Hanging around
It was mid-day when Alice and Stryker entered the Academy cafeteria. They joined Lucida and Enzo at their table and sat down. Deanne arrived next, and set her tray down. She looked at Enzo and said happily, "Rat boy."
"Fat cow." came the reply.
"Just once, could you two be civilized ?" Lucida sighed. "Just once ?"
"We are related. Getting along is impossible." Deanne said. Enzo laughed quietly, Lucida scowled down at him.
"I see your head has shrunk." Deanne replied, turning to Enzo. "It's not as big as I remember it."
Alice just rolled her eyes. "I see you've lost that gained weight. On both sides." Enzo replied, with a sly grin.
Deanne turned, true anger gleaming from her eyes, but instead she leaned over him. With a sweet smile, she said, "Tonight, when you're all nestled and snugly in your bed. I'm going to come in and strangle you."
"You say that all the time." he retorted. "And you never do it."
"Of course not." Deanne said, looking over her shoulder. "Too many witnesses."
"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Lucida yelled, her rage compounded with stress and lack of sleep. The cafeteria fell silent. Someone let out a soft cough, otherwise the entire room was quiet.
Lucida's eyes turned crimson red, which was scary enough to make the siblings gulp. "Uh, I better go." Enzo said nervously, squirming under Lucida's glare. He left in a hurry. It took Deanne a few seconds longer to recompose herself and follow Enzo.
After the day's last class ended; Ray, Stryker, Alice, MRess and Lucida sat on the grass of the athletics stadium inside the academy grounds. "Well, I guess running speed is just in the Caitian blood," Lucida said with a smirk after MRess completed an entire lap (400 meters) around the field in 31 seconds.
"I guess you are right," MRess said. After a pause he asked, "So what is in Sprite blood ?"
Lucida considered her answer carefully. Ingenuity. Hate. Love. Pride. Progress. But all of these were just as true of other races as they were of Sprites.
"Sex," she answered, simply.
MRess laughed. "Well, I suppose you're right about that!" he said with a wry smile.
Lucida combadge beeped, "Commander Data to Cadet Lucida."
She tapped her combadge, "Lucida here sir."
"Please report to my class room."
"On my way sir." Lucida tapped her combadge off. "I will catch you with everyone when I am get back."
"She will get herself knee-deep in trouble again." MRess commented.
"She sure will." Alice agreed watching Lucida leave. Lucida stopped in her tracks and opened her mouth to whine and protest being picked on, but instead she sighed out loud and shaking her head as she walked away.
Mouse looked at her wrist watch. "Got to run guys. I have to pick Rish up and babysit for the afternoon."
Lucida walked along the long main corridors, nodding to fellow cadets and instructors.
She finally made it to a door at the end of a particularly long corridor and knocked on the door of Data's class room. "Come in," come the reply.
Lucida entered the room cautiously. "Please sit down cadet."
She was halfway to the appointed chair when someone was knocking frantically on the door. "Come in." Data said.
Wiuen rushed in and slammed the door behind him. "How do you lock it ?" he asked quickly.
"Press the button on the keypad." Data answered, perplexed. Wiuen locked the door. Suddenly, they heard yelling coming from behind the door. "Wiuen, you get the hell out here right NOW!"
Lucida knew that voice, Alice. "You get out here so I can kick your sorry butt!" someone else threatened. This, Lucida thought, must have been Cariahn.
"What did you do, Wiuen ?" she asked.
Wiuen rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Well, Enzo and I sort of threw water balloons at a few people."
Data turned to Lucida. "Perhaps we should continue this later."
Lucida nodded in agreement. She walked over to the door and yelled to the angry cadets on the other side. "I'm coming out, so please don't kill me." She unlocked the door and stepped out.
"She is brave stepping out there into that war zone." Wiuen said as he locked the door again.
Upon exiting Data's office, Lucida saw Cariahn, Alice, Mouse and MRess were drenched and quite angry. "Uh, hi. I was just leaving."
Cariahn stopped her. "Is he still in there ?" She never seen Cariahn get mad before. Her white hair was messed up, it looked terrible, reminding Lucida of a wet sheep dog. A very very mad wet sheep dog. It was scary.
