Pirates! Scientists! Adventure!

Posted on 12 Mar 2014 @ 5:47am by Commander Norvi Stace & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Commander Andreus Kohl

2,711 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Earth - Starfleet Headquarters, Holodeck 08
Timeline: MD 54 - 1100 hours

ON:

Forced social occasions were not Stace's strong suit. She was social enough, and delighted in others' company when a bottle of scotch or red wine was doing the rounds, but when it was work-related and artificial, she always felt her eyes roll to the back of her head in dread. It wasn't even the people she was entering into this forced relationship with that caused her this quiet disdain; merely the synthetic lattice of obligatory interaction. But she knew going into service on such a small ship, at least compared to the Galaxy she had both captained in a previous life, and had just served on in this incarnation, tight working and social relationships needed to be forged. There was no room on an eight-decked ship for rivalries or contempt. At least not in her department. In her old age Stace enjoyed the quieter aspect of youth.

She stood in the holosuite, hair pinned back as tightly to her head as comfort would allow as the luminescent grid behind her mapped the walls of such a small space. Artificial relationships, and artificial yachting. What could be more enjoyable? In truth, she had worked alongside Pendleton and Kohl before, but all three in different positions, and she rather thought, in the small amount of time they had served together, that the following few hours would not be as harrowing as her imagination was preparing her for. Still, she resigned herself and activated the program.

The heavy door to the corridor wheezed as it unlocked and slid aside into a bulkhead. On the other side, Andreus Kohl was stood waiting for the door to depart in its entirety. He was wearing his fitted Starfleet uniform, of black and grey and hints of teal, and it looked comfortable on him. Beach-wear and athletic-wear and Akkadian fashion had been his camouflage during shore leave, but Kohl had been doing this long enough now, his uniform was starting to feel like his own skin. His often-fair skin was well tanned, and his honey-brown hair looked lighter than his beard. Kohl walked into the holosuite at a slow and steady pace. He didn't appear unsteady, like a newborn colt, like he had looked the past weeks, but he was still wearing motor-assist bands beneath his trousers.

"Lieutenant Stace, hullo!" said Kohl, as he moved towards her.

Jacob was very pleased and excited to get a message from Lt. Stace about having an outing, a "get together". He wanted desperately to get back into the swing of things and life aboard ship again with his team, with his fellow scientists!! He wanted to make friends in the worst way now and here was a chance to do just that.

He put on his standard uniform (which had been re-tailored to fit his more muscular body), looked at himself in the mirror to make sure he looked presentable, flexed his right arm for good measure (which made the fabric seem to strain against his massive bicep) and then proceeded down to meeting spot.

The bulkhead swished open and there he saw Norvi and Andreus. His smile practically beamed at them, "Lieutenant Stace, Lieutenant Kohl so great to see you both!" He shook hands with Andreus and gently patted him on the back and he gave Norvi a slight, gentle hug. "I have missed you both! I am glad to be back however and glad that we are here." He looked around the room, "So what's the plan? What fun or trouble or both are we looking to get into today?" His smile now had a look of mischief and his voice filled with possible adventure.

"Yachting," Stace managed, scrunching up her nose in reaction to how lame it now sounded in her own mouth. She hunched her shoulders and, tilting her head to the side, broke eye contact with them both in an effort to shield her embarrassment. "Truth be told, I'm not very good at these 'team building' exercises," she then said, looking now to them both. "And it would appear that I'm not very good at organising them, either." She took in a deep breath and then shook it off, resigned to the fact that this was what she had organised, and this is what they were going to do. "First thing's first, can you both swim? I probably should have checked that..."

"Team building?" Jacob chuckled a bit, "I thought this was just for us three having fun together. You are far, far too hard on yourself, this looks to be a good time in my opinion, its been a long time since I have been on a boat." He paused for a second and then added, "To answer your question, I can swim quite well." He smiled even wider at her.

"Well," she interjected, a look of relief now washing across her features, "fun sounds much more up my street. 'Team building' is one of those terms that makes me cringe from the inside out." She smiled widely and then turned her attention to Kohl. "And you?"

"I can't swim," replied Kohl, in a matter-of-fact manner. He looked from Norvi to Jacob and back again. "Not at the moment. Not to save my life," he said, while he shook his head with an apologetic frown. "But if you're asking me about team building exercises," he said, "I actually rather appreciate them. Taking people out of their comfort zones can disorientate them to the point of lowering their defenses. Or, it gives them a common enemy to bond over."

