Getting Smoked (Part 1 of 4)

Posted on 03 Apr 2022 @ 1:20pm by Commander Morgan Tarin & Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Lieutenant JG Tris Shizn & Lieutenant JG Karras & Ensign Mimi & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Ensign Amanda Turell

5,054 words; about a 25 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 5, Holodeck 1
Timeline: MD 06, 0511 hrs

[ON]

The chronometer's alarm began to blare again for the third time in fifteen minutes. Galileo's new captain was still in bed, curled on her side with the sheets wrapped over her entire head and body. She was technically awake, but still half-asleep and hiding from the inevitable reveille call which just arrived. Morgan poked her face out from beneath the covers. "I'm up!" she chastised the ship's computer. The alarm silenced. A cursory glance at the clock showed it to be several minutes before 0515. She was cutting it close.

The commander rolled on her back then flung the sheets from her body. She let out an early-morning yawn and rubbed her eyes. One of her long bare legs stretched out over the corner of the mattress then was followed by the other. She slowly sat up then stretched her arms and neck before standing. Only one full day aboard Galileo had passed and she was barely accustomed to her new accommodations. The quarters she occupied still technically belonged to Captain Saalm; Morgan was reminded of it every time she looked around the room and spotted various Orion trinkets and pieces of foreign artwork. And there was a lingering musk in the chambers which resembled something akin to a targ.

It didn't bother her too greatly, for her temporary assignment was short. Morgan only concerned herself with what she needed to ensure her command went smoothly. Today, however, that meant an early morning PT session with the ship's officer corps. It wasn't an ideal way to spend their time but in light of one officer's previous misconduct the prior day, an example needed to be set and transgressions rectified.

Commander Tarin walked into her quarters' bathroom and procured her sonic toothbrush. She quickly cleaned her teeth and tongue then looked in the mirror at her dark, curly bed hair. A vigorous brushing soon untangled her locks into a semi-presentable state. She returned to the bedroom where she retrieved a gray and black uniform vest from the dresser along with a pair of tight athletic pants and running shoes. Within five minutes, she was dressed and heading out the door after grabbing her personal PADD and commbadge from the nightstand.

The trip from Deck 1 down to Deck 5 took less than two minutes. The corridors were barren at such an early hour and there was no wait for the turbolift. When the cab's door hissed open, Morgan stepped out and quickly walked towards Holodeck One, the assigned meeting place. She stopped in front of the door then looked at the small LCARS console adjacent to it. The display showed no running programs, meaning she was the first one to arrive. The chronometer now read 0526 hours.

"Computer, load program Tarin-Beta-Five-Zero-Four."

A soft acknowledgement chirp sounded. "Program loaded. Enter when ready."

Tarin stepped in front of the door again which now hissed open and presented a new holographic environment. It was a simple indoor recreational area complete with a full track pattern and several pieces of gym equipment in the large open center space. The walls and ceiling were a mundane solid gray which replicated several of Starfleet Academy's physical training facilities. Patiently the captain waited for her fellow officers to arrive - hopefully on time.

Lieutenant Aria Rice, Chief Security and, in her own mind, an applicant of the ship's shortest ninja, walked into the holodeck in the standard Starfleet Physical Exercise outfit. Leggings. Shoes. Tee shirt with GAL on it. Hair tied back. Very little make up because she knew she'd sweat like a pig. She looked at the acting Captain and gave a small nod. "Captain," she said, taking a deeper breath as she stood...not quite at attention but she wasn't going to sit down on the floor either. After all, she wasn't career-suicidal. She had managed to eat a little and drink a little coffee, but not so much her stomach felt heavy. Just...a little bit. A handful of nuts. Because last time she had done heavy PT, breakfast had made a reappearance. Ew.

Sofie didn't want to be here. A night shift spent trying to sort out issues with one of the civilian experiments in the condensed matter laboratory had drained her of nearly all her will to exist and the last thing she wanted to do was spend her morning in whatever horrific torture Tarin had concocted. Put on a brave face she told herself.

As she rounded the corner and entered the holodeck Sofie spotted the reassuring shape of Aria having just arrived. "Aria!" Sofie called out and hopped through the door to greet her friend. It was only then she noticed Tiran standing a short distance further into the holodeck. "I mean..." she cleared her throat and quickly switched to a more sober tone and demeanour "Lieutenant, good to see you." and then turning to the captain "Good morning Captain."

