From: rneces@mastnet.net (Lynnaea AelCaymarth) Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 22:31:08 -0600 (CST) Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: Fighting a Losing BattleJ
SD 90315.0330
MD 03.1030
Scene: CSO's Quarters
______________________
After she sent the message about dinner to Lt. Murray, Aelyria sat
and thought awhile. The morning's counseling session with Stavay had upset
her far more than she would ever let on... but she had the rest of the day
ahead of her until dinner and she didn't intend to sit there and actually
think about what the counselor had said. She was full of tripe, anyways.
She checked the chronometer. 1045... She had a combat session
scheduled with the Security department at 1100. Great. Just great. The
same department that had gone over her head to a shrink, for God's sake,
with complaints that she had "unreasonable expectations." She wondered
who'd complained.. no telling, she decided. Never mind the fact that her
expectations were quite reasonable as far as she was concerned, but now she
had to go and face these people... and Dannon. She had to face Dannon Torr
with the bruisemarks on her arms and knowing that he'd seen her at her worst
that morning. Knowing that he'd broken a trust with her.
She wanted to do *anything* but go to that combat session.
With a heavy sigh, she changed into loose-fitting black clothes and
headed for Holodeck 4, where the session was due to begin in 10 minutes.
[1100 hours, Holodeck 4.]
She was the last to arrive, as usual. Her department members were
always early to any scheduled event. Aelyria took it as a sign of
dedication. The department members viewed it as necessary to keeping the
CSO off their back.
Their eyes reflected wariness as they turned to look at her, and
Ensign Keyrin's stomach dropped out from under her. *Oh, God, they know.
They know where I was this morning.*
*They must all think I'm crazy.*
The thought flew unbidden from the back of her mind. *Am I?*
Feeling a surge of anger, Aelyria heartlessly crushed the thought from
existence almost before it was finished. Her voice came through as snappish
and furthermore, Aelyria didn't care. "All right. Split. Alpha -- me,
Cassandra, Damien. Beta -- Torr, K'tar, John, Dana. Move."
Today's exercise was a jungle scene, filled with plantlife and even
the occasional predatory mammal. The department would divide into two
teams, begin attacking, and the last team (or part of a team) left standing
was the winner. All it took was a single hit from any weapon to enforce a
player's exit from the scene.
She initiated the combat scenario and gave the standard 3 minutes
for the teams to disperse. She commanded team Alpha with Cassandra and
Damien. aCSO Torr commanded team Beta with John, K'tar, and Dana.
The humid tropical climate already had her drenched with sweat as
her eyes pierced the foliage for any sign of movement. Suddenly from
nowhere came a staccato burst of phaser fire and her body was moving, racing
through the dimness. The line of fire immediately separated her from the
other two on her team. Ever calm, her eyes scanned her surroundings for her
assailants, and found them...
*Tricky, Dannon. Nice touch.* They had approached from the tree
limbs, gaining the upper hand on the opposing team Alpha.
"Beta -- into the trees!" she commanded into her speakerset. With
a graceful leap, she caught hold of a low branch and swung herself into the
forest canopy, now on an even footing with the competition.
Damien was scrambling up into a tree when phaser fire took him out.
It was just Cassandra and Aelyria, now.
As if in turn, a burst of phaser fire streamed through a nearby
tree. The tacnet crackled and Keyrin heard, "Dana, you're fried. Score one
for Alpha."
"Nice going, Cass!" Aelyria cried as she swung up another level,
trying to gain a vantage point from where she could see her enemy.
Her eyes found a shadow... the silhouette belonged to John. Slowly,
she crept up on him, catlike, and aimed her phaser...
... he never knew what hit him as her phaser lanced him in the back.
Cassandra's voice came over the net. "Lyr! Meet up at
alpha-tango-niner!"
"On my way, Stewart."
Running lightly over tree boughs, occasionally using her hands to
swing, she swiftly progressed toward the rendezvous point.
Aelyria gained point AT-9, but there was no sign of Cassandra. She
heard rustling and heated cries off to her right, and instantly made for the
sound.
She broke into a clearing where K'tar and Cassandra were locked in
hand to hand combat. Both had already disarmed the other, and their phasers
were scattered at different ends of the makeshift arena.
