Think Fast!

Posted on Sun Jul 3rd, 2022 @ 6:15pm by Lieutenant Xavier Leiko & Lieutenant Didrea Zade

Mission: Character Development
Location: USS Athena, Holodeck 2
Timeline: Between missions, set before "Seeking Answers"
2754 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Subtle little clicks from Zade's foosteps echoed in the holodeck as she entered, the doors hissing shut behind her. Her curls were up in a ponytail with a couple locks framing her face, and her water bottle was in her hand. Since she didn't pack much and wasn't planning to get the rest of her things from the Colossal until after the next mission, she wore her usual silver tank top and blue leggings, this time neglecting the windbreaker. While she waited for Xavier to arrive, she set up the space for a match of Velocity. After a couple of taps on the arch's wall panel, a table materialized with two phasers resting neatly on top while the room resized to the standard playing court. Personally, she preferred to use real phasers, but she already got in trouble with Zora once. The XO didn't need to hear a story about the new security chief damaging the holodeck, even if the game was played on the lowest phaser settings.

Leaving her water bottle next to the wall of the arch, Zade stepped into the holodeck to do some basic stretches to loosen up. Recalling the incident with Fenn, she opted to face the holodeck doors while stretching to make sure she didn't 'hit' Xavier when he walked in. From her single interaction with him while moving Benedict, she could reason that he wasn't as... annoying as Fenn, but she still wanted to be careful and see what Xavier's personality was really like.

Xavier needed something, anything to distract him at the moment so when Lieutenant Zade had suggested a game of velocity, he jumped at the chance. He walked into the holodeck to see the Trill doing her stretches, water and phaser ready. "I see someone is taking this very seriously," he joked as he walked further into the room. "If I beat you, you're not going to break my arm are you?"

Zade looked up when the doors opened and straightened, a very brief moment of self consciousness washing over her at his comment. "Hey, rolling ankles isn't fun," she joked back. A heavy sigh then followed when Xavier hinted at what was undoubtedly still the newest gossip the ship had heard in some time. It might be a while before she stopped being the talk of the ship. With some side-eye that implied 'I did not come here to talk about this,' she said, "I promise I won't. That was an accident."

"Now, you want a minute to warm up," she gestured to the phasers, "or are you 'serious' enough for the match?"

Xavier smiled as he started crossing his arms, the last thing he wanted was to hurt himself just to be told he had been warned. "It's definitely one way to make a first impression," he said as he balanced on one leg, pushing the heel of his right foot into his right butt cheek. "Half the people on the ship want to buy you a drink in thanks, the other half are terrified of you," he said with a smile as he switched legs.

If her implant could register groans, Xavier would have heard one from her. Instead, Zade closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, her other arm crossing in front of her to support the elbow. It was bad enough that a handful of the crew were placing bets, but knowing that some of the crew wanted to thank her did not sit well. Knowing half of the crew was terrified of her wasn't any better, though... she wanted mutual trust with the crew, not some power imbalance. "And which side do you fall on?" she asked hesitantly, her hand unmoving from her face. Part of her didn't want to know, but Zade knew that she needed to rebuild her reputation, and if it meant knowing how senior staff felt about her, then so be it.

Xavier stopped stretching to give the question some serious thought. "Well Tey is a good friend of mine, we've been through so much together and I love him dearly. However, I know him better than most and given the opportunity, I would gladly break his arm. Guess that means I owe you a drink?" He said with a huge grin. "Unless you want me to be scared of you?" He asked.

Opening her eyes, she caught Xavier's grin and frowned. "No, neither," Zade responded, perhaps a little too quickly. The hand on her face moved away from her and turned so the palm was facing him, in a casual 'stop right there' gesture. Taking a breath, she added, "I don't want people, especially senior officers, to be afraid of me. I certainly don't want people thanking me for the outcome of some silly misunderstanding." Knowing Xavier was friends with Fenn did put Zade slightly on guard, but he seemed nice enough to rule out that he'd behave the same way as Fenn.

