Mik's Gym Part III
Posted on Wed Apr 30th, 2025 @ 5:21pm by Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble & Captain Edmund Merrick
Edited on on Wed May 7th, 2025 @ 1:56am
2,392 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Episode 16 - Silent Cries
Location: Holodeck 1 - Deck 5 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD008 2200 hrs
"Well now whoever had created these, has the eyes of an artist. Even the t-shirt. I've never thought myself to be considered something good enough to be on a t-shirt let alone--What the heck Neil, I'm going to have a talk with him." Edmund not knowing how to process this. He was flattered with the artistry but that- Merry Maids. Bodice ripping book. Yup this had the earmarkings of Neil. Edmund frowned.
Hartman watched Merrick dispassionately, waiting until the captain's focus moved back to him and said, "Well it's about time. Sir. Respect is earned. It just doesn't go with those bars like fries." He turned his gaze then toward Rock and his shirt and met Merricks eyes. Merry maids? I take it they're not a cleaning crew?"
Mik walked up then, scowling at people just standing around but at Hartman's words he grinned knowingly. "Well. Sort of cleaning, Gunny. Apparently the captain here needs to get his pipes cleaned. Just dithering about with various targets of opportunity as you'd call em."
Baby's voice chimed in as Mik guffawed at his own humor saying, "I thought he was feeding on the drama of it all. The attention of all those girlies fawning as he passed by."
Then a new voiced piped up and a short, stocky woman dressed in an old fashioned pants suit stepped from her own data stream and said, "When some women literally throw themselves at you, it's easy to get confused and think that every woman is eager for your attentions. The Captain perhaps is merely...how did they put it: bedazzled by a target rich environment?"
"Bedazzled my eye, I stayed or tried to stay out of their way." Edmund growled, "Should have stayed in that mindset. I chose celibacy after my wife died. " Edmund thinking back to him having dinner with Hermia. He closed his eyes, mentally groaning. Opening his eyes drawing in a breath. "I've chosen not to get that close to the ladies. He could count on one hand any kissing he's done in a long while. Hermia on the cheek, and there was Ruby the woman he had met a few days ago, kissing her on the lips.
Waving the other holograms away, the gym transitioned via data stream to a warm, sunlit kitchen. Baby's voice could be heard saying "Awww. I wanted to watch. Can I watch Dr Westheimer?"
But the others were gone and the short woman smiled and gestured toward a chair. "Much better than that gym and no need for all that help. Coffee Edmund? If I may call you Edmund?" She stepped that ran along the counter and began bustling with a percolator. "Cutting yourself off from the carnal pleasures is a unique way to remember your wife. Would she approve?"
Edmund was feeling a bit bemused at sitting in a counseling situation in the holodeck. "Dr. Ruth-" he paused. "Yes you can call me Edmund. And Coffee yes please. I-I, she wouldn't, didn't want me to cut myself off but. I-just couldn't bring myself to get close to others, like that. It hurt to bad. She wouldn't have wanted me to cut myself off but, just survivors guilt and I didn't want to get close to anyone. I've told this to Zhara my counselor. I didn't allow myself to forge close friendship with anyone. Colonel Tremble, I mean Neil." he scoffed at himself still having trouble calling Tremble by his first name. "I can conceivably call him friend. Still rough there. And there is Commodore Malbrooke, he's a friend." Edmund skirting the matter of connections.
Sliding a mug toward the marine, Ruth moved to sit next to him at the counter, seating herself on a stool which then motored up to put her on the level with him. "Ahh. And these men. You desire them? Since you clump them together with our discussion on sexual intimacy."
Ed just stared at Dr. Ruth like she had grown two heads." Son of a- No I do not think of them like that. It was more in reference to friendships, relationships but I do not want to be with them sexually." The vein in his temple was beginning to pulse and he gritted his teeth.
"Ahh. Ugly men. I understand that, though all beings need love," Ruth said in her German tinged English. "Do you cling to your celibacy in some umbilical to your former wife and the relationship you had with her? Moving along can be difficult. But we humanoid animals and have base desires and needs. Feeding into those base instincts helps to center who we are and the path we follow. Cutting yourself off from them during a period of mourning is understandable though." Smiling kindly she sipped from her mug and said, "You know. I was an orphan and I think I was fortunate that even in the children's home I had a boyfriend. How important it was, as an orphan at the age of twelve, to be caressed and to be kissed and to know that there is someone who really deeply cared about me."
"I think your wife would want you happy and feeling loved, Edmund. Friends are just that."
A gruff chuckle from Edmund. "There is someone, Dr Ruth that I am interested in. And its going to take time before she and I get to that point, kissing and cuddling. Its a work in progress." he gestured around at the setting and the holodeck as a whole. "This is turning out to be something that I needed to get my focus back to where it is needed to be. The cuddling the caressing, the kissing. It will hopefully come about. I've got to be patient with both myself and the woman I like."
With a sparkle in her eye, Ruth patted the back of his hand and said. "It's good you have interest. And you are fantasizing about a relationship. But sex is only part of a relationship, while a relationship doesn't necessarily have anything to do with sex. You are a marine. A warrior. If you go into combat and the worst were to happen, then you would never know. You say you have to be patient. Is that for you or them? And if it's for you, what are you waiting for?"
