Iron Clad

Posted on 15 Jul 2016 @ 3:02am by Ensign Xavier Hernandez & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler

4,208 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Risky Business
Location: Gym
Timeline: MD 5 || 1500 Hours

Xavier sat on a bench wearing a pair of black gym shorts, a pair of black shoes and a gray t-shirt as he worked on a set of curls with an eighty pound dumbbell in his right hand. He let his breath out as he lifted it slowly and breathed in deeply as he lowered it back down again with precision movements which kept the form and didn't take away from the exercise. His mind was on the upcoming away mission to the rumored Romulan warbird and the dangers he and the team would face and nearly lost his count before he shoved that out of his mind and began to bring the weight back up again.

Once training was over with Camila, Joey went back to her quarters to change out of her uniform before making her way to the gym. Her attire came in the form of a navy blue midriff baring tank top and a pair of matching yoga shorts with white shoes on her feet. She dumped her gym bag down on the floor to be out of the way, then began to go through a series of stretches. After what she'd jut put herself through during her training session, though, it wasn't really a necessary step, but it was something she'd always done before putting her body through vast amounts of torture like this.

"Hernandez?" She asked when she spotted to guy sitting on the bench.

Xavier had been in the process of lowering the dumbbell when he heard his last name called and looked up. His control slipped when he saw the gorgeous brunette in the navy blue tank top and yoga shorts and he suddenly found his arm plummeting downwards towards full extension before he exerted his strength and control before he dropped it on his foot or injured his arm. "Madre de Dios!" He exclaimed at the effort he exerted but managed to keep from dropping it or hurting himself.

Joey blinked, pausing in her stretching. "Well... that was unexpected. Are you okay?" She moved toward him.

"I'm fine," he said. "I just wasn't expecting to have anyone call my name." He set the dumbbell down and reached for a towel to wipe his face and neck before he offered her a hand. "Lieutenant Corwin, right?" It was hard, very hard, for him to meet her eyes, but he did it with an effort. The woman was incredible in uniform, but out of it and in yoga shorts and a tank top? Madre de Dios didn't even begin to cover it and he was really hoping that his reasoning for nearly dropping the weight was realistic.

"Yes, but it's Joey right now. I'm not in uniform, or on duty," The taller woman said as she moved over to the stand with many dumbbells on it. She chose two twenty pound weights and brought them over to a bench, setting one on either side of it. "It's a good thing you recovered like you did. You could have torn something." She sat down on it, then gripped the dumbbells in her hands. Once her grip was secured, she laid her chest against the incline and began to curl them after putting her feet into a wide stance. Her shoulders stayed back while her spine stayed in a perfect straight line.

"Then call me Xavier," Xavier said as he did his best to keep his eyeballs in his head when she laid down against the bench and began to work out. It did wonders for the muscle definition in her back and he couldn't help but notice the curve of her behind, either, but he quickly dragged his eyes back up to the back of her head. "I usually come down for a workout for an hour every day, but I've been slacking lately, Joey. You have really nice form there."

"Thanks," Joey said, blowing out another breath as she lowered the dumbbells again, then curled them back toward her body. "I try to get in an hour a day, too, but I think I might push it a bit longer today. It's all part of my prepping." She blew out another breath and looked over at him. "Why have you been slacking?"

"Me and a few other people on the ship are forming a Latin jazz band and we've been doing a lot of practice," he said as he began to do curls again as he sat near her so he could see her face instead of getting caught looking at something else. Of course, his new position gave him a view that he really hoped the burn of the heavy dumbbell would help put aside, but he doubted it. "Why are you pushing it today?"

"Preparing for for the upcoming mission. I do my best thinking when I'm sweating," The brunette woman replied, blowing out another breath as she continued on. She focused on the curls and the burn that was starting in her muscles. This was what she'd been looking for. It would help her focus on the fact that she was still alive... still breathing... still able to feel, a fact that may not be the case the once she was on the Chimera.

"I hear that," Xavier said as his mind went back to the mission at hand despite its desire to focus on other things. "I'm on the team that'll be heading to the Romulan warbird if the rumor turns out to be true. I'm really hoping it is but if it is, I don't want to go in there giving less than everything. A Tholaran device would make everything far worse than it already is and I don't plan on giving up until I have nothing more to give."

