A Post Tennis Hot Tub (backpost)

Posted on Tue Feb 17th, 2026 @ 4:34am by Lieutenant JG Rala & Captain Calypso Skyie

Mission: Lower Decks
Location: Holodeck 1
Timeline: Immediately following "Tennis Lessons"

[ And now, the continuation... ]

"Computer, Skyie Forty-Three." Cally announced to thin air and the surroundings shimmered as the tennis court dissolved around them to be replaced by a swimming pool with a large hot tub attached to it. Cally walked over to one of the pool chairs and rested her racquet on it as she stretched languidly and kicked off her tennis shoes before sitting down to pull off the socks, "Feel free to get comfy, changing room is over there if you want." She gestured over to a small building in the corner of the pool area.

Cally made no move for it herself as she wriggled her toes as they were now free, instead standing and pulling her shirt off over her head and tossing it onto the chair, followed by her bra and she shimmied out of the tennis skirt and underwear all at once. She walked nonchalantly over to the hot tub and eased herself in with a groan of pleasure at the heat.

Rala had set her racquet down on another pool chair and pondered the changing room for all of two seconds before Calypso casually stripped down in the open, prompting Rala to shrug and do the same, dropping her sports bra and shorts—the only two articles she had—on the chair by her racquet.

Rather than heading directly for the hot tub, Rala took off at a moderate run for the pool, diving headfirst into the deep end. The cool water was refreshing after the exercise, and told her exactly which muscles she’d pulled and bruised in her tumble. She swam a leisurely lap entirely underwater before climbing out to join Cally in the hot tub.

Cally grimaced at the dive into the colder pool, knowing she’d never have done it. The cold water would have knotted her muscles and made her into a rescuee instead of a valid swimmer. But, she was only Betazoid and had more limitations than other species.

Rala lowered herself into the hot tub with a groan of pleasure. “By the Makers, it’s been too long since I had a proper hot soak,” she said, finding a comfortable position and closing her eyes.

“This is one of my most used programs.. If I’m not swimming laps, I can either cavort in the pool or just sit here in this lovely thing, or work on just collecting some sun.” Calypso sank into the water until it was just her head remaining above, “Perfect for sore muscles.”

“Absolutely,” Rala replied, shifting around slightly until one of the water jets was blowing directly on the sore spot on her neck. “Ahhh...” she moaned, the pure pleasure and relaxation she felt quite possibly palpable to Cally even if the other woman didn’t actually use her mental abilities.

“And if you adjust yourself juuuust right, the jets can do other wonders as well, I’ve found.” Cally winked at Rala, “But even if just for relaxation, feel free to recreate this for yourself. Does absolute wonders, and if the outside temperature is set to the 50s? Makes it feel even warmer.”

Rala's brow furrowed for an instant at the 'other wonders' comment before comprehension dawned and she let out a choked snort of laughter. "I'm not sure the same trick would work for me; we Draakri have a...slightly different arrangement going on." At the mention of recreating the hot tub, Rala’s eyes began moving behind their closed lids. As Cally finished speaking, they flew open. “Ooh, idea!” she said. “I should modify the Tikkana tree program with a ‘hot tub’ mode! Turn that entire pool into one big hot tub, on demand.” She glanced at Cally, grinning. “Entirely fictional, of course, but it’s a holodeck and sometimes realism is overrated.”

"That would be... Inadvisable." Cally shook her head slightly, "Oh it would feel good, yes, but the hot water also sucks the energy out of you, just like cold water does, but it does it in a more deceptive way. You start feeling too comfortable and then you start to sink, but you don't realize it until you find yourself without the ability to keep swimming and you go under. There's a reason why hot tubs are so small, just like saunas, so that if you realize you're in trouble you can get out."

“So I give ‘hot tub mode’ a shallow floor,” Rala said, waving a hand dismissively. “I was already considering making that an alternate option after I invited the Kellerman twins and Tessa in to show it to them, and that turned into swimming lessons for our young Tialan once we realized she didn’t know how. She started learning fairly quickly, but I think it might have gone a little better if the pool was at most, say, a meter deep. And I can add some other safety measures; don’t tear my sails before I’ve even left port.”

"Tessa couldn't swim?" Cally perked up a bit, "That's a bit of interesting news that is! You know, we really should get around to most people on board to find out what they do and don't know.. I mean, the odds of us having to swim one day aren't that high, but if anyone isn't capable of spacewalks or something, we should make sure they get the training on it."

