Embrace the Suck

Posted on 30 Jun 2018 @ 11:46am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Commander Aren Ban & Lieutenant JG Rizil Chaya & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Azra Ghoc & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Oliver Sylver & Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror & Petty Officer 3rd Class Raine Ni-ya & Crewman Aure & LuAnn Lovegood PhD

3,276 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Rigel II - Avondale Production Facility Administrative Complex, Holodeck 8
Timeline: MD 108, 0530 hrs

[ON]

The call had gone out to all Galileo personnel still at Avondale Shipyard's facilities two days following the departure of USS Schofield. Signed off on by Captain Saalm, it was a simple message among the plethora of other daily notices each crew member received. The early hour of the summons and the nature of the event, however, seemed unorthodox; PT at 0530 followed by phaser training and re-qualifications. The only logical place such training could take place aboard the station was in one of the primary holodecks, and so it was outside of Holodeck 8's large double doors that those officers and NCOs summoned began to meet.

Rizil showed up first, wearing a black tank top that exposed her tattoos and matching pants, and she stretched a bit outside the large doors while she waited for the rest of those summoned to appear. A short while later, Crewman Aure exited the turbolift and gave the Bajoran a polite nod, standing perfectly still along the opposite wall. "Morning!" she immediately tried to rope him into small talk, to which he obliged sparingly.

Azra walked into the holodeck, standing near the corner, listening to how the crew interacted. She watched for clues that might tell her who were friends, who might have conflicts, and who struggled with waking up quite this early at the end of leave.

Raine frowned as she walked over, her eyes taking in the other people already there. She wore light grey exercise clothes with gloves, the neck of the jumper high. She moved to stand against the wall, a little away from the others. Still listening. Her eyes went to the woman with tattoos, studying them rather than her face before she recognised Chaya.

"Morning!" Chaya whispered conspiratorially to Raine, nudging her with her elbow gently. She was practically brimming with energy, and looked fully ready to indulge in some ground-pounding PT at Ridiculous O'Clock in the morning. She gave a wave to Azra as well, recognizing her from the library.

Oliver Sylver was grinning as he stepped out of the turbolift, his dark hair neatly combed for now. He wore comfortable running trousers, sensible shoes and a vest top. Clothes to run in, to move in. Clothes not too dissimilar to the PT kit he had used in the Marines. He was oddly excited about this because he liked moving. And any distraction would be good. "Hi all," he said, looking at the unfamiliar faces. "Oliver Sylver, nice to meet you all."

LuAnn was dressed in a comfortable pair of brown paints and a an shirt. She was both interested and concerned about this PT. But she knew it was something Starfleet found important, so she would participate.

0530 was early enough for Lamar Darius that the chief warrant officer was now officially annoyed. There were, what, five days left before the Galileo was scheduled to depart spacedock? And he'd been summoned at an ungodly hour of the morning because the XO wanted to give everyone a kick in the butt during what he assumed was a regular training exercise? Darius tugged on his red Starfleet under-vest and looked around at the small cadre of personnel present when he arrived outside of the designated training area. Some of the other fleet personnel he recognized while others he'd never seen before, but he assumed they were all assigned to the -A. "Hey," he simply said, noticing the various looks on everyone's faces.

"Hey," Raine said and nodded to Lamar, taking a deeper breath. She was not sure why she was here but she was starting to have a bad feeling.

Aren strolled in after everyone had been assembled. Like the those before him, he too was clad in PT gear. He studied everyone briefly before smiling. “Good morning everyone.” He said in a commanding tone to get everyone’s attention. “As a reminder to those whom are new, I am Commander Ban. I will be leading you in this mornings PT session, computer initiate Program Ban-PT-7.” As he finished, the holodeck shimmered and placed the participants into a rather barren field in what looked like the early morning. The west and east sides of the field were dotted with trees that looked as if they never quite received enough water, a grey concrete building with red metal roof on the north side with a strange wood structure that was nearly 90 meters in length in front of the building. To those familiar enough with earth would recognize being somewhere south of San Fransico. Aren turned to the woman to his left. “Chief, you may begin warm up.” Aren said before joining the assembled crew.

