SIM:Morgan Free Falling
((Outside Holodeck 3 - DS224))
Talos felt a bit nervous, which considering he was just meeting up with someone, was a very un-Talos-like way to feel. The Excalibur had returned to DS224 a few days ago and Talos had fully intended to fall back into his usual routine.
This time, however, the call of a drunken hook-up didn’t sound as enticing as it might have in the past. Some combination of what they had all gone through on the mission to Cytarix and his own unique experience with the Yalu Symbiont had left his usual pursuits feeling a bit… empty.
He supposed that’s why he’d set up the rendezvous with Adri. For whatever reason, after their initial inter-departmental cooperation session, he hadn’t found it easy to get her off of his mind. And when you considered the kind of distractions he’d had in the days following, that was really saying something.
Still, the idea of settling for a quiet brunch at a quaint little cafe didn’t seem quite right either. What he’d ultimately decided on felt like a bit of an over-correction.
Just like the last time, he felt her presence just before he spotted her approaching through the crowded promenade.
–
There had been a lot of things that had happened over the course of the last few days. Entire universes had risen and fallen in the time that had passed, and she’d experienced revelations along with the rest of the crew that were enough to shatter the very fabric of much of reality as it were. But Adri, being Adri, had simply rolled along with it, disconcerted over the beard she’d ended up with for a time, but not too bothered by the idea that the newest member of the crew now had a nearly complete copy of her memories and personality floating within the symbiont within him.
She wasn’t the only one at least.
The man who had pulled her here by invitation was also in that very specific, very unique circumstance, having lived a day in the body of a joined Trill. And yet the two of them were not there to consider such ramifications. At least she didn’t think they were. On the contrary, they were meeting at a holodeck, which almost confused her. But again, it was all about going with the way things went and seeing where it took her. Besides, she had wanted to see him again…
Dakora: Adri!
Hearing her name, she brightened with a smile and made her way over, brushing her t-shirt down as she approached. There had been a brief concern that she might have underdressed, but ultimately, it seemed like she hadn’t.
He waved her over with a smile as she closed the final distance.
A.Morgan: Good morning.
Casually dressed in a pair of coyote tan rip-stop tactical pants and a black t-shirt with the word EXCAL emblazoned on his chest, Talos was glad Adriana seemed to have dressed appropriately for what he was planning as well.
Dakora: You look great. ::He shot her a lopsided grin.:: Hopefully we’re both a little less… Uh, distracted… than the last time we saw each other.
There was something about that lopsided grin that was appealing to her, but she just smiled innocently back and blinked as if history was just that. Words, however, betrayed knowledge.
A.Morgan: I’m certain it will involve less sweat…
Laughing to himself, Talos pointed to the Holodeck control panel with a smirk.
Dakora: Alright, here’s what I’ve got planned… ::He paused, raising a concerned eyebrow.:: Wait, you aren’t afraid of heights are you?
Adri shook her head. Truth be told, she wasn’t afraid of much, save for the Earth creature known as a spider maybe, but anything with eight legs was bound to be something worth some terror. The evolution of that many limbs demanded it, at a certain level.
A.Morgan: No. But now I’m intrigued.
Stepping up behind him she watched over his shoulder as he tapped in codes and commands, limited somewhat by the sheer fact that his collar held but one solid pip. Her own lopsided grin appeared as she snaked her arm around him and next to his, tapping in her own codes and allowing greater access for whatever his plans were, their arms brushing against each others briefly.
Stepping back, she let him finish and she smiled.
Dakora: Thanks. ::He donned a mischievous smirk.:: I don’t think we could get this all done in the thirty sad little minutes they let us low-rankers reserve.
A.Morgan: I couldn’t let a little thing like that get in the way of fun, could I?
She laughed, contented as she followed him through the holodeck doors.
((Holodeck 3 - DS224))
Once they’d made their way inside the Holodeck and the doors had shut behind them, Talos turned to face Adriana with a sort of devious grin.
Dakora: Computer, start program: Dakora Orbital Drop Training Mod 6-9.
