training time

Posted on 22 Sep 2024 @ 5:38pm by 2nd Lieutenant Cassandra Mathews & Lieutenant JG Thex sh'Zoarhi & 1st Lieutenant Gavin Ross Dr. & Master Sergeant Thomas Zang

6,712 words; about a 34 minute read

Mission: S04 Episode 01 Captive State Part 2 (Incidentals)
Location: Thesselonious

Thomas arrived at the doors to the holodeck early. He was dressed in his basic uniform as he checked the time. Ross and Cassandra should be arriving soon and there might even be another person showing up. He thought a moment for the name that had responded to the training request he had put out. Thex, Thex Sh'shraaqir was the name. He smiled at the memory when he had opened the replies to the request for training partners and had a fleeter asking to join. He had thought he had sent the message only to the marines but had evidently sent it out to all members aboard the Thesselonious. He leaned against the wall as he awaited the arrival of the three others.

Cassandra was excited to have been invited to join the small group in a training op. She hadn't met Doctor Ross nor the chief engineer Lt jg Thex sh'Zoarhi yet. She was however looking forward to making their acquaintance now. She checked her uniform and had her training pack for the holodeck. She wasn't sure just what they would be doing exactly. She hadn't been briefed yet on the mission at hand. Still it didn't hurt to get to know members of the team and get use to working with them. Coming around the last turn from the lift she spotted Thomas standing there apparently alone for the moment. She smiled at him and waved as she approached. "Hey there Zang. Always a pleasure to see you. What have you got in mind for training today?" Cassandra asked curiously.

Thomas smiled at the sight of Cassandra. "I will fill us in when the others arrive. But we can hang out while we wait." He glanced down the hall both ways then back at Cass. "Why don't we wait inside until they arrive?"

Cassandra smiled and followed him inside. He looked great today. Then again he always seemed to look great in her opinion. Still she kept that to herself. Instead she said. "Sounds like a plan to me."

The doors slid open as Thex stepped through the doors to the holodeck. As the devil dog hadn't said what the training would be the blue girl from Andor had dressed in her standard fleet gym clothes. She looked good in the yellow and black tank top, trousers and trainers, but the engineer had the ability to look good in anything. She gave the two humans in the room a smile. "Hello there. I'm Thex it's nice to meet both of you."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Thomas and this is Cassandra." Thomas said after Thex had entered the holodeck. "We have one more arriving then we can start training."

"Pleasure to meet you." Cassandra said stepping forward to shake the other woman's hand. Cassandra always enjoyed meeting new people.

" Pleasure to meet you, Cassandra. " Thex said shaking the woman's hand her antenna leaning slightly forward

Gavin Ross, a 2nd Lieutenant and Marine Medic, eagerly made his way towards the holodeck for the upcoming training simulation. With his pack strapped securely to his back, he carried an assortment of marine weaponry and medic supplies, prepared to handle any situation that might arise. This was his first time joining this group of marines, and although he didn't know most of his teammates, he was determined to make new friends and forge strong connections. He would be on missions with these officers, and he wanted them to know he had their back.

As he approached the designated meeting spot, Gavin spotted Thomas Zang, a fellow marine with a friendly and approachable demeanor. A warm smile broke across Gavin's face, his hazel eyes shining enthusiastically. He waved at Thomas before closing the distance between them.

"Howdy there, Zang, Cassandra, Thex." Gavin greeted cheerfully. "What have we got in mind for training today?" His genuine curiosity seeped through his words, eager to learn more about the simulation at hand.

"That's a wonderful question. Zang here has taken the initiative of setting this up. I'm curious to see what he has in mind for us." Cassandra said offering her hand to the doctor. "Nice to meet you. I'm Cassandra.".
Cassandra knew that Tommy was looking to go for officers training. Part of her wondered if this was something he was putting together to display his leadership abilities and such. She'd keep it in mind. She certainly was going to be giving him a letter of recommendation due to their past service together. This opportunity however would give her a chance to evaluate his current abilities and skills.