Walking down the passageway on Deck 5 behind Ens. Ullswater, Tris saw their new Captain enter the holodeck before them. The Andorian followed science officer into the large room and stepped to the side, not wanting to interfere with her discussion with Lt. Rice. Shizn politely said, “Good morning, good morning,” to those already present and stepped toward a wall where he began to stretch. He wondered if anyone would again question the cooling units on his legs. The black canister shaped units were just a few centimeters bigger than his fore-leg, which fit comfortably and usually unnoticed under his regular uniform. Yet, in his black tight-fit exercise apparel, they were quite obvious.

Having already planned on doing some exercise this morning before getting the order to meet with the other officers Mimi was already up and raring to go, she entered the holodeck with the youthful exuberance she always had.

Allyndra thought pulling her off near the end of her normal watch to go do some sort of physical routine was to put it mildly stupid in the extreme. However the request had been more in the form of a command then optional. The other thing was that she did not war the usual physical therapy clothing, having large wings tended to preclude the usual standard workout wear. Thirdly when one's physiology until the last few months of life kept one in the equivalent of one's early twenties, they the physical benefit was not as great. She sighed as she changed command over temporarily and went to change using the ready room. The duty uniform she put into the recycler where it would have its components broken down and she used the personal replicator to synthesize a flight dress. She had been allowed to use that back at the Academy many years ago due to her unique situation. As she headed on toward the holodeck area, there were few people in the hallways. She felt a little self-conscious walking with a thin flight dress on, a pair of slipper like shoes. It showed off her figure and legs. Finally she arrived and entered to see several other people already there. Most seemed like they were just stretching at the moment and loosening muscles. That was fine with her and she moved to an empty spot and begin to flex the muscles that controlled the wings, letting the large translucent wings flex. As the muscles warmed, she ran and took a little jump into the air letting her wings take her up and then hovered and did then did water dancing. While there was no water, the kicking and stretching would have the same effect as on the ground.

If Scarlet Blake had been asleep before arriving, it didn't show. For the ex-marine, this was her comfort zone. She would rather do this every morning than start the day reading an engineering report. She wore navy cropped leggings with a matching vest that had straps that crossed at the back and her dark hair was tied back in a simple ponytail. With more of her skin on show than usual, it was easier to see how pale the skin of the spacer really was. She was clearly ready to move, and had the vitality to match.

Aria watched Blake with awe, not used to seeing her like this. She gave a quick wave, both to her and Sofie. "Well, everyone looks ready to kick some serious exercise butt..." she said lightly, but kept her voice quiet in case her new Captain didn't approve of any smalltalk.

Thanks to the regimented upbringing her marine father had given her Amanda walked into the holodeck looking fresh and ready, at least on the outside. Inside she was very nervous, the assembled officers representing most of the senior staff; most of which she barely knew the names of and hadn't met. She wore grey leggings on her long legs and a black tank top that left almost all of the scarred and battered mess that was her injured right shoulder on show. "Morning everyone." She said.

Marisa showed up on time, dressed for a workout. She was careful not to show what she felt about the early-morning summons. The acting captain was doing her best to become unpopular with as many of the crew as she could before they arrived. Why, she didn't know.

Karras was just behind Marisa, wearing a tank top, gym shorts, and athletic shoes and socks, all black. He had no idea why they had all been called together, but he was in good spirits and interested to see what happened.

The new captain had observed all those who'd entered the holodeck while making small mental notes about their appearance and various states of preparation. Many of them looked different out of uniform; without their department-specific colors and rank pips, it took Morgan an extra minute to match their faces with the personnel files she'd memorized. When it seemed everyone was present, she looked down to her PADD to note the time. 0531. A quick head count confirmed all of those she and Blake had summoned were accounted for.

"I appreciate your punctuality," Tarin finally spoke, projecting her voice to the group. "Today is day one of our new daily routine. We'll meet here every day this week for morning exercise and training. From 0530 to 0700, we'll gather in this holodeck. After we finish, you each have 30 minutes to shower and get changed. Then we'll meet together again at the mess hall at 0730 for a joint breakfast before the duty shift begins at 0800."

"Commander Blake is going to lead us in stretches while I talk about the reason we're all here..." Tarin looked to the XO then nodded for her to begin.

Blake blinked, holding her breath for just a moment. Just to be sure that she hadn't imagined it. So often on the Galileo she had to learn or figure out something new, pretty quick. On a ship of scientists, she was the odd one out. She adapted and made sure it developed her for the better, but she had never quite shaken the feeling that she was that half step out from what she'd started off as. This moment though? It was pretty much exactly what she'd started out as. It was a shame Wyatt wasn't with them, he'd have basked in every second of it. She motioned for them to form up a line, moving in front of them so they could see her as she settled her feet further apart and lifted her arms, allowing for silent instruction if Tarin intended to talk.