As the gridded walls of the holodeck faded away, the dim interior of an SFMC dropship formed around them. Empty jump seats lined the walls of the craft and various pieces of gear were stuffed into the netting on either side of the compartment. It was not quite as clean and well maintained as the average Starfleet Vessel. Nearby, two Force Recon issue Orbital Drop suits hung from a humanoid-sized gantry.
Her eyebrows rose towards the top of the craft, genuinely surprised, but also not at the same time. Their last encounter had been much the same, but very, very different. He seemed one to take a chance, but also one to make it a really good one. And what could be more of a chance than jumping out of a perfectly good flying vehicle? It was something she’d never done, but it was certain to be a rush.
Perhaps almost as good as the rush of their first meeting? Time would tell.
A.Morgan: I see.
He gestured to the suits and turned to his lovely companion.
Dakora: After the last mission I figured it’d be nice to blow off some steam. ::He scrunched his face a little and said the second part a little fast.:: Annnnd my recertification is due soon and I’m a little rusty.
Adri nodded.
A.Morgan: So naturally you’d want to teach someone brand new and shove her out of the door. Then what? Hope for the best?
She grinned. There were safety protocols and he was sharing something of himself with her. It was…nice. But that didn’t mean he was getting out of being picked on.
He smirked and placed an arm around her shoulders as walked her towards the suits. Obviously, there was usually a fair bit of training one had to go through before they ever got to the “jumping-out-of-a-perfectly-good-starship” stage of the game, but it was a holodeck with the safeties on, so the crash course he planned to give her would have to do.
Dakora: The instructors will make it sound really complicated, but when it comes down to it the majority of the work is done by gravity. I’ll make su-
A holographic representation of his old Gunnery Sergeant stepped through the door to the Jump deck with his usual less-than-pleasant expression showing openly on his face. The dark-skinned Terran’s eyes went impossibly wide as they settled on Talos.
Gunny Hart: DAKORA! ::He made a blade with his hand and jabbed it in their direction.:: Quit playing grab-ass and get your telepathic carcass in that damn drop-suit ‘fore I stuff you in it SIDEWAYS!
Grinning like an idiot, Talos quickly modified his program.
Dakora: Computer, remove all holographic characters. ::He shrugged apologetically:: The insults are how he shows he cares.
Adriana laughed heartily at that point, shaking her head.
A.Morgan: I’m sure. I’d almost like to see the way you’d fit sideways into the suit though. They look pretty skin tight to me…
He cocked his head just a little, eyeing her suggestively. Her genuine laughter sent waves of satisfaction through him that he couldn’t readily explain.
Dakora: Come now, we both know how flexible I am…
She raised an eyebrow and looked over at him mischievously.
A.Morgan: That’s why you chose this program eh? Skin tight suits?
That said, she didn’t wait for an answer before she started donning the gear that would be necessary for the drop.
Dakora: It may have played a small role in my decision. ::He shrugged.:: Look at you, can you blame me?
She had started trying to grab the individual pieces of the complicated Orbital drop suit like a typical Starfleet E.V.A. suit, but it was an uphill battle. Talos wasn’t an engineer, but he knew something about the materials used in the form-fitting, highly ablative Drop Suit made it difficult to put on by oneself.
Talos stepped up beside her and took her hand in his. Their obsidian eyes met in the red-washed troop compartment for a moment as he raised a single index finger on his other hand urging her to wait just a second.
It wasn’t lost on Talos that he hadn’t been able to stop smiling, or smirking, or grinning… or whatever, since Adri had shown up.
Eyes still lost in his, and well aware of the look that had been on his face since her arrival, Adri stopped her attempts and simply drank in the moment. She returned his look with a smirk of her own.
A.Morgan: Not one bit.
Dakora: Watch and learn, my dear Commander Morgan.
Nodding in ascent, and allowing the smirk to evolve into a grin, she looked on as he moved away slightly to where there were markings on the floor.
He stepped up to the gantry, placing his feet within the yellow rectangle on the floor and extended his arms in a T-pose. He shot Adri a cheeky wink and spoke.
