Captain's log, stardate 41365.9. The Enterprise has been ordered to Starbase 74, in orbit around Tarsas Three. A routine maintenance check of all systems will be made, and certain upgrades completed, including the holodeck, with which we've had problems. I anticipate a glowing report. The ship has performed magnificently, beyond anyone's expectations.
Lieutenant Worf was just finishing meditation in front of his shrine when his door chime sounded. "Enter," he allowed as he regained his feet.
"I hope I'm not intruding, Worf," Tasha Yar greeted as she stepped into the Klingon's quarters.
"Not at all, sir," he greeted. "How can I be of assistance?"
"I wanted to deliver the bad news in person. You're going to need to find a fourth player for the Parrises Squares game on the starbase."
Worf scowled. "That is most unfortunate. You are a very skilled competitor. A replacement player will certainly reduce our chance at victory."
"Sorry to back out so late, but the captain committed me to stay on the ship during the computer upgrade." Tasha met his eyes and was reassured to see pride and respect there, rather than anger.
"Of course, sir. I understand that duty to the ship comes first. I will personally see to it that we bring glory to the name of Enterprise."
The young human chuckled. "Please remember that it's only a game all right? I need my best officer in one piece more than I need bragging rights." As she headed to the door, she added, "Oh, and Worf?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Tasha is fine. We're not at our duty stations." She gave him a smile and nod as she walked away, the door sliding closed behind her.
"Tasha," Worf growled to himself happily, before accessing the ship's roster to see who else he could invite to their game.
*****
Making her rounds of the ship, Tasha noted with interest that a pair of the strange cybernetic aliens were standing outside the holodeck. "How are repairs coming?" she asked.
"We are almost done," one began, and the other picked up in their back and forth way, "The deviation" "caused by a previous" "probe has been corrected." "You may use the equipment" "anytime you wish."
"Did you leave the safeguards in place?"
"All systems are" "as before." "We have enhanced" "the experience," "but all safety" "features remain." They turned more fully to her, before asking, "Would you like to try" "the enhancement?"
After a moment's thought, Tasha nodded. "All right. Computer, fencing. Epee."
"Era?" the computer queried.
"Let's go with… seventeenth century France."
"Program compete. Enter when ready."
Tasha entered to find herself upon the wall of a castle shortly before dusk. The wind was clear but not cold, and other than a banner blowing in the breeze and a brazier crackling nearby, everything seemed profoundly still.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" she called, even as she spotted the exquisite blade propped nearby against the wall. She picked it up, holding it lovingly as she examined the markings on the ornate guard.
A slight movement of air was all she heard, but it was enough. She whirled in time to deflect the blade swing even as the man completed his picture perfect thrust, reversing her step and raising her guard position. "No warning, huh? No 'en guarde'?" she drew her lips into a savage smile.
"You clearly didn't need one," the man retorted. He was lithe, dressed in the bright layered clothing popular at the time, wearing an ornate fencing mask that obscured his face with the suggestion of a hawk. It reminded Yar of brightly-colored comic book heroes she'd seen from later eras.
She smiled and lunged forward, and he fell back in a textbook-perfect stance that quickly moved into a parry and return. "Good motion there, very smooth," he intoned, and she found herself enjoying the complement as well as the thrill of the exchanged.
They traded more than a dozen beats before Tasha drew first 'blood.' It was a deep stab in the shoulder that would have been a solid kill in a real battle; here, the blade disappeared a centimeter from her opponent's shoulder.
The man lowered his blade in solute as Yar withdrew hers from the void of the safety program. "Very well-done!" He exclaimed excitedly. "Another?"
"As many as you can handle," Tasha bellowed, and stepped in again.
She didn't expect the bout would last long, since every move the man used was rote while Tasha improvised freely. So the woman warrior was surprised when the next fatal thrust was his - a rejoinder on the backfoot that was completely off-book. By the fourth exchange, it was clear that the man was adapting to her own style almost as quickly as she was adapting to his.
The ninth exchange made it five hits to four, in her favor and the masked opponent called a rest. Leaning against the nearby stone, she could see his chest heaving rapidly as sweat ran from under his hat.
Although she, too, was winded, it wasn't until the man took off his mask that Tasha gasped for breath. The man was stunningly handsome - not feminine, but strong-chinned and rugged in the way that she had always preferred.
"Your style is exquisite," he panted. "And in so delightful a form." His gaze wandered her body freely, as though he were imbibing a sweet wine. She felt herself blush.
