Horrors and Happiness - Part 2 (BACKPOST)

Posted on Fri Oct 17th, 2025 @ 12:43am by Master Chief Petty Officer Chuck Finley [Reece] & Lieutenant J'airesh Mora-Heath

Mission: Season 6: Episode 6: Conglomerate
Location: Holosuites
Timeline: BACKPOST
2013 words - 4 OF Standard Post Measure

Previously:

J'Air knew that if they didn't go out now, they wouldn't leave this bedroom for a long time - maybe ever!?! - she laughed with joy and teased him {chuck} forward by offering a slightly out of reach puckered kiss luring him towards the sonic shower - which they had to have together (OF COURSE!) and then to get dressed. and then undressed and then dressed again, and finally off out towards the holosuites, no time to wait and put in a booking or they mightn't go.

On:

Because they hadn't booked a time slot in advance (for all kinds of reasons!), J'Air and Chuck found themselves having to wait a few minutes for a suite to become free, but fortunately, they were in luck and one became free within ten minutes, so they had time to look through the menu of pre-set favourite templates or to put in something of their own either as a background to utilise or as a "near enough" basic on which they would be able to build up a setting and a storyline.

J'Air looked excitedly at the scroll of dozens of options and, holding onto Chuck's arm to allow him to watch them roll through with her, side by side. It was a very emotionally charged and exciting preparation as they awaited a vacant suite.

As the list scrolled, Chuck found the one he had been describing. "There we are," he said with a smile as he loaded it up. "Now, we just wait our turn, and then we can go relax and enjoy the singing waterfalls."

"That sounds so beautiful!" J'Air was really looking forward to this singing waterfall experience. She could imagine any waterfall would be lovely just by nature of the phenomenon itself, all that clear, sparkling, rushing, falling water as it cascaded or even burbled, depending on the size of it. Her mind could imagine it clearly but she'd never seen (or rather heard) one so melodic that it could be called a "singing" fall. She was delighted by the idea and couldn't wait to see the real thing.

And especially with Chuck to snuggle up to and listen together. She was sure it was going to be super-joyful and a perfect afternoon.

A short time later, their turn came up, and Chuck led J'airesh inside the holosuite. Once inside, the program began, putting them in the middle of a lush, tropical jungle paradise. Overhead, the sunlight felt warm, but not oppressive. The sounds of various animal life surrounded them, and they could hear tropical birds tweeting and warbling their various songs overhead.

J'Air instinctively drew in a long deep breath and then spluttered a little as it was so humid but she drew in another and enjoyed how fresh and clean it felt. If you looked at the scene in 2D it would have looked very still and quiet but in the actual reality (as such) of the holosuite, there was a cacophony of beautiful sounds, all competing but yet also harmonising in their own way. A stunning little, translucent dragonfly buzzed across their path, indicating there must be water nearby and once her ears began to get used to all the noises, J'Air could determine the splashing of water as well.

"Oh Chuck, this is Heavenly!" she breathed, holding onto his arm and gazing in every direction at once, trying to take it all in.

Chuck grinned happily. "C'mon, sweetheart," he then led her deeper into the simulated jungle, towards the sound of the moving water.

A few moments later, they broke through the overgrowth, and found themselves standing in an opening in the jungle. Overhead various tropical birds could be seen flying by, and in front of them, a small lagoon took centerstage, complete with several small waterfalls filling it, each one giving off a melodic sound as the water fell.

"See?" He asked with a cheshire grin, "Did I tell ya, or did I tell ya?"

"Oh you told me alright and it's even better than you said. It's unbelievably beautiful. And the music of the water.... it really IS singing." J'Air instinctively drew in a deep breath and relaxed. She looked around and saw a low slung, huge branch, the diameter of a person's leg and with in the natural but almost seeming to have been perfectly made for a seat. She already had hold of Chuck's hand so she led him over to the arching branch and sat on it carefully at first to see if it would take their weight but it was solid and they were able to sit there side by side, soaking in the stunning beauty, atmosphere and healing of the whole place.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Chuck. I've never been anywhere so perfect in my life!" J'Air breathed, nestling against him.

Reaching up and behind J'airesh's back, Chuck wrapped his left arm around her body, holding her close to his side as they sat there, in the middle of the holographic Eden. "Anywhere with you is perfect, baby," he grinned honestly, as he looked down into her eyes. "And I plan on having many more days like this with you, after we get married."

J'Air nestled closer and sighed with pure joy. "I'll hold you to that, you perfect man!" she grinned, looking up into his gaze with her own love very clearly there, in her own eyes.

For the next hour, the pair spent the time enjoying both each other and their environment. If anyone had looked in on them, it would seem as if J'airesh and Chuck had been together all their lives, so perfectly were they matched.

