SAR? Because Training Refreshers Are Fun!
Posted on Thu Jan 10th, 2019 @ 9:01pm by Lieutenant Jaime Mallory & Lieutenant Cole Dering M.D., M.S. & Commander Sonia Dalca & Commander Christopher SilverShadowMoon & Commander Arlaena Torr
Edited on on Thu Jan 10th, 2019 @ 9:07pm
Mission:
My Place In This Universe
Location: Training Holodeck, Magellan Station
Timeline: 2388/08/20 1000 (August 20 2388 10:00am)
Commander Sonia Dalca stood quietly by the holodeck in field gear her pack at her feet as gray eyes studied a PADD Intently. Her short black hair in its usual professional style as she waited for the rest of the SAR team to arrive at the main holodeck for some refresher training.
Dalca had wanted to do it in real life but some of the complexities she hoped to bring to it were going to be too difficult considering so she had worked with others to adapt the idea into a solid refresher course that would make her original instructor giggle evilly, or so she hoped.
A couple of new members arrived to the holodeck with their pack. One of them gave a smile and a nod. "Commander."
Arleina was told this was where she was supposed to go for the SAR test/refresher/whatever it was, so here she was. She had the required pack of gear -- even though she was the pilot and more likely to be required to stay with the vehicle than to help on the ground, she was prepared -- which she set at her feet as she approached. As she did, she saw two people, Commander Dalca and a couple of Ensigns she did not recognize. She smiled at the three. "Commander. Ensigns." she greeted in a properly professional but warm manner.
Sonia nodded to the newcomers, "Velcome. Ve are just waiting on a few more members before ve get going." She said in her Earth Romanian accented English. "As ve are new to each other, introduction time I'm Commander Sonia Dalca, Deputy. Extraction Specialist." She said in the tone that she knew this could be silly but was required.
Having just walked in a moment after Arleina, a petite and blonde Trill hybrid joined in after giving the Filra a hello smile. “Lieutenant Jaime Mallory,“ she now smiled to everyone there. “Primarily trained in Support, specifically flight, cross trained in Extraction.”
Field gear on, styled not only for his very tall and lean muscular frame, but for his tail. Said tail waving lazily near the floor, matching his laid back mood. Chris smiled to himself as he mentally traded images with Soul Friend. The young Grakens training was moving along without issue.
The miniature dragon now was learning to communicate with more than emotion or vague impressions.
His mothers Graken, WhiteStar, had been able to pass on complicated ideas and thoughts through a mix of images and emotion. It was a skill that not only strengthen the symbiotic bond but was necessary for his chosen career.
He sent back a mental image of a raging fire while he projected calm. The little dragon chirped in alarm and looked about for several seconds before Chris felt him realize that there wasn't an actual fire.
Chris sent a mental prompt, asking Friend what he should do in case of such a fire. The dragon ducked his head low and gave a long warble. Not unlike that of a siren.
It was at that moment he walked into the holodeck. Chris laughed at the timing, and ran his hand down Friend's back to quiet him, murmuring, "Well done."
Jaime had just finished talking when she heard the holodeck doors, smiling when she seen it was Chris. A few more team members came in after him.
Chris gave nods to all the unfamiliar faces in greeting, his feline eyes stopping on Arleina. Pleased, and intrigued, to see another with a tail, especially one neither Elliciean or Caitian.
He glanced at Jaime, and tilted his head as if to say you knew?
Unable to help it, Jaime gave him back a grin with an expression, you know it.
Arleina did not miss the look and smiled, waving at him with her tail in greeting. She simply could not resist. And Jaime was right; he did have a charm about him. She really looked forward to getting to know him. "Hello. I'm Arleina Sherrean Torr." she offered along with the tail wave. "Nice to meet you." She left off the 'Jaime told me about you' part, not wanting to chase that particular rabbit down that particular trail... yet.
Chris gave a wide grin, sharp tips of teeth peaking, he closed the distance between himself and the group in a few easy strides. He once again gave each member of the group a nod in greeting. Lingering on his nod to Sonia, out of respect for her leading position, before giving Arleina his full attention.
"Hello Arleina Sherrean Torr, nice it is to meet you as well." He decided to risk it and greet the Elliciean way. His tail reached out and coiled itself, almost seductively, around Arleina's. Gripping it firmly for a moment as he said. "Christopher Silver Shadow of Many Moons I am. Told I am that Chris is easier to say."
Arleina was a bit startled by the tail-grip, but mostly because she had spent so much time among no-tails that she had gotten out of some of the habits between tailed ones. It was actually refreshing. She grinned and returned the tail-coiled grip with her own tail. "Nice to meet you too, Christopher Silver Shadow of Many Moons." she greeted in kind. He had used her full name, so she gave him the same respect. "I can see how many would find it very long." she said with a giggle. "It's why I only use Arleina. What do you actually prefer, though?" she asked.
