Harder Better Faster Stronger III

Posted on 01 Jun 2013 @ 11:45pm by

2,555 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: LTjg Maenad Panne's quarters
Timeline: MD10 0700

ON:

Liyar helped her stand to her feet and rose alongside her. "Since we only have a limited amount of time left I will show you these next maneuvers quickly. These are both defenses against choking, which is the primary way an assailant will typically use to restrain their victim if they do not possess any equipment. Obviously, the quickest and most accessible method is merely," he reached forward with his hands and settled them lightly against her throat. "I want you to repeat the same move on me. Just reach out and attempt to place your fingers around my throat. Obviously, you would not do this to restrain me, but someone my size could easily do so to you."

She reached out toward his neck after hesitating a second. She knew her that hand would never make it, and not knowing what he was going to do had a bizarre excitement.

Almost as soon as she reached out toward him, Liyar brought both of his fists out under her arms and tossed them aside in a wide sweeping motion. Even if she tried to resist him against his arms, she wouldn't make it anywhere near his neck. "This type of motion," he gestured for her to repeat her action again and once more brought his hands outward, this time slowly to show her, "even if you are not necessarily strong enough to rebuff an attacker, this is going to keep their hands away from your neck. For instance," he allowed slack to come over his hands. "You see, you can push my hands back down, but I am always going to be protecting my throat, here, with my fists. Even an opponent of my strength would be temporarily distracted enough for you to duck out of the way." He stood back a bit and then reached for her throat with both of his hands in a typical chokehold, going a bit slower than normal strength to allow her to analyze the move and repeat it on him.

Maenad did exactly what Liyar had done to her seconds before. She pushed his hands away from her with her fists and copied the way he'd ducked. She laughed lightly once she'd cleared him. "It's at this point," she said, "I think, that I would do this." When her tongue met her teeth to make the sound of the th, she raised the flat of her foot into his sternum in a slow-motion kick. His arms were still to the side from the way she'd pushed him, and her own arms went out as stabilisers. She gave him a gentle push with the bottom of her foot before she brought her heels together once more. Smiling, she added, "And then, of course, I would run as fast as I could that way," she nodded to the door.

"I would not recommend you do that," Liyar said with a small quirk of his lips. But, he grabbed ahold of her foot and wiggled it slightly. "As you see, you are giving me a limb that I can use to keep you here. As well, you are kicking into my sternum, which is a well protected area of my body. What you would want to do there is a straight heel kick," he said, turning her foot outward and angling it up. "You would be hitting the person with your heel directly, and that is what provides the most force into my body. And you would want to do that low. In the thigh, in the groin. If you do it too high, then they can grab that foot. In a situation where you are being pursued or potentially restrained," he started, "If you were to move forward and attack me, what you would do, is take your hand, here," he lifted it up and fingered the flat of her palm where it was toughest, "and you would slam this part of your hand into my nose in an upward motion. Like so." He demonstrated the hand position and came close to her, going just under her nose, grazing her septum with his palm gently and then over her head. "Would you like to practice that move in its entirety?"

Maenad was only playing around with him, but seeing that he was serious about it and that he only wanted to help her improve, she nodded yes.

"So you want to sweep out my hands, disrupt my balance, protect your neck and then attack with a basic palm strike, right up into my nose. What this will do is actually break my nose, and give you ample time to escape." He reared his elbow back and then jabbed his hand in an uppercut, gesturing to the angle his arm made, "As you see, this makes a right angle. Those are solid angles, and they give your palm strike all of its power. So," he stood back again and bowed his head toward her before reaching out to try and choke her again.

"I'm not actually going to break your nose, though," she laughed. Maenad then put herself into an attack position and, recalling the maneuvers she had already been taught from the week before, she repeated what he had just shown her. Before the base of her palm impacted the bottom of his nose, she stopped. "Maenad to Kohl, we have a medical emergency in my quarters," she said, pretending to tap her commbadge. "My favourite Vulcan has a broken nose."