"It is more to be patient for her. She and I have spoken as to where we are, and are in some aspect walking along on the same path. Allowing ourselves to reach out, to acknowledge that we like each other. I've not just sat down and did nothing, I hope it works out, I really do, but, I don't have the regret of not trying. And allowing myself to open my heart to someone. And she's worth it, she truly is."
Ruth studied Merrick, sipping at her coffee again now that it was less molten. Finally, with a twinkle in her eye she said, "Then tell me about the maids?"
"The ones that are being referred to by that t-shirt? I can't say much about who they could be. I am hazarding a guess that possibly one of them could be Vura, the Chief Counselor. She and I had an argument as she was being rather derogatory, and I felt a bit toxic. I was being way too nice until I just got tired of it, and told her off. I've been picking up signs that she might have feelings for me. In what capacity I am not certain. well its something I don't want to think too deeply about at all.
The others, are possibly Hermia, and Emiko. Hermia I made certain that we were just friends. At the time I met her I wasn't wanting to have a relationship with her. And then there is Emiko, she has a crush on me. And talking about this is making me feel like I am full of myself."
Ruth wiped at a bit of lint on one of her jacket sleeves, then looked up again and asked, "You dispute your interpretations of their feelings. I assume you're using observations. Not empirical evidence that you are, as you put it, full of yourself. The crush you can't really do much about unless you confront it directly."
With an encouraging smile she said, "This Hermia. You mentioned at the time you weren't wanting a relationship with her and have guided her towards friendship. So that leaves Counselor Vura. My brief on her refers to her as a Shrew that has a very high opinion of herself and believes everyone else should have the same. Would you say that's accurate?"
"They are definitely my observations. As for Vura, she's had some pain in her personal life. Something that I know but won't divulge, as it is hers to divulge, if she ever does."
Edmund leaned forward in his chair. "She is rather opinionated, and feels that she is superior in all matters of the heart and that those who are not Deltan are mere children. In the conversations that I've had had with her, she has stated several times that I do not know anything about women. She has no right to be judgemental about others. And I had shown some compassion to her, reaching out as a friend to maybe help her out and she made it into something sexual. I will not be stepping into that anymore." his lips going into a rather thin line.
"I had suggested that maybe she could see another counselor, and she shoved it off stating that she has her own. And that suggestion was that she see someone who is close at hand. She refused but that was her prerogative. What made me blow up though is her comment yet again that I knew nothing about women. Also I am so sick and tired of her just flaunting her sensuality, she is just way too over the top. She just oozes it way too much and honestly, it repulses me." he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Once this mission is done then I will have it out with her once and for all. And putting some distance between us. I won't be guns a blazing but, she will need to know her boundaries and hopefully turn into a counselor that will help out, and learn about the different species she is having to counsel. I though, will not have her as my counselor. I feel that she may have feelings for me, its something I have observed and tried to turn a blind eye to it. "
Smirking slightly into the lip of her coffee mug, Ruth tasted the slightly bitter blend once more and said. "Turning a blind eye to a dump truck only lets you act surprised when it runs you over Edmund. If you saw it coming and just stepped into traffic, it's still partially your fault. This Vura does sound like a dump truck that would jump the curb to come after you though. Your plan is sound, just don't let her get more momentum than she has."
Setting her cup down, she smiled at him, "I'm sure she's a lovely woman...for a dump truck."
Edmund couldn't help but laugh slightly, "I didn't see it at first, still I did make mistakes, and had muddle brain as well. Sometimes it takes someone to knock some sense into you. In some form or other. Baby for instance." he winced realizing that there was damage done to his face.
" I need to get this taken care of before I head out of here. I don't want the tender ministrations of any of the ladies I've mentioned." Edmund gingerly touched his jaw and where his eye was swelling up a little bit.
Nodding, Ruth stood. Gathered the cups and called out, "Mik. Patient for you."
The exterior wall to Ruth's kitchen wavered and Mik's gym joined and the old trainer hurried in with a white box with a red cross on it in one hand. Setting the box on the counter and opening it, he grabbed Merrick by the chin without preamble. After assessing things, he grunted and took out a dermal regenerator and began applying it in a scanning motion. "This will clear up the wurst of things, though per the Colonel's protocol we leave the bruises as reminders." Chuckling, the old man said, "Yanno. Doc Ruth here supposedly gives a good massage. Want me to fire up the Roman baths part of things General?"
"Its Captain, and-" Edmund gave a pause when was the last time he did something like getting a massage or even a bath. Most of the time it has been shower and get back to work. A bath and a massage, he may feel a bit paranoid, but-- "Okay, Mik fire up the bath, and Dr. Ruth uh... a massage please." for the life of him Edmund was blushing and didn't know why.
Another section wall shimmered to revealed the brick front of a building and Mik gestured grandly, "Just head on in General," he grinned. "You'll find the frigidarium, tepidarium and caldarium set up with robing rooms and there is massage areas. There will be attendants to direct you....the Colonel and Ms. Jayna thought they were relaxing. Among other things. That guy gets more bumper than a pool table." Guffawing, Mik moved to pick up a broom.
Then Ruth's voice popped up and she moved next to Edmund, "Come Edmund, we'll get you relaxed." She was now dressed in a soft silk white robe with lotus blossoms. "Have you ever experienced Ashiatsu?"
"Ashiatsu? I've not heard of that, I take it its some form of massage." Edmund responded as they headed towards the massage area. "And thank you."
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
Battalion Commander, The Cure
Captain Edmund Merrick
Company Commanding Officer Officer, The Cure
USS Pioneer
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