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“It’s called a trust fall,” Sisko began—
Garak balks and immediately leaves the room.
Dejected, Julian walks over to stand by Miles, instead.
The Captain clears his throat. “The point of the exercise,” he continues, “is to demonstrate that we believe in one another to not let the other one down. Literally.”
“Permission to speak freely, sir?” Kira butts in.
The Captain sighs, seeing this will take longer than even he had anticipated, “Go ahead,” he says. You always do, he means.
“This is ridiculous. I’ve been in resistance cells since I was old enough to smuggle food into the camps, and we never had to do any of these pointless exercises to prove we trusted each other.”
“Think of it as a time-honored Earth tradition,” Jadzia offers, whispering it slightly into the ear of the militia officer as she comes up from behind and gently places a hand on Kira’s shoulder, “All people who work together in Starfleet end up having to do, sooner or later.”
“I’m not in Starfleet,” says Kira.
“Neither am I,” says Odo.
“Neither am I,” says Quark.
“Shut up, Quark,” says everyone.
“The fact so few of you are in Starfleet is precisely why there is concern about our abilities to function cohesively. Most Starfleet officers are fairly used to these practices. Isn’t that right, Mr. Worf? Chief?”
The Klingon nods his head, “Both Chief O’Brien and I have… endured them in the past aboard the Enterprise, sir.”
“And - ah - just exactly how effective was it, then? Hm?” Quark asks as he raises his hand to run his finger along the cuff of his ear, “Keep you from eating any of your coworkers.”
Worf just glares from across the room, baring his teeth slightly.
“Oh, I don’t know,” O’Brien interjects in an attempt to broker peace, “They’re not so bad, really. Like icebreakers. I’ll have my engineering crew run them from time to time. The bat and the moth, back to back drawing, for whom does the wind blow, two truths and a lie...”
Kira blinks, confused, “The bat and the moth?”
Odo does as well, “For whom does the wind blow?”
Sisko sighs and puts his head in his hands.
Julian answers, “The bat and moth. Sometimes called ‘night trail,’ or ‘blind scavenger hunt.’ One partner gets blindfolded while the other must guide them using only verbal commands through a small space to retrieve an object, usually without being allowed to bump into anything else or retrieve any wrong items. It, erm, builds communication skills. Supposedly.”
“And ‘for whom does the wind blow’?”
Dax answers that one, “More of an ‘icebreaker’ or a warm up than a real trust exercise. A group stands in a circle with one person in the middle who calls out something like ‘the wind blows for anyone who’s served aboard a Constellation Class starship,’ and anyone who has needs to step into the circle and find a different place to stand.”
“Hmm. I see…” Odo says, stepping closer and seeming, momentarily, at least, slightly more interested in the whole affair, “So if, say, someone were to say ‘The wind blows for anyone who has committed a crime aboard this station but has yet to be caught and punished for said cri—’?”
Quark balks and immediately leaves the room.
Sisko looks up from his hands and at the remaining members of his senior staff. “Let’s just… pick this up tomorrow, then, shall we?”