A Flirtatious Workout

Posted on Wed Aug 17th, 2016 @ 8:00am by Lieutenant Arnon Barak MD, PsyD & 2nd Lieutenant Jae Drani
Edited on on Thu Aug 18th, 2016 @ 5:52am

1,891 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Shadow Dance
Location: Ship's gym
Timeline: current

Jae Drani, dressed in a black/green tank top and black/green athletic shorts threw a series of punches and kicks at a training dummy in the gym. Her new life aboard the ship was slowly beginning to settle down following the mess with some sort of new non-corporeal life form. Unlike her sister, she was never much for the sciences. She was taught violence at a young age during the occupation of Betazed--despite her big sister's best efforts to shield her from it. She vowed after the Dominion War ended to never allow people to suffer again--especially her people.

First Lieutenant Carlos Rodriguez-Barak entered the gym wearing an olive drab tank top with the word 'Marines' on the front and olive drab shorts. He had been running through the ship since he hadn't been aboard long enough to have earned any holodeck time. His lean, muscular form was sweating as he began to stretch and limber up. A true son of his father, Carlos noticed the women around him. One of them stuck out. She was working the heavy bag with no one to hold it. Carlos could have sworn that he knew her from somewhere, but he couldn't remember where.

Jae continued to hit the bag when she caught a man looking at her. Taking another glance, he was rather handsome and then she did a second take--the face was familiar. She remembered him from the Academy! She threw another series of punches, wondering if she should introduce herself. She then saw the man step on the other side of the bag and hold it for her. "Hello," she greeted.

Carlos grinned. Up close, he recognized her.

"Your name's Jae, right?" he said. "We've met before...maybe at the Academy? I'm Carlos, Carlos Rodriguez-Barak."

"Yeah, you were an upperclassman. I was a Sophomore when you left. How have you been, Carlos?" she grinned, stopping her punches and extending her hand.

Carlos grasped Jae's offered hand.

"Of course!" he said. "Jae Drani! You look fantastic! I'm doing ok. Can't complain. Well, I could but, as you know, Marines don't whine as a rule. How's things with you?"

"Thanks. I'm good," she replied. She had admired him in the Academy but had never said anything as he was an upperclassman. "Had a bit of a rocky coming aboard but it is all smoothing out."

"I heard there was an encounter just before I showed up," Carlos replied. "What happened?"

Carlos gave Jae a discrete (he hoped) once over with his eyes before settling his gaze on her eyes and focusing on her. He remembered her alright. She'd been attractive at the Academy. Cute, tough, but cute. He'd once overheard a couple of cadets talking about spiking her drink at a party and with the intent of taking what she wouldn't give them willingly. Carlos' Vulcanoid emotions flared and he proceeded to pound a sense of respect and decency into them. Afterwards, he dropped them off at the medcenter, claiming they had 'fallen down a flight of stairs.' The Physician's Mate responded 'What, like thirty or forty times each?' Carlos told the PM what he'd heard and said '...and immediately after they said it, they began to fling themselves down the stairs of the dormitory over and over again. It was the strangest thing I'd ever seen!' The PM sighed and told Carlos to beat it. As far as Carlos knew, no one found out about the incident, including Jae.

Jae shrugged, not picking up Carlos's thoughts. She was empathic but not at the level her sister was--which she was secretly jealous of. She needed to concentrate and focus in order to pick up thoughts and feelings. "From what I understand from my sister is that an alien infected the ship's computers, causing all sorts of malfunctions," she replied. "Almost got shot at when reporting in by the ship's CAP patrol."

Carlos whistled appreciatively.

"That's quite a welcome!" he said. "My dad, he's the Chief Counselor here, he said he and his girlfriend got attacked by his Emergency Culinary Hologram. Ha! A friend of his bought it for him. As a joke, the friend programmed it to be an Orion woman wearing nothing but an apron! My dad has a lot more class than that, so he had it reset to the default. Apparently whatever glitched the ship's computer reset the ECH to the Orion version, except now she was the jealous girlfriend. Knocked him across the room. His girlfriend took the thing on one on one while dad pulled the plug on the thing!"

Jae put the dots together. "So your dad is the one my sister is seeing. Yeah, my sister is tough--kept me safe during the Dominion Occupation of Betazed. Not too good in a fight but she won't back down from one to protect others."

"Wait," Carlos said. "My dad is dating your sister? It is a small, small galaxy, isn't it? Well, if your sister is anything like you, Dad's a lucky guy...but then, he usually is!"

Carlos took on a more somber tone.

"I was born on Betazed," he said. "My mothers moved there to be with my father while he studied for his Doctor of Psychology degree so they could conceive children with him and have him be in our lives full time for at least a few years. We left for Rigel V when dad went back to being a civilian contractor for Starfleet...this was when trouble started with the Klingons. He stayed through the Dominion War. I had friends on Betazed, some that didn't survive the occupation, others that survived but ended up orphans. It's good you had your sister...that you two had each other and that you still do."


