Running Start

Posted on Sat Feb 25th, 2023 @ 4:56am by Private 1st Class Cedrik Feng & Chief Petty Officer Julius Law & Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Alexander & Sergeant Bryana "Bri" Locke
Edited on on Sat Feb 25th, 2023 @ 4:56am

Mission: S1 Episode 4: The Cloud
Location: Shadow Squad HQ
Timeline: Mission Day 2 at 0600
4608 words - 9.2 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

After their team briefing, the members of the Shadow Squad had gone to their racks on their particular sides of the large room and changed from their duty uniforms to a form-fitting special conditioning uniform which they would use for exercise. It was sleek and black, hugging their bodies to give them the benefit of compression, and as a result, leaving little to the imagination.

Julius finished first and took up position near the door to wait for everyone else to be done. He stood there, drinking from his Shadow Squad water bottle, his conditioning uniform hugging his insanely muscular physique and displaying a rather noticeable appendage at the meeting of his thighs. Needless to say, he had some complaints about the uniform design and would be confronting the designer very soon.

Brandon liked the way the uniform fit, and how it conformed to his body. He took care of himself and was used to exercise, so he already had good endurance. The suits would only add to it. He believed the words of his new commanding officer. It was going to be tough training. Others might wash out; those that were weak, those that were not committed to the Empire. But not him. He would prevail. He wasn't a pussy.

If he were being honest with himself, and he usually was, he would have admitted he liked how the uniform looked on him. It showed off his muscles. Most of them anyway. He had enough mental discipline to keep his favorite muscle from being revealed when he looked at some of the women in the squad.

He stood at parade rest, waiting for the rest of the team to show up. He was anxious to get started and a little impatient. He hoped it didn't show on his face.

Catsuits. They've got us working out in what are essential catsuits. Bryana thought to herself as she looked at the one-piece form-fitting uniform while other thoughts like chafing, heat rashes, and other unpleasant considerations that could happen when working out sans undergarments. She certainly wasn't a prude, hell she'd pulled a Lady Godiva after losing a bet once. Being naked wasn't a big thing for her, and had no issue wearing the outfit. Even if they all might as well have been naked; she just wondered if they'd accidentally recruited the designer from a BDSM or Fetish fashion line.

The dark-haired woman smirked a little as she looked between the assembled crew and quietly approached Fiona with a small kit. The other woman in the squad wasn't getting special treatment. No, once the Sergeant had seen these outfits, she'd put together these little kits with medical tape, self-adhesive bandages, anti-chafing powder, and creams to help deal with the more painful consequences that were likely to come along with this outfit, like groin area chafing, rashes and bloody nipples.

For Fiona's kit, she'd added in little something extra in case of a situation of shyness, a pelvic concealer that she set down on the other woman's bunk.

"I wanted to ensure you had this kit I put together for the squad. Gung-ho or not, chafing is still a bitch." She smirked and looked at the container. "Also replicated a couple of concealers that you can insert in the front of the so everyone doesn't get a glimpse of everything running south."

"I appreciate it," Fiona said, glancing down at herself. She glanced down at herself. Fiona didn't generally mind the tightness. Not for most of her body. But she did think it would be nice if certain things weren't quite so well outlined.

Stepping back, Bryana shook her head at the sight of Julius and Brandon, both peacocking even if they would absolutely deny it. Even if they weren't hard, the fact that their suit left little to the imagination made her again wonder who designed these outfits. "So it looks like for our daily runs, our menus are being filled with beef, rumps, moose knuckles, and camel toes."

"Oh and VPLs if we wear any kind of undergarments."

“I’m gonna be having a chat with the idiot who did this,” Julius said, his large arms folded over his chest. His face was neutral, so it wasn’t clear if he was irritated or amused. “Though I’ll admit, it’s better in some than others.”

Patrick finished getting dressed as everyone talked. He didn't mind the form-fitting outfit to him it felt like a full-body hug, which he found very calming. And now that he was calmer, his mind started to work on various designs and chemical compositions. It was an invigorating feeling! "Someone should've told me about these clothes sooner!" He smiled happily. "I'm feeling great!"