Dakora: Romeo 1-1, ready.
Mechanisms in the gantry sprang to life and began rapidly assembling the suit around his body with a rapid-fire series of whirrs, hisses, and a rather satisfying series of thunks. In a matter of seconds, he was fully ensconced in the Starfleet Marine Corps 8th Generation I.O.D.C.S. (Individual Orbital Drop Combat Suit).
He could’ve activated his suit’s external speakers, but why bother.
Dakora: ~You’re Juliet 1-1, naturally.~
Chuckling to herself as his words rang through her mind, she rolled her eyes and followed his lead, stepping into the rectangle near her suit and extending her arms.
A.Morgan: ~ Naturally.~ Juliet 1-1, ready.
The sensation was a strange one, of the suit being assembled around her as she stood there, all in a matter of moments. It was something unique she’d not had the opportunity to do before and was almost as intriguing as the jump would be she was sure. The curious tendrils of her mind radiated outwards, as she made no attempts to contain herself there at that moment. After all, it was only her, the holodeck, and him.
And moments later, when it was all finished, she looked up at him with a bit of a grin. If that was fun, what came next was sure to be something else.
Once she was in her suit and situated, Talos gave her the quickest possible run-down of how to jump from a ship in orbit to the surface of a planet, preferably without dying. He went over the course correction thrusters, which were close enough to a standard Starfleet E.V.A. mobility pack. He then moved on to a crash course on orbit eccentricity and angle of attack and so on. After a few minutes of explanation and demonstration, he summed it all up simply enough.
Dakora: You get the gist? The main concepts are to keep your trajectory lined up with the marker on your HUD and to not lose body control and start a death-roll once you hit the atmosphere. Just… remember to activate the deceleration field no lower than 1500 meters from the ground or your suit will have to choose between splatting you on the ground, or slowing you down so fast your insides turn to jelly.
Of course, no one would actually get hurt today, even if it all went wrong, but Talos enjoyed the authenticity.
Holodecks were one of the most amazing inventions ever. Of that she was immediately certain. Considering the fact that the few minutes of instruction she’d just been given would be all that stood between her living and dying in any other realm, she had to hand it to the creator of the holodeck. Their invention allowed for experiences that would otherwise simply never happen.
A. Morgan: Right. I’ll try to remember all of that. I don’t think you’d like me nearly as much as a pile of jelly.
Without further ado, Talos walked over to the launch tubes with Adri in tow. He motioned for her to get into her Tube and prepared the launch countdown. Using the touchpad on his wrist, he opened a comm-line between them and left it open.
For a moment, Adriana felt enclosed, captured, but never alone. There was the comm line that was open, but there was an ever present feeling between them mentally as well. It was there, in her mind, as if he were holding her hand in a way only another Betazoid could, and it made the whole experience that much more thrilling. She smiled as the countdown ran out.
Dakora: Launching in 3… 2…1
With a hollow thump sound, the dropship fired them head-first on a sub-orbital trajectory towards the Class-M planet below. The only hints of their improbably high velocity were the rapidly shrinking silhouette of their ship and the gradually growing planet that they hurtled towards.
Beside him, too far to reach out and touch, but close enough that he could make out the face behind her visor, Adri made her first Orbital Drop.
As the ship fell away and Adriana found herself literally in space, it was almost as if her breath had been momentarily stolen. The planet sprawled out before them, like a welcoming hug, but before getting there, the still beauty and silence of the dark caliginosity of perpetual night embraced her with all of the awe and wonder it was due. She felt tiny amidst the giants in a playground, but a spec of sand on a cosmic beach, audience to views that few could claim the experience of having seen. As her dark eyes reflected the very soul of the universe itself, her breath returned and expelled but a single word.
A.Morgan: Whoa…
He chuckled, careful not to let his body move too much as he did. The dropship had faded to a tiny speck before disappearing from view completely as the pair shot through open space. The big blue orb loomed large in front of them as they careened through the void together, with no sound but their own breathing playing quietly over the comm-line.
