The student becomes the master

Posted on Sun Jan 21, 2018 @ 6:05pm by Lieutenant JG Jacob Hartley & Lieutenant Marisa Cheshire

Mission: History
Location: Holodeck 2
Timeline: MD31 || 1700 Hours

Jacob looked at the finished training program in the holodeck, and nodded his approval. It wasn't a difficult one, but it was in depth. He had created an old Earth Skate park, with different obstacles to show Marisa the basic moves that she would be learning. He also had a number of texts for her to read, which would help her understand. He just hoped she liked it.

Marisa wasn't long after. She came in dressed in a white hoodie with a red stripe going down either side and the Starfighter Corps logo on the back over a black polyester tank top and matching yoga pants. The highvis panels on her black trainers caught the florescent lights of the deck outside, causing them to glow slightly as she jogged through the holodeck's alcove. She dropped a duffle at the door as she continued on to Jacob.

"Hey" she said with a smile and a slight sigh when she had reached him. "Looks like you're all ready for me." she looked around the scene Jacob had generated "So you're not going to have me jumping rooftops in the first sortie?"

Jacob smiled. "I think the Commodore might object if I killed you in your first time out." Jacob replied. "I mean, I could have set it up so if you fell you bounced but I think it's best to wait for that. That being said, we can kick it up a notch if you manage some of these." He said. "I've also got some books downloaded for you to read. For the first lesson, however, I want to start simple, and see what skill level you have." He said.

"I bow to your wisdom sensei." Marisa said with a slight bow of her head and a sly smile. She straightened up and softened her expression "What would you have me do first?"

Jacob smiled. "Let's start with something simple. First rule: Don't do anything you think you can do. If you make one wrong move or lose your nerve or even hesitate, you'll be out for good. I want to start with testing your abilities, so let's see how high you can jump." He said, indicating a low hula bar type set up. Jacob ran at it, and did a simple leap over it. "Nothing fancy, just run and jump." He said.

Marisa gave the intelligence officer a slight nod before she eyed the beam. One foot in front of the other she quickly closed on her target. Years of training in fighters snapped her out of her tunnel vision and her gaze lifted to where she wanted to go rather than what she was supposed to avoid. When it came time she shifted her weight forward and up through her left leg while she launched herself with her right. She then landed on one foot and carried on a few steps to shed her momentum.

"How was that?" She said after a moment, looking at Jacob over her shoulder.

Jacob nodded, and smiled. "Good." He said, going to the bar, and raising it a little higher. "Let's go again." He said. He ran at the bar, and this time, as he leapt up, he spun in the air as he did. Landing on his feet, he turned and faced her. "I recommend the same jump as you did before, just a little higher." He said.

"Uh, right." Marisa said, running back for her next attempt. After a quick breath she repeated the action as she did before, getting a little bit of extra air. However on the follow through her back foot hit the bar, knocking it off it's pegs.

"Damn it." She said, feeling it slam into the back of her leg.

"Don't worry, that was bound to happen at some point." Jacob said. "A part of this is to test your limits, and then work on pushing them. For now, we'll keep it just below that height." Jacob said, putting the pole back, but between the first and second level's he had set it at. "Computer, three more poles at the same height." He ordered. "Five meters apart, straight line." He added. The poles appeared, and Jacob looked at her. "Okay, so I want you to run the line, jumping over each pole, but not stopping." He said.

Marisa only gave Jacob a quick nod before she began running at the poles. Once again she used the same moves, using the momentum of her front leg in conjunction with the push from her back leg to leap as high as possible, she might have even made the previous bar with this effort. This time however, she only took another three steps before she bounded again, and then again, gaining height with each jump. At the second last hurdle she in fact caught too much and landed too close to the last bar, catching it with her ankle. She stumbled forward a little but was able to catch herself on a grind rail.

"For a starter, that was pretty decent." Jacob complimented. "You've got the right kind of agility for this. Let's run this a few more times." He said.

---

After almost 30 minutes, Jacob smiled at her. "Alright, I think you're ready to try something different." He said. He led her to an old style gymnastics horse. "I'm going to teach you a Monkey Vault and a Kong Vault." He said. "They're pretty basic, but at the same time, they can be difficult for a beginner to master, so I'm not expecting you to try it." Jacob said. "And I don't say that to discourage you, but I've seen people faceplant when trying these moves for the first time. But it's the launch I want to explain mostly." He explained.

"There isn't much difference between the Monkey Vault and the Kong Vault. The Monkey Vault is where you push over an obstacle to clear it, and the Kong Vault has you diving at an object to clear it as you push off of it. I'll start with the Monkey Vault." He said. He took a few steps back, before running at the gymnastics horse. As he reached the horse, he reached out as he leapt up, pushing himself up and bringing his feet up, clearing the horse and landing on the other side perfectly.

