<USS Avalon> "The Lessons We Learn - Part 5"
- From: Lyryn Cate <wistful_fancy@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: avalon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 23:40:29 -0800 (PST)
The Lessons We Learn
Part 5 - Co-operation
by Ensign Sussanna Jameson with
Senior Lieutenant Elissabeth Marksbury
Grunting as the turbolift's doors swished cheerfully closed, Anna slumped down
the corridor to the holosuite. The lights overhead were far too bright for that
time of the morning, her eyes hurt, hell all of her hurt. Marksbury had been
pushing them even harder in the advanced training, coming up with more
impossible puzzles and situations.
"I should request a transfer based on that alone," she muttered.
"What was that?" Forester chirped. "A transfer already?"
He was so bloody cheery, how could anyone be so happy first thing in the
morning? She forced a smile, trying not to be too grumpy.
"Just musing that we've been put through a lot of training recently, that's
all."
The doors to the holosuite slid apart to admit them to a strange, half-dome,
dimly lit room. Ten chairs were set in a semi-circle facing the concave wall.
The dome itself appeared to be made of black glass and reached to at least
twice Anna's height. Marksbury was already waiting for them, standing in front
of the arranged chairs, as were Sergova, Fenner and Monroe.
"Have a seat," Marksbury said. "You're early." She moved over to have a
conversation in hushed tones with Monroe.
Anna and John picked their way through the flip-up chairs to sit next to Fenner
and Sergova. Only Stas'ya matched John's obvious enthusiasm and the pair of
them began a happy debate of the previous day's training.
Anna leaned over to the bleary eyed Ensign Fenner and said, "Morning sport, and
isn't it a doozy?"
The new people, well, old people to the team, but new to them, Hollander and
Eckstein came in next, bickering over something.
Slowly, but surely, the rest of the group filtered into the room, each taking a
seat to face Marksbury. She smiled at each in turn, making eye contact and
trying to reassure. When everyone was gathered, she waited for the chatter to
quiet.
"Good morning, I trust you rested well and aren?t too worse for wear with
yesterday?s activities?" Most of them nodded and she went on. "Today's exercise
will test your endurance and team work. You will learn what it is to work as
one machine, supporting each other when the need arises. You will be spilt into
two groups, I have the lists here," she said as she held up a PADD. Looking at
each person, holding their eyes ever so briefly, she turned back to the glass
dome. "Behind this glass is the course for today's exercise. Before I show you
what you will be up against, let me brief you all properly on the task ahead.
"The task, in its simplest, is to finish the course before the other team. It
is a ten mile hike and you have twelve hours to do it. You must complete it in
the allotted time. Your team must remain together at all times. If a team
reaches the end without members, then the victory is invalid. The course
requires a great deal of team work, as there are challenges that can only be
overcome with no less than four people.
"There is a ?get out? clause. If, for any reason, you feel it is necessary to
leave the training, simply ask the computer to beam you straight to the end.
Unfortunately, this has a price. If any team loses a member, whether due to
negligence or because that person has left the simulation, then that team must
complete the course again tomorrow, while the other team has the day off."
Marksbury looked at the cocky faces of her elite. "Be aware that the safety
protocols have been disengaged in this holosuite, so if you leave someone
behind they could be seriously injured. Do you understand the rules of this
exercise?"
A call of "Yessir" rang around the dome. Marksbury nodded in acknowledgment and
turned to the glass. "The winning team is exempt from repeating the course."
She waited for the murmurs to die down again. "Computer, reveal course."
Slowly the black faded away leaving the group staring at their task. A barren
waste spread out before them, miles of desert dunes and sand storms rolled away
beneath a pair of glaring suns. The heat was intense, even from behind the
safety of the dome. Anna felt cold sweat trickle down her back at the thought
of going into that.
"The temperatures soar to above fifty degrees celsius and only dip as low as
forty-five. The atmosphere is not breathable, so you will have to wear full
bio-suits and carry enough oxygen to last the course. You will also be carrying
water, food, full kit and med kits. This task will stretch your endurance to
its limits."
Fearful and unenthusiastic looks met her words. Marksbury put them into their
teams and handed out the kits they needed. Anna was put under Matthews with
Harak, Hollander and Whitt. They all suited up, she gave a brief wave to Fenner
and Forester, and Marksbury pointed them to the airlock. They all headed out in
silence.
"Okay, this is simple enough. If any of us gets into trouble then we have to
help them. If absolutely necessary then we will beam them out of here. But we
have to agree as a group that it is needed, clear? I don?t want to go through
this again tomorrow, so let?s make sure we win." Simon's voice came in a
crackling buzz over the head-gear of the suits.
"Everyone together? Well, let's move out then."
Ten miles in twelve hours sounds an easy thing and it is, if you are marching
across even terrain, with hard earth beneath your feet and a peasant breeze in
your face. But ten miles of desert is something completely different. The pace
that Simon set was smooth, slower to compensate for the sand and the heat. Anna
found herself in a kind of trance after the first mile or so, everywhere looked
the same, just dust and miles and miles of yellow sand. The path they followed
was marked out by a series of tall red sticks so that they couldn't go too far
wrong.
There was no where for Anna to hold her head that didn't put one of the suns in
direct line with her eyes. They stang and soon tears were running down her
cheeks and gathering in the bottom of her helmet. Her companions looked like
strange spacemen from some kind of Terran 1960s B-movie, their tinted face
shields looked like big bug eyes and the yellow suits matched the sand. Anna
had to keep checking where she was going to make sure she didn't stray in her
stupor.