“A pleasure.” Ross extended his hand and gave a friendly shake between them. “Thex,” Ross extended his hand. “I didn’t know we would have the Chief here. Perhaps you can engineer us out of a situation.” Gavin greeted Zang as well. “Nice to meet you again, Master Sergeant.”

Looking around, he saw that there didn’t seem to be a program, only the static grid pattern of the holodeck.

"So, what are we doing?" Thex asked as she did a few stretches. The fact the girl managed to stretch her feet back to her waist showed the agility this andorian girl had in her blue body.

Thomas smiled at each of the three companions before him. "I want to try and give a training exercise that will give each of us a chance to perform their trade. Cass and I are, in laymans terms, Grunts, Ros is medical and Thex is engineering. I have looked up a few scenarios and have a few options." He turns to the console by the doors and pulls up three programs. He taps the first one. "This is a hostage situation on a Starbase." He then taps the second. "This one is a first contact program while this one," He tapped the third program. "Is an infiltration on a planet where hostile forces have set up a base." He turned to look at the group. "Which would you guys like to do?"

" First or third for me." Thex said looking at her companions.

Thomas looked at Ross and Cassandra. he smiled and raised an eyebrow at them.

“Not that I want injuries; however, it would be nice to be in a true field medic operation. The three have that aspect, so I am happy with either choice.” Ross thus deferred, looking next to Cassandra.

Cassandra gave it some thought. She had experience in all three areas unfortunately. Infiltration, politics, and negotiating with terrorists. She didn't like any of them. Still this wasn't about her. It was about training others. After carefully considering each option and their merits in consideration to their lil troop she finally made a choice. "Welp being a lowly grunt like myself and all." She said teasingly. "I would say that it might be interesting to combine the three. What starts out as peaceful negotiating, degrading into a hostage situation that requires an infiltration team to extract the hostages. But that might be a bit much for a small group like ours. So let's skip the nasty politics and go for the meat of the three, infiltration and extraction. It is the skills we require more often then not in our field." She suggested her eyes scanning the others in the room to see their reactions.

" So what will it be Thomas?" Thex said looking over at the marine.

Thomas nodded as he brought up the voted scenario. "So, hostile base infiltration." A few key strokes later and the room shimmered then morphed into the outside of an undisclosed stealth drop ship. It bore no name just a numeral alphabetical code by the loading port. NO-001. It was sleek and compact the metal wasn't exactly black but seemed to shimmer and change deepend on how you looked at it. Designed to carry only a small specialty team. Nothing more than twenty in a push.

Inside the craft was basic and functional. In the belly as they entered were rows of lockers that held equipment labeled for specific gear for specific use. As well as body armor and weapons locked away. A replicator unit programed for military use and rations.

Towards the aft a transporter padd. Obviously more advanced than the average used transporters. It had a built in barrier and scanning unit for decontamination and isolation if necessary.

Towards front to the port on the small hallway was a medical area just big enough for two patients and one medic in a pinch. To the starboard of that hall was a medical supply replicator and trauma bed.

If you continued past those you came to the benches.
This was where troopers would sit and wait during transport to their destination. A couple of fold down bunks were secured to the walls to maximize the space.

Past that a tiny locked door to anther small hallway of a few feet that took you to the locked cockpit. The doors had individual shields on independent power sources.

He knew Cassandra would recognize it. Was proud he was able to recreate it with such accuracy. The design had been drafted in his last year of the academy by a friend of Cassandra's. They had both been on this ship during the training mission that had gone sideways all those years ago.

He looked at Cassandra to gauge her reaction and that of the other two with them. "Plenty to shoot where I'm taking us." He said with that boyish grin of his. "All aboard."

