Huffing and puffing, both teams break the treeline at the same time. A horn sounds, and Captain Kravok steps up onto a platform alongside Captain Thorne at the finish line, in front of two flags, one Klingon, one Federation.

“You have done well to make it this far so quickly,” he said. “Now, we’ll see who has the strength left to make it to the end and claim the prize.” The contestants were being timed by a Klingon vessel in orbit, which would tally the times and average them to produce a victor.

The obstacle course began with a 12-foot wall. A series of ropes hung limply from the top, and the wall’s face was scuffed with boot marks. Beyond that was a pit of thick mud under a net of energized wire, which would provide a nasty but non-lethal little shock for anyone unfortunate enough to touch it. Then came the balance beams, narrow beams nailed to wobbly posts over a muddy pool of water. Following that was a large cargo net climb, which ended in a zipline back down to the ground, funneling people into a gauntlet of tall, narrow walls and padded pendulums designed to knock runners off their feet. At the end, there was a log, a little more than waist high to vault over, before a ladder climb to reach the flags.

“The rules are simple,” Karok said, his voice booming across the field, “be the fastest one to the finish, claim your opponent’s flag, and the victory! Go!” Another horn sounded, and the pack of waiting Klingons took off at once towards the wall.

Varyn looked around at the now-larger group, feeling even more awkward than before.  His grey eyes drifted over to the course, his head cocking slightly to the side as his engineer’s mind kicked in.  He stripped off his long coat, running for the first obstacle.

Varyn grabbed the rope and started to climb; studying the scuff-marks in the moment, he tried to place his steps in less-used areas of the climbing track, to improve his boots’ grip on the wall, his ascent was made a little faster.  The second obstacle proved more challenging, though, as Varyn kept bogging down in the mud; he zapped himself three times by mistake, trying to raise out of the mud slightly to make his crossing easier.

The balance beam went fairly well, given the circumstances; Varyn’s now-muddy boots caused him to nearly fall twice, but he had always had good balance and was able to quickly recover.  The cargo net was slow going, however, as muddy hands and rope seldom mix well; he did make it up and then down the zip line, but not without difficulty, and not quickly.

The padded pendulums took him a moment, as he had paused to watch them and learn their timing, but once he had it down, it was a smooth passage.  The waist-high log caused a little trouble, as he slid off of it on his first try – mud and wood similarly do not mix well – but he was able to get over, then Varyn ran for the ladder and started to climb.

Tanna did not have good luck when it came to obstacle courses. She hit the wall running, snatching a free rope in both hands and heaving herself off the ground. The first few steps went well, but partway up, the mud from others’ boots added to the slipperiness of the stacked logs, making her lose her footing. Holding as tightly as she could, she got her feet back against the wall and made it to the top. On the way back down, her hands slipped, and she fell the last few feet the the ground, landing hard on her backside. Groaning, she wrenched herself off the ground and sprinted for the energy fence. 

That was easier. She dragged herself through the mud with relative ease, only shocking herself twice, but the balance beam proved to be her downfall. She tried to move faster than was smart to make up ground, but the beam began to swing wildly from side to side, and she toppled over into the muddy water.

Soaking wet and cursing loudly, she waded to the far end of the pool and hoisted herself out. The wind stolen from her sails, she jogged to the rope net climb, having to move more slowly as her shoulder was now shorting out from the water. At one point, her arm went totally numb, and she almost fell. Praying it wouldn’t go numb again, she managed to make it down the zipline unscathed.

She was taken off her feet again by the padded pendulums, falling into one of the Klingon opponents and knocking them both to the ground. She couldn’t help herself and began to laugh loudly as they untangled from one another. The Klingon, whom she expected to be furious, was also laughing, and he held out a hand to help her to her feet. The two made it to the ladder at the same time, still laughing, and began their climb.

Franz moved like a shadow, his long stride carrying him forward in a strange, loping rhythm. Vek’tar came alongside, all raw power and aggression. They reached the wall together. Franz caught the rope and scaled it fast, clearing the top before Vek’tar had even started his climb.

By the time he dropped down the far side, Franz was already at the mud pit. He crouched, folded himself in a way that seemed impossible, and slid through the muck. A spark grazed his shoulder. He didn’t react. Behind him, Vek’tar slogged in, got snagged, and cursed.

The balance beam slowed Franz. His stride didn’t match the narrow planks, so he shortened it, arms twitching for balance as he crossed. Vek’tar tried to rush and went straight into the mud.

The cargo net went quickly for Franz; his reach let him skip rungs. Near the top, the net shook from Vek’tar’s grip. Franz slipped but caught himself, muttering under his breath before leaping to the zipline.

He landed hard, stumbled, and kept moving. The swinging obstacles came at him from all sides, but he slipped through in quick bursts. Vek’tar wasn’t so lucky and got knocked flat.

