Barbecue on the Beach Fest 2392

Posted on Mon Apr 17, 2017 @ 9:28pm by Commodore Michael Aravan & Captain Madelina Weisz & Lieutenant Marisa Cheshire & Lieutenant Commander Arrda & Lieutenant Martha Cusack & Lieutenant Commander Alex Rho & Lieutenant JG Mar Megara & Lieutenant JG Jacob Hartley & Master Chief Petty Officer Thomas Barnes

Mission: An Orion to Die For
Location: Holodeck
Timeline: MD 6 || 1200 Hours

Marisa walked passed the large hissing holodeck doors with a large polymer crate in her hands. The door opened onto a large beach, with the sun hanging low in the sky, over the pristine blue horizon. Directly in front of her was nothing but sand for a good distance, with a cliff face that she had specified to be quite high above sea level in the far distance. To her right was long dune with grassy shrubs and bushes peeking over the crest, behind which was a grassy clearing. All over staff from the Black Hole and her own were setting up equipment. Most of it was crates of food, though some of them were moving in large, real matter grills and spit cookers with the aid of some holographic ATVs. Some of them had completed their work and were playing with a Cricket set or a football in the water. All of them dressed in some kind of bathing suit.

Marisa herself was wearing a bikini top and board shorts. The top was blue with a union jack on one cup and the southern cross on the other, similar to her homeland's flag before First Contact. Her shorts were quite high, only twenty five centimeters long and white with a thick yellow trim along the hemline and side stitching. On the left corner, resting on the front of her thigh was a quartet of white frangipanis, with the faintest hint of yellow towards the center of each flower.

She walked onto the beach with a heavy silver polymer crate in hand. Her feet sunk an inch into the fine sand, pushing it's way pleasantly though the gaps in between her toes as she made the short distance to her station. She dumped down the crate next to a bunch of other identical ones save for the single stripe of various colours each of them had. The box popped open with a hiss and a wave of cold gas escaped, revealing a few dozen bottles filled with amber liquid being cooled by ice. She collected one and with a practiced motion bashed the corner of the lid on the side of the grill, causing it to pop off.

"Alright guys!" She yelled out after taking a swig "Report to your assigned stations and get cooking. If they got the message they should be here shortly!"

The pilot put down her drink and started up her grill, proceeding to collect an apron while it heated up. Hers had an image of an incredibly ripped man clothed in nothing but a set of red briefs. Meat from the eskies went on with a sizzle as Marisa began to cook them with a contented smile on her face.

Michael entered the holodeck after he and Spencer had gotten her sister to babysit the kids. He was wearing a white t-shirt, a pair of swim trunks and a pair of sunglasses. When he saw people already there in their swimming clothes and looked at Spencer. "It looks like the party has already started, beautiful. Shall we dazzle them?"

Spencer walked beside her husband with her hand in his. She took the sights in as they moved farther in and smiled, clearly impressed with what was done for the crew. "Dazzling is what I do best," she said with a bright smile, scanning the area to pick a good spot for their stuff. Dropping the bag she carried onto the sand, the former Starfleet officer pulled her dress off to reveal her bathing suit.

Thomas Barnes, the only enlisted person in the ship's senior staff, was not far behind the Captain and his wife. In fact, he'd spotted them the very moment he exited the turbolift car. He was dressed for the occasion, sporting a white t-shirt with "Alpha Centuri" emblazoned on the front (yet another specimen from his collection of t-shirts from his galavanting among the stars). In addition, he wore a pair of black swimtrunks with white trim that didn't even go halfway down his thighs. His feet were encased in swim shoes. While most would have opted for flip flops, Tom could not stand the feeling of something between his toes or even the way the flops bounced against his heels.

"Right on time," he said to Maddy as they entered the holodeck.

Unlike Barnes, Maddy opted for flip flops. Being in boots for a large deal of her day was bad enough, so giving her poor feet a break was worth the intrusive feeling between her toes. "It would seem you're right about that," she said with a smile from ear to ear. "I can't wait to get into that water, either. This is my little piece of heaven."

The redhead picked a spot and began to spread a couple towels out on the sand. They may have been inside the holodeck, but she planned to treat it as anything but. Once everything was settled, she reached down to grip the hem of her T-shirt, pulling it over her head, then got her shorts off next to reveal her neon colored bikini.