Azra had walked just behind Ban as he'd entered the holodeck. She hadn't known exactly what the plan was, but she was glad that she'd chosen to wear a grey tank-top with her green fatigue pants. She really didn't like these sun-baked simulations. Even so, she went to work.

"Good morning, all. I am Azra Ghoc, Galileo's new bosun. I'll be leading the exercises today, and helping each of you prepare for both the best and worst deep space has to offer. For this morning, start with jumping jacks on a 3 count, echo count. I'll count the cadence, you repeat. We'll start with 30." She gauged the crowd's readiness. Although few seemed eager, they were ready. "Begin."

Azra moved from jumping jacks through nearly a dozen other warm-up exercises. Each was meant to limber muscles, but still get heart rates up. After the group finished the last, Azra turned to Ban. "Ready to move on to the run?"

Aren nodded in response. “Take 5 minutes to get some water. Our next event is 5k run. We have 22 minutes to complete this task. I will be the pace setter for an 18 minute completion time and Chief Ghoc will be the chaser. Do not fall behind Chief Ghoc, there will be remedial PT if you do.” Aren said before he and Azra assumed their positions in the front and rear and waiting for the crew to get some water and assume their positions.

Chaya started singing a round of yellow bird as she completed her jumping jacks, amused and engaged in the work-out process. She didn't seem to tire precisely, but she beelined for her water once the break was announced. "Whew! The best part of waking up is a triathlon, amirite or amirite?"

"This event would not qualify under that definition," Aure said as he migrated over to where the water bottles and towels were. He, unlike virtually everyone else, did not appear ruffled in the slightest and he didn't show any sign of exhaustion or exertion. He mechanically gripped a water bottle between his fingers and chugged the whole thing before neatly setting it upright back on the bench.

"It's a joke. Joke, buddy! This guy, right?" Chaya smirked.

LuAnn enjoyed the warmups. Exercising was important to both mind and body. Early morning was almost as good as late night, but she wasn't so sure about the 5k run. She could walk for hours, but running? And a chaser? That could be quite interesting, or she might have to trip someone--on principle.

The warmup routine and structure of the exercises were very familiar to Lamar. Before he'd recently joined the Fleet ranks all but two years ago, he'd spent the last eleven years in the Corps fighting against the Jem'Hadar during the Dominion War. He was as seasoned as it came for combat soldiers, but that didn't necessarily mean he'd kept himself in the very best of physical condition in recent months. He stretched out and warmed up alongside the rest of the group while privately wondering if he'd be able to make it through this holodeck session without throwing up.

Oliver rolled his shoulders, looking over at Lamar. For him as well, this was really familiar to him. But he had been a lot younger when he had been a Marine and gone through this and while he stayed fit, his levels were not as good as they had been. "Better hope we get to the end without throwing up," he said lightly.

Raine drank the water slowly, closing her eyes. She was already suffering, having gotten through her Starfleet training by the skin of her teeth when it came to exercise. She looked around before she sat down, slowly, watching the others. For a moment, she would let her hearts recover...and she breathed slowly and deeply.

Aren took in a deep breath, getting ready to gather the group when his com-badge chirped. "Commander Ban, please report to the Captains Ready Room." The unfamiliar voice said. "Roger that, on my way." He replied, before turning to Azra. "Chief Ghoc, it looks like I am being called away, this is now your show. Carry out the rest of the PT as you see fit." Aren said to the Chief as well as to the rest of the assembled crew members. He leaned in close so that only she could hear. "I do recommend doing the Oak Course, though it is up to you. If you need any assistance, run Ban-PT-1-Support-Alpha." He said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

Azra swallowed her mouthful of water and nodded. "Good luck, Commander." She looked around the group. "Chaya, take the Commander's place leading the column. I'll still take on the role of chaser."

As the group finished up, Azra approached Chaya, "Don't get too far ahead, but feel free to push the group."

