One Life (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 28 Jul 2025 @ 6:23pm by Commander Morgan Tarin & Lieutenant JG Selon Illialhlae & Ensign Amanda Turell

2,436 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 21 - Helix
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 7, Workout Room/Gym
Timeline: MD 01, 1700 hrs

[ON]

Deep within the bowels of the compact Nova-class starship USS Galileo, Commander Morgan Tarin sat atop a small padded seat with her torso bent forward and arms wrapped around a small LCARS console situated in front of her chest. The rythmatic sound of steady whirrs bounced across the walls of the vessel's brig-sized workout room while she furiously pedaled her stationary bike to her personal limits. Sweat poured down her forehead and temples, across her freckled cream complexion then to her chin where it dripped into an expanding puddle on the floor mat between her legs. Her loosely curled, shoulder-length dark brown hair had originally been pulled back behind her head in a tidy ponytail but now multiple strands had escaped with several sticking to her cheeks and ears.

Audible exhalations emanated from her pursed lips every other second while her long and athletic legs pumped the pedals. Her head dipped while she closed her eyes to focus on the only current objective in the forefront of her mind - the lapidary refinement of her physical self. Exercise was a backbone of her daily routine and personal command philosophy, but more importantly, it relieved stress; stress from dealing with scientists and commanding a science vessel as a non-scientist. A brutal reality she was slowly coming to terms with on her own accord, for better or worse.

On the other side of the gym the Galileo's resident anthropologist stiffed his legs to bring an arch to his back as he placed his hands shoulder-width apart on the bell-bar. Using that leg drive he thrust his arms to bring the weighted bar off the supports and onto his own arms and chest as he rhythmically moved the bar up and down over his torso. An explosive burst of energy to the top then a slow, controlled descent to the bottom, letting the bar linger on his pectorals for a moment to maximize the stretch before thrusting it up again.

Selon had yet to fully adapt his workout routine to the modified circumstances of serving aboard the... lean Nova-Class starship that had far, far less internal space (and therefore, less ground to cover) than the Oakland and his use of cardio machines still only just eclipsed a half an hour despite his average steps in a day falling by two thirds in the Galileo's compact web of corridors. His 'commute' from his quarters to his 'office' (such as it was) in the planetary development lab was pitifully short and it took mere minutes (if that) to get anywhere else on the ship. His irregular duty schedule had dictated his irregular sleep schedule and he had made conspicuous use of his Vulcanoid physiology's lesser demand for sleep but hopefully with the new mission he would get some sense of normality.

After four sets of ten at 130kg Selon stopped and sat up on the bench, dabbing just a mist of sweat from his brow and looked over at his commanding officer, who was still religiously pedaling away at her machine, absolutely soaked in sweat and with no sign of stopping. While he was fond of long walks and hikes, a sort of common ground that he and Commander Tarin had found after their excursion to Hill 873, but Selon had long since tempered his love of cardio with weightlifting. Tarin, had no such inhibition.

The incandescent whirring continued. Unseen arteries in Tarin's legs throbbed with methodical pulses to deliver as much oxygenated blood to her muscles as was possible while also removing CO2-laden cells from their habitat. The captain grit her teeth and tightened her grip on the console in front of her while attempting to increase her pace, and for the briefest moment, narrowly opened her eyelids. Salty perspiration stung her visual organs and she quickly closed them but not before discerningly catching a glance of the other crew member in the gym mere meters next to her position.

"Tired yet...lieutenant...?" she managed to dryly banter to the anthropologist between heavy breaths.

"I was going to ask you the same question Captain." Selon stood up to begin re-racking the weights. He knew the Captain went hard with everything she did but Selon wondered what the purpose of such sustained exertion was for her. Simple endorphins seemed the most likely reason, as rugged as she was Tarin didn't seem like an adrenaline junkie per say.

