Random encounters

Posted on 12 Dec 2020 @ 7:40pm by Lieutenant Leland Hawksley & 2nd Lieutenant Cassandra Mathews
Edited on on 12 Dec 2020 @ 10:41pm

1,995 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: General Sim Postings
Location: Gym
Timeline: 0545 Hours

[ON]


Cassandra had gotten up early and changed into her usual P.T gear sweat pants, t-shirt, and running shoes. She had P.T. in a few hours with her team. So she stretched warming up. She ate some cucumber pieces and a bit of toast. Nothing heavy not this early. Eating quickly, she debated on coffee.. Then opted for a bottle of water to take with her to the gym. She preferred to do her morning routine on her own. It gave her time to focus and mentally go over what all she needed to get done that day. She had hoped her brother would have joined her. She had asked him the night before. His schedule however had prevented it. She wouldn't be able to push herself with out a spotter. Oo Well Drat, looks like a Cardio morning then oO She thought to herself as she entered the gym and took a look around. It was all but empty aside from a few people here and there. Moving to one of the machines, she knelt down to double check her shoes. Then settling her water bottle into the holder she got onto the treadmill and began at a brisk walk.

Leland was on the treadmill just a few over. He had noticed a fresh face. Not that he wasn't a fresh face himself. Stepping off from his mid-high jog, he placed his towel around his neck, and took a swig from his water bottle. Leland had eyed the Officer. He had wondered if she was Starfleet or a Corps Officer.

oO Man, what a bomb shell. This whole ship... Incredible Oo He had calmed down before he then stepped on to the treadmill beside her. He looked over and had smiled. "Lieutenant JG Hawksley, CHO." He then tapped in the controls to set a walk pace similar to her Workout. "Are you new here?" He had greeted.

Cassandra glanced over at him her eyes automatically went to his eyes like with everyone... It was a habit. But a good one. One that had saved her and her old team many times over. She was looking for the tell tale signs of a Nexi. She nearly shuddered remember the hell they had brought on her life not to long ago. Her mind went back to the briefing those bluegills creatures. Oo Why do I always get the weird assignments? oO She asked herself as her eyes darted to his neck. When she saw nothing that made her red alert sirens sound she then smiled and said, "Second lieutenant Cassandra Mathews. marine executive officer. nice to meet you." Her eyes swept the rest of him in a quick assesment. He could easily pass for one of her marines.

Hawksley had felt the essential eye glare from the 2nd Lieutenant. For a moment he was taken aback, yet after finding out that Cassandra was a Marine XO, he felt more at ease. The Marines were an uptight bunch, the few he had met, yet for good reasons as were the tactical situations they were placed.

He felt her eyes wander across him, not in an untoward way, but in general curiosity. "Yes. I am Human. I am not a giant." He had broke into a chuckle. "I have trained with a few marines in the past, honorable bunch Lieutenant." He had nodded, before he continued with his nice fresh pace in walking. "How long have you been on the Tomcat Matthews?" He asked curious.

"Nearing around twelve hours now. How about you Lieutenant Hawksley? How long have you been here?" Cassandra asked curiously. She was enjoying the company it was distracting her from the increasing pace of her treadmill. Not even a mile yet so still a ways to go.

Seeing Matthew's pace on the treadmill beginning to increase, Leland not one to look like a puss, then increased his slightly a bit more than Cassandra's. He grunted, and then began his walk with more stride, his calves picking up in muscled pace on the tread.

"Uh. Well a few days now, give or take. Since we departed the station. I have to say.." He looked around the gym, "this ship has a serious affinity for the Corps." He chuckled.

"It does have that homey touch now doesn't it." She jested back as she watched him adjust to match her pace again. She rose an amused brow a moment but otherwise said nothing about it. Besides it was an excuse to get a better look at those legs of his. She liked the view. He was certainty worth a look or too. Which is all she ever allowed herself anyways. Men were trouble with a capital T. Especially fly boys with their heads constantly in the stars. Still it was always nice to make new friends. Yes, she always had room for more friends in her life. Assuming given time she didn't run him off with any of her many oddities. ''So, You trained with marines in the past eh? Any interesting stories to be had from it?" She asked curiously wanting to get a better feel for her running companion.

"Stories." Hawksley chuckled. "Stories, she says!" He shook his head. "I trained with a few whiles stationed on Epsilon Staton 08 in the Barzan Sector." He remembered the cramped outpost amongst the double binary stars. "I had nothing to do but work and gym training in the off." He jested. "No holodeck. No games. Only the bare essentials and it didn't bother me. I learned a lot from Lt. Colonel McCallum, Lance Corporal Davies, PFC Houston. We're talking mad dogs!" He grunted, Leland, pacing himself self enjoying their chat. "One night, these two idiots, McCallum and Davies," He recalled. "we had a 4 a.m. station fight." Leland laughed. "Little tipsy, got 30 or so cans of whipped cream from the replimat and sunglasses for a 'Cool Whip fight.'"

