The Date

[Caelan Fletcher 0]

Isabeau reached the holodeck before Caelan did and set her pack and a couple of helmets on the deck to the side of the doors. Tapping the control pad, she accessed a caving program and set the difficulty level before turning around to wait, letting the wall take her weight as she leaned against it. She nodded as a couple of crew went by. She was wearing coveralls over a couple of shirts a pair of sturdy boots. Compared to what you could sometimes see while people waited to use a holodeck--it was nothing. Pulling her sleeve back, she checked her tank watch and guessed she'd see Caelan coming around the curve in the corridor at any moment. He'd surprised her by asking her if she'd like to go out and she kind of thought she'd surprised him by saying yes. She hadn't had the chance to meet too many of the crew since she'd come aboard and he'd mentioned rock climbing. He wasn't afraid to get dirty so maybe he'd enjoy caving, too.

 

Running a minute or so behind, Caelan rounded the corridor toward the holodeck doors. With only fifteen minutes between his last duty shift and the caving excursion, he'd only had enough time to change into the clothes Delevan had suggested. Considering where they were going, a sonic shower would have only gone to waste, and Fletcher always tended to look a little scruffy anyhow. It was charming...or at least that's what /he/ thought. Spotting Isabeau waiting outside, he approached with that same cheesy, boyish grin, "Hey." Simplicity was key.

 

Watching him approach, she noted the coveralls and boots and returned what she was starting to believe was a trademark grin with a smile of approval. "Hey, yourself." Reaching down she picked up the helmets and handed him one. "Ready to go below?"

 

Willing himself to avoid making the (in his mind) obvious suggestive joke, Caelan cleared his throat and nodded a slight. He'd save his sense of humor for the cave - a risky move, considering there'd be no one around to serve witness if one of his poorly planned puns ended up earning him a blackened eye. Stepping forward just enough to trigger the pressure sensor to open the holodeck doors, he gestured inside, "After you..."

 

Mercifully unaware of Caelan's thoughts, Isabeau activated her headlamp and walked forward into the coolly humid and gigantic cave anteroom, an excellently programmed facsimile of the subterranean caves of Aldebaran III. The light from her lamp sparkled off the crystals embedded in the stone walls and flashed as she turned her head to see what Caelan thought of it as the doors closed behind him. The ceiling gave the impression of being more than sixty feet over their heads while all around them, stalactites and stalagmites threw grotesque shadows.

 

Following suit, Caelan too turned on his lamp. He kept behind Isabeau as they entered, taking a moment to enjoy the view. It really was quite a sight... As the sparkle of refracted light through the crystals caught his eye, he shifted his gaze up to look around the holographic cave. Though the scene was quite different from one of his climbs, the adventurous endorphins were already starting to pump in his blood. Noticing Delevan's glance for the first time, he nodded to her, "Nifty cave you've got here."

 

"It's a gorgeous place and I hope someday to actually experience them for real." Isabeau smiled at the real appreciation she heard in Caelan's voice. "I know you suggested rock climbing, and I enjoy it--it's a better work out, in fact, but I so rarely meet anyone who might even want to try caving that I had to ask."

 

Fletcher shrugged a slight, "I've been wanting to try it anyway, and besides..." he smirked, "Gives me an excuse to ask you out again, eh?"

 

"Well, yes, I guess, it does, Caelan..." They had been walking across the huge anteroom, carefully avoiding the natural obstructions formed by thousands of years of mineral deposits and now Isabeau moved ahead, her voice floating back to Caelan with a cheerful lilt. "...if you survive today."

 

Caelan's smirk wavered a teensy bit, though the darkness of the cave was kind enough to shield his momentary lack of confidence from sight. These caves were hologenerated, and he hadn't begun his stand-up routine yet - there was no reason to be afraid. "I'll manage...and if I don't, well...at least the closest doctor isn't too far off."

 

He couldn't see it but she grinned. He had a rather irrepressible quality about him that was fun. "I'm off duty, but the safeties guarantee you can't get much more than a sprain or the odd broken bone or two," she explained as he come up beside her and she held her arm out at waist length to check his momentum. They were standing on a precipice overlooking a canyon and though they couldn't see it, the sound of rushing water could barely be heard. "Three hundred feet down. We'll turn here and follow this edge and it will take us lower until we reach a clear area where we can do a vertical descent."

 

Nodding, Fletcher sent the beam of light shining from his helmet bobbing up and down off the distant opposing rock face. He spent a few second staring over the edge before turning to follow at Delevan's side once again, reminding himself to pay another visit for a climb some time. Maybe he could slip off work early tomorrow...

