Joint Personal Log - Lt Ebonheart & Noah Waterhouse - "After Lunch, Tennis"

Posted on Thu Dec 25th, 2014 @ 6:37am by Lieutenant Chloe Ebonheart

3,255 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: All Hallows’
Location: Holodeck 2

~*~ Start Personal Log ~*~

After lunch Chloe made her way back to the ship, she had holodeck time reserved with Noah, he was going to show her a couple of his mother's holodeck programs as he had promised during the party. Her trip back to the ship was uneventful, the first lift she found she and made her way to the holodeck that she was meeting Noah at.

Noah stood waiting in the corridor outside the holodeck, his attention turned to the holographic goggles projected from his bridge piercing. A keyboard hovered in the air above his leather wrist band, his fingers flitting across it. On his head sat a Spaghetti colander. He spoke softly to himself in a mix of Klingon and Federation standard as his eyes skimmed through the list of programs and he tried up remember what each cryptic name actually meant.

One white brow arched on Chloe's forehead and the feline just stood there watching for a moment wondering exactly what he was wearing and why? "Find anything interesting?" She asked noting the list of titles moving up on the holographic screen he was looking at.

Noah looked up with a start, and chuckled nervously as he pressed a button and the holographic lenses disappeared. "Just trying to remember what some of my Mum's insanity translates to for a normal person. Shall we?" He waved his arm toward the holodeck door.

"Of course." She said with a smirk making her way to the doors and entering the holodeck. "Did you find anything?" Chloe asked with a natural purr.

"There are lots of programs. Anything in particular you're interested in?" He followed her into the holodeck and snapped his fingers. A PADD materialized floating in midair and he took hold of it.

"You promised me something to get my adrenaline pumping." Chloe said with a smirk.

"Oh, well, in that case, into the deep end we go," Noah insisted with a smirk. He flicked at the PADD, quickly scrolling through a list of programs, until the one he was looking for showed up. His finger tapped on 'Tennis' and a couple of options appeared, which he flicked through quickly and without any hesitation. The holodeck shifted around them, turning into the corridors that awaited them outside the holodeck doors. He tapped the PADD once more, and it disappeared.

The red alert lights and klaxon started.

Being a security officer, Chloe always had her phaser pistol on her at all times so when the red alert lights and klaxons went off around her instinctively she reached for her weapon. "but this is so sudden." She grinned excitedly to see where this program went.

Down the corridor, green swirls of energy preceded the appearance of a trio humanoids of white skin, black clothes, and bits of cybernetics all over. They stood with their backs to the pair. Noah grabbed Chloe by her upper arm, palmed the controls to open the door they stood next to, and pulled her inside. They found themselves in a science lab.

"You need in program weapons, that will likely damage the holodeck," Noah cautioned, nodding to the phaser Chloe had instinctively reached for. "The only live weapons Mum set up her programs for were projectiles, because she had a subroutine that created holographic bullets and gunpowder; it has a severe lock down on the safeties attached, and stand separate from the safeties of whatever program she uses them in."

"Your mom is officially my favorite person now! ok so let's see if there are any weapons in this science lab, if not which well I don't know if your mom's programmed weapons here or not we might have to find our way to the armory." She grinned already feeling the excitement coursing through her.

"This program can range from serious training level to cartoonish video game. I set it for somewhere in the middle," Noah explained, his eyes scanning the lab around them. "I think that means there may be random weapons drops. I'll warn you, I'm not so good on my aim, but I can change the difficulty to make it easier for me to hit... Or I can try to depend on my wits." He grinned as he headed towards the supply cabinet.

"Which ever you prefer." She grinned resisting the urge to bounce around with excitement as she looked around for a weapon in the room. "What exactly were those things?" She asked curiously.

"I take it you haven't seen Borg before? Or did you just not get a good look?" he tossed over his shoulder as he started poking through the supplies in the cabinet. The various tools for taking samples, containment, and scanning all caught his eye and he soon had an armful of stuff.

