Hitting the Track
Posted on Wed May 20th, 2015 @ 1:10pm by Commander Ashley Kennedy
Mission:
The Belle of Bellatrix
Location: F Deck
Timeline: 2278.49: 0500hrs
It was the first morning of the next five years. Always a light sleeper, Ash woke with her alarm at exactly 0500hrs, just like every morning. As a matter of fact, the first morning of the next five years felt very much like yesterday morning. And the one before that. And countless other mornings stretching back over the years.
It felt like a normal morning to Ashley Kennedy as she dressed in her tracksuit and pulled on her runners. Sure, she wasn’t on a planet anymore, but she was in a starship and to her that felt like home. The only difference was the type of ship she was in.
She grabbed her personal music player and stuck the earpieces in her ears before starting her warm up stretches. There was one major difference, she thought as she limbered up. The Farragut was a bigger ship and had better space to run.
Back aboard the Cherenkov she would run round the outer corridor of D Deck, using it like a running track. That track had been a touch under 350 metres, which was fine. But the Farragut was bigger.
Ash hated running on a treadmill. She’d do it, but preferred actual movement. Which was why the moment she had some free time aboard her new ship - which was just before bed - she accessed the ship’s schematics and plotted a serviceable running track. Four hundred and fifty metres, she thought to herself as she jogged out of her quarters on D Deck and headed for the turbolift stop.
She was smiling, relishing the anticipation of an extra hundred metres each lap. The turbolift arrived and she step inside and said, “F Deck. Recreation Deck Balcony.” The lift doors closed and the car whisked her away.
The lift stopped, the doors slid open and Ash bolted out of the car at a brisk jog, not slowing at all to look down at the recreation deck where just yesterday she and Captain Rackham had briefed the crew.
Let's start with fifteen laps, she told herself as she passed one of the enlisted messes and caught the smell wafting out from the nearby galley. She steadfastly ignored the olfactory temptation and maintained her focused on the track. Her track.
She was listening to a playlist of neo-roots revival hits from the 2250s as she dodged crewmen here and there. It was still early, so there wasn’t a lot of foot traffic in the corridors, but still she had to call out to make way on more than one occasion. Nobody argued when they saw the first officer barrelling down the corridor at them, they simply got out of the way.
While she ran, Ash did what she always did; She went over plans in her head, made lists and thought about what she was going to accomplish over the next few hours. It was what she did every morning.
After all, this was just another day.
Commander Ashley Kennedy
First Officer & Weapons Officer
USS Farragut