Cassandra eyed the craft. Though it had no official name she knew it was the Night Owl. Part of her wondered just how he had gotten permission to have it in a holodeck program. It had been scrapped after the test mission. She glanced at Thomas a little confused then asked him. "Please tell me we are not going to Verah three. I hate those creepy arachnoid knights. The... The.. Thes'ra'hal" she finally said struggling to remember the name of those eight legged humanoids that had taken a group of scientists prisoner after they had been found exploring what had been thought to be an uninhabited planet just shy of the Romulan boarder. Cassandra had been working a group of senior recruits in a dry run while testing out this craft. Two birds one stone sort of deal. They were the closest unit near by when the garbled distress signal had come through. So they had gone to render aid. Not fully understanding the depths of the situation they would be finding the selves in. She shivered a little. Remembering the first contact. Remembering, the neatly set trap they had wandered into. Remembering how the phasers and phaser rifles had been useless against the creatures exoskeletons. They had eight appendages that had suction tubes and finger like claws at the ends, they could spit webbing and had poisonous stingers at the ends of their claws. The females where huge hairy and lived underground. "Plenty to shoot indeed."

Ross was confused. A pang of anxiety immediately filled the depths of his chest. Usually, the Medic was able to control anxiousness with ease. This was a good trait when providing emergency medical care on a battlefield or in any other situation involving life and death.

However, "I am sorry. Lt., Mathews. You stated Arachnoids?” Gavin calmed himself before he spoke the word—spiders he did not like. Giant spiders bent on killing, he almost felt sick to his stomach. This was when he calmly took a stick of gum and popped it into his mouth, chewing it and then extending the gum pack outward to the rest of the team, trying to look nonchalant when asking about… These Arachnoids!

Cassandra took the offered gum great fully. "Yup, eight legged humanoids of the homicidal type. Not pretty and not fun. Good for a nice shoot first, shoot more and maybe ask a question or two later scenario though." Cassandra reflected also doing her best to retain a nice calm approach to it. She had to admit it was a great power through training scenario.

" Sounds like a nasty bunch. Have we got some armour i'd hate to tango with them in shorts." Thex asked looking around the ship. She was most impressive for her small size.

"Yeah, the replicator there can out fit you with anything you need. I would suggest greens and browns, something breathable onder your armor. Verah three is dry, dark, and humid. With alot of caverns and moss. Water is found underground and not safe for us to drink with out a purifier. Or that's what I remember of it. We have know how on our side this go around. Last time we were ambushed and lost half the away team before we were able to make a strategic retreat. As a heads up. They don't bargain, they don't negotiate, they don't take prisoners. We are invaders and if caught and taken alive it's to be food for their nestlings. I believe we have samples of their nerotoxin in the starfleet archives. Unless like a great deal of that rescue mission it was scrubbed off. The positive note is we have a clear objective in this case. No first contact nonsense or parley. Just rescue the scientists I assume and shoot our way there and back. Very therapeutic of you by the way Thomas." She glanced at the medic and offered him a smile. "I'm not fond of spiders neither. For obvious reasons."

Thex nodded and headed for the replicator. " Computer replicate one copy of my away team armour and one armour undersuit at my standard parameters." the blue girl said as she began to strip down to her boyshorts and bra as her body armour replicated.

Ross pulled up the planetary information on his eyescope visualizer, attached to his marine-augmented helmet. “Alright, Chief, Matthews,” Gavin spoke to the team mates more on a personal level. They would be training to trust each other in warfare scenarios; this was the start.

“I've been going through the data on Verah 3, and I must say…” Gavin popped a giant pink bubble as he cringed inside, seeing the big spiders. “This is one hell of a scenario we're stepping into.” Ross reflected on Cassandra’s face, knowing she had seen her fellow officers die on this planet.

“Question. Will we touch down near the outskirts of the arachnid-infested area to minimize contact initially? The drop ship will provide us with cover fire as we disembark on autopilot.” Gavin glanced at his phaser rifle. “Just remember… Pain is weakness leaving the body.” Ross chewed, plexing his gun sequence to rapid fire.

