So how does the armor feel

Posted on Fri Sep 14th, 2018 @ 12:54am by Ensign Raymond McBain & Lieutenant Asa Dael

Mission: Holographic Horrors
Location: holodeck training scenario
Timeline: 72680.593

McBain set up an obstacle course that looked like a steeplechase course. It was a two and a half mile course with streams and barriers that would need to crossed, climbed, or avoided. He smiled "First three times is just the physical course as you see it. The next three times will add in hostile targets to shoot at. Than after you have that mastered the basics, we will add in friendly targets for target identification. So you get used to thinking before you pull the trigger."

McBain started to pat them on the back but stopped mid motion. He liked working with Asa but he did not get close to people and physical contact was something he did not assume was welcome. His smile was unwavering just the same "Go slow and get used to the armor enhancements. We will only move to the next step once you are doing the current step with a pass rating in time and displayed skill. He stepped beside them "You want me to run the course first?"

Asa laughed, “If we start at the same time, you will still be running it first. Let’s plan on that.”
Asa was glad they had done their morning stretches when looking at the course. It was reminiscent of the Bestri woods of their youth though, and Asa had run all over the woods looking for (and finding) trouble. They decided to take the first run through for the sheer joy of it to see what their body could still do.

“On your mark, get set…..” Asa said, waiting for McBain to say go.

McBain let them get a step and a half lead before he followed. He had run on wet slippery stones in mountain streams as a child and it had taught him balance and agility. Something his martial arts training had enhanced to a degree that was uncanny to see. He was world class athletic fast in fact. Today was not about him, in fact he needed to be behind them to see how they managed. So he stayed a couple steps behind them as they ran. The first obstacle was a four foot wide stream bed. The next four were hedges only twenty yards apart and about four foot high. Than was a steep twelve foot wall with hand holds for climbing. Each obstacle had about hundred to two hundred yards between them. So those first three encompassed about a quarter of a mile. The suit amplified their jumping and speed by a factor of about three. So if you could jump three feet, with the armor that meant you were capable of a nine foot jump. McBain was content to watch them run and see how quickly they adjusted.


Asa set out at their fastest speed, and quickly realized the mistake. The suit made them...more...somehow in a way that was oddly disconcerting. They had poor coordination at the best of times, and this was like getting off a roller coaster and trying to do a handstand.

They slowed down by the time they reached the stream bed, and tried to jump to cross it the way muscle memory from childhood told them to do. Asa severely over-shot the mark and landed in a tuck-and-roll they had learned at the Academy.

I swear the suits at the Academy were not this amped up- either time I took the physical coursework. Good grief, this is turning me into some mythic figure...bet I find ways to epically screw this up. Asa thought, dusting debris off themself as they continued.

Asa turned to see McBain following behind at a deliberate pace, and gave him a quick thumbs up to assure him they were ok, and kept going with a weak smile.

Upon reaching the hedges, Asa decided to put in a much lighter jump. They failed to clear the first hedge, landing in it at a 45 degree angle, face down towards the ground.

Yep. As expected.

With a sigh and a look of grim determination, Asa set towards the second set of bushes. This time they cleared the bush, but over-jumped and went sailing up like a balloon before landing.

So subtle. That wouldn't alert the locals to your location at all, would it? Good job you awkward lummox. , Asa continued to mentally berate themself.

The third and fourth hedges went much better, and Asa was starting to get a feel for the increased abilities the suit provided. They decided to think of wearing the suit as operating in lower gravity, as it gave them a better framework for how to adjust.

The handholds went much better than they expected, the additional strength was quite welcome here, and Asa scaled the wall far better than they would have without enhancements. After clearing the wall, Asa sprinted towards the finish line, enjoying the added speed towards the end of their run, although still somewhat leary of their "steering" and cautious to not turn too quickly and run into a tree trunk, or some other similar embarrassment.

Asa came to a stop, turned to McBain, and asked "Well, what's the verdict? Am I hopeless?"