"didn't get a good look, but well I cannot remember actually coming face to face with Borg except in training!" Chloe was barely able to contain her excitement. The feline didn't come away empty handed, she had found a couple of weapons. "wow you are very good at scavenger hunts." She blinked.

"I'm creative, and Mum felt it was important Pond and I know how to handle the Borg," he returned, dropping the collection of items on a work bench. He picked up one of three tennis ball sized pods, and tossed it towards Chloe. "Portable containment field, it sometimes slows them down."

She caught it easily and attached it to her belt. "Nice." She grinned. "So what's the plan?" She asked him tail resting on the floor her ears alert for sound.

"I usually don't last long, unless I'm in this program with Pond or Mum. If I ever encounter real Borg, my plan is run like hell." His eyes ran over the vials for the hypospray he'd found, trying to recognize the names on the labels. Finally his pressed a button on his wristband, and the holographic lenses materialized off the end of his bridge piercing. Reading the information that came up, he collected two thirds of the vials, shoving them into his pockets. "Animal tranquilizers," he said in explanation.

"Ah, what is that?" She asked moving her finger in a circle around his face where the holographic lenses materialize off of what looked like a bridge piercing.

"Holographic lenses with a HUD," he answered. "Can interface with most computers, and has a few programs of its own. You didn't see any old fashioned tranq guns, did ya? Like the sort that shoot physical darts? Phaser weapons are generally useless as their shields adapt too quick."

"Um." She said looking through the weapons she had found. "What about these?" She asked holding up what looked like two dart guns.

"I must have put the settings too easy for you," he chided, as the door to the corridor opened. Lasers swept across the room as Noah dropped to the floor behind one of the work benches and one of the drones turned in the now open door.

Chloe reacted using the gun in hand and fired the dart at the borg hopefully knocking him down or out or whatever the tranq's worked. Her eyes were wide her tail was straight up in the air to show she'd been startled.

Chloe had hardly gotten the shot off before Noah grabbed her arm and yanked her to the floor next to him. He pressed his finger to her lips, to keep her quiet, and nodded towards the jefferies tube's access hatch that was across the room. He picked up a beaker that had fallen from the table when they'd both dropped to the floor, then threw it in the opposite direction of the access hatch. As his head popped above the table to help his aim, he noticed the drone pulling the dart out of its neck.

The glass shattered against the wall as Noah gave Chloe a shove to get her moving towards the hatch. He trusted she would be smart enough to keep cover behind the various work tables. Hopefully whatever was in the dart would have an affect, but there was no guarantee.

She wanted to stay and fight really, dammit why show her a program she couldn't get her hands dirty in. She was feeling slightly disappointed but she moved as Noah directed shaking her head and scowling her disappointment all the way to the jeffery's tubes opening the hatch and motioned for Noah to get in. She was so tempted to close it behind him and face the drones but she wanted to know why he stopped her from facing them.

Noah moved into the tube without hesitation, since both his mother and sister typically guided him in the program, so it was instinctual to follow a feminine guide in combat situations. He stopped once he was far enough in for her to follow.

Chloe growled not liking the run and hide tactic, but she was with a civilian. Crawling into the tube she started to follow him.

"Mum and Pond both like the Guerrilla tactics, since a level playing field puts us at the disadvantage," Noah said quietly as they moved through the jefferies tubes.

Chloe followed, she didn't mind the disadvantages always made it more challenging, but well she wasn't going to tell him that. he might think she was crazy, she wasn't just an adrenaline junkie.

"I think this is when Mum and Pond usually try to find where they've set up their central hive. What do you think?" Noah said, stopping at a junction in the tubes.

Central hive? What the hell is a central hive? "Security?" She asked never having actually well used a central hive. Chloe just dived right into the fight come what may!

