Character Perspective: Mendez

“Órale, where the hell did the Commander learn all those moves?” I complained from my spot on the large sofa in our common room.

“You’re forgetting he went to this school too and probably played back when he was here, not to mention every training group he’s been the Commander of and all that, it’s kinda pretty clear just where he learned it from,” Killian said from one of the large, cushy armchairs in the room.

“Yeah Doc, I think that’s one of the easiest of your complaints to answer,” Vicky said herself.

We were all still in our gear, having just gotten back to the Kirk building after our time in the Free Float Arena and while I knew that at the very least, I needed a shower, I also knew that Dinner Mess was right around the corner, so I was smarter to just hold off and wait so that I didn’t have to get dressed twice when I eventually went out to meet up with Kara later.

“I think you’re just mad that you couldn’t get a single shot past him,” Ty teased, leaning onto the back of Sera’s chair. “And that we get to skip PT tomorrow,” she added with a wide grin.

“Of course I’m mad about that!” I groaned. “We’ve gotten what, a single day to sleep in since we got here? I am not a dang morning bird.”

“For what it’s worth Doc, that is gonna change. I was talking with the Commander about it and once we get past the next trial, we should start having some sort of “normal” weekend schedule. They don’t want us to burn out after all,” Curtis explained.

“I guess that’s something,” I allowed and sank back into the couch. “What is with all the crazy instructions you’ve been giving us Cap? Like, why did you have Kill start recording our Drone’s flight paths?”

Curtis seemed to squirm a bit at this as he looked over to Vicky. All she offered though was a shrug and he mimicked the motion, “I have a few more things I need to lineup before I can give you guys a full rundown of my plan, but... okay well do you guys trust me?” he asked, looking amongst the group. We were all sharing looks, but no one quite knew what to say until he added, “I mean, I know we are still pretty fresh but like, as the Captain, do you guys trust me?”

“I think we do?” Vicky was the one who answered for the group when it became clear nobody else was going to. “Like, you haven’t given us much to work on for why we should, but like, innately we do?”

“We’re taught in Ground prep to trust our Captain, so that’s what we’re going to do if he’s asking us for to,” Novarod added with a nod to elaborate further on her point, “Even if your flight plan is absolutely insane...”

“In my defense, I never told you it was a good path,” Curtis replied, “But that’s not the point either. I just... I want to make sure I have my own details right before I pass them on to you guys, don’t need to be giving you whiplash over anything, and I promise it will make sense... or at the very least I sure as grounds hope it makes sense.”

“Then there yah go,” Vicky said and jumped back to her feet. “I mean, not trying to be crass Cap, but the first trial we did sorta do our own thing, this is the first time we would be literally following your exact orders. Assuming your plan works, then the instinct to trust will turn to actual trust, I think.”

“That would definitely do it for me,” Novarod agreed. “Again, I’m still hung up on these flight patterns and hearing you admit it’s a bad path... well just don’t keep us waiting too long for the details, you might as well call me a cat cause I’ve become super curious.”

“Don’t kill our pilot hermano!” I offered as jokingly as I could and stood as well, feeling my stomach beginning to rumble. “We heading out to Dinner Mess here cause I’m starving, all that jumping and action in the arena has really worked up an appetite for me.”

“I’m just grabbing stuff from the Canteen tonight, I need to recalibrate Chale, the little idiot’s circuits are malfunctioning still, and I really don’t want to have to start a new version of this project,” Killian said, pulling out his data pad from a messenger bag he had set off to the side of his seat. “Oh, those scans of the drone’s flight paths are done Captain, want me to send them over to your pad?” he asked, scrolling through several screens I couldn’t see from my vantage point.

“Send them to Novarod’s as well, I’m sure he could fly pretty much any of those in his sleep not that I’d ask him to, but I need him to have them on hand here,” Curtis replied, grabbing for his own pad when a loud DING emanated from his bag. “Thought I put that on silent,” he muttered, just loud enough for the rest of us to hear him.

“What should I do with the paths, Captain?” Novarod asked, though he didn’t have his own data pad on him.

“Nothing for now, I should have a better fleshed out plan for your role in the next day or two and we can go over it then,” Curtis shot back quickly. “If that’s it though, let’s go get some food. I’m pretty much in agreement with Doc, all that activity has me near ravenous.”

“Ay ay ay, with how often you guys are acting all surprised by agreeing with me, I’m starting to think none of you take me all that seriously,” I said with mock shock in my voice that elicited groans from several of the others.

“That’s because we don’t take you seriously Doc,” Sera replied with an exaggerated roll of her eyes, “You’ve basically been acting like a clown since we got here.”

“That’s fair,” I replied with a shrug, “But grounds, you guys heard the Commander, we gotta let loose every now and then and if I’m the guy who’s gonna get you to realize that, I’ll happily take on that job.”

“Yeah yeah, Doc, we get it, you like to have fun. Let’s just keep it to where we are supposed to let loose and get serious when we need to, think you can do that?” Vicky shot back as she started to wander over toward the front door.

“Doc’s honor,” I said holding up a hand, “I mean, I did get sent up here and whether Kill will admit to it or not, I do know how to get serious when I need to,” I defended.

“Hey, don’t look at me, you’re the one who told me back on the grounds that you didn’t want me to “nerd up” your rep,” Killian responded with a laugh, shoving my arm as he started to walk toward the small canteen built into our building.

“Sure you don’t wanna join us Killian?” Sera asked him with a brow raised and he just shook his head.

“I really do gotta get to work with these guys, otherwise I’ll be up all night,” he responded with a bit of a melancholy look. “Come make sure I’m alive in a few hours though, if Chale malfunctions hard enough maybe he’ll explode and melt half my face off, who knows.”

“Well before we let that horrifying image settle in, I think I’m going to head toward the mess hall,” Vicky said, shaking her head from the door, “Or should I just leave everyone here while I go get some grub?”

“Grub,” I called back, hurrying that way as my stomach began to rumble once more, “Definitely grub.”