Big Balls

Posted on Mon May 2, 2016 @ 8:47am by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Lieutenant AJ Taggart

1,925 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: The Fall
Location: Holodeck 2
Timeline: Evening Before Launch, after meeting with the admiral

Nicole was in the middle of the city square in the City of Ancient Grace, sitting on the edge of the fountain, letting the artificial sunshine wash over her. When she heard the doors open, she looked up and squinted, then smiled. "Hi," she said.

AJ walked in, dressed in a short sleeved Physical Training outfit, his shirt untucked and revealing his sculpted chest and arms. Flashing Nicole a small smile, he walked over and sat beside her, leaning forward to plant a kiss on her lips. Pulling away, his smile grew wider. "Hi, yourself." he said. Looking around, he was impressed by the scenery- it reminded him a lot of what he supposed Ancient Greece looked like. There were plenty of fountains, columns, and flora everywhere.

Nicole kissed him back and hopped off the fountain onto her feet. "There's a court just around the corner," she said. "Ready to take your balls in your hands?" She grinned and started walking down a broad avenue.

Following close behind, AJ giggled. "I usually don't have a problem with that. Care to tell me if the balls I'll be handling will be small or large?"

"Well, it's all relative," Nicole said as they walked into a small park area. She led him towards a row of rectangular borders, marking off individual areas. They weren't large, about the size of a pool table. Nicole picked up a wooden crate with nine balls in it, four green, four red, each about the size of a grapefruit, and a smaller white ball, about the size of a tennis ball. She handed him the green balls and kept the red to herself.

"The rules are simple," she said, "we toss out the smallest ball and then take turns with our balls to see who can get them closest to the smallest. Closest one gets the points. You'll learn the rest as we go."

She tossed out the smallest ball and it landed about two thirds of the way down. "Care to go first?" she said.

AJ nodded. He was fiercely competitive and hated to lose. Hefting the green ball, he got a grip on it. Aiming, AJ gave it a strong toss and watched as the ball followed a tight arc and landed a couple of inches away from the white ball. He pantomimed a gun and blew a puff of air. Leaning over, he smiled slightly. "Take your shot, princess." AJ said in a mock whisper.

Nicole knelt down. "Call me 'princess' again and you'll be a ball short," she said, then shot her hand out, snapping her ball straight down the green until it rolled to a stop touching the white ball. She stood up and smiled sweetly. "Your turn."

AJ picked up the other ball and launched it with a healthy amount of spin. Watching the ball shoot off in the opposite direction, the spin took hold and the ball curved around towards the white ball. Slowing down, the ball stopped and barely kissed the white ball. AJ turned to Nicole with a slight smirk on his face. "You were saying? I can throw a photon grenade and hit a target at 70 metres. You don't stand a chance."

"So you say," Nicole said. She rolled her next shot and it sailed past, coming to rest a half meter away behind the other balls. "Ah well," she said. "Did you play games like this when you were young?" She looked at him, stepping back so he could take his next shot.

AJ shrugged. "On occasion, we have a similar game on Earth called Bocce Ball. It's really popular with retired people. That white ball is usually smaller and there are quite a few more rules." Picking up another ball, AJ lazily tossed it. He was more focused on Nicole now. AJ turned as he heard a thud as his ball landed slightly closer than Nicole's.

"Well, there are other, minor rules here," Nicole said, grinning wickedly. "But tradition says new players have to learn those as they go." She rolled hers gently, and it sailed past AJs, and past the white ball, closer to her other two near the end of the field. "What did you do for fun? And use more than six words," she said, holding up a finger in warning.

Letting out a sigh, AJ looked down at the layout of the balls, contemplating his next throw. "We went out and camped and hunted. It was quite fun just to experience the outdoors and learn interesting skills. I also did Martial Arts as a kid as well."

Nicole's eyebrows went up. "Hunting? Bow and arrow? I grew up doing that. I'm a rather good shot, if I do say so myself. I'd go hunting with some of the clan children after school."

AJ shrugged and threw his last ball. "Sometimes we used a bow and arrow, sometimes I used an antique rifle. It honestly depended on what we were hunting. I much preferred the bow, it was more of a challenge when we were hunting bigger prey."

Nicole nodded and smiled. "That's all we would use back home," she said. "Of course, prey never got too large there." She looked at his shots, all somewhat crowded around the center ball. "Good tosses," she said, smiling, then lobbed her final ball up. It landed between his shots and the center ball, knocking the center ball away from his and to the middle of her three long shots. "Three points to me," she said, grinning wickedly.

