Down a Peg or Ten, Part 1

Posted on Tue Apr 18th, 2023 @ 5:36am by Lieutenant Didrea Zade & Lieutenant Alexis Ryan

Mission: Wrath of the People
Location: Starfleet Academy
Timeline: MD3 :: morning
2713 words - 5.4 OF Standard Post Measure

It had been, Alex had realised when she'd finally taken the time to calculate, a little while since she'd spent any time on Earth. As much as she'd been grounded for a good two years, the shipyards had been their own distraction and it wasn't typically in the scientist's disposition to seek shoreleave if there was work to be done. Especially motivating work that others found bafflingly boring, like combing through code to find programming errors. Whilst her colleagues had taken off to stretch their legs, Alexis had stayed behind and enjoyed the solitude. Home for her, after all, wasn't exactly a stone's throw away and spending a week in a transport only to have to turn around almost immediately and come back again didn't appeal.

She had been highly tempted, if she was honest, to offer to sit out this particular jaunt too. As it was, she'd been one of the last of the senior officers to make use of their priority leave, content enough to use the change of pace to finish up her work on Athena's system updates. Zade's message had been ambiguous enough to pique her interest, however, and Alex had paused long enough to realise that she was falling back into old habits that didn't serve her particular well in the long term. Getting the job done was important but so was getting to know the people whose lives depended on your decisions, and who were likewise entrusted with your own safety. She'd spent a good solid hour with the Security Chief during her open-carry recertification; responding to the Trill's request for 'tactical backup to put some cadets in their place' had come close to sounding fun. She'd come dressed as requested, ready to exert herself, and had pulled her hair back off her face into a ponytail as a sort of preemptive guess that peripheral vision was going to be important. Now, waiting as instructed by the disembarkation point, Alexis contented herself with people-watching and occasionally smiling at those who noticed her.

A couple minutes later, Zade showed up. After Ryan's recertification, the Trill was left rather impressed. While she knew of her history from her file, it was still surprising to see a scientist with a hell of an aim. Zade had her hair braided back and was in a pair of durable leggings and a short sleeve shirt. "Glad you could make it," she said when she got close enough. She gave the woman a smile that held just a hint of mischief. "Professor Sorel is one of the instructors in the security and tactical part of the Academy, and he often uses laser tag to teach the cadets about teamwork and strategy. He's also notorious for inviting alumni to assist in these lessons. I happened to get an invite once he found out we were coming to Earth, and I asked if I could bring a plus one." There was a hint of excitement in her eyes, indicating that Zade was looking forward to this. It was one of her favorite classes, because she got to actually practice what she learned. It also always put cocky cadets in their places, which was just satisfying to watch.

Given the instructions, Alex had guessed at something physically-oriented. She had not come close to anything like this with her speculations, however. Eyebrows hitched, she considered the prospect for a moment and then dipped her head in approval. "It's been a while since I've seen the course."

It was merely an observation, a recollection of an aspect of her training that she'd all-but forgotten about. Alexis had embarked on her Science Degree having already had the relevant experience to fly through the security training aspect in theory but there had been an eye injury that required compensation. One day, she'd take the time away from work to have the transplant and be done with the need for her visor for this kind of thing, but all these years later and it was hard to argue that she was in any kind of rush. Some things served as important reminders.

In the meantime, she'd learned to regain a decent measure of her accuracy on her own terms. Spending time on the range with Zade had turned out to be a surprisingly good way to wind down from their previous mission and every temptation to hyper-analyse what could have been done to improve the results. Falling into step beside the Trill, Alex asked, "So, is it just us?"

"From our ship, yes," Zade responded, leading the way. "I heard there might be someone from the Thunderbird too, but we'll find out when we get there." She was curious to see the young cadets now that she was long graduated. Around this time in the second year they had enough skill to do these scenarios, but they lacked experience. The third years had the skill, but they tended to stick to what they were taught, which was a hard lesson Sorel basically beat out of them. Part of her hoped they got the third year students, because it meant she and Alexis didn't have to hold back. "Sorel does tend to change the course each year, but the general layout is the same. Cadets on one side, us on the other, first to tag out the entire opposing team wins. We get mock phaser rifles and vests with targets on them, and the course would have plenty of spots for cover. This is typically a weapons-only simulation, but the main rule has always been 'be prepared for anything'."