"Race you to the water?" Tom asked, a sly smile on his face. It would be easy to grab a drink just before diving in, but what was the point if you were only going to have a sip and then let it sit under the warm sun.

"Oh... you're on. Loser has to make dinner for the other one tonight," the redhead grinned just before taking off toward the water. With a threat like that looming over his head, maybe he'd let her win, but she somehow doubted it. It was a good thing her order finger was working properly, otherwise, her poor boyfriend would be eating something unrecognizable.

Barnes laughed as he broke out into a run, not in full force, but enough to catch up to Maddy and then keep pace with her. "You assume we'll be in a mood to eat tonight. Whatever the Squadron CO has cooking back there smells really good."

Maddy grinned, turning to look at him before looking ahead again. "You're right. You may have to roll me home. I plan to eat that much."

Barnes had a split-second image in his mind of Maddy suddenly the size of a boulder and he was rolling her down the corridor. He laughed again as they approached the water. "Nah, I'll just beam you there!" With that, he charged ahead, about to enter the water.

"No!" Maddy shouted as panic set in when he took the lead on her. She kicked it into high gear and took off after him, laughing the whole way. "If I catch you, you're in trouble!"

"Ha!" Tom shouted, reaching the edge of the water at last, each step forming a rather sizable splash as he went. As soon as he was far enough in, he began to wade until he could no longer touch. Maddy's threat did nothing to phase him. After all, he could handle whatever trouble he just got himself into.

Oh, this was too much fun. The redhead took off after him, diving beneath the waves when it was getting too difficult to run any longer. She looked around to find his form and grinned, deciding to circle around and come at home from behind. He was in for it now, and there was no one to save him from her.

Tom didn't need saving. Though, he did wonder where Maddy went. When he didn't see her above the water, he knew only one other possibility. The clear water betrayed her, but it was already too late.

She was upon him, reaching out to wrap her arms around his waist and pulling him under with her. Maddy knew the crystal clear water would give her position away, but by then, it would already be too late. She grinned and positioned him, preparing herself for launch. If the Commander had to guess, things like this rarely happened to the Operations Chief. That was all about to change.

He gulped as he was pulled underwater. Attempting to be a bit unsuspecting himself, he threw his arms around her to disrupt her launch. If she was going to take him out, then he had to settle the war somehow.

Maddy was completely shocked by his actions and surfaced to take a much needed breath with a grin. She hadn't been expecting him to retaliate, but he was a slick one. He was definitely one to keep an eye on.

Alex had gotten the message and was really looking forward to some nice down time. And an invitation to a beach barbecue was just the thing. As Alex walked up the holodeck doors, he wondered in the back of his mind if Xylia would be there. What he saw when he walked through the doors was beautiful. If this beach existed on some world, he wanted to experience for real. The off duty Intel Chief walked on in wearing his short, blue swim trunks, with two white stripes and one black strip down the sides. He had a blue, white, and gold striped beach towel around his neck and sandals on his feet. He could smell the meat cooking on the grills and nodded his head. This was definitely going to be a nice break.

Michael looked around as more people came in and saw Maddy with Barnes and nodded towards her. "There's Maddy and Barnes," he pointed out to Spencer as he lowered his voice. "She told me they're an item now."

Spencer turned her attention to where he gestured and smiled. "Good for her. She deserves to be happy, and if that smile on her face is any indicator, I'd say she's quite happy."

Xylia made her way down the beach in her black bikini. She managed to arrive a little earlier than the rest to get a little swim time in, but that was a while ago, and none of the men around her seemed to mind much. Her suit and hair were still a bit damp, but the rest of her was dry. It was time for her to make her way back to meet up with the others.

Martha and Lucia were next to arrive - with both wearing matching bikinis and straw hats. Both also had sunglasses on although Martha had also brought along a light jacket which she was wearing to cover up a bit more. Martha didn't want to wear a bikini at all because of her lack of confidence in her appearance - but Lucia had managed to convince her to wear one and walking hand in hand the Cusacks found a quiet spot under a palm tree to relax in.

"This is a nice spot" Lucia said.

Martha nodded. "It is"

"Come here sweetie" Lucia said - opening her arms for a hug.

Martha embraced her wife tightly before kissing her soft lips gently for a few moments and then lying back against the tree. Elsie was busy working in The Black Hole so she wouldn't be able to attend right away - although she said if she could get away early she would pop down.

