Tennis?

Posted on 01 Jun 2015 @ 4:58am by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Commander Jayla Kij

2,189 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Repairs
Location: Holodeck 1
Timeline: MD 4 -2000 hours

Jayla stood staring at the holodeck controls, hands on her hips. She couldn't believe it. When she's learned the computer had been wiped, she had never dreamed that all the holodeck programs would have been erased as well. Seriously! Who did that sort of thing?

She looked up and saw Geisler approaching. "Hi," she said, smiling. "We may have a problem." She pointed at the control panel.

Harvey had just spent the last several minutes in his quarters. Evidently, his athletic gear was harder to find than he thought. He found it finally in his luggage case that he'd never unpacked. The folds still showed in the fabric though he'd done his best to shake them out.

His head, however, bore a deliberate choice: the hat given to him just after taking command. Harvey never was one for hats, but after the events of the day, he figured the sight of the cover emblazoned with the ship's customized patch, would spark morale in those he passed in the corridor.

Now, as he approached Jayla, he took notice of her expression and the finger she pointed. "What is it?" He asked, looking now at a blank screen.

"It's been wiped," she said. "Everything. Even the Doctor Who Holonovels. I'm glad I've got those backed up." She sighed, shaking her head. "The Parisses Squares program is sort of complicated," she said. "I could probably rewrite it, but it would take several hours. It requires a multi-level playing field, ramps, hoops, several other people who all have to work independently of one another... I was thinking something simpler. A two player game with a simple court and equipment. I could probably whip up a zero-G handball court in about five minutes."

"Handball, eh?" Harvey said with a smirk. He wasn't surprised at all that the computer wipe had reached the holo deck. Out of everything, this would be the item that the crew would rebel over. "Sounds simple enough."

"Have you ever played?" asked Jayla doubtfully. Zero-G handball was not simple.

Harvey remained paused for a moment. Finally, he confessed, "No." Before she could say or do anything, he suggested, "What about tennis? Simple playing field, hollow ball and rackets."

She nodded. "Shouldn't be too hard," she said, starting to write the program. "I hope I remember how to play."

"Don't worry," he said, glancing over her should to observe her work. "It's simple enough."

After a few minutes work, she stood back. "Does that look right?" she asked him.

He nodded and "Hhm-hmmm"ed an approval. He reached over and tapped a couple of controls to make an adjustment to the racquets. Smiling to Jayla, he led her inside the holodeck to find a simple fenced in court, surrounded by a lush green tree line. Two racquets and several tennis balls awaited them on a bench beside the net. "Your pick," Harvey said, picking up both racquets and showing them to Jayla.

Jayla studied the racquets and took them each from him in turn. She swapped the second for the first. "This one," she said. "Ready?"

Harvey was a bit surprised she'd taken the heavier racquet. "Ladies first," he said, tossing her a ball and moving to his side of the court. Harvey swung the racquet a couple times, hoping to get used to the lack of weight.

Jayla retreated to the far end of the court, where she bounced the ball a few times. Then, after making sure Harvey was ready, she tossed the ball high into the air and swung at it, sending it soaring over the net.

Standing ready, Harvey waited for the bounce before giving a swing to return the ball. As he feared, the lightweight racquet caused Harvey to overpower the hit, sending it zooming back to the Doctor.

Jayla shrieked and dodged the flying ball neatly. It flew past her and hit the back wall. "Watch it there," she laughed. "That's not a good way to win you know."

"Sorry," Harvey said, flicking the racquet a couple times with the write. "Arch!" he called out, moving back towards the door. Harvey entered a couple quick commands and the racquet in his hand became a few ounces heavier. He swung it a couple times. "There we go," he said, coming back over to the court. "Your serve still."

Jayla grinned and tried the serve again, aiming for the far corner. It had been too long since she'd played, though, and the serve ended up in the perfect spot for the Captain to return it. Oh, well, next time.

Harvey took a step to his right and returned the serve, this time the ball landing within legal bounds. He grinned, just happy he was able to do something right today.

Jayla had to take several steps to return the volley, but this time, the ball went closer to where she'd wanted it to go. Good, she hadn't completely lost her touch.

Harvey had to stretch to intercept the ball, though thankfully it wasn't by much. A firm swing fired the florescent sphere back at the Doctor.

Jayla jumped in the other direction and switched hands smoothly. With a practiced backhand, she sent the ball sailing back over the net.

Harvey found himself on one end of the court and he realized all too quickly he needed to be on the other. Grunting, he sprinted towards the other side, hoping to catch the ball before he lost the point. His arm swung quickly with more force than he'd anticipated. "Ah!" he shouted, missing the ball.

But that wasn't the only reason. A sharp pain ran through his shoulder and straight into his neck. He grimaced and came to a sudden stop, wincing at every move.

Jayla returned the second volley, but stopped short when she noticed that something was wrong with the Captain. "Sir, are you okay?" she called, hurrying across the court. She vaulted the net easily- she was impressed in passing that she could still do that- and hurried over to him. "What's happened?" she asked.

"I..." Harvey tried to move his arm, only to experience excruciating pain. "Ow! Ah!"

"Oh, dear," said Jayla. "Come on, we'd better get you to Sick Bay."

Harvey grimaced as he followed Jayla from the holodeck, feeling too much pain to protest.