Jae grinned. "Yeah. Seems I'm stuck with her," she joked. "I'm sorry to hear about your friends."

Carlos shrugged.

"I was young," he said. "I remember them fondly, but time has passed and I've mostly moved on. So, back to you."

Carlos flashed Jae a winning, and honest, smile. One of the things he learned growing up was that the best way to get close to someone was to never fake interest in them and their life. Unlike many young men his age, Carlos didn't rely solely on good looks and a charming smile.

"You're a fighter pilot!" he said. "That's amazing! Only the best get to fly for the Corps. How tough was Flight School?"

Jae grabbed a nearby towel and tossed it over her shoulder. "Basic flight wasn't too hard, it was mostly memorizing specs, systems, and maneuvers that was hard. But I love it. There's just something special about being alone in a small fighter in the vastness of space. So I take you're with the grunts?"

Carlos nodded.

"Yep," he said. "I'm a ground pounder, like my mother before me. I guess I just like being in the thick of things."

Jae smiled. "And I'll have to bail you out if things ever get too thick. So have you familiarized yourself with the ship yet?"

Carlos grinned.

"Close air support," he said. "The Marine Corps Aerospace's bread and butter. As for familiarizing myself...eh...I"ve run around a bit today. I know where the basics are, but I haven't really had a chance to check the place out. How about you?"

"No too much. I know how to get to the gym, hangar, lounge and sickbay," she laughed. "Anywhere else, and they'll have to send a search party to find me."

"You pilots," Carlos said, grinning. "Great in your fighters but ask you to take a walk and you get lost! Don't worry, Jae. Stick with me and I'll make sure you find your way. Infantry never get's lost. Well, sometimes we take the 'scenic' route but we get there eventually. Speaking of sticking with me...wow, that was a really clumsy segue. Anyway, would you like to spend sometime together? Workout buddies or drinks or dinner or activity of the ladies' choice?"

Jae grinned. "We're already at the gym. So might as well as finish my workout. And you're not even sweating yet," she teased.

Carlos laughed.

"We'll have to do something about that!" he said, pushing the bag towards Jae. "My turn!"

Carlos began to punch at the bag and to kick at it. He took it easy at first. He was half Vulcanoid Rigelian and therefore significantly stronger than he looked. He was pretty sure that putting Jae on her arse, through the bag, would piss her off rather than impress her. Once it looked like she could take it, Carlos began ratcheting things up.

The impact to the bag traveled through Jae's arms and chest as she held the bag. She was impressed at his strength. His stance was strong and solid as he punched and kicked the bag. "So, who taught you to fight? The Corps?"

"Not exactly," Carlos said. "After dad returned to work as a civilian member of Starfleet, my mothers, my sister, and I left Betazed and moved to Rigel V to live with dad's clan, Heart's Fire. Rigelian society is matriarchal so my moms fit in great there. So did Rhiannon. Really, I did, too. But Rigelians are very passionate people. Dad has spent years cultivating his calm, gentlemanly affect. On Rigel, things are a bit different. They are not only passionate, but also very physical. A disagreement among young people can turn into a fight pretty quick. I'm only half-Rigelian and I hadn't been raised on Rigel so I hadn't acclimated to the heavier gravity yet. So even kids smaller than me were stronger than me. At first my mom taught me ways to take care of myself. Then an older guy, a clan member, a real tough SOB, took me under his wing and taught me along with other kids. As I trained and exercised in the heavier gravity, my genetics took over and began to match my peers in strength and durability. Practicing with full-bloods also taught me to deal with stronger opponents. At the academy I mostly fought for sport, but I met regularly with a group of friends to work on more practical aspects of hand-to-hand combat. What about you?"

"Not until the academy, did I learn to defend myself by taking up boxing and then later some training in terran brazilian jiu-jitsu. But you're impressive," she replied as he continued to punch the bag hard. The impacts were beginning to wear on her, "for overcoming your disadvantage on Rigel."

Carlos could tell that he was wearing Jae down so he stopped his routine and grabbed a drink of water from his water bottle.

"Want me to hold this thing for you or should we move on?" he asked Jae.

"Let's move on," she said as she let go of the bag. "Your choice," she replied with a smile.

"How much strength training have you done today?" Carlos asked. "And on what part of the body? Upper? Lower? Middle? Do you want to go through the circuit with me?"

"Sure," Jae replied with a shrug.

Carlos grinned.

"Ladies first," he said, indicating that Jae should walk ahead of him.

OFF

Lieutenant Arnon Barak MD, PsyD
Chief Counselor
USS Calypso

1st Lieutenant Jae Drani
Fighter Pilot
USS Calypso

 

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