So, I Hear You Want To Train...

Posted on Sat May 8th, 2021 @ 1:30am by Ensign Aenardha Sh'vastarth & Cailus Griffin

Mission: The Gauntlet
Location: Holodeck 1
Timeline: Current

The message that arrived in Aenardha's inbox was succinct and to the point. T'Kemi was hardly the type to waffle on, after all, yet stukk the message itself contained a curious air of mystery.

TO: Ensign Aenardha Sh'vastarth
FROM: Lieutenant (j.g) T'Kemi

Subject: Training

Ensign Sh'vastarth, if you find it agreeable, I have arranged specialised training for you, both physical and martial. The man whom I have asked to handle this matter has agreed to help you, and he wishes to meet you in Holodeck 1 at 210000 hours tomorrow morning. If this time and arrangement is satisfactory, please respond with a confirmation. I regret that I am unable to attend myself, but I expect that I will be able to participate in the future.

Aenardha did respond, of course, and agreed to the time and location. When the time neared, she donned her personal PT outfit instead of the issued SFPT uniform all personnel got at the Academy. Hers was a set of compression shorts and sports bra. Both were moisture wicking to allow perspiration to pass through relatively unhindered allowing the wearer to remain cool, something Aenardha cared for a great deal. Not wanting to stroll through the corridors in that getup, as Aenardha was already aware of the many eyes that took her in, head to toe…and head again (to include the XO), she put on a long cardigan. Of course, they were all solid black. Though, in stark contrast to her near albino features, black suited her well.

An Aenar in Starfleet. It seemed stark contrast was her preference.

When the holodeck doors opened, Aenardha was greeted with an intense wave of cold air billowing out into the corridor. Through the eyes of the man waiting for her, she could see that the holodeck had been configured into a fitness area that was clearly copied from an Andorian program, but with some customisations. The man waiting for Aenardha had a strict and well-disciplined mind, his body protected by thick thermal clothing, and he watched her enter the holodeck with a stern gaze.

Aenardha did not let much time passed once she was met with the cold air. Her senses perked and she found herself instantly stepping into the holodeck’s cold embrace. Seeing through the man’s eyes, she stepped closer, those white in white eyes locked onto his. She was, in fact, looking back at herself through his eyes but was taking in the area around and behind her as the holodeck doors closed and dissovled.

"Good morning, Ensign sh'Sh'vastarth," the man said, the pronunciation imperfect but passable. "I am Cailus Griffin."

Aenardha regarded the man briefly. Recalling the ship’s manifest, she knew that he, at least once, held the rank of lieutenant commander, but had been offship for some time and for…reasons. She did not know whether to salute the man, snap to attention, refer to him as ‘sir’, or to act casual. He did refer to her in an official manner (Rank and Surname) however and she did manage a short smile, disregarding the pronunciation of her surname. It was far better than the alternative after all.

“It is agreeable to meet you…sir,” she added for good measure. “Thank you for taking the time,” and she looked around the place, as he did, enjoying what many would consider to be a biting cold, “and for the venue.” For Aenardha, this would have been a warm spring day. She quickly slipped out of her cardigan and let it fall behind her.

"You can drop the 'sir', Ensign," Cailus said, then frowned. "Old habits. You may call me Cailus if I can call you Aenardha, for both our sakes. I'm no longer an officer, so forget about rank and protocol. T'Kemi informed me that you want supplementary training and I have a sudden abundance of time on my hands, so here we are." He considered Aenardha's clothing and body with a clinical eye. "Is that clothing sufficient for this temperature? It's been a long time since I trained with an Aenar."

“It will be fine, sir…uh…Cailus.” She looked at herself through his eyes and regarded the situation. He, no longer an officer, no longer had any obligation for protocol, but she also recalled reading, in his BIO, that he was married. She hoped he would be better disciplined than others she encountered at the Academy. “This temperature is about the limit for my attire.” Then she started wondering what he had in mind for training. She was expecting running or some lifting of weights, some martial art lessons. If he was going to have her crawl through an obstacle course or fight off Klingon holograms, then this was going to be a rather short session. “What…uh…do you have in mind?”

Cailus crossed his arms, considering her impassively. "That depends entirely on you, Aenardha, and what you want to achieve. If you simply want to get into adequate shape and learn sufficient self-defence, then that is relatively easy, and I can train you accordingly. However, if you want to engage in serious fieldwork, particularly as an Intelligence officer, than I can train you to a higher standard, both physically and in combat, whether with your hands, a knife or a phaser. The choice is yours."