Chris tilted his head slightly, eyes twinkled with amusement and tail flickering from being pleased by her question. "Chris is fine. Welcome are you, however, to call me as you wish." he flirted. An Elliciean version of a compliment, considered to be good manners.
Arleina smiled, her own tail doing a pleased little dance behind her now that they had released tails. "Well, it wouldn't be very polite of me to call you something you didn't like, now would it." she asked rhetorically, her own smile playful. In her own strange way, she was flirting too. He was charming! Oh, this was going to be fun!
"Mmm" Chris hummed, "Indeed no. Yet implies that does you are capable of doing me a disfavor, I disagree." He glanced around, reminded they were not alone. His eyes fell back on Arleina, enjoying the distraction she caused him.
She grinned. "Oh, and aren't you just the little flatterer!" she teased. Not that she was complaining; she was enjoying the banter. "Flattery will get you everywhere." she added with a wink.
"Noted for the future." Chris chuckled, and brought a hand up to run along Friends back. The little dragon had ruffled his wings, settling down for a nap in the Ellicieans hair, since the current feline flirting session didn't include him.
The holodeck doors opened for the last time and Cole walked in. "Hi, everyone. Sorry I’m late. I was held up at another meeting…” he said, slowing down, one eyebrow lifting as he took in the two felinoid officers interacting and the movements of their tails.
Jaime smiled to him, "We were introducing ourselves and stating our primaries." She winked over at Arleina, "That was until we were derailed by another arrival. I’m Jaime Mallory, Support, specifically piloting."
"Ah," Cole nodded, and then to everyone there in the room, "Alright, well, I’m Doctor Cole Dering, your Evacuation Commander."
Arleina smiled, stepping forward just a bit. "I'm Arleina Sherrean Torr. I'm pretty much purely a pilot, though I can learn anything pretty fast if needed." She then stepped back and smiled at Jaime and Christopher.
Cole gave Arleina and a couple others a nod as they introduced themselves too, his eyes lingering on one pretty Lieutenant for a moment longer as he smiled.
Catching the smile, she tried to keep her face from flushing, failing miserably.
"Christopher SilverShadowMoon, or easier Chris. Extractions." Chris added in.
"And a former Starfleet Ranger," said Cole, reaching out a hand to shake Chris’, clearly impressed.
Christopher leaned down to shake the Doctors hand, "Served my time I did." He said with a toothy grin.
"Well, I say," Cole had raised an eyebrow, "the lot of us make an interesting team."
Sonia smiled at the interactions, "Vonderful, if you are ready we'll begin." She waited until all had gathered around.
Aeleina reluctantly turned her attention from the handsome and charming feline beside her and focused it on the lady leading the exercise. She definitely wanted to have more chance to get to know him later though.
Once again, catching the Filra’s attraction to Christopher, and possibly… oh wow… something from him too, Jaime smiled inwardly as she also turned her attention towards Sonia.
Chris, being a typical oblivious male, sensed Jaime's amusement and the tips of his ears flicked back in response. Not certain what had her so amused. Inevitably, his thoughts went back to the Filra beside him. She was very distracting, he mused, and she was just standing next to him. Chris wasn't sure if he should be annoyed by that or not.
Sonia called, "Computer SAR Training Phase 1." And around them assembled in the holodeck appeared a nature scene, quite peaceful. With trees, a summer sun, a brook burbled by. "It is easy no? To remember ones training vhen the planet looks like someone’s lava rock collection. Not so much vhen it tries to lull the senses. Ve are on a planet similar to our assignment but not our assignment, there is a science based away team that has run into trouble and ve must go. Any questions so far?" Her grey eyes took in the team.
Chris was familiar with deceptive beauty, the lull it held. Elliciea had its fair share, flora was often more lethal than fauna.
He was curious as to how this scenario would play out.
Arleina tensed as the scene materialized around her, remembering what her father had taught her about diplomacy. Sometimes the most beautiful things are the most deadly, Leina. Always be even more aware when the place and people are sweet and lovely. Her ears swiveled as she took in every sound around them, her nose and whiskers taking in the smells and vibrations. The light breeze ruffled her fur slightly, bringing with it other scents.
Her eyes tracked back to the team leader for a moment, enough time to catch the woman's attention, then they continued to flick around observantly. "Do we know what sort of problem they encountered, Ma'am?" she asked. The more information they had going in, the better. Another of her father's lessons in diplomacy. Interesting how many of them applied here as well, she thought.