"Nah pain reminds you your alive. Your going to need a projectile weapon or something besides that phaser rifle Dr. Ross. The exoskeletons of the arachnoids deflect and absorb them and doesn't do anything but piss em off. I'd say carry a machete as a last resort. As to where we are landing and such I leave it to Master Sergeant Zang to go over as it is his rodeo so to speak." Cassandra was getting her own armor on as she spoke.

Gavin chewed his gum listening to Cassandra and nodded. “Kick the tires and light the fires!” He placed on some tunes in his head unit to get himself pumped.

Thomas had donned a light but strong exoskeleton style suit that was camoed in the dark brown and dark green color scheme. At his feet sat a small pack, a sword (katana style) and a .338 magnum sniper rifle. He looked at his comrades in turn, skipping over Thex. "To be honest, this is the first time I set one of these up so bare with me." He gave a nervous chuckle. After taking a deep breath, he continued. "Our goal is to get in and rescue two scientists being held for information. We're gonna come in cold and silent. We want to try and make it as far as we can before we have to engage. Ross, your role is obvious but can you shoot and kill if need be?"

While Ross was a newbie, he had participated in several marine campaigns involving mercenary firefights before his service on the Themistocles. However, nothing prepared him for the current mission. "I have. I will do my best, Sir."

"Understood." Tomas looked to Thex then turned away to show respect. "Thex, your role is support with technical stuff though I am a demolitions officer, I'd prefer to have an engineer then use explosives."

Thex rolled her eyes and chukled slightly at how her teammates did their best to avoid looking at her. She danced like an Orion for a hobby so this was nothing. Even so, she quickly donned the undersuit and let the material form a skintight layer around her. Reaching for her armour pieces she nooded to Tomas. " Makes sense we don't want to bring them all down on us do we."

"Mathews and I are the fire power. I'm a sniper so I can pick them off from a distance while Mathews is closer combat oriented." Thomas explained.

Cassandra looked to Thomas and asked, "do you think a flame thrower would be too much? Or should I leave ole smokey behind?"

Thomas let out a chuckle. "Just a little bit. You can bring one but it might be all you can carry plus it's bulky." He said.

Gav respectfully smiled at Thomas, adding to Cassandra's comment. "I have my plasma rifle," the medic gestured, presenting the powerful energy-based weapon. The weapon fired concentrated plasma bolts capable of melting through the spider’s exoskeletons.

Gav then indicated his belt. "I also have a neural disruptor beam," he said, assuming his teammates had already acquired and stocked up on the device.

"The beam emits focused energy that disrupts the arachnoid neural pathways. By targeting their nervous systems, these beams can override the arachnoid creatures' movements, forcing them into paralysis or induced comas." Ross was grateful for his expertise in brain physiology as a doctor, making the neural disruptor beam especially useful in combat.

Thex had finished dressing in her armour still retaining her ability to look good in anything. " What weapon do you want me with?" she asked the team as she gave her armour another check.

"Once everyone has their load out, we can get this party started." Thomas said as he moved to take a seat in the dropships troop section. He had secured his gear next to his seat as he looked to the others.

Cassandra led them to the transport area where she directed them to have a seat. She touched a few buttons and dimmed the lights so as a holographic image of the planet shone clearly for everyone to see.

"Behold Verha three, Discovered only fifteen years ago by starfleet exploration teams it was thought uninhabited by anything that could be considered intelligent life. It's an M class planet located fifth planet from it's sun just on the edge of what's called the goldilocks zone." The holographic image shifted with her words to show a map of the system as a whole..

Verah three and its twelve brother planets and thirty sister moons floating around. "It's called Verah three because it is the third inhabitable planet in the system. The first two planets in the system are called Velor and Vera, after some weird Romulan story about twins of fire. Feel free to look it up. It's no reliance to our mission however." She said pointing out the two balls of fire twirling around a dark moon and revolving dangerously close the the red dwarf sun.