 

She picked her way carefully along the precarious path, dipping low to avoid the overhanging rock. Caelan was right beside her and she watched their twin beams of light illuminate the way ahead, briefly showing the patches of odd algae that grew where no sunlight had ever reached. One of the reasons she wanted to get to these caves in person one day was because she'd heard that the algae had unusual properties and she'd love the chance to study it. Listening to Caelan's sure footsteps behind her reminded her that he could use some studying too. "Caelan, where are you from?"

 

And now the small talk begins. He smirked a slight, "Any idea where Lexington, Kentucky is?"

 

"I guess it's somewhere on the North American continent?" She'd heard of Kentucky. The grass wasn't really blue. When she'd been little she'd heard of the 'blue grass' and had been very excited until her mother had informed her that it was just a nickname because the buds of the grass had a bluish tint in the spring. She remembered what pleasure she'd taken in seeing grass from the planet Izar. It was gorgeous cobalt.

 

"Yup," he continued, "I lived 'bout two hundred kilometers or so east of there in this town called Rush. Just a blip between two places." No one'd ever heard of it before, so it came as no surprise that 'North America' had been her best guess. "You?"

 

"I was raised in the Amazon River Basin--in Peru." Isabeau paused, and gently grabbed his arm, tugging him to a stop, while she paused to get her bearings. The path had been widening and now offered two ways to go. She gave Caelan a speculative look and the decision was easy. He was in too good a shape to take the easy way down. "Let's go this way," she said indicating the left branch. Pulling her pack off her shoulder, she secured it to her waist belt with a leash, prepared to hold it by the top grip until they had to hit their knees and crawl. "It'll be more fun."

 

Caelan followed her lead, attaching his gear to his waist. "Peru, huh?" It was a question phrased with no answer. He eyed the alternative route, noting its relatively simplicity compared to the one they were about to take. Clearly she thought he was capable of a bit of a challenge...or she was trying to kill him. Either way, it was an opportunity to show off - if he broke his skull open, they'd be spending more time together anyway, even if if it was in sickbay. "What made you sign on with Starfleet, then?"

 

She paused for a second, wondering how best to answer that. It was interesting how you weren't really asked it directly all that often. People just assumed you had a burning desire for adventure or to serve a noble purpose. She had leanings towards both but had hatched the idea of joining right after she'd discovered that Starfleet Intelligence had been responsible for her brother's death. Of course, she'd been 17. Everything seemed so black and white at that age and what she thought she was going to do to avenge him, she still didn't know. Years of college and med school had broadened her horizons and she had come to believe that only Starfleet offered her the opportunities to follow twin disciplines-medicine and botany. She served her mother's memory and worked to create her own future. She still believed SFI was responsible for William's death but she didn't look for Justice. She hoped that Justice would serve itself. She gave Caelan a sideways look, careful not to hit him directly in the eyes with her lamp as she glanced up. "It seemed to offer the greatest variety of challenge, Caelan. How about you? Rush, Kentucky--what made you want to leave?"

 

The question made him laugh - a quick, one-breath exhalation of air of the 'Ha!' variety. "What didn't?" Of course, there was nothing wrong with home, it'd been everything he needed it to be, but it certainly wasn't where he had intended to end up. "It's not exactly bustling with opportunity back there. Figured I could do something exciting in the fleet...oh, and I so could meet girls." He grinned as he added the afterthought. Honesty had to count for something, right?

 

His reaction said it all, and Isabeau started laughing, and knocked her head against the overhang because she'd stopped paying attention. Oh well, that's why the helmet was there, she thought as she stooped a little lower and turned her head to answer. He was taller but they were booth bent over sand so were face to face. "You're on Aegis so I guess the excitement part speaks for itself. Why'd you decide on a starbase and not a starship?"

 

So she did have a sense of humor. He put that thought aside for later. "I don't remember making a decision." He shrugged, "But it's not been so bad. Klaxons go off enough for my taste, at least."

 

"Enough for your taste? You must get bored easily." Klaxons on Aegis seemed to go off every fifteen minutes. Since Drankum had come aboard, it seemed like they went off just for the heck of it, though she could certainly understand the need for drills. Isabeau yanked her pack up and open, pulling out a set of kneepads and handing them to Caelan. "Here, we're going to have to crawl the last few hundred yards, but the crystal formations on the other side are worth it, I promise!" She took out another set and wrapped them around her knees and snugged them.

 

Fitting his own kneepads on, Caelan prepared for the upcoming crawl, wondering why these pads weren't standard issue for long crawls in the Jefferies tube. The principle seemed to be the same. He'd have to ask Chief Jorahl to requisition a few pairs for the engineers. "A promise, hm? I'll hold you to it."