Dakora: It really is kind of amazing, isn’t it?
The man next to her had a way with words…in this case, with severely understating things. Adri blinked to herself, but tried not to let her eyes close for long lest she lose some of the view.
A.Morgan: It is more than that.
Her words were only part of the full message that Talos received. Their minds had begun to fully entangle as they hurtled through the void and the sensation was almost as exhilarating as the drop itself. If he’d ever been as distracted as he was now on a real jump, it would have probably ended in disaster, but he had eased the margins of error with a little holodeck magic before they’d started.
Dakora: ::He let out a calm exhalation.:: Sometimes I think we forget that all of this is just a few layers of tritanium away…
A.Morgan: I’ve never stood and looked the universe in the eye before.
And with such a statement, there was the weight of the awe settling in. Sure, they lived and worked in space every day, but this was something entirely different. It struck chords at ones soul, and to share it with someone, well…Adri risked a glance to her side and caught his dark eyes also reflecting the universe in them.
A broad smile appeared as the planet loomed larger and ever more present before them.
He could feel the sense of awe radiating from her and it spread over him like the warm wash of a rising sun. Talos didn’t really know how to explain it, but somehow he’d needed this. He’d needed her. Here and now, for the first time since they’d left Cytarix, everything just felt… right.
Dakora: It has certainly never felt quite like this…
He let his feelings fill the gaps his words left as the planet grew to encompass their entire view.
A.Morgan: Remind me to properly thank you for the experience later.
Dinner, perhaps? Coffee? Eh, that was a bit limited for her taste. It didn’t matter, she’d let him read into it what he would. She laughed.
Dakora:::Laughing:: Last time we were together you showed ME something beautiful and took my breath away. ::He switched it up.:: ~I figured I should return the favor~
Adri grinned, mostly to herself in the helmet.
A.Morgan: ~ Well, consider us even then. ~
An indicator blinked in his HUD, letting him know that they were nearing their re-entry point. It was the part where things would go wrong, if they were going to. Too steep of a re-entry angle would cause you to burn up in the atmosphere, whereas too shallow of an angle would cause you to skip like a stone off the edge of the atmosphere and hurtle off into the void. Fortunately, he’d been monitoring their descent and everything was looking good.
It would all move pretty quickly from here, Talos knew.
Dakora: Ok, we’re about to enter the upper atmosphere and things are going to start happening fast, so I need to put a little distance between us. Just remember what I showed you. Keep your angle-of-attack indicator lined up with the marker on your HUD and ::He pointed to a bulky device around the waist of their suits.:: activate your reaction mass if you start spinning out of control. ::He pointed to the large button panels on the left and right sides of his chest.:: Primary and Backup deceleration field activators. Easy Peasy.
Clearing her mind, she focused on the task at hand. For all the carefree nature she was known for, Adriana didn’t make Commander by not being able to take care of the complex or more difficult tasks. When it was time to buckle down and get things done, she knew what to do. Just like the man next to her, she was Starfleet, and that was something her crewmates could count on.
It was also something that she planned on using to wow him when she stuck this landing.
A.Morgan: Yep. Simple.
And with that, she let her mind focus on what lay in front of her; the planet as it became all encompassing, with the last tendrils of his mind tangled in her thoughts as if holding her hand all the way through as the atmosphere began making its presence known. Friction, of a different sort this time, sent an interesting vibrating sensation through the suit, and thus her, making her feel almost as if her teeth might shake out of her mouth, but then, as quickly as it had come, it had passed.
It was a lot to throw at her, but Talos knew the suit itself would keep her from getting into too much trouble. He reveled in the contentment of being near her for just a moment longer and let his correction thrusters carry him a few hundred meters away so that they wouldn’t get caught in each other's turbulence.
Seconds after he zeroed out his X and Y momentum, he felt the familiar vibration of his body leaving the nothingness of space and slipping into the gravity-bound gaseous mass of the stratosphere of the planet. He watched the various temperature sensors on his hud begin to gradually increase as the atmospheric friction exerted its forces on his suit. Thankfully everything was working as it should.