The captain positioned herself behind the first officer and also held out her arms to begin slow circles and bending stretches. "I brought you all here today because we had an incident on the bridge during undocking procedures," Tarin started to explain. Her hazel eyes locked on to those of each person in formation, holding them for a few seconds before moving to the next one. "Someone here - a fellow officer - fell asleep at their duty station and had to be relieved." She wouldn't mention who it was. Ostracizing one of her crew was certainly not in conjunction with the methods of leadership she'd learned over her years of service. "People could have died from a mistake like that and we're lucky it happened during pre-checks and not maneuvers."

Tarin continued to follow Blake's stretching examples while she spoke. "You're all commissioned officers in Starfleet. You're all graduates from the Academy and you're the best at what you do in the entire Federation," she emphasized, her voice growing louder and firmer. "You know better. You've been trained better. You're the officer corps on this ship and the rest of the crew look to you for guidance and leadership. What happened was unacceptable!"

Oh great, we are going down that road... Aria copied what Blake was doing and managed (by some miracle or maybe just because her hair kept falling over her face every time she bent forward and obscure her features) to keep her face in neutral. Not only was she going to have to suffer early rising for breakfast, she also had to listen to the acting Captain (and she was now allowed to stay Acting or temporary in Aria's inner monologues for the rest of her life) go on and go on. Yes, they were Starfleet officers. They were also Starfleet officers yanked out of shoreleave which Aria was pretty sure didn't happen unless someone, usually Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians or other groups of people with ships with great firepower, stepped out of line and wanted a dick-measuring competition. She did however, when bending down to touch her toes, allow herself a classic Luna Stink-Eye glance towards Tarin which, had it not been obscured by the dark hair in the way, would be considered somewhat disrespectful.

Mimi stared at Tarin, most of the people in the room knew exactly who it was who fell asleep because they were in the room when it happened. She remained quite for the moment seeing how things progressed while she considered speaking up, she didn't want to see the other crew punished for something she'd done.

"Therefore," Tarin added after a moment of silence, "we're going to work on our discipline. Mental and physical. As a group. If one of us fails...all of us fail. The time may come when the lives of your friends and colleagues depends on your ability to pull them out of a Jefferies tube, or carry someone to an escape pod. Or remain awake at your post for extended periods of time." Morgan looked back up and across the officers' faces again.

"I'm not your former captain and I can't pretend to be. I know Galileo is a small ship and that many of you have served together for years. But I expect the very best from each of you, every time, all the time. And based on your vessel's operational record, I know Saalm did as well."

I'm going to fail and then we're all going to fail... Sofie found herself seemingly in agreement with that nagging voice in the back of her head. Neither mental nor physical discipline were things the ensign had in great supply and neither had exactly been on an uphill trend since Latari. She tried her best to follow Blake's silent instructions, but a lack of practice and the fearsome proclamations coming out of Tarin were not making this easy. She wasn't even sure if she was doing the stretches right and this was only the first part. Dread was building up inside Sofie, this was not going to be a fun day for anybody.

Allyndra frowned still hovering but much lower, as the commander talked. She had come lower but the idea that they all had to do this every day. She waited a moment and then raised her hand which should be easy to see even with her near six foot height as she was a good couple of feet off the floor.

"Commander Tarin. The hours you have indicated are during my duty shift on the bridge. Thus, this takes away from my command time as well as putting very junior officers on the bridge. An emergency then puts the ship at risk. I understand to a point of working together, however, perhaps a bit of compromise can be made and we rotate the times. Gamma shift is the most thinly populated shift on the ship as you are no doubt aware. Thus, the depth of available crew is much less. If early is the ideal state perhaps might I suggest just a bit later such as tail end of gamma and beginning of alpha. That would allow at least fresh junior officers to be awake and already preparing to come to the bridge for relief and not leave what I consider a near skeleton staff in case of emergency."

Morgan listened to the chief medical officer's objection while also taking in the rare sight of a winged woman hovering in the air. She'd only observed Warraquim in passing on Regula I, but to finally see her species' flight capacity with her own eyes was...a rare experience. One which she also didn't allow to distract from the query.

"Call me 'captain', commander," Tarin corrected. "If I'm accurate in recalling this crew's manifest, there are five experienced chief warrant officers on board who can assume temporary command duties for a couple hours. Request denied. We will exercise, train, and sweat together until I'm satisfied this officer corps is up to the task."