Meg walked all the way from her quarters in nothing but a gorgeous deep red bikini, not paying any attention to the stares. She knew her appearance was shocking, after all. She was tall, trim, but with curves where there should be curves, and just enough muscle to intimidate most men. She ignored them all, though, as she walked onto the holodeck. She glanced around at the scenery and made note of the cliffs not far away; she would have to go cliff diving later. She grinned vaguely as she headed for the water to wade around a bit.

Alex walked over to one of the coolers and grabbed a bottle out of it. He popped the top and took a small drink. Whatever it was, it was good. But was planning to be careful and not let his inhibitions down that much. He stepped back and looked around. He could see the Captain and his wife as well Maddy and several of the others that he recognized from the Captain's dinner.

Xylia grabbed her floral print sarong from her towel on the sand and wrapped it around her waist as she made her way to the bar. She offered the two men behind the bar a smile, recognizing them from Piper's place. That must have meant they were serving the real deal. It was because of that that the Security/Tactical officer chose to pace herself. "I'll have a Dark 'n Stormy, please," she said, stepping aside to watch her drink being made. Once it was in her hand, she grabbed it, thanked the man, then made her way back to her spot on the sand.

Lucia looked at Martha and lifted her sunglasses up. She was in need of a refreshment and hoped Martha was too - there was a large bottle of wine that she'd spotted and hoped to get hold of for them to share before anyone else did.

"Do you want a drink beautiful?" Lucia asked.

Martha nodded. "Sure"

Lucia got up and managed to get the bottle of wine she'd caught sight of along with a pair of glasses. Bringing it all back to Martha under the palm tree Lucia poured out two glasses of wine for them and passed one to her wife. Sitting up Martha accepted the glass of wine offered to her and gave her wife a rare smile.

"You have taste Lucia. Thank you" Martha said.

Lucia giggled cutely and tapped her glass against Martha's before they took a sip out of eachother's glasses and returned to leaning against the trunk of the palm tree.

"Do you want to join me for a swim before we eat Martha?" Lucia asked.

Martha nodded - deciding it was worth making the effort to enjoy the event with her wife. And besides - she didn't want to go swimming after they ate either - and with the lack of food she'd eaten today Martha knew she'd be having quite a large helping from the barbecue.

"Yeah alright. Let's have these first though" Martha replied.

"Do you want a drink, Spencer?" Michael asked as he looked at his wife, who was to him the most beautiful woman in the entire galaxy.

Spencer blinked. She couldn't really remember the last time she had a drink, or when there wasn't a child needing her attention for something. The blonde haired woman felt out of place among all the Starfleet personnel present. "Uh... sure. Go ahead and surprise me."

"I'll be right back," he said before he headed over to the bar. He ordered a Borg Queen for her and a Liquid Latinum for himself. Once they had been mixed, he headed up to where she was waiting and handed her the drink. "I hope you like it," he said.

Spencer accepted her drink and took a small sip of it. "Thank you, Mikey. It's delicious."

"You're welcome," Michael said with a smile. "Do you feel like going and doing a bit of swimming before we get something to eat?"

"Yes. It'll be nice to work up an appetite first," she said, moving over to her husband and jumping onto his back with a grin. "Mush, Mikey."

Michael set his drink down carefully and got a hold on her legs so she wouldn't fall off. He grinned once she was secure, then took off running for the water. "Captain coming through!" he yelled as people scattered as he barrelled down the beach. As he neared the water, he kicked it into a sprint before he entered the water, then he suddenly turned around and let go of her as it started to get deeper. "We have lift off!"

Spencer let out a startled squeal as she flew through the air and hit the water. She wasn't expecting that to happen, and if she were, she'd have made sure he came with her. Popping back to the surface, the blonde coughed a couple times and wiped water from her face. "Oh... Imma get you."

Michael laughed and splashed water at her, then dove into the water and started swimming away from her. "Come get some!" he called to her.

She laughed and swam after him. "You're going to pay for that, Mikey!" Spencer sank under the water and took off after him.

Michael looked back and didn't see his wife, so he started to tread water for a moment before he took a breath and ducked under the water. When he saw his wife coming right at him, he started to exclaim something and bubbles came out of his mouth before he turned to surface again for more air.