Lucida nodded quite quickly. Cariahn let her pass. But she watched in amazement as the three girls started trying to break down the door again. Further down the corridor Enzo come running down the stairs with Stryker catching up with him, "Get him !"
MRess blocked his easiest exit. Enzo turned, dashing through the front doors. Running across the grass, Stryker closed the distance and tackled him. Alice arrived next as Stryker was pining him down. Alice looked at him with an unimpressed gaze. Enzo knew they had him now, "Alice, I don't need any more chiding."
"Okay." Alice responded in an uncaring tone, crossing her arms with a slight smile as Mouse arrived. "What shall we do to him ?"
"Will he fit in a locker ?"
"Only if we fold him a few times." Stryker suggested.
A great, big mess
When Mouse did not return, Alice and Stryker decided to pay her a visit. Alice knocked on the door. Mouse opened it and was surprised to see Alice. "Hi Alice, hi Lizard breath. Please come in."
Stryker was hit by the unmistakable smell of a baby in the house. A teenager started coming down the stairs to see who the visitors were. Mouse spotted him and told him to come over. "Hey guys, this is my brother, Rish Shrint. Please come in."
Mouse, Rish, Stryker and Alice sat down in the living room when a baby started crying from the kitchen. Mouse stood up "Sorry Alice, I will be back. I am in the middle of feeding Garnet."
"Need help ?" Alice asked.
"I got it, thanks."
Garnet giggled and banged the spoon on her high chair tray, splattering mashed peas everywhere. "C'mon, give the spoon back to me," Mouse pleaded.
The baby sucked her banana covered fingers and thought about that. Then she smiled at Mouse and put the spoon down. Mouse grabbed it up. "Eat some, Please ?"
Garnet showed her hand to Mouse, the banana-covered one. "Mo," she said.
"No more bananas, Garnet. You ate them all up. "
"Mo!" Garnet Till Shrint screamed, banging her fists on her chair, sending fragments of food flying.
"No more !" Mouse warned with an icy voice, her temper barely contained. She tapped Garnet's hands. This set off the baby, starting another round of banging fists and flying food.
By the time her tantrum ended, there was food particles everywhere: on the floor, on the table, on Mouse, Garnet even had peas in her hair. When Mouse refused to give her more bananas, Garnet started crying again. "Please stop crying. Plllllllllllllllease!" Mouse pleaded with the stubborn baby. "I know what will cheer you up."
Garnet stopped crying for a second, curious as to what Mouse meant. The baby was quite intelligent, aided by an unusually strong empath ability. Mouse picked her up and threw her little sister into the air. Garnet squealed in delight.
Rish, Stryker and Alice was sitting in awkward silence. Alice was first break the silence. "So, Rish, what did you do in school today ?"
"Nothing," he said dully.
"Nothing ?" Alice echoed, "What did you do, just sit there all day ?"
"I do not know about the others, but that's what I did." Rish simply replied.
"What do you mean? Doesn't your teacher assign you homework ?"
"Yeah, but I've done it all before. I'm bored."
Another awkward silence followed. "Mouse doesn't like you." Rish remarked, looking at Stryker.
Stryker shifted his jaw to the left, smiling. "I have always adored kids."
Alice looked at him, wondering what he is up to. "... But I could never eat a whole kid in one day." Stryker finished.
Rish laughed uneasily. "You are joking, right ?"
Stryker shifted his jaw to the right, thereby unlocking it and letting it drop. Rish could see two secondary rows of tiny teeth. "No, I am NOT." Stryker said flatly, passing his tongue over his upper row of teeth.
Rish mumbled some absurd excuse and exited the room hastily. "That was very mean." Alice told him. He restored his jaw to its former position and started laughing when they heard a scream of aggravation and anger.
Alice and Stryker got up quickly and ran into the large kitchen. Upon seeing the source of the scream, they did their best to surpress their laugh. Mouse's blouse and left shoulder was covered in the former content of Garnet's stomach.
Alice retorted, "You know Mouse. A wise person once said, if you are going to throw a baby up in the air, make sure she have not eaten any dinner yet."
Mouse was in tears now, somewhere between murderous rage and frustration. Alice switched to crisis mode, "Stryker take the baby."
Before he could protest, the baby was in his arms, while Alice led Mouse to the bathroom.