Facing her, he smiled. "The biggest problem people have with that is clipping their feet on the obstacle, because they either don't push enough to give themselves adequate clearing space, or they don't bring their feet up enough. Some people try to just carry their legs over it, but that can cause problems. I know someone who once tried it and broke both their arms because they misjudged it, slammed into the obstacle and fell over, landing on their outstretched arms. Very painful." He said. "As I said, the launch is the key part, and often that's true with all parkour moves." He explained.

"You need to reach out, and push off with your strength. When you do this, you should get the lift you need to clear it. It's always better to use all your strength, because if you use too little strength, you go flat into the ground. Too much...well, you do need to be careful because the issue can be that you lose your grip and again, go flat into the ground." He explained.

"All my strength huh?" Marsia said, hunched over with her hands planted on her knees while she panted like a dog on a 40 degree day. She wasn't unfit by any stretch of the imagination, but the gauntlet Jacob had been running her through had begun to take it's toll. Muscles were beginning to ache, some of them ones she didn't even know she had until this day. She didn't complain though, she pushed through the pain like she always had."

She lined her self up with the obstacle and broke into a sprint. She placed her hand on the beam and kicked off the ground. as she got airborne her arms came to her sides as though she was a projectile, though, even though Jacob had warned against it, her feet didn't get enough clearance. Her foot caught the back of the beam and hooked around it, stopping her forward momentum dead in it's tracks. She careened down face first into the pavement. The ground gave way, the asphalt having the same properties as a pillow, but not before she got to experience a bit of pressure on her forehead and nose.

Jacob watched as she faceplanted the ground, and ran to her. "Are you okay?" He asked, crouching down to see if she needed help. He had programmed the floor to be soft, so that no bones were broken, but it could hurt or cause her to be winded. "Here, let me help you up." He said, holding out a hand.

Marisa rolled over on to her back and cradled her nose "Yeah, I'm okay. Safeties did their job. There is just that split second where you feel pressure before they activate." She said, taking Jacob's offer of help with her free hand.

Jacob helped her up, and smiled. "Yeah, I remember those days." He said. "Let me show you something. Not to show off, but I want to show you what I intend to work you up to." Jacob said. "Computer, training wall Two." He ordered. What appeared to be two tall brick walls appeared in front of them, with a platform at the top. Jacob took a deep breath, then ran at the wall, and leapt up, using his skill to leap from wall to wall, rising upwards and reaching the platform.

Grabbing a rope on the top, he held onto it, and swung down, abseiling as he held onto the rope, before reaching the bottom. He smiled and walked over to her.

"That's the kind of thing I'll be training you up towards." Jacob said.

Marisa sat on the floor as she watched. Her legs bent at 90, her arms behind her propping her upper body up and her breathing heavy.

"Seems like a long way off." she said though exhausted exhales after Jacob had landed.

"It always does at the beginning." Jacob said, smiling at her. "Let's call it a day, shall we? You've done quite well, considering it was your first time."

"Probably a good idea." She replied, still panting as she struggled to her feet "I'm not one to tap out but I know my limit and I think I've reached it."

Jacob nodded. "Oh, trust me, this was...well, this was just a warm up. This is the kind of thing I do every day when I wake up." Jacob said. "You will find though, as you keep going, your limits go further and further. Meanwhile, if you feel like you can walk, I've got some fresh smoothies in my quarters. I keep some fresh ingredients in a stasis unit, for days when I do a big workout, or when I'm in the mood for non replicated drinks." He explained.

Marisa placed her hands on her hips, looking down for a moment as she took a few deep breaths. "Sounds like a good idea."

Jacob smiled. "Computer, end program." Jacob said. As the holodeck changed to show the yellow and black grid, he held out his hand. "Shall we?" He asked, smiling.

---

As the two of them reached his quarters, Jacob opened the door, revealing the perfectly ordered quarters. There were two pictures in the room, one of him in his cadet uniform, and one of him with his adoptive parents. Aside from the two pictures, and the modified kitchen area, anyone would think the quarters weren't lived in.

Jacob went to his kitchen area, and opened the stasis unit, removing several ingredients, and placing them in the juicer. "You know, I have to say, I am very impressed. I've tried teaching a few people over the last few years, but no one ever continued after lesson one. A lot of people seemed to think I was playing a joke, making it harder than it should have been." Jacob explained, as he prepared the drinks, before pouring them out into two glasses.

He walked over to Marisa, and handed her a glass. "Hope you like passionfruit." He said.

"As long as it's not replicated." Marisa said as she took the container. She took a long sip before lowering the glass. "Not bad." She commented as she licked her lips, though there was something a little forced behind her infection.