Monroe's team had long since disappeared over one of the sand dunes up ahead,
their trail still slightly visible even in the endlessly shifting sands.
Occasionally small dust devils sprang up and obliterated a small section of the
other group's footprints, but the storms were tiny and had no effect on their
progress.
"Holy fuck!" Anna yelled as red flame from a flare lit the horizon in a single
burst.
Everyone stopped dead. It was a warning from the other team, something had gone
wrong and they may need help. Matthews contacted Monroe but the connection was
mostly static with intermittent, unrelated words. Anna started to pace and
Matthews kept trying to contact the other team.
Finally, he turned to Whitt and asked, "How far are they from here?"
Whitt pulled out a tricorder and started taking scans. "About one mile or so,
not far. In that direction," he said as he pointed along the markers.
"Right, we have to decide now if we are going to help them. Because if we do,
then we might lose time and maybe not finish at all. Or we could use this to
our advantage and secure the lead."
"Are you taking the piss?" Anna couldn't believe this man. "What is there to
decide? They need help. Red flare means help. We are not going to leave them
there."
"And anyway, sir, if they are along the line of markers then we have to go that
way to reach the end anyway," Hollander said.
"Okay, so then we all agree to help them?" Everyone nodded as much as their
helmets would allow.
It took a numbingly slow hour to cross the distance indicated by Whitt. Anna's
impatience kept pulling her in front of her teammates but Matthews' constant
nagging made her stop to let them catch up. It was at one of those times, when
she was ahead, that Anna crested a dune and saw the storm.
It was miles across and totally opaque. The markers led straight through the
middle of it as did Whitt's directions. Huge columns of rotating sand and dust
reached into the sky for miles above their heads. The suns were being blocked
by the sheer volume of particles in the atmosphere.
"Matthews to Monroe, can you hear me?"
"Yeah, I hear you. How far are you from our position?"
Matthews looked at Whitt who gave him both distance and directional
estimations, which Matthews relayed to Monroe.
"We can't get a reading in this, there's just too much sand."
"You're very close to the edge, we can direct you out. There's no way we can
navigate through it after you're out though."
"Let's cross that bridge when we come to it, shall we?" Monroe sounded
remarkably calm given his current circumstances.
"Okay, Whitt, direct them out."
Anna paced for the agonisingly long time it took to get them out. When they
finally emerged, she could see they were supporting one of their number between
them. Ignoring calls from Matthews, Anna ran down the dune to help them. Her
heart was racing and she felt sick at the thought that John might be hurt.
"John?" she called over the comm link.
"Hey Anna, Stas'ya twisted her ankle, she needs to sit down."
"Ensign, why aren't you with your teammates?" Monroe's voice called sternly
over the link.
"Look, you want help or not?"
Anna took over from Monroe on Sergova's left, while John was on her right. They
trudged back up the hill and gently sat her on the ground.
"I?ll be alright," she chirped. "I just need to rest a little."
"You?re injured," Monroe said. "We?re beaming you to sick bay, no arguments."
"NO!" She pulled herself to her feet. "See, I am fine. It is not fair to let
you all do it again just because I was a fool."
"Well this is all just bloody silly!" Anna walked over to the young woman and
pushed her back down. "You sit the bloody hell down, okay?"
"Sir!" Whitt's voice held a note of urgency. "The storm is moving. It's coming
straight at us."
Everyone turned to see the wall of dust eat up the tracks of the only recently
emerged team.
"How far are we from its furthermost edge?" Matthews said.
"About half a mile to the east and three miles to the west. But it will take us
too far from the markers."
Fenner looked up and Anna could see an idea forming in his mind. "Michael, is
there any way that you can keep tabs on how far we are from the markers?"
"Sure. Each marker is designed to give out a small signal so I can track them
using a tricorder."
"How far along the eastern edge does the storm go from the markers?"
"At its maximum, about one mile. At its minimum, less than a foot."
"And can you detect the end from here?"
"Sure, it's another four miles away." And suddenly the penny dropped. "And the
storm doesn't cross that section of markers. It sweeps away to the west."
"I think if we are going to move then we should do it right now," Anna said,
seeing the storm creep nearer.
"Then we?re agreed?" Monroe said. "We?ll do this together?"
Everyone nodded and they set out for the eastern edge of the storm. The trek
was long and hard, they were slowed by the constant direction alterations from
Whitt as the storm changed course and by Sergova's injury. The sky darkened as
they trudged on and each person was increasingly aware that their time had long
since run out.
Finally, with a characteristic whoop, Michael called that the end was over the
next dune. They crested it and saw another black dome, much like the one they
had left several hours before. With a sudden increase in vigor, everyone
bounded down the dune to the perceived safety of the dome, Sergova included.
"Fourteen hours, thirty two minutes," Marksbury said as they walked in the
door, worn and weary. She waited until they stripped off their bio-suits to the
sweat soaked clothes underneath. She allowed them to sit in the matching chairs
set once again in a semi-circle. "Automatic failure," she announced, "Both
teams."
Monroe stood up and said, "No it wasn?t. It may have been a failure by time
limitations, but if we didn?t all work together, there is no way we would?ve
finished at all. It just so happened that time was our sacrifice. We were still
victorious."
Several murmurs of agreement echoed through the small room.
"Very good," she smiled. "You pass. There will be no repeat of this course.
Now, go shower, sleep, be here in twelve hours. We have our first mission."
With that, she once again walked out the door.
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