Security certificates

Posted on Wed May 8th, 2024 @ 11:39am by Ensign Mercy Mourne & Warrant Officer Iryna Voznyuk

Mission: Contagion
Location: Gymnasium
Timeline: 366 late
1829 words - 3.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Iryna would never state it aloud but the day had fast become one of the strangest that she had ever been involved in. From being angry one minute that she could not go over to the base to thinking she was pregnant for a grand total of ten minutes had thrown her through a loop for a bit but she had forgotten all about the security certificates she was meant to be signing off that evening. Which was why she strode through the doors and found Mercy already there waiting for her. The blonde MACO offered a nodded pleased to see that she was at the very least warming up.

“Apologises Ensign had to go to sickbay to confirm my shoulder is usable for tonight.” She said keeping her lie half a truth. She had promised nothing hard and she could not at all see a security certificate as taxing when she had another MACO doing the hard work. “Where’s Clive?”

Mercy jumped as the intimidating MACO strode through the door. "Ahh n-no need to apologise. If you are not feeling well we can always do this another day. I don't mind postponing, really." Secretly Mercy hoped she could put this off a little longer. She had never been the most dexterous of officers, and if it wasn't for her surprisingly good aim she likely would have flunked the security requirements at the Academy. She stepped optimistically towards the door, head ducked sheepishly. "Not sure where Clive is either, so maybe we circle back tomorrow. Or next week?"

Iryna looked the woman up and down and offered a sympathetic smile. She knew the woman hated anything like this and Iryna took no pleasure in putting her through her paces but it needed to be done for her safety as well as the crews. "As much as I want to go to my bed I cannot let that happen. You are already 18 days over on your certificate. I am sure you do not want to be confined to quarters until completed." Iryna said moving across the compartment to the communication console to summon her missing MACO.

Mercy's winced and her shoulder's slumped. "No, sorry Warrant Officer Voznyuk, I didn't mean to make your job harder... you're not going to share the results with anyone are you?" Mercy could already feel the burning embarrassment in her gut before it had even started. She patted her pockets down looking for a hair tie. "What do you need me to do." She turned back to face the MACO, resigned for whatever came next.

Iryna pressed the comms button and declared that she needed Private Clive in the gym ASAP. He would come at the trot which left them a few more moments to discuss the woman’s nerves. “You either pass tonight or you come back tomorrow to repeat. Failing is not an option.” She declared simply. It was as simple as that to the woman. Failing and shipping her back to Earth Starfleet was not an option so it was do now or do tomorrow.

Mercy found a hair tie in her pocket and made short work of gathering her hair into a bun on her head. Then she rolled up her sleeves and set her face in a grim look of determination. "And if I fail tomorrow too? I'll do my best but what if it's not good enough? Do I get banned from away missions? I've not been needed on one until now anyway. You can ask Lieutenant Darru, really my strength is desk work." Still she rolled her shoulders and then squared them. At her full height she was around 185cm, just over 6ft. Most who saw her assumed she would be strong and good in a fight, but in truth she was about as much use as a marshmallow ship on a sea of larva.

Iryna leveled her with a look. “But you have had to leave the ship at points. We have not been stuck onboard the whole time. There might be a time when you have to leave the ship for an offical away mission, Darru cannot do them all.” Iryna pointed out gently. “If you fail tomorrow we keep trying. You need to be able to do this not just for yourself but the people around you.”

Mercy's normally politely smiling (if often flustered) face took on a frown. Then she heaved a heavy sigh and nodded. "Right, of course your right, sorry." She tugged the hem of her top down a little. "Okay, l-let's do this. I'll try not to waste your time sir. Any advice before we begin?" In a fraction of a second all the times she had been knocked on her arse during training at the academy, all the times she had failed to finish within the designated time frame, or just failed completely, all of them flashed before her eyes. She takes a deep breath. What was a little humiliation between colleagues, at least this time she didn't have all her peers trying to bite back laughter as she huffed around like a pink blob. At least Iryna seemed to have a softer side than the officer who has been in charge back then.

