Unity – A Relaxing Training Session - Part 01
by Colonel James Darson
Post Details
ON:
Darson strode quietly into one of the many holodecks on the large carrier. It was the wee hours of the morning, but he wasn’t tired. A man such as him never got much sleep…and he didn’t need it anyway.
He always kept a training regimen, at least as far back as he remembered. In the past, there had been numerous trips to the gym, training in increased gravity with heavy weights, basic simulations, and sparring against other Marines.
But in the past couple of years, things had changed. That old bundle of exercises just couldn’t cut it anymore. As he manipulated the controls to the holodecks he raised an armored fist and clenched it. Certain…changes…in his body had seen to that. Weights had no substance anymore. Standard simulations he could do in his sleep. And sparring against other Marines…it was more playing and instruction than an actual work out for him.
He needed a challenge.
Something real, something that tested his skills enough to keep him sharp. Something that gave him the same rush as real combat. Deep Space 5 had robbed him of the chance to do anything real. He spent most of his time in a chair, albeit a comfy one, commanding others to do his bidding. It was what was required of him, but not something he relished.
There had been that one time in the Cargo Bay that he thought he might have had a chance to kill that pretentious prick Raedheol, but that passed without incident. Nothing else even came close to that, besides taking those assassins after Captain Tahir out. But again, that was mere child’s play.
He brought his attention back to the controls of the holodecks. He had gotten some of the techs to compile some special simulations for him. Ones that went far beyond the scope and capabilities of what a normal soldier would be able to handle.
The computer beeped an insistent warning at him, alerting him to the fact that the Safety Protocols were off-line. He silenced the alarms with a dry acknowledgement. What was the point of training if the danger wasn’t real?
He turned away from the panel and moved to the center of the room as the simulation booted up. As the yellow patterns of holographic nodes faded away to be replaced by what resembled the dark interior of a cave, he shed his cloak, letting it slither to the ground. He didn’t want to be encumbered by it during the fight. All his usual equipment remained hanging on him, with one exception. Instead of the normal side arm holster at his side, he had a series of four thigh holsters, each one occupied by a pistol. He wouldn’t use them in this round though. That would just make things too unfair, he thought to himself with the tinniest hint of a smirk.
There was a chime to indicate that the round was beginning, and he took off at a dead run, at speeds that were surely impossible for a mere human. He kept a sharp lookout around him, taking in all of the area at once. After about a minute, he reached a large cavernous space, filled with rocky pillars. He slowed down as he entered the arena-like area, and began to move more cautiously, keeping his eye out for any ambushes. As he approached a nice line of pillars, he caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, followed by a green flash. He reacted with super-human reflexes, and dived behind the nearest pillar as the disruptor blast wooshed by, blowing a hole in the wall. Whoever they were, they were shooting to kill. He covered in the shadow of the pillar, running through the reasons why this person wouldn’t have shown up on any of his sensors.
“Odds are cloaking device,” he thought to himself as he began to go through all the possibilities of how to deal with this. Restricting himself to hand to hand combat put him at a severe disadvantage. But, he thought as he fished around behind his back, he had a couple of tricks up his sleeve still. He withdrew a small mirror and held it gingerly as he listened carefully to the environment with the directional audio in his armor. From what he could detect, there were at about 12 sets of feet moving around…four in the immediate vicinity, and one of those, the shooter, moving closer though still about 30 meters away. The rest of the fireteam was probably closing in on the other sides, but without a definite idea of where he was and a desire to catch each other in the cross fire, they were proceeding with caution that was appropriate to them. He moved the mirror out very carefully, to see if he could get a better view, maybe see the tell tale distortion of the cloaking device.
The instant that he moved it out, there was another disruptor flash, and the mirror was blown out of Darson’s hand. He withdrew it quickly and examined his options. That last blast had come from only about 10 meters away, and he could tell by the sound of footsteps that the cloaked assassin was coming inexorably closer. Escape routes on every side were doubtless blocked. He looked up at the pillars who’s massive girth towered about halfway up to the top of the chamber.
Think in three dimensions.
He bent his knees and leapt with all his might.
