JP: Commander Brayden Jorey and Lt. Cmdr Oddas Aria - Teaching an Engineer How to Dance (Part 2/2)

[+ Irina Pavlova]

OOC from Andrew (writer for Irina Pavlova):  My only suggestion for improvement of these two posts is to the title.  It just had to be "Dancing Among the Stars"

 

This is part 2 of 2

 

(( Outside Holosuite 2, Embassy, Duronis II ))

 

:: Aria knew the type well, from her own planet’s history.  As much as she disliked her own family, she had never doubted her mother, father, and grandparents were heros of their own Occupation. ::

 

Oddas:  The women I come from are all fierce fighters, some by choice, and all in different ways.  I would never underestimate anyone.

 

Jorey: Always a wise position to take. Assume everyone can dance and fight better than you. It will not only prevent you from underestimating someone, but will propel you to want to do better. ::Brayden open his arms and took on a relaxed posture to signal they were ready to begin.:: Irina and I will make a fierce warrior woman of you.

 

Oddas: :: [...]ing her head to the side :: Shouldn’t you assume I already am one?  :: She tried to roughly match his stance. ::

 

Jorey: I’ve seen you dance, Commander. ::He was just able to stop himself from giggling.:: We’re going to start there. Don’t worry about copying my movements. ::Brayden moved to stand beside her, not opposite her.:: Just focus on getting your feet and body to match where mine end up. We’re only going to cover three basic movements today.

 

Oddas: oO Stepping forward, stepping to the side, and falling down. Oo

 

::Brayden demonstrated the three movements. One was sliding his foot back, one was a lean back and to the side, and the last was a half pivot by moving the back foot forward to become the lead foot. He repeated the movements many times with both the right and left foot starting forward. Once he saw that the movements seemed to become more natural for her, not particularly stage-ready but smooth in their own way, he started putting two movements together.Aria admitted to herself things were beginning to feel a slight bit more comfortable, of course, she was still having to think of each movement as she did it. 

 

She thought she probably looked like a fish flopping around on the land.::

 

Oddas: Admit it, you're enjoying this.

 

Jorey: Of course. ::Brayden stopped and sat down on the smooth rock to stretch.:: But not for the sadistic reasons you’re implying Aria. It brings me a special kind of pleasure helping other to improve or succeed and that’s why I wanted to see you today. I’ve read the mission reports and have listened to many different officer’s logs. It seems like it was a pretty tense mission both from outside and from within.

 

:: She took a deep breath, for all of the dancing around and awkwardness she had been feeling, it had been a distraction from the last couple of days, from the mission.  A welcome distraction.  Now, it came to the forefront again.  

 

She let out her breath through her mouth very noisily and sat on the edge of the platform, feet dangling over the side. ::

 

Oddas: So, I imagine you’ve read all the logs about how I got in over my head and didn’t know what I was doing and how I should have never been in the Captain’s chair. 

 

:: She said it out loud, but she wasn’t sure she meant it, not really.  Well, part of her did, but not enough she had meant to say it out loud and now she was having to talk about it again.  She thought she was right, she had hoped she was right.  She guessed she was about to find out. From Brayden’s perspective, Aria’s brief self-assessment summary couldn’t have been more wrong. Toni thought she was ready and as far as he and likely Starfleet was concerned Toni was right. ::

 

Jorey: That’s not exactly how I think the review of the mission will go at Starfleet Command. You successfully brought the new ship into the expanse and back. You somehow managed to travel some ridiculous distance and end up in some other galaxy that I’m sure astrometrics will be spending the next little while figuring out where. You negotiated a ceasefire between two new First Contact species and then managed to turn a hostile ship into a taxi to get the Thor back home.

 

Oddas: :::sharply:: And lost fifteen.  :: pausing, looking over her shoulder at the Betazoid :: Sorry, Brayden …I’m just feeling like there are people who are seeing me as a failure no matter what.

 

Jorey: The loss of life doesn’t mean failure, Aria. ::Brayden stopped stretching and stood back up.:: It means you’re likely doing something important. Nothing great in the Federation and Starfleet’s history came without a price. The truth is, as Captain, you’re responsible to the ship. The lives on it are the responsibility of the FO and your Security Chief. My guess is Parker was being a belligerent [...] because how I read things those lives were his to lose. There are many other options he could have tried. Flooding the area with sedatives, trying to move them into force-fielded areas, among others. It was his call how to carry out your order and he made his choice.

 

Oddas:  If you ask him, he’d tell you I could have made his job easier, I could have placed the lives of the crew higher on my priority list than I did.  Nothing should have been more important.  He’ll tell you he did the best I did with what I let him do.