The image shifted again. "Verah one and two are just on the inner rim of the goldilocks zone. They are warmer and more tropical in nature. Balanced perfectly in orbit to be forever hidden from each other by the sun. Again irrelevant to our task. Still interesting to know. Back to Verah three." The image zoomed back too the planet in question. "It is hot. Highs around the equator near 210* lows in the 130* range. Dry on the surface. However scans show that it has vast oceans of water underground. The air is breathable but sits heavy in the lungs due to the humidity at times. Most teams sent to the surface were encouraged to wear an oxygen filter to prevent prolonged exposure which could lead to infection in the lungs similar to pneumonia. Any questions so far?" Cassandra asked the little group.

" I take it the spiders live underground to avoid the heat?" Thex asked.

Cassandra smiled, happy for the question. " Near the equator yes. Unfortunately for us we are going to be more towards the northern curve. "Cassandra brought up the projected landing zone. It was roughly near where Alaska on Earth would be. Only there was no ice. Through there was green and browns. " The area we will be landing in is spotted with cave system,. However it is not uncommon for the inhabitants to hunt and occasionally nest in the shaded areas of the surface. We will need to keep sharp eyes open, constant vigilance. We have the element of surprise on our side and superior weapons. They are intelligent and hyper aggressive. Especially if we find ourselves anywhere near a possible nest. We can not avoid conflict in this situation as any prisoners they might still have will be kept in a chamber in the nesting area." She explained.

Thomas listened closely. He had Cassandra help him with this scenario so he let her give the briefing. She knew more about these creatures and the planet than he did. She has the first hand experience while he only had the reports on the mission where they had encountered them. "Once we get there I'll get some surprises set up so that when we retreat, we can blow the nest to cause some confusion hopefully."

Gavin listened intently to the details of the mission and nodded as Thomas and Cassandra highlighted the mission priorities and pitfalls they may encounter.

“So, lock and load. Watch out for the big bad arachnids…” He chewed his gum rather nervously. “And” Gavin swallowed in disgust… “retrieve the hostages from inside their lairs.” That’s when he shunted the black spec tactical visors over his eyes.
“Thomas, Sir. Are we close to landing so I can set my timer?” Ross the team medic asked.

It was Cassandra whom answered, "T-minus two minutes to touch down. Thex you will take point, I'll follow you up as cover, doctor you stay behind me and Thomas your on rear cover." Cassandra handed them what looked to be watches that projected a path through a canyon on the planet to a location precisely a quarter mile from the landing zone. "Follow the map, our objective rescue the scientists taken hostage and extract them to safety.

Thomas nodded and grabbed his gear. He readied his rifle and made sure a round was in the chamber.

A alarm blinded out the hatch hissed as it seal broke. It lowered it ramp and revealed a nearly blinding sun accompanied by a wave of intense heat.

"We move out once your ready." Cassandra said to Thex.

Thex breathed in deeply before giving her phaser rifle one final check before she stepped out onto the alien world. Her visitor tinted to adjust to the bright light as she panned her rifle around the area. " Clear" she called into the coms before she started down the path.

Cassandra was next with her machete on her hip and an old fifty caliber projectile rifle. She followed Thex. Also careful to keep alert.

Ross didn’t speak. He didn’t want to cause noise. Walking down the metal ramp of the drop ship he followed Cassandra, his marine boots hit the humid, moist climate. Looking forward, his viewer streamed data on the environment.

Gavin targeting potential sights, up high, down low. He aimed his plasma rifle, toggling the switch to piercing fire.

Thomas was the last off the ship and took his place behind the doc. His rifle butt was up to his shoulder though the barrel was pointed down and to the side of the group. He kept his finger next to the trigger but not on it to prevent an accidental shooting instinctually. His HUD shifted to the uv spectrum as he scanned their surroundings. "No hostiles in the vicinity yet." He said through the internal comms. He turned to watch the ship lift off silently and to scan in the area previously blocked by the ship.

