Up A Wall

Posted on Fri Mar 28th, 2025 by Lieutenant Shral ch'Vyrhor & Lieutenant Amelia Baird

1,206 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: M02 - The Sixteenth Rule
Location: Holodeck, USS Hooke
Timeline: Present

Amelia looked almost straight up and swallowed hard, then she looked down at her feet toward the rock wall climbing equipment. Why on Earth did I agree to this? Amelia asked herself after picking up the harness and slinging it over her shoulders, followed by the helmet that she placed on her head. It wasn't that Amelia was terrified of heights or anything crazy like that.

No...

Amelia simply wasn't all that athletic and yet when Shral asked her if she wanted to go rock wall climbing with him in the holodeck she mysteriously agreed to it. She looked at the Andorian and secretly wondered if anyone would notice the blue skinned officer floating in space? A smirk crossed her face after the thought crossed her mind.

"What?" Shral asked. He'd been watching Amelia for a solid five minutes at that point. He'd caught every one of her mannerisms thus far. Shral considered inviting Ensign Roma instead of Lieutenant Baird, and yet here they were together instead. He couldn't figure out what had stopped him from asking Valencia rather than the Chief Engineer. Not that it really mattered he supposed.

Amelia looked at the Andorian carefully, he'd already put on his harness and yet here she was still tightening hers. "I've never done this before." She told him, "I'm not the most athletic person in the universe either." She told him, "I feel as if there would have been a better option than me."

"Probably," Shral agreed solemnly. He playfully nodded his head, "And yet here you are in your workout clothes and wearing a harness."

Amelia looked at the outfit she'd chosen, she'd tried to be conservative with her choice. Now she was left wondering if skin tight capris pants and a tank top was too much. "Exactly what is wrong with my outfit?" She asked him, her cheeks were burning with embarrassment. Amelia took one step forward and placed her hands on a couple grabs and mentally prepared herself to go up.

"Nothing," Shral told her. "I'm simply pointing out that you're in your workout clothes instead of your uniform doing who knows what in engineering." He honestly didn't know enough about engineering to know what it was Lieutenant Baird did down there. Shral stepped forward and took hold of the hand holds in front of him. "You're strapped to a rope so you won't fall you know."

Amelia stepped up and slowly started up the wall, "I know." She told him, while also ignoring his explanation regarding her outfit. Amelia assumed he'd meant well by his comment, even if she did feel a bit out of place while pulling herself up onto the wall a little further. "I'm not worried about falling," She groaned. "I'm worried about embarrassing myself."

Shral pulled himself up onto the wall, "We can try an easier one if this one is too difficult?" He asked while going up a little further. He was trying to stay even with her location. He didn't want to out pace her for fear of it discouraging her from trying to do this activity with him further. "This is level two," He told her.

"No," Amelia grunted as she went just a little further. As long as she kept track of each place to put her feet and hands she would be fine. She lacked a lot of upper body strength but that didn't stop her from trying at least. "Do you have any idea what Starfleet Command is going to have us do next?"

Shral shook his head, "Not really," He answered. "Hopefully it's not anything overly boring like the mission to Terra Nova, or at least I thought it was kind of boring."

"Fair," Amelia replied while going to the next spot with her hand. "There really wasn't much in the way of things to do for security. You did get to shoot at an asteroid though, so I guess that's something at least." She was controlling her breathing a little better. "We're on a science ship though, so I don't foresee us doing very many combat engagements or anything overtly nuts."

Shral could only agree with her as he listened to Amelia speak. She was certainly right about them being on a science vessel, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be moments where he'd be shooting something more dangerous than asteroids. "I admit," he began, "Shooting an asteroid was kind of fun."

"See?" Amelia grunted, "It wasn't all boring." She would have shrugged had it not been for the fact that her shoulders were beginning to burn. Her arms were burning quite a bit too, Man I'm out of shape. She thought to herself, "Maybe this time we'll get to shoot at a ship or something?" She asked.

"Eh," Shral said, "I doubt it." He didn't think that would happen, at least not so soon because the crew was still trying to accept each other. It had taken a lot for him to actually ask Amelia to come do this, perhaps that's why he didn't ask Valencia? He didn't have the answer to that even as the thought ran wild through his brain. "I'm sure just as soon as these new personnel come on board we'll know what the plan is."

Amelia was getting dangerously close to letting go of the wall because her arms were really starting to ache as were her core muscles. "Probably," She managed to say before letting go of the wall and allowing herself to dangle for a moment before the pulley above her head started to slowly lower her back toward the floor. "I really am that out of shape." She mumbled.

Shral watched as she returned to the floor before he did the same. "Hey that's not bad for a first try," He told her confidently. "At least you tried something different to?"

Amelia weakly smiled, "Yeah I guess so." She placed her hands on her hips and started concentrating on her breathing. It took her a moment to catch up and not breathe so heavily. "It wasn't terrible." She told the Andorian, "Definitely not my cup of tea though."

Shral didn't quite understand the meaning behind the phrase and tilted his head. "Not your activity?" He asked for clarification.

"Yeah," Amelia said, "Sorry."

Shral shrugged, "That's okay, you still tried." He said and realized he'd have to find someone else to try and do this with, because the Chief Engineer wasn't that interested in doing it. "Thanks for that."

Amelia nodded as she removed the harness and helmet, "I'm sure you'll find someone who likes doing this as much as you do." She said and patted her fellow Lieutenant on the shoulder. "I'm going to go take a sonic shower then check on things back in engineering.'

"Okay," Shral said and watched her go. He turned and looked at the wall, "Computer increase difficulty to level five." He commanded and waited for the rock wall to change to the higher difficulty. Once it had done so, Shral stepped forward and took hold of the hand points. "Somehow I doubt I find someone to do this with." He muttered then began to climb up the wall once more.

 

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