Cedrik was not comfortable in this outfit in the slightest. It wasn't that he had anything to be ashamed of - he was a fit, strapping young man - but his culture and family still practiced a great deal of modesty, and to have something so revealing around his hips well... again, there was certainly nothing to be ashamed about in that department. Even so, he had very quietly slid a pair of running shorts over the compression sock of a garment and then said nothing so as to not bring attention to himself.

Julius walked over to his second in command and stood right in front of her, his eyes remaining on hers despite the temptation to look down. He gave her a nod.

“You’re up Bri. You take the lead and I’ll pull up the rear.” He said and then frowned, realizing the potential joke. “Don’t say it.”

Bryana smirked. There was certainly potential for a joke as she easily held his gaze, amused by the frown on his dark features. "I might have, but you just made it too easy, Jules, and already these suits are enough of a joke." She chuckled and looked to the team before whistling to get their attention.

"Come on, people, we've got a run to complete," She turned towards the door to start leading the way, despite the rather curious make of the garment, she found it a bit liberating and was curious to see how it felt once she was moving and if this could stand up to moving through the Jefferies Tubes without getting damaged. "If Lady Godiva can do it, so can we!"

"Who is Lady Godiva even?" Cedrik asked, frowning deeply as he moved toward the door.

"Oh, I love giving history lessons, especially pre-Imperial history!" Bryana grinned back at the young man, seeing that he was wearing workout shorts over the body glove. As far as she was concerned, he could do him, and if that involved wearing the shorts well, Julius had an opportunity to sort it out before they started. "Lady Godiva was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman best known for a legend dating back before long before there was even a Terran Empire, in which she rode naked - covered just by her long hair - through the streets of a city called Coventry in protest of the taxes levied against the people of the city by her then-husband Leofric. Though it was a ruse meant to allow her lover, the former lord of the city, Thomas of Coventry, to sneak into the castle and supposedly murder Leofric and reclaim his estates and titles."

It wasn't as if Brandon didn't like history lessons, especially about beautiful naked women, but he was in a hurry to get started. To prove himself, perhaps even show off his stamina. He didn't want to show that anxiousness, however, so he started to stretch his hamstrings. He grabbed his right thigh and leaned down, then his left thigh and bent down, uncaring who was and wasn't watching.

“Well, did it work?” Cedrik asked and looked at Bri.

"According to the legends?" The dark-haired grinned at the baby of the group, chuckling softly. "Thomas was able to murder Lord Leofric, though he was only lord of Coventry for a few hours before the guards captured him on Lady Godiva's orders and took him out to the town square, being executed for the murder while Lady Godiva continued on ruling in her late husband and lover's place."

Bryana let everyone stretch, limbering themselves up since this wouldn't be the typical leisurely pace that most officers and even the regular enlisted were used to. Once everyone had a chance to stretch, the Marine Sergeant whistled again to get their attention and smiled. "Form up and let's turn our muscles to screaming jelly!" She announced while jogging out of the Shadow Squad barracks once everyone had formed up behind her, not setting the pace roughly yet since this was meant to be an endurance run that she and Julius had planned out to be intensely grueling and meant to push everyone to their limits, especially since they were going to switching between running, climbing and crawling.

Patrick followed in perfect pace with Bri. If his eyes caught any of the barely contained flesh around him, it wasn't apparent on his face or on his own body. While others might slip and break the no fraternization rule, he was able to portion out his brain and thoughts in such a way that the rules were simply that, the rules. They were not up for discussion or something to be bent or broken. When he was given a lawful order, he always kept it.

Fiona kept her eyes forward as she followed behind Patrick. Many of her squadmates were rather attractive but the over-the-top nature of the suits honestly made them more comical than tempting. She wondered if that weren't at least part of the idea at work here.

Brandon let several of the Shadow Squad get in front of him, he knew this wasn't about pure speed, so he was going to pace himself. He sure as hell didn't want to be last or be a straggler, but he knew it wasn't how you started a race, but how you finished. It was as much about using one's brain as it was about using one's legs. So, he was content to be in the middle of the pack.

Cedrik moved in line behind Brandon quite intentionally so that he couldn’t get stuck behind Fiona. He knew his own weakness, and he wasn’t sure he would be able to keep his mind or eyes from wandering were he directly behind her. He wasn’t overly concerned about the run; it would likely be grueling but it wasn’t anything that he wasn’t used to.