Fists of fury
Ray, Stryker and Alice was in the waiting room to the infirmary, moaning about their injuries. Deanne and Cariahn just went it when a pair of medics called their names.
"Honest, I feel fine," mumbled Ray through the cold pack he held on his lip. "It was a good match."
"I thought the training went well," offered Alice with a smirk.
"That's because you had them falling at your feet," Ray insisted.
Stryker stood quietly with arms across his chest. He was watching Ray intently and moved quickly to help him when the man suddenly lurched forward, "Damn, my stomach feels--"
Alice and Stryker got him to the bathroom before he made a mess on the floor. Alice got a washcloth to clean up Ray's face. "Welcome to the world of concussions." Stryker said.
"I thought it would just be that short blackout," said Ray.
"Headache, vertigo, nausea, they can all come and go," Stryker said. He added in a self-deprecating tone, "I should know."
"I didn't feel this bad when Wiuen beat me," Ray complained.
"You were probably aching too much from your other injuries to notice."
Mouse looked happy, "And here I thought we did really well."
"You did. First MRess got in trouble, then Deanne. I should have known her knockout was a bad omen," Stryker muttered.
"She did look a bit green," Ray said as he lifted the cold pack to his mouth again.
"From the knockout or the flirting Enzo and Sito Jaxa were doing?" asked Alice.
Ray managed a light smile at her comment, but shook his head as he gathered his thoughts. "I knew this would be a bad idea."
"The fight's over, or has it just began ?" Stryker wondered, outloud.
Trail by fire
The next morning. Sunday. four-thirty AM. Very early, by student standards. The cadets received a rude awakening when the red alert klaxon screeched through the quiet night. Cariahn sat up ran her hands back through her sleep-disheveled hair and tried to slow the frantic beating of her heart, "What is going on ?
"Computer, lights!" Enzo ordered.
A whistle sounded to signal an announcement was going to be made. "Attention first year cadets. Get dressed and assemble outside. NOW!" Captain Williams ordered over the comm.
This drew a collective groan from the first year cadets while their seniors made fun at their misfortune before returning to bed, to enjoy another three hours of sleep.
"Seven minutes, twenty seconds. Too slow!" Lieutenant Lili Marquette scolded every one of the ninety-eight cadets assembled in front of her.
She was joined by her yeoman Elisa Maza, and the Williams sisters. "If you were this slow to get to battlestations on a space station or starbase, it'd blown up by now."
No one dared whisper a word or protest. "Based on your profiles, I have chosen twelve team leaders while everyone else will be participating as victims in a search and rescue simulation." she said. "This is not on a holodeck exercise. This is the real thing. Real fire and smoke. The entire building is rigged. This is similiar to what fire fighters were trained on, over 300 years ago."
Elisa handed her another PADD. "Team leaders. Step forward when I call your name." Marquette ordered. "Tracey Gordon, Hesnma, Tony Jay, Valeris, Domonique Destine, Julie Patterson." she paused. "QinAtaya Aede, Lalissa Tyler, Stryker, Boo Prince, Rei Ayanami and Ceas Noss."
When they stepped forward, she announced, "Team leaders, you have thirty seconds to choose a team mate. And the mission leader and search and rescue coordinator will be MRess. Cadet MRess, choose an assistant."
Stryker thought about the twenty or so people he knew. As a teammate, who would be most useful on a search and rescue mission ?
The 'victims' were beamed to the secret location first. An hour later, the 'rescue' teams joined them, scattered across a one kilometer radius. To make the early morning even worse, it started raining.
"Confirmed. Seventy four lifesigns, most are unconscious." Deanne informed 'Commander' MRess as the simulation started. The large monitor in front of her displayed red dots to represent the rescue teams that were scattered across a two kilometer radius.
They were standing in Stellar Cartography onboard the Ambassador class, USS Audacity hanging in static orbit of the simulation area, just north of San Francisco proper. Elisa Muza supervised the visual recordings of MRess's actions as well as the action of the ground for later review. Deanne was nervous, but having Yeoman Muza standing behind her certainly did not help matters.
After directing the Patterson, Taylor and Ayanami's teams towards their destination, MRess contacted Stryker and Lucida. "Team eight. Take the north wing of the building. There is seven people on the ground floor."
