Distractions
Posted on 04 Jun 2009 @ 1:51pm by
697 words; about a 3 minute read
Mission:
M2: Aggressive Negotiations
Location: Holodeck 1
Timeline: Current
The wind howled in his ears and whipped across his back as he looked down over his shoulder at the view from El Capitan’s ‘Nose’. Even though it was just a holographic representation of the real thing, CJ couldn’t help but be awed by the view, and a little intimidated by the sheer height of the fall should he slip. Of course, what was the point of climbing this mountain if you weren’t just a little bit afraid?
He dug his left hand into the chalk bag on his bag, while holding on to the rock face with his right, before switching hands to do the same thing. Looking up towards the top, he planned his next hold and moved carefully and skillfully up the mountain’s face, locking his support rope into place at certain intervals. It may have been a hologram, but he could still fall and hit the deck plating hard if the computer’s safeties didn’t catch him fast enough.
The physical strain of lifting his body up the mountain, bracing himself with his feet and stretching his arms to reach the farthest holds he could did more for CJ than just build his physical endurance, it let his mind relax as it focused on something as simple as getting from point a to point b. It was one of his favorite outlets and only wished he was climbing the real thing. He hadn’t been back to Earth for a few years, and even then he’d never actually lived there. He’d been born in New Berlin and spent the majority of his life looking at Earth from its Moon cities.
His thoughts drifted over the events of the last few days, the battle, the maneuvers, the lives lost and the lives saved. His flying had more or less saved the crew of the Freedom, but he’d very nearly shook the ship loose in the process. Still, they were alive and had fought off the Romulans successfully. His thoughts still kept drifting to the ship’s Doctor - Melanie. He’d tried hard to get her affection but had so far been shot down pretty hard. It was almost worth giving up and moving on, but a challenge wasn’t something he liked to back down from – he just needed to adjust his tactics.
As for the Freedom, things were still new and unexplored. He hadn’t had much time to really go about the ship and explore everything, he’d spent most of his initial time aboard just trying to get his own station up and running and then trying to keep the rest of the crew alive long enough to make it back. It had been exhausting and he was reminded of it as he reached for another hold and lost his grip, falling three feet before his rope secured to the rock face caught him and he slammed against the holographic rock face with enough force to blast the air from his lungs.
Concentrate, man he thought to himself. He pushed himself up from the rock face and readjusted himself, looking upwards to see how far he was from the top. Shaking his head he just hung there and sighed.
“Computer. Save this location and end program.†he ordered, dropping to the floor agilely as his rope suddenly went slack and fell to the floor with a clatter of metal.
He slowly began the process of gathering his ropes and gear and wrapping them over his shoulder before heading towards the door. He walked towards the lift and his quarters, smiling at the odd looking stares from the passing personnel and stepped into the lift. Turning to face the doors he ordered it and it rushed to life. He adjusted the ropes on his shoulder and smiled to himself. First.. a shower, then... maybe I’ll ‘stop’ by Sick Bay again, he thought to himself. A smile played across his lift as the doors slid open and he walked out...
Lieutenant JG Curtiss ‘CJ’ DeHavilland
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Freedom
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