Spencer grinned when she saw him go under the water, but it was short lived. The second she was within reach, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him under with her. The two of them didn't have a lot of opportunity to do things like this with their little ones, so she planned to enjoy every second of it. Of course, just because she was having fun didn't mean she wasn't thinking about her kids. The truth was... she missed them a lot.

Michael had been quick enough to get a lungful of air before his wife pulled him under again. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned into a give her a long kiss as air bubbles escaped from between them until he had to come up for air again.

His wife returned the kiss and surfaced with him with her arms looped around his neck. She couldn't even remember the last time they'd done anything like this, which meant it had been entirely too long. "We need to start setting aside one night a week to have more moments like this."

"We do," Michael agreed. "I love you, Spencer, and I don't think Piper would mind watching the kids for one night."

"I love you, too, Mikey," Spencer said, leaning in to kiss him. That was the moment she expected to hear the gagging sound of their three year old daughter.

He kissed her again. "I am so glad that I decided to come," he said. "We needed this like you wouldn't believe."

Spencer smiled. "We did, and we'll be doing it again soon."

"I can't wait," Michael said. "Want to do some swimming now?"

"I do," she said, giving her husband a quick kiss before letting him go and diving under the water with a smile. The love she had for Michael... it amazed her. Spencer couldn't quite put it into words.

He took a deep breath after he returned the kiss and dove after her, admiring her sleek form as she swam under the water. He would never get tired of watching her, either awake or asleep and was secretly glad that she had chosen to resign. When his lungs demanded air, he reluctantly took his eyes off of her and came up to take another deep breath.

Spencer could feel the need to take a breath nag at the back of her mind, and rather wait for that need to turn into a burning sensation, she broke the surface to take a much needed breath. Glancing to the side, she half expected Michael to be next to her, but when she didn't see him, her gaze moved behind her. "What's the matter, old man? Can't keep up anymore?"

Michael laughed when he heard her before he swam over to her. "I'll show you keeping up later," he whispered in her ear as he got close enough. "Be glad you're retired, because tomorrow, you're not going to want to do anything except stay in bed."

His wife grinned. "We'll see who has trouble walking tomorrow. You may have to take a day off for the first time in your entire career. Oh, trust me. It's going to happen," she said, whispering the promise.

"Is that so?" Michael asked. "I'll have to accept that challenge."

Having done her part for the moment Marisa was relieved by one of the squadron leaders. Taking off her apron she took stock of the situation. The only people she really knew were those in her squad and a few of the command staff, the majority of whom were already in a clique. She identified a woman in a red bikini who had what Marisa would describe as perfect muscle definition and a combination of admiration and jealousy welled up within her. It was only when she noticed the ridges on the woman's forehead did she realise the playing field was unequal and lamented being Terran, if only for a moment. She grabbed another couple of bottles from the esky, smashed one of the lids off and made her way over, leaving tracks in the sand.

"Hey, couldn't help noticing you eyeing that cliff like you wanted to wake up next to it tomorrow morning." Marisa said, offering the bottle to the woman.

Meg almost didn't realize the voice was speaking to her because she was so focused on the waves. "I wish to jump from it," she explained. "So I suppose, if I wake up next to it, a terrible accident has occurred. Thank you," she added, noticing the bottle being offered her; she took it. "I am Dr. Mar Megara. Most people call me Meg."

'To who? You or the cliff?' was the first response that crossed Marisa's mind, she looked like she could split it with a head butt. Instead she swallowed it behind a wide smirk. "Marisa Cheshire. I get called Alice by most pilots, but Marisa or Mari is fine too." She said with a somewhat exasperated exhale. Keeping up with all the callsigns and nicknames could be a pain sometimes. "If you don't mind some company I'll join you. I've been giving that cliff longing looks myself."

"The more the merrier," agreed Meg cheerfully. "Have you been cliff diving before?"

Marisa nodded "Nothing that high up. But we did have a few small cliff faces on the coast near where I grew up." She said with a smile. Something caught her attention over Meg's shoulder. Marisa leaned over to get a better view, and she caught sight of Rho taking a swig from a bottle.

"Yo, Double-Oh-Seven!" she called out, cupping her hands. "Wanna go cliff diving!?!"