"Hey, cutie." Cariahn called Stryker over the group com-link. He smiled wryly as she received several harsh words from Captain Williams.
Stryker and Lucida approached from the north cliff. The sun starting to rise in the east. The burning building was located in a small valley, nearly on a beach. "Yes sir. We're on it." Just need to climb down 60 meters of rock without any kind of equipment. No sweat, right ?
He looked around again. I figure it would take about ten minutes to either climb down this cliff or simply walk down. He looked at the ocean beyond the edge. Less than two minutes if ...
Brilliant idea!
Stryker suddenly scooped Lucida up and dashed forward. She responded by grabbing his neck tightly as he leapt over the edge. "I CAN'T SWIM !"
"You are joking, right ?" he asked her. Lucida's face and eyes turned burgundy with fury as she glared at him.
"Uh my ..." Stryker replied. They hit the water a second later.
Lucida broke the surface with a loud gasp. Stryker held her head above the water as they made their way to the beach.
"Hey I am starving. Speed up the rescue, eh? I need my breakfast." Kimberly Ryan chipped in over the group com-link.
"Grow up !" Deanne scolded her. "Go take your position. The rescue teams will be arrive there any minute now." MRess contacted team one, "Mouse, Tracey Gordon. Please proceed to the western wing, third floor. At least five people in that section."
"Mouse ?" Rachel Skarsten complained over the comlink. "You placed my life in the hands of a maniac ?"
"Oy, I heard that!" Mouse announced. Tracey laughed quietly.
"Stop joking around." Captain Williams warned everyone. "The next person with a smart remark will have 10 taken off."
Deanne pointed out at several lifesigns on the monitor. "Team three. Valeris and Soleta, proceed quickly the east wing, fourth floor. There is two science labs in your section. Eight or nine lifesigns in there. Search there first." MRess ordered.
"Aye sir." the two Vulcans echoed.
Walking through the shallow surf, Stryker held Lucida in his arms. She shivered and rubbed her arms rapidly in an attempt to warm them up. He put her down on the beach, "I'll kill you later. Let's get this over with." Lucida told him.
Lucida and Stryker ran towards the burning building. Three of the other rescue teams was in sight now as well.
Lucida and Stryker down a corridor of the burning building. The ceiling glowed an ominous red, and smoke was sinking from the high vents. Part of the ceiling suddenly collapsed, they jumped to safety. "Are you injuried ?" Stryker yelled among the dust and the flames in the distance.
"I am fine."
They struggled to reach basement level six. Fires blocked off almost every direct route including the service crawl spaces. After reporting to the locations of the obstructions, MRess and Deanne coordinated the other teams towards reach these sections to search for survivors.
He crawled forward, his eyes stung from the heat and smoke. His hand found something. A body. Upon futher touch-examination he discovered its a leg. He felt upwards along the leg and found a hip. Female for sure.
Candace Enjo sat up and slapped him in the face, "Hey, watch it !"
His vision cleared slightly, "Sorry."
She glared at him. "Your supposed to be unconscious, remember ?" he said.
"Mphm, I don't like to be carried around." she said.
"Tough luck. Unconscious victims cannot rescue themselves."
Choking, Lucida dragged a Bolian male from the smoke filled laboratory and hit the button for manual vent control to clear the air. Tracey and Mouse arrived next and helped Lucida by carrying the Bolian the rest of the way.
Stryker and Lucida returned to their search area. A lot of debris covered the floor in this section of level five.
Lucida sighed when they reached a forcefield, Stryker nearly walked into it if Lucida did not stop him when she did. About 40 meters from the forcefield, a figure of a white lab coat scientist could be seen, lying on the floor in the smoky fog ahead. The two looked at each other and simultaneously stated, "Alice."
"Damn, the controls are on the other side." Stryker said, looking around.
"Alice, wake up!" Lucida said. Between the noise of fires and the distance, Alice was not likely going to hear Lucida's screams.
I wish we had a few tools to work with. Stryker started thinking. I guess this was meant to be a puzzle solving situation.
"She can't hear us." Lucida said, stating the obvious.
"There is another way to call her." replied Stryker. "One that she will hear for sure."
