The Swimming Race (Backpost)

Posted on Thu Oct 14th, 2010 @ 9:17am by Lieutenant Commander Nilani Prax & Captain Alexander Gunning & Commander Dietrich Reinhart & Captain Liarra Von & Lieutenant Commander Melissa Daniels M.D. & Lieutenant JG Callaigh Roland & Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Maddux

Mission: Welcome to Archa IV
Location: Archa IV

Benjamin looked around at the green vegetation of Archa IV as the blue haze of the transporter faded away. He'd heard wind of a triathalon about to begin in the system, hosted by the station, and had recommended it to the crew - there were still plenty of seats left to watch the races, and there had even been some time left for new entrants to race, so he hoped that some of them had taken advantage of the situation. Following the direction of the officer at the edge of the transport area, he walked up the mound of earth, peering out over the top as he reached the precepice. In front of him, spread out over the horizon were the brilliant blue waters of the planet, the waves calm and shining in the sunny Archan day. Back down the other side of the mound, was the beach, filled with standing spectators and atheletes limbering up, along with the odd tent that had been erected for the participants to get changed in. To the left, was a large platform, filled with empty seats. Benjamin recognised it as a stadium platform; the spectators would all fill up the seats just before the race was started, and the platform would hover over the water, following the racers as they swam for the island just visible in the far distance over the water.

As Benjamin walked down to the beach, taking care over the loose ground down the side of the steep mound, he looked around, trying to see a familiar face. He couldn't spot anyone that he knew, but then again there were a lot of people here. He might spot one of his officers amongst the crowd between now and the starting gun being fired. One woman noticed him, however, as he made his way down. Standing on her own, having been observing the swimmers limbering up, she turned at the sound of the footsteps and smiled at his approach.

"Captain," Nilani Prax said, holding out her hand to greet the senior officer. "Welcome to Archa IV."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Benjamin replied, taking the Trill's hand and shaking it. "You here to spectate, or participate?"

"Oh no, not today," Nilani responded, turning back towards the beach. Benjamin noted that her body language was much more relaxed than many junior grade lieutenants who he had come into contact with since becoming a Captain. Probably as a result of her symbiont - no doubt she had been a senior officer herself in some form or another in one of her past lives. "I'd rather get to know people a bit better before I get into a swimsuit for them," she joked. "You, sir?"

"No, I'm just here to watch, too," Ben responded, smiling at her comment. "I figured it would be a good bit of r and r before getting back to work."

"I hear you there," Nilani responded, the two of them falling silent as they watched one of the race officials move over to give the swimmers some instructions.

Chief Ballard was unhappy about all of this. In honesty, he was infuriated at being called away from the bar to watch people much fitter than himself throw themselves through water at high speeds. However, as an enlisted man, orders were orders and where he was told to go, he would go.

"Energise." He said as the station's expansive transporter room dissipated around him, becoming a sun-drenched beach. Well, all right. It could be much worse.

He saw his commanding officer standing in the company of a young woman. "Hello, Captain." He said. "Not got the family with you? I thought Jacob would be excited to see this sort of thing."

"Jacob's going to be joining us for the marathon on the station," Benjamin responded. "He's feeling a little under the weather today, and we've been advised to keep him onboard ships and stations for the moment. It's nothing serious."

"Fair enough," the Intelligence man replied, "I'm sure the doc would take a look if you're worried though."

Lianna was doing warm-up excercises, and this was one of the few times anyone saw her in a bathing suit. The truth was, she loved physical challenges. Triathlons, Martial Arts, or just plain fight clubs. These events held something of an appeal for her, as it allowed her to work the leftover energy she had out.

[STARBASE 332]

"Quite frankly, I've not had a lot of time to think about what I'm going to say, Commodore. Do you normally give a speech before it?" Gunning asked as they reached the airlock.

"Usually," Tae replied, "Give it the inspirational line. Men and women of the fleet. All that junk. I wish I could stay around to see the race, but the Borderlands wait for no man. We've had reports of clandestine Romulan activity outside the Neutral Zone. All rumour, you understand but there's no smoke without fire."

"Well, it's been a pleasure Commodore and I hope to see you soon." The younger commander replied, shaking the Commodore's hand.

"I'll be keeping my eye on you, Alex. Don't you worry about that." Tae answered as he entered the first stage of the airlock. "Goodbye."

"Bon voyage," Alex said quietly as the door closed. He moved to the turbolift and stepped inside. "Transporter room twelve. Deck... uhh... yeah... transporter room twelve, Computer."

Dr. Daniels was not participating. She preferred to run the medical detail at this event. As always, Doctors were always needed at these things.

Allein watched the preparing athletes, not overly impressed. It all seemed rather pointless to her, dressing up in hardly anything just to show off to the rest of the quadrant that they were capable of completely exhausting their bodies. Really humans had the most unusual traditions and she had a very difficult time sorting out which of them were aimed at attracting a mate or not. Oh well if a bunch of people wanted to look like idiots who was she to stop them?

Gunning was beamed directly onto the platform from which the race would be controlled and monitored. It hovered above the water, directly in front of the stands where the last of the spectators were taking their seats.

He took a seat next to a couple of Archaan dignitaries whom his yeoman had failed to fill him in on. He smiled at them and nodded his acknowledgement to them.

One leant forward towards Gunning, "Captain, the people are waiting for you."

"Thank you." Alexander said as he stood and stepped towards a plethora of tiny microphones which would project his voice to all areas of the Triathlon course. A number of cameras also hovered near him which would project him to large screens on the course before following the competitors around the course. The Archaans certainly knew how to set up an event.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you today as the new Commanding Officer of Starbase three-three-two. It is a rare honour for a Commander to be opening a fantastic event such as this after such a short time in the job so you'll forgive me if my public speaking skills are a little rusty."

"Today, a fantastic group of athletes from both Archa IV, Starfleet and across the Federation are poised to test themselves to the very limit of human endurance as they swim, run and cycle across glorious terrain on this incredible planet. All I have to say is good luck to the competitors. It is my pleasure to declare the annual Archa IV Triathlon open!"

Gunning considered the situation for a moment. "While the competitors prepare themselves, I would like to invite Captain Benjamin Byrne of the USS Endeavour to start the race."

Slightly surprised by the call to start the race, Benjamin hesitated for but a moment before stepping up onto the podium where Gunning stood. Turning to face the crowd, the microphones, and accepting the starting pistol off one of the officials, he paused. "Marks! Set!" His cry of 'Go!' was muted by the loud crack of the pistol as he fired it to the air.