Breakaway

Posted on Sat Jul 22nd, 2017 @ 12:42pm by

2,557 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Unknown Life, Unknown Dangers
Location: Ten Forward
Timeline: Backpost

All my life I wanted to fly,
Like the birds that you see way up in the sky.
Making circles in the morning sun,
Flying high in the sky till the day is done.
I can't break away!
Like a child in her fantasy,
Punching holes in the walls of reality.
All my life I wanted to fly,
But I don't have the wings and I wonder why.
I can't break away!"

That was what was heard from Ten Forward as a young woman stood at the front of the ship's lounge as she sang in time to a song that was playing. She wore a pair of blue denim shorts, black sneakers, and a white shirt that had the image of a pile of spaghetti with eyes on it with the letters FSM under it.

As she finished, Kelly stepped up to the bar with a smile. "Can I get a Risian Sunrise?" she asked and was served. She watched the glass in fascination as the liquid swirled in the glass to form what looked like a sunrise. "Perfect!" she said happily before she took a sip.

Listening to her sing, that was truly something, "That was incredible." I said with a smile sipping my drink at the bar. "It's not often people get up and sing, especially as good as that." I put my glass on the bar top. "James Bradshaw, ACEO." His hand out to her.

I was not the only one impressed as there seemed to be smiles all round. I saw the next person step upto the stage and break into a tune.

Kelly looked around at the voice and gave a bright smile when she saw the handsome, slightly older guy who was apparently addressing her if the hand he offered her was any indication. She set her drink down and shook his hand.

"Thank you," she said. "I love to sing and that's one of my favorite songs. I'm Kelly Vogel, Flight Officer. It's a pleasure to meet you James."

"Do you sing here often?" I asked, not that I knew because I didn't frequent Ten Forward very often, I had no reason to.

"First time, actually," Kelly said as she picked up her drink to take a sip. "I'm new here. Just came on at Earth during the last roundup of new recruits. I graduated the Academy and this is my first assignment. How about you?"

"Been here a while, I was on the previous Dreadnought before we got this one." I replied with a smile. "So what made you choose this ship for a first assignment? Not exactly the typical run of the mill choice."

"I didn't choose the ship," she said. "The ship chose me. I was Nova Squad at the Academy and they wanted to test me out. Sadly, I'm also just a Flight officer and it'll probably be awhile before I get to the bridge despite going to Command School."

Something beeped under her shirt and she reached in to pull out a necklace that had a piece of bitten chocolate partially wrapped in foil. "'Scuse me," she said with a faint blush. "It's chocolate time." She put the necklace back and reached into her back pocket to pulled out a candy bar and unwrapped a part of it.

"Want a piece?" Kelly asked him.

"Thanks but no." I declined with a smile, sweet but I gave up sweets a long time ago because of the want to lose weight and a diet. "So singing aside, do anything else in the free time?" I asked wondering if she practised a lot or natural talent.

"Someone who doesn't like chocolate?" she asked, sounding scandalized. "That...that's....wow."

Kelly paused for a moment. "I practice Aikido, and I'm a Sankyu 3rd kyu green belt, I'm a Purple Belt in Jiu Jitsu, I train with a kusarigama, swim, run, dance, do gymnastics, fly Bolian vectorboards, drink coffee and of course, eat chocolate." She demonstrated the last by taking a bite of her candy bar.

"How about you?"

"Nothing even close to that." I replied as I looked around. "I just try to relax, you only live once so why not do what you want and not conform to the expectations of todays society." In otherwords, I liked to live life as I wanted.

"Today's society actually expects you to expand your horizons," she pointed out. "That's why we're out here, right? To meet new species, see new civilizations, to go where no one has ever gone before. Why don't you meet me in the holodeck sometime and I'll take you on an adventure that will take your breath away."

"Alright, sounds like a plan to me." I grinned sipping my drink, I could use some adventure, spice of life so to speak and if she had a program that would do just that then why not.

"So what got you into Engineering, James?" Kelly asked as she took another drink of hers, her hazel eyes watching him.

"Kinda fell into it by accident really. I was always taking stuff apart when I was younger. Couldn't put it back to save my life though. Then one day at college a friend was building a remote toy plane for his younger brother. He had all the parts just no tech no how so I put it together. Since then I had an interest in fixing things, building things or anything really using my hands." I answered remembering the fond memories of childhood. Those were simpler years.

"So you went from not being able to not put anything together," she said with more than a bit of amusement sparkling in her eyes. "To being able to put everything together? That's impressive."

"Well, that is what I choose to call it and perk of being an Engineer is nobody wants to piss you off. They need me to fix things." I finished the rest of my drink and turned in my chair so my back was to the bar. "That faulty replicator...sorry I have a plasma injector to realign..." I grinned.

Kelly took another bite of her candy bar. "Need help with it?" she asked. "Engineering was my secondary at the Academy. I got into it so Engineers couldn't sandbag me with time estimates when I needed repairs done or if they tried to blather at me about the structural integrity field."

"Nothing to do yet, clean bill from the yards. All we needed was a top up and a polish, for once." I replied glad for that little fact. Though it was good to have someone actually willing to help out when the need came instead of feeling like press ganging people.

"Ohhh," she said, a bit embarrassed that she didn't catch the drink reference. She grinned and shrugged. "You have the right idea, there," she agreed as she motioned to the bartender for another Sunrise. "So what's there to do for fun around here?"

"Holodecks, the gardens are nice if you are into those sorts of things. Ten Forward is a popular choice as you can see. There are many view points on the ship looking out to the stars, just depending on the view you are looking for though generally they are empty and unused." I replied rattling off some possible ideas for her to consider.

