Tue Jun 29th, 2010 @ 10:58am by Lieutenant JG Kalyka Meral & Lieutenant Commander Karma Sinclair

1,292 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Transitions
Location: Davy Jones' Locker
Timeline: 1900 hours

Kalyka was wearing a pair of jeans and a pale blue blouse that made her grey eyes seem almost blue. She was supposed to meet Karma here and looking around she soon found him. Sitting down at the table, she said, "You didn't do bad for your first game of racquetball."

"I need to remember to hit it with the racquet and not my body," he replied, chuckling at the memory. "You look great, by the way."

She smiled. "Thanks. You don't look bad yourself." Inside she squirmed. This was starting to feel a lot like a date.

Dominique came over to them. "What would you like to eat?" she said in her thick French accent.

Kalyka considered. "Do you have hasperat souffle and bread with moba fruit jam?"

"What's that?" Karma asked, looking at her.

She looked back at him. "You've never tried hasperat? It's kind of like the Italian food, I can't remember the name of it, you put the meat and things in the bread, roll it up, and bake it, but hasperat is a lot spicier."

"That sounds good," Karma replied. "I'll try that," he said to Dominique.

Dominique smiled and walked away as Kalyka turned to Karma. "So you said you wanted to do something less active than racquetball next time. What did you want to do?"

"Camping is fun," he said to her. "Have you ever been camping in the mountains?"

She shook her head. "No, but I've been camping in woods in the lowlands in Kendra Province."

"We can try that sometime then," he said to her. "In the mountains, though. It's a totally different experience."

Dominique came back with their food and placed their food and drinks front of them. "Bon apetit." She turned and walked away.

Kalyka moved her foot, but it brushed against something and she moved it. Picking up her fork, she bit into the hasperat. It was very spicy, so spicy Karma might not like it.

Karma glanced under the table as something brushed his foot. He looked at her and smiled before he took a bite of his food. He chewed it for a moment then looked at her again. "It's not bad," he said to her. "Is it always that spicy?"

"Not always," she said with a smile. She spread the jam over her bread and took a bite and was instantly reminded of the family farm. Moba fruit had always been a part of her life and always would be. She looked back at him and said, "Where did you usually go camping? What mountain range?"

"Usually the Rockies on Earth," he said to her. "I've been to a couple ranges on other planets but I don't remember their names right off hand."

Kalyka knew of that range. It went ran the length of North America, from Alaska to Mexico. "What part? That's a very long mountain range."

"We'd usually go to Colorado and hike into Wyoming," he said to her. "We'd spend weeks on the trails."

She shook her head. "That sounds like a long hike. I take it you don't do it all in one day?" She sipped her water and took another bite of her hasperat; it was almost gone.

"We would spend a week or two hiking and camping," he replied. "It's a great way to get away from it all and just relax."

She finished her food and wiped her mouth then pushed her hair behind her ear. "That does sound like fun. I've never been in the mountains, so I might not be in the best of shape to go hiking there."

"We'll have to try it sometime," Karma said. "I promise to take it easy on you."

The Bajoran gave him a small smile. "I tried to take it easy on you today, but that didn't work out so well. But thank you."

"Any time you want to try it just let me know," Karma said with a smile. He looked down and realized his food was gone. "Thank you for introducing me to that food. It was very good."

Kalyka considered a moment. "How about tomorrow? I doubt we'll be able to spend days at a time in the holodeck, but we could spend a few hours at least."

"Sounds like a plan," he said with a nod. He looked around and said, "It's starting to get crowded. We should get out of here."

They left and stopped outside the lounge. "I'll see you tomorrow?" She said with half a smile.

"You have anything planned for the rest of the evening?" Karma asked, looking at her.

She arched an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know," Karma replied. "It's just that it's still early and I really enjoyed spending time with you."

Kalyka considered a moment. "Alright. What did you want to do?"

"I hadn't made it that far in my mind," Karma admitted. "We can just walk through the ship, or go have a drink. Anything you feel like doing is fine with me."

"It's been a while since I've had a good spring wine." They went back into the lounge and sat at the bar. Ted wasn't there, but a young Bajoran was. His nose ridges were as defined as Kalyka's and his earring was very similar to a friend of Kalyka's. "I'm Riven. What can I get you two this evening?" His soft green eyes swept over both of them in an instant before settling back on Kalyka.

"I'll have a spring wine," she said.

Riven smiled. "And what can I get for you, sir?"

"Make that two," Karma said.

He came back with two very dark red wines. Taking a sip, Kalyka looked at him over the top of her glass. "So where are you from? We've talked about racquetball and about hiking, but what about you?"

"I'm from Earth," he replied, sipping the wine. "I was born and raised a little south of where the Academy is."

"Must have been interesting growing up in the shadow of the Academy."

"We weren't actually in the shadow," Karma said. "We were a few hundred miles away. I don't miss that area though. It was too crowded for my taste."

She gave another small smile. "You would have loved Kendra Province. All woods and grasslands, farms and villages. Very homey feel to wherever you went."

"Sounds like a paradise," he said with a smile. "Do you ever go back there?"

"I haven't been back in three years....I miss it."

"What's stopping you from going back?" Karma asked.

Kalyka glanced at him before taking another drink. "I don't have enough leave time to get there and back and be able to spend any amount of time there. It would take 10 days to get there, and 10 days to get back. With only 29 days of leave, it wouldn't be worth the trip."

"Take someone with you to make it more memorable," Karma suggested.

"Like you?" she teased. It was becoming increasingly clearer that he liked her.

"Now that you mention it," Karma said to her, "I wouldn't mind seeing that area."

She resisted the urge to shake her head. Finishing her drink, she asked for the time. "Oh gosh, I need to get back to my quarters. I have an early shift tomorrow." She got down from the stool and looked at him. "I'll see you tomorrow. What time?"

"After your shift?" Karma asked. "We can meet on the holodeck."

Kalyka offered him another soft smile. "I'd like that." She walked out of the holodeck, heading towards her quarters.

Karma smiled and turned back to the bartender for another drink.

:OFF:

Lieutenant Karma Sinclair
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Calypso

LtJG Kalyka Meral
Chief Engineer
USS Calypso

 

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