Julius smiled darkly as he took up the rear of the group, his eyes already peeled to observe people’s habits of motion and how they responded to physical hardship. He knew Bri was familiar with the route they had planned and he trusted she would get them through it. He wondered about these recruits to this new team and how hard they would be able to be pushed. He was confident he could teach them, but first, he needed to let them know how difficult things would be for them.

While she certainly could have started them at a hard pace to see who could keep pace, but this was meant to build their endurance. Not see who was able to keep up their speed the longest. She instead kept it steady but intense as she considered opening up into a cadence for the run since it felt like a tradition she needed to keep up with being the pace setting for the group, though she was also considering the best one to run them too. They passed several enlisted and slaves, whose eyes went wide at the sight of the group appearing at first glance to be running nude through the corridors of the ship, though a double take would have them noticing the body gloves. This made the dark-haired woman smirk though she hid it and focused on the route. "Shadow Squad, sound off!"

"Shadow Squad!"

"Shadow Squad!" Brandon responded with vigor. The run had just started, so he was still breathing pretty much normally.

"Shadow Squad!" Patrick sounded off, enjoying the endorphins he was feeling in his brain as they continued along the training route.

"Shadow Squad!" Fiona shouted as she ran.

"Shadow Squad!" Cedrik shouted out, more than used to doing sound-offs himself since they were quite common in the marines.

"SHADOW SQUAD!" Julius bellowed a bit louder than the others. He kept pace behind the entire group, observing their form but bringing up nothing as they had only just begun. "Now, let's get to it. Run us through the paces, Bri. I wanna see those tight booties jiggle!"

Of course, it was a joke, but he delivered it without much of a smile. He waited eagerly to see what the run had in store for the group.

"Buy a girl dinner and a movie first." Bryana shook her head while leading them through the corridors of the ship, she took them on a long, winding route through the halls. It was might have been a bit staid and unimaginative, but each and everyone one of them would have been pushed to their physical limits by the time they came to a stop near the entry hatch of the Jefferies Tubes system. "Alright, people we are going to be traversing three decks up and then three decks back down using the tubes."

"No shortcuts. No line cutting. We're taking the scenic route." She opened the hatch and crawled in first, moving ahead and stopping as she waited for the rest of the crew to follow.

Patrick entered next, grinning slightly to Bri as he followed her into the tube. "This is actually fun!" He said excitedly.

"For a certain definition of fun," Fiona said as she crawled in behind him, though she was smiling.

Brandon was keeping up with the others, though it was taking more effort than he'd expected. He wasn't out of breath. Yet. But he knew he would be pretty quick if they kept up this pace. He wasn't going to ask for a break. He wasn't going to show weakness.

By the time he entered the Jefferies, after admiring, for a moment or two, Fiona's backside, his uniform tunic was drenched in sweat."

"Sure hope we don't get stuck," Cedrik said with a sigh as he waited for the rest to enter in front of him.

“If we get stuck, Ced, we Greece up and slip out,” Julius said as he waved the last man before him into the Jeffries tube. He crawled in last and shut the door behind him. Following after Cedric, the sight that was left to him wasn’t pleasant. He reminded himself again to get the uniforms changed. “Keep movin', Shadow Squad!”

Bryana continued to guide them through the constricted crawl spaces of the ship's unseen maintenance areas, pausing at the occasional junction to check the map to ensure they were on the right path since planning them out and actually crawling through them were two different beasts. The air was warmer than the rest of the ship given the lack of the creature comforts of the population portion of the ship were missing from these rather drab and dour looking work areas. Hair that had escaped from her braid was plastered to her skin, though the wicking material of the body glove seemed to be doing its work as they continued to crawl. "What's some of the reasons to have a solid working knowledge of a ship's Jefferies Tube systems Shadow Squad?"

"The ship could be boarded and it's doubtful our enemies would know they existed," Brandon spoke up, "so they can be used to create an ambush. Same as if the slaves rebel and cause a mutiny. I'm sure they know about the Tubes, but they might not be expecting it. Or at the very least it could be used as a diversionary tactic, while another team
assaults them from a different direction."

He was comfortable in the cramped setting. Starting to tire a bit-though he would never admit that- but tight settings had never bothered him as they had his brother. Heights on the other thing were a different story, but so far that had not come into play on this exercise.

