Targets in the Grass (Part 1)

Posted on 04 Dec 2012 @ 8:16pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Crewman Athlen & Lieutenant Scott Parker & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Warrant Officer Evan Kell & Petty Officer 3rd Class

3,981 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: Vega Colony, Galileo Crash Site
Timeline: MD 06 1755

[ON]

Given that the Holodecks were still not a priority, Kiri had opted to make use of the vast amount of space their circumstance provided. Her academy days were less than a month ago, it was easy to remember what they needed. A few holographic target projectors from the cargobay, set up in the short grass a little distance away from the shadow of their ship. She had also considered bring a large crash mat as well but the ground was soft, the grass smelt nice. Doing something physical didn't really appeal to her, at least not in public. It was bad enough at the Academy in her classes that often left her thrown or pinned in a way she found very invasive. These were people she couldn't hide from any more, it wasn't a reputation she wanted. At least with Mor'an, none of that seemed to matter very much.

The sun was small, still it was warm, the sky clear and the air cool and comfortable. Heavy fatigue was taking its toll on Kiri and standing up while waiting didn't seem all that possible. Knelt in the grass she was watching the red targets shimmer slightly, just the filled in outline of a humanoid. She'd shot two real ones during the last mission, safe in the knowledge that she hadn't killed anyone. Even under attack she didn't want to use anything stronger than heavy stun, killing someone was rather a horrible prospect. This sort of fighting, any sort didn't really come across than more than a game, practice. There wasn't the same sort of terror that ripped through her when they were boarded, here it was nice.

She was dressed in her training uniform, the same one she had at the academy. A grey jump-suit with a blue line across the chest, grey trainers on her feet and hair tied into a bun. The only difference from the basic design was her sleeves ended at the wrist, rather than the elbow. It was a difference she had requested on her first day the the Academy, one which was granted. Kneeling in the grass her back was to the ship, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

From across the way where the sunlight shone heavily, an average height gentleman with long blond hair tied behind his back waved to the science assistant chief. It was the Rigelian that had been present at their meeting. He jogged up to her and smiled. "Hello, Lieutenant Cho!" he said cheerfully, mindful of her new rank. Behind him, another man walked behind with his hands inside his pockets, his posture slower and less excitable than Athlen's. He nodded at the two of them thoughtfully. This one had pale skin and shock of jet black hair, looking human enough.

The Vulcan that usually hung around Athlen emerged next. He had heard about these 'informal training sessions' and thought it might be useful to attend. He was trained in a variety of combat and ship's operations, but that was from the V'Shar point of view. Plus, Athlen had said it would help him integrate, or something.

The newcomer, Athlen and Liyar all wore the similar combat training jumpsuit to Cho. Since the sleeves of Liyar's jumpsuit did not follow Cho's basic design, the long thick winding lines of an intricate tattoo could be seen spilling down his right arm, which ended at his wrist.

Kiri rose with a forced smile, looking at the two men. One was one she knew, but not very well. The other was a Vulcan, generally Kiri found it very easy to get along with Vulcans, it made her heart rise a little. Still the excited behaviour of Crewman Athlen reminded her of Kohl, it might be nice. Her voice was quiet and carried a little of the note of how tired she was, "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon. Wow, it is sure nice out here," Athlen said amicably.

"Afternoon," the pale man spoke with a laid back shrug. The Vulcan tilted his head curiously before bending to examine a phaser which he'd clipped to his belt, uninterested in any of them.

Kiri looked rather apprehensively at Liyar, while she had seen him before she didn't know his name, the fact his attention was turned now to a weapon made her uneasy. Even when she spoke to Athlen her eyes were still on the Vulcan, "Have you not had a chance to leave the ship yet?"

"Oh, I was transferred from here, so I stayed for a bit before coming on board!" Athlen said with a nod. "I'm not too sure about him, though," he said, indicating Liyar with a smile.

"Briefly," Liyar added monosyllabically, still focused on his weapon. It was a standard Starfleet design, and he seemed to be memorizing it or recalling from memory the things he knew about it. He withdrew it from its slot and removed the backing on it, examining its interior design impassively.

Athlen removed his own phaser and frowned at it. "I almost failed my phaser training," he said with a wry smile. "Much better at hand-to-hand."

Kiri didn't really want to bring up her own failings regarding close combat. These two men didn't seem to regard rank as something important between them, did that mean they were friends? Trying to remain friendly rather than timid Kiri replied, "I hope we can all improve our skills."

"I'm sure we will," Athlen replied warmly. He elbowed Liyar.

The Vulcan seemed to get the hint, a little bit. "Indeed," the elbow prompted a vague response. Now that his attention was focused on all of them, the Vulcan seemed just as out of place as Cho, though his imperturbable mask afforded him some protection against appearing timid. Rather, he came off cold and contemptuous, his stare blank and empty looking.