Chaya finished up her drink, squeezing the last droplets of water from her bottle before replacing it on the bench and she turned to face the Cardassian, giving her a two-fingered salute and a grin. "You got it, boss. Alright, people! Let's do this! PT, good for you, good for me!" she clapped her hands together and encouraged everyone to fall in once again. "Get some! Mm good!"

Just as the group were getting ready to go Jeysa burst through the doors, she'd slept through the two alarms she'd set; her body clock had barely started to adjust to the time difference.

"Annnd you too," Chaya pointed at the latecomer, eyebrows arching.

Oliver smiled weakly at the new person, giving her a nod. He wondered if any punishment would be dealt out for being late. Somehow, he doubted it. This was the Fleet after all. Far more civilised.

Having stretched and hydrated, Darius fell into formation and was now steadily jogging his way down the designated holographic path alongside his peers. The sound of the large holodeck double-doors opening from behind was unmistakable, and he craned his head to see who the new person was.

Azra nodded to Chaya. "The kilometer markers should be fairly obvious. Keep at a steady pace. Let's go."

The Cardassian-Human hybrid waited for the column of runners to stretch out and ran at the back. Many Starfleet instructors felt that they had to set the pace and run at the front during PT. It was a fair method. Azra's opinion was different, however. She liked chasing the column. It set a steady pace for the people who lagged behind, and allowed her to see who needed additional assistance.

Jeysa ran near the middle of the pack she hoped her run to get to the holodeck was enough of a warm up for her

LuAnn fell behind because she was more interested in watching the others and in looking at the scenery around them to worry about keeping in the front group. She didn't let herself get far enough behind to get in trouble, but she figured as long as she was close enough, she was fine. This was just for exercise, anyway.

Chaya lead the front of the column in a rousing cadence: "GOT A LETTER IN THE MAIL, GO TO WAR OR GO TO JAIL! C'mon, let me hear you in the back! MAMA TOLD SALLY NOT TO GO DOWNTOWN, TOO MANY PARATROOPERS HANGING AROUND..." She was all grins as she turned around and ran backwards to look at everybody.

PT chants weren't Lamar's favorite but he couldn't deny that he secretly missed them. They reminded him of past days when he was a younger man in his early twenties, eager to shoot any Jem'Hadar he was lucky enough to see. In between his company's sorties, their source of pride had been their regiment and the adherence to good fitness, and now as those memories slowly resurfaced, the chief found himself repeating the words.

Oliver Syler smiled as he ran, taking part in the chant. At least this one was clean. Relatively. The ones he had been part of had been...obscene, aggressive.

Raine was falling back quickly, frowning as she looked ahead. As she tried to keep up. But she wasn't designed for this and she was growing tired quickly, her breaths short.

Azra slowed slightly, keeping pace with Raine. She'd worked hard to memorize as many names as possible, but even so, she hadn't caught them all. Raine's name she remembered, however. After all, they'd bonded over terrible food in the mess hall.

"How are you doing Raine?" she asked. Her breathing was steady, if much heavier than usual. Her heart-rate, after all, was significantly higher than at resting.

"I won't be able to do this," Raine said, a matter of factly, meeting Azra's eyes before she shrugged. "Not built for it, I suppose. You seem...to be doing well."

"That's understandable." Azra sucked in a breath, "This is a standard Human pace," another breath, "and exceptions have been made," again, "both for more physical species," again, "as well as those with less endurance." She paused to breath normally again before she continued, "Just do the best you can. I'll stick with you as much as possible." She wiped sweat away from her eyes. "I do this to set an example. I hate running. Never do it for myself."

Raine looked at Azra for a long moment before nodding, taking a deeper breath. "Question is...if you are not doing it for yourself, then are you not betraying parts of you by forcing yourself to do it," she whispered but there was a bit of a glint in her eyes at it. A joke perhaps. Or mischief.

As the front of the column reached the five kilometer marker, they slowed and spread out across a barren grass field. Within a couple of minutes Azra brought up the tail of the column, gently pushing the stragglers to finish the run.

