Back to the Gym Part I
Posted on Wed Feb 26th, 2025 @ 5:07pm by Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble & Lieutenant Mira Jayna
Edited on on Fri Feb 28th, 2025 @ 5:44am
1,582 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Episode 16 - Silent Cries
Location: Holodeck 1 - Deck 5 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD007 1700 hrs
It had been a long while since Jayna was in Mik's gym. She generally preferred running, ropes, or gymnastics for her exercise, but she wanted to branch out a bit and give the gym another try. So, when she had an hour or two free, she changed into shorts and a tank top, then headed to the holodeck.
Mik looked up as Jayna came in and stopped, leaning on the handle of his broom, cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth as he cracked a grin. "Well, heyya missy. Good to see you gain. What can I do you for today?"
She smiled. "Hi, Mik. I'd like to do some weight training. What do you recommend?" As a half-Vulcan she was stronger than most humans, but that didn't mean she should slack off. And she had--in some areas.
Mik eyed her with his squinty eyes, the sound of the gym coming up subtly in the background and holo-trainers populating the spaces. "Dedicated weight pile," Mik asked, pushing his watch cap back on his head and gesturing toward a corner where a raven-haired, tanned, well-muscled man in ragged, grey sleeveless sweatshirt and pants was working at a free weight pile. "Rock over there can walk you through as intense a routine as you'd like."
Gesturing toward section ring where a pink haired, heavily tattooed woman, in white tank top, bright red shorts, wrapped and gloved hands and florescent purple boxing shoes was shadow boxing. "Or Baby can fit you out with gravity bracelets and take you through the heavy bag, some cardio and strike drills."
Grinning, Mik asked, "Or something else? Is Neil going to drag his rump in here?"
She grinned back. "I'm sure he drags himself in here on a regular basis, but not because of me." Not this time, anyway. Jayna looked from one area to the other. "I think I'll start with the free weights and add the heavy bag later." She raised an eyebrow at Mik. "You're the expert here. Does that work?"
Nodding, Mik walked to a wall and took down a jump rope, then stepped over to Jayna and handed the rope to her. "Movement is the main thing, after a few regular sessions, we can identify problem areas you'd like to work on. Get yourself warmed up and talk to Rock. I'll make sure the sauna and hot tub are working if you want them later."
At the sound of his name, the raven-haired man racked the dumbbells he'd been using and looked over as Mik called. "Rock, spot her for some weight training. He had a tooth pick in his mouth and he said, "Yeah. Sure Mik. No problem." Looking over to Jayna, he cracked a smile and said, "Yo, Jayna. How you doin? You ready to hit the pile? How about some stretching first, then jump rope for five minutes to get a sweat and we'll get to clangin and bangin?"
Jayna smiled her thanks to Mik as she took the rope and headed over to Rock. "Hi, Rock. That works for me." She dropped the rope and began to warm up. She figured the routine she used before doing gymnastics would work for this as well, and if not, Rock would let her know.
"Hey ya," Rock said after about eight minutes. "Think we can start hittin the iron, Jayna, if you're ready." He stood, leaning against the rack and eyed her with a smile. "So, where do we start? Legs. Arms. Core? Love your pics by the way. That's a great collection."
"Core." She paused, looking at Rock. "What pics?" She wasn't sure she heard him right. As far as Jayna knew, there were no pics of her in here. True, she came to the gym a couple of times when she first arrived on the Pioneer, but that had been a while ago.
"Sweet," Rock said, grabbing one of the dumbbell's he'd been working with and gesturing to another bells, " Pick a weight and we'll start with Russian Twists and then switch into Dumbbell rowboats." Moving to sit on the pad, Rock began moving the dumbbell back and forth. Then he commented, "Yeah. Great pictures. You're really photogeneric." Smiling to himself, Rock began counting reps, really happy with himself for remembering the word photogeneric.
