Vacation a Go-Go!

Posted on Fri Dec 20th, 2024 @ 5:20pm by Lieutenant JG Benjamin "Ben" Dalton & Lieutenant JG Kate Kono

Mission: Family
Location: Kate and Ben's quarters.
Timeline: TBD

Ben looked over at Kate and the small amount of luggage they had. Just a couple of what amounted to overnight bags. "Are you sure you want to do this Kate?" He asked his better half. "I don't mean going to Tahiti or Bora-Bora or wherever we end up. I mean going naked?"

"Well yeah!" Kate said as she helped with one of the bags. ".. It's not like we won't be wearing bathing suits when we rent the impulse-ski's and such, but people tend to follow the tradition for that part of the Islands!" Kate said. "Besides... I have some extended family that would be probably way too super-excited to see me and I intend on seeing them only a little in order to preserve any timeline problems, you know? It'll make people think twice about beaming in on a whim if they reaize we're supposed to be naked!" Kate explained while running circles around Ben with a bag in toe. "Nobody want's to see their family all naked! Well, unless we beamed down to Kentucky or something, I can see that, but I'm sure even Kentucky gained some IQ points over the years that would be nice but probably whisful thinking at the very least to assume that those people would have gotten any better over the centuries. Oh my god! Just imagine how inbred the people at Buckingham Palace must be by now!" Kate zipped out of the door as she continued rambling and giggling at her thoughts followed by the occasional "WE'RE GONNA BE NAKED!" Proclamation when random crew members got too close on their way to the shuttle bay.

Ben smiled, shook his head and laughed at Kate's answer. She was a free spirit and he loved her for it and all her wonderful characteristics. "Okay, just making sure, didn't know if you might have gotten cold feet over it. As far as seeing family. I just want to be with you and see you." He answered honestly. "As for the people in Buckingham Palace. I don't know and don't care. This is our two weeks to enjoy ourselves and I fully plan on doing just that." He smiled at the occasional crewman they encountered on the way to the shuttle bay. "She's excited." He explained with a bright grin.

Kate walked into the shuttlebay and pulled a PADD off the line-officer's briefing notice and read through it while walking towards one of the Type 6 Shuttlecraft. She stopped in her tracks and frantically scrolled through the list. She looked to Ben for a moment with her smile having dropped before looking to a crewman manning the Shuttlebay's tractor controls.

"Crewman, is this right?" She handed the PADD over to him.
"Ah yeah. The command staff didn't want all the crew that elected to depart without the transporter to take out all the 6's 7's, 8's and Type 11's. "

Kate raised a brow.
"But this is an old-style one... They still make these?"

The crewman smiled and pointed at it, "It's not old. It's fresh off the industrial replicator from the Starbase. It fits well for the space they're in. It might be an old framework but all the systems inside and out are fully updated."

Kate shrugged her bony shoulders and nodded.
"Whatever.. Let's blow this popsicle stand!" Kate picked her bag back up and walked toward the super-cramped Type 15 shuttlepod. She squeezed the bags in to the back seat where a single passenger could occupy and started strapping herself in.

"Well, it's intimate!" She joked as she looked to Ben across the vast expanse of -- not vast anything. The seats were crammed up next to each other and even for her slender frame, she felt the tight fit as the door came down and sealed.

Ben looked at the Type 15 shuttle pod. It was roughly half the size of a shuttle and made for only two.

"Kate, its fine. It's only us. It will be perfect and as you have already pointed out it is intimate. In fact extremely so but I am definitely not complaining. I just want us to get to where we're going and get our vacation started." He stated as he pushed his bag behind the seat.

"Now as I believe I heard earlier, "Let's blow this popsicle stand. White sand and warm winds await us. You know." He said grinning at her, "If you sunbathe nude, you don't have to worry about tan lines. Just thought I would mention it. Now let's get going, times awastin."

He glanced over to her, "You have the coordinates loaded in? I've already confirmed our reservation for a private cabin. So, we're good on that score. We have our bags. So I think we're ready."

"You're right..." Kate said. Inwardly, she thought about how ashamed she would have felt if she were back in the 21st Century, angry over the idea that her father didn't give her the car she wanted. "It's an impulse-heap but it gets us from point A to point B." Kate giggled as she flew the flying-box through the force-field and out into space. "Could be worse... We could be maneuvering this thing with an X-Box controller." Kate bit her bottom lip as she aimed the shuttle toward a spot between South America and Australia.

"Don't even need a weather forecast before we get there!" Kate nodded out toward the clear weather ahead with a huge toothy grin on her face.


Ben smiled over at Kate. Sometimes she lost him when she made references to the past, like X-Box controller. But he smiled, nodded and chuckled as those all seemed like the right thing to do.

He looked out through the shuttles windows and saw bright blue sky along with a bright sun. "Oh yeah! We're going to have a great time with two weeks of great weather." He looked over again at her, "What do you want to do first after we check in and get to out hut?" Inwardly he was thinking, Kate would say get naked but he still wanted to hear her answer. For he could be wrong and that would be a shock.


