Running Into the XO...

Posted on Sat Jun 29th, 2024 @ 4:17am by Lieutenant Commander Alexander Espersen & Captain Natalya Markova

Mission: Lower Decks
Location: USS Chimera

ON

It felt good to run. Not 'away'. She had never 'run away' from anything. Still, it felt good to run. The muscles in her legs had weakened. Not by much, no physical test would ever notice it. Yet she could feel it. Natalya Markova, SFMC Captain had always eschewed the holodeck for her runs. The atmosphere was too artificial. The scenery never quite as you wanted. For all the merits, the holodeck was too much of a sandbox for just a run.

So, she run through the Chimera's corridors. Her boots hit the deck precisely with every stride. Her long hair tied back. The black sweats and sports top helping to keep distractions away. It was good to be able to get back into routines. No more caves. No more monsters. No more-

Her stride faltered for just a second, Nat caught, and righted herself. Death was a part of the service. Didn't mean she had to like it. She did have to get past it. Not that she was running away from it, of course.

The corridor ahead curved slightly, and came to a T-junction. Nat moved to the left side of the corridor, intending to take the outside curve, and head right. At the last second, a shape appeared. Someone. Nat aborted her bank, stumbled, tried to catch herself, and tumbled to the decking.

A span of one, maybe two seconds as she waited for pain. It didn't come. Nothing was damaged. A minor miracle, given her track record. That was when she looked to see who she had avoided running into. "Sir!" The Marine tried to untangle herself from the crumpled heap on the floor, realising the XO was there. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying enough attention-" her words trailed off as she got to her feet.

Somewhere, deep in her mind, a part of her new the apology wasn't about the almost-collision.

It was the first time Alexander had seen the Marine Captain since leaving sickbay...how many days ago was it now? Long enough that they blend together a bit. The Marines so often kept to themselves. He hadn't been avoiding her. Surely not.

"As you were, Captain," the XO said, keeping his voice level, neither amused nor annoyed (if in truth he might've been a bit of both). "Nothing seems broken. Nothing seems on fire. Take a break and collect yourself."

"Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir." Nat took a second, composed herself. "I needed to take a run, after being in sickbay. F'Arra's a great doc, if a little overly cautious." Especially to people who threw themselves into danger. "And no, nothing broken."

“Advantages of a us being on a decent sized ship,” Alexander observed. “Plenty of long corridors. Even if they’re full of blind corners,” he added with a hint of snark. “I’ve actually not thought of using the corridors for running. Is it better than Holodeck or gym? Or do collisions happen often?”

"A Holodeck takes a lot of set-up to work as you want. Don't get me wrong, for what it does, it does it well. When you just want somewhere to run... decision paralysis." Nat smiled at the term. It fit rather well. "As for a gym, I don't wanna stare at the same four walls. Back on Earth, before I came here, I would take a run around the neighbourhood. I knew where I was going, I had a set route... it worked." She gestured to their surroundings. "It works here. My routes ends at the mess." She jerked a finger over her shoulder, where she had been planning to go. "Fruit smoothies are the best after a good run."

"Cool and nutrient rich," Alexander said, nodding. "I was about to get some tea but I'd have a smoothie, if you want company."

"Never turn down company for a drink." Nat replied with a smile. "Feel free to order what you'd like. No need to change just for me."

"I use the holodeck for my runs," Alexander continued as they walked the few meters to the mess, "but I have a program which shuffles the location among several hundred five-kilometre routes, indoors or outdoors, urban, rural, natural, dozens of planets. Decision is out of my hands. Plus I can scale the gravity if I'm physically in the one room."

"When I run," Nat began as they headed for a table in the mess hall. "Part of it is PT. The other part is letting the mind switch off. That's why I stick to one, maybe two routes. A different route every time, nope. Not for me."

"I've had to work hard to overcome the physical challenges from being a Mars-born human," Alexander said as he took a seat. "Most of us can't meet Starfleet minimum physical fitness standards. I had to build up bone and muscle mass. So lots of supplements and lots of gym time, which as you said can get boring, so running, sometimes with weights, sometimes at variable-g, with interesting things to look at for me." A waiter came to take their orders, and he gestured for Nat to go first.

Opting for a citrus smoothies today - she wanted something a bit tangy - Nat waited politely while the Commander ordered his drink; he ordered the same. "I don't think I ever knew you were born on Mars." Her brow furrowed for a half-moment, trying to recall. "Growing up in point-four G. Did you take all that training before, or after coming to Earth?"

"Both," he answered. "Started as a young teen. It made the transition to Earth standard easier but not easy. I was probably a PO3 by the time I actually felt fully normal on a starship. But starships are where the good work happens."

The smoothies came, and Alexander raised his cup to Nat. "Skål."

"Cheers." Nat raised her own. "This... Chimera," she gestured around them. "Is my first Starship billet. Forts, Camps, and Earth-side for a time." It was an amazing summation of the carnage of her career. She even managed to say it without a blink. "Then I got landed here."

Alexander decided not to pry. He had no desire to have his own career, especially the most recent decade of it, scrutinized by her either. "Chimera is a good ship. We've come from many, often strange places but we're all here now. Somehow, putting all the broken pieces together created something that works."

Nat's smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "Put enough bad luck in one place, something's gotta go right sooner or later."

Alexander took a big gulp of his smoothie as watched and listened to the chief Marine. “I was picturing us all like bits of shattered glass from all kinds of types of bottles. But us all together in the hottest furnace and we can become something new and perfectly suited to the task. Or just put our shards together on a canvas and we’re a beautiful mosaic. Sharp edges and all.”

Nat regarded the idea for a moment, seeing the image in her mind. "I actually like that." She commented after a moment. "Maybe we need to get a glass mosaic piece for the Mess Hall. Or the conference room."

“We’ll check the galleries on Tial,” Alexander said. “Or maybe…I have ideas now. Leave that with me.”

Nat chuckled at the XO. "Glad I could be of help sparking ideas. Almost worth the comical tumble to the Deck."

“Things work out in the end, don’t they?” Alexander mused. “Bump into me any time you like.”

Nat couldn't help a laugh as she rose to her feet. "I'll keep that in mind. If you'll excuse me, Sir, I gotta take a shower. By your leave." The Marine added, as she left a senior officer behind.

He followed her up but stayed in place, as his smoothie wasn’t finished. “Dismissed, Captain,” he said with a smile and nod, glad to have had such a nice encounter, despite its inauspicious start. Both of them probably needed it.

END