Evan Kell, the outlier, seemed to notice the Trill's uneasiness. That Vulcan wasn't helping matters either. "So, Miss Cho, right? This your first time running a combat sim?" he asked at her rather than examining the grass beneath his feet as he was doing moments before. His demeanor wasn't shy, but observant. His voice, when he spoke, was with a bit of a natural rasp, but on an even keel.

True she was organising it, but she hoped she wasn't running it. Aria had said she would make the request to Theron or to the replacement security chief. Still she had planned just in case, she was fairly good with a hand phaser and on that she knew a fair amount. Any chance at physical combat would have to be dropped though, unless she was going to repeat lessons that Mor'an had given her. Losing her confidence for a moment she answered, "Yes, but I have run training sessions before."

Kell stepped forward and extended his hand. If he was aware of her lack of confidence, he didn't show it. "Good," was all he said about that. "Name's Kell. Nice to meet you."

"And I'm Athlen, which you probably already know," the Rigelian said with a rueful smile. "And that is Liyar." The Vulcan didn't look up at that, finding the preoccupied smalltalk inane. He hadn't quite grasped the intricacies of politeness, despite being the diplomatic officer.

"Nice to meet you also," Kiri bowed her head slightly, she did already know Athlen, the others she had least had name for. They were rather an overwhelming group, she didn't know where to start with them. The Vulcan just by his race was the one that interested her most but the others seemed nice, at least not bad. Lost for words she just added, "We have a few more minutes before we start." Her attention pulled towards yet another figure walking out from the ship.

Cyrus strode in with some gray training sweats with the SFMC logo on his left leg, and a olive green t-shirt that attempted to hide his muscled torso with little success. He rolled his shoulder and grinned. He glanced around the room briefly as he noted that a large portion of the science team was hanging around. "huh.." He noised before seeing Liyar talking to a couple people, including pretty little thing that Theron had been talking to during the party. He made his way over and gave Liyar a soft punch in the shoulder. "Hey Li! What's going on?" He looked over to the other two people and grinned. "Who's your friends?" He jabbed a thumb in Liyar's direction. "Did he tell you about how he kicked my arse in golf earlier."

Liyar tensed at the punch slightly, sliding his eyes from the phaser in hand over his tattooed shoulder to the shorter security officer behind him. "Liyar," he corrected with a tilt of his head.

Athlen laughed. "Golf," he repeated with a grin and a shake of his head. "We're doing some target shooting, I think. Something like that. And you're making friends already, I see," he said to Liyar. He held out his hand to the muscular security fellow. "Crewman Athlen," the Vulcan-look-a-like-but-clearly-not introduced easily.

"Cyrus Kiwosk, Liyar here was the first person I met who wasn't an officer. Pleasure to meet you Athlen." He eyed the vulcan/not vulcan in friendly fashion. "weapons training, yeah. I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to tell you which end you point and what button to press. " He gestured widely. "The lieutenant will probably know more when he gets here." Cyrus heaved a sigh and looked around once more. "So Athlen, where are you from, you're obviously not a Vulcan as traditional Vulcans go, and Romulans I doubt are showing their faces very often..."

"Correct," Athlen said harmoniously, posture easy. "I am from Rigel V. We were part of the Mass Exodus from Vulcan so very long ago," the man said serenely. "But we settled another world, to discover our own Way. Now, we have evolved differently enough to be classified as a new species, which is Rigelian." He rose his phaser up and imitated Cyrus's hold, nodding to himself. "I did poorly at this in school," he admitted wryly. "And Liyar here is full of surprises, but I don't think he understands the Starfleet codex just yet."

"Affirmative. The technology of the V'Shar is significantly different. We do, however," Liyar said as he snapped another piece of the phaser back into place and it glowed softly, humming with increased energy input, "Have some similarities."

"What are you doing to it?" Athlen asked, blinking.

"I am learning the Starfleet configuration," Liyar replied innocently.

Cyrus`s hand shot out and guided Athlen`s phaser so it was pointing at the ground. "Let's not shoot anyone then on the first day eh?" He chuckled nervously. "You might as well holster that thing until we start, it should be soon." Noting Liyar's familiarity with his hand phaser Cyrus said, "Lets not play around with the phasers Liyar." Almost condescendingly. "As much as I enjoy the enthusiasm for learning about our tech...I think it would be in everyone's interest not to overload our weapons so they burn holes through our targets..." He sighed. "Or people." He said passively.

Athlen blinked. "Oh," he said sheepishly. "I'm really not... so terrible," Athlen said with a shrug. The fact that he held his phaser the way a two year old might hold their toy betrayed that statement. "I just, well, I'm not really, a weapons kind of guy?" he winced a little at how green he must have come off to the experienced marine. He knew that he was more than capable of defending himself. Just... not like this.