"Anything you want to do, really! At some point I really want to go swimming and ride around on impulse ski's or maybe Karaoke!" Kate slowed the craft down first before entering the atmosphere. Unlike type Six shuttlecraft, the Type Fifteen shuttlepod didn't have that much heat resistance. She had to run it on its engines a little to reduce the speed and save the hull. It was still nice to have a shuttle of some sort rather than having to rely on transporters, even if it was the Nissan Versa of shuttles. Once they were in the atmosphere, the Islands came up quick and she found the landing pad.

Fifteen minutes later, she shut down the systems and locked the consoles. The warm tropical air and the bright sunlight heated up her Starfleet uniform the moment she stepped out.

"Even if we're not getting naked right away, maybe someting not Starfleet would be fun to put on so we can change I guess. Hey! What do YOU want to do first?" Kate asked as she pulled her bags out.

Ben had grabbed their bags as they exited the shuttle pod and walked towards their hut. The sum already warm on his skin. He smiled at Kate as she asked her question. He held a finger up. "One, get to our cabin," A second finger went up " Two see what there is do including any karaoke." A third finger went up, "Three, see you naked as well as spend time with you." He smiled at her, "Well yeah Kate, I'm spending two weeks on vacation in my uniform."

They reached their hut and ben unlocked the door, opening it he whistled in approval. Kate come look at this." As he stepped aside so Kate could see the interior of their temporary home. Ceiling fans hung from the ceiling slowly rotating. hard wood floors adorned the rooms. The master bedroom had a four-poster canopy bed. outside the hut were dual hammocks to lie and sway in. "Isn't this great?: He asked.

Kate zoomed into the room in the exact same way that she would blast into the ready room before each mission. Instead of slamming herself into a chair in front of a briefing table, she did a forward flip onto the bed and landed flat on her back. The headboard slammed against the wall as the four posted bed rocked back and fourth from the sudden assault of a 90 pound Asian rocket. She rolled out of the bed and ran toward the door facing the ocean with the two hammocks.

"Ahhh! This is awesome!" Kate started stripping out of her uniform while at the same time, unzipping her bag to pull out a one-piece bathing suit that would be acceptable to wear under a pair of jean shorts for going out and exploring. She grabbed a pair of beach shoes to slip her feet into but forgot to put the suit on. "Oh yeah that's right." She put everything on in order this time, followed by her jean shorts and her beach shoes. She stuffed her phaser rifle back into the bag and threw it all under the bed before running around the expanse of the room.

"Okay! ready to explore or whaatever you want to do! This is the bestest way to spend the holidays! To think -- some people are where it's snowing right now! eeek!"

Ben watched in amazement as Kate launched herself onto the bed with a forward flip, the bed rattling in protest at the assault. Getting off the bed she zoomed around the hut like a rocket. The woman was a bundle of energy. He chuckled as she stripped out of her clothes and put on her jean shorts and sandals but forgot her swimsuit. "Breathe Kate." He teased as she took of her short and put everything back on in the correct order.. "It isn't what I want to do Kate, its what we want to do. and yes they are called snow bunnies and they can keep it."

Once Kate was properly attired, they left together.
"Well! What kind of music do you like to sing? And what would you like to do on the beach?"

Kate jumped up into Ben's arms and smiled at him as she asked.

Ben caught and held Kate easily as he smiled at her. "I like old Earth rock and roll and for what to do on the beach, we can have a picnic or sunbathe or build sandcastles or i could bury you up to your neck to keep you in one place and feed you strawberries."


Kate squinted and giggled at all the potential possibilities. She leaned up and kissed him before jumping out of his arms while keeping hold of one of them.

"Okay let's eat and do Karaoke!"

Kates legs only went so fast before she met her speed limit governed by Ben's hand-contact which caused more sand to be kicked up rather than traction as she pulled him along at the speed of his choosing regardless of the RPM's of her own feet.

Ben let Kate pull him along as she decided on karaoke and something to eat. "Whoa Kate, slow down" He said chuckling and pulling back on her hand that she was pulling him along with. "When you say eat are you talking a meal or me feeding you strawberries and what are you in the mood to eat or is this just about finding a place that has karaoke?"

"I got a craving for something with Rice! Real Rice! Not replicated Rice... Not that there's any real difference or anything. I just like to pretend that it's significant for some reason because every other Starfleet Officer pretends it's special like that so I'm just jumping on that bandwagon to fit in, but it sounds good!" Kate explained. She looked around and smiled, "This is just SO AWESOME! Look at how much corridors we're not in! The filtered air we're not breathing. For the first time in months, we've beamed down to a planet where there aren't apes shooting arrows at us, machines trying to fry us with Phased Plasma Rifles in the 40 watt range, or Romulans trying to stab us to death! This is --- truly nice!" Kate explained.

