Below Decks

Posted on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 @ 6:08am by Avalon [ADMIN NPC] & Lieutenant Commander Turak & Lieutenant Carter Smith & Lieutenant Commander S'hib & Ensign Lunara Hol

Mission: Mission 2: Heaven On Earth
Location: Holodeck 2
Timeline: During R&R
2472 words - 4.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Avalon, under orders, had randomly selected several officers of different departments to meet in Holodeck 2. The black and yellow grid was stark as she stood, and waited for the crew selected to show up.

Lunara was the first to show up, arriving in a holodeck that was empty save for a lone female figure. "Ah, hello!" Lunara smiled. "You must be the ship's AI. Avalon, right?" She didn't know if Avalon was sentient. Never hurt to be polite, at least.

"Indeed Ensign" The AI replied calmly.

The next one to enter after Lunara was Justin Case, walking stick and tray in tow. He didn't technically have to use the hovertray any more but he liked it and it was convenient. "Good afternoon", he greeted the Trill he hadn't seen before.

Jason entered just as Case finished greeting Lunara. "Afternoon." He said walking towards them. "How are you guys today?"

Lunara smiled. "I'm well, thanks for asking. It's nice to meet you both." She extended a hand to each of them in turn. "I'm Lunara Hol, the new counselor."

"Justin Case, from operations", he said as he shook her hand. "Have you got any idea why we've been called here?"

"Jason Morris, Assistant Chief of Security. I wish I could but I havent a clue." Jason said shaking Lunaras hand.

"Well, that makes three of us." Lunara grinned. "I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."

"Shall we see whats going on then." Jason raised an eyebrow as he turned towards Avalon." Avalon, why have we been assembled here." He asked the ships AI.

"When all are assembled..." The AI replied. "I shall explain."

S'hib was gently walking down the corridor towards the holodeck when he saw someone enter, a sigh of relief that he wouldn't be the first one there and have to wait awkwardly.

Rounding into the small alcove that housed the Holodeck entrance S'hib noted the small gathering before him. "Hello everyone." He said through a yawn he tried to stop, its betrayal revealing how tired he was.

Holt was the next to arrive. He grimaced a little as he entered the holodeck and was clearly tense. He nodded to Avalon as he passed, but didn't make eye contact or speak to anyone else, as he took a position far back in the room.

Smith walked in, not sure why they were there, but since he was here, he's hang around. "Lieutenant JG Carter Smith, assistant chief engineer."

Jason nodded to S'hib as he greeted the others and when Holt walked in he waited to make contact with him but the man keep his head down, he noted that for later. Once Smith walked in he again nodded and introduced himself. "Lieutenant Jason Morris Assistant Chief of Security."

Lunara noticed Holt walk in. She didn't recognize him, but he was clearly tense. 'Another shy one', she thought to herself. "Excuse me for a moment", she said, bowing out. She walked over to him, a smile on her face. "Hello there! I'm Lunara Hol. I don't think we've met."

William did not want to be here, nor did he wish to interact with anything least of all people, he put on his best fake enthusiastic smile and greeted Lunara emphatically. "Why, hello there. Lovely to meet you, I'm Lieutenant William Holt, Engineer. Any idea what this meeting is all about?" His voice was deep and gritty, however he seemed genuinely curious about this Lunara who had taken her time to approach him. ~Going to keep an eye on this one~ He strategised to himself.

Lunara shrugged. "I'm sorry, but I have no idea. Maybe a meet-and-greet for the junior officers? I don't see anyone above Lieutenant here." She was oblivious to Holt's past, and had no reason to suspect him of anything.

Holt nodded slowly, moving his hand to his chin thoughtfully, his eyes moving from one crewmember to another, taking note that indeed Lunara was so far correct. He let out a sigh. ~Does the Captain have nothing better for them to do, than stand around in a Holodeck?~ He thought to himself.

This guy certainly seemed to be on the grumpy side. Not that Lunara hadn't worked with grumpy people before. "Come on. Whatever is is, I'm sure it'll be fun." She smiled.

As Turak walked in, he recognized some and others he didn't. He said to the group, "Good afternoon, I am Lieutenant JG Turak, security officer."

