[Pop Rocks with a twist] 1940 - don't mention the war

Posted on Friday, 15 January 2021 - 3:49pm by Crewman Leopold Eberhardt & Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt

Mission: Operation: Trail of Tears

Adrianna and Leopold had decided to take a moment to relax in the on station holo suite. It was a holiday, well day out, that they needed. Just a walk on the beach, nothing excessive. Adrianna enjoyed the heat and an opportunity to 'tan' and relax, laying on a towel in the midday sun. The beach was empty, and so quiet aside from the occasional gull crying and the rhythmic waves lapping at the nearby shore.

She turned over onto her stomach, pulling her curls round her shoulder, "this was a great idea, Leo."

"We will see," he said with a small smile. "Do you know much about this time period on your planet?" inquired the man. He knew a decent amount, but was hardly an expert especially since he was not from Earth nor the Federation. "I hear seagulls," he noted which brought more of a smile to his face.

Adrianna looked confused, "what do you mean, it's only a beach programme. I don't think it has a year attached to it." She turned back over and looked to him properly, "also, be weary of gulls, the steal."

Leopold shrugged "Some of the holograms are wearing swimming attire that seems to date it," he replied. "I do not know though. It could be creative choice" added Leopold. "I just hope they did not add sharks."

Adrianna chuckled and look around, "looks like earth's war decade. The 1940s. I used to love their fashion. The structure and elegance. The men in uniform as well--." Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an air raid siren. She watched as people scattered and looked very confused as they disappeared into what she thought were bar storage areas." What the hell?"

"You have safety protocols on I hope," he replied. "That my love is the sound of home. Some people have cuckoo clocks, others have that," quipped Leopold. "Come, we must take cover though it won't be much comfort. That is an air raid siren."

Adrianna didn't ask questions but followed him to what was a spare shelter. She shivered a little in the cold, dark and musty underground room. "I didn't set this programme. I just put the default beach on. What is an air raid siren? Or rather, what is it warning of?"

"Aircraft flying over head potentially ready to unleash a payload of bombs on us to level cities and kill us, or drop a more serious weapon of mass destruction." Leopold shook his head. "Not a great time for peace on the planet."

Adrianna looked to Leopold as if he'd just told her something devistating. "This can't hold good memories. I'm sorry. It must be a fluke. Computer, end programme." The computer was unresponsive. "Uhh."

"It is like home," he replied with a small reassuring smile. "You have pasta and wine. I have this shit," he added. The fact that the program did not end was problematic, but he kept his cool.

"We will let this pass," he said calmly. "Then we will find the exit. Even if we can't end the program, we can find the access panel and we will unplug this damn thing."

Adrianna visible relaxed a little at Leopold's calming optimism. It was soon crushed by a loud thud and the ground shaking. A little earth fell under the intrusion, but held steady. She fell into him, having not been braced for anything. "How do we know when it's passed?" she groaned. She then chuckled a little and added in a somewhat lighthearted tone," also, wine and pasta are positive. Being potentially blown to pieces is not."

Leopold smiled. "This is all new things for you, isn't it?" he replied with a bit of an inquiry. "We will know it over because the air raid sirens will stop, and ideally there will be no bomb dropped. We will wait for the all clear sound...it will be a very long prolonged wailing of the siren and slowly dwindle down and fade to silence.'

Adrianna kissed him softly, "it is all new. I've set explosives and witnessed from a distance, but I've not been in an active war zone really." She looked to him curiously, jokingly offended, "you're enjoying me as a damsel in distress, aren't you?"

Leopold took her hand. "No, I don't like seeing you in distress, but it comforts me that my wonder woman is still human." He kissed her. The long wailing and slow fade of the siren occurred. "Sounds like we are safe...for the time being."

He was right-- she was only human. She still got scared though outside of trusted company, Adrianna masked it well. "Shall we find an access panel then and whilst we're searching, pray to any God listening that this isn't a British or French beach, or else turn you mute?" she asked.