“Perhaps keep that to yourself for a while,” Rala said, gesturing caution. “she seemed embarrassed about it. She’s a quick learner, though; she was noticeably getting better by the time we stopped.” She shifted around, trying to find a position where she could get the sore spot on her tail in front of a water jet without leaving the one on her neck, even ducking her head under the surface briefly to look, but none were in quite the right spot.

She massaged her neck a bit as she resurfaced and decided it was sufficiently soothed to warrant moving to where she could give her tail the same treatment—for which the best spot seemed to be right next to Cally. She hesitated for less than a second before moving over to her, threading her tail behind Cally’s lower back and twisting it slightly to get the jet on the right spot. “Excuse me,” she said, a hint of a playful tone in her voice as she settled in next to the other woman, “I need to borrow that jet for a minute or two.”

Cally jumped as the tail brushed against her back under the water, but settled down again after the initial intrusion, "That's all right, but be careful where that tail goes or else I'll get the wrong ideas!" She wiggled her rear playfully against the intruding appendage gently, "So, what are your plans for the near future, Rala? Any thoughts as to where you want to be in about five years?"

“No plans for my tail beyond letting that jet soothe a sore spot,” Rala said with a smirk, relief evident in her voice as she closed her eyes again. “As for the other...” she pondered for several seconds. “I have a fairly good idea where I hope to be by then, but I try not to predict major things that far in the future.”

"Well, tell!" Cally laughed as she popped her shoulders up out of the water, "If it helps, I think I'll still be a Captain, hopefully this ship still, but maybe something a bit different. I could see myself as the Skipper of a carrier, since I do know a thing or two about flying fighters and shuttles, that wouldn't be too bad."

Rala opened her eyes lazily to look at Cally as she spoke. “All right,” she said when the other woman had finished, “five years from now, I hope I’ll be...” she paused for a second for dramatic effect before closing her eyes and leaning her head back again, “...right here. On this ship, with these people—or, at least, as many of them as possible.” Her tail started to instinctively curl protectively around Cally until she willed it to stop. “Maybe move up to Chief Operations Officer or something, should the position open up, but I’m not expecting that to happen any time soon, nor do I have any idea when I’d be ready for that responsibility even if it did.” She sighed contentedly. “So...yeah. Likelihood far too uncertain to calculate, but there’s my hopes: Here, with you all.” She had nearly ended that sentence at ‘you’, and for multiple reasons was glad she’d caught herself.

"You know what? There aren't that many ships that retain too many of their crew for five years or more, BUT..." Cally grinned widely, "The ones that do tend to get a lot of attention because they perform at a higher level of competency than others. I mean, look at history: Enterprise, Enterprise... Enterprise again, Enterprise once more, Titan, then some lesser known ones like Yuan Ti, Yorktown, Shangri-la, Victory, all of them have storied pasts, mostly because the senior staff all have been there with each other for years and years. Junior officers and crew come and go, but the brain of the ship is solid."

“Yeah, I know the odds of literally everyone still being here by then are microscopic,” Rala said. “And, if I’m being entirely honest with myself, I’m mainly thinking about a handful or three of people when I say that.” Her tail swished gently back and forth under the surface on Cally’s other side once more. “Who knows?” She smirked. “Maybe Chimera will wind up on that prestigious list someday.”

“Maybe we will, or maybe I’ll find some sort of wormhole with a terminus waaaaaay away from here that we’ll need a ten-year journey just to make it home!” Calypso laughed out loud, “Did you know that if it had been a Luna-class starship that got thrown where Voyager was sent that we’d have been much better off? To refuel and reprovision, we wouldn’t have had to go find some class-M planet to barter with, all we’d have to do is park next to some handy asteroid and take it apart! We’re really a self-sufficient ship when it comes down to it.”

Rala chuckled, nodding. “I read a fair amount about what Voyager went through; I doubt anything less than an Intrepid-class would have made it. We’d certainly be much better off, were we dumped into a situation like that.”

She rubbed her neck while simultaneously shifting her tail slightly to adjust its position in front of the jet. “Tennis was fun,” she said. “I definitely want to try recreating that Draakri sport I mentioned, but I’ll also definitely be back for more tennis, if that’s okay with you; but I’m also curious what else you like to do for fun?”