"How ?" asked Lucida, suspicion colouring her voice.
"I will explain it in a minute." Stryker said. "For now, just cover your ears."
Lucida covered her ears as tightly as possible, she nodded for Stryker to go ahead. He took a deep breath and screamed.
It was not like any sound Lucida had ever heard though. If the pitch had been slightly higher, Lucida would not have heard it at all. As things were, the strange, almost subsonic scream reverberated through the hallway and bounced around inside her skull. Lucida fought the urge to let out a scream of her own; it felt like her eardrums were about to collapse.
Then it was all over in a few seconds. Stryker has impressive lung power, Lucida thought as her head threatened to explode. She tentatively let go of her ears, hoping that the ringing in them was not evidence of permanent damage. "What the hell was that ?"
Stryker smiled. "Its how you comminicate under water." he said. "Its a lot louder on land though. Alice heard it."
"Of course Alice heard it." Lucida exclaimed. "I think people in other cities heard it!"
Alice groaned as she picked herself up. "I'am up, I'am up!" Alice said, letting go of her ears.
"Ow, my head hurts," Lucida groaned as she shook her head slowly.
"That scream will wake the dead." Alice told them.
"What is going on ?" Captain Williams yell-demanded on the comlink.
"Just a little creative thinking to wake others up." Stryker replied.
"Don't do that again. Audacity out." Captain Williams told him.
"Alice, we need you to take down this forcefield." Stryker explained.
"Right." Alice replied, nodding. "And just how, o great and mysterious Stryker, am I supposed to do that ?"
"Everyone is a comedian." Lucida sighed in annoyance.
Pun-ishment
Thankfully, the morning's scheduled classes was cancelled to allow everyone to recuperate.
After a two hour nap, a fresh change of clothes and breakfast, Alice and Deanne went looking for Stryker.
Deanne saw his scaly green head first, standing out in the crowd and walked over. "Hey Stryker."
The crowd laughed at something he said. The Edenian turned around and noticed she was not laughing. He smiled, "You have no sense of humar ?"
She pointed a finger at him, "Wiuen, right ?"
He laughed and nodded.
Crazy about you
He yawned.
The moon rose slowly in the night sky. Faint starlight decorating the sky and the long, wide windows as Stryker walked down the 6th floor hallway towards his quad room. He felt dead tired as he passed several other cadets along the way. Rain Williams proberly stalking around to keep an eye on everyone.
He reached his destination and walked in. The Andorian was sitting at her workstation, Mouse and Enzo did not return yet. Cariahn winked at him as the doors closed themselves behind him.
He let out a deep sigh, Oh no, not you again !
Was she waiting for me ?
He literally fell on his bed, face down and remained motionless for several minutes. Even though he was not looking at her, he could tell she was staring at him. He detected an odd smell in the air and it took him a while to figure what it was. Something else was unusual too, her breathing was slightly faster than usual and louder.
The realization hit him like a brickwall. Pheromones. Very potent Andorian pheromones. Which can only mean one thing ...
He shivered at the idea as it took hold. Great Light, she is trying to attract me !
He left the room in a great hurry. WHY ME !
Stryker walked along the classic red-brick buildings of the Academy. He was fuming, certain there is nothing he can do to make Cariahn stop trying to attract him. Or at the very least, leave him alone.
Stryker eventually sat down on a bench. "What is the matter ?" a mysterious voice asked from behind him.
"Andorian problems." he said without turning around.
The owner of the voice sat down next to him. "Deanne !" he nearly exclaimed. Deanne suddenly was so caught up in chiding herself, several long seconds passed without her having said anything. Stryker didn't want to send her off, he knew how shy she is. "I am sorry. Please, sit down. Deanne willed herself to sit down, Stryker would hear her breathing was somewhat faster than normal.
Stryker looked ahead at the trees and flowers, "You are staring at me again. I noticed you try to study me or something."
"You sure are different from the usual races you would find on Earth." Deanne said. "What Andorian problems are you having ?"
"My roommate, Cariahn."
"Sorry. I am not experienced when it comes to Andorians." Deanne said.
A minute of silence passed between them. "You get along with Mouse ?" she asked.
"My nemesis? Yes. We get along fine. Just like a house on fire." he answered.
