Surfing with S’tera

Posted on Sun Mar 5th, 2023 @ 11:26pm by Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Lieutenant S'Tera

2,058 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission One: Goodwill Tour [Part One]
Location: Golden Towers: North Beach
Timeline: MD8: 1000 hours

Max stood with his wet suit dangling around his waist. Heavily dark sunglasses perched on his nose. The sand was white with the consistency of sugar sand, but it was still warm on his feet. The heat of the day just ramping up, but the sun felt good on his shoulders.

He looked over at the Caitian who’d decided to join him. It was always more fun to have company than not and Max had extended an invitation to the crew to join in the day, but S’tera was the only one to join. He tipped his chin up at her.

“Nice day for it,” he said, waxing his board against a wooden rail leading from town to beach.

"Isn't it though? Everything looks great to catch some waves!" she said she leaned her board against the railing. Feels like forever since I was able to surf!" S'tera said. She loved the feeling of sand between her toes, the wind in her hair. This was fun!

“I know what you mean!” Max responded with a smile. The Northwestern breeze brought the smell of ocean; a scent of water, fish, salt and warm sand. It reached deep into Max’s memories from home.

Max’s brother Brada had forced him as a young child to learn the sport. At the time, he had hated it. It amazed him how much he had learned to love it.

Max pulled his wetsuit up over his chest and shoved, squirmed and otherwise muscled his way through the arms until his hands popped out, one arm at a time. “Looks like some smaller waves today, seems safer than the seven meter swells we had two days ago. A bit more manageable, though a bit less fun,” he admitted as he talked about the day he had joined the science team in the tide pools.

“Safe is fun, but seven meter swells really get the heart racing,” Max admitted.

"Oh meow! I agree! Do they ever! Love big swells! That gets my heart pumping! Still these aren't bad. But seven meter tall! Those are the waves you live for! Ohh how I love the big waves! So, I'm ready to go, are you?"

Max reached behind his back and pulled the zipper up, securing him inside the suit. He winked at S’tera. “I’ve been dying for a day like this since we got here,” he said, a slightly childish excitement in his tone.

Lifting his board, he propped in under his arm as he and S’tera made their way through the warm sand, into the wave dampened sand that squished between his toes and stuck to his feet. The water temperature was perfect, just a little on the colder side, but that was what the wetsuit was for.

About calves deep, Max dropped his board and let it trail behind him, a cable attached to his ankle dragging the board effortlessly through the end of the waves. At about thigh high, Max pulled the cord and brought the board to him. Climbing onto it easily, he laid his chest down and started to paddle for the sweet spot, just behind the initiation of a wave. The place to be to catch the wave before it caught you.

One thing that was drilled into S'tera when she first learned how to surf was safety first and always. She too had a cable attached to her board. The temp was just right for her. She pulled the board out and as soon as it was deep enough she got on and paddled out. She was so excited. This was going to be great! She paddled out beyond the breakers to where the big waves were coming. and readied herself.

Max sat up, his thighs stretched over the board and his feet in the cool water. He pushed the wet hair out his eyes and off of his forehead. He twisted his body and craned his neck as he looked over his shoulder. Half of surfing was timing and picking the right wave.

Although he wasn’t going to catch the first wave of the day, he could see that S’tera was being set up for a food meter high wave. If she could catch it right, she’d be back at the beach. “Looks like you’re up first! It’s a beautiful set up, girl. Go get it!” he shouted.

S'tera positioned herself on the board and got ready. The wave quickly caught up to her and she caught it, finding herself riding the wave. "Yaahooo!" she exclaimed as she found herself on the wave. She rode it for all she's worth! This is fun! Not the biggest wave, but it would do for now!

Max could see his wave just off to his left. He laid on his board, chest pressed tightly against the cool surface as he paddled swiftly to catch the point just before the break.

The board snagged the lip of the wave and Max propped himself up before popping into a lowered gravity squat. The wave wasn’t huge, by any means, but it was going to have a barrel. Moving his feet, he slapped the board against the wave, keeping momentum ahead of it and gliding into the barrel of the wave.

Water splashed down on either side and Max reached out his left arm to slide his fingers through the cold water that rained down on him. It was exciting to be able to catch a wild wave, not some simulation in a holodeck.

He was so elated with the experience that he failed to recognize the problem ahead as his wave converged with another and rolled him over in spectacular fashion. When the convergence of water allowed him to, Max emerged from the blue, sputtering salty water.

To those watching, he raised a thumbs up; an indication that he was physically fine. Mentally, he was already beating himself up for being a bit too in the moment. Sliding his chest up on the board, he caught his breath and caught the rest of S’tera’s ride - almost all the way back to the beach.

