Highway to the Danger Zone

Posted on Fri Oct 11th, 2019 @ 5:07pm by Lieutenant Jack Carver & Lieutenant Commander William Rogers & Warrant Officer Koh Ottasu & Warrant Officer Callisi Veera

Mission: If You Like Pina Coladas

The sun was high in the sky as Bill took to the beach. The final day of shore leave before the Astraea was set to depart on her next mission and he'd organised a little get together for the new pilots who'd transferred in. Something his unit did back in the Eugenics War: a game of volleyball.

The court was already set up so he placed the large cooler he was carrying on one shoulder down on the sidelines. The others would be arriving soon so he pulled out a beer, took a seat on the sand and waited.

The two new pilots were hard to miss. Some would say it was their keen fashion sense. Others would cite the interesting choice of hat that the female pilot was sporting.

Most, though, would claim it was the ears.

Koh and Callisi made their way onto the sands, pausing for a moment just to enjoy the feel of bare paws against the warm sand. A moment's relaxation, surrounded by other moments of less sandy relaxation.

"Mister Rogers?" the female, Callisi, spoke up. She had a few other defining features to her, no doubt. Chief among them, though, was an eyepatch over her left eye. The scar that ran from top of her eye orbit, presumably through the eye itself, and then along her cheek was prominent, and the lack of fur in that region only made it stand out more.

The pair took a seat on the sand, by the cooler and the cooler's keeper. "Tell me that's not a fishing net..." Koh, the male pilot, asked with a smirk.

"Yeah it is." sounded a baritone voice from the other side, as Jack approached, wearing very loud swimming trunks and sunglasses, showing off his toned physique. "It's used to fish for low flying UFOs." he grinned. "Got your invitation, Rogers. Beach Volleyball, is it?"

"You know it Carver. The sport of fighter pilots since the late 20th century." Bill replied with a grin. The other human was slightly taller than the CAG, sporting more muscle. Surgical scars visible on his pectorals and upper arms. He extended his free hand towards Callisi. "Call me Buck."

Callisi took Buck's hand and gave it a solid shake, "Callisi Veera. My callsign is Dead Eye." she remarked. "That is, if we get to keep our callsigns with the transfer. Just started getting used to it." she remarked with a smirk. Unlike Bill and Jack, Callisi wasn't built on mass, but more on tone. The pair of them weren't rippling with muscle mass, but rather they were solid and toned. Carved out of wood.

"You're not conflicting with anyone in the squadron so your callsign is fine, dead-eye." Jack smiled, picking up the ball and spin-balancing it on a finger for a bit before transferring it to a finger on his other hand, though it took some concentration to do.

Callisi looked towards the balanced ball, then the net, then the balanced ball again. Jack's trick of transferring the ball brought the sensation of being mildly impressed. "Okay, so Koh knows more about Starfleet culture than I do, and I *asked* him not to tell me anything. I want to learn it on my own." a pause, "That being said, this has all the hallmarks of some form of game."

"Your perceptiveness serves you well." Jack smiled, resting the ball in his hand and ducking underneath the net to the other side of the court. "Rules are simple. One net dividing the play court, one ball, two teams. Ball touches the ground inside the court, opponent team gets a point. Ball touches ground outside the court, your team gets a point."

"You can only touch the ball with the flat of your fist, like this - " He made a fist with his right hand and placed the ball on top, to demonstrate " - your forearms, like so - " again a demonstration, putting his hands together in fists, palms facing upwards, and rested the ball on the lower end of his forearms, just above the wrists " - or set it up with your hands open, thusly." and once again he demonstrated, tossing the ball up a small distance and keeping it up by bumping it with the tips of his fingers a few times.

"Your team can only hit the ball three times between the players, and you can't hit it twice in a row. Aaaaand those are the basic rules, unless I'm forgetting something?" Jack smiled, catching the ball again. "Rogers, wanna have a demonstration round to show them?" he asked, moving to a far end corner of the court and getting ready to serve.

"You can't touch the net?" Bill suggested as he stood. He took up a position on the opposite side of the court to Jack. He stretched his shoulders. "Ready when you are."

The two children of Ts'usu watched the demonstration. They forgave the violation of the rule of 'can't hit the ball twice' since there was only one member on each team, but they watched and learned. Bump, set, spike. Bump over, bump, set, block, bump, dive...

It had been Jack's intention to keep the game friendly and easy-going. It really had. But when you're a fighter jockey doing anything even remotely competitive, you always end up going ham, and this was no different.

"This is more intense than I realized." Callisi said to Koh, who just nodded, "I suppose there's a reason you only play it on the beach."

After a few demonstration set, the pair gave a nod, "Alright..." started Koh, "I think we got it. Three times, no touching the net, boundaries score points."

"So now, who's on what team?" Callisi asked.

"How about youngest Ts'Usugi with the eldest Human?" Bill suggested, struggling a little with the pronunciation of the alien species.

"Works for me." said Jack with a grin, starting to pant a little, chest heaving from catching his breath. Even a short 'friendly' match on sand was already intense on the stamina. "I think you're the older of us to, Rogers. Means you get the Benjamin Ts'usugi, being Dead-Eye here." he motioned to Callisi.

"Oh, I'm definitely older than you, Carver." Bill replied with a hearty laugh. The helmsman was more than grateful for his enhanced endurance, quite certain that without it he'd have difficulty keeping up with Jack. "So Buck and Dead Eye vs Jackhammer and..." He trailed off and turned to Koh. "I'm sorry, uh, is Koh your name or your call-sign?"

The two of them started to pair off with their team partner. Koh gave a smirk, "Koh is my name. My call-sign is Ghost." he gave a nod, "Also, not bad on the name. No one gets it right the first time. It helps to have the right teeth."

Callisi gave a slight giggle, falling in line with William. "There's also a few letters in there that are only there for tradition." she paused, "Ts'usugi." she pronounced for him, not slow and steady like one would a child, but a standard pronunciation like one would give casually.

"They say it drove the Dalacari protocol drones crazy for a solid five minutes at first diplomatic contact. They kept trying to pronounce each letter and syllable." Koh said, now a little more relaxed.

"Oh have I got a few words for them, then." Jack smirked, getting in position and readying to serve the ball. "There are languages on Earth that would just drive them crazy with superfluous letters." he grinned, starting the game.