Alex looked around to see who was calling out. Marisa and the Doctor were looking in his direction. He was going to have to find out what that meant, double oh something or other. Smiling, he set his half empty bottle down and walked over to the two women. "I suppose I could. It would be a new experience for sure. I've never jumped off of a perfectly good cliff before."

Meg gave him what she hoped was a friendly smile, but he was awfully good looking, so it may have come off a bit sultry. "It is great fun!" she promised. "I usually check to make sure the water is deep enough, but I am assuming, since this one was made for diving, that it is fine?" She gave a questioning look to Marisa.

Douglas -- one of these days, he needed to just do away with that name; it had only been taken to blend in during the Earth Mission anyway, he thought -- entered the holodeck with one arm around his wife. Currently, he was wearing a gay tank top and black jeans. Once they had entered, he removed the jeans to reveal a pair of black swim trunks with a deep blue wave pattern on them. The base of the waves was flat blue, but as the wave neared the top, it took on a metal-like sheen, giving depth to the image. He had pulled the front of his hair back off his face and tied it with a black leather strap. The rest hung free.

He glanced around them and then smiled at Danielle. "Want a drink before we mingle?" he asked, giving her a little squeeze.

Danielle came in beside of her husband in a pink bikini top and pair of blue jean shorts. "Sure," she said as she looked around and saw all the officers, including the Captain in swimwear. "Now I don't feel so bad," she commented. "Can you get me a Risan Colada?" she asked him.

Douglas gave her another little squeeze. "Sure. Be right back." He then moved to the makeshift bar and smiled at the person manning it. "Hey there. Can I get a Risan Colada and a Bajoran Sunrise?"

The bartender quickly made the drinks and handed them back to the Security Chief. "Here you go."

"Thanks." He grinned as he took the drinks and made his way back to his wife. "Here you go, Love." He handed her the Risan Colada and sipped his own drink. He knew this was a holodeck program, but he couldn't resist. "They sure picked a good day for this."

Danielle accepted the drink and took a big swallow of it. She groaned at his words and glanced at him. "Seriously, Arrda?" she asked him. "Perhaps we should see if they can add some water spouts and a storm to come out of nowhere," she teased him.

He chuckled at her. "Hm, that might be interesting. Maybe a whirlpool." he joked.

"Sure, why not?" she asked with a laugh. "After we finish our drinks, I'll bury you in the sand, then pour water on your face so you can imagine you're caught on a desert island in a tropical storm."

Douglas laughed but shook his head. "As insanely fun as that sounds, I think I'll pass. Though I wouldn't mind a good swim. You up for it?"

"I am," Danielle said. "But only after we finish our drinks. I'm not about to pass this up." She raised her glass to his and touched it against it lightly.

He reciprocated the gesture with equal gentleness, adding in agreement, "Indeed. It isn't often we're treated to such luxury." He sipped his drink, motioning with his other hand to a small outcropping of rocks. "Care to sit?"

He liked water, always had. Behind his mother's home on Marai, there was an old cliff that she had told him when he was young had once been host to a magnificent waterfall. And in honor of that, he had built a medium-sized waterfall into his garden on his estate, and its replica on Earth. Though, sadly, he did not really get to spend much time at either home these days.

Danielle joined him on the sand and smiled. "It's days like this that remind me that everything is okay," she said. "It also makes me glad that I decided to join you on your trek through the stars, Arrda."

All right, sand it was. He sat beside her and sipped his own drink. "I am exceedingly glad that you chose to join me on this journey, Danielle." he agreed with her sentiment. "I think it would be empty without you." He paused a second then looked sidelong at her, his expression becoming somewhat serious. "I was thinking about something, and I would like your thoughts on it."

"What would that be?" Danielle asked as she took a drink of her Risan Colada and looked at her husband. Even relaxed, he looked like he could take on a squad of Cardassians and make them run home to mommy. She chuckled at the thought before she set her drink down and gave him her full attention.

Almost at the same moment, he set his drink down and held her gaze. "It's nothing Earth-shattering, I promise." he assured with a smile. "I've just been thinking lately of how I use two given names, one for my Earth and Starfleet records and one on Marai. It sometimes gets... irritating, and I was wondering if I should just stop using the Douglas and just have my given name the same on all of my records. What do you think?"

"It's the name you were born with," she said. "Besides, you know that I like it. You shouldn't have to comply by giving a human name when you aren't, my love. I say you have it put back to what it actually is, Arrrrrrda."