"You're far superior to any other simulated opponent I've faced," she replied. "How were you able to follow and respond to my moves so fluidly?"
"Hardly a chore when it means I get to watch you," he said with a half-smile. "But, please, the evening is warm. Shall we make our own breeze, on horseback?"
"I've never ridden before," she answered coyly.
"Then we must. Come, Tasha. The sun sets soon, but the night is still young."
She took his hand, and was first frightened, then exhilarated, as she felt the two of them plummet through the air… only to land soft as a feather in the saddle of a beautiful roan stallion.
"You know my name," she said as he kicked the horse up to a gallop.
"Of course I do," he laughed. "I am here for you. To give you the joy and adventure you desire."
"But what shall I call you?"
"Allemande," he said.
For a time, the ride was too swift for speech, but Tasha and Allemande loved every moment of it.
*****
"Estimate three minutes until loss of antimatter containment," the ship announced.
Picard stood alone in the transporter room, having just beamed out the last of his officers.
"Computer, list everyone still on board the Enterprise."
"Captain Picard is in Transporter Room 1. No other life forms detected."
The captain set the energiser control on a ten-second delay and stepped on the pad. As the station appeared around him, he saw the relieved faces of his bridge crew.
The relief vanished when Lieutenant Commander Turhal asked, "Where's Tasha?"
*****
Tasha Yar was having the best night of her life.
When they lit back at the castle, a party had been in progress, and somehow it was all perfect. Tasha could not dance, and yet when Allemande led her on the floor, the moves were lively and euphoric and came easily to her. Tasha could not make small talk, but with Allemande every conversation was deeper and more interesting. Tasha could not flirt, but Allemande made every glance and word a fun secret between them.
"How is this possible?" she murmured into his mouth when the vagaries of a polka had driven them into a private corner. "How is it all so… perfect? Are you in my mind?"
Allemande held her tightly. "I don't need to be. I was made for you, Tasha. If I'm perfect, it is only in reflection of how I see you."
"I'm not perfect," she blushed. "Far from it."
"You're everything I could ever want," he said with complete conviction. "Literally, you are everything I desire in a woman."
Tasha smiled. "Of course I am. You were made for me." Wrapping her arms around him; she nuzzled his neck.
"I was." He caressed her hair as his expression darkened. "To distract you."
"I… what?" She pulled back, and looked into his eyes. The joy of moments ago had been replaced with guilt.
"I was built by the Bynars," he explained, "to hold you here while the captured the ship."
Yar's relaxed elation soured quickly to anger. "You were a… a trap?"
"That is why I was built, yes," Allemande explained. "Built to adapt to you; to provide you with whatever diversion you most needed."
"Why are you telling me this?" she demanded.
"Because what you most needed, was for someone to love you. To delight in the incredible, ingenious, bold, beautiful woman that you are. And…" he swallowed in self-disgust "I do. I really do love you, Tasha. Completely. I couldn't keep the truth from you another minute, once I realized it was a betrayal." He lowered his eyes. "I'm sorry."
Tasha stared at him in restrained fury. Finally, she said one word: "Exit." Without a look back, she was gone.
*****
Captain's log, stardate 41366.2. All repairs are finally complete following the return of the Enterprise by the grateful Bynar people. With the help of Lieutenant Commander Yar and the storage capacity of the Enterprise's main computer, the Bynars were able to save their civilization from what would otherwise have been an extinction-level cataclysm.
"Yes?" Tasha answered unenthusiastically when the chime rang on her quarters.
"It's Soriana. Can I come in?"
"Of course," Yar replied, but she regretted it when the counsellor entered carrying an object in both hands.
"The Bynars insisted this go to you, personally," Turhal explained, holding out an optical data cube the size of her head.. "A small thank you for saving them. It had a name…"
"Allemande," Tasha breathed. She reached out to take the cube, and rotating its reflective surfaces between her hands.
"I take it this is the program that managed to keep your attention during the Bynars' journey," the counsellor mused.
Tasha nodded. "I was a fool. They trapped me in a pleasant delusion, nothing more."
"If I were you," Soriana opined. "I would consider exploring that program more. If it could hold your attention so completely, you might be able to gain some insights into yourself through it."
When the other woman had left, Tasha sat and stared at the cube for sometime. Was Allemande really in there? Was there any part of what she felt, what she experienced, that was more than make-believe?
She eventually put the cube on a shelf, but it occupied some part of her thoughts for quite some time.