To blow off some steam, Alton headed down to the ship’s gym to get some work in. When he arrived, the place was deserted, so he started with 10 minutes of stretching to warm up.

Then he moved to one of the treadmills, He started it at an easy walking pace, and when he felt stretched out, he gradually increased the speed from slow to fast, and soon he was at the top level, his feet keeping time with the machine. He kept this up for 15 minutes, and slowly brought the speed back down to a walking pace, and he stayed at that for another 10 minutes. He kept drinking from his water bottle.

Then he switched to one of the exercise bikes, and as with the treadmill, he started slowly then was going faster and faster.

One of the things Ben enjoyed about a multi-post assignment, is most of the crew is on board the station using the amenities and whatnot, while leaving the shipboard amenities, like the gym itself, practically deserted. For he had worked alone most of his time when he was with Starfleet Intelligence and it was something he was used to than working with a team. A habit that he has yet to break.

Although, when he stepped through the doorway after the doors had parted, he saw that someone else was also using the gym on board the ship. No matter. One soul is better than a dozen. For Ben though, he went to the weights, where he grabbed a couple twenty-five dumbbells and began his thirty rep. As he worked out, he had a good look at the man’s face on the exercise bike when Ben had walked in. It gave him something to think about as he tried to remember who it was. So he went back to the duty roster that he memorized in his head and came to a stop when he finally found a name with the face.

Ben smiled and set the dumbbells down as soon as he made his thirty rep and went over to the equipment room where he disappeared for a moment. Only a moment later he would return with a crate that he brought over to the center of the room. Ben then opened up the crate and pulled out a target drone, where he inspected it to make sure it was in working order, that its shield generator was operating and the power cell was fully charged. Once he was satisfied, he activated the drone and pulled out a training phaser pistol and a padd linked to the target drone. Here, Ben began to set the parameters and waited to see if he caught the new security and tactical officer’s attention.

Alton had heard the man enter the gym. He was surprised cause not many people use the gym at this hour, but he didn’t begrudge him the use of the gym. What did catch his eye was moved a crate to the center of the room, opened it and pulled out a target drone. How he was curious, so he walked over. “You planning on taking some target practice?”

Ben looked up when he heard Alton’s voice and smiled at the question. Ben then reached down and pulled out another training phaser pistol and held it out for Alton to take. “Absolutely. Care to join? Perhaps show the first officer just how good you are in case of a hostile situation.” He winked and chuckled.

“Thank you, sir.” He took the pistol, and inspected. “Did this a lot at the academy. I better not have gotten rusty.”

Ben grinned and then adjusted the target drones settings. “With us so close to Breen space, I sure hope not. Let’s see what you can do in ten seconds.” He then launched the drone and it began to move around the room sporadically, being unpredictable and moving in various directions. 

Jackson took a combat stance, holding the phaser in his right hand. He watched the drone, trying to see if it repeated it’s movements, then…..he started firing….striking the drone several times.

Ben nodded his head after the ten seconds were up and he had seen the score. “Not bad. Certainly have no concerns if those bugs in the asteroid manage to find a way to enter the base.” He adjusted the drone’s settings to now be a color target. “I’ll take red, you take blue.” He told Alton before he raised his pistol and fired at the drone when it was red. “So what was it like on board the Kirk?”

Alton fired at 2 blues and hit both. “It was enjoyable. The senior officers looked out for the junior officers, and always made sure they received enough training and mission times. I liked it very much.”

Ben fired at three reds and hit all three. “Sounds like a wonderful assignment. Can’t say the same with everyone assigned to a ship that is attached to this outpost. What made you leave the Kirk?” Ben asked before he fired at another red.

Alton hit two more. “Don’t you ever get that feeling,” he hit two more, “that, somewhere out there, there’s something waiting for you?” Two more. “I needed to move on from the Kirk. I liked it, but it was time for a fresh start.” Three more.

Ben was keeping up with the fellow Lieutenant, fired at his targets soon after Alton had. Ben had no problem keeping up with him but for now that’s all it was, a stalemate. Although the drone is programed to get more difficult after a few minutes has lapsed. “I wouldn’t know that feeling. I enjoyed my work, in Starfleet Intelligence. I got to spend a lot of time on other worlds, living off the land, hunting to survive, gather as much data as I could. I preferred it that way, rather than sitting behind a console and combing over a bunch of data. The odds of them finding anything juicy is much lower than those who operate more directly.”

Whenever one of the probes turned colors, he quickly zeroed in on it and fired. “I’m starting to enjoy my work here. Working Operations is a challenge. I would have preferred to stay in Security, but I’ll do what is best for the ship.” Alton kept up with the probe’s quickly becoming more challenging and it’s movements more erratic.

Ben continued to fire at the drone when his color came up, until the time had lapsed and the drone had ceased the activity by returning to the crate and shut itself down. Ben turned his training pistol off before he looked at Alton. “Good. I wouldn’t want anyone to be forced into a position they did not want nor enjoyed.” He said before he placed the pistol back into the crate. Ben then faced Alton and held his hand out to shake his. “Good to have you on board, Mr. Jackson.”

Alton had deactivated his training weapon, and put it away when the first officer spoke to him. Alton took the man’s hand and shook it. “Thank you, sir!” he responded.