“I…uh…” she regarded herself somewhat embarrassingly. Her antennae turned a bit inward. She was in fine shape, that is, for an Aenar. “The Academy had to make a new standard, just for the Aenar, for me to pass the PT Test.” Students who beat even her still failed the test when she passed with effort to spare. “I, first, want to better myself in aerobics, endurance and strength.” It almost wiped her out just carrying her duffel bags, and she carried only one, for ten minutes to her quarters. Those things were heavy, she did all she could to cover up her heavy breathing and her muscles still ached a bit from the ordeal. “To build myself up before we get to more advanced training.”

"A wise approach," Cailus said with a nod. "Go ahead and get warmed up Ens..ah...Aenardha. I read up on Aenar physiology last night, and I have some ideas to help you improve your strength, endurance and cardiovascular system." He paused as something occurred to him. "Moreover, Aenardha, I know that I have a reputation on this ship for being a hardass, but don't worry about that here. I'm here to help you, not terrorise you. If you have any questions or concerns, even about subjects beyond this training, then you may say whatever you wish. My door is always open, for lack of a better term, given that I no longer have an office."

She thought, shortly about asking him to refer to her as ‘Ensign Sh’vastarth’ or just by her rank, but she did not wish to raise any questions she did not want to answer. So, she left it at that.

“A ‘hardass’, as you say, may be what I need,” she said, attempting to be cordial as she jumped into the SF Physical Fitness conditioning drills. First was the Bend & Reach, which she did five reps, then was Rear Lunge, the High Jumper and the Rower after that. As she stood upon completing the Rower conditioning exercise, Aenardha showed signs of already being winded, as well as attempts to cover it up. Next on the conditioning drills, the Squat Bender, was easy and provided her a moment to recover. She continued with the conditioning drills, limbering up and stretching her muscles, preparing for whatever he had in store.

Cailus had watched with a clinical eye, silent but increasingly disgruntled. "One of these days, I'm going to visit the Academy and talk to the people sorting out the PT. They do a decent enough job for most humanoids, if not stringent enough, but someone really should have done more for you at the Academy. Ensign," Cailus said, unintentionally slipping back into the old habit, "do you expect to be on an away team at any point in the near future? Do you want to be?"

Want to be? Of course Aenardha’s pacifist upbringing made her want to try and get out of being on an away team. She fought against that side of herself however. “I do expect to be on one,” she said with a degree of ashamed apprehension. Aenardha looked at herself through Cailus’ eyes. Unlike the eyes of others, taking her in, his took in her style and technique, at just the conditioning drills no less. His words provided her with what she was already concluding; he was unimpressed and a great deal of work still needed to be done. Exercising made her look like an uncoordinated quadruped attempting to stand on its two hind legs. Aenardha had a feeling that the PT test she took was restructured just for her, made too easy just for her, was only a means of giving her a passing grade so the instructors would have one less failure. They wanted to maintain their high numbers of passing recruits.

She felt a wave of anxiety come over her. Even in this cold environment, she felt a degree of cold. Nervous goosebumps formed on her skin. There came a desire to run from this, a desire to cry, and though she did feel extra defensive and wanted to closer herself off all the more, she stood her ground and faced Cailus.

“I do want to be on an away team, sir.” She thought to correct herself and retract the ‘sir,’ but…habits.

Cailus maintained his cold glare for a few moments longer, as if penetrating Aenardha's soul, his arms crossed. He looked profoundly irritated. Then, as Aenardha stayed put and looked him squarely in the eye, then gave him a direct response, he very slowly smiled, his eyes softening.

"Well done," he said. "Aenardha, physical prowess is among the least important qualities of a Starfleet officer. You should still improve your physical condition, of course, as an officer who is insufficiently fit can put herself or others in danger during a mission. However, that is not in any way your fault, but rather the fault of some idiot at the Academy. What matters is that you've got spirit, spirit enough to stand there, strong, even as I tried to shame you, even as you wanted to turn and run. I apologise for that, by the way, and for referring to you by your rank. It's only been a week since my court martial. I'm still adjusting to my own changing circumstances."

Aenardha pondered shortly if Cailus himself was, somehow a telepath, but then recalled some of the rumors she had been hearing about the man. If the rumors were true then he would be far older than he appeared. Once being a lieutenant commander himself and with all those years of experience behind him, she figured he did not need to be a telepath to read people, their reactions and their inner obvious struggles. He was security after all. Knowing people’s reactions before even them was a second nature to Cailus.

