Holodeck Scheduling Mishap (Part I)

Posted on Mon May 26th, 2025 @ 2:33pm by Lieutenant Rynna Csira & Lieutenant JG Tara Marsh

Mission: A Day In The Life
Location: Holodeck
1450 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Tara had dressed in form fitting black tight top and black shorts that showed her muscular legs. Her hair was tussled, as if someone tried to brush it but did not succeed. She practically ran to the holodeck because she knew it was time to do some rock climbing and she could hardly wait to utilize her time on the holodeck.

As she rounded the corner, she saw a slightly taller woman also going to the holodeck to enter. She was redheaded and looked familiar from all the dossiers that Tara had reviewed. So, Tara gave a short wave and said in a perky tone, "Hi! Are you Lieutenant Csira?"

"I am. You're with security, right? I'm still figuring out who is whom." Rynn was dressed in black biker shorts, a blue tank top, and deck shoes. It had been a while since she'd done any canoeing and she was looking forward to some time on the water. She looked from the woman to the holodeck. "Umm...are you going to the holodeck?"

"Yes, I'm the Assistant Chief Security Officer," Tara confirmed in her perky voice. "I thought that I had booked this time on the holodeck. I was planning on doing some rock climbing. Do you think that you're supposed to have it too?"

"I scheduled it..." Rynn shook her head. "I was going to do some canoeing. Let's see what the schedule says." She went over to the touch pad and pulled up the schedule. It listed both of them. "I haven't seen it do that before. I'll run a diagnostic when I'm back on duty. In the meantime, we could share it. Find something we both want to do. I'm afraid I'm not much of a rock climber."

"Leave it to a computer to mess something up," Tara replied with a laugh. "You don't rock climb? That's fine. I can canoe. That's fun too. Do you want to share one or have one each?"

Rynn grinned. "Sure. Let's have one each. We can do a little racing while we're at it."

"Oooh!" Tara replied excitedly, her competitive juices flowing. "Do you have an idea what kind of course you would like to run?"

Rynn paused. "Well...we could canoe across a calm lake or switch to kayaks and run a river with a little white water. What's your preference?" Either one sounded good to Rynn. And a little competition would make her work harder, which was also good.

"White water sounds like a lot more fun," Tara replied enthusiastically.

"Perfect. Kayaks and white water it is." Rynn was now looking forward to this. Doing timed sprints across a lake was nice, but competing in the rapids was better. She reprogrammed the holodeck and pressed the button to activate the holodeck. A moment later the door opened. The sound of rushing water nearby drowned out any other sounds as they entered into a land or red rocks and green trees. Not far away, beyond the aspen, pine, and birch could be seen the river.

Tara looked around and inhaled deeply. "Smell that," she exclaimed as she got closer to Rynn so that Rynn could hear her. "It is wonderful. Just perfect. Is this any place in particular or something that you created?"

"It's from a place I visited once on earth. It's in Utah. I love the colored sandstone and the contrasting green of the trees, so I found this holodeck program. It also has great rapids. This place is called Flaming Gorge." Rynn went over to the red kayak because it matched her hair and began to look it over.

"Oh!" Tara exclaimed. "I never got there but I'm from Colorado. I guess you have home field advantage." She moved over to the closest kayak, which just happened to be yellow and started to look it over. "So where exactly are you from?"

"Fareni. It's a medium-sized planet that most people haven't heard of. I went through the Academy on Earth, and that's how I found this place." Rynn grinned and put on her protective gear.

Dressing herself after finding an appropriate paddle, Tara responded, "I admit that I have not heard of it either. Is that a human colony or are you from some other species? I'd really like to know more."

"We're humanoid. Some say we come from a band of gypsies. Some say we're fey-touched. Others think there were Betazoids among the early colonists. I don't know. I do know that some of us are what we call fey-touched. They have a type of sixth sense, or intuition." She had it, on occasion. Rynn could also pick up some strong emotions and hear a strong telepath, but so could a number of telepathic races and her gift wasn't strong enough to be of note.

Tara started to carry the kayak to the water. "That sixth sense sounds like it could be handy but also a royal pain in the rear. Not sure that I would want to deal with that. Do you have any of it?"

"Alas, yes." She didn't elucidate as she moved her own kayak to the water. "What about you? Where are you from?"

"Well, I did tell you I was from Colorado. That's on Earth. Denver area. Lots of mountains. Sort of makes it natural to rock climb and ski." She turned back to the issue of Rynna's sixth sense. "I'm sorry that your sixth sense can sometimes be a burden to you. I'll listen, if you want. I'm not a counselor. Just security, but sometimes we do the same thing."

"Thanks. Sorry about the question. I should have specified what part of Colorado." She stepped into the kayak, grateful for the eddy that kept the water calm. "I guess most of it is mountains anyway."

Tara put her kayak in the water and stepped in. She was not squeamish about getting wet. "Yes, much of that area is covered with the Rocky Mountains. I can't really imagine how people traversed them prior to the 21st century. Up there, though, you can see forever. The air is thinner, so training up there makes things easier about a mile lower where the plains are." She paddled lightly up to Rynna. "So, how long is this course?"

"The one I programmed is only a mile. I thought it would be a good refresher for both of us. Then we can decide if we want to continue or do something else."

"A mile, eh? Lots of white water?"

Rynn grinned. "Of course. As long as we avoid the rocks, it should be a lot of fun. The river straightens out after the rapids, which will give us plenty of time to get to shore." She paused before leaving the eddy. "Ready?"

"Absolutely!" Tara answered as she pushed out into the water. "May the best woman win! Refresher or not!"

"You're on!" Rynna paddled her kayak forward and turned it downstream. Her entire focus turned to steering around the rocks and eddies, paddling when necessary to keep to the fastest parts of the river. It had been a while, but muscle memory quickly kicked in.

As she came around a large rock, the water pushed her against another, and she used her paddle to push off again. Once in a while she'd look for Tara, but mostly she was more focused on a clean run.

Tara may have not been easy to see but she was far from difficult to hear, even over the roar of the white water. She could be heard whooping and hollering as she navigated the water. She did not have polished technique, but she attacked the water like a predator attacked its prey: aggressively and with the entirety of her focus. Consequently, she was only a short pace behind. Regardless, she looked for a way to pull ahead of Rynna.

Spotting the movement out of the corner of her eye, Rynn became more aggressive, attacking each rapid to shave off more time as she raced to at least tie. It was good practice to have a real opponent to race against.

Pushing ahead, Tara started looking for an area where the water was flowing faster. She hoped that would give her a push to somehow pull ahead of Rynn. The redhead was really good and Tara loved the competition. She silently vowed to get Rynn to start climbing rocks. Finding an opening where the water seemed to run faster, she pushed her kayak towards it, hoping that it would be enough to give her a lead.

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant JG Tara Marsh
Assistant Chief Security Officer
USS Majestic

Lieutenant Rynna Csira
Chief Operations Officer
USS Majestic