Go Climb A Rock

Posted on Sat Dec 9th, 2023 @ 2:25pm by Lieutenant Commander Ukram Gocx & Lieutenant JG Aurora House of Kor & Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Daniel Martinez

2,456 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Short Treks
Location: USS Intrepid: Holodeck 2
Timeline: MD3: 1400 hours

Desha stood in the holodeck, waiting anxiously. She barely knew anyone on the ship, and wasn't sure if putting a notice up in the bar was the right way to make friends. Still, it was worth a shot.

"Computer, what's the time?" she asked.

"1300 hours and 58 minutes," the computer chimed back.

Not having to sleep meant she'd gotten a lot of work done overnight, meaning she could take a brief moment between shifts to relax. Between meeting her commanders earlier today and the dinner this evening, she needed to be doing something a little less... diplomatic.

Ukram was already in the holodecks, getting ready to do his workouts. He had served the Beta shift the day before, so this was his "morning", more or less. The Klingon was fine on less sleep than his human counterparts, though. He found Desha, and smiled. He hoped it helped a bit-Klingons weren't known for their good looks.

"Is there where the rock climbing thing is?" he asked. He was dressed in a pair of sweat pants, climbing sneakers, and a t-shirt. He was going to need to turn on the air conditioning soon.

Max walked through into the holodeck and was disappointed to be looking at the black and yellow grid. He was sure this was where the notice for a fun climb had been posted by Lieutenant Desha. First impressions were wasted, second impressions were a disaster. He could only hope that third impressions would be better. His only relief was that they couldn’t get worse.

“Hey, hey, hey! Is this the place for climbing some rocks?!” Dani asked in his thick Spanish accent. Max wore his Academy shorts and t-shirt. Dani was wearing black shorts and a t-shirt as well. He knew his next comment would draw a groan from his boyfriend, but he didn’t care. “Let’s maximize this workout! I’m pumped!”

Max groaned and shook his head. “You’re the absolute worst!” Max sassed Dani before grabbing his shirt and pulling him close for a chaste kiss.

The Klingon looked up. "Yes, it is," he said. He smiled lightly. "Nice to see you both. I didn't know you climbed," he said, to the Captain.

“Never underestimate an El-Aurian, Gocx, we have a very long lifespan so we tend to gather a lot of hobbies and slowly grow either bored and more invested,” Max explained.

The Klingon nodded. "I was just surprised," the man said. "Learning as much as you can is the best way to bring honor to your house," he said. In his opinion, of course.

Looked over at Desha, he said, “I hope I’m not crashing your climbing invite, but someone younger than me said it seemed to be the event of the day.”

“To be fair, it’s the only event that someone has put up since this starship left Ihhuein ei'krih. I swear, the Romulans like to make things had to pronounce on purpose.” Dani smiled at Desha, a small hint on amusement in his eyes.

Ukram chuckled. "Should we wait just another minute to see if anyone else shows up or should we get at it?" He asked. "Don't worry, Captain, I have a biobed prepped for you and I," he said. They were the oldest, and he wasn't sure which of his hearts would give out first.

“I think everyone who is going to show up probably has,” Dani remarked as he looked around at the group. “So where are we climbing, Desha?” Dani asked. It was her day and her event to plan.

"Let's get started," Ukram said, excitedly. This was his first time really doing something "fun" with people outside of the medical department, and he was looking forward to it. He stripped off his sweatshirt, getting a bit warm. "Is it warm in here to anyone else?" He asked. Of course, EVERYTHING was too warm for him.

Desha wiped her hands on her pants and smiled in that wide Denobulan way. “Okay, let’s do some outdoor rock climbing!” she shouted. Moving to the arch, she shooed the captain and his boyfriend out of the way.

“Yosemite? We’ll do a beginner’s and an intermediate climb of El Capitan today. Sound good?”

Ukram nodded. He could handle that. He's done worse. He once did a holo-climb of Mt. Everest over a weeks-long R&R. THAT had been a lot. Too much, maybe, even.