Allyndra came to rest finally and nodded. "My apology, Captain Tarin. Very well just my observation. Just a minor point, for your edification, at least two of us here do not 'sweat'. Physiologically we pant." She had no idea how much Tarin had read, but she suspected the finer points of physiology was not her forte. Also, while she herself understood the euphemism, she was not going to let it slide by. If Captain Tarin wanted to be precise and marine like, then she was going to do the same.

The stretching had been good, Tris thought. And he appreciated the idea captain’s idea of comradery among the officers. But, Shizn had to close his eyes and clench his teeth from laughing aloud about the Commander’s remark about sweating. Laughing now would be completely irresponsible. He feared that his antennae would give him away, since they were now flopping about as his head moved. This is what typically happened when he became ‘tickled’ or laughed uncontrollably.

Marisa went through her warm-up routine. She would follow orders and do her best for this emergency, but if this was the new normal, once they got back to Regula I, she would put in for a transfer—unless Saalm returned. The more time she spent in the company of their acting captain, the less she wanted to be anywhere near her.

The counselor mirrored the stretches demonstrated by the first officer and felt a slight blush of concern. Although he was always up for team building, he couldn't help but feel this new routine was perhaps going to come across as more punitive than edifying. Being new to the ship himself Karras couldn't really speak to the normal 'vibe' of the crew, but you didn't have to be an empath to pick up on a small undercurrent of resentment... and perhaps embarrassment. He appreciated that the sleeping officer in question had not been named, but he would need to keep an eye out for anyone who seemed to be taking this personally and intervene if needed.

As Blake got to the last of her stretches, she caught sight of one or two that were slightly twisted in the movement. She did her best to guide them with her hands, as she had throughout the speech, using two fingers on both hands to indicate the feet should be straight, not turned out, and then used the flat of her hands to show how far to push the knee forward in the stretch. She straightened up, tilting her head to one side, then the other, loosening up the tight muscles in the back of her neck, despite the stretching. She had no problem with the routine that had been announced, her concern was how to work it into her routine with her daughter.

"XO," ordered Tarin after their stretches were now complete, "take us on a warmup jog. Single file spacing, four laps. If you have any cadences, now's the time."

Cadences. Blake almost smiled to herself at hearing that. Almost. This really was like the old days. She'd have to try and figure one out that didn't take shots at all the other services and branches though. The marine cadences hadn't exactly been modest. "Let's go..." she moved to the head of the line as she started to lead them in a jog. She kept in mind it was a warm up, but didn't take it too slow; she'd always found it harder to jog slowly rather than hit a good rhythm. She decided to warm up on the chants too, unsure how much of a call response she'd get back, so she started off with a simple count to get them in pace together. "1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2...3,4...1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2...3,4...Sound off..." she trailed off the call, to see if she'd get the '1, 2' response from the group.

Now Aria, being the daughter of a Marine, knew this well enough from having been a little girl and seeing the Marines train. With her height, she found herself more running than jogging even at this pace. "1, 2!" she called out, with confidence. Although in her mind, something else popped in... If I die in the old drop zone, box me up and ship me home. As they lay me down to rest, tell my Mum I've done my best...

Amanda joined in with the cadence as she jogged near the head of the pack, this was nothing unusual for her having spent many a day waking up early for long regimented exercising.

Tris glanced at his wrist readout as they continued to run. His heart rate was definitely up, and so was his body temperature. He wasn’t worried about his cooling system. He just didn’t want it to malfunction in a group setting. Something like that could make him look bad.

In the middle of the pack Mimi brooded silently as she jogged keeping her legs plantigrade for now, she found the pace awkward as it was far too slow for her liking even though it was only a warm up pace.

Allyndra followed the group. This was not even a workout to her. Again, this was differences in physiology. She observed Mimi and noted that in order to keep to the group dynamics it was putting a strain.

Allyndra finally piped up with her carrying voice (multiple lung sacs had that advantage). "One, two...this pace will not do. Three, four...physiology do not ignore!"

Blake shook her head at the change of rhythm, keeping her same pace as she lifted her hand, counting out her original simple 4 beat again in a clear voice, her hand moving with it. "I give the call and you repeat..." she called out in the same rhythm before starting the most traditional and harmless cadence she could. "I don't know but I've been told...!"

Ensign Ullswater definitely didn't have a clear idea of what she was being told. With people shouting numbers, things about considering physiology and now this meta-commentary on the nature of knowing, Sofie just found herself carried along with the others in chanting back Blake's words as they moved along. The pace wasn't too much of a concern to her yet but she was well aware this was just the beginning.