"Correct Brandon, even if Jules or I don't make it a requirement as part of Shadow Squad, I highly recommend that you know as much as you can about the ships of our fleet since that knowledge can give you an advantage over any attackers." Bryana continued as they began climbing up a maintenance ladder, keeping her mind focused on the path as she led the way through the ship. They had just entered another long section as she was approaching the end when the power flickered, went dark, and then came back up. This was followed by the blast door sealing in front of her followed by another sealing off the individual sections, forcing the squad to either move forward or back to keep from being caught by the safety partitions.

Fiona pressed forward to stay with the rest of the squad, immediately going silent and alert. She wasn't completely sure if this was part of the exercise or not.

Brandon's first thought was to reach for a weapon, thinking this could be an attack of some kind, but this had been a training exercise and the only weapons he had were his hands, which he guessed would have to be enough if an attack was indeed underway.

"Well... that's not good." Cedrik frowned.

By the time the blastdoor had closed on the sections, the members of Shadow Squad had been effectively sealed in, partitioned from one another by reinforced duranium. Bryana frowned as he shifted to take a seat, looking between either end. "Well fuck me sideways,"

She reached up to tap her commbadge =/\= Shadow Squad, report in. Jules can you read me? =/\=

It was a hail Mary, but maybe Butch Deadlift hadn't gotten caught in whatever the cluster this was.

Unfortunately, she was met with silence.

------

Moving up quickly as the blast doors sealed, Patrick was behind Bri. He started looking for an access point as she contacted Chief Law.

Finding a control access, Patrick pulled it open and started to look inside, see if there was anything he could do to override the lockdown.

Only static came through on the comms before Bri sighed and killed the channel before she turned her attention to Patrick and Fiona, trying to figure out what was going on. She hadn't planned this, so she wondered if Jules had set it up as a surprise test for them. She wouldn't put it past him, though she'd hope that he'd at least give her a heads up.

Fiona was behind both of them in rather cramped quarters. She was looking back, frowning. She was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Fi, how you doing?" Bryana looked down past Patrick to check on the other woman.

"I'm fine," Fiona said. "But, if this isn't part of the exercise, I'm worried about what's going on in the rest of the ship."

"What the story Patrick? Anything we can do to bypass the lockdown?" The dark-haired sergeant tried to take a look at the panels he'd pulled open to figure out a way to get past the blast door.

Not looking up from his work, Patrick replied. "Possibly, Sarge. I just need a few moments. I don't have any of my kit with me, so I'm having to improvise here."

"I like how you did call it half baked." Bryana chuckled as she shifted as much as she could to give the man space and she silently hoped whatever he was doing wouldn't involve explosives. She was sort of attached to the living thing.

After fiddling with the innards of the control panel, there as a pop and small flash, high was followed by Patrick curing to himself and putting his slightly singed finger in his mouth reflexively. "Damn! That hurt!" He exclaimed softly.

Almost immediately, there was a softly clicking sound, ollowed by the hatch right above them popping open a few centimeters.

Fiona scrambled up. Now that it wasn't sealed, maybe it would respond to direct pressure. She would try anyway. She pressed on the hatch to see if it would open further.

------

Cedrik frowned in the cramped space from below Brandon. Bracing himself on the ladder, he pushed back against the wall so he could have a better chance at looking up at Brandon's face instead of less desirable parts wrapped in their less than useful "uniform".

"Any idea what's going on?

Brandon was usually quite comfortable in closed spaces. at least they didn't really bother him. But. this felt different. He wasn't close to panicking, but he felt a trickle of sweat run down his chest. He'd tried to push forward but couldn't budge the door, and he was a pretty strong guy.

"I'm not sure," he called out in frustration. "We could be under attack from another planet, slaves could have rebelled, or it could be something innocent like some kind of power failure. My go-to theory at this time though is that this is some kind of test. They said they wanted to push us. Maybe they're pushing us in more than one way."

"What do you think?"

“I doubt it’s an attack where we are, so yeah I’d agree with some sort of test.” Cedrik nodded and frowned. “Not a test that lies in the realm of my expertise though. If you have any thoughts I’ll help out though, just tell me what to do.”

The Petty Officer frowned. "Well test, or something else, we need to work together I think." He shifted his position, "I can't get this damn hatch to budge. If you can squeeze by and give me a hand we might be able to open it and get the hell out of here."