"That's the spirit, Hernandez. With an attitude like that... you'll go places," Joey said, blowing out another breath. The anticipation was beginning to claw away at her, leaving deep gashes of unease inside of her. "I will be going over to the Chimera. Shouldn't be too bad unless you think about the one versus one-fifty thing. I've already promised two people I was coming back alive, and now I'm worried that was a promise I won't be able to keep." She closed her eyes and held her arms down to her sides, letting the burn work its way through her body before she started lifting her arms and the dumbbells straight out to work other muscles.

"Xavier," he said when she called him Hernandez. "You seem like the type to keep promises and follow orders, Joey. Not to mention the fact that you're here working yourself extra hard to insure that you come back. Do you have anyone to come back to?"

"Sorry, old habits die hard," She said to using his last name again. "As for anyone to come back to, I've got Rico and a few friends I'd really rather not leave behind. Other than my family back on Earth, no, there isn't anyone. I've already made sure Rico would be taken care of if something does happen to me. He'll live a long life as a normal dog."

"I've got Pequeno and my girlfriend here on the ship, and my family back on Earth, but other than that, I don't have a lot," Xavier said. "Still, we're going to come back for the sake of ourselves, Joey. We have to believe in ourselves because if we don't, who will?" He did his last rep, then set the weight down and reached for his towel again.

"Believing in myself is not an issue, Xavier. I've got every intention of coming back, but it's the one hundred and fifty people over there who will think otherwise." Joey settled down again, then put the weights on the bench in front of her. There was no way she was going to go over there to die. None. She was going to come back, and she was going to be stronger for it. "We're going to have our hands full with our respective missions, but we'll all come back. There is no other option." She rose to her feet and turned around to settle her back against the incline before she began a few reps of butterfly presses.

He was distracted once more by the mountains moving slowly under her tank top and looked at the floor so quickly that he thought he felt something tear in his neck. "I'm worried about what will happen to Pequeno if I don't come back," he said quietly. "Not to mention my girlfriend. She's a cadet and Pequeno is just a puppy and I have a feeling they'd both be lost if I don't return. I'm going to have to kennel Pequeno when I got on my part of the mission, too and he's never been away from me overnight before."

Thankfully, Corwin didn't seem to notice, so he was safe for a little while longer. She was focused on what she was doing and where she was going. If only she could shake the feeling she had. Maybe a drink wouldn't hurt. "Pequeno is still young enough not to get confused. Ask you girlfriend to watch him while you go on your mission."

"She has a roommate," Xavier said as he looked back up again and managed to find a balance between the movement of her chest and her eyes. If he ducked his head just a little, he could see her mouth and appear to be looking at her eyes which would be the better option. "I don't know if Kelly is allergic to animals or even likes them. If there were more K-9 officers aboard, I'd ask one of them to watch him."

"All you can do is ask them. If you don't, then you'll never know," Joey pointed out, putting all of her focus on the presses she was currently doing. There was the burn she was looking for again, working it way into the muscle. As she sat there, blowing out each breath, she thought about it being her last, then her mind went back to Xavier's question. Do you have anyone to come back to? Did she? If she was honest with herself, that answer was yes, but sadly... she wouldn't be seeing him again. Not until it was all over. Dropping Rico off didn't count, either.

With a frustrated sound, Joey increased the pace of her reps as a fine sheen of sweat began to build on her tanned skin. She pushed all other thoughts from her mind and focused on what she was doing, hoping it'd be enough to help her forget. Sadly, it wasn't, but she was damn good at hiding that which plagued her. Things would be okay if she made sure they were, and that's exactly what she planned to do. For now, she'd let it all play over in her mind and get it out of the way so it wouldn't be able to distract her when she didn't need it to.

Xavier picked up the weight in his other arm and began to work out when the Lieutenant got serious and started to really push herself. It was disrespectful to be checking her out like he had been and he was lucky she was either overlooking it or hadn't noticed and he felt ashamed. "You're right, Joey," he said as he worked his left arm. "I will asked her." Elisha, the young cadet who had given him something very precious and he was here looking at another woman in a way that wasn't gentlemanly at all. He pushed himself harder, his form starting to get careless in his anger at himself and he didn't seem to notice at all.

After a few more reps, she sat up and lowered her arms down to her sides, allowing the weights to fall to the floor. The sound brought her back to reality, leaving a slight ringing in her ears, but it helped. She was now focused on something entirely different. Joey rose to her feet and grabbed both weights back to rack them. "I'm sorry. I'm... having a moment."

He set his weight down and came to his feet. "Permission to speak freely, Joey?" He asked. "I know we're off duty, but we don't know each other that well yet."

"Go ahead," She answered softly.

