Five for Five

Posted on Sat Mar 22nd, 2025 @ 4:27pm by Civilian Resident Judah Capek & Fleet Captain Quinton Beck & Master Steward Othor Jaxz
Edited on on Sat Mar 22nd, 2025 @ 5:00pm

1,824 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Meanwhile...
Location: The Triangle, Romulan Border
Timeline: 2100 hours

-Start-

{Holodeck}

Phaser pulse fire streaked across wooded inland pine rows. Tall mountainscapes and boulders emerged from the ground and hillside ravine began to form at the destination where one man was running. The cultivated forest gave clear line of sight and also at the right angles, impossibly clustered trees. The weapons fire impacted the trees harmlessly, and the two men chasing one another never came close to hitting the other.

Othor was vehement when it came to games that the rules were followed. It was a rare thing to see him truly angry, but if you cheated while playing a game, he'd carry the grudge for years. Quinton was still not forgiven for fudging a chess move made illegal twenty years before when Quinton had been a teenager. To see the kindly face twist into disappointment was punishment enough, but the endless recitation of posturing and condescension was an additional burden.

So when he used the known glitch of a "super bounce" within the holodecks programming of the ground beneath them, Othor gave his famous face as Quinton soared overhead to land well above the elderly Betazoid on a rocky face and opened fire from his elevated perch on the mountainside.

"A cheater among friends is a wolf amongst dogs Quinton." Othor dodged the incoming pulse fire shouting his judgement.

"We can both exploit the same mechanism, it isn't cheating."

Othor wasn't in a mood to debate, "Oh so you can bound over me outside of the holodeck can you?"

Two pulses whisked past but Othor stood plainly, no attempts to take cover as he was refusing to engage.

"This is supposed to be a training exercise, not play." Othor's finger was on the trigger still, so Quinton took that line for what it was worth.

"I can do things that would make you weep if you saw them." Quinton laughed at his uncharacteristic self congratulations, he never talked like that, it was fun to play act the braggart but a captain never spoke of themself in such ways without inviting misfortune.

Othor smirked, "Feeling yourself today huh?"

Knowing the program had other limitations inspired Othor to say, "Computer, generate 500 orbital buckyballs and plot their orbits for one thousand years given a trinary star system as an origin and random starting placements of each buckyball."

The trees, the mountains, everything but wireframes of basic structures shaping the silhouettes of items dropped out as the computer struggled briefly to accommodate the request. For a moment there were no leaves or cover for Quinton.

Othor fired his single pulse, low energy but highly guided and accurate, and it struck the Captain square in the chest.

Quinton smirked and tried to look cross, one giving away the other, "Oh so you can just glitch reality outside of the holodeck can you?"

Othor gave a mysterious smile, "Why yes I can."

Quinton laughed as the comms activated, he answered, "Beck here, go ahead."

Judah's voice relayed, " Captain, there is a message from Starfleet Command for you, priority one it looks like."

Quinton didnt blink, "Tell em to wait." He looked to Othor with a stern expression, "Reset, no bounds. This is way more fun.

Othor sighed through his clear affection, "That is definitely 'playing' and i have better things to do. You said you needed exercise and to update your credentials. We've accomplished neither. Just deploy the targeting drones and just put that to bed... so i can go to bed."

Quinton fired his phaser right as Othor, however outside the programs training parameters it was purely cosmetic. Othor was briefly lit in an orange glow, the sallow skin taking on a jaundice.

Judah prompted, "Just FYI, Starfleet is now actively hailing."

The Captain didnt care, he pointed to Othor, "Ok, drones first, then we settle this on one more go."

The Old Betazoid was a veritable sniper, his predictive ability carried over to ballistics quite well and pathfinding to shoot an object with a lead was a natural gift. his old friend smiled and with a flourish generated the drones for the skill check. Othor was certified to instruct and train with firearms, and there was no doubt in Quintons mind this was an easy mode for the wizened man.

Firing with as much focus as he could, Othor still had a smirk in his voice as he intoned, "Five out of seven. Passes, but only just. Round Two..."

This time the drones fired back, and Quinton dodged two crossed beams and took cover, one instant later, three were down, and three more danced in and out of cover. He missed one but got the other two within the time limit.

"Tsk Tsk, Mediocrity. Round Three."

The Captain grit his teeth to stop from replying, Othor was allowed to enjoy himself, but Quinton could do the same. Five drones appeared in a star pattern surrounding him. They all had a three second wind up for their coil to charge, and to hit all five within those three seconds was a tall order, especially since they dodged, and had a deflector to withstand anything but a perfectly placed shot on the power pack.