“Well it’s not me you’ll be going against that pleasure goes to…”

As if summoned by Iryna about to curse his name for the infamous Private Jackie Clive to appear. The man was tall and large but he was not supporting an injured shoulder like the warrant officer and he had been the one to sign up to assist with the certificate update program. “So sorry ma’am. I over slept.” He started to ramble for Iryan held up a hand.

The site of the beefy Private entering the room made Mercy's heart sink. There was a brief moment, a flash of an expression which read loud and clear 'you gotta be kidding me', but then it was gone, hidden once more behind a polite and friendly smile. She holds out her hand in a friendly gesture. Just because he was about to kick her arse, didn't mean she had to forget her manners entirely. "Good morning, I'm Mercy, I don't believe we've crossed paths yet. I'll be your punching bag this morning."

Clive stopped dead looking at the man confused. "We've met several times. I know who you are Ensign." He assured giving Iryna a look who shot him one back to behave. The MACO's were too small of a team now to have their own areas and needed to adapt to playing nice with the Earth Starfleet folk especially as they were stuck together now.

Mercy winced in response to the man's confusion. She genuinely couldn't remember speaking to him, likely she had had her nose stuck in a PADD or had been otherwise distracted. "Oh yes, of course, we have, silly me. Well, shall we get this show on the road?" She gave them both an awkward shrug. The sooner they got this over with the sooner she could go and hide in her quarters.

"So this is just like it was at Earth Starfleet Academy. You just need to complete the course." The Warrant Officer said pointing out the route that had been set up earlier in the day. "And then use the skills that I know you have to get Clive on the floor." She would have basic combat skills she just knew it. She would have never been signed off from the Academy and put on Atlantis without them.

Mercy nodded grimly, all joviality disappearing and she takes a starting stance glancing to Officer Voznyuk as she waited for her signal to begin. While she wasn't sure that she would have the ability to complete the course, she would only really fail if she didn't try at all. Got she wished she could just grab a pistol and stun Clive, that she could do from the other side of the room easy.

The moment she got the go ahead she was off, stumbling the first few steps so it might look like she was going to fall flat on her face like something from a slapstick movie. As she progressed through the course her time would be borderline, although her pink face and heavy breathing showed she was trying her best. It’s just her best effort was borderline.

For the obstacles which required going over, at least her long legs and her height worked to an advantage. She was also stubborn, if something didn’t work or she fell over she grit her teeth and kept on trying. It might give an observer cause to compare it to watching a determined puppy handle the stairs for the first time.

When she did finally make it to the end she skidded to a halt. Her eyes wide as she clutched her side a little winded, then she was charging toward Clive again, aiming to just barge into him. To use her bulk and weight and stubbornness to bullishly grapple him to the ground.

The private did not know what had hit him as he hit the deck hard. He had expected it to be a simple wash out a fleeter but the woman had just right tackled him after being neck and neck for the course. “Oof..” he finally let out as Iryna clapped her hands impressed.

Mercy was winded as she rolled off the poor Ensign. Lying beside him she gasped, clutching her side as she tried to rub away the stitch that had developed and catch her breath. "S-sorry Clive. Didn't want to have to do that twice." She explains as she takes big heaving breaths. "You okay?" Her head rolled towards him, so she could check he wasn't hurt. Then she looked to the woman who had been grading her.

"Sure." The man said wincing as he sat up properly and shook off the shock and surprise of being practically flattened. That would serve him right for thinking that she could not do it the first time. He just knew that Voznyuk was going to chew him out for not thinking ahead and it would service him right. "Cannot blame you there."

"Well that was a pass." Iryna said simply.

Mercy just lay on the floor a moment longer, trying to catch her breath. Then she lifts her thumb towards Iryna. “Hey, Warrant Officer Voznyuk? No offence, but let’s not do this again for a while?” Then she manages to flip onto her front and push herself to her feet with a groan.

"I will see you next year Ensign." The MACO replied as she heard a request for her to go to sick bay. She sighed. "Now if you will excuse me I have been summoned somewhere." Clive just remained still and silent hoping that if he treated Voznyuk like a predator she might forget that he was there and just leave.

 

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