"It's okay to have moments," Xavier said just as quietly. "I really should be with my girlfriend and Pequeno right now, but it would almost be like I was trying to get as much time with them as I could as if I'd never see them again. I know I'm going to see them again, but only if I push myself harder than I ever have before."

"I know, Xavier," Joey said, but it was just hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when said tunnel was long, dark, cold and damp. "We'll both come back and move forward with our lives. It's just that simple. Failure... losing... it isn't an option. It's not what we do."

"Then don't think about it," he said. "We're both trained Security officers and you have a lot more experience than I do, Joey. You know what could happen and I've only seen it in classrooms and simulations. Still, if you keep thinking about failure, you will fail. If you think about success, you will succeed."

"You're right, and I know it. I'm just nervous. I've been in plenty of situations similar to this before, and I came out of those okay. This time will be no different." Now, she was going to focus on the positive side of things. She would succeed. She would come back. There were no other options.

"I haven't, but I don't plan on dying until I'm a hundred and two in the city of Detroit on Earth," Xavier said.

"I'm not going to give the enemy the satisfaction of me dying on their ship. So... how about you, me and some of the others get together in Talons after all of this is over?" Corwin asked. "We're going to have to celebrate somehow."

"You got it, Joey," Xavier said enthusiastically. "We'll get drunk and sing karaoke until someone calls Security on us!"

Joey laughed. "I am Security, remember? And if we're able to pull all of this off, then I bet the entire ship will be celebrating. Not just us."

She has a nice laugh he thought and joined her. "You have that right, Joey and we'll be partying through four shifts before it stops, too."

"Oh, man... our doctors are going to be busy giving cures for hangovers," Joey said, laughing again. "Or, they could teach us all a lesson and let us suffer through it. Not that we wouldn't deserve it." She cracked a grin.

"I have a cure for hangovers passed down for generations in my family," Xavier said. "It's called Pincho de Tortilla. It works like a charm every time."

"Sadly... the last thing I want to do when I'm hungover is eat, but that doesn't mean you can't feed anyone else who might want it," She said, grabbing a medicine ball and tossing it at him before she moved back about ten feet away from him.

He caught the ball and tossed it back to her. "My Abuela would skin you if she heard that," he laughed. "She insists that good eating is the cure for everything."

"She'd have to wait in line behind my Mom. She's the same way," Joey stated with a smile. "Food is the cure all for anything."

"It does the trick at times," Xavier agreed. "I can't deny that. Do you have any good hangover cures?"

"I do. Sleeping on my bathroom floor," Corwin answered with a straight face, but it was quickly replaced with a smile. "Truthfully, I don't get drunk enough to have a hangover. I keep myself on moderation. Even if I am celebrating." She tossed the medicine ball back.

He laughed and caught it before he tossed it up in the air and caught it before he launched it back her way. "The last time I got drunk enough to need a hangover cure was when I graduated Academy," he told her. "I was so scared that I'd be assigned to a sector with heavy fighting that I was actually half hoping to drink myself to death. When I woke up the next morning, I wished I were dead. Now, I wake up and I'm grateful I'm alive and I will fight to remain that way each passing day."

"I used to sneak out when I was in the Academy for that very reason. I wasn't very smart back then, and I got caught a couple of times. The last time was an Admiral who also turned out to be one of my instructors. He told me to shape up and prove I wanted to be there, or leave and know I failed because of myself." Joey caught the ball and tossed it back. "Obviously, I chose to stay and prove myself, or I wouldn't be standing here right now." And those words he'd spoken to her all those years ago held a lot of truth now. She was going to prove she deserved to be where she was by taking down the Chimera's crew.

"Ouch, that had to be an eye opener," Xavier said as he caught the ball and rolled it for a moment. "I joined Starfleet and went into Security because I'm the oldest of four siblings and I was always protected them growing up. It was natural for me and I don't regret a day."

"It was. I never made that mistake again after the last time," She said, waiting for him to toss the ball back. Sadly... it wasn't doing her any good the longer he held onto it, so she moved toward some kettlebells. "Having no regrets is a good thing, though. I don't have any, either, and I know now that I made the right choice by staying in and busting my hump."

"Oh. I'm sorry, Joey," he said as she went to the kettle bells and noticed he was still rolling the medicine ball. "My mind is going stupid on me. Did you want to toss this around some more?"

"It's okay, Xavier, and I doubt your mind is going stupid. You've got a lot swirling through just like everyone else does, and that isn't limited to those of us that have to leave the ship. Everyone is feeling anxious, and who can blame them? We're dealing with people who would likely sacrifice their entire crews just to save themselves. Do you have any idea how depressing that is?" Joey moved back to her spot and got into her former stance again.

