Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in Continuing the Games

Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in Continuing the Games

Posted by Ensign Juliet Anders (Security Officer /RTF) in Continuing the Games
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

SNIP

OOC: This next part is very long, so read it carefully.
IC:
“Now then, who would like to go first?” Surda looked around the group, surveying the pairs. There was one obstacle that would be easy for each team, but the course as a whole would be a challenge.

The course started with two balance bars set side by side, and also introduced the first gravity fluctuation. As soon as the competitor stepped on, the gravity would increase, making keeping their balance even harder.
The second challenge was an 8 ft tall wall, where competitors would have to boost one member over and then pull the other up from the top. The gravity would be slightly lighter than Earth normal, challenging the team to keep fine control when they were stronger than usual.
Next was the Zero gravity portion of the course, with rings at different heights attached to both the floor and ceiling. Going too fast would cause the team to spin out of control, but being too cautious would add more time than they could make up. The last ring was set into the ground, ensuring that the team coming out of the course section would not be dangerously high during the gravity change.
The fourth challenge was 14 pads set 4 feet above the ground. Both members of the team would have to jump and land at the same time to keep from falling off. The fourth challenge was at ship’s normal gravity.
The fifth and final challenge required the competitors to climb along two ropes, one above the other, to make it to the final platform, 12 feet above the ground.
-Surda, CoS, Obstacle Course Creator

OOC: Question on the fifth challenge. Is this like, walk along the bottom one and hold the other top for balance/safety. Or one walking lower and the other higher? And how much room is between the cuffs?
-Jenn

OOC: Walking on the bottom rope and the top is balance. There are around 4 inches of chain between the cuffs.
-L

” Some of these obstacles require us to move in tandem we will need to camulicat clearly and quickly captain” She said. She had no desire to brake any of her bones. She was already looking at the course trying to come up with a strategy.
Ensign Luna
Ensign Luna

Jin’Lor grimaced in distaste, but did not complain as he looked to Luran. “As long as we keep good communication and work together we should be fine.” He stated, silently wishing he had not chosen to do this. As someone more accustomed to working alone, the geneticist was not comfortable with this situation or the course before them, but he would go through with it. It never hurt to try having fun every now and then, right? He only hoped his teenage son would be fine.

Jeane had a nervous expression on his face as he looked toward the course. “I hope I don’t break anything…” He murmured, thinking of his wings as they folded tightly against his back.

Ensign Jin’Lor Venneroe
Civilian Jeane Venneroe

Surda laughed, not unkindly. “It would be very hard to break something on this course, my safety protocols are very advanced,” she assured him.
-Surda, CoS

OOC: The course is fantastic! Some really cool ideas here!

IC: Being a natural leader, but also naturally sloth-like, Cobb’s lazier side won out initially and, at Surda’s request for volunteers, he hung back to see who else might step up. But when no-one did, the captain shrugged then called out “Myself and Luna can have a go first, if you like?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

” are you shure that is wise captain though I will say an adult team should do the course befor the child run it so they have an example” Luna sigested.
Ensign Luna

Juliet had been about to volunteer her and as when the Captain spoke up. She glanced at Cas and finally commented on her words of it being like when they were kids. “I remember some. Most I’ve blocked out. But I am sure I won’t embarrass us too much.” She let Cas work out and stretch, her own body already limber from stretching in her quarters. She watched the way the other woman moved and twisted her wrist, arm and body in harmony. It was odd, but to anyone else, it looked like they did this all the time. To Juliet, she had a similar thought as her body responded without thought.

Maybe she did remember more than she thought.

Juliet
Sec/RTF

Casela shook her head, noting for the moment that they even had their hair pinned up exactly the same way. Oh the confusion they could cause! “I highly doubt you’ll embarrass us. I’m more worried about the zero-g area. I still get very sick in zero-gs.” Another thought occured to her that made her smirk, “Well this time I’ll be adjusting my stride longer to keep up with you.” Juliet was now taller than her, and the last time they did something like this Casela had been taller and faster (not by much), than a much younger Juliet. There would be some adjustments to be made. “Whenever you’re ready.”
Lt Synthi-er, CNS
Luran nodded. She found the ability to work both alone and with others important, so the idea of the course seemed a useful exercise. “All the obstacles require close team work and strategy.” She noted, eyeing the obstacles.

