Away We Go

Posted on 19 Mar 2016 @ 7:41am by Commander Terry Walsh & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale

2,562 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Location: Security Training Facility
Timeline: MD 3 || 1600 hours

Terry had read over the information that Lt. Di Pasquale had on the PADD. It all looked like something he would like to try. At the very least, it would test his endurance and stamina, which wasn’t a bad thing. So he tossed the PADD on the couch and moved over to the small desk area. It was time to send a message to the Lieutenant that he was ready to discuss his part in SAR and go forward with an assessment.

Lieutenant Di Pasquale,

I have reviewed the information you left with us regarding the SAR training. I have given it more thought and believe that I am ready to move forward with the assessment and training. I am free for the rest of the day and available at your leisure.

Lieutenant Commander Walsh
325th Squadron Commander

Terry re-read what was on the screen. His communiqué’s always seemed far more formal than he really was. He shrugged and supposed it to be a good thing, considering. And...sent.

Camila had just changed into a pair of black, form-fitting pants, a black sleeveless shirt, and a pair of running shoes when her terminal alerted her of an incoming message. She went to it and brought it up, smiling when she saw that Commander Walsh had decided to follow through with SAR training.

Lieutenant Command Walsh,

I am pleased that you have decided to commit to SAR training. If you are not busy this evening, please meet me in the Security training facility in one hour.

Thank You,

Lieutenant Camila Di Pasquale
Chief of Security

Once it was sent, she headed to the training room that Security and other officers who wished to keep their phaser and combat skills up and began to program in a variety of SAR scenarios designed to test personnel, as well as asses their current skills.

Terry was in the middle of changing out of his uniform when the beep of an incoming message sounded. He walked out the bedroom, white t-shirt and boxers, and checked it out. He read the message and nodded. “One hour in the Security training facility,” he said. “Can do.” He went back and put a pair of jeans and appropriate shoes. Terry was dressed for the occasion. Well, as far as he knew.

Terry didn’t know what to expect as he walked up to the doors. He had an idea as to what this room typically looked like, but things could have been changed around. SAR training would be more specific and less general, at least he thought so.

He took a deep breath. “Only one way to find out.” And in he walked.

Camila stood by one of the monitors and looked up as he came in. "Commander Walsh, it's good to see someone dedicated to learning new things even off duty," she said.

The training facility hadn't been changed much since he was last there except for a few new holo-emitters and a few practice mannequins which looked interactive.

“Thanks,” he replied. “It never hurts to learn something new. Though, with this type of training.... Oh, and I have a rule. When I’m off duty, I’m Terry. I’m not ‘Commander Walsh’ until tomorrow morning.” He grinned. “How do we start?”

"Then call me Camila," she said. "First, come over here and put your personal code into the database I have set up so it can access your record and training, if you'd be so kind."

“Sure thing, Camila.” Terry walked over and input his code. He stepped back so as to allow Camila access to the terminal. “There ya go. Terry Walsh in all his paperwork glory.”

Camila looked over his record and skill set. "I see you were a former Marine, Terry," she said. "I assume that they always trained their people in more than one area for military occupational specialties. Are you the exception or have you always been a die hard pilot?"

“Well, for my time in the Corp, I spent most of it as a fighter pilot, specifically a 623, Space Combat Fighter Pilot,” said Terry. “But during OCS, I had some basic Combat Medic Training along with some hand-to-hand combat training and other stuff that would come in handy if we ever got captured.” He paused. “Trust me, it comes in handy.”

"I noted in our meeting that you offered to help train other pilots," Camila said. "Did you have any specific areas that you'd like to cross train in?"

Terry tried to remember what he had said in the meeting. “Oh yeah, gorilla mitts.” He laughed. “How about the security part of the team? Put these gorilla mitts to good use.”

"Okay," she said. "See that mannequin over there?" She pointed at one of the interactive ones. "Go attack it." She turned to the control board and entered the Jiu Jitsu program into it, then activated it. "I will warn you, it attacks back and learns based on your attacks."