A quick glance at the chronometer on her bike's console provided information which superseded a direct answer to the scientist's question. "...Twelve minutes left...the rest is relative...like temporal science prefers to say." Was she tired? No, and given a mandate to continue her stationary trek for much longer, she held no doubt in her mind she could accomplish the task. Fatigued, on the other hand? Perhaps slightly. "No cardio for you this evening...?"

Selon shook his head, a little too furiously. "No, not tonight," He almost laughed as he reracked the last weight on the stand and moved to do some chin ups.

"I don't need...bodybuilders on this ship," chided the captain between heavy exhalations while wiping beads of sweat from her eyelids. "I need officers who can...move. ...Quickly and across distance. This is a planetary survey vessel, in case you've forgotten."

"Then you'll be pleased to know that I still have the same time in the hundred meter freestyle that I had at the Academy," Selon said between his own grunts as he used his powerful arms to hoist himself up and down on the bar. "As of this morning at least. Might come in handy on a class O planet." Selon smiled to himself as a short rush of endorphins kicked into his system.

"Freestyle? Swimming?" She pursed her lips then cast a sideways glance to him. "I hope you're not imagining out-pacing any aquatic predators... Humanoids are notoriously ill-equipped to survive in oceans. We can't even drink the water...to say nothing about the oxygen and pressure environment..."

"That's what the environmental suits are for." Selon smirked in between reps, though he wondered if Captain Tarin could see it, or if she would even appreciate such levity. Selon did his best to not walk on eggshells around the Captain, at least not out of fear, instead trying to imagine her as every other commanding officer he had ever had only much more... straight-laced. Much, much more.

Having gotten off shift a little later than usual thanks to a routine maintenance job taking longer than it ever should have Amanda was late having a post shift meal and even later for her usual not long after shift workout and so she walked through the doors not expecting to have the room to herself but definitely not expecting both the Captain and one of the head anthropologists being in there. She strode into the room only somewhat conscious of the numerous bundles of scar tissue that adorned her only tank top covered torso especially the cluster around her shoulder.

Tarin's mouth was half-open while preparing to respond to Illialhlae when an interruption prompted her to purse her lips and look over to the new arrival. "Turell," was her simple curt acknowledgement to the security officer. "Let me guess, you're a swimmer, too?"

"Captain?" Amanda said only partially hearing what the woman had said, something about swimming. "Well enough to not drown but it's harder now."

Selon's smirk became permanent at the Ensign's response. See? Selon dropped down from the bar with a thud on the bulkhead floor and tugged at his gloved hands in satisfaction. "Maybe I should be giving lessons?" He pondered aloud.

Wiping another amalgamation of sweat from her forehead, Tarin wryly contributed an addendum to his musings. "...Not in humility." The man was seemingly equally blessed - and cursed - with a combination of both Vulcan and Romulan arrogance. An admirable force, in certain situations. "But since you propositioned the idea..." the whirrs of her bike's pedals continued, "we can begin refresher courses tomorrow morning."

Amanda put her towel and water bottle by a second exercise bike and after making a few adjustments climbed onboard and started to steadily peddle. "Swimming is a very good exercise, works so many muscles in so many different ways than almost any other exercise."

"Exactly." Selon should've known better than to float an idea for the improvement of the crew, joke or no, in front of the Galileo's fastidious commanding officer but this was a time commitment he didn't necessarily mind (unwittingly) volunteering himself for. "Will you be joining us Captain?" Selon seriously doubted that a woman as fit and as demanding as she was with her body had any deficiencies when it came to her physical skillset but the image of her under his tutelage, under this thumb, was an interesting one.

Would she? It would mean cutting time from her early-morning run and restructuring the officer PT session, but there were worse sacrifices she could imagine. "If you bring the towels..." was her verbal acceptance.

"Well then, let's see what time works best for everyone." Selon said in between drinks of water that his body craved more out of habit than necessity.

The motion of Tarin's legs started to slow as her exercise bike finally reached it's pre-programmed cooldown period. The whirrs decreased in decibel while she leaned back on her seat and stretched her arms to the side before craning her neck around to pop several tightened vertebrae pads. "You have two days, lieutenant. Then it's back to the standard training regimen. Whenever you schedule this...make it count."

