"Take cover!" Elnor shouted to Rios as the small alien spacecraft swept over them in a low, fast pass.
"Why, kid? What is it?" Rios didn't wait for an answer as he ducked behind a boulder. He took another puff of his cigar and looked up just in time to see the beam of light emitted by the spacecraft sweeping towards him.
Elnor rolled under a bush to avoid being beamed aboard himself. Somehow the shaft of light missed him, but he saw it grab Rios despite the cover offered by the boulder. Now it was time for truly desperate measures. There was no way he was going to leave his friend in enemy hands. Or claws. Or whatever they had.
He rolled to his feet and ran toward the ship as it looped around to make another pass in an effort to grab him, too. He could see a small hatch open on the port side. It looked like an airlock, although he had no idea why the ship would be flying in the atmosphere with an open airlock. Other trouble aboard maybe? Regardless, it looked like an opportunity and he would take it. He pulled the rope and grapple from his belt and began the ever-widening swing. When he judged the timing was just right, he swung with all his strength, then pulled hard. Yes! The grapple had found something inside the hatch to latch onto. Elnor started pulling himself up the rope as fast as he could, grateful for all the training he'd had so far in Starfleet Academy. A grapple was a new tool to him, but he could already see its usefulness.
He avoided glancing at the ground, which was already far below and receding rapidly. The ship was heading for space. If he fell now. . .well, that didn't bear thinking about. With a sigh of relief, he pulled himself into the opening he'd seen from below. It was an airlock. As Elnor saw what his grapple had attached to, he realized why the airlock was stuck open. The manual wheel to turn to close it was bent at an impossible angle. Elnor frantically jabbed at the buttons to close the door. Of course they didn't work. If they'd worked, the airlock wouldn't have been open in the first place. He could feel the air was thinner and colder as they neared the edges of the atmosphere. He grabbed the manual wheel and tried with all his might to straighten it, to turn it, anything to get that outer door closed. As he pulled the grapple loose from it to try to give himself better leverage, the ship rolled. Elnor cried out as his feet slipped out from under him and he fell from the airlock still holding the now useless grapple.
He twisted his body, then spread his arms and legs to get into the proper free fall position. He might as well enjoy the view and the sensation while he could. His long black hair, although pinned up neatly at the beginning of the day, now streamed behind him in a whipping, tangled mess. The wind tore past his face pulling moisture from his unprotected eyes. After a minute of squinting with his eyes nearly shut, Elnor calmly uttered, "End program."
He picked himself up from the holodeck floor, completely uninjured except for his pride. He really shouldn't have used Rios' image in today's training program. The school counselors would be sure to say something to him about it, if they found out. But damn, he missed his friend!
Safaath, the Vulcan professor who specialized in guiding students interested in learning unusual tactics and combat methods, was waiting for Elnor outside the holodeck. "What did you learn today, my young cousin?" he asked amiably. Safaath was one of Elnor's favorite instructors at the academy, and the feeling seemed to be mutual as Safaath often helped Elnor with extracurricular projects.
"I learned that I should always knock loudly on the inner airlock door when the outer one won't shut. If knocking doesn't work, perhaps screaming for help will."
"Yes," said Safaath, with as much of a smile as he ever allowed himself, "but were not the beings in the strange craft hostile?"
"It is logical to assume so," replied Elnor, embracing Vulcan logic for the moment, "but being held captive by hostile aliens beats being dead. While there's life, there's hope."
"Perhaps," agreed Safaath, "although I have heard it said that there are fates worse than death."
"I've heard that, too," agreed Elnor as they walked down the corridor towards Safaath's office. "I hope I never have to find out."
"You can do better than hope you never have to find out. You can prepare yourself with mental techniques for dealing with such things should you ever encounter them."
Elnor looked at him quizzically. "Will you help me develop these techniques?"
"I will," agreed Safaath, "when the time is right. It is not yet right."
Knowing not to argue with that, Elnor asked for the next best thing. "May we do another holodeck training session next week?"
"Absolutely. I find the scenarios you come up with to be. . . creative and enlightening." Safaath started to enter his office, then paused, turning back to Elnor. "Will you be spending the weekend with Admiral Picard again?" he asked.
"I do plan to, yes, is that a problem?" Elnor dreaded the day when Starfleet might tell him that it was inappropriate for a cadet to spend weekends with someone as highly ranked as Jean-Luc Picard. He knew some might see it differently, but for him those weekends were family time. He didn't ask for favors or expect Picard to pull strings for him. Helping him get into the Academy, as he wasn't a citizen of a Federation planet and needed a sponsor, was enough. Now all he wanted from Picard was the company of the father figure he'd never had as a child. Bracing himself for a lecture on how his visits were inappropriate, Elnor was taken completely off guard by Safaath's next comment.
"If I may offer a word of advice," the Vulcan said calmly, "whatever you decide to serve for dinner this weekend, please, do not under any circumstances allow anyone to tell you that raw taspar eggs are the Admiral's favorite food."
Elnor's eyes widened. How had word of that extracurricular activity gotten around already? It was only Monday afternoon! Did the whole campus know by now? The only person he'd mentioned it to was Nathan, his xenobiology lab partner. He needed to find Nathan and put a stop to this gossiping and rumor spreading as soon as possible! Somehow, he thought it might be too late though, if even Professor Safaath knew about it. Safaath wasn't exactly a chatterbox who either heard or passed along gossip. If only Starfleet didn't look down so strongly on one cadet strangling another! He'd be careful what he said to Nathan from now on though. And he'd still have a word with him about it.
To Safaath, Elnor said, "Thank you, sir, for the advice. Do you think it would be wise of me to attempt to reach some of Picard's friends from when he was captain of the Enterprise and ask their advice?"
"I think that would be very wise of you. Hopefully, you might even get some good advice. Good luck, and I will be looking forward to our next holodeck training session."
"Thank you again, sir," Elnor replied as Safaath retreated into his office.