"You dirty cheat, knocking my balls out of play is totally not kosher." AJ said playfully. Stepping over, he pulled Nicole close. "How about we go a couple of rounds in something I can actually win, hm?" he asked flirtatiously.

Nicole grinned. "Well, I have good news and bad news," she said, matching his tone. "I'm better at that too." She took his hand and walked further into the park. "What's your take on our new stranded status?"

AJ simply chuckled at Nicole's remark. Thinking for what seemed like an eternity, he finally spoke. "To be honest, it scares me. We're a hairs breadth away from engaging the Borg- and losing. Our Captain refuses to obey basic protocols when it comes to emergencies and honestly, I think she's going to get us all killed or assimilated," he said, his eyes trailing off.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Nicole said, quietly. "I, for one, will be doing everything I can to avoid assimilation. But before we lean to heavily on the Captain, we should assume there's something going on that maybe we aren't privy to. There are always other factors. And with the Borg striking at us like that, all of Starfleet is scrambling."

AJ thought for a moment. "I know. There used to be an Expeditionary Strike Group stationed right on the other side of the gate on constant alert- even a Concorde. I wonder if they had a chance to make it through..." AJ stopped for a few moments as he was forced to contemplate the sheer level of death and havoc that the Borg were capable of.

Nicole reached into a pocket of her skirt and pulled out her silver flask, popping the top with ease. "Here's hoping they're alive," she said, taking a long swig and recapping the flask.

Wincing slightly as he watched Nicole pull from the flask, AJ looked off into the distance as the sky began to turn a deep orange streaked with dark blue with the simulated sunset. Watching as the sky darkened, AJ stood up and turned to walk away. "Well, this was fun. Thank you." he said, a forced smile crossing his lips.

Nicole's eyes narrowed. "What's wrong?" she said. She stood up and folded her arms, staring him down and squaring off. "I know that look AJ, what's bothering you?"

AJ tried to formulate his words, standing up, he looked Nicole in the eyes and planted his hands on her shoulders. "Nicole, we have a Captain who is about to plunge us deep into Borg territory. She is far from careful, and she's going to get us killed or assimilated. I cannot, and will not allow that to happen, okay?" He kissed her on the lips. Pulling away, he took the sheer sight of her in. "I'm going to get into a lot of trouble for what I'm about to do. Don't think any less of me okay?" he asked before he walked away.

"Computer, exit." AJ commanded. The exit door shimmered into view and slid open with a trademark pneumatic hiss.

The eyes went red and the snarl left her throat before she was consciously aware of it. She darted forward, grabbing him by the shoulders and throwing him backwards onto his ass, turning and standing between him and the exit, her arms crossed and her face angry. "Rule Eleven," she snarled. "Dramatic words precede stupid decisions."

She advanced on him and balled her hands into fists at her side in frustration. "What has been going on with you AJ? You mouth off in briefings, you're skulking about, and now this? There is room for only one snarky malcontent on board and I have that spot reserved. So you're going to tell me what is going through your brain or I will extract it from you."

She kept her hands on her hips and stood a few paces from him, tapping her foot expectantly.

Picking himself up off of the ground, AJ dusted himself off, his face turning a dark shade of red. "I am about to walk into the Captain's office and tell her what exactly is wrong with this crazy, frakked-up scenario. It's a completely unnecessary risk and it's one that I fully intend to oppose."

"Oh, smashing idea, that," Nicole said, folding her arms. "As one of my mother's associates would say, are you taking the piss? You're going to march on in to the Captain's ready room and say, what? That she's gone mental? She's a captain, of course she's mental. But we all had our chance to speak up. I, for one, don't want to sit around waiting for the Borg to come back again. If investigating a derelict cube can save our asses, maybe it's worth the risk!"

She shook her head and stepped aside. "If you want to go pop off, that's your choice, but if you wind up in the brig, I reserve the right to say, "I told you so."

AJ frowned at her. "If you want to," he said succinctly before he turned on his heel to walk away.

Nicole let him go, shaking her head. He was getting more surly every day, and she wished she knew why. Not every officer agreed with their captain every time, but one thing Nicole had had drilled into her both at Starfleet Academy and at Starfleet Medical was to respect the chain of command. If every subordinate went on his or her own impulses, missions would go unfulfilled, and patients would die. She'd had prior postings that were a bit more fast and loose with rules, but the captain still had to lead, and Nicole was still inclined to let her.

On the other hand, she was also prepared in her own way in case things went south. She just hoped AJ would show enough restraint to avoid tipping his hand completely, and would finally tell her what's been eating him.


Joint Post

AJ Taggart
CIO

Nicole Anderson
CMO

 

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