--

After the rest had all gathered, Avalon 'cleared her throat" and drew eyes to her, "Captain Lalor, in an effort to make sure all crew are aware of each other, has requested that you all gather here. It is for networking and knowledge building, but also," She waved her hand and they all found themselves standing among tall trees. Between the trees, was a massive ropes course. "Welcome to the Treetop Challenge. It is a Ropes course that was popular in the early 2000's in the former country of Australia."

She let them look around.

"In teams of 2, you will undertake this challenge."

"You've got to be kidding me", Justin groaned. "I'm barely walking again and you want me to climb through that?"

The AI tilted her head. "It is called team building Lieutenant. I did suggest a simulation based on the Elysium's previous adventure in the Andromeda galaxy where the ship was severely damaged and we lost a lot of people but the captain chose not to take that idea to heart."

"Maybe because losing a lot of people is nobody's idea of fun?" Justin remarked sarcastically.

"Then perhaps you can see the brighter side of this activity." Avalon replied calmly.

"Lieutenant." S'hib said looking over at Justin. "Pair with me and we can suffer together." He said lifting one leg up and moving his large hoof around slightly. "Climbing rope is not exactly my specialty." He finished with a slight smirk.

"I appreciate your offer, but I'm afraid we'd both crash", Justin said.

Liorga and Sami walked in together, the new doctor, Liorga was pretty sure her name was Strode, coming up behind them, "So, any idea what's going on here?" The Deltan asked nobody in particular.

"No clue, Chief." Sami shrugged, "Doc?"

"I've literally been here two days, Crewman, you are so asking the wrong girl." Tallia laughed, "A review of some sort, maybe?"

Rhodes entered next, a metal mug of his hot black coffee in his left hand, "If they're wanting to review something they should count me out. Thirty five years into the game I pretty much have it down. Unless this is about some damn stupid new regs..."

"If I'm falling and breaking something on account of this idea, we're going to have a little talk about your subroutines after this", Justin told the AI.

"Just land on the other leg and maybe it will even you out." S'hib quipped, looking away and hiding a grin.

Rhodes had taken in the scenery and now knew what this was, this was the kind of jackassery people like his brothers and daughter took part in to make them feel like they could've survived boot camp. He took another drink of his coffee and muttered, "Swell."

Lunara grinned. "Come on, don't pretend you'd rather be filling out paperwork or purging engine manifolds."

"Life is just a series of obstacles preventing you from reading your book", Justin said. "Looks like I'll have to climb with my hands only."

"Perhaps Avalon could read to you while you climb Lieutenant." S'hib said with a slight snort, slowly tying his tail hair into a braided knot so as not to get in the way while climbing.

~Books?~ Rhodes thought, smirking a little, ~I barely have time for coffee and this kid is talking about reading a book. Officers have it so easy...~

Jason listened to what Avalon had to say then looked around at the assembled personnel. "Great." he mumbled to himself. "Alright everyone." He said loudly. "Some of you arrived late to hear Avalons reason as to why we are here. The Captain wants us to get to know each other and to work as a team. We will need everyone to pair up with someone else so that we complete this activity."Jason said.

He then looked at Case and S'hib. "As for you two, you may try doing the course if you wish or we can figure something else out, I'd like to believe the Captain wouldn't assign this without reason or thought to your current abilities." Jason started panning across all the people in the room. "Alright the rest of you start pairing up."

He turned to Avalon. "Avalon if you could come up with a puzzle for Case and S'hib please." Jason said

"I don't require any special treatment, Sir." S'hib said as he started stretching his various extremities. "Besides, you're too late. I've already tied up my tail." He added, a slight snort exiting his muzzle as he looked back at the obstacle course.

After his speech, Turak asked Lieutenant Morris, "Want to complete the challenge together, Lieutenant?"

"I would like to take you up on your offer but I think we should spread out a bit, try working with people from a different department or someone you don't know. This is suppose to be a networking event." Jason said as he looked at Turak.

"Let's get this over with, who is with me?" Justin asked.

"I'd be fine grouping up with anybody." She looked back at Holt, seeing if he wanted to run the course with her.

After agreeing with the Lieutenant, Turak turned to Justin and said, "I'll pair up with you, Case."