She moved over to the bench so she had something to lean against. She was hesitant to move over to the furniture as her clothing was still quite damp from the work out. As much as she appreciated Jacobs hospitality, she lamented not having a break to take a shower first so she could flop down on his seats and rest her weary legs.

It was then she took in the fact that it was quite spartan. Little colour or personality beside the photos. It was spooky in a way. But then again, Jacob was a spook. The blonde pushed her prejudices from her mind, the man was taking the time to show her some neat skills, she owed him the benefit of the doubt.

"Its probably like you said." Marisa continued with a more genuine cadence, those thoughts had pushed her fatigue to the back of her mind at least. "Driving fighters probably exercises the same cognition as your parkour, and I'm not exactly unfit."

She then let out a fatigued exhale before placing her glass down on the counter with a slight clink. Stepping away from the bench she stood on her left foot while catching the right one in her right hand and pulled it backwards, stretching her quadriceps. "I think you just found some muscles that I didn't know I had." She finished giving Jacob a sideways glance as she balanced on one foot.

"Marisa, please, sit down, you should rest a little." He said, putting his glass down, and going to her, helping to hold her up. "I think we might have pushed it a little much." He said. "Do you need sickbay?" He asked.

Her leg dropped to the ground and she started on the other one. "You don't want sweat all over your furniture." She said with a smile and a shake of her head "I'll live. I'm passed the worst of it anyway."

"It's only sweat. It can be cleaned out." Jacob said, returning the smile. "You should keep off of it for a short time." He added, as he went to the replicator and had it create an ice pack. "Here, put this on it, it'll help a little." He said kindly.

Marisa rolled her eyes while she planted her palms on the counter behind her. With a small push of her feet she jumped up the small distance and sat on the bench. She took the ice pack and pressed it between her legs as she was bade. "Happy now?"

Jacob couldn't help but smile. "Yes, thank you." He said, picking up his glass and taking another sip of his drink. "Aside from the pain you feel, I think today went very well. I will admit, it's nice to spend time with someone outside of my duties." He said. His smile dropped as he took another sip of his drink. "As you might imagine, my line of work doesn't often leave time for socializing. Either I'm putting more hours in than I need to, or people don't trust me because of my line of work. Let's face it, Intelligence doesn't exactly scream 'glamorous' when it comes to the line of duty."

"Oh, I don't know about that." Marisa replied. "No one ever went broke by writing stories about an undercover agent behind enemy lines. But I suppose it's like driving fighters." She shrugged "Everyones got it in their heads that day in day out its a swashbuckling adventure against criminals and pirates, but in reality we're basically glorified beat cops."

Jacob smiled at her. "I know exactly what you mean. It's the same with Intel. A lot of people think it's all undercover work, like the old James Bond movies of Earth. In reality, whilst I have had to go on field assignments before, most of my career has been data analysis, and pushing papers. It's important, but for the most part, it's boring." Jacob said. "I met one person once, not long after I had graduated, and had tried to strike up a friendship. When she found out what I did, she became positive that I was planting bugs around her, spying on her at all times of the day." He said.

Jacob sighed, and looked out the window. "I guess it's one of the reasons I usually spend my time alone, because I don't want people thinking I'm spying on their every move. In truth, I just want to be able to have some friends, and god willing, a family one day." He admitted, something he had rarely ever admitted.

"Yeah well, you can hardly blame them. Its to easy to end up on the wrong side of a spook with too much authority and too little oversight." Marisa smiled and shrugged, lifting both her hands in the air. "This is the future you chose. I mean, you more than most must have understood how the other corps viewed intelligence."

"To be honest, I didn't. Not at first, anyway." Jacob replied. "My adoptive mother was an Intelligence Agent, and whilst she never spoke much about her work, she did speak of her passion for it. But as you said, people do have a fear of spooks, as we're known, with too much authority and no oversight. The same can be said for almost any department, in a manner of speaking. But I know Intelligence can bring out the worst in some people." He said.

He looked at her, understanding why people weren't always trusting of Intel agents. "My mentor, William, he used to tell me that whilst we often know more than others, due to the fact that Intelligence often sees reports most officers don't, we have a duty to ensure that we don't abuse our power. In Starfleet, we have powers that others don't, such as command of a vessel, power of authority, or weapons and technology that aren't known to others." Jacob said.

"But the question we always have to ask ourselves is when is it acceptable to use our power, and when do we cross that invisible line that turns us into tyrants over our fellow man. Some don't always see the line, and if I'm honest, that's one of the few things that angers me, seeing people abusing others because they think they have the right to do so." Jacob explained.

"Well, I'd tell you what I think of all that," Marisa said with a slight smirk "But I don't want another 'anarchistic sympathies' remark on the secret dossier you guys have on me." She finished with a teasing tone before taking a drink of her beverage.