"Yes," he said with a nod. "It will likely be somewhere near, and out of sight from the holograms. Not that they normally notice anything like that, but Starfleet and the Federation have had a history of experiencing the strangest technical issues like this where we cannot end the program," he said with a chuckle. "the worse scenario, the safties get disabled and our holographic friends become semi-sentient."

Adrianna raised a brow, "ever the optimist." She gestured to the door out, "but, you know, just in case the safeties are malfunctioning... Maybe you should go first. You know about this stuff from experience. I don't." She kissed his cheek.

"Agreed," he replied with a nod. "Not that I'd consider myself an expert, but I think I have a decent grasp of this environment and ambience." Leopold lead the way out of the shelter and down the streets to a point where a small alleyway diverged off from the main street.

He nudged Adrianna. "Down here," he said guiding her into the alleyway. He reached out against the stone wall off a building dragging his hand across the stonework with fluctuated and flickered, disrupting the holomatrix briefly.

The access panel became visible. "Here we go. Now, we just need to get it open and tinker around a bit."

Adrianna was distracted looking around at the devistation. Her jaw was slack at how truly powerful the bombings had been. Her mind when to Leopold. She didn't even notice he'd found the panel, let alone was talking to her." You grew up with this?"

"My people were already in a long war with a neighboring planet in our system when a Federation asshole scientist came to my world," Leopold replied. "We had weapons and we had motive, but when the Federation exposed my people to Earth's great wars, we took a liking to the political movement of the German people."

"Remind me to not complain, ever again," she looked around and the seaside buildings on the promenade, now decimated to nothing more than rubble. People fleeing to help others, digging desperately through dusty piles. "It's not like this now though, right?"

Leopold scoffed. "It isn't paradise, but they did have a period of peace. Unfortunately, it did not last and there is still violence between the two planets. Something like this was not far off from my childhood."

He began tinkering away with the panel off. "I would hate to piss off the Engineering and Operations Departments, but I may need to destroy these gel packs."

Adrianna looked back to Leopold, mostly as destraction. "Well, they shouldn't have faulty equipment," she countered, "if we do this again, we should do it on the Standing Bear holo. We know that works, and I won't be in a bikini freezing my butt off whilst in a bomb shelter."

"True," replied Leopold. "This may be a comparability issue. Jupiter Station is older, parts of it are probably still using isolinear chips." The man looked around. "What I'd give for a phaser right now. How good are you at throwing knives?" he teased.

Adrianna smirked, "no comment. Equally, I'm not armed. Why? Is this a British beach and you sound German?"

"For once you are not armed and Yeah nor am I," he replied. "Oh well, nothing a little muscle can't solve." Leopold slipped off one of his shoes and picked it up. "Wish me luck. I'm going to smash these gel packs...it should cause a disruption in power and terminate the program."

"Why not just use a holo piece of ru... Oh... Right... Yes... Continue," she replied with a shrug, "I'm afraid I left my dagger in my other bikini."

"Right?, They should leave an in case of emergency tool kit in these damn things." Leopold chuckled as he took aim with his shoe as if he were going to smash a bug. Then, with ad much force he could muster, he whacked the gel pack and ruptured it. The holomatrix flickered and destabilized.

"That's not a bad idea," she replied, "you should pitch that." She looked around as the programme sizzled out to a close. She spotted her uniform off to one side. She went for it and started to put her clothes on, "we should let the team know what happened and then we should book a day to. Do this properly, maybe a hot tub."

He nodded in agreement. "I agree, and I can only imagine trying to explain this to Soral. 'Sorry, Sir. I had to destroy a gel back on Jupiter Station's and I'm probably going to have to come over here and repair it myself as a good gesture."

"Leave it to me," she chuckled, "I can be pursuasive. It won't be you that repairs this."

"Sounds good to me," replied Leopold.