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“But of all the vehicles to make capable of traveling through time, why would you choose something so-- odd looking?” Kira took a long sip of her raktajino. With two personnel out sick, she was gearing up for what was already going to be a long night in ops, now made even longer. “And I’m absolutely certain that the Department of Temporal Investigations would have something to say about meeting your own mother in the past.”
Jadzia raised an eyebrow mischievously. “I had no idea showing you old Earth movies would make you such a stickler for realism. Would it interest you to know that there are, in fact, two more of those movies?”
Kira stabbed at her dinner a little too emphatically. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to watch them, or do much of anything to be honest. With how things are piling up here, I don’t think any of us will be doing anything outside of our responsibilities.”
Jadzia nodded in somber agreement and they both turned back to picking at their plates.
“Wait a second…I have an idea,” Jadzia snapped her head up from her plate, her face lighting up. Kira knew that look well.
When Jadzia had an idea, you were in for quite the time. Downhill skiing, a pirate ship simulation, even riding on the backs of ancient earth creatures called dinosaurs-- Jadzia had pulled Kira along on many a holosuite adventure that she would never have thought of doing herself. There just never seemed to be time, between the daily reports and diplomatic meetings, not to mention any one of the ten thousand emergency scenarios she ran in her head from the time she left ops to the time she came back in the next day. But that was what made them such good friends: Kira could always count on Jadzia to liven up her otherwise DS9-centric life, and Kira would make sure that they both got out alive and with all their appendages. “What holosuite program did you find this time? Alice in Wonderland? Regency-era England? Cliff-diving on Andevian--”
“Not a holosuite program this time,” Jadzia cut her off, laughing. “I say...we throw a dance. For the whole station.”
“A dance?” Kira did not see that one coming.
“Like a prom!” Jadzia’s eyes were sparkling with excitement. “You know, like in the old Earth movies we’ve been watching. Look, we all need something to look forward to, you said it yourself. We’re exhausted. The other day I caught myself with my shoes on the wrong feet.” She raised her eyebrow and gave Kira that mischievous grin that she knew all too well.
Kira chuckled and then turned the idea over in her head. “Do we have the time? I feel like every day I step into ops I never know if I’ll be there for 10 hours or 40. Plus, Starfleet just sent us a communication they intercepted from a Cardassian spy and we’ll be trying to decode those for at least the next few days. I don’t think it’s a bad idea, I just feel…” she trailed off, at a loss for how exactly to explain the buzzing in her head and what felt like constant tension in her neck and shoulders.
“Overwhelmed?” Jadzia offered. “I’m not surprised. We’re not exactly operating as normal. But don’t forget, we have an entire station full of people who need this distraction just as much as we do. Wouldn’t it be amazing if the most pressing thing in your life for just a moment was planning something completely for fun?”
That sounded heavenly at this point. But something bothered her about it too. “Doesn’t that feel…I don’t know, frivolous?” Kira pushed what was left of her dinner around on her plate, as if that would suddenly make it easier for her perpetually-knotted stomach to digest.
“Sometimes you need a little frivolity.”
Kira thought about it for a minute. They hadn’t had a festival or party in a long time. It never felt necessary, not when their time and resources could be spent elsewhere. But maybe Jadzia was right. Morale had been low. And she did love a good band.
“Okay, okay, fine!” Kira threw up her hands in mock surrender. “We’re throwing a prom. But under no circumstances is Julian allowed to touch the decorations.” Kira had seen his quarters, and that man didn’t have an artistic bone in his body.
Jadzia grinned. “We’re throwing a prom!”
***********************************************
Jadzia leaned over to whisper in Kira’s ear-- something made exponentially more difficult by the cacophonous din filling the holosuite Quark was letting them use for auditions. (‘Letting’ was a strong word for ‘made them promise to be the exclusive bartender for the event and keep 100% of the profits.’) “I like the melodies--I think that’s what they are-- and the fellow on the drums is clearly very….passionate, I just wish they were a bit more--”
“Good?” Kira offered, slumping over with her chin in her hand. They had seen 12 different bands so far, each one rowdier than the last. Kira didn’t even think there were that many musicians on the station. Actually, she thought, this was proof there weren’t that many musicians on the station.