 

Jorey: And I would tell him that he’s right. However, even with the loss of life, I still think Major Parker probably made the best call. ::Brayden sighed to deliberately slow the conversation.:: There is a reason Starfleet and the Marines have very specific rituals and protocols when it comes to memorials and funerals - they happen. Often. Now, ::Brayden gestured for Aria to get up.:: let’s dance while we talk. It helps me think. Computer. One opponent, level 1, difficulty 0.

 

Oddas: oO I should have lied and said I had time to get my nails done. Oo

 

:: She pulled herself up from the platform just as the computer was chiming to indicate it heard Commander’s order. A faceless, red coloured humanoid appeared on the platform with them. It was sort of a strange looking, lifeless blob. Not exactly what Brayden had in mind, but for their purpose it would work just fine. It had arms and legs which is all they needed. .::

 

Jorey: I will direct you when needed. This is your very red unwanted dance partner. It will try to strike you using low kicks and hand strikes to your chest and head. The three moves we were just working on relate to each attack. ::In a reassuring tone.:: Don’t worry. It will start off moving painfully slow. It will seem all too easy. However, the goal of the exercise is not to avoid the attacks, but to move in synchronicity with them. Let them just barely make contact and then move at the same speed with them, keeping contact with their hand or foot to guide you. Questions?

 

Oddas: And not fall down?

 

::She said it more as a statement than a question, her face set in confused concentration, but ready to attempt the strange movements. As the thing came at her she tried reciprocating with the moves she had been using before.  Jorey was right, the partner was coming at her very slowly and she had no trouble moving at the speed, but coordinating which counter, a lean, a foot slide, a half pivot, was more challenging than it seemed.  Aria could feel a bit of frustration building, especially as her left foot hit her right for the third time in a row. 

 

The plus side seemed to be she had maintained contact with the thing at least part of the time.::

 

Jorey: Relax. Tensing up will only make things worse. I know it seems like it should be easy, but remember you are literally trying to turn someone who is trying to harm you into someone who just wants to dance! It’s not easy, even slowly. ::Brayden watched as the engineer did her best to calm herself down and ease into her steps.:: As for command and someone like Parker, it’s the same story. It seems like it should be easy, but it’s not. As for Parker, he’s someone very hostile that you have to work with like an unwanted partner.

 

Oddas: :: sliding her foot around :: With all due respect, I think he’d rather shoot me than dance with me. He thinks I didn’t open fire on the enemy vessel because I was afraid to.  That I didn’t unleash :: searching for the word :: hell on both ships because I just held them in higher regard than my own crew. :: she grunted as she messed something up and took a blow to the shoulder :: He thinks I’m some sort of pacifist, or coward.

 

Oddas: oO Nevermind I gave the order to stop the invasion and didn’t tell them how. I knew what that meant killing a bunch of them. Oo

 

Jorey: What do you think he thinks of me, or Irina? It doesn’t matter what they think. The only opinion that matters is your own. Listen to your own conscious and continue to follow the path that got to command in the first place.

 

Oddas: So my plan of just goading him into punching me and then throw him into the brig is probably not the best?

 

Jorey: Probably not. ::Brayden laughed because it was an easy scenario to imagine.:: Just try to keep in mind that while he may be adversarial Major Parker is not your enemy. 

 

:: She wasn’t dense; she knew she didn’t understand people, but she also knew a metaphor when it was literally trying to punch her in the face.  She pulled her shoulder back just as the faceless thing fighting her began to push against her, lightly and she could have sworn the thing tripped as it found no resistance.  She allowed herself a small smile, maybe she would get the hang of it after all.  

 

Jorey stepped in and began guiding her movements, and the opponent seemed to be combining his attacks in ways that were different than they had been moments ago. They didn’t seem much fast, or possibly, Aria was getting the knack for what she was doing. 

 

She was paying attention, but she was also thinking of some of the Marines she knew.  Starfleet Marines on the base like Eiris and Kingsley who had not only been major assets to her during the recent uprising, but had done so in a way that made her think of them in a different light than Major Parker.  Until recently her experience with them, and Parker for that matter, had made it seem like they were on the same page, working for the same goal. Now, she wasn’t sure Major Parker wasn’t something entirely different from Lt. Eiris and the others.  Maybe, a  little too brutal. ::

 

Jorey: Hannibal is definitely not your typical officer. He seems like some kind of Terran throwback to a much more violent area. Like from a time even before Irina. It seems like war is in his blood, heart and mind.

 

Oddas: oO He is a telepath .. Oo

 

Oddas: I’m thinking of some of the Marines I’ve worked with on the base since I’ve been here, the ones that helped me secure the Embassy.  :: sighing ::  It’s hard to put my finger on, I was just realizing I would be more comfortable sending some of them into a room of civilians than the Major … :: pausing :: Sir, you better not let my wife catch you with your hand there. 