She led him as quickly as possible to Sick Bay. Once there, she ordered him to sit on one of the bio beds and went after a tricorder. "Okay," she said, returning to him and turning the tricorder on him. "Where's the pain, exactly?"

Harvey was standing by the biobed, having trouble lifting himself onto the bed with one working arm. Every time he tried to move, sharp pain shot through his body. For now, he'd settle with just leaning against the bed. "Here," he said, pointing to his shoulder with his good hand, "on the other side."

Jayla pointed the tricorder at the offending area. "Ooo," she said, biting her lip. "It looks like you've pulled every muscle in your shoulder, straight up this side of your neck." She loaded a hypospray and pressed it to his neck. "For the pain," she explained, reloading it with something different, this time pressing it to the back of his shoulder. "Muscle relaxer," she said. "Take off your shirt, please."

He hesitated, just for a moment, a little uncomfortable taking off a shirt in front of the opposite sex. He'd forgotten in that moment that Jayla was a doctor, not a sparring partner in a tennis match. When his thoughts had been straightened out, Harvey did his best with his one good hand to pull the shirt off. Amazingly, it was more simple than he thought, though pulling it off of the injured arm caused another string of pain.

As he did that, she readied a subdermal generator and attached it to his shoulder once it was ready. "We'll give that a couple of minutes," she said. "Granted, you'll have to come back tomorrow. The best way to heal a muscle is to let it heal on its own, but we can help it out some. How long has it been since you played?" she asked.

"Too long." He didn't want to admit it had been since the Dominion War.

Jayla grinned. "That was obvious," she said. "We were barely warmed up. Do you do any sort of workouts?"

"I walk the ship twice a day," he offered. His training inside him, however, reminded Harvey that simply wasn't enough. Ever since taking this post on the Black Hawk, he hadn't worked out like he had on previous assignments.

"Well, that's better than most Captains," Jayla mused. "Okay, you need more exercise. How about you join me for strength training in a couple of days? It'll be fun, I promise."

"I don't know, Doctor," Harvey replied, glancing at the subdermal generator placed on his shoulder. "The last time you said something would be fun, I wound up here."

"Yes, well, that's because I didn't know you had been neglecting physical activity," she said with a grin. "If I'd known that, I'd have eased you in slowly. Gosh, it's probably a good thing we couldn't get Parisses Squares going. I might've killed you."

Looking again at the device affixed to his shoulder, Harvey did nothing to relate his gratitude. He certainly didn't think she could kill him, and he did suppose that was a lighthearted attempt at humor. Part of him, however, wanted to flex his arm and see how quickly the generator was working.

As if on cue, Jayla checked the regenerator. "Give it a couple minutes," she said. "Or don't you like chatting to me?" she joked.

Harvey's eyebrows arched in defense. He knew he'd been closed off to others for so long, and yet somehow both Mac and Jayla had been the first ones to break through his icy exterior since Alison so long ago. The mere question, however, caused his shields to rise back up. It took nearly every ounce of his willpower to fight his natural instincts. "I do like it," he told her. "Chatting, that is." Resisting the urge to again check on the regenerator, he added, "Just hurts, that's all."

Jayla resisted the urge to ask if it was his shoulder or chatting that hurt. "It should be feeling better by now," she said. "I did give you a pain killer, didn't I?" She checked the empty tubes that she'd left sitting on the bio bed and found a pain killer among them. "Oh, I grabbed the slower acting, but stronger one," she said. "Well, it shouldn't be long, then."

It had already started taking effect. "It's not that," he confessed, looking back at her. "It's just..." Harvey sighed. "Since she died... I haven't really done much for fun, I guess."

Jayla had no idea who "she" was, but it didn't really matter. Grief was grief. "I didn't know her," she started, "but I'm pretty sure she'd have wanted you to have some fun and get on with life. Don't you?"

He knew she was right, but his spirit would only let him nod. Harvey closed his eyes for a moment hoping it would clear his mind and doubts. When he opened his eyes, he did feel a little better. In fact, he began to move his arm again. There was a small amount of pain still present, but it seemed to subside with each passing moment.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"Getting there," he said, glancing once more at the regenerator.

She checked the regenerator again. "I think that's about all it's going to do today," she said, taking it off and retrieving her tricorder. "I'm still showing some inflammation. If it's still bothering you tomorrow evening, come back and we'll give it another go."

Smiling, Harvey quipped, "You are referring to tennis, right?"

"Well, the regenerator, actually," she replied, grinning. "You probably shouldn't be playing tennis if your shoulder still hurts."

"Right." He delivered a slight nod. "I probably should take it one step at a time then. You said something about strength training."

"If you're up for it," she said with another grin. "Day after tomorrow? We'll do shadow boxing. That's get cardio and strength training in one. And I'll show you how to do it properly so you don't get hurt."

"Regardless of the evidence," Harvey protested, "I am not that fragile, doctor. Just out of shape." And getting older... It was high time he started to take control of his health, just like he had done for several decades. "Day after tomorrow it is."

"See you then," she said, picking up his shirt from the bio bed. "You can put your shirt back on now," she added cheekily.

He accepted the shirt with a soft smile. Harvey put his arms through the sleeves and was slipped it over his head. And, maybe the next time, the evening won't end so badly. Smiling at Doctor Kij, he said, "Until then. Good night, Jayla."

"Good night, Harvey," she said, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

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