The half-Vulcan science officer followed the others, dutifully repeating the cadence called by Blake as leader. She didn't mind running, although she preferred martial arts and dance as her forms of exercise. Mentally, however, she was amusing herself by altering some of the words to the cadence.

Blake nodded with satisfaction at them getting into the swing of it, hearing and feeling the sets of feet thudding on the ground in the same double time as hers and the chant. "Starfleet flies on wings of gold...!"

Allyndra dutifully repeated the phrase. In her mind, this was nothing but a futile exercise doing this human call and response. It was one thing that Starfleet seemed to never have gotten past is the still heavy influence and reliance on old human traditions. She thought to herself "This is why eventually the Federation will break. We need to move away from Earth and the center."

"Starfleet flies on wings of gold!" Aria chanted out, her breathing as steady as it could while she was jogging. She was getting into it, feeling her body warming up. She found herself enjoying this, harking back to the days at the Academy where she had been in the back, trying to keep up. She was more fit now, keeping up easily with the pace. The years had changed her, she knew that much, and seeing the result here was such a difference to how she felt. This chant was familiar too and she could almost hear her father's voice in her ear. Part of being a Marine is being part of a team. One goes down, you all go down. No one gets left behind. She would need to remember that.

Tris had been keeping a very good pace with the group. However, he was finding the ‘chanting’ to becoming an annoyance to him. He could still run and keep pace, but the ‘sing-song’ taking place was just irritating him. It was the same while at the Academy. He just blocked it from his mind the best he could.

"...wings of gold!" Karras had joined in with the response, amused more than anything. Like the other more militaristic traditions in Starfleet, this seemed a little bit, well, foolish, but he was here to experience the wider universe, silly cadences and all.

While Galileo's first officer was at the vanguard of the single-file running formation, the captain maintained a position at the group's midsection to the inside of the track. Her vantage point allowed her easy observation of the entire column and an opportunity to personally observe their individual conduct. She appreciated Blake's cadence - some traditions were never forgotten. As she jogged with them and they approached the half-mile mark, Tarin could feel her heart rate increasing to a suitable level. It was time to run now, in earnest.

"XO," she called out to Blake. "Let's pick up the pace. Two miles. We have fifteen minutes."

Blake nodded, but even as she did it, she realised she wasn't sure if she could be seen by Tarin. "Aye...with me!" she called back, starting to speed up as she dropped the cadence, her arms pumping to use her whole body. Two miles in 15 minutes...that was 16 laps...less than a minute a lap. She sped up as she realised they were going to have to go a lot faster, glancing to the time on her wrist to try and keep track of lap times.

Aria started running. For real. But she had still fallen behind Sofie, which suited her well. "Keep it up," she said aloud, and with this pace she had no choice but to let go and just run. And in her head...well, there was nothing like focusing on the shirt of the person in front of you to keep you focused. Run, run, run, little rabbit! Keep on going or else the fox will get you... And in this little song, the fox was the Acting Captain behind.

Its just running, running's easy... Sofie kept telling herself. Years of opera, captaining a rowing team; time was she had to keep fit but in being honest to herself she'd really been letting it slip recently. Even moreso since Latari. She just tried to focus on the breathing, the feeling of the deck under he feet, the awful consequences she was envisioning if she for a moment stopped. However with her short legs and general lack of fitness she could feel it in her gut: she was going to start falling behind soon.

Mimi picked up her pace to match the rest of the group, the pace becoming much more comfortable for her physiology, she was built for speed over stamina.

Though she would have much preferred to just fly, running was not a very hard exercise for Allyndra. She hung toward the back though to observe the rest. It was the medical officer in her.

Tris had followed suit and picked up speed, hanging in the middle of the group. He then felt a pain in his chest, just slight, and placed a hand on his chest as he continued. After a moment he realised that his breathing had become laboured. This was definitely putting a physical strain on him now, which was the intent. He continued, knowing this would help him in the long run.

Though Karras preferred swimming, it did feel nice to just run. He wasn't entirely sure if he was supposed to keep formation, but ultimately decided he didn't care and moved up towards the front of the group.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Acting Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Saalm]

Lt. Aria Rice
Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Allyndra illm Warraquim
Second and Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A

Ensign Sofie Ullswater
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Karras
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Tris Shizn
Helmsman
USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant Commander Marisa Sandoval
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

ENS Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

ENS Amanda Turell
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

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