 

:: She shrugged and smirked playfully. ::

 

Jorey: ::Kissing his teeth as he forced Aria to open her hips. ::Focus. Besides, something tells me Irina is more confident in what you two share than that. As for Major Parker, Starfleet goes to war and Starfleet needs warriors. The difference is we’re the type that can be warriors when there’s no other choice. Hannibal is a warrior because it is his only choice.

 

:: Aria thought about what the Commander said as she went through some of the more strung together move combinations. After a few moments she stopped, and pulled away from the opponent, letting it automatically go into a dormant mode, or at least something not attacking her. Brayden moved away and sat down cross-legged again as Aria collected her thoughts and then spoke, pacing like she did often when she was nervous. She could also feel herself rambling a bit.  She didn’t know if it was helping her point or not. ::

 

Oddas: Sir, I left Bajor to get away from people who didn’t know when to put away their weapons, who only knew how to pick them up and shoot people.  It wasn’t just my family it was an entire circle of people.  I could have stayed there and tried to convince large parts of the Militia to change, to try and move past the mentality they needed to shoot first and figure why they did it later, but Starfleet seemed the better option.  I’m more than a little appalled to find some of that same attitude here.  

 

Jorey: You’re not alone, Aria. My people, mostly pacifists, had to become warriors. They had to become an army during the Dominion occupation and war. Warriors of necessity. Even though there are some that struggle to return to life as it was before, I feel it’s safe to say there are none like Hannibal on Betazed.

 

Oddas: The same thing happened back home, and I know, :: she thought of the Ijos :: some who easily switched back to a normal life.   :: her face bunched up :: But truthfully, I always got the impression they were pressed into service to begin with, and people I had more common ground with, people I could trust and who actually felt they could trust me.

 

Jorey: Til’ahn’s time of war is coming to an end. There will be little room and even less patience for Barbarians. With the Typhon Expanse and the Thor, warriors will have to become explorers and adventurers. Somehow, Parker and those like him will have to change or be left behind. 

 

Oddas: Let me guess, it's up to us to help him with this. Do you really think an Engineer in a red shirt has a chance of pulling that off?

 

:: She looked at him skeptically.  Her own people issues aside, she didn't see Major Parlor being open listening to her about anything at the moment. Or any moment. Brayden knew he might as well as have been asking for Til’ahn’s two suns. But as much as Hannibal may have been an antagonist in his life, he cared for the man and his family. ::

 

Jorey: A year ago, would you have thought a flamboyant, reader would have figured out some way to get through to Irina? ::He gestured for the pacing Bajoran to sit with him. He smiled trying to reassure:: I’m sure Hannibal will prove challenging, but yes, I think an Engineer in a red shirt can pull it off.

 

:: Aria sat next to him on the rock face and gave it some thought as she leaned back onto her arms.  ::

 

Oddas: The Betazoid wasn't afraid of people sir.  :: holding up her hand before he could react :: I'll try, if the Betazoid is willing to back me up.

.

Jorey: Of course I will. I’ll always have your back Aria. I think you will be able to reach Hannibal in a way I never could. You see, I’m great with people, but bad with machines. ::Brayden took his friend’s hand as he spoke looking deeply in her eyes with genuine kindness:: You are the yin to my yang in that way. In many ways, I think Hannibal is more like a machine than a man and who better to do a little reprogramming than an Engineer in a red shirt?

 

:: She didn’t have a lot of faith in the effort, but she did have faith in Brayden. They were friends she realized with a start.  She had few friends, she didn’t make them easily. She also didn’t lose them easily and wasn’t going to start by letting him down on this. ::

 

Oddas: I’ll try Brayden, I’m not a miracle worker, but I’ll try.  I owe you this.  :: she thought about it for a moment :: I owe him this.

 

Commander Brayden Jorey - Special Operations, Embassy of Duronis II / USS Thor  - NCC-82607

Department of Veteran Affairs | Training Team Member

Writer ID: T239002BJ0

 

and

 

Lt. Commander Oddas Aria
Executive Officer
Duronis II Embassy / USS Thor,  NCC-82607
ASDB Co-Facilitator - Training Team
E239305OA0

[Hannibal Parker]

On 11/28/2017 at 11:53 AM, Irina Pavlova said:

Jorey: Hannibal is definitely not your typical officer. He seems like some kind of Terran throwback to a much more violent area. Like from a time even before Irina. It seems like war is in his blood, heart and mind.

 

Jorey been reading Hannibals' classified files or something?

[Oddas Aria]

Maybe he's been paying attention

[Brayden Jorey]

Maybe he’s telepathic? 😱

[Hannibal Parker]

1 hour ago, Brayden Jorey said:

Maybe he’s telepathic? 😱

 

There is that........