~ Ensign Luran Akunon, Medical

Jeane just gave Surda an awkward smile and nodded, too nervous to say anything else.

Looking down at the cuffs and the obstacles, Jin’Lor was already assessing everything they could do to simply get through it. “I guess we can go whenever you want.” He stated, not used to being social.

Ensign Jin’Lor Venneroe
Civilian Jeane Venneroe

Gen glanced at Cerenity. “Do we go?” She asked uncertainty colouring her tone.

Gen

” i think we have to waght are turn” cerenity said looking at the course. ” do you think we will be tall enough for that wall” cerenity asked.
Cerenity

Gen looked at the wall and shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. If we can’t climb it we go through it. Easy please.” She said
Gen

” oh right I forgot you could do that are you shure you can download that with both of us again” cerenity asked
Ensign Luna

“Right then, Luna,” Cobb began to move forward, gently pulling his partner with him. “Let’s get this show on the road, as the saying goes, eh?”

Together they approached the first obstacle, the balance bars. Cobb waited until Luna was in position then, placing his right foot on the beam, the altered gravity already bearing down on him a little, he sucked in a breath and asked, “Ready?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Luna stepped onto the Beam. ” We have this sir come on and don’t fall please” She said and started to quickly and sealy walk along the bar her wings open slightly and she held her arms out to the side as well to act as a cover balance. She stepped lightly two then heal.
Ensign Luna

Luran nodded. “If you’re ready then, let’s get moving,” she said, as they approached the first obstacle. Balance bars. That ought to be interesting, she thought, looking at the obstacle and then Jin’Lor.

~ Ensign Luran Akunon, Medical

Jin’Lor followed Luran calmly and stared at the balance bars as Captain Cobb and Luna made their way through it easily enough. He could already feel the weight of the gravity alterations and frowned, but did not let it stop him or Luran. They could get through it so long as he kept focused and did not worry too much about his son.

Ensign Jin’Lor Venneroe

Compared to the light-footed Luna, Cobb’s own progress across the beam was akin to a mountain gorilla. Heavy and deliberate, he continued to place one foot in front of the other, head down, shoulders hunched as if the extra gravitational load came from an external source currently lain across his back. As he heard the next team begin the course behind them, he panicked for a moment and almost lost balance, the tension in the handcuffs and the composure of his companion the only thing keeping him on the beam.
“Sorry about that,” he murmured to Luna with cheeks burning.

Finally they reached the end and he leaped to the floor, relieved to have conquered at least one obstacle. Ahead, the wall towered above them. Glancing to Luna, Zachariah shrugged and then asked “Do you think you’ll be capable of giving me a boost? I figure I shall be more use in pulling you over once I get myself to the top.”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

” dont touch my wings” she said. She braced herself agenst the wall and have the captain a boost. She felt her joint and bones complain under the waght if the Captain bet once he was onto of the wall she was fine. She jumped flaping her wings once to get onto the wall. She almost fell as she was only able to grab the lege but was soon on top of the wall easily thanks to the lower gravity.

He felt almost guilty, placing his heavy boot into her delicate hands as Luna, with a strength that surprised him, worked with the reduced gravity to launch Cobb into the air. The move had a disorientating effect and, for a moment, he almost failed to land a grip on the high wall. But eventually his fingers found purchase, clinging to the vertical surface with every ounce of strength that he possessed.
With considerable effort, he used his free arm to pull his body onto the wall’s flat top, the arm cuffed to Luna for a moment hanging uselessly to the side. But he was soon anchored into place, lying on his stomach with one leg straddling each side of the wall. From there, it took minimal effort to launch the diminutive security officer to his side.

“Well,” he said, once they were both atop the wall, he panting with a tiredness that did not even touch her, “that wasn’t so hard, eh?”