He gave her the requisite little shiver at the way she purred his name. "I thought you might say that, but I never assume, especially with you. Thank you, my Love. I will look into it then. Besides, I only used the Human name of Douglas Mallory for the Earth Mission. We had to blend in, so we needed Earth names. Technically, Mallory isn't even my Marai house name." Had he told her all of this before? He honestly couldn't remember.

"I'm happy with whatever you are happy with, Arrda," Danielle told him before she leaned over to give him a kiss. "Besides, I've always preferred Arrda since I know you love how I say it."

He returned her kiss. "I do indeed love the way you say my name. It gives me the most exquisite shivers. Don't worry, though. I'll keep the Mallory. You've already changed your last name once." He smiled.

"You're too sweet," Danielle said. "I love you, Arrda."

He smiled, hugged her and leaned in to kiss her. "I love you too, Danielle." he murmured in her ear. "I will always love you."

Danielle returned the kiss with a smile. "Now let's go swimming."

Lt. Kramer had never felt comfortable in large groups. He wasn't socially inept, but Vince just didn't think that a 'Beach Party' was for him, though he did the respectable thing and walked onto the holodeck, still in his uniform, and stood to the side for a long moment. It was a very beautiful program; a long white beach, blue green water, with a marvelous blue sky above. He looked about at all the crew from the ship, who all seemed to be having a good time. Most were wearing very meager clothing, of course appropriate for the setting, but just not for him. He didn't feel that he was a snob or anything, but had been taught to cover one's body so not to improperly entice or mislead someone else.

For the few minutes Kramer was there, he had nodded and said 'Hello' to a few crewmen as they had passed. He was glad that so many were having a good time. He even saw a couple of his engineers out there tossing some kind of disk to each other. The disk seemed to float on the air as it was passed about. With a shrug, Vince turned and exited the holodeck.

Xylia rose to her feet and began to gather up her stuff. Half a drink and a swim in the ocean was enough. Now, it was back to reality for the Assistant Chief of Security/Tactical. With both of her department heads at this shindig, someone needed to run things. Looked like she got to be the lucky one. Not that she minded. She loved her job.

Placing her things into her bag and slipping her feet back into her flip-flops, the Lieutenant made her way toward the door.

As their group was walking to the cliff, Alex's gaze was caught by passing black bikini. Well, by the blonde in it. "Just a second," he said to the two other ladies. He jogged back to the blonde and gently grabbed her left arm. "Xylia, you look..."

Xylia spun around fully prepared to slap the taste out of someone's mouth when her arm was grabbed, but pulled it when she saw who it was. She breathed a visible sigh of relief that it wasn't some random man. "Alex... you startled me. For a second, I was ready to wage war," she said unable to keep the smile from her lips. "How long have you been here? I didn't see you come in."

"I've been here for a little while," he said. "I haven't mingled that much. But then Marisa over there," he gestured with his head, "invited me to go cliff jumping with her and the Doctor. Marisa commands the fighters." He put his hand on the small of her back and pulled her close, "Would you like to join us?" The Ullian then spoke to her telepathically, The view from the cliff would be more wonderful with you in the foreground.

Xylia smiled when he pulled her closer to him. "I was going to head back and clock in for a while, but cliff jumping definitely sounds a lot more fun than that does," she responded as she set her bag back down on the sand, then removed the sarong and flip-flops she put back on. "If I fail miserably at this, I'm holding you responsible." And, since he was in her mind, he knew she was joking.

"Oh we can't have you leaving this for work," said Alex. "Come on, let me introduce you to them." With his hand still on the small of her back, he led her up to where he had left Marisa and Meg. Once he got there, he began the introductions. "Xylia, this is Marisa and this is Meg. Ladies, this is Xylia." He leaned down and kissed her lips. "She's going to join us on our cliff jumping expedition."

Meg's eyes brightened and she smiled at the new woman. "It is nice to meet you, Xylia," she said in her Spanish accent. "That is a lovely name."

"It does definitely sound exotic" Marisa said with a thoughtful finger upon her lips as she resisted the urge to comment on how well stacked she was compared to her. Worse still, she couldn't blame alien genetics on this one. The beach party was a mistake she inwardly thought.

Xylia returned Alex's kiss and smiled at the two other ladies. "It's nice to meet you both, and thank you."