As soon as the song ended Jadzia leapt up from her seat. “Very good boys, thank you so much, we’ll let you know in a couple days!” she said with a dazzling smile as she ushered the handful of sheepish looking performers out. As soon as the door closed behind them she turned around to look at Kira, making the worst face she had ever seen. “I’d rather take all of my Starfleet finals blindfolded and standing on one foot than listen to that for one more second.”
Kira nodded enthusiastically in agreement. “I think I’ve heard Cardassian voles that could sing better.” She looked down at their list. “We’ve got one act left, and at this point as long as listening to them doesn’t upset my lunch I say they get the job.”
Jadzia sighed and nodded reluctantly. “It’s a real shame. I was hoping I could get Worf on the dance floor, but at this point I don’t even know if there’ll be anything to dance to. I wonder how long it would take to teach Cardassian voles to sing.” The two settled back into their seats begrudgingly, and as soon as they had sat down someone had pressed the doorbell
“You can come in,” Kira called out, and had to do a double take at who walked through the door.
“Morn?” Jadzia said, delighted. “I had no idea you played music!”
“Are you kidding? He’s got the best pipes this side of the alpha quadrant!” One of his bandmates cut in and slung his arm around Morn’s shoulders. “Just wait until you hear this birdie sing.” Morn blushed-- at least that’s what Kira thought, she had never seen him look bashful before-- and opened his mouth to respond when one of his bandmates wandered over to ask him where he should plug in his amp.
Kira and Jadzia settled in and waited while the rest of the band set up. After a few minutes they were finally ready, and the two of them leaned back in their seats as Morn opened his mouth to sing.
***
“I can’t believe he’s been holding out on us this entire time!” Kira beamed, brightly colored drink in one hand. The two of them had carved out a little corner of Quark’s, an impressive feat considering it was Double Dabo night and the place was packed.
“And those harmonies? Absolutely gorgeous,” Jadzia gushed. “I can’t remember the last time I really went all out on the dance floor. You’ll have to try hard to keep up.”
Kira laughed. “Oh, I don’t think so. I’m much more a stand-by-the-door-and-observe type.” She frowned. “At least, I would think so. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve really been to something like this before.”
Jadzia smiled. “Don’t worry, it’s very simple. You just feel the music.”
Kira laughed again. “Feel the music? You’re kidding, right? What does that even mean?”
“You’ll just have to find out,” Jadzia set her empty bottle down on the table. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back for seconds. If I’m not back in 5 minutes, I’ve been lost to the Dabo tables.”
“Just as long as you don’t lose at the Dabo tables,” Kira called out and went back to her drink, mentally going through her checklist for tomorrow. She had a backlog of daily reports from Odo that needed approvals, there was a meeting with the caterer at 1400, they needed to work out payment details for the holosuite venue with Quark, she needed to talk to Sisko about a meeting with the diplomat from Tarlak VI, the station’s secondary school had asked if she could do an assembly on careers aboard the station, and she and Jadzia still couldn’t agree on a theme. Kira’s first choice was “An Evening Under the Sea”, while Jadzia’s seemed to change every day. First it was fairytales (“too boring”), then a masquerade (“no one would want to keep their masks on, plus we would know who everyone was anyway”), then a royal ball (“who wants to wear a ballgown?”). Kira was starting to lose her mind. The date they had been telling everyone was only about a week away, and they had about two dozen people ready and excited to help make decorations. They just needed to tell them what to make. She had taken out her PADD to write down talking points for the meeting with the Tarlakian diplomat but now she found herself absentmindedly doodling fish in big poofy ball gowns.
Doodling? She couldn’t remember the last time she did that. She quickly turned it off and tried to refocus on something more productive.
Suddenly, she was struck with a memory from another old earth movie she and Jadzia had watched. It had music, dancing, glittery outfits….
Kira shot up from her seat and threaded through the crowds that had gathered around the Dabo table until she found her friend.
“Jadzia, I figured it out. What about a disco?”
***********************************************
“Well yes, the ball is sort of the entire point,” Kira said as she paused between blowing up balloons. “It’s in the name: disco, BALL. There is no disco CUBE.”