Xavier frowned slightly, wondering why she had suddenly become more serious. He was reminded for the hundredth time that day that he no longer had his telepathic abilities and he started to feel that same empty feeling he was trying so hard to avoid. He mentally shook it off and gave her a smile, hoping it looked more genuine than he actually felt. "You ready to play?" He asked her, eager for the distraction.

"Sure," Zade replied, his smile easing her current emotions a little. It wasn't quite clear what she was feeling, but she hoped that shooting at an obnoxious little disk would help. She approached the stand and grabbed one of the two phasers. "Sorry if I came off..." Zade paused for a moment to find the right word. "... harsh, I guess? That whole incident with Fenn is not how I normally transfer to new ships, and being the talk of the ship is... surprisingly unnerving. I don't know how else to explain it." Giving him a small little smile, she asked, "red or blue?"

"No apologies necessary," Xavier said as he grabbed a phaser too, checking over the power settings and feeling the weight in his hand. "Either works for me," he answered noncommittally. "And don't worry about the crew, they have big mouths but short memories, it'll be forgotten soon enough. In fact, knowing Teyo, he's probably creating some drama now as we speak."

Nodding to the color response, Zade told the computer to assign red to herself and blue to Xavier, then to begin the first round. The small stand faded out of existence and a plate-sized disk appeared near the ceiling, blinking between red and blue as it went through its randomization sequence. Zade held the phaser in her left hand and prepared to point it at the disk. "I guess it goes beyond being spotlighted. I don't want people to be afraid of me," she said, watching the disk decide on the color red before zooming at her. Pausing, Zade sidestepped to dodge the disk, turning as it flew past so she could track it as it bounced off a couple walls. "... or of security in general. It just complicates things and makes it harder for me to do what I need to." She aimed her phaser at the disk and fired, the disk's color changing to blue at a successful contact before bouncing away.

"I think you might be overthinking it," Xavier replied as he watched as the disc's colour changed and started moving in his direction. As the game had only just started the disc was slower and easier to predict, he didn't waste too much time firing his phaser and watching as it changed its colour again to red. There was no point wasting energy during the first few hits, the disc would soon pick up speed and Xavier would soon be wiping sweat from his eyes. "I don't think this one incident will be your epitaph Lieutenant."

Zade tracked the disc as it moved, predicting several ways she could make it ricochet. "You're probably right," she said, aiming her phaser but watching the disc move for a couple moments longer before firing. The energy stream didn't hit the disc the way Zade wanted it to, making it travel to the right instead of up, and she frowned. Perhaps she should just let it go. She could tell she sat on this for too long, and she couldn't go back to change things, it just... puzzled her how strangely Fenn behaved over something so small. "I do want to ask," she began, her words slow as she thought them over. "... since you're friends with him. Does he normally blow up over little things, or is he just stubborn?"

"A little of nacelle one, a little of nacelle two if I'm being honest," Xavier said as he tracked the disc that was closing in on him. He tracked the even speed and knew exactly when he was going to fire. What he hadn't predicted was that the disc would change speed slightly en route towards his head. He ducked in the nick of time, twisted around and fired at the disc, sending it back towards the Trill. "He's made a lot of mistakes recently, I think it affecting his judgement, if he had any to begin with."

The disc was close enough to Zade that she didn't have enough time to dodge it. She ducked out of habit, but the disc still contacted her shoulder before disappearing. "Impact detected. Round one winner: Leiko." the computer announced in its monotone voice.

"Nice timing," Zade commented, straightening herself from her attempted dodge. The impact, while felt, was more like a nudge than an actual impact, as if someone tapped her shoulder. There wasn't really anything she could have done in that situation unless she had been ready to fire immediately after Xavier, but that would mean tracking the disc while keeping an eye on when he fired, which was more effort than it was worth, at least for a game. She told the computer to start the next round, and the disc appeared above them before flashing red and blue again. "Affecting judgement... in what way, if that isn't prying too much?"

"Not prying at all," Xavier said as he watched the disc alternate between colours. "It's a small ship and if there's one thing Tey is good at it's feeding the rumour mill. Where to start? His behaviour with you, for one thing. The fact that he-" Xavier had to stop midsentence as he realised that the disc was whizzing towards him at an alarming speed. He took a step backwards, tripped over his feet and fell to the ground.