"Seems a defensible position... but would they have taken it so quickly? I don't think Mum's program's done that one before, but it is adaptable," he observed, poking at a computer access panel in the junction. "Do you know how to get at the internal sensors?"

"Yeah we take this route we can get there in 5 to 10 minutes." Chloe said using the computer access panel to show him the way to go.

"Do you want to lead, in case they've gotten into the tubes?" Noah suggested.

Chloe gave a nod that might be best. Taking another look at the route they were taking she motioned for him to follow her as she lead the way. "If these things adapt as well as what I've read about. our phasers even at a constant re-modulating rotation are useless aren't they?"

"Yeah, that sounds like what Mum says, but I'm rubbish with weapons," Noah returned, taking time to look down tubes as they passed them in junctions, but otherwise staying right on Chloe's tail. "She's got a Glock 18 that she named 'In Case Of Borg' because apparently the old style projectiles do better? She mentioned something about a report she read before her tour out in the Delta Quad years ago. Long before I was born."

"Sounds about right, an old fashion style of shooting wouldn't be blocked by shields that are made primary out of light an energy so the borg's internal shields would be useless against them. "did she program them into this program?" Chloe asked.

"She usually makes her quarters the drop spot for the projectile weapons, since her preference is to set it wherever she happens to be posted. I wonder if her program's smart enough to use the guest quarters she and Dad are in... or if it'd maybe fall back to Pond's quarters? Both would be on deck eight though."

"Then we're heading for deck 8, Stay behind me if need be I can turn to hand to hand combat if need be. I'm pretty good at it, can handle a Klingon." She smirked.

"Drunk Klingon, sober Klingon, defense force trained Klingon, or perhaps a quarter Klingon who couldn't hold a bat'leth without cutting himself until he was 17?" Noah asked with a chuckle and a cheeky grin.

"All except for the Quarter Klingon, that's like calling a band quarter black because it has three black singers and one white singer in the group." She smirked. "Just call them acapella." She shrugged wondering where that reference came from?

Noah made a face and shook his head. "So, you're saying you couldn't handle me?" He really wasn't sure what she was saying.

"I could probably wipe the floor with you, doesn't mean I'm going to. where's the challenge." She gave him a cheeky smile to show she was teasing.

"Give me a paintbrush-" Noah started to return fire, and suddenly stopped as he saw the laser illuminate the particles in the air across the junction ahead. He moved closer to Chloe, and lowered his voice. "Did you see that?"

"Um yeah, Phaser fire." She growled grabbing her own rifle and trying to see where the shot came from.

A drone crawled across the junction ahead, and a phaser shot illuminated everything again, causing the drone's personal shield to flash and crackle in response.

"You didn't have anyone else coming to meet you, did you?" Noah asked, staying very much out of the way of her phaser rifle. "Or did Mum's program decide to add some friendly AI to the game today?"

"No no one that I know of. I haven't made any other scheduled dates with anyone." Chloe frowned moving forward rifle ready just in case aimed first at the prone drone then towards the direction of the phaser blast.

"Must be a rogue AI," Noah mused, lingering back and glancing behind them at the last junction. The drone twitched and its eyes opened suddenly, looking straight at Chloe and Noah.

Chloe jumped never having dealt with Borg before in her programs and her finger instinctively pressed the trigger that shot a phaser beam at the drone.

The drone's shield shimmered as it absorbed the energy of the phaser blast, and the the drone picked itself up off the floor of the jefferies tube. It lunged for Chloe, it's assimilation nodules stretching out from the back of its hand to reach for her.

Noah scrambled backwards, blindly fumbling into his pockets for anything he'd found in the science lab to be able to help Chloe. A pair of arms wrapped around him, and he saw the assimilation nodules extending from the back of the hand that was now in front of his face.

Chloe jumped back with a startled gasp. bringing her rifle up to defend herself. Noah being attacked brought her attention to him instead though. Instinctively she turned to stop the drone from assimilating him leaving her back wide open to the drone that was coming at her.