"So, if we're ready, let's get moving," said Alex.

"Hurry, before the cliff is a victim of erosion!" Meg joked, leading the group towards the cliffs.

Jacob had arrived and immediately had went for a swim in the holographic sea. He enjoyed a chance to swim, although there was something to be said for being able to swim in a real ocean. Still, the holodeck was a fair approximation. Swimming over to the shore, he stood up, water parting as he did, dripping from his face and hair first, and then his body. He was wearing a pair of light blue trunks, with dark blue lining, and as he fully stood up, he walked towards the beach, grabbing a towel as he stepped onto the sand, drying his face off as he did.

"Hola, Jacob!" Meg called as she strode passed with her two new friends. "We are going cliff diving! Do you want to come?"

From her position under the palm tree Martha spotted the group gathering - from the looks of things they were going to be doing some cliff diving. After giving Lucia her jacket - and gaining an approving look in the process - Martha made her way over to the group. If nothing else it meant she'd be diving into the water in style. Approaching the group Martha initially kept quiet - waiting to see what was going to happen.

"Alright, considering that there's a few of us, how about a little competition." Marisa said, folding her arms with a sly smile. She looked at the cliff for a moment before making a long line in the sand, stopping near one of the ATVs. "Alright so," she started again, dusting her hands off. "The first one to the cliff face has all the others does an extra shift in their department. So say if the doctor won, we'd all be helping sanitize the operating theater, if I won you'd be helping the techs scrub the carbon from the hulls of my fighters, maybe more if you have the qualifications. Anyone interested?"

"And if I win then I've got the weekly stock check that needs doing - torpedo casings, warheads, stun grenades, hand held weapons...and it needs to be finished by the end of tomorrow so I can give a report to the Captain" Martha commented.

Rock climbing was one of her favourite past times so Martha felt she had a pretty good chance of finishing well.

"Hold your horses there goldie." Marisa responded with a placating palm and a soft smile. "No duties that interfere with tonight's festivities, besides." she nodded in the direction of the saccharine display of affection from their commanding officer and his wife "I think you're off the hook."

A group of Marines had replicated a football and were having a rough and tumble game of tag football on the beach. One threw the ball high and it went sailing towards the women and man gathered by the cliff while the others charged in an attempt to catch it.

"Heads up!" one called. "Incoming! Hit the deck!"

"I think you might be right," she said, glancing toward their CO with his wife in the water. In fact, Xylia was certain she spotted the XO running for the water a bit ago, too, so if they were able to have fun, why couldn't she? Hearing the heads up call snapped her out of her reverie and had her turning her gaze toward the football. It was coming their way along with those attempting to catch it. This could get bad.

Xylia quickly ran forward and jumped into the air, catching the ball against her chest before her arms came around to grab it. She'd had the misfortune of being hit with a ball before, and it wasn't a pleasant feeling. "Hey," she called. "You're about to barrel into people!"

The Marines came to a halt and one gave the warning came up to her. "Nice catch. Want to play on our team?"

Marisa shrugged with a roll of her eyes. "Let's just go before we run out of day light. This was supposed to be fun but it turned into an exercise in logistics." She started making tracks towards the land feature. "If you're coming, lets go!"

Xylia glanced toward Marisa and arched a brow briefly before she threw the ball back. "Maybe in a bit. There's a perfectly good cliff I was asked to jump off of." With that, she turned and made her way toward the cliff.

Martha simply made her way up to the cliff and prepared for the climb up to the top. Tying her hair back into a ponytail with her emergency hair band which she kept on her wrist Martha quickly scanned the cliff face for the quickest route - which certainly wasn't the safest - and began her ascent to the top.

Meg, however, was busy looking for the easiest way up. She spotted it about 20 feet from the beach on the side of the cliff. She glanced up at the rock face and then at the water. The water was relatively calm and a rough staircase looked much easier than rock climbing. "There are stairs over there," she said, pointing in the general direction. Then, without hesitation, she stepped into the water, wading in waist deep and them swimming towards the stairs.

Martha managed to scale the cliff face successfully and reasonably quickly and hauled herself over the cliff edge with a rather large smile on her face. After choosing a suitable and safe position on the cliff's edge to dive into the water below from Martha jumped off the cliff and streamlined her body ready to enter the water.