"Let's go," he said. He got himself emotionally prepared for the climb, and put on a ball cap to cover his close-cropped hair and forehead ridges. Skin cancer wasn't honorable! Unlike the Captain and his boyfriend, Gocx was well aware of his age, and stuck to the beginner course. He wasn't much of a climber, anyway, and never had been-that's why he was a doctor and not an Engineer.

He put some of the climbing chalk on his leathery hands, and then got into the harness, always alert to safety. He wasn't in the mood to perform brain surgery today in case some dummy didn't follow protocols.

Max and Dani moved to the intermediate route, each with a piton in their hand. Moving to the rock, they each reached into their chalk powder and left their piton dangling from the chalk bag. After climbing a fairly easy seven meters, both men grabbed their self-setting pitons and connected themselves on so that if they fell now, it wouldn’t be more than a meter or two before they were stopped.

Max used the wrist bands he’d worn to wipe a soft sheen of sweat from his forehead before reaching for another piton.

Dani was finding difficulty setting his piton. Each time he tried, it rejected the stone. Taking a deep breath and letting it go slowly, Dani refocused and found another bit of rock where the piton set properly. He was already behind Max, but he didn’t mind the view.

Aurora was nervous as she'd not been climbing in quite a spell, but she wanted to have some off the books time with her crewmates.

"Wowy! This is so COOL!" Aurora howled excitedly, not caring who heard her as she couldn't see anybody anyway.

Max leaned back on his ropes, tied off to wait for Dani. Seeing Aurora react, he shouted back, “Damn right this is cool, but don’t forget to stop and take in the sights once in a while!”

"Definitely!" Aurora grinned as she looked around.

They weren’t quite out of the tree line yet, but once they were, the view would become more and more stunning the higher they went. “Once we break the tree line, the higher we get, the better the view!”

He was also sure they weren’t going to summit, they weren’t here for a four (plus) hour climb.

Ukram had already managed to scramble a handful of yards up the side of the mountain. Damn, he was out of shape! He vowed to make getting to the gym more of a priority.

"Hello, Miss Aurora! Please make sure you replicate some safety gear," he called down to the woman. "I don't feel like cutting open anyone's brain today," he said. He pulled himself up a bit higher.

"Hiya Doc! Most definitely don't want anyone poking around my brain!" Aurora laughed as she got the gear, put it on, and started scrambling up the rock wall.

“Safety protocols are on, Doc,” Desha shouted from her own perch above Max. They weren’t very high yet, but she could see Gocx was struggling and the captain’s boyfriend was moving slowly. Clearly not a group of pros.

Ukram laughed. "Alright," he said. He pulled himself up a bit higher. He was out of shape. "Captain, an all hands PT day might be in order," he said.

Max had reached a chimney crack in the stone and realized most of the climbers were meters below him. Doctor Gocx had said something, but it didn’t carry to Max’s height. The next closest to him was Desha, followed by Dani (looking a bit annoyed). Max settled his feet and knees against one wall and pressed his back against the other to create a stable sitting position while he waited for the others to make the climb.

Ukram hated how out of shape he was, and how much he was feeling his age. But he wasn't a quitter, so he paused to take a sip of water and continue on. He was finally starting to gain a bit of traction, able to pull his own weight and use his strong leg muscles to boost up. He'd, admittedly, only went rock climbing once in his early adulthood-to impress a woman-and hadn't done it since. It wasn't, as the Humans said, "just like riding a bike."

Aurora scurried along until she was even with Lt. Commander Gocx.

"You doing ok?" Aurora asked as she took a few sips of water.

The elder Klingon looked at the younger hybrid. "I am ok, thanks," he said, with a chuckle. "It's just been a bit of time-several years actually, since I've climbed." He said. "How are you handling it?" He asked the young woman.

"I'm mostly doing good. Actually starting to feel a little winded though. It's been a few years for me as well. I shouldn't have scurried up here like a Santor Blemtec...er, that's kinda like an Earth Goat," Aurora giggled as she took a deeper gulp.

Ukram nodded. "I see..." he said. He didn't really see, but he didn't care much. The youngsters kept him alert so he still interacted.

Aurora decided to try something and swung out on her rope, howling in excitement as she swung out over open air.