"Almost as if to simulate life in the field," Alex observed with a faint smile. It was difficult at times to cast her mind back to the early days, especially as her experience with training had been deeply informed by a crucial portion of her childhood that had instilled the mentality of war a little too effectively. People were surprised when Alex confided that she'd come out of the Dominion War with massive anger issues, being more or less of such an even-natured temperament now that people found her hard to read. Not exactly secretive, not exactly forthcoming, surprisingly few sharp edges and yet nobody wanted to test the damage that could be done with those that did exist. She certainly remembered these training exercises, and the frustration that came from having to endure the recklessness of the naïve and overly-confident, but she'd been a long way past temper tantrums even by then. If anything, the pocket of her life that had been her Starfleet Academy experience was the most responsible for her sense of resigned tolerance.

She could appreciate the eagerness in Zade's tone though.

"So, any tried-and-true tactic you want to try first?," the scientist gently teased, capitulating without question to the Trill's unspoken petition for squad leader.

"We could probably just stand there and still beat them," Zade said with a joking smile. "I was thinking of fanning out and shooting from multiple angles to make it seem like there are more of us. Easy, but effective, but it all depends on the field layout. I do know that cadets around the time they take this class tend to expect things coming at them from one direction, so a multi-angle approach would be valuable to them. Door on the left." At the door Zade gestured to, there was a steady stream of students entering, all chatting with varying levels of excitement and nervousness about the upcoming class. They knew ahead of time that it was 'practical scenarios' day, which the students knew was basically extreme laser tag, except they were graded on it.

The doors led onto a balcony that overlooked the field, which was set up very similar to a small cargo hold. Crates of various sizes were stacked in a way that provided several cover spots but equally as many little corridors to navigate the field. There was a large open space in the middle of the field with what looked like supplies resting on top of some crates.

Near the back of the balcony was the instructor of the hour. Black hair with a few grey streaks, trimmed precisely to elongate his features while retaining a classic minimalist style, the faintest of wrinkles accenting varying degrees of stress over his lifetime, a stoic gaze as he watched the students enter. Spotting the Trill he had invited, he gave her a nod and raised his hand as she approached. "Lieutenant Zade, welcome back. It has been a long time."

Zade smiled at the Vulcan as she returned the greeting with her own hand. "Thanks, professor. I couldn't turn down an opportunity to help out with this lesson." Gesturing to Alex, she added, "this is Lieutenant Alexis Ryan, Chief Science Officer on the Athena."

Alexis enjoyed working alongside Vulcans, they were uncomplicated company and tended to be undemanding of her attention. If she paused to extrapolate that out further, she might have arrived at the conclusion that her endeavours on board the Avalon had been aided significantly by P'rel's demeanour as well as her contribution but Alex wasn't thinking about the Intel Chief right then. She inclined her head once in greeting. "Always keen for a trip down memory lane." To an extent, anyway. It wasn't the time to get into that either.

Sorel returned the head gesture to the woman. In all his years teaching this very course, he had yet to have a scientist participate in this drill. It was more common to see engineers or operations officers accompany the tactical officers, maybe the occasional marine if the ship had them, and far more common than that to have the guests consist entirely of security personnel. "I was not expecting a science officer in attendance, but I am confident Lieutenant Zade chose wisely."

Alex's lips quirked in faint humour. "Very much the most recent development in my career." From one of the clips on her belt, the redhead drew out her eyepiece; tactical focus, adjusted to her specific prescription, basic function as it was missing the component that slotted into its side that granted extra-sensory information. Up until such time as she decided to sideline herself long enough to transplant the damaged eye, it was part of her military pension. Alex got the feeling the Vulcan would recognise it for what it was.

The Trill gave the man a smile. "She's got a fine aim, I'm sure you won't be disappointed." Nearby, one of the teaching assistants began to put the students into groups, with a handful of people starting to make their way to the field below. She briefly looked around before asking, "you had mentioned that someone from the Thunderbird might show up. Are they going to make it?"