As if on cue, the phaser Liyar held made a strange kind of noise, and the glow faded a little. "Perhaps you are correct," he said, as the energy coils gave up and puttered out. Liyar began another process, apparently reversing the effects, before continuing to explore the interior design.

Cyrus chuckled and patted Athlen on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Everyone has their own pace, and not everyone has taken advanced weapons training. You'll get used to it." He glanced at Liyar once more and sighed part in exasperation, part in amusement. "You break it, you buy it."

Walking out from beneath the ship toward an expansive field of long yellow/green grass, Maenad strode toward this so-called weapons training session. She wanted nothing to do with it, and was more than thrilled to learn that it was optional. A glutton for self-torture, Maenad thought it would be a good idea to go; her rationale was so she could learn first-hand who in her department was competent at defending themselves.

Her dress was black and very plain, knee-height. On top she wore a snug dark green women's blazer, buttoned up for the wind, and beneath it she had on a pair of black tights. Oh her head was a flimsy white sun hat and a pair of sunglasses that complimented her rather then defined her; she was a very practical woman, not a fashionable one. Beneath one arm was a folded metal and canvas chair and beneath the other was a hardbound novel called Deimos, a horror.

Unconcerned with her own shooting, Maenad thought herself quite good at it, considering; she had no intention of participating. Somewhere between five and ten metres from the five people now gathered, she unfolded her chair and dropped the book in it. It seemed that Mister Liyar was here, she sighed. And so was the Johnny Bravo chief warrant officer. This was lining up to be either a very stressful or hilarious evening. She walked over toward them, figuring that she ought greet herself. "Hello everyone," she said as she neared.

Athlen smiled at Maenad. "Good afternoon!" he called to her as she walked toward them. Liyar glanced up for a second, before turning back to studying his weapon once again. He removed a few things out of it, holding them up to the sunlight before replacing them and repeating the process with the other components he was studying.

Kell looked over at the science officer and ducked his head a little. "Lieutenant... Panne, yeah?" the only other human-looking gentleman settled on, pronouncing her name accurately on the first try. He remembered she was French, which his fluency helped with.

Maenad took off her sunglasses and nodded to everyone. "Have we met?" she asked the dark-haired man. She appreciated that he she called her Pawn instead of Pan, but it unsettled her somewhat too. She was uncomfortable with people knowing about her when she had no idea that they had even existed.

Kell shook his head. "Nope," he said casually. He didn't seem very forthcoming of an explanation, just smiled slightly and put his hands back in his pockets.

Maenad studied him carefully through slit eyes. He was irritating her. "And you are...?"

Kell leaned back slightly on his heels. "Oh," he said, as if he just realized he was expected to give his name, or expected to do much of anything. "I'm Kell. Warrant Officer Evan Kell." He extended a hand toward her. "Nice to meet you, Miss Panne."

Maenad pressed her teeth together behind her lips. "Kell," she repeated.

He kept her eyes, and kept his hand out. "Yep. That's me."

She took his hand and shook it gently, unsure of what else to say to him.

There was so much noise, so many people. Kiri was starting to lose herself in the waves of voices that crashed all around her, so many people she didn't know. It was raucous and they seemed more aggressive than she liked, even those she knew the names of she didn't know. Without thinking she skirted the edge of the group and moved to place herself near to Lieutenant Panne approaching from behind but not saying anything, at least this way she felt safer. Trying to focus on just a few voices was easier, even if she was eavesdropping.

Scott Parker, an individual whom most of the science team were unfamiliar with, seemed to materialise from thin air. He strolled towards the group that had formed at the apparatus with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his uniform pants. Evidently, shoreleave was a concept that he had yet to subscribe to. He looked like he had just ended a duty shift. As he reached the others, he offered a meek smile and a rather gentle greeting. "Hello, folks. Lovely day, huh?"

Maenad had yet to meet the security chief, but seeing his rank and uniform threw any doubt that this was finally him. "Lieutenant Parker," she smiled her teeth as she extended her hand. "Maenad Panne," she introduced herself to him with a slight bow of her head and bend of her knees.

"Lieutenant Panne," replied Scott, offering her his own strangely receeding smile. Her greeting seemed to puzzle him. He looked uncomfortable, if not a little shy. "It's nice to meet you, I suppose that's the second senior staff member I can scratch from my list. Are you in charge of all this?"

"No, that would be Lieutenant Cho here," Maenad turned to her side, where Kiri had quietly snuck up beside her. She put her fingers around Kiri's closer forearm and pulled her a little closer, hinting for her to present herself to the security chief.