After entering the water and going down a few metres Martha resurfaced and looked over at Meg.

"I think we'll have to let the adjudicator decide won won that one" Martha commented.

"I do not remember agreeing to any contest," Meg replied, pulling herself onto the rough stairs. "These are steep, but handy. Come! Everyone! To the top!" And she began climbing, albeit carefully.

Martha sighed and decided not to participate again so she made her way out of the water and back to the palm tree and collected her jacket and towel from below it. Martha felt like she'd embarrassed herself so she decided it was time to retire to avoid her mood affecting her wife's enjoyment of the evening.

"This is too much - I didn't think it would be so busy. I'm sorry but I'm going back to our quarters" Martha said.

Looking up to respond to her wife Lucia saw that Martha had already made her way towards the door to the holodeck.

Lucia replied. "Martha...wait..."

Lucia sighed and knew it might have been too much for Martha to attend such a large gathering - which she'd never been comfortable with anyway - but decided it would be best to let her go back to her quarters to calm down a bit and get a replacement bottle of wine.

"Bartender...a bottle of your finest wine. Just the one glass this time" Lucia asked.

"I'm sorry," the bartender said. "All we have left is alcohol for mixed drinks, shots and beer. What would you like?"

She half expected that to be the case - especially after Martha had taken what was left in their shared bottle back to their quarters. Instead Lucia decided to go for something totally different and try to enjoy the evening without her wife's presence.

Lucia shrugged. "I'll take a rum and coke in that case please"

The bartender made her the drink and handed it to her. "Have a nice day."

Accepting her drink Lucia picked it up and smiled to the bartender. She liked the small touch of an umbrella which was placed in the glass next to the slice of lemon.

"Thank you" Lucia replied.

With that Lucia made her way back to the palm tree to relax before the food was ready. Once she'd had a couple of drinks and something to eat Lucia had no doubt she'd unwind a lot more and socialise with people that she usually wouldn't speak to.

Xylia approached the cliff edge. She didn't want to take the easy way out and opted to go straight up, looking toward Alex. "Do you want to climb with me, or go the way Meg is?" She asked, turning back to the rocky face and getting her hand into position.

"I'll climb up," he replied. "After you." Alex found two handholds and got ready. It looked like it was going to be a fun climb.

"Let's see what you've got, Rho," she said with a grin as she began to climb the rock face.

"You're on." Alex gripped the handholds and pulled, searching for a place to put his feet. He looked up, about to grab another small outcropping of rock, and saw the black bikini bottom above him. I see what you've got, too, he thought.

Xylia focused on her climb to the top of the cliff and pulled herself to the top where she waited for Alex to join her. From below, it didn't look this high up, but now that she was looking down... that was a whole different story. There weren't a whole lot of things she'd back down from, but now she was second guessing her decision to jump. Of, there was no questions about it. She was going to jump just so she could say she'd accomplished it, but chances were she would never do it again.

Alex was a couple minutes behind Xylia as his foot had slipped from it's spot a little further down. He had to hold his body weight on his arms while balancing with the other foot and trying to find another foothold. After what seemed like minutes, he had found one and continued the climb. Now, he was pulling himself up where Xylia was standing. "Wow, what a climb. So what do you say we jump together and cool off in that clear water below?"

When Alex made it to the top, Xylia threw her arms around his neck. Partly because she was a bit freaked out about being so high, and partly because he slipped. "Are you okay? You didn't get hurt, did you?"

Alex was caught between a rock and a Xylia. Though, he didn't have any qualms about it. "I'm fine," he said. "Nothings hurt. Except maybe my pride." He laughed and hugged her tight. "You seem a little shaky. Are you okay?"

"I'm afraid of heights," she answered quietly, trying to force herself to look over the edge. "I'll be okay. Let's do this."

Yes, you will be just fine, he said to her telepathically. Just relax and be calm He quickly shared a memory of his from a vacation he went on during the summer between his Freshman year and Sophomore year at the Academy. A memory of a placid lake surrounded by lush vegetation on Betazed. You've got this. "Sounds good to me. Let's do it whenever you're ready."

Xylia took a deep breath and tried to relax as much as she could, then nodded her head. "Okay... I'm ready," she said, slipping her hand into his. "We go together."

"Together." Alex took her hand and they both sailed off the cliff into the water below.