Norvi shot a glance to Jacob, but remained silent, a little uneasy about the serious tone the conversation seemed to have taken. "I'm not," she began to defend herself, "adverse to 'team building' exercises, Lieutenant." And there it was: The R-Bomb. She swore to herself that she wouldn't bring rank into such a meeting, and had decided to suggest that they leave all formal titles at the door during their introductions. But she seemed to have failed within five minutes of starting. She stopped herself and sighed. "Listen," she began with trepidatiously, "if you can't swim then there's every chance that you won't benefit from this. Or at least enjoy it. How about... we attempt something less formal or constrained?"

Jacob chuckled at the whole proceeding because everyone just needed to "chill out" as the old Earth saying went. He walked across the pier and grabbed three life vests and came back handing one to Norvi and to Andreus. He held his up and said to Andreas, "Now Mr. Kohl," He said with a smile, a mock at being serious, "This bright orange vest is what all people wear when about to sojourn on a water craft of any sort. No matter how talented, or not so talented, one is at swimming, water has its own mind and is much more powerful than anyone expects. As long as you wear this vest, you should be fine. Are you still up for this challenge my friend?"

Fixing Jacob with a wicked grin, Kohl clasped the life jacket between both of this hands. "I said I couldn't swim in my condition," Kohl remarked. He threaded his arms through the life jacket and closed it across his chest. "I never agreed to sit anything out," Kohl enthused. Noting her earlier use of Norvi's earlier use of rank. Kohl said, "Lieutenant Stace knows I can't ignore a challenge."

"Right," Norvi replied, holding her hands out rather emphatically, the smile now returned to her features. "No rank!" she then said, pointing to Jacob. "We're all the same, anyway, so let's just leave it outside. And no surnames, either. My mother slaved for weeks to find a suitable name that meshed well with Kahn unawares that I'd also one day be joined and it wouldn't matter anyway. So you can use Norvi. We're out of uniform and out of work. So it's Norvi."

Jacob smiled and with a slightly teasing, playful voice replied, "Well met Norvi, I am Jake or Jacob, but will also answer to 'hey you! Big guy!'"

Kohl folded his hands over his chest, thumping them against his life jacket. "Andreus," he said, in his thickest Revith accent. "I never let my patients call me Kohl. I shouldn't expect either of you to do so either."

Norvi relaxed somewhat more and a wide, beaming smile spread across her face like butter. "Good!" she said optimistically. "Now that that's out of the way..." She allowed the ending of her sentence to hang as she cast her eyes out across the artificial pier and out to the cold, billowing sea beyond. Her faced now winced a little at the thought of being battered by the elements. "Listen, I'm sure this all sounds like great fun to all involved, but I'm not a particularly good sailor." She turned back to the other two and sighed whilst raising her eyebrows. "I'm the type of person that, although I love skiing, prefers the log-cabin drinking afterwards."

"I'm, uh," Kohl started to say, but then he squinted into the middle distance. His brow furrowed and he dragged his teeth over his lower lip. "I'm not sure I've ever... been on a boat before."

Jacob continued to smile at both of them; he reveled in them being together and having some fun and adventure. "Well then there is no time like the present eh Kohl?" He looked at the small yacht that was tied to the pier, "Well she looks solid enough. I've taken water craft of various kinds into Lake Michigan and Lake Winnebago amongst other lakes back home in Wisconsin." He inspected the boat further. "Well, I never have sailed a yacht but it can't be much more than a motor boat or other vessels like that."

He looked back at Stace, "So, am I to assume that you set the simulation to random weather, random challenges and random... randomness?"

Stace raised an eyebrow and returned the look back to Jacob. "I can't imagine that sailing on a flat, calm lake is much fun for anyone involved. Not too heavy, mind," she then qualified. "I'm not looking to create a crisis situation where survival is key. But let's just say that it ain't all plain sailin'." She had spent enough time around humans over her lifetimes to pick up certain expressions that, if she were honest with herself, she loathed to use. She then looked to the Argelian and smiled. "Something about Earth sea-faring customs," she said to him with a bemused expression. "Observationally, I can see what it means but..."

She fell silent and then looked back to Jacob, shaking her head. "No Tarkalien ice-sharks, I'm afraid."

"I can't say I've ever understood it," Kohl said, but his tone of voice expressed curiosity more than anything. He shrugged and smile with some excitement. "Traveling through the water without being immersed in the water. ...Bizarre."