"I have a lot of holodeck programs," Kelly said as she got her new drink and watched it shimmer. "I may not have been to a lot of new places yet, but I have programs of Risa, Pacifica, Betazed and a few others. Then there's my personal favorites, the Cherno series of vectorboarding."

"That is one place I want to go to, Risa. I hear the beaches are incredible, the weather is nothing but perfect and the ladies....just as stunning as the sunset." I'd heard classmates and friends talk about it, I'd read up about it, seen tour guides of it but never actually been yet.

"It is in the holoprograms I have," she told him. "Especially during the Lohlunat, the Festival of the Moon. There's two moons, actually and the beach is nice, the water is warm, the music is great and the food is divine."

"Now that....sounds perfect." Damn right it did, I really should make more time for myself instead of a Warp Core. In fact I couldn't remember the last time I took leave, pretty sure the computer could tell me, pretty sure I'd be shocked by the amount too.

"Exploring the Subterranean Gardens is pretty awesome, too," Kelly added after she finished her candy bar. "The plants are all luminescent and it makes for a beautiful scene and they all smell wonderful. It's really romantic if you have someone to take through them, too."

"Guess I know where my next vacation is going to be." I did like caves, I was always finding holes, digging holes or exploring the beach when I was a kid. Parents hated it but kids do what kids do. I ordered myself another drink. "Glowing plants, I can see what you mean at night, all lit up must be one hell of a sight."

"Not at night," she said after she took a sip of her drink. "It's all underground and people take a boat ride through it. It's beautiful and I only hope it's as glorious as the programs I have of it when I actually get to visit."

"Boats." I loved boats. "Now I really want to go." I liked water just not the sea, anything large enough to drown in really. "Doubt I'll be going to Risa any time though with this new Commodore in charge. No doubt he wants to see how his officers function since this is his ship now and all."

"Oh well," Kelly said. "If he doesn't, there's always the holodeck in the meantime as long as you stay as nice as you seem to be."

"What you see is what you get, I don't do falseness, I don't see the point in it. The truth only comes out later any how so better to be upfront and honest." I wasn't totally sure what she meant by that, bad Ex maybe? rough past? I didn't know but it was an usual thing to say.

She gave him a bright smile and raised her glass in the air. "That's all I could ever ask for," she said. "Well, that and coffee and chocolate, not necessarily in that order."

I smiled at her reply. The holodeck was a nice option, one which recently I'd been neglecting. I had some time, but didn't use it, in fact l didn't do much on my time off it seemed now that I thought about it. "Anything else outside Coffee and chocolate that you like?" A slightly bold question I knew but I honestly doubted that was all to her.

"You mean other than the nine thousand other things I babbled off a few minutes ago?" Kelly asked with a chuckle. "If I tried to do more than that, the day would have to be made longer. What about you?"

"Sometimes after a shift in Engineering I wish for a system or device to be designed to make the day shorter...never mind longer." I chuckled. "Actually not much recently, I've been pretty flat out with the upgrades to the ship. Though Hiking, sailing, base jumping, high altitude free fall paragliding I suppose could be a few of my favourites I've done in the past."

"Paragliding sounds like a lot of fun," she said. "Do you have any holoprograms for it? I'd love to give it a try. I always said it something flies, I'll be the one to fly it."

"A few yeah, I can customise the scene depending what I want to look at as I fly around but yeah it's a good way to relax if you're not the scared of heights types." I replied thinking back to when I last used the program, problem was, I couldn't remember at all it had been that long.

Kelly laughed. "If I were afraid of heights, I wouldn't be a pilot," she said before she asked the bartender for a kiwi. Since they weren't in stock, the bartender replicated one and handed it to her on a saucer.

She reached into a pack pocket and pulled out something slender and wood looking and flicked it open to reveal a transparent aluminum blade with wavy lines on it. She adjusted the kiwi on the plate and slicked it into quarters, then offered him one. "Care for a bite of fuzzy monkey ball fruit?" she asked him before she gave the blade a flick and closed it again.

"Thanks but no." I was a bit picky about the fruit I enjoyed. "So if you enjoy flying, why pick the largest ship in the fleet? She handles like a barge, I don't think evasive manoeuvres even apply to something this big. A Defiant class though, run loops around this ships nacelles with ease?"

"She has runabouts and shuttles," Kelly said as she put her blade away and reached for a piece of the fruit she had just cut. After she popped it in her mouth and ate it, she looked back at James. "Besides which, it gives me experience. I can say that I once flew an Admiral's flagship and that will look great when it comes time for me to be a test pilot."

I chuckled. "The Admiral isn't the typical run of the mill one, many of the crew think this ship suits his personality very well, piss him off and it's like his right arm becomes the ship and he's not afraid to use every system he can to whelp on someone." I remembered the last time the ship ran at full combat power, it was glorious.

"I don't know much about him other than the fact that he's an Admiral and Caitian," she admitted as she finished her second drink. "Is there anything you can tell me in case I run into him?"

"Don't step on his tail, expect a bow if you talk to him and try not to touch him." I replied giving her the need to knows when it comes to the feline. "But if you want should we go to the Holodeck." Letting her call that option. "We can run the training program for you." Since the protocols I had hard coded would allow flight without completing it. "You can even pick the location."

"Got it," Kelly said as she finished the kiwi. "And what program do you have in mind, the paraglider one?" she asked since he wasn't specific.

"Would be nice, been a while but it does offer a freedom that only a suit, pack and wide open space can afford."

"Then let's go," she said as she settled her tab and came to her feet. "There is air to be conquered!"

I smiled, there was something to be said for the energy of the young. I finished the last of my glass and stood up. "Alright, let's go."

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