Then, as quickly as it had come, he found himself through the atmospheric barrier and plummeting towards the procedurally generated Class M planet below. Behind him the blackness of space began to fade into a pleasant blue sky and below he could just make out the strip of beach that the HUD marker told him was his objective. With the influence of drag taking effect, he angled his body to drift back over to Adri, where he matched her velocity as best he could with careful body control.
Dakora: You made that look easy. ::He smiled proudly.:: You sure you’re not a Marine?
The laughter could be heard over the open line.
A.Morgan: Of that I can be certain. I never did have the uh…’proper mindset’ let’s say.
With the threat of spontaneous disintegration behind them, gravity would literally do the rest, one way or another.
Dakora: Anyway, I’ll see you on the beach!
Her eyes darted to him in challenged amusement.
A.Morgan: Indeed you will!
He rotated his body into a head-down attitude and rocketed away, daring her to chase him.
And so the chase was on. Adriana had little chance of catching the experienced man, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try and give him at least the satisfaction of knowing that he was worth the chase. He seemed to grow a bit smaller as his lead grew and the beach got closer, but Adri held her own and managed to find a good balance of grace and speed that brought her in where and when she needed to be. The white sands sprawled out all around as she saw him slow down and she finally was able to gain some of the ground she initially lost, just in time to follow the instructions and activate the landing sequence.
Watching the altimeter on his HUD dropping as fast as terminal velocity would allow, he waited until the last possible second to activate his Deceleration Field Generator (DFG). He’d cut it much closer than he ever would have in the real world, as indicated by a DANGER-RED colored display flashing around the DFG activation height of 1550M. A little faster than he typically preferred, the gorgeous white sand beach rose up to greet him and he managed to land on both feet with only a slight wobble betraying his desire to show off.
It wasn’t just his showy-ness that told her he was, indeed, showing off for her, but the stray thoughts that left his mind for hers, growing ever stronger as she approached. In her mind, she focused on the landing, thinking about all that she had just seen, all that he had shared, and all the feelings that it had evoked. Slowly, the suit brought her in, and she pulled her legs under her, planting them in the sand as she came down, wobbling more than he had, which was expected, but remaining on her feet. Arms out in her attempt to remain balanced and standing, she grinned widely as he approached. She had done it!
Talos grinned as he approached his drop-partner.
Dakora: Well done!. ::He clapped a few times.:: You know, my first time I got a case of the spins and had to use my reaction mass. ::He looked down to the ground, a little sheepishly.:: and I landed belly down.
Adri smiled, half reassuringly and shrugged.
A.Morgan: Maybe I just had a better teacher.
He laughed to himself as tapped through the confirmations on the control panel affixed to the wrist of his suit. All at once, the suit let out a loud depressurization HISS and explosively disassembled itself, undoing the work of the gantry and leaving Talos standing in the sand in the clothes he’d started with.
Dakora: Ahhhh. ::He rubbed his now unconstrained shoulders.:: that’s better.
He crossed to Adri and took her arm, initiating her suit's rapid-exfiltration function as well. As the suit rapidly disassembled itself from around her, she stood somewhat amazed at the tech and mostly pleased with how easily it was done. Again, she found herself thankful for the fact that they were on the holodeck and didn’t have to worry about picking all of that up or taking it anywhere.
A.Morgan: Indeed. And now we can enjoy this.
Now free from their bulky suits, Talos glanced around at their rather pleasant surroundings. A midday sun burned high overhead, as a soft, warm, white-sand beach stretched on as far as the eye could see while the greenery of a tropical jungle awaited them, should they try and walk inland. She never had to know that they would’ve been met by an attacking force right about now, if he hadn’t disabled the holographic characters. A thud sounded from somewhere behind Talos, kicking up a cloud of sand in a rather dramatic fashion.
Dakora: That’ll be our critical mission equipment.
Looking behind him, she watched as the cloud of sand cleared out to reveal a rather bulky object that looked decidedly out of place on the pristine white sands of the beautiful beach.