Deanne laughed. "She has that effect on most people."
"The only reason why I put up with her is Alice." he admitted.
"It is difficult to be around Mouse." Deanne told him.
"We should stick together." Stryker said. "Help each other out. And I'll tell you what. I promise to give Mouse more grief on your behalf."
She smiled. "I was not sure of what to you make of you at first. You are rather imitating. But you have a good heart. I am so sorry about not trusting you."
"Friends ?" she offered.
He nodded. "Friends."
Panic
The scenery was beautiful. Heian period, Japan. Green rolling hills surrounding them, pristine mountains to the north.
Alice was wearing a stylized emerald green martial arts outfit, with a gold trim and a matching brief. A white lotus flower emblazoned on the back, her hair was pulled back and tied in two braids. Stryker was similarly dressed, his uniform was purple.
Two wooden swords came together a few times, clashing before Stryker caught hers. "Alice, you're trying to fence. You're trying to hit my sword."
Alice yanked at her sword, but Stryker might as well have still been made of stone. "So ?"
Stryker sighed, letting the sword go. Alice staggered back. "This is not for show, or for a contest. It's not your job to hit my sword, it your job to hit me. It's my job to make sure you hit my sword."
"I will try."
Foolish move, he thought. Alice's sword met his with a loud report, and immediately disengaged to come around. She swung at his head. Stryker ducked beneath the swing, stabbed his sword up at her arm. Alice twisted awkwardly out of its way, and managed to manoeuvre her sword into a clumsy block to deflect Stryker's next blow.
The two separated. Alice edged in slightly closer.
She lunged, but Stryker turned sideways and brought his sword down on top of hers, pushing it to the ground. She overbalanced and fell. "A tip," Stryker said as he helped her up. "Stop aiming for my head."
He knew she was a fast learner. Alice herself was well-versed in martial arts and definitely faster and better than Stryker. She never tried weapons before though.
Alice spat out a leaf. "Why ?"
Stryker stuck his sword in the ground and sat on a log. "The head is a small target and the most manoeuvreable part of the body, partially because the neck is so limber, but mostly because it's on top."
She thought about this, but did not understand. "Move your head." Stryker told her.
She shook it. "Now move your head without moving your neck."
Alice had to think about that, but twisted her torso. "Now without moving your waist."
She bent at the knees. Stryker pulled his sword from the ground. "Now don't move your head at all." he said, and swung.
She felt a moment of panic. How can I protect myself without moving my head ?
Her own sword swung up and fast, cracking loudly against Stryker's. "See ?" he said.
Alice started verbelly assaulting him for that dirty trick when the emergency klaxon went off.
Stryker felt a premonition of fear, and something really bad is going to happen. The same feelings that usually hits when its too late. Alice tried to slow the frantic beating of her heart, "What is going on ?"
A whistle sounded over the comminication system. "Attention all staff and students. Red Alert. Planetry wide red alert has been issued by the Federation President." the Andorian voice said in a choked voice over the comm. "This is not a drill. Report to the Lynn Johnson Athletic Center."
Stryker and Alice rushed towards their destination.
Stryker sensed the confusion present in the room. This is replaced by sheer panic when someone was heard telling her friend, "The Borg is attacking. A transwarp conduit has opened, one lightyear from Earth."
Stryker suddenly wanted to take up arms and fight instead of sitting here. As minutes ticked by slowly, rumours started going around, Captain Roberta Williams returned to her ship, the Pretoria, and rushed it out of spacedock. A small armada including the Callisto, Challenger and Prometheus is assembling around the conduit.
Panic and fear was rapidly building when the intercom sounded again, Rain Williams's voice could be heard, "Stand down alert status. The crisis is over. More details will be announced later today."
Nine hours later.
A thousand cadets, was joined another two thousand, Starfleet officers and civilians looked up as an Intrepid class starship, touched down gently. Anti-matter fireworks was launched, dazzling explosions of every colour filled the night sky.
The cadets stood as honour guard when the infamous crew of the starship Voyager started walking out. The air literally exploded with cheers. The next day or two is going to be one celebration after another., Alice thought, her friends standing around her. She caught Stryker looking at her for a split second, then he looked away.
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Chapter
Boredom
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