Cedrik looked skeptical, to say the least. He wasn't that much smaller than Brandon and it was already a tight squeeze. "Yeah, sure I can try but it isn't going to be that pleasant being so close."

Even as he said it, Cedrik was already moving upward and trying to be as careful as he could with his hands and the rest of his body to not touch the other man more than he needed to. He was certainly glad in this moment that he wasn't claustrophobic in the least, though after this little event...

Some physical touch was unavoidable in such close quarters, but with Brandon equally reluctant, they managed to avoid anything that was untoward. "Okay," he said to Cedrick. On three, let's push together and see what happens. "One, two, three..."

Cedrik pushed on cue with Brandon but to little avail; the hatch didn't budge. Frowning, Cedrik shifted back to be slightly more comfortable.

"Well, crap." He sighed. "Any brilliant engineering ideas?"

"I didn't exactly bring any tools along," came Brandon's reply. That would have made it easier. First things, first. Test, or real problem, we have to remain calm."

"Help me look for an access panel, we might be able to jury rig something."

“I’m not worried,” Cedrik said honestly. “We’re on the ship, someone will eventually notice we aren’t around if we can’t get out.” He began to move back down and look around the shaft. Finally noticing a rectangular piece that wasn’t blending in with the rest of the wall. “Here it is, I think.”

Brandon cocked his head and looked intently at the panel Cedrick had discovered. "Good eye," he said. You're closer you want to try opening it, or should I?"

"I'll give it a try," Cedrik said and moved down closer to the panel. He began to inspect the panel. Usually, people would have a tool to pop it open, but he wagered there was another way. He put pressure on the base of the panel to try to pop the top out but to little avail. This wasn't his skillset. After a moment more of trying without success, he looked up to Brandon and frowned.

"Sorry, I can't get it."

"It's okay, I'll give it a shot."

This may not have been entirely familiar to him, but he was after all an engineer, so he moved closer and began to examine the panel. There was a small indentation on the right side. He managed, barely, to get a couple of fingers in and moved them up. He felt something give and he hoped that was good news, not bad.

"Try lifting the panel now. Just be careful. Oh, and pull it straight out."

Cedrik maneuvered to give Brandon room and then watched him work with intense curiosity and focus. When Brandon prompted him to pull the panel out, Cedrik gave a half-startled blink. “Ah. Yeah sure, okay.”

Shifting around again, he worked his fingers to get under the panel and once he had a relatively safe grip, he pulled back with some force, and the rectangular sheet popped off, revealing the circuits within. “There we go!”

Brandon gave a brief nod as the panel came off. "Well, that's a start," he said looking down at a control panel. It was emitting a faint glow. That was good news, for it meant that there was at least some power, either the main system or the backup.

As he began to examine, he frowned. Turning to Cedrick he said, "This panel is pretty fried. I think with a little time I can make it operable. Partially. But I don't think this is a test."

"Well, let me get out of your way so you can get to it I guess. Definitely not something I can really help with, unfortunately." Cedrik said and began to move out of the way as best he could to give Brandon room.

It took the engineering non-com a good twenty minutes of toiling, with one banged-up shin, two bruised knuckles, and more curse words, in three different languages, than either could count for the pair to be rewarded with the faint but inconsistent hum of the console."

"I think I can release the panel that's keeping us in here, and maybe some of the others. I'm going to give it a try."

"Good luck." Cedrik genuinely did wish him well for obvious reasons though his voice was slightly strained. This was an uncomfortable situation and his body was protesting being put into this awkward position given neither Brandon nor Cedrik were exactly little men.

"Alright then," Brandon said lifting a prayer to a deity he wasn't sure existed, but didn't want to take a chance that he, or she did. His hands danced along the console and the two of them heard the panel start to slide sideways.

"DAMN!" Brandon shouted, "I did it."

“Hell yeah, you did!” Cedrik chimed in with relief and a certain amount of joy as the bulkheads slid open and the squad was reunited altogether.

"I guess I should say we did it," Brandon replied, a little sheepish, " I couldn't have done it without you."

“Everyone alright?” Cedrik asked, looking above first and then below down to Julius.

"In one piece." Bryana letting out a deep breath his hadn't realized she'd been holding before looking to Cedrik and Brandon. "Good work folks, first round is on me later."

END