On the ready line...

Posted on Sun Mar 24th, 2024 @ 3:03am by Lieutenant Betaras K'ner

Mission: Thunderdome
Location: USS Chuck Norris
Timeline: Post-mission

[ Gym ]

K'ner rolled her shoulders, watching her squad go through their paces. The makeshift gym had proved to be a nice collection of ad hoc, non-standard challenges that kept them all thinking outside the box. She would have to remember to thank the new captain for her role in bringing it to fruition.

Taz dropped down on a wire, this time inverted with her weapon holding steady on her target. Deena and Nod were on her flanks, holding tight on their fields of fire. K'ner let them flip right before they hit the floor to trigger the explosive... the concussion knocked them back but Taz hadn't released from her wire or let it play out and just rocked back in the air, resuming her aim in less than a second.

Deena and Nod got up laughing, trying to restore their fields of fire as quickly as they could. "Clear!"... "Clear!"... "Clear!"...

K'ner shook her head as the trio safe'd their weapons; even though they weren't live they maintained real world processes.

"You took almost 2 seconds to get back on target Nod..."

Nod nodded, already thinking about how she'd adjust next time. The conc grenade had surprised them, but they only got surprised once by any one thing... Succumbing to it again could prove deadly in the field, so they prepared as much as possible to maximize their odds of all getting back safely, or at least intact.

Chbet could be heard yelling across the bay, telling the pseudo-rookie from K'ner's staff to try harder, never give up, quit being a PITA... There was a pause as Billingsly finally managed to complete the exercise and asked what a PITA was in puffs of breath as she tried to breathe, wondering what the acronym could mean but nothing combat-related came to her exhausted mind.

The Damage Control crewman leaned in, whispering to the nurse. Her eyes shot up and she grabbed the weight bar with a scream and chased Chbet, who'd wisely already started backing up, then turned and ran across the bay (well, more like jogged but kept enough interval to not get hit).

"Could use some help here Chief!" Chbet said, as they ran past.

K'ner watched for a bit, a little surprised Billingsly pulled out reserves that even she probably didn't realize she had, but she could see she was winding down fast, already pretty tired after her training, plus swinging the weight bar around while chasing Chbet.

"Billingsly! Billingsly!" K'ner had to shout twice before her medical staffer reacted. The bedraggled woman came to an unsteady stop, wobbling over in K'ner's direction, still gripping the bar so hard her knuckles were pale.

K'ner encouraged the team to learn from everything possible. Hopefully Billingsly would as well.

"Now where did 'that' come from?" K'ner asked her.

Taking in a couple of deep breaths, Billingsly practically chanted, "PITA? Really?" She was about to crash as her adrenalin peaked and faded but she didn't seem to realize it yet.

"Use everything you have to complete your mission, to support your team, to make it home. But always, always think... Your mind is your greatest force multiplier. Never over-extend yourself without a specific payoff at hand."

Billingsly continue trying to get her panting under control, while also trying to work out what she was being told. "What do you... mean... over-extend..."

K'ner nodded a Chbet, who'd already stepped up quietly behind the nurse and caught her as she collapsed. Chbet carried her over to the side so Kotsoo could make sure she was okay. He nodded at Chbet and took over without comment. He'd just let her sleep for now while he examined her.

K'ner called the rest of the team in close and went over mission essentials, plus their rotation while at the station. The new suits had been welcomed by all, their feedback already sent back on field-adjustments made. K'ner advised that, barring activation for an away mission, she'd scheduled a training exercise with one of the Klingon clans that Deena knew on the station. They tended to get a little rough, but they were always... educational! The team was looking forward to it!

After reminding them to keep up with their personal logs, she released them. A couple remained to continue working on the gym equipment. K'ner took over Billingsly's care, rousing her to a conscious, if confused state, and got her back to the sickbay so she could continue to rest and K'ner could take care of Rogar's last gene therapy regression. The crewman hadn't taken the second transition well, but should be hale and ready after today.

K'ner looked around the sickbay, glad her ancestors developed 75-hour 'days', which proved so helpful in other time divisions, like the 24-hour day on most Federation starships and stations; with heavy workloads, and, not to mention on hard marches in the field. But she'd almost pushed that to catch everything up and make sure everything and everyone was 100% ready to respond to whatever dropped next. Haz Team, and the medical staff while she was acting CMO, were ready to be on the ready line at a moment's notice.

Hitting Send on her final report, she headed for the barracks room, ready to hit the rack for a few hours. What would the universe demand of them next? Whatever it was, she was ready... right now, she was ready to sleep.

OFF:
zzzzzzzzzzz



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