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Holodeck 5, Tag Captain Holloway

Posted June 29, 2020, 12:31 a.m. by Ensign Clinton Reed (Engineer) (Charles Stevens)

Posted by Captain Molly Holloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Holodeck 5, Tag Captain Holloway

Posted by Ensign Clinton Reed (Engineer) in Holodeck 5, Tag Captain Holloway

Posted by Captain Molly Holloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Holodeck 5, Tag Captain Holloway
Posted by… suppressed (14) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Stores Grandfather didn’t trust replicators, and up untile his mother took over the Tortuga, they only had one on board and it was strictly rationed. So it is no surprise that the quick dinner he grabbed had been resequenced protein and vegetables.

Woofing it down, Stores rushed off to to meet Captain Holloway.

Stepping out of the turbo lift a few minuets later on Deck 16 the crono at the corner of his HUD shows the time to be 17:40 hrs. Damn Stores, calm yourself. This is training not a first date he thought as he stepped out and made his way down the haul to holodeck number five.

Twenty minutes later, Holloway showed up. This time wearing the fully black uniform of Starfleet Intelligence. and her fiery red hair tied neatly in the ballerina bun she always wore. It was 1800, not a second earlier or a second later. She smiled politely at Reed when she saw him waiting by the Holodeck.

“Been here for long?” She asked in way of conversation as she tapped the panel next to the Holodeck door.

“No M’am”, a polite lie, but a lie none the less.

Stepping away from the panel, Holloway turned to Reed. “I have been thinking about our conversation, and it occurred to me that what you might not need an ‘away mission training’ session. Not immediately, anyway. There’s no way you will get the hang of surviving planetside if you don’t familiarize yourself with what being planetside is like first.”

“The overwhelming majority of the students at Starfleet Academy, if not all of them, grew up on a planet. And even if they didn’t, just the fact that they are studying on a planet, sets their expectations. So I thought we could start where most of us started, and go from there.”

With a tap on the panel next to the Holodeck entrance, the doors opened. “After you.” Holloway smiled and she gestured to the open arch.

With a polite nod, Stores stepped thre the arch and stoped dead in his tracts…

The arch opened up to a square bustling with activity. Groups of young men and women, wearing Starfleet cadet uniforms walked up and down the cement paths. Large extensions of green grass welcomed whoever wanted to lay down on them to study or to relax. In fact, many cadets were doing just that. On the right, a large modern white building obscured most of the view, and right ahead, the Golden Gate Bridge stood in all its glory. It was a beautiful day. The birds chirped, the sun shone bright in the sky, and there were no clouds to be seen.

Capt. Holloway, CIO

Closing his eyes, Stores could feel just the hum of the ship, tho muted buy the holodeck forcefeilds. After a moment he opens his eyes, but avoided looking up at the sky. Not even looking at the horizon Stores stepped forward into the seen, clearing the way for Captain Holloway.

Finally he remembers to breath In threw your nose, pause, out threw your mouth, pause… Looking around at what he remembers from recruiting posters to be the ‘Academy’ Stores began to focuse on the seen. plastacrete, breath, grass, (that is grass right?) breath, PPAD, breath, windows, breath, (what is that annoying sound?) cadets, breath…

Taking another step forward Stores finally looks out at the Golden Gate Bridge and the horizon beyond. BREATH

Finally, Stores turns to face his instructor “Ok, I’m ready.

Clinton “Stores” Reed, Supercargo

Walking in behind Reed, Molly smiled taking a breath of fresh air. It had been a while since she had last been at the Academy and the place brought back memories. Some that she cherished, some that she didn’t cherish that much. With her steps, the Holodeck doors closed behind them and disappeared from sight, immersing the pair in the simulated reality that surrounded them.

Even though Holloway was not a trained counselor, she had been taught how to read people. In fact, it was a large part of her job. And looking at the older man she could tell that he was not very comfortable on the current scene. The fact that he didn’t look at the sky didn’t go unnoticed.

Stepping briefly aside to let a group of cadets running through, Molly turned to face Reed. “What here makes you feel uneasy?”

Capt. Holloway, CIO

Stores paused a moment, Looking around wile he contimplated his answer. “ The lack of a ceiling” he said after a moment. “ I know it doesn’t make any sense, m’am.” Forcing himself to look at the sky, wile continuing to control his breathing. “ I have worked countless hours in a suit with nothing but the void to my back, but a ‘sky’ and a ‘horizon’, peals back my eyelids and makes me feel like someone is setting on my chest.” Looking down at the Captains shoes to escape the blue sky pressing down on him.