It was here some movement was seen. A blur of color on the infrared seen barely a second before disappearing into a cluster of rocks a hundred yards away.

Thomas noticed the movement but watched the area where he thought he had seen it. "How fast are these things again? I think I might have seen one, but it was a bit of a blur." He said in the comms.

Apparently 'blur' was the magic word to summon up this particular hellscape. Blurs of rainbow color began to appear and then disappear through the ledges and cliffs behind and above them.

"That would have been an excellent question during the briefing Zang. To answer it. They are very fast. And they tend to travel in packs." Cassandra watched the read out on her Hud and winced a little. "Ladies and gentlemen our welcome wagon is on its way. We might want to shoot and scoot if we plan to actually complete this mission alive." Cassandra suggested.

"Permission to open fire?" Thex said as she took aim at one of the blurs seemingly trying to get around her.

"Permission granted. By all means open fire." Cassandra replied. Taking her own advice she picked out a few of the colorful blurs moving towards them from the right flank and began to fire upon them.

Thomas hadn't waited for the confirmation before his rifle was raised and his eye was to the scope. He pulled the trigger twice and two of the blurs that had just started to dash between some boulders dropped. He pulled a canister from his belt and quickly tossed it as far as he could into the rocks where he had seen some blurs disappear.

Ross couldn't help but feel uneasy. The constant thought of encountering the large arachnoid spiders that inhabited this planet lingered in the back of his mind, sending shivers down his spine. He despised spiders, and the mere thought of facing them in combat made him squirm.

Suddenly, without warning, a deafening screech from a massive arachnid lunged at the team from the right side. In the infrared vision headsets, Gavin's eyes widened as he spotted the bright flash of red and blue, signaling the spider's approach. Acting on pure instinct, he swiftly lifted his plasma rifle and fired a barrage of high-energy plasma shots at the spider, piercing its exoskeleton and causing it to crumble to the ground.

Before Ross could catch his breath, another arachnid pounced on them from the same direction. Gavin's heart raced as he fired, his hands trembling slightly. He had never faced such a dire situation before. But adrenaline coursed through his veins, pushing him to keep firing until the second spider collapsed lifelessly to the dirt.

"We must move forward. Keep formation shoot and scoot. Let's move." Cassandra ordered. Covering the left flank as Ross had the right well in hand. Thex had point and would clear their way forward as Zang covered the six. A standard formation that covered all areas of attack.

Thomas moved with the group as his plasma grenade went off behind the rocks where he had thrown it. There was a shriek as a few of the creatures were engulfed in the burning plasma and others were injured. "Move! Move!" He called to the group. His rifle going off whenever he sighted one, his shot never missed though a few almost did. Those creatures that he hit but didn't kill would scurry back into cover as the moved.

Thex kept moving dropping a few of the spiders as she lead the way. If one thing she was thankful for the cult who had raised her it was the shooting lessons.

They made steady progress through the canyon. Every once in a while the horde would ebb as though the enemy was regrouping then a new wave would begin. The trail ahead of them narrowed into a bottle neck. The path had been blocked with large rocks. Not unpassable but it would be impossible to maintain formation.

Thomas smiled as he dropped another and the creatures retreated a moment. "Cover me, I'll clear this blockage in a heartbeat." He shouldered his rifle and dropped his bag on the ground.

Cassandra turned to take Thomas's place and cover the rear and the left flank as Thomas left the formation.

Thomas rummaged in his bag for a couple of seconds before pulling out something. He moved over to the rocks and after kneeling down a moment, he stood up and motioned them to get back. "This is gonna be loud and big." He warned.


As he turned to motion to the group a large arachnoid came barreling over the mound of rocks followed by three others. Up close they where quite large and they moved with incredible speed towards Thomas.

“Oh lordy…” Ross had exclaimed as his face was full of horror. He was already kneeling low in the passageway, dark, rocky and damp smells. Places that a spider would love to live. “Oh god.”