"Okay, follow me in some stretches," Azra said, pulling her foot up behind her to stretch the muscles of her thigh and ankle. "As you all likely know, this will help your bodies build strong, lean muscle. It will also help prevent most of the soreness you might feel over the next couple of days. We'll go through about five minutes before moving on to the next section."

LuAnn walked while she cooled down, then began to stretch. She mostly followed the leader.

Stretch, run, stretch, Darius repeated in his head when he came to a stop with the rest of the group. It hadn't been as tough a run as he remembered, probably in part due to the ease of the holographic course. Nonetheless, he bent over with his hands on his knees for a couple minutes to suck in some air and oxygenate the muscle cells in his body.

Raine sat down quickly rather than stretching, running her gloved hands over her face and then her head, closing her eyes as she tried to regulate her breathing. She wanted to leave and her eyes darted quickly to the way she knew she could go. Just stand up and walk out. She would enjoy that. But it had not worked well in training and she suspected it would not work well now either.

"Can't quit now, we're already balls deep in it," said Lamar to Raine after he walked over closer to her. He'd seen the expression on her face and in her eyes, that instinctive response to leave the simulation when the going got tough. "Just think, if this wasn't a program in a holodeck, we'd still have to run another 5k just to get back to base," he grinned, wiping the sweat from his dark forehead.

Azra smiled as she saw a tall human speaking with Raine. Although Starfleet's physical fitness guidelines were just that, as several overweight officers she'd encountered had proved, trying to enforce the guidelines had a couple of positive effects. First, people who were fit were healthier and more likely to do well in crisis. Second, it gave people time to bond over shared struggles.

"Chaya set a demanding pace for our jog, and we're not going to slow down now. Keep up as well as you can, and we'll work on personal goals for each of you later. We'll perform several sets of muscle building exercises, followed by more stretching. Remember, lean muscle and endurance are the goals!"

The Cardassian woman started to lead them in sets of body-weight exercises meant to strengthen larger sets of muscle groups. As she did, she kept an eye on the group, trying to identify where each member of the group was and memorizing faces.

This was more like it. LuAnn enjoyed exercise, but wasn't a big fan of running. Swimming, stretching, and occasionally muscle toning were more her style. She began to hum to herself as she followed the leader.

Chaya snagged the pull-up bar and yanked herself to the top, making funny faces at people as she lifted herself over the edge of the bar and back down again slowly and steadily. By the time the exercises were drawing to a close, her face was flushed a mild green that splotched down her neck.

"All right," Azra said after another twenty minutes, "we're going to call it a morning with that. We will meet here again in one hour for phaser training." She waited while people milled around, talking and getting ready to leave.

Good. Now for a long, hot shower and breakfast, LuAnn thought. She'd eaten a light meal earlier, but this workout made her hungry again.

"Whew!" Chaya dropped to the ground and shook her arms out, grinning at everyone. "Who wants to hit the mess hall? I need, like, thirty-five pancakes."

Raine pushed herself up, looking over at Azra before she shook her head weakly. How people, why people did this to themselves was beyond her. As it stood, she ached, her breath was too short for her to get enough air. She frowned at herself and pushed it aside, locking the physical discomfort away as she made her way out of the room.

Sylver smiled weakly over to Chaya, shrugging weakly. "Pancakes? And undo all the hard work we just did?" he tutted, but it was with a smile. "Maybe porridge. Something sensible and hearty."

[OFF]

--

CWO3 Lamar Darius
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Saalm]

LuAnn Lovegood
Counselor
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Sandoval]

Lieutenant JG Rizil Chaya
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo-A

Commander Aren Ban
Executive Officer
USS Galileo-A

Chief Warrant Officer Azra Ghoc
Boatswain
USS Galileo-A

Crewman Rain Ni-ya
Scientist
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vansen]

Chief Warrant Officer Oliver Sylver
Flight Control
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vansen]

PO3 Jeysa Zeror
Yeoman
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

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