He tossed the ball back to her when she was ready. "It's incredible that we're going up against an enemy that can turn loyal Starfleet officers against each other. I'd heard the former Chief of Security here was Consortium and the Chief of Operations was, too. That was before I came on and I'm still wondering how Commander Bast managed to not only keep his rank, but got promoted and made Second Officer considering what he did."

"The Captain had his reasons, and it's best not to question them," Corwin pointed out as she caught the ball before tossing it back again.

"I'm sure he did, but I wouldn't trust someone who betrayed me once," Xavier said as he caught the ball and tossed it back again. "I don't give second chances, but then again, I'm only an Ensign fresh from Academy."

"Not too many people do give second chances, but sometimes it's worth doing." She caught the ball, feeling a bit better now that she was talking and putting her mind on other things. "Some people deserve a second chance, too. Depends on the circumstances."

He nodded. "That's true," he allowed. "I'd heard that it had something to do with drugs and mental coercion or something to do with his symbiont. I'll never understand Trill. I knew a female Trill at the Academy and her hands were like ice all the time...and she loved to touch everyone."

"I don't know much about Trill, to be completely honest," Joey said, tossing the ball back at him. "I haven't been on board that long, either. Five days, but I met you the first day I was here, too, so you know that already."

Xavier caught the ball and tossed the ball back to her. "You're fitting in well already," he said. "But you're also a seasoned officer and learned to fit in places better than me."

"I spent a lot of my time during my Starfleet career bouncing from place to place," Corwin said, tossing the ball to him. "I was a Close Protections Officer. My job was to protect higher officials that needed it. It was a rather stressful position, but I can say I never lost anyone I was ever assigned to. I did almost have my own head taken off, though. That wasn't pleasant."

"That doesn't sound like that was very pleasant," he said as he caught the ball and tossed it back. "How did you almost get your head taken off?"

Joey caught the ball and gestured for him to come toward her, then to turn around. "No, it wasn't pleasant. It was meant for an Ambassador I was assigned to protect. I got him out of the way right before it was too late and nearly had my head taken off in the process. I ducked, but not fast enough. I ended up with a few inches taken off of my hair."

Xavier headed over to her and his eyes dipped down for a quick moment before he flushed and turned as she had asked. "I bet that was one grateful Ambassador," he said. "I know I would have been. Was the assailant using a bladed weapon or something else?"

"It was a bladed weapon," Joey answered as she turned and pressed her back against his. Once she'd placed her feet shoulder width apart, she turned her upper body to pass the ball over to him, then turned in the other direction to take it back. "Not one of my finer moments."

He reached up and took the ball and brought it to his chest before he raised it over his head and turned to pass it to her. "Any moment you can come back from is a fine moment, one of my instructors used to say. It's not the way you get there, but the fact you got there."

Corwin grabbed the medicine ball, then turned in the other direction to pass it at the waist. "I know that, but I'm the kind of person who will sit back and think about what I could have done different... or what I could have done better."

Xavier grunted and turned at the waist as he passed the ball back to her. "Which means you learn from your experiences on how not to let it happen a second time," he said. "Which is more than most people ever do."

"That's basically the idea," Joey said, taking the ball from him before she turned to pass it off in the other direction.

"Remind me to take notes from you sometime, Joey," he said as he passed the ball back to her as he rotated back the other way.

"Let's make it through this mission first, then we'll see what we can do about that. Sound good?" She asked, taking the ball from him and tossing it back to its spot before she turned around to face him.

For one second when Joey turned, Xavier found nothing in his hands as she had tossed the medicine ball aside. "We'll have to work out again sometime," he said after a moment.

"I agree. For now, though, you've got two young ladies to talk to while I start making preparations. Thanks for the company... even if I did invade the gym after you were already here."

"It's open gym for everyone, Joey," he said with a smile. "And I learned new things."

Joey smiled. "I know. I'll see you when all of this is over. Take care, Xavier, and be safe."

"You be safe, too, Joey," Xavier said. "I'm looking forward to speaking with you more."

"I'm looking forward to it, too." With that, she offered him a smile and grabbed her towel from the bench she'd set it on, then made her way out. Things were going to be okay. For everyone leaving the ship along with those who were staying behind. It was just going to be difficult to get through the night like it had been the night before, but she was anxious. Not knowing when they were going to come across the enemy ships was beginning to take its toll on her. For a moment, she thought about going to sickbay to get something to help her sleep, then quickly changed her mind.

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