Ross aimed his plasma rifle upward seeing the sickening motion of the arachnoid legs scurrying, following their pathway. Firing pulse, and another pulse blast of rock and arachnoid guts had rained down, yet there was two left above.

Thomas leaped forward when Ross fired in his direction. he rolled and when he came back up in a crouch, he was facing the way the spiders were coming from and had his rifle from his shoulder and already aiming. He managed to fire a single shot, blasting one in the face before he had to roll quickly to the side to avoid the last one. As he came up to his feet, he let another shot fly, taking the last one just as the bomb he planted vaporized most of the rock blocking the way.

Gavin gasped, breathing outward, his body pulsing with adrenaline. Crouching from the ground dirt, he dug in his marine boots. Detaching his neural disruptor beam, Gavin toggled the charge to full.

"We must press forward!" Cassandra yelled over the chaos. She moved up next to Thex and began to help clear the way for them to advance before the next onslaught. The target was a hundred yards away. They were almost there. Time was ticking.

Thomas nodded as he grabbed his bag and slung it onto his back. "I'm ready when you all are. Let's get moving before they decide to come in force." He glanced over at Ross, "Thanks for the save Ross." He grinned ear to ear at Gavin.

Thex kept firing her rifle adrenaline flooding her blue veins. " Not bad for a fleeter." She grinned at the marines as they kept moving.

Out of nowhere the program stopped. The landscape turned to the stark grey walls of the holodeck chamber. "Program deactivated" the computer chirped. "program locked Alpha Delta level 5 permission required. Enter authorization code for access."

Cassandra looked at Thomas confused. This was a first. "Level 5 access? The heck?"

"Level 5 access. What would stall the program and then demand a level five access?" He scratched at the brow of his head, half-cocked to the right. "Maybe the computer was getting too scared?"

"I don't know... Level five is like admiral level of access. Maybe it's a hiccup in the system. Might have to get Hawksley to take a look at it when time allows." Cassandra stated looking just as confused.

" I've never seen a program just shut off like this. Normally if it's locked it's done when you load in the program. Want me to take a look at the files?" Thex said as she took of her helmet and shook her white hair loose.

"Hey, feel free to dig in. It's a first for me too." Cassandra replied as she made her way to the controls.

Thex followed and opened up the control box. " Nothing I can do here I'll need to take at look at it back in my quarters." she said after taking a look at the data running through the controls.

Thomas was disappointed. Cassandra and he had worked hard on this program to get it ready for the training. He must have messed up a bit of the code when they had worked on it. "I'm sorry guys, I must have messed up the code somehow. If it gets sorted out maybe we can give it a try again." He said as he looked longingly at where the rifle had been in his hands.

" Well I'm still buzzed." Thex said standing up. " Anyone want to hit the gym? " The blue girl enquired.

"I'll take you up on that. I need to get some energy burnt off before I try to sleep again." Cassandra said. She looked to the two men in the empty holodeck. "We can do some two on two basketball or something." She offered.

"I was just heading to the gym." Ross swallowed after seeing the images of the scurrying HUGE alien spiders rampage overtop of them. "Yeah, just some weights and cardio." He almost vomited the thought of the spiders as his eyes glazed over in horror still... Swallowing his vomit back down. "Need to work on the biceps now." Medic Ross was scarred.

Cassandra s eyes softened at the look on Gavin's face, the slight catch of his voice. She knew intimately what fear looked like. It was a constant companion of hers. "Doctor Ross, common over here. I think we could all enjoy a bit of cardio. I need to get ready for 'Running man' challenge on Friday. It's a group of us lowly Marines getting together to solve puzzles and complete challenges. It's pretty fun. But we have extreme capture the flag coming up, and Lt Jack Carson runs like the devil. Bastard catches me too damn easy. I can use all the help I can get."