McBain came to a smooth stop at a polite distance from them. "Hardly, you got used to the heighten abilities rather swiftly. You should have seen some of the big strongmen in the MACO the first time they tried to run in armor. They had to clear the training area least they crushed the unaware." McBain laughed easily. He altered the course so the four hedges were only about fifty yards away. I will show you how to hurdle those so you do better next time. Instead of jumping run over them, just a long extended step sort of move. Aim your foot so your lead ankle will clear the hedges by a foot. tuck your rear leg under you like so. So it is a thrust forward rather then upward."

"Now watch I will run the hurdles than run back. When I return you try." He turned to face the hedges but tucked his head and turned his face towards them. His smile was easy to see with the visor up. "Keep in mind I am showing off just a bit, but I want you to understand how easy this is once you get the hang of it." Without farther ado he took off at a fast sprint his head facing forward as he was already on the run. He thrust his leg at the first hedge looking like his butt was going to hit the top, but it did not. He cleared the other four and made a tight loop before coming back. They had seen him running away from her at an angle and now now they would see him running at an angle toward them. So they could see his posture as he leaned forward tucking his chin in a hurdlers form. Each hedge was cleared just barely and he never really 'jumped'.

McBain had run both direction and stopped beside them smoothly in but a few seconds. "So?" He asked with a wink. "Start out with a foot between you and the hedge, once you get better you start trying to clear the obstacles by less and less till you are just barely clearing whatever you are jumping. Now your turn and please just have fun with this. You are not being graded and I will never tell anyone about how you performed during training." He mentioned that with a solemn nod because he needed them to take chances to improve. If they knew nothing embarrassing would result they could concentrate on accomplishing the task. At least that was how McBain thought of it. "Just the hurdles section like I just ran, twice than stop here beside me. Ready.. Set..

Asa set off at a sprint. They knew it was going to take a while to get used to the feeling of moving that quickly. Approaching the hurdles, they attempted to do as instructed and wound up awkwardly straddling the first bush.

Turning to look over their shoulder with a smile, they said "I have a feeling that isn't what you wanted me to do," exited their impromptu seat, and ran towards the second bush.

This time they tried taking off a bit sooner, and while they cleared the hedge, they felt it clip the back of their thighs as they continued.

The third bush proved simpler and although the movement still felt awkward, they cleared the bush without incident on the way back.

The return trip proved easier, but Asa was still not sure they were maneuvering in the same way McBain had. In an attempt at optimism, Asa trotted up with one hand held high in the air and said, "High five for effort?"

McBain did the high-five even without prompting. "More than effort Asa, you went and came back in one piece. I had a drill sergeant used to say it don't have to be purty. It just needs to be done." He winked "which means more work on technique. You were good, actually you did better than good but we want as close to perfect in training as we can get because in the real, everything is harder. "That means if your up to it we will reset the course to as it was and make another go of it."

The course reset so the stream was again the first obstacle. Than the four hedges but the wall was now about twenty feet high! On the other side was another set of obstacles as well. After the wall was a series of ravines to jump and after three ravines was a ravine with a six foot tall hedge row behind it! "It will just keep getting more and more interesting Asa." He watched her face as she saw what she faced. "Catch me if you can youngster!"

As he said the last word he dashed off. It was a short hundred yards to the first ravine which he took in stride. Another hundred and he went over the hurdles like they were not even there. If anything he went faster when he had ab obstacle. At the wall he jumped up about ten feet and than scrambled up the next ten feet and rolling over the top. he caught three hand holds on the way down to slow his descent slightly. The three foot wide ravines were taken in stride as if they did not even exist. He leaped the last obstacle and did a half roll flip over the hedge. He ran the last hundred yards backwards watching for Asa.

Asa took off with the sheer joy of running, remembering games of chase from youth. The ravine was as not as much of a challenge this time as they only slightly over-corrected and landed with a wobble. The hurdle motion was starting to feel a bit more natural, and there was no face-planting or straddling this time. They still felt the bush graze the back of their legs however, and knew that in some environments, that could be deadly.

