A Morning Workout

Posted on Thu Oct 10th, 2019 @ 10:07pm by Lieutenant Tree Woods

Mission: Onboarding & Departure
Location: Gym
Timeline: Day 2 Graviton Transit

Frank walked into the gym carrying a towel and a water bottle. The holodeck was occupied so he was unable to hike a mountain trail. The deviation from his regular routine did not bother him, in fact he welcomed the change in scenery. Constantly hiking alone in the woods could be lonely at times. Stepping onto the treadmill he saw a few new faces in the gym, and every one of them was younger than him. Pressing a button Frank raised the incline resistance and began his walk.

Not long after Frank walked in the latest addition to the crew. Short of stature, but with purpose in her steps. Blond hair down to her shoulders, though today tied back in a ponytail. Her glance paused on Frank for a moment, noting the beard most of all, and she offered him a quick smile and a ready "Sir" as she made her way towards a vacant spot in the gym, nearby his treadmill. There she shed her training jacket to reveal a very toned and exceptionally well sculpted torso clad in a black tank-top. Once that done she started on her warm-up.

Frank felt older as he saw the young woman walk by and begin warming up. He felt every day of his 67 years in the moment. “Good Morning,” he replied to her. He was unsure of her rank due to the lack of uniform, he assume she was most likely an Ensign fresh from the academy. There had been so many crew members arriving before they left Starbase 11 that it had been impossible to meet them all. As the sweat began to bead on his forehead he asked, “how long have you been Aboard?”

"Two days, Sir. Came onboard an hour before the ship disembarked." she replied, finishing the first part of limbering up, before turning to him with a practiced smile, one that didn't quite spread to her eyes. "Lieutenant Tree Woods, assistant security chief. Pleased to meet you." At her name several of the other people present turned to look, some even giving a snicker, one that was answered with a glance from the Lieutenant.

“Nice to meet you, Lieutenant Woods,” Frank said sincerely, “I do hope you’re settling ok,” He was impressed at her composure and ability to focus as fellow crew members stared on. He assumed that there was a story behind her name, but did not want to appear to be intrusive.

"Settling in alright, Sir." she mused, launching in to another set of stretches, loosening up the muscles before her workout proper. "Ship's a step up from my previous posting. Still getting used to all the amenities."

“You arrived at a good time, we just finished our refit, so everything is like new, we haven’t been out long enough to get her dirty,” he teased.

"Shouldn't take too long." she joked, finishing her warmup and moving to contemplate the punching bag nearby. "I'm just glad I finally have a firing range at my disposal I can shoot my antique at." she smiled, before moving into a stance and giving the bag a quick jab or two.

“The range is nice, in my day we used to call it range therapy. There was a line from an old movie that said there was nothing like the smell of napalm in the morning. If you substitute old gunpowder with napalm then you’re talking my language,” as he talked Frank walked continuously, he glanced down momentarily to verify that his heart rate was in the optimal zone.

"Napalm?" She glanced over, eyebrow raised, before turning her attention back to the bag and launching into a ferocious series of punches, accentuating each one with a word. "Not. My. Style. I. Prefer. A. More. Personal. Touch." Chest heaving slightly, she continued in a calm tone. "Just me and my instrument, doing what needs to be done."

Frank stepped off of the treadmill as he finished his five miles, and walked over to the heavy bag and braced it for the Lieutenant. "I understand the head on approach, Lieutenant, but there is always more than one way to solve a problem."

She gave him a nod in appreciation as he held the bag still, allowing her to unleash a barrage of jabs, hooks and haymakers, all the while dancing to the left and right on her feet and dodging imagined return strikes. "True, but - I prefer to - hup - start with - targeted precision strikes - hmf - before - larger scale - indiscriminate destruction - hup - as far the - situation calls for - hup - or allows - of course." Footwork not much more than adequate, but her strikes hit with an impact not expected for someone with such a short stature.

Frank was forced to re-position himself a few times, as she hit the bag harder, he was surprised at the amount of force the woman generated. He made a mental note not to get on her bad side, Frank was never good at hand to hand combat, having spent the majority of his career in engineering, he didn't go on away missions often enough to participate in the combat training but he could appreciate the skills that his Lieutenant possessed. "You seem to be quite the fighter Lieutenant, would you consider offering or leading some training classes from time to time?"

"Part of the parcel growing up on Hope's Haven." Tree mused, taking a breather for a moment, duking and dodging and just giving a few light jabs at the heavy bag. "You have to grow up tough to be able to escape that life." she added, giving him a nod. "Yeah I'll set something up. Everyone's invited of course." Then a smirk as she stopped for a moment to roll her shoulders, hopping on her feet a bit. "Be a strong signal to the crew if the Captain joined those classes as well."

He was about to protest, but the more thought of it, the more he liked the idea. “I believe you are correct, I will attend your class, though if I were to be honest I’m not much of a fighter, but if you give me a wrench or a spanner I could fix anything”

"I'm sure I could teach you something." she smirked, chest and shoulders heaving from earlier exertion. She moved into another stance, planting her feet firmly before unleashing another barrage on the bag, a full out attack, throwing her entire body into the blows, drawing power all the way from her feet through her legs, her torso, shoulders and focused into the hits. Her barrage drawingsome attention from others present in the gym.

Once that was done she stepped back, trying to catch her breath, sweat rolling down her brow, but an honest smile on her face, one that spread to her eyes. "Thanks for holding the bag Captain, allowing me to go ham. Always enjoyable."

“You’re welcome Lieutenant, if you work as hard as you hit that bag you will be a Department Head and a commanding officer soon. If you need anything at all just let me know,” Frank said genuinely enjoying his interaction with the younger Officer.

"You too, Captain." Tree smiled, reaching for her track jacket. "Was good meeting you."