"Two days is good for a refresher course for those who can already swim but if you want to teach people to swim from new they will need semi regular sessions to learn." Amanda said, the sound of her exercise bike gradually overtaking Tarin's as she sped up and the latter slowed.

'Semi-regular lessons to learn'. Swimming courses. Every commissioned and chief warrant officer aboard the starship had passed their underwater qualification assessments as part of their Academy and field graduate curriculum. Such wasn't the case for the junior enlisted and civilian members who severed along side them. "You just volunteered yourself again, lieutenant. Expand your ambition like the ensign just suggested."

In for a penny, in for a pound...Selon could only nod curtly at Captain Tarin's suggestion. "All right Captain, I'll post a bulletin when I get back to my quarters." Selon was hardly a qualified swim coach but his athletic ability meant he was still the most qualified person to teach swim lessons on the Galileo, and the only such person they were likely to get. It had been years since he had taught in any capacity and the idea held a certain amount of appeal to him but he didn't expect to be taking on such a course load and be doing it with so little warning.

Another voice of wisdom popped into Tarin's head which was spurred on by this new formal arrangement. To leave one crew member as the sole charge of this training could create deficiencies...gaps in methodology and execution that could hamper its efficiency among the other crew members. The solution seemed simple enough when she glanced over to Turell sitting next to her on an adjacent bike. "I want you to assist him. Unless you know someone better equipped for the job? Training coordination is part of the Security detail's responsibility, after all."

"I'm probably not the best woman for the job Captain, since this..." She paused for a moment and motioned to the bundle of scars around her shoulder. "I can still swim but not great, Petty officer Zeror is a very proficient swimmer?"

"Zeror," ensued a slow nod of Tarin's head. "That's what I keep hearing." Her post-workout cooling stage started to subside and she wiped another glistening band of sweat from her forehead with her wrist. "Well, contact her as soon as you finish here this evening. I still want you to help oversee these training sessions...even with your injury." Her focus momentarily shifted to Illialhlae then back. "Any objections?"

"No Sir." Amanda replied, she altered the resistance level on the exercise bike and soon she was out of the saddle pedaling furiously.

The familiar whirr returned to the ship's small workout room. The captain pushed herself up off her machine's small seat then unstraddled it. Throbbing within her long quads and calves produced a pleasant sense of accomplishment and endorphin release which was much needed after a long day of duty. She slowly walked to the nearby bench then sat down and procured a towel to wipe herself clean from perspiration. "Tell me the story behind your shoulder. I've read your medical file after you transferred from Trial - a disruptor wound, if I remember. It was light on details."

"I was on the Exeter, border patrol and anti piracy jobs, dealing with some rather tenacious Orion's that had attacked a whole load of different cargo ships." Amanda replied as she pedaled; her sentences coming out at various speeds as she got the breath to speak. "Manage to disable one, the Captain gave orders to board it, I was on the team. We were doing well till we got near engineering, we breached the doorway and that's when my luck ran out. Took a disruptor shot to the shoulder, nearly blew my arm off completely."

Tarin retrieved a bottle of water from her small duffel bag then tilted her head back to squirt the clear hydrating fluid into her mouth while she listened. A few gulps later and she slowly panted while contemplating the intricacies of the ensign's story. "You're lucky you survived, at all. Disruptor wounds are notoriously hard to heal; the weapon's technology disintegrates organic cellular structure and destroys atomic bonds in non-organic compounds. Like hull plating."

"I passed out pretty quick, woke up a week later in the sickbay." Amanda replied slightly resenting Tarin's remark, not needing reminding about how lucky she was that day. "They got me to a specialist medical center a few days later, managed to save the arm, though there are times where I think it'd be better if they'd chopped it off."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

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

LTJG Selon Illialhlae
Anthropologist
USS Galileo-A

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