He heard the intonation, the official mark of the three seconds, but in anticipation of this round, Quinton had not discharged the heat waste from the previous shots, halfway to overload already, he fired into the safety at full power. He jus hope it would explode fast enough.

Othor dove for cover out of instinct at the sudden scaling whine of the phaser, and seeing it tossed into the air prompted a full blown panic. The explosion was all visual as the safeties engaged and no explosion actually took place. The effects however, were uncontestable. With triumph Quinton stood and dusted himself off despite being totally clean. Othor slowly recovered into a sitting position the dive having taken a small toll on him.

Knowing it was a touch ludicrous to suggest that was actually viable, he asked with a cunning expression, "Is that 5 for 5, did I make in time?"

Before he could answer a chime on the door announced the outside world was intruding in. Quinton simply spoke out, "Judah who's at the door?"

Judah replied right away, "It's Kas. She's using her ...oh kay..."

Despite Judah occupying space within the computer, his storage so to speak was the organic brain of his body in the morgue of sickbay. He had native control of the ship like his own body, more so given the clinically dead state of it. The crew still had keys to the kingdom and could compel the computer controlled systems when they chose to. Kas forced the door open using a command code Judah didnt dare override or her fury would be towering.

The arch formed, and she stood in the open doorway for a moment. She wasn't angry as much as annoyed, she broke the silence and asked, "Are you able to take a call sir?" Her arch tone told him everything, she was carrying the Starfleet stuff with her.

"No Kas, I am busy. Othor is re-certifying me at the moment and cant reschedule he is very busy so to respect his time I am focusing on my lessons here with alacrity and discipline."

Othor was confused, "I'm really not that busy-"

"You are busy Othor, turning me into a crack shot!"

The Andorian and the Betazoid laughed at the funny Human making a joke, they knew him well enough to understand his style. Of course he was making a joke of it, he was a goof and that was part of what everything on this ship work.

She looked to the old man, "Stuck at round Three?"

Othor nodded, "I've showed him before, I did it in 1.89."

Kas laughed, "Captain, can I? then we get back to work?"

Judah piped over, "Starfleet is still hailing us. Apparently some vital intelligence has been leaked and a courier-"

Quinton yelled, "Judah! I am not at their whims to race to the comms when they call. Tell them I'm asleep and to stand by, or that I broke my leg and had to be shot. Once I am done here-"

Kas realized what this was really about, the Captain wanted to keep Starfleet waiting to assert some small measure of control. Whenever Starfleet called it was for a diversion of their lives for some service they had agreed to under coercion. Winning the title to a once derelict Excelsior-Class starship had come with strings, among them, Starfleet got to ask favors. Since Starfleet paid in refits and free fuel, which kept their company competitive, it was a worthwhile exchange but not a profitable one.

Kas cut to the quick, "Judah, phaser." She held out her hand and one appeared in it. She wasn't done, and added a curt, "Run three again," while setting it up.

Quinton began to say, "It's harder for some of us who didnt grow up with weapons training every day..."

He was however cut short, as Kas sighted the first drone in a star pattern revolving and whirling around her and fired, leaving her thumb on the stud and drawing from one to the next in a half second without even looking at the ones behind her. They followed an up and down path, while orbiting around and she connected them in a single rotation of her weapon.

Othor announced, ".67." He was stunned, Quinton was managing to keep a straight face, but only just.

"Damn, slower by .08. Then again I wasn't trying."

Quinton pointed at Othor, "Why is this pensioner teaching me?"

Kas giggled a split second before she caught herself, "Let's go, Priority One, usually means lives are at stake. Let's get you back to what you're good at."

Quinton did legitimately care about being certified, it was part of the crew standards and he wasn't up to them.

Sensing his hesitation, Othor had the grace to offer, "We can certify that you got all five on round three, and leave it at that."

Kas agreed, "Whatever it takes to get you back on the bridge."

With a finality to it, he gave a single affirming head nod, "Damn Othor, you do bend reality."

His friend bowed in reply and entered the result, "And... congratulations. You are now officially certified according to our own standards. Up until now a disgrace, but today, you've achieved the minimum. Well Done."

He took the ribbing in stride, "Well I have important things to do, so I thank you for your time but this frivolity has got to conclude you've held me too long."

As he left he also admonished Kas, "Come on, we don't have all day!"

Though she knew he was joking still, she felt the flicker of a true anger. He was a master at getting that response, but fortunately he made it fun.

She followed without further comment, waving farewell to Othor.

-End-

 

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