TO BE CONTINUED:
Lieutenant Colonel James Darson
Marine Commanding Officer
6th Combined Operations Group
by Colonel James Darson
Post Details
| Title | A Relaxing Training Session - Part 01 | |
| Mission | Unity | |
| Author(s) | Colonel James Darson | |
| Posted | Mon Feb 01, 2010 @ 6:03am | |
| Location | Deep Space - Normandy Class Carrier "U.S.S. Nimitz" | |
| Timeline | SD 17 - 0330 |
Darson strode quietly into one of the many holodecks on the large carrier. It was the wee hours of the morning, but he wasn’t tired. A man such as him never got much sleep…and he didn’t need it anyway.
He always kept a training regimen, at least as far back as he remembered. In the past, there had been numerous trips to the gym, training in increased gravity with heavy weights, basic simulations, and sparring against other Marines.
But in the past couple of years, things had changed. That old bundle of exercises just couldn’t cut it anymore. As he manipulated the controls to the holodecks he raised an armored fist and clenched it. Certain…changes…in his body had seen to that. Weights had no substance anymore. Standard simulations he could do in his sleep. And sparring against other Marines…it was more playing and instruction than an actual work out for him.
He needed a challenge.
Something real, something that tested his skills enough to keep him sharp. Something that gave him the same rush as real combat. Deep Space 5 had robbed him of the chance to do anything real. He spent most of his time in a chair, albeit a comfy one, commanding others to do his bidding. It was what was required of him, but not something he relished.
There had been that one time in the Cargo Bay that he thought he might have had a chance to kill that pretentious prick Raedheol, but that passed without incident. Nothing else even came close to that, besides taking those assassins after Captain Tahir out. But again, that was mere child’s play.
He brought his attention back to the controls of the holodecks. He had gotten some of the techs to compile some special simulations for him. Ones that went far beyond the scope and capabilities of what a normal soldier would be able to handle.
The computer beeped an insistent warning at him, alerting him to the fact that the Safety Protocols were off-line. He silenced the alarms with a dry acknowledgement. What was the point of training if the danger wasn’t real?
He turned away from the panel and moved to the center of the room as the simulation booted up. As the yellow patterns of holographic nodes faded away to be replaced by what resembled the dark interior of a cave, he shed his cloak, letting it slither to the ground. He didn’t want to be encumbered by it during the fight. All his usual equipment remained hanging on him, with one exception. Instead of the normal side arm holster at his side, he had a series of four thigh holsters, each one occupied by a pistol. He wouldn’t use them in this round though. That would just make things too unfair, he thought to himself with the tinniest hint of a smirk.
There was a chime to indicate that the round was beginning, and he took off at a dead run, at speeds that were surely impossible for a mere human. He kept a sharp lookout around him, taking in all of the area at once. After about a minute, he reached a large cavernous space, filled with rocky pillars. He slowed down as he entered the arena-like area, and began to move more cautiously, keeping his eye out for any ambushes. As he approached a nice line of pillars, he caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, followed by a green flash. He reacted with super-human reflexes, and dived behind the nearest pillar as the disruptor blast wooshed by, blowing a hole in the wall. Whoever they were, they were shooting to kill. He covered in the shadow of the pillar, running through the reasons why this person wouldn’t have shown up on any of his sensors.
“Odds are cloaking device,” he thought to himself as he began to go through all the possibilities of how to deal with this. Restricting himself to hand to hand combat put him at a severe disadvantage. But, he thought as he fished around behind his back, he had a couple of tricks up his sleeve still. He withdrew a small mirror and held it gingerly as he listened carefully to the environment with the directional audio in his armor. From what he could detect, there were at about 12 sets of feet moving around…four in the immediate vicinity, and one of those, the shooter, moving closer though still about 30 meters away. The rest of the fireteam was probably closing in on the other sides, but without a definite idea of where he was and a desire to catch each other in the cross fire, they were proceeding with caution that was appropriate to them. He moved the mirror out very carefully, to see if he could get a better view, maybe see the tell tale distortion of the cloaking device.
The instant that he moved it out, there was another disruptor flash, and the mirror was blown out of Darson’s hand. He withdrew it quickly and examined his options. That last blast had come from only about 10 meters away, and he could tell by the sound of footsteps that the cloaked assassin was coming inexorably closer. Escape routes on every side were doubtless blocked. He looked up at the pillars who’s massive girth towered about halfway up to the top of the chamber.
Think in three dimensions.
He bent his knees and leapt with all his might.
TO BE CONTINUED:
Lieutenant Colonel James Darson
Marine Commanding Officer
6th Combined Operations Group