Cassi felt a burst of laughter tumble from her lips as she pictured the scene in her head. "Get caught?" She asked her voice still ripe with mirth she arched a curious brow.

"Psssshhhh!" Leland grinned, scoffing off the question. "Caught? With Marines, nah we were just completing station war scenarios..." He had given a knowing chuckle.

"What about yourself Second Lieutenant Matthews? Anything interesting you can share in regards to the Marines?" He asked curiously.

"A few. Lets see..." Cassi said as she jogged along now. "A few guys I knew use to get up to random shenanigans. But nothing as interesting as all that. More little things. Like when they found out I prefer raw meat over cooked and had been raised by Catians they took to leaving dead things in my bunk for a while. Ya know like a kitty cat might do. Was gross but funny to those who understood the joke." There was a smile in her blue eyes as she spoke. "Became sorta a game to see who could one up the other after a while. Went from dead things to just weird things. Thats how we got Fred." She looked over at Leland. "Fred started off as a rock one of the boys found out the trail during a patrol. Someone left him in the team leaders bunk. Well he decided I guess that he thought it was ugly and painted it and after a week it ended up in the Medics boots one night. He put like those googley eyes on it and had it with the medkit for a bit, then it traveled to the other team for a bit. I swear to you the last time i saw that rock, Fred. It was sitting on the desk in my former CO's office. "Douglas he was one of my team even wrote a song about it... Letters from Fred.. Yeah that's what it was." She chuckled though it hurt to remember. "Every time we survived an encounter he would add a new verse to it. It became a team thing really. You got to where you looked forward to that cheesy harmonica coming out."

"Fred the rock hunh?" Hawksley had laughed at Matthews story. "Sounds to me like that would be a real boost in morale. A good story! Sometimes distractions as crazy as they may seem, is just enough to break then tension in a platoon." Leland remarked.

"People who can laugh together, joke together can learn to empathize together." Hawksley monitored his pace and heart rate as he continued his jog along.

"indeed. Humor keeps us human, as does empathy." Cassi said with a smile she glanced at her control pad on her machine playing with the idea of slowing the pace down to help extend their friendly visit. 'Yeah but then you might look like a wussy, no one wants to be friends with a wussy.' So she kept going. "So. you have any friends that might be up for a poker night some day soon??" She asked. He had after all said he was new also. Well if not she could introduce him to C'Tirr and maybe even Winchester, ooo possibly even Ted Silver that guy she and C'Tirr had met at dinner last night. Either way. She liked this Flyboy and decided she'd let him get close enough to be her friend is he wanted to. Though the friend thing had never been very easy for her.

Leland had noticed Matthew's pace and then decided that he didn't want to over rush things. He had enjoyed his workout. Truthful to say, Hawksley was almost done his own by the time he had run into Cassandra. So he began to slow down. He had nothing to prove since they both seemed like adults.

Relaxing into a walk, he replied. "Heck!" He placed his white towel around his neck. "I would love a good game of poker. The truth is, I haven't met a lot of crew yet. I've had met Ensign Silver. Cool guy. Lieutenant Donovan, Awesome. I have met C'Tirr, very interesting Caitian." Hawksley had smiled. "Anytime you have boredom, I'm around. A good drink, a good game, perhaps some hockey, or mountain biking if you are into sports?" Leland asked.

As soon as he had slowed Cassandra followed suite glad to have a early cool down. Personally she wanted to ask him to meet up for some coffee maybe after cleaning up. That however seemed like it would be a bit to friendly, plus she had to start in on the duty roster and the induvial evaluation reports. They would be doing testing soon. Cassi wanted to make sure that everyone was in the best of shape to pass. Still maybe... "Do you usually come here to run in the mornings?" She asked. "Because if you do, maybe we could get coffee afterwards tomorrow if you have the time." If he did she would make sure she scheduled herself some time for it too.

"That would be great." He nodded. "I love coffee. And definitely after a good work out. I should have the time for it." He nodded pleasantly and contented.

"Thats great. We can swap war stories." She said with a playful grin as she watched the machine click over to her assigned cool down period. She was already slowed down though so made no adjustments. "Feel free to invite any friends alone. The more the merrier."

Leland chuckled. War stories then flashed through his head. Seeing blasts of energy, weapons fire, and hearing officers blood curdling cries in agony dying. Leland had been in a few. A lot of them he tried to crush down those thoughts.

Hawksley paused, and then nodded. "Yeah. To sit and chat with you. I would really like that Cassandra. Coffee it is, tomorrow after gym." He winked.

"Tomorrow then." Cassandra agreed with a smile and a nod.

[OFF]

Lieutenant Jg Leland Hawksley
Chief Helm Officer

2nd Lt Cassandra Matthews
Marine Executive Officer

 

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