Holodeck Scheduling Mishap (Part II)

Posted on Mon May 26th, 2025 @ 2:35pm by Lieutenant Rynna Csira & Lieutenant JG Tara Marsh
Edited on on Mon May 26th, 2025 @ 2:36pm

Mission: A Day In The Life
Location: Holodeck
1433 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

[PREVIOUSLY]

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.

[CONTINUED]

Rynn grinned and chose a narrow gap between two rocks to cut down her time. She used her paddle once to keep from hitting a rock, but managed to get through intact. Then it was a race to the next and the next rapid. Instead of looking for the fastest part of the river, she was going for the most direct route down, hoping that would give her a slight advantage.

And then she saw it up ahead. The end of this section of rapids. It was time to push harder.

Tara stuck with her strategy, finding the fastest parts of water. She did not know if it would work, but it would certainly be more thrilling. Besides, Tara figured that she might be stronger than Rynn, so she relied on the speed plus her strength to pull her through.

As the kayak started to roll over towards the side, Tara sat deeper into the kayak which leveled the kayak back up so she could see. Rynn was in sight, as Tara's kayak bounced around. Wildly, Tara cheered, but water sprayed into her mouth, choking her. Damn it! She coughed but tried to fight through it, paddling furiously.

"Are you okay?" Rynn called, allowing only a glance in Tara's direction. If she didn't pay close attention to where she was going, she'd end up overturning or hitting a rock and then overturning. At least they were on the holodeck and the safeties were in place.

For an answer, Tara paddled ahead of Rynn. She coughed again, but nothing deterred the woman from the competition.

"Okay, then," Rynn said to herself. Then she refocused on the race, quickly catching up to Tara. They came out of the rapids in a photo finish.

Tara coughed some more. Despite that she said, "Good race! I thought you were going to beat me most of the time. It didn't help that I got a face full of water when I was cheering." She laughed, causing her to cough some more. She pounded her chest and continued, "Breathing and drinking at the same time don't work."

"No, they don't." Rynna grinned. "What do they say about counting your chickens before they hatch? Or your competitions before they're won?" She shook her head. "It was still a good race. Do you need some help to shore, or should we end the program here so you can catch your breath?"

"I'm alright," Tara told Rynna as she coughed once again. "It should be over in a moment." She cleared her throat and then continued more clearly, "Besides, most of the time, I thought you had beaten me. Then again, you likely do this a lot more often than I do. Had I not swallowed half of the river there, I'm sure that you would have. I may have to have a kayaking tutor on the holodeck if we are going to make this a habit. I can't just rely on my strength and good looks."

"I have, but not recently. I ran mostly clean, but not as fast as I used to." She shrugged. "I need to do this more often for exercise." She grinned at Tara. "Thanks for the competition."

"My pleasure. This has been a lot of fun. I'm more than willing to learn more. I obviously was more enthusiasm than technique." She wrinkled her nose and admitted, "I hate losing."

Rynna laughed. "I noticed. I don't mind losing as long as I try my best, but I hate losing when it was because I screwed up. You're always welcome to do this with me. I think it'll help both of us to have someone to race with."

"I'm having a great time. It is refreshing to be with a woman that knows how to compete. Did that come naturally to you?"

"Wanting to compete? Yes. But there are lots of ways to compete, and I do it mostly for fun and to challenge myself."

"If you're not competing for yourself, then you're doing it wrong. Your achievements then belong to someone else. Though, I had a head start on my desire to compete. Three older brothers will do that," she answered with a boisterous laugh.

"That would do it." Rynn was grateful she didn't have three brothers to deal with. "I have one brother, but he's younger than I am. We aren't competitive. At least, not with each other. I guess you could say I compete against myself. I like it that way."

"So, you don't like competing against me?" Tara gave Rynn a mock pout. Her eyes were trying very hard not to sparkle and burst out laughing.

"I'll let you think that," Rynna grinned. "If you want to see me try and win, we can do it again."

"Ow!" Tara replied. She then made a cat sound and made a claw with her hand and scraped it downwards at Rynna. "Let's give it a go!"

Rynn just chuckled and shook her head. "Computer, take us to the top of the run."

The program dissolved and resolved with them both in their kayaks ten feet from the beginning of the run. Rynn lined up and grinned. "Computer, give us a ten second countdown."

As soon as the buzzer sounded, Rynn was off. The rapids weren't identical to the first run, which was part of the program to keep the participants from getting bored or from anticipating what came next.

Once again, Tara pushed with all her might and paddled furiously. She kept up with Rynn as the initial rapids came into view. Paddling directly into them recklessly, she had a feeling that she was going to need a great deal of luck and power if she had any hope of beating Rynn on this run.

Rynn focused on staying centered in the kayak so she wouldn't tip over. She was aware of Tara near her, but she couldn't let herself look as each rapid tried to toss her against the rocks or send her off-course. Several times she scraped too close to a rock, or was pushed off-course, but she made it to the bottom and her time was better.

Tara did everything that she could to stay close to Rynn. However, by the last set of rapids, she was getting further behind. She made a grand push to get ahead. Instead, she hit a rock, which caused her to flip over. She pushed out of the kayak, and swam upwards like the flotsam that she was. Soaked to the bone, she got close to the shore and laughed heartily.

As soon as Rynn passed through the last rapid, she turned toward the shore and looked for Tara. "Well, that's one way to finish." She grinned and paddled to the shore. "You did well."

Tara splashed some water towards Rynn, laughing. "Well, apparently I needed a bath. I appreciate you thinking that I didn't stink that badly." She laughed harder.

"For your first time, you didn't." Rynn got out of the kayak and stood, knee-deep in the river. Out of habit, she kept one hand on the side of the kayak to keep it from being swept downstream. "Computer, end program."

When the scene disappeared and they were back in the holodeck grid, she held out a hand to help Tara to her feet. "That was fun. We should do it again."

"It was and we should," Tara agreed with a broad smile. "I'm glad this computer mishap happened, otherwise I might never have gotten to know you like this."

"I agree." Rynn had only met a few people so far, but it boded well for her time on the Majestic. "And now, I need to shower and change before going checking in with ops. Once we get back to a normal routine, let's find a time to do this again. Or something like it."

"Sounds good." Tara gave Rynn a short wave and walked through the holodeck arch and out into a corridor.


A Post By

Lieutenant JG Tara Marsh
Assistant Chief Security Officer
USS Majestic

Lieutenant Rynna Csira
Chief Operations Officer
USS Majestic