"Whoa hoo! That was so AWESOME!" Aurora screamed as she made a rather shaky landing beside the Lt. Commander, not noticing the few scratches she'd acquired on impact.

Max remained propped against the chimney. He drank water from his bottle and used his towel to wipe the sweat off of his forehead. Desha was soon behind him and then Dani perched just below.

“Maybe we only get this far today?” Max asked. “I think I’ve had enough climbing for today.”

"I didn't peg you for a quitter, Boss," Ukram quipped, but actually, he was secretly grateful. He quickly began his descent, taking care to be as careful going down as he had been going up.

“Not a quitter, Doc, just calling the group as I see them,” Max answered, noting the Klingon was already moving on the descent. Max’s lip quirked up into a smirk.

Pulling himself out of the chimney, he set his final piton. He leaned back to about forty five degrees from the cliff face and adjusted his rope around the carabiner. As such, he hopped down about two meters to where Dani was struggling.

“You got this?” Max asked casually.

“I think so…” Dani responded.

After a long pause, Max saw that Dani had set his piton and adjusted his ropes for a proper descent. He was curious why Dani felt flustered. “Come on,” Max jived. “You’ve got it right. Lean back,” Max leaned back to display how he did it. “Bounce off the wall. When you’re ready to slow, you just pull your rope to stop.”

Dani watched as Max’s legs pushed off and he bounced about two meters below where they started. Dani followed Max, leaning back and bouncing off the wall. In his peripheral vision, he saw Max pass by as Dani continued his descent before pulling his ropes to stop. His heart was racing and his adrenaline pumped through his body. Not wanting to seem like he was out of control, Dani bounced off the rock face again.

Not to be shown up, Max adjusted himself again. With a rope in each hand, he turned to face the ground and started running. He could see the group as everyone passed by him. Soon there was only rock and trees. The ground came up fast, so Max pulled his ropes and slowed to to a stop.

“God damned show off,” Dani muttered loudly.

When Gocx was at the midway point, he let himself rappel down the rest of the way. "Are you ready?" He asked Aurora. He could spot her for safety.

"Yes, sir!" Aurora chirped.

Aurora got herself ready, having watched the Captain and Dani show off for each other had been so CUTE!

Aurora took a slow breath, and started descending slowly...she was starting to feel the scratches and bruises from her antics.

"Alright, careful, Lieutenant," came Ukram's voice to Aurora. "Be careful, I don't need to be calling anyone parents' about their death from a hologram outing." He cast a glance at the others.

"Aye, L.T. I've enough bruises this trip to last about a week!" Aurora giggled...then promptly almost lost her footing!

"Ok...I'm just gonna stop talking now," Aurora mumbled sheepishly.

"Captain, you, too. Be careful," he chided.

Off!
Max blushed at the Klingon’s castigation. “I did take the advanced survival course at the Academy, Doctor,” he answered somewhat sheepishly. “I also like to change up my arm days with rock climbing.”

Gocx gave him a look. "Well. I'd rather not have to explain to Greene how you broke a leg," he said.

Aurora grinned at the antics, but kept silent so as to be able to concentrate on her own descent.

Desha hit the ground next. Max would have trusted her if the need came to climb or rappel during a mission. Unfortunately, he had also received her transfer request on his desk.

Leaving that behind, Dani made his last rappel directly into Max’s arms. “Who said perfect men don’t fall out of the sky,” he asked rhetorically.

Dani laughed as Max set him upright. “You’re so stupid,” Dani joked as he pretended he was going to punch Max on his outstretched chin. Instead, Dani grabbed the back of his head and forced him into a short kiss.

“I can’t wait to take a shower after this! This was harder than I thought…”

Max smirked and agreed, but he caught Desha’s eye and she winked at him, showing they both could have summited the mountainside.

Aurora bit back an 'AAAAAWWWWW!' at the Captain and Dani's cuteness as she dropped to the ground, wincing slightly as her body reminded her of the stunt she'd pulled.

Ukram stepped out of the safety harness and recycled everything. "Well. How about a drink?" He asked the group.

"Sounds good to me!" Aurora grinned.



TAG to END

 

RSS Feed