Clinton “Stores” Reed, Supercargo.

Bump
OOC, should I let this thread fade? Getting worked about some of our “players” y’all doing ok?
Clinton “Stores”Reed, Supercargo

OOC: No need! :) I’m back! Let’s get this moving again! – Joana

IC:
It was unexpected to say the least. Molly had never considered that an open sky – something that was usually felt so liberating – could feel so oppressing to others.

“Hm…” Holloway pondered for a moment. “There’s no real easy way to make you used to the sky, I don’t think… but before we get to different types of weather, I would think that being comfortable in an open sky environment would be your first step. Do the buildings help in any way with that claustrophobic feeling? Would it be easier for you to be, say, in the middle of a square surrounded by skyscrapers, assuming you know what it’s like to be in one, or would it be easier to be somewhere with an open horizon? Say plains, or high mountains. Or would it be exactly the same?

Capt. Holloway, CIO

Stores absently scratched the beard stubble on his cheek as he looked around, having a problem to solve certainly helped the anxiety. “Agoraphobia” Stores said absently.

“I would imagine the bottom of a canyon or surrounded buy tall building would feel better, but I am not sure it would be the best way to become acclimatized to a sky or horizon” Stores looked back to the captains eyes. “ Just focusing on your question… asking a solution to this problem helps.”

“Good.” Molly said with a smile. “That’s called being distracted.” She chuckled, seemingly finding her own joke quite funny. “And I very much agree with what you just said. But I still think the best way to start is to start small.”

“Had a bit of an issue as a child with EV suits and Claustrophobia, but Mom taught me to control my breathing on focus on my surroundings and the task at hand. I would think this will be much the same”
Careful what you say o’l boy, she may decide we need to go skydiving

Clinton”Stores”Reed, Supercargo

Looking around with a nostalgic smile on her lips, Holloway finally said. “Tell you what. I actually grew up around here. Are you hungry? Because I’m starving. I used to work at the Farmer’s Market on Clement Street, which is just a few blocks away. I think we should look at what the stalls have to offer and eat some nice food outdoors. It’s an open space, but you’ll be distracted. Plus, we’re walking there. You’ll see, by the end of dinner you’ll be another one of us that doesn’t even remember there’s a sky over our heads!” Molly was visibly excited. “Then, we’ll move to different kinds of weather. What do you say?”

Capt. Holloway, CIO

“I’m your huckleberry, Captain. Lead on.” The smile was lopsided and wry, not quit reaching his eyes.

The sky felt like it was pushing him down, but he was intrigued buy the obviously troubled intelligence officer. A chance to see her home town fired his imagination.

Stores thoughts reeled back to the mess he was when the Vigilance rescued him from what was left of the Tortuga. Three days in his own filth, struggling to keep the life support going in his suit, three days in a dead ship surrounded buy blood droplets and stumbling in to the bodies of his family. All the wile listening as those who had made it to the pods were hunted down, even his sister and the other children he got off, at the last.

It wasn’t pretty, but this woman has spirit, and if the scuttlebutt was true he damn sure knew what the boss saw in her.

Pulling himself back to the present Stores started to look around, So this is the home world. He had seen it from orbit, but even when he worked at Io he had had no desire to ship down. * What is that gods rotted noise? Sounds like a bad spot on a bearing race.* Stores thought as he looked around.

Clinton”Stores”Reed, Supercargo

“Great!” Molly said enthusiastically. “Come with me, then.” Reed’s wry smile completely missing the mark.

Without missing a beat, Holloway started to walk, first to the campus entrance, past the transporter pads, and then in the direction of the street that had welcomed her for so many years.

“So tell me.” Molly started as they were past the campus entrance and down one of the many busy San Francisco streets. “Have you ever been curious about Earth? If you don’t mind me asking. I mean… you are human, so you must have at least heard from it, if you have never been planetside.” Holloway’s cheerfulness was disconcerting. Anyone who knew her, or really, any of the members of the crew, would generally portray her as a stern, cold, and mostly introverted, person. “Do you have any idea where your family comes from?”

Capt. Holloway, CIO

“Hard to say, M’am. As a kid I imagine I was, but even when I worked at Io, I never came
Planet side.” The bottom of a gravity well just didn’t hold any appeal to Stores, untie being posted to the Dresden.