"It's archaic, wet and hard work. But some people think of it as fun," Stace then replied, feeling a little like she had to justify her reasoning. "We really can do something else. Something more... hedonistic," she said, smiling to Kohl.

Jacob kept smiling to himself. It had been a long time since he was on a water craft of any type. His parents had both been killed in a sailing accident and for a moment that crossed his mind but he mentally moved himself beyond that thought and in his best pirate voice (which wasn't all that great but fair enough for the moment) said, "Ahoy mateys, take yer places aboard. Man yer stations, fly the skull and crossbones and prepare fer launch ye scurvy ridden mates!" He chuckled as he said this as he climbed the side ladder of the yacht. As soon as he got on the boat he went to the open deck on the bow and took a "superman/supreme leader" poise to finish the theme of his pirate's character he was having fun with.

Following closely behind, Kohl made his way up the ladder and, struggled somewhat, to clamber his body onto the deck of the yacht. Whenever that bodily movement relied on an instinctive bracing or stretching of his legs, his legs didn't respond with much strength. He overcompensated with his upper body, dragging his legs behind him, often in awkward positions. As soon as Kohl managed to bring himself standing upright, he stood in stillness and watched Jacob's leader-poise.

Kohl narrowed his eyes on Jacob, and tilted his head to the right. He rubbed his bearded chin in consideration, looking up and down Jacob's muscular frame, but looking on him with an expression of bewilderment. The Terran pirate reference meant nothing to Kohl, and so he dryly said, "Who says this won't be hedonistic fun?"

Stace's response to Kohl was a warm smile framed only by a subtle raise of both eyebrows. She chuckled to herself almost pleased and then cast her gaze up to Jacob. "I know we said no ranks," she shouted, clambering up to the ladder herself, "however, it looks as though we have already found our 'cap'n'!" She gracefully ascended the ladder like a tree-climbing mammal and heaved her slight frame onto the deck. "Mr. Kohl, that would make you First Mate," she said, brushing passed him. "Now, where do you want me?"

Jacob continued his overacted yet fun pirate voice, "Now lassie.." he said to Stace, "You should never leave an open ended question like that to a scalywag like me. But since you asked, I want you right here on this lounge chair in a G-string bikini!" He smiled at Norvi with a wicked, naughty glint in his eye. "Mr. Kohl and I can then argue who will be the one to rub suntan lotion on ya." He kept up his wicked smile and the ordered, "Computer, fit me with a pirate costume, Blackbeard era." Immediately Jacob's uniform was replaced by a red long jacket, a black pirates hat and all the accoutrements of the typical pirate's clothing from the late 1700's, early 1800's Earth era. "Arr mateys! This be much better. You can call me Cap'n Crossbones." He chuckled again trying to stay in character without bursting out in uncontrollable laughter.

"First Mate Gang-plank reporting for duty, Cap'n," shouted Kohl with no particular inflection. He hoped loud would make up for his lack of understanding for what he assumed were cultural references. He remained where he stood, letting his body sway with the movement of the yacht. Kohl looked to Stace and quirked an eyebrow at her. "Is that what officers wore on Earth," Kohl asked, "before they had starships?"

Stace widened her eyes in ignorance, shaking her head. "I'm no more human than you are, Andreus,"she said, using his name for the first time. It didn't seem to quite sound right coming from her mouth, but with rank at the door she wasn't sure what else to call him. "Perhaps we should have both read up on this before coming aboard," she smiled and then turned back to Pendleton. "Bikini, you said?" enjoying the thought of an afternoon sunbathing on a deck.

"Aye indeed Lass!" Jacob kept chuckling, "Alrighty First Mate Gang-plank Andreus, stand on the bow and keep watch for scurvy pirate ships, or any naval ships of any kind! And try not to stare at crewman Stace if she gets into a bikini.. that's MY job." He chuckled more, "Now mateys, lets get this floating piece of driftwood moving!" He walked back to the pilot house with a "scallywag swagger" and proceeded to get the engine started and untie the yacht from the dock. "Off to our new adventure, whatever it be!" Jacob exclaimed in his pirate voice.

Giving in, Kohl hurried over to the bow of the yacht. He grabbed hold of the railing and leaned over the edge, far enough to get closer to the open air and the water. "Adventure!" Kohl shouted out enthusiastically, if nonsensically.


OFF:

Lieutenant Norvi Stace
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

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