Kiri moved with all the grace of drunk giraffe, stumbling over her own feet as she was pulled forwards, barely catching herself. Startled by the sheer volume of interaction that was taking place in such a short time let alone by enforced sudden movement, she looked rather shocked. Now she was caught like a rabbit in headlights, staring down the security chief, "Hello sir," That was it, her voice caught and she froze for several seconds, "I, I, I'm sorry if this is rather sudden," Any sort of confidence she had gained by setting this up was now gone, she didn't want to be in the middle of a crowd. She found herself looking to Panne for guidance, tired eyes wide.

Maenad was staring off into the distance, watching the tips of the long grass waving in the wind. She deliberately unfocused her vision to make the grass look more like water. For Kiri's sake, she was hoping that this would go off without a hitch. The only reason she came was because she wanted Kiri to gain more confidence, and if she were around it might convince her that what she did was both valued and important. But she saw that Kiri was now looking up to her for support. She gave the young woman a reassuring glance with her eyes.

Maenad looked to Parker. "Miss Cho is concerned about how incapable some of our staff are at defending themselves. I wasn't here for the last mission, but," she turned around and looked toward the ship. There were black scorch marks blemishing the hull and several sections of bulkhead still in the process of being replaced. She returned to face the security chief, picking up from where she left off. "She's concerned that if the same thing happens again, luck might not be on our side. Just a little brush-up, is all we're looking for. Nothing too formal; how to hold a phaser, maybe how to block a punch or take a weapon out of someone's hand. I don't know what I'm talking about," she half-laughed at herself, "But you get what I mean. The complicated stuff we can do another time, in a more official capacity." She adjusted the brim of her hat.

Kiri didn't want to depend on anyone but it seemed like she did on Maenad, it was something that was counter to how she had lived most of her life. It was weak, she didn't like it, yet. It wasn't entirely bad, but why did Manend care? She was able to explain it much better then Kiri could right now, it made her feel rather inadequate.

Scott looked from the science chief to Cho. From the way the two were standing together, and judging by Miss Cho's rank, he surmised that she was the assistant department head. She had organised all of this? Sill feeling uncomfortable, Scott made an awkward smile. "I see," was all he said.

Athlen waved toward Parker amicably. "Definitely great out here!" the Rigelian agreed in his usually jaunty way. Kell nodded toward Parker in acknowledgment, but settled for watching the holoprojectors preparing their simulator material. Liyar gave them no real attention at all, preferring to continue methodically taking apart and putting back together his phaser. From his practiced movements it appeared like there was no real reason he was there. His inexperience was only belied by the intense way he studied each part, tracing the writing on it and studying the power configuration.

Cyrus noticed instantly that there were people here that seemed out of place. His friend Liyar, Theron's friend Kiri, and certainly the Lieutenant-Professor Panne. He shrugged and walked calmly over to his boss and sighed. "So this is the group you had mentioned earlier? Seems like they'll need more than a little refresher..." He shrugged. "So boss are we just doing firearms today, or are we going to do anything else? Either is fine for me." He grinned and looked over at Maenad. "Ma'am." he said gruffly.

There he goes again, thought Maenad. Already judging them. "Mister Kiwosk," she replied flatly back to him, looking over his head.

Parker huffed out a sigh as Kiwosk interrupted, but seemed pleased to see the Master-at-Arms. "I really don't have a damned clue, Cy. Somebody else set this up, we're just here to supervise, instruct on a couple of things - it all seems a little sketchy."

Cyrus chuckled and shrugged. "I guess that's the question for whoever organized the whole thing I suppose." He stated simply, rolling his shoulder. It was feeling better everytime he went to see the good doctor. "Who did set this up anyways?"

Kiri didn't think this was a very good idea any more, the sense she was getting was they were being mean. Given the choice she didn't want to talk to either of them, she didn't have that choice though. Maenad was near her best to focus on that, Kiri tried to catch her breath, her chest getting tighter. Her voice was much quieter than theirs, "I did, I didn't realise it would have so many people."

"Don't worry," the Rigelian said in an attempt to be comforting, "I think it's a great idea," Athlen said enthusiastically. "Well, at least I do, I know I could use the training. Though, I noticed this was open to other science personnel as well, are they showing up?" he asked, focusing his attention on Kiri.

Liyar looked up from his weapon, recognizing the lieutenant's discomfort. In his own awkward attempt at assuaging her lack of confidence, he spoke. "The security officers here will assist you." The words were severe. It was phrased like an order, rather than the suggestion it was, belying his lack of tone comprehension.

[TBC]

--

Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, SDD/VDF
USS Galileo

Warrant Officer Evan Kell
Intelligence Officer, SFI
USS Galileo

Crewman Athlen
Sociologist, SCC
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

CWO Kiwosk
Security/Tactical
USS Galileo

LT Scott Parker
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Theron Rhodes
Asst. Chief of Security
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 3rd Class Nexia Alona
Oceanography Specialist
USS Galileo

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