Ben smiled at Kate's exudence. "Not just real rice Kate, real meat, real veggies and potatoes, real everything. Nothing replicated." He looked around for a restaurant that would serve rice and have karaoke. Then he saw it, The Intergalactic House of Rice. "Kate, there! " He pointed at the restaurant. "That's where we're going." As he took her hand and the pair started for their destination.

As the walked, he answered her statement about the their past missions. "I know Kate. It's been one thing after another. We jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire with last few missions." He stopped and turned to her, "This is great, and the best part is being and sharing all this with you."

"Q had something to do with this," Kate mumbled suspiciously as she stood at the foot of the 'Intergalactic House of Rice'. "Thaaanks..." Kate whispered lowly to herself knowing that if Q was around, he heard it.

"At least now that we're on vacation," Kate stated while finding a booth inside the rice-house, "... we don't have to worry about strange things happening." Kate finished as she pulled out a menu entitled 'Kate's Favorites'.

Ben had picked up his menu and it wasn't personalized it just showed "House Favorites" You have any ideas on what you are going to get Kate? I can' decide everything sounds so good."

"Mmm I'm going to get the plate of rice, and the Mahi Mahi burger. What's that? okay!" Kate decided to actually get a burger to go with the rice since the menu seemed to have a lot more than just rice and fish. "How are you liking working on the USS Washing Machine so far? I mean, of course aside from the awesome personal life of course," Kate winked and bit her lip.

Ben chuckled at her, "Really Kate, it's a fish. I think I'm going to have a plate of rice and some honey BBQ wings." He looked t her straight on as he put his menu down. "I like the USS Washing Machine just fine. Good crew." He paused and leaned forward across the table. "There is this one girl. She a Lt.jg like me. That I really, really like." He shook his head, "No, that isn't right. I love her. She makes me smile and laugh and I always want to be with her. You can keep that a secret right?" As he winked back at her.

Kate smiled and winked.
"Yeah I heard she's wild in bed and has a fascination with ancient Earth aviation, and kind of talkative... That girl?" Kate giggled as she said it while inputting her order into the PADD on the table. "I hear some of these restaurants have an old cooking device that was meant for heating food the old fashioned way. They called them "Microwaves"! They sort of look like a replicator but they just transmit radio waves through the food to heat them up! How authentic is that?! I believe they called them 'Chef Mike'!"

"Wild in bed? I don't know about that. Is swinging from the ceiling wild? Oh yeah she loves old Earth aviation. Talks about it constantly and she's a great conversationalist. So, yeah she talks. He shook his head, "A miniwave? isn't that like a ripple?" He asked as he was deliberately teasing Kate. "And who is Chef Mike?"

"Chef Mike is like, a world-renowned chef of the late 20th and 21st century! King of fast-food reheating, and surprise mouth roof-burnings," Kate explained.

Ben shook his head, "Never heard of him. Heard of Iron Mike though. However, I will take your word on this Chef Mike character."

"Iron Mike is like, that guy that makes sure none if the uniforms have wrinkles isn't he?" Kate joked as the food came. She started digging into the rice as they talked and joked with each other.

"What you want to do after this? Swim, jump each other's bones, sing... Souvineer shop?" Kate was obviously happy and enjoying herself and the more she saw Ben smile, the happier she was.

Ben looked up from his plate, swallowed and spoke. "Jumping each other's bones is always great Kate but let's wait until we get back to our hut." He teased, "Swimming sounds good then we can shop if you like." He smiled back at her. "Oh, I forgot about singing, we can do that right now if you like?"


"Pick a song for singing," Kate jumped away from the table and headed to the Karaoke stage. "And we can also pick a song for bone jumping later!" She stuck her tongue out playfully at Ben as she ascended the stairs to the music box with a screen of song selections.

Ben chuckled at Kate's excitement as she practically danced as she headed for the music box, "See if the box as I Got You Babe or Something Stupid for songs to sing together. You pick a song for our bone jumping."


Kate selected 'I Got You Babe' and starter studying the lyrics since she had never heard the song before and began singing horribly in true Asian fashion between giggles as she shared the mic with Ben.

Ben leaned into the mic after joining Kate on stage and began singing.

They say we're young and we don't know,
we won't find out until we grow.
Well, I don't know if all that's true,
'cause you got me, and baby, I got you.

Babe,
I got you babe,
I got you babe.

They say our love won't pay the rent,
before it's earnt, our money's all been spent.
I guess that's so, we don't have a pot,
but at least I'm sure of all the things we got.

Babe,
I got you babe,
I got you babe.

I got flowers in the spring,
I got you to wear my ring.
And when I'm sad, you're a clown,
and if I get scared, you're always around.

So don't let them say your hair's too long,
'cause I don't care, with you I can't go wrong.
Then put your little hand in mine
there ain't ni hill or mountain we can't climb.

Babe,
I got you babe,
I got you babe.

I got you to hold my hand,
I got you to understand.
I got you to walk with me,
I got you to talk with me.
I got you to kiss goodnight,
I got you to hold me tight.
I got you, I won't let go,
I got you to love me so.

I got you babe!

I got you babe ...


TBC......