And with that, he half-rolled, half-fell down the other side, leaving Luna no choice but to quickly follow…

Next was the Zero gravity challenge. Luna took Cobs hand pulling him closer to her. ” on three we jump and go for the first ring” she said.
Ensign Luna

Zachariah waved a hand to halt her progress, before doubling over with hands on his knees and drawing in a few deep and steadying breaths. By contrast, Luna appeared to not even be breaking a sweat.

Luna put a gentle hand on his shoulder. ” Thats not helping you you need to stand up put your hand behind your head. Give your lungs space to work” she said. Then looked back over the course already decideding how to get them through the challenge.

“Maybe so,” Cobb panted, straightening his posture as Luna suggested then reaching hands high into the air before they came to rest on his head, “but my back was grateful for the respite.”

“Alright then,” he conceded after a few seconds, “let’s do this.”
And with that, he launched off, allowing Luna to take the lead as they headed for the first ring…

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

It did not take luna to long to hide them throw the rings though she clipped her wing on the second to last ring. Wail she was not actually using her wings the were open enough to slower there movements for the ring and she miss Juged the space.

They say one never forgets their first moment in zero gravity. As a child, Cobb could recall bouncing eagerly on his bedsprings in an attempt to reach his ceiling - and from there on to the stars. But the reality had been very different. As a starship engineer, loss of gravity meant only one thing - malfunction. That sickening lurch of the stomach as one’s body floated into the air to the soundtrack of screaming alarms.

So eager was Luna to begin the next section that Zachariah found himself pulled off his feet. In the frictionless atmosphere he struggled to control his movements, each ring rushing towards him at dizzying speed, high, low, left, right, his mind and his stomach abandoned several feet behind.
In the end, he submitted to Luna’s will and allowed her to lead him through each obstacle. And the odd collision and scrape aside, for the most part she did a marvelous job.

Still, he was thankful when gravity once again took hold and Cobb’s feet became nailed to the ground.

The next task was the platforms they needed to hop across. ” What do you think captain” she asked. As she looked at her felf wing nothing major was broken a few fethers she had a brush at most.
Ensign Luna
Ensign luna

Once his legs had ceased their quivering, Zachariah stepped forward and studied the next course.
“This one will take precision, Miss Luna,” he decided aloud. “When I say jump, we both jump that very second. No waiting. No hesitation. I shout. We move. Aye?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

” I hope we actually land at the same time” Luna said. Tucking her wings in closer to her body like she would if she was going to dive when she was flight hoping to reduce the chance that her wings would slow down her landing from the jump. ” your lead” Luna said.
Ensign Luna
OOC: Watching (reading) y’all do this is incredible.
-L

OOC: Well you gave us some fantastic subject matter to work with! Such a creative idea!

IC: Slowly, Cobb led their climb to the first pad, ensuring his own footing was secure before daring a glance at his partner.
“You ready?” he nodded to Luna, before turning back and studying the next pad. “I am going to give us a count of three. Should be more than enough time to prepare.”

Edging forward, he balanced on the edge of their current pad and transferred all weight to his stronger leg. Then with another nod he began to count. “Three. Two. One.” And leaped into the air, hoping that Luna had followed…

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Luna folded efertlisly. She had no problem leaping from one pad to the next on the captain’s orders.
Ensign Luna

Juliet shook her head at Cas. “We wait till the end.” She didn’t hang back out of fear, but curiosity. These people, most of them anyway, would be at her back and her at theirs. She wanted to see their strengths and weaknesses. The obstacle course was secondary. Luna’s wings made her exceptional at heights. She bet she would be an amazing sniper if she was capable of keeping herself hidden and aloft in most situations. The Captain could certainly take care of himself in a tight spot. She liked that about him. It meant if things went sideways, he was more likely to jump in with them than need rescuing from a corner or under a desk. Nothing says special ops like someone getting a medal for coaxing a CO out from under a desk in a firefight ‘before’ he soils his britches.