Avalon studied the group. "Harnesses and safety gear is over there" She pointed to a rack. "Enjoy everyone," And she vanished.

"Watch this, Mr Turak", Justin grinned as he stepped into his harness, hooked the rope up to it and gave the other end to his antigrav tray. He pulled out his PADD and had the tray fly up into the trees and loop the rope around one of the main branches, then back down to him. "Now we can get up there without climbing."

As he followed suit, Turak responded, "excellent, this may not be so bad after all. Where to next?"

Smith looked around and saw that he seemed to be the odd man out, so he walked over and grabbed his gear and suited up, and waited.

“Right come on then, who wants a horse ride.” S’hib said with a stupid big grin on his face as he attached his harnesses

Lunara walked over to Smith, smiling in greeting. "Hi there! Looks like you don't have a partner either. Feel like teaming up?"

He looked at the counselor. "Ever do any climbing?" Smith continued gathering equipment for the exercise.

Lunara shook her head. "It's been a long time since I've done it last. Promise you'll catch me if I fall?" She took a look at the different equipment and grabbed the same stuff Smith did.

"If you fall, chances are I will as well, since we'll be tied together."

Lunara chuckled. "Well, I'll try not to fall, then."

Jason walked over towards Rivers, "Lieutenant would you like to work together?" He asked.

tag RIVERS

Unsure why nobody had approached him S'hib simply started walking towards the first course alone, harnesses fastened around his slender but imposing seven foot Sequus frame. ~I should have done the puzzle.~ He thought to himself as he finally gave up trying to put the human sized helmet on his head and dropped it to the floor.

A loud challenging snort and a shake of his mane later S'hib was heaving himself up the giant rope net towards the treetop above, his Large hooves finding their footing as his arms held him in place.

"I still need a partner by the way." He said, leaning away from the rope and hanging his head upside down to look at everyone else.

"You've got one now." Liorga said, moving to join him, "Tayalas would never forgive me if I let something happen to her Sib."

"So, Doctor Strode, how about me and you?" Sami offered.

"Uh, I mean, I'm flattered and you're really cute but don't you think..." Tallia started, suddenly realizing she was on the wrong trail entirely, "That I should shut up before I swallow my entire leg. Of course! Yes, you need a partner and I am a person who's here so I can be a partner."

Holt shot a rather serious glance around the room, awaiting for someone to approach him. He wasn't the best at asking people to "team-up". He shuffled his feet slightly, folding his arms across his chest.

~Looks like I've got to be this asshole's partner.~ Rhodes sighed, ~Swell.~ "Looks like that leaves us, Sir."

"How is the little one anyway." S'hib asked Liorga as she approached the rope rigging bellow him, his tone perking up slightly that someone had joined him.

"Doing great." Liorga replied, "Going to spend a couple days with her newly appointed Godmothers while her mothers spend some quality time in their native Highlands. Hasn't taken the necklace you gave her off yet."

"Really?" S'hib said happily as he adjusted his hold on the rigging and looked down to the floor below. "That's adorable, I'm glad she likes it." He added as he continued to climb. "When she's a little bit older I'll have to explain the meaning behind it."

"I look forward to to hearing that story one day myself." Liorga smiled, she understood why Tayalas loved this guy, "By the way, no disrespect, sir, but Gallia was right, you really are beautiful."

Smith looked at the counselor. "Shall we begin?"

Justin tied the other end of the rope to Turak's harness. That way, they could both be up on the platform in a matter of moments, as they only needed the strength in their arms, not the legs, to make it there. Not a problem for Turak, Justin was certain.

Lunara grunted as she tightened the last strap and looked herself over. "I think that's right," she muttered to herself, before looking up at Smith and smiling. "Ready when you are!"

William Holt, looked to Rhodes and with a nod, he shuffled a little closer to the man. He was not comfortable, he did NOT want to be here. Was it obvious? He made a mental note: ~Reign in your distaste William, They'll soon pay, for everything. For now, play along, smi8le, no, don't smile. They can tell if it's sincere or not.~

When Justin was done tying the rope on his harness, Turak said, "Shall we start our climb? I'll bet we can set some sort of record - this looks easy!"

OFF

OOC: https://www.thunderbirdpark.com/treetop-challenge