Taking the oddity of ‘buildings’ that simply ended instead of reaching the overhead and still queasy from a horizon bent the wrong way around, Stores answered “ We have been spacers since pre contact, the Tortuga was a converted pre warp inter system hauler dating back to the augment wars. As to parentage, most of us only new one parent, as it was normal to bring in outside genetic material on port calls.”

“As for the Reed’s” Stores continued” they were members of the original 12 families, and had been captaining the Tortuga for a few centuries.” Looking around like a wide eyed child” Mom was captain at the end, but I had grown up under my grandfathers command.”

Stores memory unreeled the argument with his grandfather that lead to his leaving the ship and going to work with his uncle at Io. There was still a great sense of regret of not being there when he was committed to the void.

“Earth smells funny, Captain” Stores blurted our, breaking his descent into the past.

Clinton”Stores”Reed Supercargo

OC, spell check bit me. Committed became vomited.

OOC: I mean… “There was still a great sense of regret of not being there when he was vomited to the void.” is a great sentence though. :P – Joana

IC:
“Wow!” Molly’s expression would tell Reed that she didn’t exactly like the idea of growing up in space with one single parent. “Were you never curious about your other parent? That must have been hard…” She knew how hard it was to grow up with only one parent. However, for six years of her life, she had had the two. Depending on Reed’s upbringing that might make the difference.

Holloway chuckled at the smell comment. “It’s probably the hovercars… or the ocean… or the atmosphere… or all of it together. The smell of humanity, I guess. Don’t know if that’s a good thing.” Molly shrugged. “Most of us can’t even feel it anymore. Which makes it even better when you walk in front of a restaurant or of a cafe, and you can smell the cooked food from inside. Have you ever tried cooked food before? Did you have any on board the Tortuga?” The thought had just made its way into her mind.

Capt. Holloway, CIO

OOC,
wow, two posts in one day, your fired up!
“vomited into the void” is more Korak than Stores, ;-)

IC,
Hearing the surprise in the young captain’s voice and seeing the unease in her face when she glanced back, Stores chuckled. Just keeping pace with her was keeping his mind of the sky.

“Never really thought about who my doner was. We were raised communally, and no one else new who their’s was either” A smile creeping across his face at the happier memories of growing up in the nursery with his cousins; but it faded as that lead to memories of his sister.

Doner. The word didn’t settle well with Molly. For a moment she felt a pang of sadness for Reed.

Shaking himself loose from those memories, Stores mind turned back to the question of food, “ some of my aunts and uncles claimed to know how to cook, and they brought on fresh foods, otherwise it was vegetables from the agroponics bay, spirea chips, resequenced protein and occasionally fish.” Stores laughed as he realized that’s exactly what he had taken back on for this evenings dinner. “The food wasn’t bad, really but like all young men I wanted something more, and have been collecting and writing replicator patterns for food ever sense. “

Seeing the 180 degree swing in Holloway’s demeanor, It was easy to Decide to take the bait, “This is your field trip, so why don’t you introduce me to some of your favorites?” But never one to leave well enough alone “When you start taking along on away missions I imagine I’ll be exposed to all kinds of exotic food” the pressure was starting to lift some, and Stores mischievous side was reassuring it’s self. I do believe I may get to like her for a drill instructor Stores thought But somehow, skydiving might be the easy part

Clinton”Stores”Reed, Supercargo

“Well…” Molly paused to ponder on how to phrase her thoughts. “Away missions don’t usually involve food, although some might, but it’s not the rule. My dad used to cook all the time.” A wistful smile crept up into her lips. “Once you taste actually cooked food you won’t want your replicator recipes anymore, that I can assure you. It’s a shame that even here tonight, all you will get to try are the computer’s best attempts at replicating non replicated foods!” Holloway chuckled at the irony.

“Vegetables, spirea chips, protein, and fish…” Molly mindlessly repeated what Reed had just told her. “From that and from what you have tried away from the Tortuga, do you have any favorite dish?”

Capt. Holloway, CIO

“The truth, “Stores began wile absently looking around, “ Is I haven’t really found anything I didn’t like.” Looking back at the intelligence officer. “Why don’t you chose, perhaps you’ll introduce me to a new favorite.”

The pleasant banter as well as the more enclosed space of the building lined street were both acting to reduce Stores a anxiety. * This might just work* the thought came unbidden the truth was Captain Holloway rather reminded him of his mother. At least when he was a kid. He was rather beginning to enjoy her company.

Clinton” Stores”Reed, Supercargo


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