The Tirok Maneuver

I

 "Widen your strides, breathe through your nose." Mac'hla reminded themself silently as they reached 1.5 miles.

Mac'hla was never great with running. Growing up in the canyons, endurance running was never really important. The main ability possessed by Netrekans was strength.

She could somewhat easily lift over 300 pounds, but when it came to running, she always struggled.

As they finally hit 2 miles they slowed the treadmill to a walk, panting.

20 minutes, two miles. Not bad at all, especially for her.

She smiled faintly to herself and hopped from the treadmill, downing her bottle of water.

They looked across the room at the clock– 04:45.

Now to shower, dress, eat breakfast and report to the bridge at 07:00 for duty.

Mac'hla enjoyed the days where she could go to the bridge. There wasn't much for a botanist to do there, which was why most of her hours were spent alone in her lab with only her plants to keep her company.

But on the bridge, they watched one of the monitors, searching for any fluctuations with the naturally occurring frequencies of space and ran tests on whatever irregularities they found.

They were surrounded by sound and chatter and other people. A much welcomed change in stimulus.

She calmly walked to the turbolift, pulling her hair from a tight braid and allowing it to puff out around her shoulders.

The turbo unexpectedly stopped after one floor the lights flickered and turned off.

She glanced around nervously and opened her communicator.

"Lieutenant Tirok to Engineering."

"Aye lassie, what can I do for you?" Scotty replied.

"The turbo lift seems to have lost power." they answered.

There was a pause through the communicator before Scotty replied, "The computers say nothing is wrong with the lift."

"Mr. Scott, I would not be telling you it was malfunctioning if it was not."

"Alright, alright. Give me a minute to get to the elevator shaft. I'll access it manually and see if I can give it a bit of a zap."

"A bit of a zap?" Mac'hla repeated.

"Yeah, you know, give the router a shock and boost the-" he began to explain.

"I understand, Mr. Scott, I am trained in engineering as well as botany, it is your terminology that confuses me."

She heard Scotty laugh through the communicator. "Don't worry about it lassie. I'm just about to open the hatch."

There was a sound of metal clunking and Scotty groaning.

"The emergency lock is on... and I cannae override it." Scotty said in confusion, "I'm afraid you'll be stuck there until it can be pried open."

Mac'hla checked their watch, "Sir, I have duty in two hours. How long would it take?"

"We'd have to crack it open. We'd need torches and..."

"How long?" Mac'hla repeated.

"At least three hours!"

Mac'hla cursed quietly and thought.

She looked up to the ceiling of the lift. The escape panel.

"I will crawl out through the escape panel and climb up to the hatch." she suggested. "I can open it from the inside."

"Lieutenant, in your current position, you're nearly 100 meters from the hatch." Scotty said incredulously.

"I have climbed higher." They said calmly.

But there was one problem.

The escape panel was 3 meters off the ground.

Mac'hla was only roughly 163 cm tall.

She looked around. The turn knobs!

They tucked the communicator into their shirt and put their foot onto the knob and balanced on the wall, getting into an upright standing position.

There were two light fixtures, about arms length apart. She reached up and grabbed onto each of them.

She took a deep breath and swung her legs up, kicking the panel out.

They swung their legs up into the now open panel and pulled themself up and out with ease.

Thankfully, the elevator shaft was lit.

"Alright, are you able to reach the panel?" Scotty asked finally.

"I am already out." Mac'hla said.

They heard an incredulous laugh through the communicator.

"I will begin my ascent." she said and examined the walls for any foot holds.

"Lieutenant, there is no ladder." Scotty warned.

"Thank you, Mr. Scott, for stating the obvious."

Up the walls were plates with divots just deep enough to fit the first digit of Mac'hla's fingers.

"I will be fine, there are plenty of grips." Mac'hla muttered, and wedged their fingers into the divots.

She began her climb, hand over hand, with the same ease of someone climbing a ladder.

Nearing the hatch, Mac'hla noticed the tips of their toes were beginning to bleed.

She sighed, "I am out of practice... Mr. Scott, I am at the hatch, back away so I can open it."

Mac'hla briefly looked down and saw the inside of the turbo lift light up. It began to speed towards her.

"Fuck," she swore and kicked in the hatch. She lunged through and out just as the lift slammed into the ceiling.

They sat back, panting.

"My god, lassie, you were almost squished!" Scotty said, staring down into the lift.

"I am aware." she replied tensely, laying on her back to catch her breath.

"How on god's green earth did you scale that?"

"I am familiar with climbing." they explained, "I have been doing it since I could walk. If you will excuse me, I must prepare for bridge duty."

"Right... yeah, okay. Thanks for getting the hatch open." Scotty said, a little in awe.

"You are welcome sir. Have a good morning."

She limped to her room and sat on the edge of their bed, examining their toes.

They sighed as they ran their fingers over the scratches.

"Very out of practice." she noted and gently wiped away the green blood dripping down her feet.

"Iggy, Noodle, come, please." she said gently, patting the edge of her bed.

The colorful ferrets quickly hopped over and snuggled into Mac'hla's lap. She pet them gently, soothed by their strange purring.

They still had time to relax before their time on the bridge, so why not spend it with their beloved little pets?

They felt themselves being lulled to sleep by their purring. What would be the harm in just a few more minutes of sleep?