Noah struggled against the grip of the drone that held him as Chloe approached to try and intervene. As the other drone moved up behind her and reached for her, Noah closed his eyes, tilting his head forward in resignation, and shouted, "Computer, end program!"

The drones and the jefferies tubes disappeared, leaving the empty holodeck behind. Noah tumbled backwards, sprawling across the floor when the drone that'd held him was no longer there behind him, and after a couple deep breaths, he looked up at Chloe and shook his head, a nervous laugh escaping him.

"I hate that program so much, but always seem to forget until something causes me to go back to it and I inevitably end up getting everyone caught," Noah confessed.

"Wow." Chloe gasped breathing heavily. She had felt fear, adrenaline, and god only knows what else. "What a rush!" She gasped and giggled. "You ok?" She asked managing to compose herself.

"It doesn't give me nightmares anymore, if that's what you mean," Noah answered, shaking his head and picking himself up off the floor. "Mum wasn't entirely convinced the Borg were gone for good, so she would run Pond and I through that program as kids. First time, I had to sleep with her and Dad for a month, scared me so bad. Pond ate it up though, she'd go at the drones with her nun-chuks and laugh if the program assimilated her."

"Sounds fun." She giggled. "If not for you, I'd probably have done the same." She smirked.

"Usually ends with assimilation. Mum's wicked, you end up with all these voices whispering in your ear, so much so that you can't have a thought of your own," he explained, offering Chloe a hand up from the floor. "And you're like trapped in this shell that moves you if you don't do what the voices tell you to."

"Odd, sounds like insanity really." Chloe said with a frown sliding her hand into his and letting him help her up of the floor.

"That's the point of it, really. When she made the program the Borg were still a very real threat, and when we were old enough, she wanted to impress upon Pond and I exactly what it was we were learning to defend ourselves from. As time passed, and it became less and less likely they'd spring up out of the woodwork like cockroaches, she relented a little and allowed the program to have a more of a game mode... but she still left that element of true horror in it." Noah took a deep breath, and fished a flask out of his back pocket. "I feel the need to thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster I don't need to face that bogeyman. Rum?" He took a quick pull from the flask, and offered it to Chloe.

Chloe smirked, why not she was off the clock. She accepted the offered flask and took a swig from it before handing it back. Wincing slightly as it burned a trail down her throat, but it wasn't as rough as some drinks she's tried. "Let me guess not synthahole?" She asked with an arched brow.

"No, why would I insult the Flying Spaghetti Monster like that?" He looked at at her with his head tilted slightly to the side, curiosity clear.

"it was more of an observation I already knew the answer." Chloe smirked.

"Ah, then I can see you've been touched by his noodley appendage," Noah grinned at her. "Shall we find something a little less... intense to try now?" he snapped his fingers and the holographic PADD materialized floating in air in front of him.

"What exactly do you have in mind?" She asked with a slight smirk pulling at the corner of her full lips.

"Mum's proud of her orbital skydiving program, just as good as the real thing, even with safeties," he insisted.

"Sounds like a plan, Ok one Skydiving and then I have to head to Security for training." Chloe smirked.

Noah grinned, his fingers flicking at the holographic PADD in his hand, and they found themselves inside the loading bay of a small space-worthy craft. Suits perfectly sized for them were hanging on the wall, the larger one in brown and teal, and the shorter one with accommodations for ears and tail in black and green. As Noah let go of the PADD and left it floating midair, a man in a pink suit walked up to assist.

Chloe gathered her suit and started to get into it expertly as if she's done this before. She really did like skydiving or space diving. Though she preferred the safeties either lowered or off, but this was just fine.

=/\= End Log =/\=

Lieutenant Chloe Ebonheart
Security Officer
USS Vindicator

Noah Waterhouse
Pastafarian Minister and Artist
apb Pond

 

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