Serious Side
Posted on 25 Mar 2016 @ 2:38am by Lieutenant JG Catherine Cooper
1,170 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Outbreak
Location: Cooper's Quarters
Timeline: MD4
Lt. Catherine "CJ" Cooper walked into her quarters after a long day. Her quarters were much like her office. It gave all the appearances of the room of a teenaged tornado. PADD's piled up on a desk and on part of a couch, clothes were scattered about along with random items like a Bajoran springball Racket, a small shelf of real books given pride of place next to a smiling Buddha desk statue on her coffee table. Books on poetry, wisdom of the Buddha, and a few precious 20th century British mystery novels all say together. It was filled to the brim with mental puzzle items, beautiful art work, random bits of sporting and camp gear, family photos etc. What one could be forgiven for missing was the titanium baseball bat just barely poking out of a pile of clothes near the desk by the front door, the fact the Bajoran Springball Racket was reinforced and not really meant for use in the actual sport, or the palm phaser hidden behind a vase on the desk, or even the fact the Buddha statue held a knock out gas just press his head and hold your breath.
There were a few others but it's important to note that CJ was not paranoid. She didn't live under her bed with a phaser waiting for the end but she was a firm believer in being prepared. The benefit of a mind that tended to run on warp speed was one got alot of ideas quickly. There was a time though before the Consortium when she didn't turn her mind to such things. A time before the Federation tried to tear itself apart. A time before CJ had to knife, it being the only weapon she had, her XO in his back to stop him from setting off a bomb during the coup attempt on her Ship. It had been unavoidable. A time before people Cooper had eaten with, joked with, and fought with turned on everything they'd proclaimed to believe in.
Her previous ship had been lucky enough of the security department had not been conditioned and those that were followers for one reason or another had been killed/captured by teams lead by other department seniors. Which left CJ the only senior department officer in the security control room and if it's one thing CJ did well its' react quickly, right or wrong. She sprung into action giving orders so fast and in such a powerful Command Voice no one had time to think let alone argue. She even had her engineering friend hack the Consortium comms to give conflicting orders, that had been fun...in a deadly serious sort of way.
Still all in all she'd come out well emotionally speaking, a part of it was she didn't just have the Buddha statue for looks. People would look at her, the statue and her again as though trying to link the two in their head. She'd just shrug and say, "Work in Progress-Come back in a few lifetimes". And her family, both blood and those who stood shoulder to shoulder with her to fight back against the Consortium, they helped too. A picture of a large group of smiling security cadets with CJ in the middle sat on her desk, she tried not to focus on the ones lost either passed on or Consortium but instead to remember the good. For her it's vital to remember the good to be as her Grandmother would say, "A light in the dark places you must walk."
CJ tossed her uniform jacket over a chair and kicked off her boots as she walked across the room, leaving them on the floor. She looked down at her pair of boots randomly placed and wondered if she should move them. Then thought they looked like a sort of mine field in its own way, as the thought amused her and hurt no one she left them where they were to go finish changing. She eventually came out the bedroom in a pair of white PJ bottoms with bunnies and a grey t-shirt that said, "Security does it safely" and picture of the Starfleet Security Symbol. Her brown hair loose down her back as her eyes, green the color of rich grass, looked at her playlist. Finally she found a song suitable for her meditations.
Not Gonna Die by Skillet began to play.
Death surrounds
My heartbeat’s slowing down
I won’t take this world’s abuse
I won’t give up, I refuse!
This is how it feels when you’re bent and broken
This is how it feels when your dignity’s stolen
When everything you love is leaving
You hold on to what you believe in
The last thing I heard was you whispering goodbye
And then I heard you flat line
No, not gonna die tonight
We're gonna stand and fight forever
(Don’t close your eyes)
No, not gonna die tonight
We're gonna fight for us together
No, we’re not gonna die tonight
Break their hold
'Cause I won’t be controlled
They can’t keep their chains on me
When the truth has set me free
This is how it feels when you take your life back
This is how it feels when you finally fight back
When life pushes me I push harder
What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger
The last thing I heard was you whispering goodbye
And then I heard you flat line
No, not gonna die tonight
We’re gonna stand and fight forever
(Don’t close your eyes)
No, not gonna die tonight
We're gonna fight for us together
No, we’re not gonna die tonight
Don’t you give up on me
You’re everything I need
This is how it feels when you take your life back
This is how it feels when you fight back
No, not gonna die tonight
We’re gonna stand and fight forever
(Don’t close your eyes)
No, not gonna die tonight
We're gonna fight for us together
No, we’re not gonna die tonight
No, we’re not gonna die tonight
Not gonna die
(Not gonna die)
Not gonna die
(Not gonna die)
Not gonna die tonight
-----
She sat crossed legged on the couch and closed her eyes, breathing deep as the song played on loop. As was her routine. She didn't dance or sing to it. She took its words in deep, letting the music push away the stresses of the day, imagining it as a river ripping up self-doubt, anger, all that is not helpful and scattering it. All the while breathing deep and slow. After some time when she noticed that she was tapping her one hand against her leg, she smiled. It meant she'd found her emotional solid ground and was again ready for another day. Battery Full, bring it on universe.
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