"Impact detected. Round two winner: Zade," the computer announced after the disc disappeared into Xavier's chest.

"Short round," Xavier said a little sheepishly as he pulled himself to his feet.

Zade was surprised at the short round because her focus was on the disc, and when it disappeared she found herself staring at Xavier on the ground. She relaxed her stance as she watched him stand. "It happens." It was only the second round and the disc had sped up significantly, which meant that the last few rounds were going to be intense. Mentally, she started putting herself into training mode so she could keep up with the disc when the next round started. "You were saying?"

"I was saying, maybe I should my eye on the game instead of focusing on Kateyo Fenn," Xavier said a little sheepishly, suddenly wondering if this was her tactic, to keep him distracted so that she won the game. He lowered into more of a crouching position and rested on the balls of his feet, ready to move in either direction when the disc made up its mind which colour it was going to be.

Zade raised an eyebrow as she got ready to react, adjusting the grip on the phaser. It was not what he was going to say, bit for some reason he didn't want to talk about it. "Suit yourself." After an agonizingly slow moment, the disc turned red, and Zade moved to her right to get out of the way of the disk speeding towards her. It was a bit fast for round three, but it wasn't anything Zade couldn’t handle. Listening hard, she heard the disc bounce off two walls behind her as she turned to keep track of it, readying her phaser. By the time she laid eyes on the disc again, it was already on its way toward her, so she fired the phaser and changed the disc color to blue.

"Nice reactions," Xavier said, as he watched the disc making its way towards him, not taking his eyes from it for a second. He watched as it bounced from the wall and made its way towards his head, he fired at it and rolled to the right, just in case he missed, he hadn't and it had already changed colour and was heading back to Zade. "I was just saying, he's a bit reckless," he continued, not wanting to alienate his new friend, "he acts without consequence and on a starship that can be dangerous."

At first, the Trill didn’t say anything, her focus on the disc whizzing toward her. She sidestepped to avoid the disc after Xavier hit it, then gripped the phaser with both hands as she followed the graceful arc of the disc as it moved to ricochet off the wall. So much for not focusing on Fenn. "Thanks," she said, understandably distracted. She dodged it again, a duck and turn as the disc flew at where her head was, and this time she aimed the phaser after righting herself, tracking the disc's movement with her eyes. "You're right, that can be dangerous." She paused for a moment, then added, "I'll admit, I could tell something was off when he and I first met. I could see he was angry at something and wanted to take it out, which is why I challenged him to a spar. Taking it out on someone else would have been way more paperwork."

Spotting an opening, Zade fired and hit the edge of the disc, sending it into an unstable wobble that made her smirk. With the default settings, the wobble would last about ten seconds before it stabilized, and in that time the momentum of the disc could go anywhere. It was a trick she learned by accident.

Xavier tried to track the unpredictable trajectory of the disc but in truth, Zade had hit it perfectly and he was struggling to keep his eye on its position. He fired his phaser, but he missed and the disc slammed into him, disappearing as it did so. He was frustrated with himself for not focusing enough on his game, his competitive nature coming out. "Looks like my head isn't in the game," he said, feigning a smile, but underneath burning with anger at himself.

He normally loved this game, and though not an expert, he could normally pull off some decent moves, but today was different, he was different. He knew what that difference was but tried not to focus on it, which made him think about it more. He had zero idea what Zade was going to do next because he wasn't in her head, he couldn't even sense her in the room. It was like being on the holodeck but without the fun. She was a hologram to him, or he was a hologram of himself. He looked like Xavier, talked like Xavier, but he didn't quite know who exactly he was. And that thought scared him.

"Maybe we should call it a day?" Xavier said suddenly.

Zade looked at him, picking up a sort of frustration from him. She could tell in his body language, a sort of tension in his shoulders, but also in his shift in interest in the game. "Sure," she said, relaxing her stance. "We can pick it up again another time." There was a pause before she asked, "you alright?"

"I'll be okay," Xavier said as he started collecting his things. "My head just isn't in the game today, too much going on up here," he added as he pointed to his temple. "We'll have a rematch soon, I promise," and he left the court before the young Trill could reply to him.