It was some time before J'Air noticed the squares appearing in the sky above the waterfall. She was too absorbed with gazing at Chuck and wondering how she got so lucky. Pointing upwards, she drew Chuck's attention to the apparent "gap" in their programme when the squares seemed to meld back into the scene as they should have been but a very dark and threatening thunder cloud seemed to fill in the space instead of the blue sky of earlier.

"Do you think we should find some cover?" she asked, looking a little worried. "Is it Monsoon season around now?"

Chuck glanced up, a slightly bewildered look on his face. "The heck is going on here. I didn't program any foul weather!" As he spoke, a loud clap of thunder filed the air around them.

J'Air adored thunderstorms normally as they usually freshened up stuffy days but this idyllic setting was already fresh, humid and warm so there were no new advantages that a storm could offer. Besides it was alarming that this was not in Chuck's programming. Within moments of the lightning the clap of thunder was almost immediately afterwards which to J'Air meant the storm was right on top of them. It was instantly raining now, heavily and they were getting drenched.

"Where would be a good place to look for shelter?" J'Air asked, assuming that would be something Chuck might have already ascertained in previous visits to this holo-program.

Chuck grabbed J'airesh's hand and started moving. "There's a small alcove behind the main falls over there!" He quickly guided her through the water, lightning crashing around them in the near distance. When they reached the falls, he pushed through the fast moving water, pulling J'airesh along behind them.

Once through, they found a dry shelf, roughly ten square feet in area, directly behind the falls. Chuck first helped J'airesh up onto the rocks, then he climbed up behind her. As they huddled towards the rear of the space, he wrapped his arms around her protectively. "Computer, pause program."

Nothing happened.

"I don't understand what's going on" J'Air commented, confused by the failure of the Computer to pause as instructed. She snuggled wetly against Chuck, beginning to shiver but more than happy to be with him. Nothing seemed so bad whenever Chuck was there, in J'Air's opinion, not even an odd and potentially scary situation when they appeared to be trapped inside a holo-program that was offering them some fairly alarming weather conditions.

Chuck held J'airesh close, feeling her start to tremble. "Nor do I, sweetheart." Suddenly, the program around them glitches again, and they found themselves not in an alcove behind a tropical waterfall, but huddled together, sitting atop the desk of the President of the United Federtion of Planets. Around them, the senior cabinet of the Federation Council, along with the President herself, were all sitting and standing, frozen, as if the program was paused.

J'Air didn't know what else to do other than to continue to hold tight to Chuck and watch not the President but the torrent of water that was cascading off the two of them, spoiling the contents of the rapidly flooding desk. "Oh.... erm.... Bother?" she offered up a very mild alternative to the curse-word she initially had popping into her mind. "I guess if this is still in the holosuite.... which it has to be, then we're not really here? Right?" she couldn't help but laugh but then the program seemed to restart to her horror and she let out a little yelp before scrambling off the desk and attempting to push the pool of water off the desk where she had been sitting. Some of it had already been absorbed by the papers there but there was still some on the surface which she was able to push away.

Unfortunately, she managed to push some of the documents off the desktop at the same time and the Vice President leaped forward shouting that there were intruders and for J'Air not to dare touch those papers as they were critically, supersecret. J'Air's fingers froze in response to the shouts and more paper fell, either back down from where she had been attempting to pick them up or falling off as she tried to balance and her other, supporting hand slipped on the edge of the desk where it had been supporting her as she leaned down to try to retrieve the rest.

Suddenly and with a crack that sounded like thunder, the whole holosuite shut down at last and all the scenarios disappeared.

Relief flooded J'Air's system and she sat on the floor of the cube shaped room with the familiar gridlines all around the inside of the dark walls. She found Chuck on the floor nearby, looking to her medical eye as if he'd hit his head as there seemed to be some small amounts of blood at his temple on his right side. Fetching the first-aid kit from its place, the CMO quickly cleaned the wound and regenerated the cells to seal it back up neatly. It wasn't deep thankfully and they were both well enough to leave the stricken holosuite and go back to J'Air's quarters.

"I should really take you back via sickbay for a check over" she said to Chuck. "...but I'll check you out with my medcorder in my own medikit in my suite and then I'll conjour you up something wholesome and tasty so we can recover away from the bright lights of the Main Sickbay" she explained. I'll have to do some paperwork to be sure you're all registered up with the incident and its injury inflicted and we'll obviously have to report the malfunctioning Suite before anyone else tries to use it but other than that, I think I'm experienced enough to care for you!" she grinned, hugging him close, but gently.

"That was a terrifying experience." she commented before helping Chuck to the nearest turbolift and down to her suite. "Being Assistant Chief Medical Officer HAS to have some perks and my suite of rooms (for an Asst Dept Head) is one of those, most definitely.

Chuck merely grinned and held J'airesh close to him. "Any injuries i may have, can be easily cured by your loving touch. As the turbolift door slid shut, he pulled her to him and kissed her deeply.


END