Terry looked at the Security Chief and cocked his head to the side. “Huh.” Then he turned to the mannequin, “Well let’s see what you got, Manny.” He walked up to it, took a basic stance, and raised his arms. The brawny pilot executed a left uppercut to the body, followed by a right uppercut to the body, then a left horizontal elbow strike followed by a right upward elbow strike. He felt pretty good about his initial attack until he had to defend himself.

The mannequin blocked the first punch, using its left forearm to block the strike and brought its right hand down to its hip. Then after Walsh hit it twice more, it reached across his body with its left arm and grabbed his collar and reached between his legs with the right as it knelt, then scooped him up and slammed him on his back before it returned to a neutral position.

"Basic inside forearm block followed by a scoop throw," Camila observed. "Pretty basic techniques in Jiu Jitsu. Ready for round two?"

Terry pushed himself up to a sitting position and slowly moved his head around. When he stood up, he turned to the Security Chief and grinned. “Bring it on.” Then he turned back to Manny and delivered a rear leg front kick towards its abdomen. After quickly resetting his back leg, Terry followed with a shin kick to the same leg. His plan was to bring Manny forward and down enough to clasp his hands behind Manny’s head and simultaneously force it into his raising knee.

As Walsh attacked, the mannequin spun on the ball of its right foot and threw its right arm down behind it to block the second kick. Then it used a ridgehand strike to Walsh's main artery in his neck, but not hard enough to cause to nearly pass-out. Reaching out to his left shoulder, the mannequin pushed his left shoulder and hooked its right leg behind Walsh's right leg and swept it forward to knock him off balance.

Terry caught himself before he fell and bounced backwards, still on his feet. “One mind, any weapon,” he said to himself. It was time to utilize his upper body strength. Terry rear hand punched Manny’s adam’s apple in a dirty trick of a move. The opponents he could be fighting in a situation like this could care less about fair. The events in the underground tunnels on Nestene proved that. And with those images in mind, he decided it was time to break with ‘tradition.’

As Terry completed the punch, he moved in and stepped around behind Manny, bringing the same arm around the neck in a rear choke, all the while maintaining pressure on the carotid arteries. He didn’t expect it to do much of anything considering his opponent was a mechanized mannequin, but he went forward with it. Terry dropped to one knee, bringing his opponent into somewhat of a slouching position, making it even harder to breathe, and putting his knee in it's back. He knew this wasn’t flesh and bone, but he was prepared to rotate that head as far as he could.

Not able to feel pain or have the need to breathe, the mannequin was still staggered by Walsh's attacks. When he got it in a rear choke, it reached up and grabbed the arm he was using with its left arm, then brought its right elbow back in a rib jab. To finish, it collapsed its knees to a sitting position and threw itself backwards to the floor with its full weight of one hundred and eighty pounds coming down on Walsh.

"Point to Walsh for maneuver, point lost for trying to choke a mannequin," Camila called out. "Eggbreaker technique for the mannequin. Do you want to switch to something else, Terry?"

Terry rolled Manny off and got up, laughing. “Yeah, well, if it had been a human, it would have been a little bit different.” He walked back over to the control board, stretching his arms out and above his head. “Sure, Camila. What did you have in mind?”

Camila reset the mannequin and looked at him. "When is the last time you qualified for phasers?"

He took a deep breath, thinking. “Well, not since I arrived on the Black Hawk,” he said.

"How long has that been?"

“Oh, almost a year ago.”

"A year?" Camila looked at him in disbelief before she shook her head. "All Starfleet officers should stay qualified every six months on phaser training. Come with me." Shaking her head still, she went to the live fire area and pulled two phasers and four power cells out of storage after entering her authorization code and set them on a bench. She muttered under her breath as she programmed some hover drones to launch in an erratic pattern at a medium speed towards the end of the range. "Let's see how well you do here, Terry."

