Let's Get Physical

Posted on 06/28/2020 @ 4:35pm by Lieutenant JG S'Lace & Lieutenant JG Jasmine Langtree & Lieutenant JG Remigius ("Remy") Fawkes Ph.D.

Mission: S1E3: Visit to Starbase 375
Location: USS Crazy Horse | Deck 05 | Gymnasium
Timeline: Day 3 at 0800

Lieutenant Jodon Joral had been getting to know the crew both by ship scuttlebutt, personnel files, and having met the Department Heads. It was a mixed bag for sure, and in particular, he was not certain they all were cut out for the uniform. Specifically, everything he had heard about Cash was troublesome. J.J. knew that Cash was the perfect subject for what he had planned. Lieutenant Langtree had been the other choice. He summoned them both to the ship's gymnasium on deck five.

In order to ensure everything went smoothly and conducted properly, J.J. requested the presence of Doctor S'Lace and Doctor Fawkes. S'Lace in the capacity of CMO could monitor vitals and provide immediate care should anything happened. Dr. Fawkes was requested to monitor the psychological stress in correlation to the physical stress that the First Officer was about to impose upon the two subjects.

J.J. had reserved the gymnasium for an hour and expected them to be there on time as requested. He knew the Doctors would be and counted on the Chief Science Officer to be; however, Cash was a wildcard. Would he be? The gymnasium was set up exactly how he requested it.

The First Officer walked in with black gym shorts and a burgundy sleeveless tank top, an old fashioned whistle hung from his neck and a black sweatband around his head.

Somewhat mystified at the notion of being summoned to, of all places, the gymnasium, Fawkes entered a minute ahead of the appointed hour dressed in a Starfleet uniform fully prepared to do battle with anyone who thought he'd be ... exercising ... though the militant expression died as he entered. The sight of the ship's First Officer prancing around in color-coordinated shorts, a tank top, and a sweatband was just too amusing. Is that what people are supposed to wear when they enter these places, he mused.

He crossed the open space and approached, smiling warmly as he did so. "Lieutenant," he said. "I understand you wanted to see me?"

"Yes," replied J.J. calmly as he looked around. "I require your assistance. I have two members of the crew coming down here where I plan to push them to their physical limitations, but I would like you here to study their psyche under these conditions."

"Of course," Fawkes said. His eyes glinted with just the barest touch of mischievousness as he studied the First Officer. "Who have you invited?"

"The Doctor will be here shortly of course, but as for my test subjects...Cash and Langtree" replied J.J. "Cash seems like he has a chip on his shoulder and needs to clean his act up. As for Langtree, I just wanted a nice counterbalance, and it's always interesting to see how physical the science officers can be."

Jasmine was on the side doing her normal Zoomba routine. It was effective for keeping her both physically and mentally fit. She liked to dance. Ever since coming aboard the good doctor had been able to keep her motion sickness at bay. Praise be too good doctors everywhere. It was almost time to report to the new exec., fortunately, she was limbered up for whatever he had in mind.

Jasmine walked out in her leotard and spotted the new exec and minced over to him.

"You wanted to see me, Sir?" Jasmine said with a smile and flush to her cheek.

"I did, Lieutenant," he said with a smile. "How would you feel about some exercises today? I invited Lieutenant Cash down here to see how the two of you fare. I needed someone a bit athletic and in good health, you seemed to fit that bill nicely."

It was a good thing Jasmine was warmed up already. "Fine by me, Sir." She said amiably.

Just then Xander Cash walks in. He is wearing baggy neon banana yellow Bermuda shorts with an electric lime green t-shirt. And he was wearing a pair of sunglasses. He glances at everyone in the room. Then walked over to Lt Joral. "Lt jg Xander Cash reporting as ordered." He said with a smile.

"You're an officer on this ship? You certainly know how to make a first impression." Jasmine could swear she smelled stale alcohol on his breath.

S'Lace did not "spar" with other people. She spent an hour every week on the holodeck training against non-sentient opponents so she could "kill" them with impunity. Then she spent a little time during the rest of the week committing the activities to memory. But the new Executive Officer requested her presence so she arrived, wearing slacks, slippers, and a tunic belted about the waist by her ahn woon. She took a moment to take in lieutenant Cash's appearance.

"I have reported as ordered, sir," she stated to the XO. She gave a brief nod in Cash's direction, "Am I fighting him?"

"I certainly hope not. I don't think she would stand a chance." Cash said with a laugh.

S'Lace slowly turned to Cash.

"Lieutenant," she replied, "I assisted in your Mother's birth. I was there when your Father held you, smiling. There were tears. He insisted I hold you in some bizarre display of sentiment."

She held up her hand, "I held your soft, fragile skull in my hands, with the slightest pressure I could have squeezed it to pulp. And every time you speak you give me cause to regret I had not done so."

"Let me fight him Sir, I'll kick his ass all the way to Regulus", Jasmine stated.

"Wait a minute......are you the Dr that I pissed on?" Cash asked. "My dad told me I pissed right in a Dr's eye when she held me after I was born. Oh, It's my dad's favorite part of the story of my birth. He said I got you good. Right in the eye." Said Cash laughing hysterically.

Jasmine looked at him quizzically.

Cash looked at Jasmine. "You want to do what with my ass?" He asked.

"If you don't act like mature adult officers I'm about to kick your asses out the nearest airlock" replied J.J. "Doctor, I didn't invite you here to spare with anyone, just provide medical care as needed" added the Executive Officer.

He immediately clapped his hands together "Cash, Langtree three laps around around the gymnasium!" shouted J.J. as he reached for his whistle and blew into it.

Cash smiled, then clapped his hands. "Your wish is my command." He said as he started to run the laps.