Aelyria brought up her phaser, locked aim on K'tar, and prepared to
fire when suddenly he landed a hard blow to Cassandra's jaw, sending her
flying, and dove for his phaser. Cassandra scrambled for her footing and
Aelyria's aim followed K'tar, firing a shot as she did so.
It missed by the nearest fraction of a hair and Aelyria screamed in
frustration. Normally these scenarios were the equivalent of an execution
for whatever side she opposed; today seemed like nothing more than a series
of misses.
K'tar D'varen brought up his phaser and finished off Cassandra.
Aelyria heard her curse violently as she left the scenario; but while K'tar
had locked aim on Stewart, Lyr had locked aim on him. It was K'tar's turn
for obscenity as Aelyria scorched him with a steady stream of fire.
Now, it was just her and Dannon Torr. She had yet to see him; she
had no idea where he was, though she could be fairly certain that he'd had
enough time to close the distance between them since she had come across
Stewart and D'varen.
Instantly returning to the trees, Aelyria perched in a high fork and
grew motionless, watching and waiting. She sat for several uneventful
minutes, sweat streaming down her body...
A twig snapped behind her and she whirled... Torr snatched her
phaser away as her foot swung up to kick his from his grasp. Unprepared and
caught in an awkward balance, Dannon's next blow to her stomach sent Aelyria
flying out of the tree to land solidly on her back twenty feet below.
The breath was audibly knocked from her, and her head recieved a
fairly nasty blow as well. She was on her feet with the agility of a cat,
but her breath was coming hard and fast and golden sparks were flying before
her eyes.
Torr gracefully leapt from the tree and landed before her, legs
bending to easily absorb the shock of landing. He quickly closed with her,
and as they began to grapple hand-to-hand Aelyria realized she could never
win this battle -- Torr was too large and too strong compared to her.
She tried to break his grip and dance away, and succeeded once in
doing so. She was able to keep him at arm's length for a few minutes, using
her long legs to land well-placed kicks to drive him back.
Torr grew impatient and rushed her, and as her leg came up he
grabbed it and twisted, effectively slamming her to the ground. She rolled
onto her back to reach for his throat and found his knife poised above her,
his eyes glinting fiercely with the heat of battle.
"Game over, Ensign. Yield or die."
"Die," she spat. She saw the knife descend with the swiftness of an
adder..
... and the holographic environment faded about them.
<>
A cheer went up from Beta as everyone met in the center of the deck.
They were all sweaty and covered in jungle grime, but relaxed smiles were on
their faces. With the possible exception of Dana, they all enjoyed the
release of mock combat.
Torr offered Aelyria his hand to help her to her feet. She
pointedly ignored it and helped herself up, pretending not to notice the
hurt look on Torr's face. She was incredibly pissed that she had lost to
him... *Again...*
"I have an announcement," she said, and the department quieted and
turned to listen.
"No more drills."
The look of incredulity on her staff's faces was almost enjoyable.
"Why?" asked John.
"One, OPS is already pissed at me without giving him extra reason to
send me to the Judge Advocate General. Two," she said simply, "You guys
are prepared. There's not much that extra drilling would teach you. You
have an edge, and that's what I want. We'll continue with weekly combat
scenarios just to keep us honed, and of course, you may all pursue them on
an individual basis per your leisure. But officially..." she shook her
head. "No more."
"Yeah, baby!" Cassandra exclaimed, and gave K'tar a high-five.
"Dismissed. See you guys next week."
The group slowly filed out of Holodeck, with Torr the last one to
leave, looking sorrowfully after his commanding officer.
____________________
NRPG: Some interesting developments ahead... (James! Don't you dare tell
them!)
Masako: One more post coming out before the dinner... I have some more
dinner material for you next time you send that post my way.
All: Considering what was said in that counseling post of James', expect
Lyr to be extremely uptight in the next coupla days..
Respectfully submitted,
Lynnaea AelCaymarth, aka
Ensign Aelyria Keyrin, CSO, USS CHESAPEAKE
Ensign Elesse Lyscarta, CNS, USS CHARLEMAGNE
http://www.oocities.org/SoHo/2878/
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