Jacob returned the smirk. "I'll be sure to note that on your file." He joked. "If I could only remember where I put those secret files. I'll have to do it later." He said. "If there were secret files, I'd be terrified to think of what they'd say about me. They probably only accepted me into Intel to keep an eye on me."

"You know if you're trying to allay any fears about being socially engineered you're doing a very poor job." Marisa said teasingly as she brought the glass back up to her mouth for another sip. "But I'll bite." she said lowering it. "What on Earth could a straight lace like you do that the men in black would want to keep you on a short leash?"

Jacob smirked, and took a sip of his drink. His smirk vanished and he closed his eyes briefly. "It's more mental than anything, I'm sure. I own a shipping company that my parents ran, but I've wanted nothing to do with it because it was my parent's determination to save money that got them killed, two weeks after I was born. Two weeks old, and an orphan because they couldn't be bothered to pay for better repairs. And I'm not exactly the best operative." He said.

"Take our last mission. I screwed up monumentally, although I can't say much. Then I end up having to do phaser training, which Commander Weisz decided to watch. Some jackass tampered with the program, and my third shot was perfect, right between the eyes." He said. "But the target was an image of Commander Weisz."

"Yeah, you mentioned that." Marisa said with a dismissive wave of her hand "Discounting the possibility that your parents were involved in less-than-legal-shipping, if that's enough to get you on a watch list then we should all be worried."

Jacob smiled at her. "Well, that and some other things that I can't really talk about. But honestly, if there were a watchlist, I can't imagine you having done anything to get on it. You are one of the most decent people I've met. Granted, not known you personally for a while, but I did look at senior officer bios before coming aboard, so I knew who I was serving with. Good ship, good crew." He said, with a smile.

"The old man is a member of the Lib/Con coalition and a representative in the Earth Gov Congress." Marisa replied. It wasn't as though it was secret information. "The Libertarians supported the Maquis when it wasn't expedient to do so, and the conservative party was implicated in the attempted coup of '72, but nothing came of it. And then," she sighed slightly, looking down at her knees for a moment before looking back up at Jacob, flashing her own cryptic smile. "There are things I can't mention."

Jacob looked at her, with a small smile. "Sounds like your father had his belief's, and stood by them. If nothing came of the implication, I doubt it happened. But even if they were a part of it, doesn't change who you are." He said. "Whatever it is, whatever you can't mention, doesn't change who you are now. Not to me. You are someone I want to know a lot better. The past, whatever it has been, had led you to this path, to who you are now; determined, dedicated and passionate. You have strength and skill, and you don't give up. Those are traits that some people have in part, but very few have them all, especially in the levels you do." Jacob said.

"I saw you pushing yourself today. Most would have given up, or stayed at a low level. You didn't. Hell, what we did today was actually the first few lessons rolled into one, because I knew you could do it. You see something, you go for it. I admire that greatly." He told her warmly. "And, if I may be so forward, you have the most beautiful smile I've ever seen."

Marisa covered her face as she giggled slightly, though her cheeks flushed a little bit. Lowering her hand slightly she grinned at him. "Easy there David Hayter. A Cheshire's smile, whilst enchanting, has been known to drive men to madness."

"While I have no idea who David Hayter is, I believe that is a risk I will have to take, having now seen your smile." He replied, with a grin of his own.

"Like I said, steady on." Marisa said, raising her hand. "I'm in a bit of pain and can't really do flirting right now."

Jacob frowned in concern. "I've got some painkillers if you need some. I keep some around, just in case. Nothing overly strong, but they usually work if I make a mis-step when training." He said. "And yes, even I make mistakes at times. Actually, I make a lot of them, in different areas. But at the same time, I think making mistakes reminds us we're not perfect, and that we still have much to learn. I just happen to be a slow learner."

Marisa shook her head. "No, I'll be fine after a shower and a kip." She said as she pushed herself off the counter. "It's been fun, but I think I'm at my limit."

"Let me know when you want to go again. We can run the same program, whenever you feel ready. I don't think the Commodore will appreciate it if you end up with broken bones." Jacob said, with a small smile.

"Will do." Marisa said with a slight smile, her placed two fingers above her eye and winked before giving a playful mock salute.

"And I'd suggest keeping off your foot for a while. But thank you, for today. Aside from you being hurt, it felt good, to be able to share what I do with someone." Jacob said.

"I'm glad my suffering didn't damper your experience too much." Marisa said jovially over her shoulder as she hobbled out. "I'll catch you later."

Watching her go, Jacob allowed himself a small smile. She was good, no doubts about that, but at the same time, she also gave him hope that maybe he could have friends here, real friends.

That single thought made him feel better than he had done in a long time.