Cailus's smile grew slightly as he looked at Aenardha. "You have a long career ahead of you, if you decide to stick it out, if you maintain that spirit and commitment, both of which are far more important than rippling muscles and the ability to run marathons. Now, let's get started. I'll show you how to use some of this equipment safely, and we'll calibrate the weights, both your starting weights and what you'll be aiming towards in the next few weeks."

Aenardha stepped up beside him and looked at the first of the equipment. As his eyes looked the device over, she could only think about what she originally thought when she attempted the gym at the Academy, that this thing looked more like a torture device than something meant for physical improvement.

Cailus was not the friendliest physical trainer. He didn't make jokes, and for the next hour and a half, he didn't smile once. Nevertheless he was surprisingly gentle, and as Aenardha worked and they found her limits, he related anecdotes and stories from his time in Starfleet, and indeed, even his time in law enforcement before that. Many were amusing, made even more so by Cailus' dry telling, while some were (subtly) instructional, such as the time he'd arrested two Starfleet admirals for "improper" use of gym equipment late at night in Paris.

They both discovered that Aenardha, as she professed, was indeed struggling. Cailus didn't judge, however; he treated her exactly the same as if she was breaking Federation records. He was firm, but when Aenardha reached her limits, he was accepting, even offering a stern and curt "well done" whenever she tried her hardest. They set Aenardha's targets over the next few weeks for each exercise, and Cailus gave her a thorough course on the safe use of the equipment (and gym etiquette in general onboard a starship, slightly different to planetside). By the time Cailus guided Aenardha through some warm-down exercises, she was clearly totally spent.

Aenardha was nearly bent over attempting to catch her breath knowing that only standing erect would provide said result. But her legs felt as though boiled noodles. Her arms seemingly wanted to fall away from her shoulders and rest on the floor. Her abs…they did not hurt but were simply numb. She crossed her aching arms across her belly to ensure they were still there.

Even in the biting cold of the program, she perspired a great deal and continually drank water to replenish what she was repeatedly losing. This was such a workout that even her antennae drooped.

"You did well," Cailus said as he handed Aenardha a towel as they finished. "Take a good long bath when you get back to your quarters, and make sure you eat properly before going to bed. You'll ache everywhere, but that's normal; if you don't ache after a workout, you're doing it wrong. Go by Sickbay tomorrow morning before you report for duty and have them give you a pick-me-up so you won't be hurting for the rest of the day. Just tell them I've been training you, they'll know what to do."

’Just drop his name and they would know what to do?’ Aenardha realized he must have trained plenty more during his time aboard the Pandora. Still catching her breath between sips of water, Aenardha managed a nod.

With that, Cailus crossed his arms. "I suggest that we do this again in two weeks, when I can assess your progress. I strongly recommend you work hard on your exercise regimen until then."

Aenardha recalled having made this promise before, on several occasions, both to herself and to her trainers at the Academy. Each and every time, she failed to upkeep that promise. It was, of course, an excuse but other things always got in the way. There were tests, research papers, projects, student away missions, even POSSE. Each time she had spare time, she would see there was time to do some pushups on the ground over there, a corner of the room for her to do some situps, a gym she could visit before her next shift, but she never followed through.

This time, however, “I promise I will try,” she managed in a singular breath. “I will try to schedule visits to the gym three times a week.”

Cailus offered Aenardha a tiny smile. "Please do. If you'll excuse me, I must go attend to my son now, his carer can't stay with him much longer. Have a good day, Aenardha."

“You too, sir,” she said. Aenardha then corrected with, “Cailus…uh…Mr. Griffin.” She watched as he called for the arch and stepped through. What she had heard of the man seemed to have been true thusfar. He was one to be direct and to the point. He was strict but fair. And she certainly did not wish to keep him from his offspring any longer than needed.

The arch closed in the wake of Cailus’ exit and then dissolved back into nothingness. Aenardha disallowed herself from tapping into his vision further. She thought about all the exercise equipment, recalling the recent exertion and thought about what she could do to keep her promise. She would certainly have to comb through her schedule to find the time.

“Computer, end program,” and she heard the environment waft into nonexistence. Instantly, she felt the temperature raise. “Um, computer.”

Bleep bleep.

“Which direction is the arch?”