 

Isabeau turned and it was her turn to smirk at him. "You can. It's why I make so few of them." Looking forward, she let out the leash on the pack so it wouldn't catch at her waist and dropped into a squat, giving Caelan a look over her shoulder. "If you get at all claustrophobic, please don't hesitate to tell me. It's close in this tunnel, ok?"

 

"I'll manage," he replied, keeping confidence in his voice. No one particularly liked tight spaces...well, except for Rachel of course. She seemed to. But that was the exception, not the rule. Dropping down, he prepared himself to follow behind, adjusting his gear in a similar fashion to his guide.

 

Crawling through the tunnel was hard work. She hadn't been lying when she'd told Caelan that rock climbing was a better workout but this part of caving was the exception to that. Conversation was at a minimum and it was with real breathlessness from exertion and not the view that she crawled out the other end and got to her feet, waiting for him to emerge, looking forward to his reaction. The crystals were gigantic and some of them were ten to fifteen feet high and wide and they peppered the sides of the cave and the cave floor like giant snowflakes, their colors predominantly lavender hues but the odd pale lemon and brilliant white refracted back their lights as well. "So...did I lie?"

 

Huffing a bit on his way out, tired himself from the crawl, Caelan glanced around the room. She hadn't been lying, and his eyes revealed as much, widening to take in the fullness of the colorful crystal formations. The vistas while climbing were typically pretty grand, but this sight was pretty incomparable. He offered Isabeau a grin and sideways glance, "You picked a hell of a cave."

 

"No one can fault your taste, Lieutenant," she said with a smile as she bowed gracefully from the waist in acknowledgement, the gesture a little grandiose considering the dirty coveralls and heavy boots. She stepped forward, the light bouncing and sparking off the crystals as far as her eyes could see. But it was just an illusion. Somewhere, way off on Aldebaran III these caves existed and she hoped they still remained pristine but what she hungered for were the caves no one else had yet stepped foot in. She wanted to be the first set of eyes to see, she wanted to take the risks that holodeck safeties precluded and she said as much to Caelan, standing just behind her, her voice quiet, really just a whisper.

 

"So why haven't you?" He shrugged, asking the seemingly simple question.

 

"Well, I have, actually," she said, turning and smiling, feeling a little silly, but this part of the simulation never failed to make her wax reflective. "I just never get my fill. The programs are excellent tools for training and practice. I just miss the real thing, the quality of the unknown. Don't you?"

 

He returned with a nod. Climbing, after all, was no different. Much better to be there in person than settle for a simulation - though in this case...it was a pretty impressive simulation. Shifting about in a full circle slowly over the course of a minute to get in the whole view, he turned back to look at Delevan, "So...now what?"

 

* * *

 

They 'd made their way back to the anteroom where they'd started and he'd handled the grueling program with ease. If he decided he ever wanted to come back with her they could bump up the difficulty, which had been on intermediate to begin with. "Computer, end program." Pulling her helmet off, she deactivated the headlamp and checked her watch and then looked at him with a smile. "Less than three hours. That's pretty impressive for a novice, Caelan."

 

Caelan pulled off his own helmet, stuffing it underneath his arm with the lights off. He gave his hair a light shake, which seemed to be enough to return it to its usual, ruffled shape. Dirt flecked his cheeks, but he didn't seem to take notice. He was used to be in this sort of state. Grinning over to Isabeau, he forced his head back down to its normal proportions, taking the complement with a bit more humility than he might normally, "Thanks! Fun trip."

 

"It was," she agreed wholeheartedly. "Thanks for giving it a try. I really enjoyed the company."

 

"Then you'll let me pick us some place to go climbing, right?" His tone was nonchalant as he asked, casual in nature.

 

"It would be your turn to choose," she answered agreeably, her tone every bit as casual as his.

 

"Good. It's a date." He offered her the trademark grin. She hadn't truly accepted of course, but he made the assumption with confidence in his voice.

 

There was that grin again. The one that said he maybe thought he might be on thin ice but was going to chance it anyway. It worked for him. "I guess it is, Lieutenant." She grabbed the pack and walked toward the doors leading back to Aegis' everyday life but paused and smiled over her shoulder at him, saying, "I look forward to seeing what you choose."

 

Expression unchanged, he nodded to her as she left. Of course, he would have to leave the holodeck eventually, but it would be far more dramatic if he stood there, seeing her off. Waiting at least fifteen seconds, surely enough time for her to have rounded the corridor, he tugged his gear up on to his shoulder, and left for his quarters.