"Team composition will certainly determine our tactical decisions," Alex agreed, somewhat tongue-in-cheek. If it was just the pair of them up against this many students then she was pulling out her bunker strats, unless she could find a viable perch for sniper duty.

The Vulcan gave a simple nod of understanding before turning his attention back to the Trill. "Unfortunately, the Thunderbird is still one day away, so today's exercise will run with you two." From behind Zade, the assistant gave a nod, indicating that the students had been placed into their groups. "You will have approximately three minutes to plan your strategy while I explain the rules to the cadets. I take it that you both are acquainted with the rules?"

The Trill, initially disappointed by the lack of a third in their group, nodded to the question. "Yes, sir, I briefed Ryan on the way here."

"Then if there are no additional questions, you two may enter the field to plan your strategy."

As the pair fitted themselves with their vests, Alex hefted the weapon they'd been allocated and held it up to a squinted eye to test its balance. "What's our number count, how many are we dealing with?"

Zade shifted a little in her vest to make sure it fit correctly. These things felt a lot heavier back when she had no real life experience. She counted the students in her head. "Looks like ten."

"We'll have to thin them out early or they're going to overwhelm us with numbers. Could always hit them with a full barrage out of the gate, try to pick off a few before we split." Splitting up was likely to be non-negotiable in the long run, they needed to thin out numbers. "If I can head high with my back up against the boundary, there'll be a chance to pick them off."

Alex didn't like her chances of that early on, not to mention being stationery required a concerted effort to funnel the opposition into her scope. That was more likely to be feasible once they'd evened the odds. "I'll need a headcount before I head to ground though, you good to keep rolecall?" Shouting, making any noise, particularly involving the evolving effectiveness of their teamwork, held a psychological angle that owed appreciation for its effectiveness to those who'd actually dealt with high-stakes sweep-and-clear.

"Agreed," the Trill responded, testing the balance of her own weapon. "Get as many as you can at first, and also make sure you can get up to those two crates. They sometimes get cocky and try to push you back." Now that they were on the field, she could see just how many hiding spots there were. The crates allowed people to weave, which would be troublesome if any students got behind them. "I can distract the rest by weaving around the crates while you head high."

Bradley, a lanky student with sandy brown hair, was looking around the crates. Why was he paired with a bunch of idiots? The only good students in his eyes were Mara'el, a half-Bolian woman, and the Klingon, Atsehl of whatever house. Everyone else lacked the spirit and he suspected they would drop out soon. Coming around one of the crates, he saw the two officers they were going up against, talking to each other. "You scare off the rest of your team?"

Alex's only response at first was a raised eyebrow and an unwavering stare. It wasn't heated, it carried no malice nor irritation, but it was relentless and eventually broke the cadet's attempt to reciprocate. "Strength in numbers," she eventually responded, "only holds true if you know how to deploy your units effectively, cadet." She nodded towards the others trickling in behind him. "For reference, forward scouts don't usually announce their location to the enemy."

"W-whatever," he stammered. Somehow, this woman's stare was intimidating and sent a shiver down his spine. "It's not like we started this dumb exercise yet, so I haven't announced anything."

Zade, her attention now to the cadet, gave him a slight smile. Unlike Ryan's stare, she gave this man a glimmer of a challenge, as if daring him to try and tag her out personally when the round started. "If you think this exercise is dumb, you already failed. I'd recommend coming up with a plan with the rest of your team so you don't bring them down as well."

Geez, the differing stares between the two of them made Bradley begin to have doubts. Could his team even win? No, that must be their tactic, don't fall for it. With a little huff of air, the cadet turned and stormed back to his peers. "Alright, we need a plan..." he said to the group, waving for them to come over.

While the man stormed off, Zade couldn't help but chuckle. "This should be interesting." Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a teaching assitant signal that they were about ready to begin the exercise. "Any last minute thoughts?"

Reaching up to flick her visor into place, Alexis primed her weapon and flipped her squad-mate a casual salute as she retorted, "Just don't get shot." An immediate grin followed before Ryan went to take her place up against a left-hand crate ready to pepper the first wave with whatever they could to deplete numbers.