It was amazing how closely Juliet and Casela’s thoughts worked in sync. She was appraising Luna and her flight, having not seen Luna fly before. She could only speculate on the skill it took and quickly dismissed the pondering as it was something she’d never have first hand knowledge of. She grinned watching Zachariah run the course. Despite his self-misgivings he was a fighter and in fit form. Better than when he’d first appeared on board, drunk and passed out in the CIC in his chair-a life time ago. But then she was reminded of the image of him on the view screen from Valkyrja standing like an avenging god as the Leviathan appeared out of the nether of space to defend her tiny shuttle from the Breen ship-manned by Pakled children of all things. NOW she could laugh about it, not with him, but to herself. At the time…

She glanced at the others and wondered. The children were stubborn and capable. Watching them react to the ‘games’ made her realize that while they probably wouldn’t run into the fray, they would most likely listen in a pinch and not need a ton of coddling.

She followed Juliet’s gaze to Gen and Cerenity. She nodded towards Gen. She didn’t want anyone else to know just yet and so Juliet would hear her telepathically. We’re adopting her.

As she watched pair after pair go before them, she cocked her head. “Tell me about the team. Who do you trust most at your back and who seems to be better solo?” It was as polite a way as she could think of to ask who was the weak link. Sure, they were all good at their jobs, she supposed. Or they wouldn’t be there in the first place. But sometimes there was someone who was good at their job… but only their job. Nothing more. It was that person she wanted to know about, if there was one.

Juliet
RTF/Sec

“Niven is calm and cool under pressure. Vanguard and picks up details faster than most also the team medic. She totally cool and logical at all times. Uj’aw, the short Klingon, is calm and stead in battle, and has unwavering faith in his team. He’s married to Niven. With the pair of them as vanguard and rear guard nothing gets past them. They work in a well coordinated until. But he’s Klingon and passionate. When I first met him there were some issues with him taking offense about Niven in combat situations. He’s aware of it now and has made huge strides. They won’t partner together unless necessary. Lihew is the bigger Klingon. Brilliant engineer, decent fighter, but the weak link when it comes to fighting, but he’s still scores above the average. He flirts non stop and I’m pretty sure he has a thing for Irida. So far it’s not been an issue. Irida, she’s mouthy, loves to gossip. Never harmful and no one, even her, takes her seriously. She’s a natural with weapons and can improvise with just about anything you put in her hand. I’ll warn you she’ll gossip if she feels the tension mounting in the team. They are used to her and her antics breaks the tension, but someone who’s not aware might take offense. She can also be over confident at times. And lastly, Derrick Trainor. I’ve never seen ANYTHING phase him. Not even Dave charging him down a corridor when Dave broke containment. He looked totally bored with it all. It’s said that Derek once killed a Romulan at a distance of some hundred meters without even aiming. And there is his weakness. He’s an expert snipper, but he’s weak at close up. He won’t falter but find him a vantage point and he’ll take everything out before you blink.” There was a slight tone of pride in Casela’s voice. She would never, ever tell Manhattan how glad she was to have joined the Black Devils and to be their team reagent, but they were an amazing group and had, to date, never failed.
Lt Synthi-er, RTF

Once the course had been completed and Cobb afforded the luxury of hindsight, he would decide the platform element to have been the trickiest of them all. But right now, while still in the midst of these orchestrated leaps and bounds, it took all of his focus to keep from falling to the ground.

Still, they made a good team, himself and Luna, and eventually, and after a couple of very near misses, they reached the end of the section.
“Well, this is it,” he nodded ahead to the thin tightropes, “the last one. You ready to get this in the bag, Miss Luna?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

OOC: Okay, going to finish Cobb and Luna’s turn here in case someone else wants to have a go.

IC: Compared to the obstacles they had already conquered, the tightropes seemed less daunting, more…enjoyable, even? A fitting victory lap for this pair of mismatched miscreants who, all things considered, had made an admirable attempt on the course. Still, Cobb was relieved to step back onto the solid floor of the holodeck.

“Congratulations, Miss Luna,” he bowed to his companion as he waited for the cuffs to be released. “A most impressive performance from you. And, not so shabby from me either, if I do say so myself,” he chuckled.

Then, shifting back into the crowd, the captain prepared to enjoy the course from the more enviable position of spectator.

• Captain Zachariah Cobb