A.Morgan: Mission equipment. ::She raised an eyebrow.:: So we’re not done.
He approached the bulky, ruggedized, rectangular military cargo pod and triggered the mechanism. The box unfolded itself revealing a bottle of sparkling uttaberry wine from an upscale vineyard on Betazed, a set of glasses, and various beach picnic appurtenances that he’d surreptitiously programmed to arrive. He turned back to Adri and raised an eyebrow suggestively.
Dakora: Looks like command wants us to use these supplies to hold the beachhead. ::A smirk.:: Think we can handle it?
Oh, now that was something. Never in all of her years in Starfleet, nor prior, had she ever been taken out like this. It was almost as if he knew her, and it was a beautiful thing. Dinner, calm evenings in easygoing restaurants, coffee dates on promenades, walks along the 224 thoroughfare…all of those things were ‘nice’, but Adri was always a bit of one for the exciting and sometimes more questionable. Her parents called her the free-spirit, her best friend called her spontaneous, and while reliable and true to a fault, she was always, always up for an adventure.
And this man…he seemed to tap into that very part of her. She smirked, equally suggestively.
A.Morgan: I think we just might be able to.
He got to work setting up their little romantic forward operating base and in a few minutes, they were sitting on a beach blanket with glasses in hand. An occasional gentle ocean breeze kept the temperature perfect as Talos found himself staring into the obsidian eyes across from him.
Dakora: I’m really glad you came. ::He laughed.:: Even if I didn’t really warn you what you were getting into.
A.Morgan: I live for not knowing what I’m getting into, most days.
She found herself quite content to sip the wine and gaze back into eyes that rivaled her own in their depth and darkness. It was only after some time lost like that, they turned to the water and so much else.
He gazed out into the rolling waves of warm water beyond, thinking of all that had transpired since they’d last been together. It somehow managed to seem like a million years ago, yet memories of their entanglement had been playing in his mind unbidden ever since. Talos couldn’t possibly imagine what he was getting himself into that day in the Observation lounge, but somehow he’d found himself here anyway. He could’ve tried to mask his thoughts, but didn’t. Whatever the two of them would share would be built on a foundation of Betazoid openness.
There were a lot of feelings and emotions at play here with implications that he’d managed to avoid for the better part of his adult life and in time, he planned to address them. For now, there was a girl, some wine, and a beach that required his attention and that was enough. For now.
Dakora: This is a little unusual for me, honestly. ::He smirked.:: I.. uh, I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind since the last time I saw you.
Sensing so much rolling around in his mind, she smiled warmly at him. It would be a lie if she’d said she hadn’t thought of him at all. No, there was something there, like a seed had been planted in the most unique sort of way. It was a seed she was willing to nurture and see grow, especially after today. Looking around her, at the beach and the remnants of the drop suits not far off, she knew that this was only the beginning of something that could be much more than she’d ever imagined.
With so much wrong in the universe, she’d long ago made a pact with herself to always choose what felt right, and this just felt right.
A.Morgan: You’re not alone.
His eyebrows raised at her response but he didn’t immediately reply. Instead, he drained the remainder of his drink and stood up, pulling his shirt over his head and off as he did. Instantly he felt the radiant heat of the sun wash across his skin. He kicked his shoes off haphazardly as he turned to face her. Neither of them had brought swimsuits, but then again, there wasn’t even a word for “swimsuit” in the ancient Betazoid tongue. He began working on his belt as he spoke.
Dakora: I’m going for a swim. ::His dark gaze challenged hers.:: Join me?
With an impish grin, Adri stood and began to follow suit. Clothing was left on the blanket as sand kicked up behind bare feet. This was a race she might just be able to win, but then again, she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
No, she’d let him catch her.
A.Morgan: Catch me if you can!
TAG/TBC
--
Commander Adriana Morgan
Communications Specialist/Duty Officer
USS Apollo
As simmed by Lieutenant Cayden Adyr (Captain Kalianna Nicholotti)
Return to Kalianna Nicholotti