“But think of the practicality!” Julian struggled to keep up behind her, holding a sparkling monstrosity that looked like a Borg ship had fallen into a pit of broken mirrors. “After the dance we could use it as a footstool, or a very small coffee table!”
“Not a chance, Julian.” She tossed the balloon she had just blown up in his general direction and walked off towards the painting crew.
The cargo hold they were using as the decoration creation station (as Jadzia was calling it) was filled with people of all ages, each working on a different project. Originally, Kira didn’t understand the point of making the decorations, considering the holosuite could make it look like whatever they wanted. “It’s not about what they’re making exactly,” Jadzia had explained. “It’s more about what happens while you get there.” As Kira looked around the space, she realized Jadzia was right. A lot of these people she had never seen before, and some of them she had seen hundreds of times but never talked to. There were even some participants that she recognized as having just arrived at the station one or two days ago. But they all seemed completely invested in this silly little project, for whatever reason.
“Looks absolutely wonderful!” Kira beamed at the motley crew of volunteers, most of whom were covered in some combination of paint and glitter. Jadzia waved her over from the far corner of the room where she stood precariously balanced on top of a ladder.
“So, what do you think?” Jadzia gestured to the chaos surrounding them. She had glitter in her hair and a few paint splatters on her cheeks, but Kira recognized that beaming smile as a sign that she was totally in her element.
Kira shrugged with a smile. “Okay, you were right. I haven’t seen this many people on the station all in one place without it being some kind of emergency.”
“I told you so,” Jadzia winked. “Alright, so I heard about some kind of disco cube situation? We’ve got to put a stop to that.”
Suddenly Kira’s communicator badge alerted her. “Major Kira, you’re needed in ops.”
“Of course,” Kira immediately switched into work mode and turned on her heels to leave.
“Hurry back Major Kira, these balloons will be waiting for you!” Jadzia called to her friend with a grin as she walked off to ops.
**********************************************
Garak had really outdone himself.
In the mirror stood a dazzling figure that Kira hardly recognized as herself. It was a bright blue jumpsuit with flared legs, covered in tiny sparkling stars that caught the light so well that they projected tiny beams of light whenever she moved. She felt like a living disco ball.
Jadzia peeked around the corner. “Ready for the big night?”
Kira hadn’t even heard her come in. “As ready as I’ll ever be. You look incredible!”
Jadzia wore a shiny silver dress with big flowing sleeves and heeled boots that made Kira dizzy just thinking about walking in them. “Oh, this old thing?” she said, twirling around in a flurry of sparkles. “I see Garak talked you into it as well.”
Kira smiled sheepishly. “Well, I figured if we’re doing this we might as well go all out.” She turned to leave. “I figured I would do one more round in ops to make sure no one needs anything before I go, and I’ll be checking back in with them every--”
“Kira, you need to relax,” Jadzia assured her, grabbing her shoulders. “We’ve been working so hard for this. This whole idea was to help us unwind. Let’s go have fun, shall we?”
As if it was listening in, Kira’s communicator badge chirped. “Major Kira, you’re needed on the--”
Jadzia grabbed it. “Major Kira is currently otherwise occupied, may you kindly state the nature of your emergency?”
The crewman on the other end stuttered in shock, clearly taken aback. “Well, uh-- we need some requisition forms signed, and a large shipment just came in at Docking Bay 4 that we’d like to get a head start on tonight--”
“Might I ask if anything will explode, go up in flames, or disintegrate from now until tomorrow morning?” Jadzia interrupted.
“Well-- uh, no. I guess not.”
“Then Major Kira will be seeing you then,” Jadzia smacked the communicator to sign off and shoved it in her pocket. “That’ll be staying with me for the night.”
Kira had been stunned during the entire exchange, and now sputtered back to life. “Jadzia, no. I have responsibilities.”
“If they need you, they’ll find you. What’s the point of being a Major if you can’t bend the rules every once in a while?” Jadzia’s eyes reflected the sparkles off Kira’s suit, her energy infectious. “Now let’s go. Our disco awaits.” She offered her elbow to Kira.
Kira paused for the briefest of moments, thinking about how she had felt the last couple of weeks. Jadzia had been right. Sometimes a little frivolity was in order.
She looped her arm through Jadzia’s. “Well now, I don’t mind if I do.”