Jayna grabbed a set of dumbbells and followed Rock. She still couldn't recall ever taking pictures that would end up here. "When we're done here, you'll have to show me." They'd obviously been there for a while and she was curious--although she didn't think she was very photogenic.
After about twenty minutes and moving through seven different drills, finishing with weighted sit-ups," Rock wiped some sweat from his brow and grinned. "How's it feel? I always like to push hard and get done. Hate weight training, ya know? What do ya want next? Mik's going to say cardio. But he always says cardio..." Then he glanced over his shoulder toward where Mik had disappeared and he half mumbled, "Freakin cardio."
"Well, before I move on to cardio," she paused to smile at Rock because he clearly wasn't a fan of cardio. "I want to know more about these photos." As far as she knew, Neil didn't have any photos of her and she didn't believe he'd put any here, so she wanted to find out where they came from. And the first step was to see them for herself.
Rock looked at Jayna appreciatively and said, "Yeah. They're good. Calendar's hanging up in the office," the trainer said, gesturing with his chin as he wiped down the dumbbell's and racked them. He thought for a minute then said, "Hey. I think they'd sell real good. If you do, I'd buy one. Would you sign it for me? The guys would get a big kick out of it."
That took her aback, but she had decades of keeping her expression placid, so she kept her response hidden. Inside, however, she was beginning to feel uncomfortable--especially with the look Rock gave her. She didn't believe Neil was behind the calendar, but he likely knew of it. Didn't a friend of his create this program? She remembered something about it. And Rommie, too, if memory served. Neil wouldn't let it stay where it was if the pictures were too bad, right?
She mentally laughed at her response. She hadn't even seen them yet. She had no desire to cause any problems for Neil or his friend, but she was curious. As for selling them? That wasn't likely, either. "Sorry, but I have no control over that calendar." It was true enough. "But I might sign the one in the office." Would it hurt anything if she did? Maybe. At the same time, it might be fun to have something on the calendar from her to Neil, besides the pictures.
"Hey, you kids," Mik's voice cut through the air. "What's with the lolly gaggin, wool gathering? You're supposed to be working. Rock, what are you doin? You look like a moon eyed calf?" The gym manager scowled as he walked up, looking between them. "I can just hear both your butts getting bigger while you stand here."
"Uhh, calm down, Mik," Rock rumbled, looking sheepish. "Jayna had a good run at the weights and we were...uh. Discussing what's next?"
"Discussing? What do you want? A committee. Get going on the cardio you two. Jeeze. Damn kids these days." The disgust was evident in the old man's eyes and then he focused on Rock. "Wait. You told her about the calendar, didn't you? I saw you staring at that earlier...talk about moon eyed."
Rock's face went scarlet and he looked away, "Uh. Well jeeze, Mik. I didn't know it was a secret... and she said she'd sign it. That's kinda great, yeah? Gives the personal touch."
Jayna felt the back of her neck grow warm. She NEVER blushed. And she rarely let her discomfort show--or so she reminded herself. She smiled. "Maybe. But only if it stays in the office."
Shaking his head, Mik threw up his hands exclaiming, why bother, then bustled off toward where Baby was working the heavy bag, which now had a stick figure of some sort scrawled on it in white tape and black marker. Other holo-boxers filtered through the gym, working at different machines and stations. One very well-muscled, deeply tanned young man with short black hair was doing a single handstand on a round dumbbell, which rolled slightly on the floor as he worked to keep his balance. Rock was stripping off his sweat darkened sweatshirt, which he tossed in a dirty towel bin. "Calendar's in the office if your curious. Then you can pick. Bikes, road work, or you can climb the Rock." He flexed then, sweaty muscles glistening in the gym's lighting.
Then he laughed, "Just kidding. Kinda. But there is a climbing wall Mik put in off toward the back."
She laughed off his aside. "The climbing wall sounds like fun, but first, let's see that calendar."
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Mira Jayna
Intelligence Officer, The Cure
USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
Battalion Commander, The Cure
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