She had clearly not tried to overdo it on her first wave, but Max wouldn’t be himself without trying to show off. ’At least I’m self aware,’ he thought about his first glorious barrel and thrashing of the day. He was sure there would be more to come.

S'tera glided into the beach. She stepped off her board, grabbed it and headed out for more. "Yeah! That was fun! C'mon Max! Let's see what you got!"

Max still lay on his back. S’tera having clearly missed his thrashing. Even as his board rocked with the passing of each wave. Rolling onto his stomach, Max waved. “Let’s go!” he shouted as he began to paddle out past the breakers.

S'tera followed suit, paddling out to catch another wave.

Max paddled as hard as he could until he was past the breakers, back out to the calm before the crashing waves. He rolled over onto his back, his triceps burning and his breath heaving. Max laid back and just enjoyed the sunshine for a bit.

“Did you see me get thrashed, S’tera?” Max asked with a laugh, once he had caught his breath.

'Sure did, Max. Awesome work there! Great ride!" she said with a smile. "You ride those waves really good, Max!"

“I can tell sarcasm without laying it on so thick, S’tera,” Max responded with a laugh. “What do you to one more wave in? Last one on the beach has to buy lunch?” he dared, making a bet he knew he couldn’t lose if he didn’t try to ride the curl so soon.

"One more wave? You're on! How can I resist a challenge like that! Let's go!" She paddled out to see what she could catch as far as a wave. This was fun! Surfing on a beautiful beach on a bright, warm sunny day? what could be better?

Max’s eyes caught the rim of an incoming wave. He started paddling for that little ripple. Catching the edge of the wave, Max kept paddling as the ripple turned into a breaker. It took two attempts to stand because a foamy cut him off. Now, on his feet, Max slapped the board to catch up speed.

Soon, Max was just ahead of the break on the wave. His speed was constant as he skimmed up and down the wave, using the water’s momentum to keep him moving at a cold clip. He looked around to see if he could find S’tera, but he couldn’t find her.

S'tera had come from behind on a pretty good sized wave that was moving at a pretty decent clip! "Coming for you Max!"

Max caught sight of S’tera now and it would have behooved her not to have said anything. Max waited just long enough for their waves to merge into one. It wasn’t huge, maybe three meter, but he no S’tera both caught the wave in perfect positions, just a few meters apart.

Max ducked down, touching the board with his left hand as his board picked up speed. Soon, he was racing toward the beach at a speed he was sure S’tera couldn’t beat. He knew he would be on the beach first.

And then it happened, a damned foamy slammed into and over him. Max and the other body crashed into each other with bone jarring, audible grunting and then shouting pain.

Max pulled himself onto his board and paddled into the beach. His right leg burned and he was sure the foamy had run one of his fins over his thigh.

Once on the sand, Max pulled the leash off his board and tied a tourniquet. It wasn’t long before a couple of parents were in his face, screaming about the damage he could have done to their son. Max ran his tongue over his teeth. “Do you see the laceration on my thigh, you stupid asshole?” Max shouted. “It’s idiots like you that let your kids surf without lessons and send them out in the semi-professional surfing area. Fucking foamy! Now, I have to lose out on lunch and go to hospital because of you damned foamies.

“You don’t move!” He told them. “All the video is recorded through the lifeguard’s tower. You’ll be lucky if you don’t go to jail. You,” he pointed at the teenager, “and your father.”

Max waited while the lifeguard made her way down to the commotion and quickly assessed. “You’re going to hospital. And you two,” she paused and pointed at the father and son. “You’ll be going with the police.”

Max nodded. “If it’s all the same to you, miss, I’ll be heading over to Triton Seabase. This’ll be good as new in an hour.”

“Your choice!” she said, happy to have a patient with a plan.

Looking to the Caitian, Max said, “I concede to you today. I’ll have to buy you lunch, probably at Mountain Home.”

"If you say so Max. K'tals claws, are you sure you're going to be ok. That was a nasty hit you took!" S'tera said, her concern clearly showing.

“Nothing an autosuture and dermal regenerator can’t fix,” he assured S’tera. “The doctors and nurses will have me patched up before dinner time.”

Max smiled and waved before tapping his combadge. “Captain Culver, one to beam directly to sickbay,” he ordered.

A second later, Max disappeared in a swirl of lights and hum of sound. He left a chaotic beach that he hoped they closed down for the rest of the day.

S'tera tapped her own combadge. "This is S'tera, please beam me to my quarters, thanks. " She did have a surfboard to put up. So in moments she too was gone. Not the best ending. Still she and Max had a lot of fun. She'd check on him later and see if he wanted a rematch. Wasn't exactly fair what happened. Not that it was her fault but still, she wanted to be fair.

 

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