"Let's see, you already know about my swimming habit, though admittedly most of that is just laps. I did dabble in some diving sports and failed miserably at water polo, so that's actually a 'no'." Cally waved it away, "I love to fly, powered aircraft, unpowered craft, skydiving is a thrill, especially with a wingsuit. Golfing can be fun as well, but besides all that? Not really that much. Despite the looks, I don't really have a lot of time except for my favorite hobbies and activities."

Rala shifted to look at Cally a bit more squarely, tilting her head slightly to one side at the mention of less grounded interests. “Flying, huh?” she asked. She caught a spark of interest or curiosity in Cally’s expression, grinned, and said, “In that case, give me a week or two to finish up another little project of mine, and I’ll have something to show you that I think you’ll like.”

"Oh?" Cally's eyes brightened in excitement, "I did used to fly fighters and shuttles, and I don't mean just out of a starship's shuttle bays! Back when I was a Marine, I flew assault shuttles in combat, then converted to fighters a couple years after the Dominion War. So when I say I do love to fly, I truly mean it! So says Calamity!"

“What I’ve got is...a bit smaller than that,” Rala said, her grin shifting into a sly smile.

"Oh? Whatcha thinkin'?" Cally had to ask.

“I don’t want to completely spoil the surprise,” Rala said, still grinning, “but now I know we’ve got a fairly significant overlap in our interests.” She settled back to her previous relaxed position with a smile. “More than that, you’ll just have to wait and see.”

"But I don't wanna wait!" The Captain whined happily with a smile on her face, "Besides, I'm always willing to try anything new, once at least!"

Rala chuckled. “Well you’re going to have to wait, ‘cause it’s not ready yet. It’s technically holographic, for now, but I’m effectively building it by hand.” She shifted, withdrawing her tail from behind Cally and returning that water jet to her, then settling back down a few inches away where another jet could hit her directly in the middle of all four shoulders. She let out a soft, pleased groan, made one more tiny adjustment to get as comfortable as she could, and closed her eyes once more as a rhythmic rumbling started coming from her chest.

Cally gave a stifled moan of pleasure as the water jet returned to her own control, then listened to the new sound and snickered, "Are you part cat, Rala? You sound like you're purring?"

The rumbling, apparently not-quite-mutually-exclusive with her ability to speak, lessened significantly as Rala gave a questioning “Hm?”, then immediately picked up again. She reopened her eyes to give Cally a slightly confused look as it took her a second to recall what the marginally-familiar word actually meant. The rumbling subsided again as she said, “Oh, uh...yeah.” She got a thoughtful look as she continued, “I suppose I haven’t really done this...Stars, maybe since I was back on Draakrona.” She glanced back to Cally. “But yes, we can...” she attempted to pronounce the word in Standard, carefully enunciating “purr,” it came out rather growly and with some odd higher-pitched tones, but generally intelligible.

"Who would have guessed?" Cally said in wonder.

“We can do it deliberately, but if I’m in the right mood, it can also start happening spontaneously. Which...” Rala gave a slight smirk, returning to her previous relaxed pose, “...is what happened here,” she finished, the rumbling returning to its prior volume.

"Well, this is a great place to do it, wonderful for relaxation." Cally added, hesitating for a moment before scooting closer to Rala and leaning over to place her ear just below Rala’s collarbone, allowing her to both hear the rumbling conducted directly through Rala’s chest and to feel the purrs on her own.

The move caught Rala slightly off-guard, but after only a second or so she extended both arms on that side around Cally, pulling her a bit closer and lightly resting her chin on Cally’s head. “Not something you’re used to among sapient species, I gather?” she murmured with a slight giggle.

"I've cuddled up a Caitian in a good mood before, especially if you can get to that spot right behind their ears that they enjoy, but they are the exception to the rule." Cally agreed with the sentiment, closing her eyes as she was there, "Besides, they don't like others knowing that they can purr."

A giggle rose from Rala’s chest. “I won’t pretend to know why, or whether other Draakri might feel that way.” She shifted slightly, getting a bit more comfortable while making sure she didn’t dunk Cally’s face in the water. “Me? I see no reason to hide it.” She closed her eyes, a faint smile on her face as the rumbling in her chest continued, only lessening briefly as she murmured, “We should do this more often.”

"You know? I think you're right, it certainly wouldn't be a bad idea."