The red alert claxon sounded, shattering the stillness of the night aboard ship. Jamie rolled out of bed with the trained reflexes of a Starfleet officer and promptly hit the floor. She had never had to react to an off shift alert since she had become a woman. The shift in her body balance was something she still had to think about. Scrambling up she dove for her uniform and grabbed her pants, Carol stopped her with a word.
"Gaff, don't forget your gaff." Carol said stepping into her own and then pulling her uniform pants on without underwear. Jamie followed her lead and was dressed and out of the door in less than a minute, with Carol hot on her heels. At red alert, they had less than two minutes to report to duty stations, underwear and makeup did not even enter their minds. The corridors were filled with scrambling crew members. Jamie headed directly for Damage Control One as Carol made for the lift to the bridge.
Jamie tore into DC-One with less than ten seconds to spare and noted that only PO Taylor was missing, but he ducked into the room before the doors closed behind Jamie. She reported that DC-One was manned and ready with five seconds to spare. Chief McAddams was suiting up in his tool rig and Lt.'s T'Pal and Briggs were suited in their firefighting equipment. Jamie and Taylor manned the consoles ready to direct the team and anyone else that was needed to repair the ship from any damage, battle or otherwise.
Scanners showed the space around the ship clear and no threats were showing on the ships monitors when the Captain came over the intercom.
"This is Captain Parvin," the calm lilting voice of the ships female captain came over the speakers. "All stations manned and ready, drill elapsed time two minutes four seconds. Not bad people, but I want those last five seconds. Response time is to be under two minutes. Department heads, schedule additional training. All departments coordinate with the first officer. Stand down from Red Alert."
Jamie just looked at the speaker and shook her head. She had been riding an emotional rollercoaster for the last few days and the Captain decided to pull a drill tonight. Well, at least she had been able to respond properly and under the two minute requirement.
"Stand down people." Jamie told her team. "Just another drill, but I want to be ready for the real thing next time. Taylor, you and I barely made it in time. I know we can do better. I will schedule additional drills for us and I want each of us to know all the jobs for this team." Jamie continued on for several minutes, asking questions and slightly changing the order of how things were done in DC-One. After thirty minutes she dismissed her team and slowly trudged back to her quarters after shutting down DC-One.
It was two thirty in the morning when Jamie stepped back into her quarters. She was still high on adrenaline and paced several laps around the living room before Carol came back in.
"I hate when that happens." Carol said sitting down on the couch. "A perfectly good dream interrupted by that screaming alarm. How did your team do?"
"We made it, but just barely, only five seconds to spare." Jamie replied.
"I was about ten seconds early, but only because the lift went straight to the bridge."
"Who was late by the four seconds?"
"Torpedo control, someone fell and broke an arm and they were late as a result." Carol responded. "Dr. Sportan will have them back to duty in about another five minutes."
"Carol, can we talk about last night?"
"Yes, I thought that you would want to over breakfast, but I know that I will be up for the day now."
"Me too, it takes me usually about an hour or so to come down after a middle of the night drill."
"Come on then, we can hit the holodeck again. This time I will program the privacy codes to make sure we are not interrupted. Go and change into your swim suit and we can get some sun."
Jamie followed Carol into the bedroom and they both stripped off their uniform tops and pants. Neither had bothered with underwear, just their gaffs, there had not been time. Jamie pulled her suit out of the drawers as Carol went to the replicator and started punching buttons again. The unit hummed softly and a small pile of material appeared. Carol picked up the small pieces of fabric and strolled to the bed.
"What is that?" Jamie asked.
"A new bathing suit," Carol replied.
"You sure, it looks more like a sand flea's hanky with some dental floss to hold it on."
"Don't be so prudish." Carol said, "I want to work on my tan some more while we talk and this is just perfect."
Jamie looked down at the microscopic bathing suit on the bed and shrugged into her own one piece. Jamie was dressed and ready by the time Carol had the suit on, but she was still fussing with the fit as Jamie slipped into her heels.
"Come on Carol, I don't want someone else to beat us to the holodeck."
"Don't worry; I reserved the holodeck right after the captain stood us down from red alert. I knew that I would need something for the rest of the night."
"Well, let's go, you look great as it is." Jamie said, meaning it. The bikini covered her nipples and a thin strip covered her crotch, but that was all. Carol could not even wear her gaff; it was bigger than her panties. Both grabbed their wraps, Carol slipped on her high heeled sandals and together they headed for the turbo lift.
The holodeck was empty as usual, but this time Jamie watched to make sure that Carol activated the privacy locks and codes. The same beach appeared as they walked into the holodeck and the sun was directly overhead beating down on them. They spread out their towels by the beach lounges and Carol covered Jamie with sun block before settling to her own lounger. Jamie laid back and closed her eyes for a minute, luxuriating in the feel of the sun when she heard Carol sigh with relief. Jamie looked over and sat up sharply as she saw that Carol was completely naked.
"What are you doing?" Jamie screamed.