Asa decided to get a bit cocky with the wall to make up for lost time and jumped as high as they could, only needing to scale the last five feet and roll over. Knowing their El-Aurian bones were more dense than human bones, they decided to tuck and roll and let gravity do its thing on the way down.

They felt a bit of a burning in their lungs as they cleared the final ravines with a skip, and stopped at the finish line, panting slightly with hands on knees.

McBain smiled "I find it never fails to amaze me how much difference a bit of confidence makes. Combined with a little competitive spirit." McBain reset the course so they were at the beginning once more. He tilted his head "well Asa are you going to rest here on your laurels or prove it was no accident." The nibble of a challenge in his tone almost made it sound as a dare. "Are you good to go again?"

"I got one more in me if you do," they replied with a goofy grin. They weren't sure if this was to be a practice fire round or not, so they decided to wait for instruction, or barring that, for McBain to take off running.

"Than we make this go and the next run will have attackers. I will explain them once we make this run." McBain offered no warning as he set off at the run. He ran the course at a medium speed so they could catch up. This was about building confidence not him showing off.

Asa completed the course with a minimum of fumbles, this time they even cleared the hurdles without incident.

Now he stood beside them and the course looked the same, more or less. There was terrain now around the course. The path was no longer straight either. "The weapons were identical to their own real ones. "The attackers will be varied but for now all will be threats. To work on your response speed and accuracy without fear of a mistaken friendly fire. You want me to go first or do you wish to be surprised?"

"I'll go first, it will give me the chance to get a good baseline for how I do without copying your work so to speak."

"So be it, now this is more about awareness of your surroundings and responding to threats than speed. So slow down and keep your weapons ready." McBain nodded letting them know it was ready for them to go when ready.

The first obstacle, the ravine jump a glint of light from a weapon barrel glinted from the right by a tree. The person stepped into the clear aiming a rifle as a sort of warhound came charging toward them.

Asa kept across the ravine to take advantage of their momentum, ducking behind a tree, and taking aim at the hound and firing. After seeing the beast fall, they took a breath and aimed at the person. It took two shots but the target soon fell.

Noises as if an alarm was set off arose from what seemed all around them. The hedges ahead seemed a clear escape route. The woods on either side were echoing running booted feet. It was hard to determine the number, it might be only a couple but it could be a half dozen on each side. The wall beyond the hedges loomed large in the distance.

Asa decided there was no place like the holodeck to take a risk, and quickly climbed up the nearest tree. They surveyed the direction the noise was coming from and saw four booted figures and three large hounds. Taking aim with their phaser, Asa cleared three of the oncoming figures before the fourth located them in the tree.

With a leap and a roll, Asa jumped out of the tree and turned to aim at the fourth booted figure. It was not a wise move however, as the hounds were quickly upon them. Asa began shooting wildly, hoping McBain would help clear the beasts before they took too much damage.

McBain landed beside them and grabbed each hound hurling them away into the trees. Each hound vanished as they slammed into a tree. McBain grabbed their forearm and hauled them to their feet. His visor was raised so they could see his face. "You forgot your objective. Your mission was to get through the course. Not take out the guards. When you climbed the tree you evaded an immediate threat but the scenario would continue adding threats till you would be overwhelmed. Remember movement is the key and getting through the course is the only goal." McBain smiled "You get no points for the damage you cause." He winked "so you want to continue or start over?"

Asa took a steadying breath, “I think I’m all out of steam for the day. I’m going to feel a bruise on my spine tomorrow, I can tell. How about we call it a day this time, and I’ll pick up tomorrow where we leave off?”

McBain nodded "it has been a lot so calling it a day sounds like a good idea. Just call me tomorrow when you are ready. If you are you keeping your armor in your quarters you will need the holding rack moved there from security. After you change back out of it might want to get something for your bruise so it doesn't swell?"

Asa grimaced, "Trust me, this doctor will be getting this bruise taken care of. I'll keep my gear in my quarters for now, guess I'm grabbing a rack from security on the way back. Well, I learned a lot, thank you for that. See you 0900 tomorrow?"