“I’ll make a note of that, six months.” He followed Camila to the live fire area and took the proffered phaser. Terry watched the drones a few seconds after they launched. Well, people are unpredictable and don’t move in the way you want them to, he thought. He began to fire at the drones. He hit the first three he shot at, missed the next two, and hit the next four. After a few seconds, he became more comfortable and was hitting more of the drones.

A minute later, the drones were all down. "Very good, Terry," Camila said. "But we need to work on your response time a little. The enemy is usually trying to kill us and it's our job to neutralize them first. You did very well, but I'd like to schedule some more time on the range for you. Is that acceptable?"

When all the drones fell, Terry stood up straight and powered down his phaser. He hadn’t even realized he had been stooping. “Sure thing Camila, that’s just fine. And thanks, I know it’s been too long since I’ve been on the range. Heh, it’s been a while since I’ve ‘wrestled,’ too. Though, that was the first time I’ve done hand-to-hand with a combat mannequin.”

"Move around a little, too," Camila suggested. "And when fighting the mannequins, remember that are programmed to learn and respond to what you do. The longer you take to disable one, the harder it's going to be." She activated a program and a holographic wall with hand and foot holds and uneven angles going in and out appeared against the back wall. "Let's test your climbing ability."

“Okay,” replied Terry. “Move around and take out Manny fast. Got it.” He watched as a holographic wall came into existence. “Alright, I’ve got this.” He stretched his arms above his head and then pushed the short sleeves of his t-shirt up to his shoulders. Terry was really going to enjoy this. He started up the wall, not too fast, but at a decent speed. At one point, his foot nearly slipped, but he got it back on and continued to one of the uneven angles that created a slight outcropping. Terry let his feet dangle and pulled himself up and over the angle. Once he reached the top, he turned and called down to Camila. “You want me to come down the fast way or the slow way?” Once again, his attempt at humor.

Camila watched and timed him, noting that he seemed fluid in his motions and watched his muscles work under his skin. "The fast way," she said. "There will be times that we don't have the luxury of time. Be sure to absorb the impact with your legs without breaking them."

Without responding, Walsh let go. He fell to the ground, following Camila’s instructions to absorb the impact with his legs. He stood up after landing and rolled his shoulders backwards a few times. “That felt good.” Looking at the Security Chief, he asked, “What’s next, Camila?”

"For now, I want you to practice everything we've done today and I expect your reaction times on everything to go up. Search and Rescue is often a matter of life or death and we can't waste a single second," she said. "I'll schedule you some time in here. How many hours can you dedicate a week?"

“Alright,” he said. “Practice what we’ve done and get my reaction times up. I’ll work on that. As far as hours per week, I can give you seven; one hour per day in the evening, before dinner. Does that work?”

"Why are you asking me if that works?" Camila asked as she put him into the scheduled list of officers with dedicated times. "You're the one who will be working to improve yourself."

Terry nodded, “Yeah, guess you’re right about that. Is there anything else I should be aware of?”

"Just practice on what you did today and get your response times up, then we'll move to something harder," she said. "Search and Rescue training doesn't happen over night and I don't want you to burn yourself out."

“Okay, I can do that.” He wiped the sweat off his forehead. “What say we call it an evening, then, Camila?”

"By all means," Camila said. "Just be sure to do warm ups before you try anything strenuous. We don't need you hurting yourself."

Terry laughed. That was one thing he hadn’t done this evening. “That’s true. Lots of reasons I shouldn’t go around getting hurt. Thank you for the opportunity and the training.”

"No," she said. "Thank you for choosing to take part in what I'm offering. We need more good men and women."

He grinned and nodded, "That we do." Then put his hand out for a shake. “Have a good evening, Camila.”

Camila gave him a firm handshake. "You as well, Terry."

Terry turned and headed out of the Security Training Facility, wiping the sweat off the top of his head.

After he left, Camila settled down to recharge and put the phasers back in inventory, then started to go over a schedule for the rest of Security and SAR candidates.

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