Petty Officer Sarah Folland was sat in the back of what the locals referred to as a ‘Robo-hack’.  Rather being dressed in her nurse’s uniform, which most people who knew Sarah; usually saw her wearing; she was currently in an electric blue mini-dress.  It was the sort of dress that was too short to be approved by her mother, but not too short to be inappropriate for a night out.

Inside the back of the large automated taxi, four other similarly dressed young women sat chatting and giggling.  Like Sarah, they were all nurses; they’d all studied and trained together and graduated on the same day.  As fate and good fortune had granted them all leave at the same time; tonight was going to be a chance to celebrate.

It wasn’t just because they were together again, which was a wonderful thing; but because one of their number had just got engaged.  Amelia Reinhart now sported the sort of ring on her finger, that didn’t fall out of a cracker.  The diamond at its centre; wasn’t a large one, but it sparkled like it was attempting to rival the stars themselves.  She hadn’t taken it off, since her fiancé had slipped the ring on to her finger, six days ago!

She’d just shown everyone in the back of the taxi, the latest image of the guy she’d been seen for roughly 18 months.

“Does he have a brother?” Sharna enquired with a giggle; she was the bubbly blonde of the pack, but in no way was she dumb.  If anyone had the skill to one day become a CMO, it was Sharna McCloud.

“No.” Amelia answered with a slight frown, as if she was apologising for the fact. “He’s a one off.”

Everyone laughed; well accept Sarah, who was taking more notice of her surroundings.  For a vibrant city with plenty of nightlife, everywhere seemed somewhat darker than she would have anticipated.  “What did you say the name of this club was again?”

Her question was aimed at Lou, the diminutive redhead directly opposite her. The last time they’d seen each other, Lou’s hair had been white, and purple the time before that.  She probably changed the colour of her hair at least twice in a year.  It was also a lot longer than Sarah remembered and now reached down almost to her friends’ waist.  “It’s call ‘The Three Moons’, why do you ask.”

The taxi had pulled up outside of a large building, with an imposing façade.  Above the big glass entrance doors a neon sign flashed, revealing one by one, three moon. “Oh, no reason.”

Her heart sank as she noted there was no one queueing up outside; something definitely wasn’t right. Lou, who’d read up about this club and convinced the rest of them is was a great place to celebrate, had indicated they might have to wait close to an hour on busy days.  This evidently wasn’t a busy day.

The automated system of the vehicle they were travelling in indicated that they should all get out; in the politest way any limited automated device could.  It seemed in rather a hurry to depart, and whizzed off down the road in search of more people to convey to their required destination.

They all stood there, outside what should have been the finest nightclub in the district, all dressed to kill, metaphorically speaking; and there was no one else around.

“How exactly did you find this place?” Sharna asked Lou.

Lou fished a small Padd of a non-Starfleet issue design; from her silver clutch bag, which matched the dress she’d chosen, and processed to search through the devices memory, until she found what she was looking for. “There you go.”

“Well the review is only four months old.” Sharna informed the group. “Gets five stars!”

“May be its better on the inside?” Amelia piped up, knowing this had been arranged, in part for her.

It wasn’t!  The doors opened as they approached, revealing a vast entrance hall, devoid of people and ominously quiet.  The five off duty nurses scanned their surroundings, looking for anything positive to say.  It was a fantastic looking place, they couldn’t argue that point; but in many other respects it was a complete let down.

Bharati smoothed out her red and gold salwar kameez.  Born blind in her left eye, the young Indian woman had been fitted with an ocular implant from the age of six; much like those used by the now Commodore La Forge.  It had taken a lot for her as a young girl, getting used to the differences in what her real and artificial eye could both see, and even now she’d close one eye in order to better focus on things.  It had done nothing to dent her determination and drive though.

Her implant though, meant she knew someone was approaching through the darkness, long before any of her friends did. “We have company.” Bharati announced softly.

The man was short, bald and dressed in a tuxedo.  “Ladies, welcome to ‘The Three Moon’, the hottest club this side of the belt.”  He spoke with well-rehearsed ease, having probably said those word a thousand or more times in the past.  The man never indicated as to which ‘belt’ he referred to; there were a lot.  “I’m Mr Moon, manager of this fine establishment.”

“It’s a bit on the quiet side.” Sarah waved her hands round in a slow wide arc.

Mister Moon’s shoulders slumped and the charade of a happy smile disappeared from his rounded face.  “It’s been like this since the ‘Blackout’ and the invasions.”

“But this planet wasn’t attacked!” Lou threw her hands up.

“People around here seem afraid to enjoy themselves.” The Owner announced. “That and the tourists haven’t started flocking back yet.”

Sarah felt a little sorry for the poor man, whose business was clearly struggling and through no fault of his own or his staff, if indeed he did have any staff?

The girls had to admit that on reflection it wasn’t just here at this night club, that things had seemed subdued.  Sharna whispered into the each of the girls’ ears, and received a nod from each of them.  “Mister Moon, if myself and the girls can drum up any trade to liven up your business we want free drinks for the rest of the night.”

The manager pondered this unusual and unexpected offer; he’d had people walk in to his establishment over the last week or so, see that it was empty and walk back out again, on occasion, even before he’d had chance to greet them.

“Miss?” He asked the name of the young women who’d just spoken.

“It’s Miss McCloud.” She answered. “But just call me Sharna.”

“Well Sharna, you have yourself a deal.” Mr Moon smiled holding his hand out to shake on the agreement.  “Call me Harvey.”

Bharati stayed behind to help Mr Moon organise things at the Nightclub, whilst the others paired up and when looking for potential customers.  How exactly they planned on doing that, wasn’t something they’d initially thought about.  Sharna hoped they’d figure something out, or she was going to feel rather silly.

**********

Around four hours later, Harvey Moon was actually crying.  The girls may have only convinced a small number of people to come along; may be thirty or so; but they in turn had contacted other people they knew, once it was established ‘The Three Moons’ was open, and what a great place it was.

Many of them had been here in the past and felt genuinely embarrassed for in their words, ‘being afraid to enjoy life, now the conflict was over.’  It was if the whole planet had collectively decided they couldn’t have fun, because so many other worlds had suffered.

It had taken a small group of off-worlders to convince them that it was ok to live a normal life, and that the rest of the universe wasn’t judging them for coming through unscathed.

The girls danced with a number of different guys throughout the night, and sometimes each other.  They all got just a little drunk, except Bharati who never drank alcohol, yet found herself working behind the main bar with a couple of holographic assistants.  Apparently she could whip up a mean cocktail or two.

At some point they found themselves either sitting or half lying on a huge half-moon shaped sofa in a quieter section of the club, the thud of the music beating like their hearts in the background.

“Than…than ‘hick’ thank you for may ‘hick’ king this sss..su ‘hick’uch a wonderful night.” Amelia declared to her friends, toasting them with an empty glass, before passing out.

“How much has she had to drink?”  Sarah enquired, Amelia’s face now bared in her lap.

Lou shrugged and Bharati held up her fingers, first to indicate 5 then 7. Sharna was asleep, legs tuck up beneath her.  Sarah ran her fingers idly through her friends hair; thankful that none of them had work in the morning.