"At this time we do not. It vill be as they say, a surprise" Sonia replied with a small smile to the alert crewmember who asked. SAR by its nature tended to draw the best and brightest from an already solid pool but Sonia found it helpful not to assume. One could learn much from an officers record but it was in the meeting of them one truly learned what one was about. So far so good but the true test would come when the refresh geared up properly.
"Anyone else?" She asked looking over the assembled team.
Jaime had taken in the scene as well from a pilot’s perspective, and found herself observing Arleina too. She smiled, thinking it wasn’t just the Filra’s flying skills that would make her a great asset to the team. Having no questions, she looked back to Sonia, and shook her head.
Finally Sonia nodded, "Excellent, Computer SAR Training Phase 2." And the scene changed. This time they were in their briefing room, doors off of it lead to storage, training rooms, and other related areas. "Now, the storage rooms are empty place your gear and return, this will be a timed mission from full stand down to in the field. Though ve will cheat a bit and have you here for some unrelated briefing.
She then waited for them to store their equipment and return, trying to keep her face blank so as not to give anything away.
Arleina studied the commander for a moment, eyes narrowed. There was something here, something she couldn't quite identify. She slowly turned, moved off to the storage area and began to store her gear. Part of her wanted to hide some of it in her fur in case they couldn't get back in here for some reason -- perhaps the woman wanted to see what they could do with nothing, for example -- but none of it was small enough to conceal like that. So she stowed it carefully, making sure that it was in a configuration that made it easy to don once more -- well, as much as she could anyway -- and returned to the briefing room. Her instincts told her that she should not have left it there, but orders were orders.
Chris stripped his gear off, wishing he could strip all his clothes. It was funny how much his people preferred near nakedness, even the Starbred, regardless of how long they'd been among the stars. He filed the thought away for another time to muse over.
Forcing his thoughts into the present he noted how much his senses immediately became aware of the Filra. The only non Elliciean he ever had this much awareness of, was Jaime. Giving a slight shake of his head, Chris gave his attention to Sonia.
After everyone had settled their gear and returned to the room she pushed herself off the wall. "From this point on I vill be in same boat as you. I know basics but like you I am here to refresh. Any final questions?"
Actually looking forward to the training, Cole simply said, "No, Sir."
"Right then, Computer Phase three." Sonia said and at first nothing happened then a call beeped in. "Dispatch to Commander Dalca we have reports of an away team member having fallen in a fast moving river and being carried downstream." Said an even, efficient voice.
"Acknowledged, send details to our shuttle, we are in route. Dalca out." She gestured to the team, "Ve are on the clock." She said and went to get her own ‘gear’ though created with the sim it would serve her just as well.
Cole lightly chuckled as he joined her, understanding now why it was they had taken off their real gear. It made sense. As for the rest, it was not exactly how things usually went down, but it didn't matter as long as it worked for the training. Right away he went back to putting on his gear in a fast and furious motion, getting himself into the mindset that there was an actual rescue.
Having quickly gotten into her gear, Jaime was out through an opened door, into a hangar bay, out towards the simulated version of a SAR modified Danube Class Runabout.
SoulFriend adjusted his hold on companion, sensing the general feeling of anticipation from those in the holodeck, reading himself as he had been trained.
Chris brought a hand up, running a finger along the miniature dragons facial ridge, in approval. A slight tremor ran through the Ellicieans muscles, Chris was looking forward to a challenge.
Sonia got her gear as well, smoothly and efficiently getting underway in a low amount of time. She waited by the shuttle as others began to arrive, also in good time. She had a good feeling about this training mission, she was actually looking forward to it. Nothing like a good crew to make a job easier.
Arleina did not take long to gather her gear, having set it into her locker in such a way as to make its retrieval most efficient. She then made her quick and silent way to the shuttle. She noted the look on Christopher's face and smiled; she could not blame him for the excitement. She shared it, in fact. The challenge brought out the hunter in her DNA. She boarded quickly and moved to her pilot's chair, going through the pre-flights as quickly as possible while still being very thorough.
Jaime had slid into the copilots seat and gave her fellow pilot a quick conspiring grin of anticipation, before giving all her focus on the training.
Like most, she enjoyed the challenges the scenarios gave them.
Commander Arleina Sherrean Torr
Senior Flight Control Officer
Lieutenant Jaime Mallory
The Filra's petite and eager SAR co-pilot
Commander Christopher SilverShadowMoon
Science Chief and SAR extraction.
Oblivious flirting Felinoid
Commander Sonia Dalca
Assistant Chief SAR, Professor.
Doctor Cole Dering
Assistant CMO & SAR Evacuation Commander