Franz stepped over the final log, climbed the ladder in long, steady pulls, and reached the top with Vek’tar far behind.

Pretty Lady had been watching and analyzing the course as the Klingon MC was talking. She had anticipated that the Klingons would make a break for it as soon as the horn blared again, this time. And she was right.

‘Not this time! You big beasties!’ She had been ready. Though she had governed her repulsors to the speed of a human at a fast jog, her ability to hover, being her ‘natural means of mobility’, she was able to negotiate the obstacles with relative ease. She even added in quick ‘touch and go’ touchdowns with her landing pads, as if she were moving in a humanoid fashion. Making for an odd visual, the exocomp, appearing to hop from footpad foot footpad, tilting slightly each time she did so.

She negotiated the wall first with a ‘Hut…ut….wuh…Oy!’ As she performatively grappled the rope and hurled herself over the wall.

She managed her way through the low crawl under the wire, at the speed of a jog, playfully splooshing at the mud with her landing pads as she went.

‘Eeennh….urf…hut…ahhh!…’ She muttered to herself as she exited and tiptoed her way across the balance beam with a few cute touchdowns every 3 or 4 feet.

The cargo net climb was fairly simple, as she had grown accustomed to her new arms over the past few days. But still, at one point, a Klingon next to and slightly behind her had wiggled the ropes, causing her to miss grabbing a handhold once.

‘Wuh…uh oh’ she regained her composure and reached with her left arm and hurled herself the last few feet to the top.

After sliding down the zipline and negotiating the last obstacles, Lady left her Klingon opponent in the dust and made a break for the finish line.

On the sound of the horn, Alara was off. She watched how Varyn was executing the climb and followed much the same principle.  This put her level with him despite being slower off the line.

The mud pit with the net of energized wires across it was an interesting challenge, and Alara made the mistake of touching one of those wires right from the start.  There was clearly a laugh from two of the Klingons; halfway under, she got another shock, but managed the rest without incident.

Alara reached the beam and her younger days in gymnastics proved rather useful on this obstacle, gaining ground on some who’d been quicker on the first two obstacles.  The cargo net that followed did prove an effort; tired as her muscles felt, and she did lose ground on a couple of individuals whom she’d passed on the beam.  The zip line that followed was negotiated fairly smoothly, executing a near-perfect landing, and again, those gymnastics skills proved useful on the next section of the assault course, dodging the swinging padded pendulums as they came at her from both sides.  Alara hurdled the log at the end, but wouldn’t be picking up any style points, after staggering and nearly losing her footing on the other side.

There would have been no way the Commander could have handled this demanding challenge had she come herself.

This left only the ladder ahead to deal with.

Ford looked at Reade with a grin. “Ladies first?”

Reade simply and playfully smacked his chest before she moved herself into place with her counterpart. Reade looked over to the Klingon and nodded her head to them. The Klingon just bared their teeth at Reade before they looked straight ahead at the obstacle course. The second the horn blared, was the second Reade took off with a mad dash to the wall.

Her first immediate thought, which she quickly executed, was to leap up and grab the rope. She should be thankful that she was an athlete in the academy; she got almost two feet off the ground before she grabbed onto the rope. Then she quickly planted her feet onto the wall and, with the combined effort of pulling herself up while pushing herself upward by her toes, she moved quickly up the wall. She had her mind focused on the task at hand, ignore the competition, complete the job, and move to the next.

In the mud pit, she struggled to get herself through it, but she was not expecting her opponent to motivate her. “Come on, human! If you can’t keep up, then you might as well give up!” Reade looked over at her opponent after they said that, and saw that they were about a foot ahead of her in the mud pit. So she tried her best to push herself through it. As soon as she got to the balancing beam, she did her best to shake off most of the mud before she studied the beam and watched how it moved. While she noticed her counterpart was already halfway across the beam, she set herself up to make a mad dash across.

She pushed off with her right foot and began to run quickly across the beam, making sure to properly balance herself while the beam shifted. A part of her had hoped she had figured it out, but another part was screaming at her to slow down or run faster, finish the course quickly, or fall. But as that thought process ended, she found herself at the end of the obstacle, and her counterpart just a few feet behind. “You were saying?” Reade shouted over at her opponent before she grabbed onto the cargo net and began to climb.

The cargo net proved to be trickier for both her and her opponent. Then, after the zipline, it came to the pendulum obstacle, they were both neck and neck at the end. Reade used her momentum to grab the log and hoist herself right over before she did what she did at the beginning. She leapt up, grabbed the closest rein she could reach, making almost two feet once again, and then quickly began to climb to the top. She looked over to her counterpart and saw that they were just a foot behind. “Come on! You’re going to let a lowly human beat you?” Reade shouted at her counterpart before she smiled at them and quickened her pace as soon as she saw them do the same.