Ross changed his tone. “I'm stoked to join you for the Marine Obstacle Course race!” As a Marine Medic, Ross was no stranger to intense workouts and boot camp exercises. “Count me in for some high-octane fun! Let's crush those obstacles together and give them a taste of Marine spirit! High five, my fellow Marine!” He raised his large right hand up high to Cass and anyone else who wanted to get in on the high-five.

"Awesome!" Cassandra gave him a high five. "That will be Friday 0300, holodeck 4 Red team." She pulled a little vial from her pocket and took his right hand and pressed the cartridge to it with a soft click. A tiny red number 7 appeared for a moment then faded into his skin. "Lucky number seven." She smiled at him. "Don't tell anybody your number unless they are on our team. They will introduce themselves to you in the next few days." She gave him a wink. "Welcome to the team."

Ross looked at his wrist. Did that solution absorb into his bloodstream? "What the h-.." He cut himself off before nodding. "I... I think I get it. Mum is the word! Gotchya!" He nodded, and then he decided... "I will be in the gym." Then, "Thomas,Thex anyone join when you can or want."


As per the rules of Running man Cassandra couldn't actively recruit for her team. But if people asked about it or in Gavin's case volunteered that was acceptable. She looked at the other two with interest. Still she couldn't offer them a place they had to ask. It was part of the game.

"Sure sounds like fun. Always willing to try new things. If you're up for a fleeter embracing your fellow marines that is." Thex replied with a grin.

"Nothing in the rules against it, they won't see you coming that's for sure." Cassandra reached out and gingerly pressed the vial against the blue woman's wrist. A number 12 appears a moment in red ink before absorbing into the skin to disappear. Her eyes moved to Thomas then. She raised an inquiring brow.

Thomas snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the group. He seen Cass looking at him and realized that she was expecting him to give an answer. he quickly racked his mind for what had been said while he had been thinking about what might have gone wrong with the program. "Sure, why not." He said with a smile. He was sure that whatever he was agreeing to would give him a chance to spend more time with Cassandra even if it was with others there too. "You'll just have to give me a rundown in more detail later Cass."

It felt like Christmas. Three new members. Three! Jack Carson could suck eggs. Red was going to win. She took the vial and took Tommy's wrist and pressed it to his flesh. Instead of a red number a blk circle appears with a letter 'J' in the middle. It too faded and disappeared. Cassandra stared a moment longer at where the mark had gone. "After the Gym we ummm. We should do that. If any of you have questions please ask me until the rest of the team makes themselves known to you. If they do. Some like to stay anonymous which is their perogative. 0330 Friday holodeck 4. Before you go you will be delivered a transporter chip. Keep it on you. It will transport you to our teams locker room. Your identity is important. We were gear that hides us from everyone else even our other team mates. The reason for this is simple. Some games allow for other teams to exchange or even steal other players from other teams. Like 'Red Rover' and ultimate hide and seek. Which we are playing as we speak. Games are not always limited to the holodeck. Some games are continuous and only close after a week sometimes as long as six months. Hide and seek Bingo Collab is on its fifth month. That's why your number is hidden. Your new. So the trick is if anyone else comes to you and mentions the Running man in passing. Don't let on that your part of the game. Just act curious but uninterested. Should throw them off. Though the double zeros will know in the last three days and that's when the real hide and seek starts."

" Sounds fun." Thex replied. " So we going to hit the gym? i could do with a swim."

“Lock and load.” Ross grinned. “Gym time!” He clasped his hands together and rubbed them. “The last one there has to clean down the machines!” He readied at the door to the holodeck to run…

“On your marks…”

Cassandra followed Rosses lead getting into a running position, "get set." She grinned at them. Before calling out "go!" And she took off out the door a leaving a trail of laughter behind her.

Thomas watched as Cassandra took off running. He wasn't up to the physical training like the other three obviously were. He had hoped for some sniper training and some good ol' shooting so he decided to stay behind and try some of his target practice programs and maybe work on another program he had in mind.

OFF:


to

 

RSS Feed