Updated – December 15, 1998
BEHIND LINES
Chapter 1 - Part H
Samarra walked through the doors of his quarters and activated his lights. As he looked around, he felt like his quarters were a mess. He went over to his desk and picked up some artifacts he was analyzing for the Federation Science Council and placed them in their containers. Next, he stored these and some data chips in the wall cabinet and looked around some more. He couldn’t find anymore messes or busy work, so he sat down to wait. Samarra figured he had about ten minutes left. The one good thing about this was he really wasn’t thinking about the mission.
The door chime rang and Samarra nearly leapt out of his skin. Well, he thought, it’s a good thing I’m not nervous. He went towards the door as it opened, unsure if it would be Moore. Samarra had, imagined she’d make him wait to the last second, he was right. A tall muscular bronzed-skinned Brecon stood in the door. It was the ship’s Chief Quartermaster, Corporal Klo-Tos, standing behind a small gravity sled. He had both pairs of his large golden arms on the control and stood at attention.
Samarra looked confused at him for a second then spoke, “Mr. Klo, can I help you?”
“Sir, I was asked to leave these here by Lieutenant Moore. For your…dinner tonight.”
Samarra just stared at the golden Brecon and tried to imagine just how many crewmembers knew he was having a private dinner with Katherine. He took a breathe in and ushered the large man in. He was really seeing now how right Meg was, he hated that. What’s more important, being with Katherine or people knowing that he gave a damn about her? He sometimes wondered how they were able worked as a couple this long. He could be skittish and he could be annoying. She deserved better treatment.
Samarra suddenly realized he had wandered off in his thoughts and was staring at the sled Klo had brought in.
“Sir?”
He looked up at Klo, “Sorry. Did she have any other instructions?”
“She wanted me to leave the sled and the other items with you.” Klo moved the sled over and deactivated it. Klo then turned around met the Captain’s eyes. “Finally, she asked me to be sure you know to not meddle with anything until she arrives.”
Samarra nodded. Trying to joke with the crewman, saying, “Oh good, she's messing with my head. Well, I’ll be sure to follow her orders to the letter, it’s safer.”
The two smiled and Samarra offered Klo his hand, “Thanks for your help.”
He looked oddly at the offering, then took his hand. “It was an honor, besides it let me repay some old debts to the lieutenant.” With that, Klo strode out the door and left Samarra alone with his thoughts again.
He stood in the middle of the room for a minute looking back and forth between the door and the boxes on the gravity sled. Why did he shake his hand like that? God, he was nervous. Standing there, he felt a small desire to peak and see what she had sent ahead. He was held back by thought of ruining her surprise and her fun. It didn’t hurt him, so he continued to stand and began staring at the door.
As if by an act of will, the door chime sounded, on time. He opened the door and was struck by the sight he saw. Katherine Moore stood there in a long black dress that fit and expressed her figure exquisitely. Her long curly blonde hair was pinned up in the back and cascaded down left side of her face. While, without a doubt, Katherine was inspiringly beautiful whenever he saw her, at this moment, for the life of him, he couldn’t remember his own name.
He spoke the first thought he could muster, “Uh.”
She smiled at him, giving him a knowing look. “I’ll assume you’re asking me to enter.”
As she stepped in, he finally pulled himself back together. “Katherine, I’m sorry. I’m glad you’re here. You look amazing, you know…wow.”
Placing a brown satchel she brought with her on a chair, she turned back to Samarra. Her smile grew and she moved closer to him, gazing into his blue eyes. “Thanks. I’m glad my efforts weren’t in vain.”
“No…” He stood silent for a moment, gazing into her deep brown eyes. Then, snapping back he said, “Sorry, I just got lost for a minute. If you were hoping to stun me, you’ve succeeded. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to seeing you…in civilian attire. Probably never.” Smiling and gazing at her some more, he continued, “You just look amazing. So, what do we do first?”
She smirked and threw her arms around his neck. She suggestively said, “What would you like to do?”
Samarra sighed. “Don’t tempt me.”
She gave him an exaggerated frown and pout. “Prude.”
Samarra toyingly retaliated, “Hey, wine and dine me a little first, then we’ll see.”
Moore gave him a quick kiss and reluctantly withdrew her arms saying, “I think I’ve heard that before. But, okay. Why don’t you start by pulling the table from the wall and we should be ready fairly quick.”
While Samarra pulled the table away from the wall, Moore picked up the first of the three boxes. From the box she withdrew a white tablecloth and placed it over the table. Next, she withdrew a pair of candles and holders, which she set carefully in the table’s middle. As each item was set on the table, he became more and more aware how underdressed he was. God, Katherine stood there looking as if she had descended from the heavens and him? He was standing there in a uniform he had fallen asleep in less than five hours before.
He interrupted her methodical unpacking, “Katherine, I’m just going to step in back for a second, to change.”
She paused in her work to look at him. “You don’t have to John. You look as dashing as always.”
He began backing that way, “No. I ought to, you know, make it a proper celebration. Besides, maybe you’ll probably have better luck with me out of uniform.”
She continued to look at him, now smirking some more, pondering the point.
Seeing how she was reading his words he tried to recover, “Hey! You know what I mean.”
She gave him a dirty look, “Not even going to let me enjoy it for a minute?” She sighed and mockingly said, “Yeah, I know what you mean.” Then she gave him wink softly saying, “Don’t take long.”
Samarra began to head back, getting a bit of laugh out of his poor word choice. When he reached his wardrobe he was hit by the realization that he really didn’t have any really formal clothes. Seeing as most events he went to were for Starfleet and, well, this was the first time in a long while he had had a formal date with a woman, he really hadn’t bothered to bring along any suits on the voyage. It sort of surprised him that he’d never gone out of his way to really wine and dine her. Just another something to rectify.
He looked carefully for a minute before finding a white long sleeved shirt that seemed to fit his needs. He wished he had a good coat, but Katherine was hopefully not expecting miracles with him. Dropping the white shirt on his bed, he began to pull off his red uniform shirt.
*****
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