Jasmine clapped twice, then said,"Ooo Rah Lieutenant!" Then she took off around the gymnasium. The girl could run no problem she was in excellent shape..

As Cash started to run he started to get into his stride using the oldest technique in the world for keeping time. In song. "Bright light city gonna set my soul, Gonna set my soul on fire. Got a whole lot of money that's ready to burn, So get those stakes up higher." The stride of his legs started to match the beat of the song. And his pitch was pretty good as well. "There's a thousand pretty women waitin' out there. And they're all livin' devil may care. And I'm just the devil with love to spare. " He clapped his hands again and started singing loud. His body started to slightly move to the beat as he was wailing it out. "Viva Las Vegas, viva Las Vegas."

Jasmine finished her third lap before Cash finished his first.

S'Lace did not bother contradicting lieutenant Cash's story; for his ilk denying the thing would only make it funnier to him. Humor was a difficult concept but she had observed enough humans over the decades to understand it's varied nuances.

"Sir," she murmured towards the XO, "I see little point in my being here. Any physical harm lieutenant Cash may suffer could easily be remedied through basic first aid, which anyone here should be sufficiently trained in," she paused, then added, "Unless this is a test of my patience. If so I estimate roughly four minutes before I strangle Mister Cash into unconsciousness."

Cash was running at a good pace. he was keeping a steady rhythm as he sang. "How I wish that there was more then twenty-four hours in the day. Cause even if there was forty more, I wouldn't sleep a minute away." He started to play the air guitar as he ran with his hands. "Oh, there's blackjack and poker and the roulette wheel. A fortune won and lost on ev'ry deal." Cash finished his laps by this time and came into where everyone was. He looked directly at Jasmine as he finished singing. "All you need is a strong heart and a nerve of steel." Then he belted it out and took it home....."Viva Las Vegas, viva Las Vegas......viva, Viva Las Vegas" Then he did a slight hip swing and said...." Thank ya, Thank ya very much. " with a slight twist of half his lip.

"Three minutes," S'Lace noted.

Jasmine smiled, almost giggled.

Fawkes, meanwhile, had found himself a spot to sit nearby to watch without disturbing the interactions. From Langtree who became immediately competitive to S'Lace who was surprisingly hostile to Cash who added his own distinctive flair to his participation. It wasn't immediately clear, in Cash's case, whether the intent to tweak everyone's noses was intentional or just a byproduct of a larger than life personality. Being the possessor of a personality that often refused to wedge itself into Starfleet's notion of conformity, he found himself smiling every so slightly all the while wishing that gyms provided a proper cup of tea and possibly a cushion for the bench.

"Okay Mr Joral whats next?" Jasmine asked.

"Name you're next challenge Mien Herr." Said Cash. "I promise to take it easy on my learned opponent." Cash said to Joral.

The First Officer was amused by the enthusiasm of the two. He looked around for inspiration. What he caught sight of what the sets of parallettes over in the corner of the gymnasium. "Tuck planche," said J.J. "How about that?"

Cash looked at JJ. "You really are pissed at us, aren't you sir?" He asked moving towards the parallettes. when he got there, he stopped right in front facing them. Like he was confused. He took a couple of steps to the left, so the parallettes were beside him. Then he got into a frog position and brought both legs off the ground up to his chest. He was supported only by his arms. It looked like he was going to fall for a brief second. Almost like he was losing his balance. Then, Cash started bringing his legs from one side to the other As he did, he smiled at JJ and winked. Cash knew what he needed....more music. in a slightly strained voice, he continued. " Viva Las Vegas with your neon flashin' and your one-armed bandits crashin' all those hopes down the drain. Viva Las Vegas turnin' day into nighttime. Turnin' night into daytime. If you see it once. You'll never be the same again." His voice may have sounded strained. But his pitch was pretty good considering. He even got his legs moving with the beat of his singing. After several moments, he finally lost his balance. and had to stop. His legs came down. "I'm not sure if it was the audience, or the fact I'm trying to make this fun. But I seemed to have lost my balance. Cash did a shoulder roll onto his feet. "Care to have a shot at the title?" He said looking at Langtree with a slight bow to his head.

J.J. swiftly dismissed the assertion. "I am not pissed at anyone, Lieutenant Cash" the First Officer stated. "Consider this an inquiry by the First Officer in regards to the physical and psychological conditioning of members of the crew."

Fawkes smiled. A slow upward curve of one corner of his mouth as he watched the Chief Engineer's antics and recognized in them, something of a kindred spirit, from way too many years ago. "So far," he murmured, "its all good ... ummm ... from a .... purely psychological standpoint, of course."

J.J. blew his whistle. "Langtree, show Cash how it's done," he said with a smirk. "I think he's underestimating what a woman in the science department can do."

Tuck Plaunch is an exercise in balance, it was times like that that Jasmine was glad she wasn't overly endowed.

Jasmine treated it as a floor exercise. it was kinda like a push up except instead of your feet remaining on the ground your whole body went up by carefully balancing your center of gravity and lifted your whole body. Jasmine was no stranger to yoga she could do it. She found her balance and carefully tucked her knees under her and moved slightly forward to maintain her balance. her weight was all balanced on her arms.

"This takes a lot of practice to master I don't think he will be able to do it. at least not gracefully." Jasmine said.

J.J. shook his head. These two he thought to himself and blew on his whistle. "Alright, I think I have amused myself enough with this one. Cash and Langtree, you may head back to your quarters and hit the sonic showers" said the First Officer. He then looked at the medical personnel. "We can head to one of yours offices and review the results of this." Both officers were clearly in decent physical shape, competitively even, though J.J. was interested to see what it all meant psychologically.