"At least I am your favorite," Liyar replied with a quirk of his lips. "Good, your form is improving," he said, glancing down toward her arm. "Just remember to keep your arm straight as you move, take the power from your shoulder, not your elbow." He hinged his arm upward. "You see how weak that is?" He hit it against his other hand. "You get barely any impact. From here," he lifted his elbow up straight and it cut a quick line through the air, "you see there is much more power, it is faster, and that is why someone of your strength could easily take down an attacker. You have knowledge that they do not, the best way to use your body to your advantage." He then turned around so his back was facing her. "Now, the second most common method of taking hold of someone. Taking them by the neck, with the crook of the elbow." He demonstrated above his head. "So, you would take the edge of your elbow and try to wrap it around my throat."

Maenad watched and learned. She was surprised with how well she was doing, and when she was able to slide behind Liyar, slipping the front of his neck into the pit of her elbow, she remembered some of the intelligence training she had received about a year and a half ago, and when she went to push his head downward to cut off the blood supply and knock him out, she brought her mouth to one of his ears. "You're mine," she said playfully, then kissed the side of his neck.

"Not today," Liyar replied with a hint of a smile in his tones. With that, he suddenly and immediately dropped his center of gravity into a low squat, grabbing her elbow and her wrist to pull it down at the same time and insert his chin in the space between. He then used his grip on her arms and the muscles of his legs, hips and back, and directed her full weight onto his back. "This is a maneuver that you can use, even with an opponent who is three times your own size," he spoke behind him casually. "Your weight as a female comes directly from your hips and the center of your stomach. You see how I can pull you forward here," he squeezed her arms, "and use my lowered center of gravity to effectively shift you right onto my back, like so. Now, at this point, I am going to throw you off of me and disengage the chokehold. I will not allow you to be harmed. Notice how I am holding you forward, right over my shoulder. Not to the sides, but directly over. I am going to lean right into that, and," he bounced her weight upward from his back and used his hold on her arms as well as rolling his shoulder and body forward, flinging her right over his head. He slowed the move way down and changed his grip, catching her before she hit the ground and setting her on her feet in front of him. He brushed the hair out of her face. "This is a move that you can do to someone of my size, and it is called a throw. I want you to try it. I will guide you in how to distribute the weight properly. If done correctly, a human can take many times their own weight for a limited amount of time by using these moves. You noticed that when you got the chokehold on me, the first thing I did was create a gap. The first instinct you might have would be to grab at my arms, try to rip them away, but that is not going to work." He gently wrapped his elbow around her throat, in the same way that an untrained attacker would. Even if he had been trained, the drop in gravity would disorient him regardless. "Instead you want to pull my elbow and hand down just enough to get your chin under my arm."

Maenad followed his instructions. The weight of Liyar on her back didn't bother her as much as she thought it would. She went pull him over to drop him on the floor, she buckled to her knees and started laughing under her breath. "Liyar, I can't catch you," she reminded him. "If I were to throw you like you did to me, you'd get hurt, so let's just say that I did and leave it at that."

"You forget that I have studied kheile'a my entire life," Liyar shook his head. He let himself stand on his feet again and then helped her up. "Try again. You do not need to fall to your knees, you want to end this move standing. I know how to fall. You need to learn how to do this correctly." He placed the crook of his elbow over her throat again once she stood. "Squat down, a sudden movement, from the knees and hips." He waited until she did so. "Now you can pull my wrist and elbow away from your throat. Lean forward further. Distribute my weight fully on your back, drop your center of gravity. Bend your knees, keep your back straight. Good. You do not need to buckle, you see your hips are now lower than mine, which gives you all that strength to pick me up on your back. Keep your hands on my elbow and wrist, at this point I am going to be using it merely to hang on. And now you want to just throw me. Use your back to toss me and roll forward with your shoulder, this shoulder that is trapped," he tapped the edge of his elbow, "and just roll me over," he talked her through it. "Gravity will do the rest."

"I didn't mean to buckle," she quipped. Liyar was heavier than he probably knew. This was something that was easier said than done, she thought as she started all over again. Everything worked better the second time; her knees didn't collapse like before, and she could feel that this time she was going to throw him. She didn't want to, though. She really didn't. She hesitated, pressed her lips, felt his weight and warmth on her back, in her thighs and hips, even in the backs of her calves. She grimaced, then sent his weight over her head as she thrusted forward with her left shoulder, to heave him.

"Just relax," he said as he felt her uncertainty and hesitation through their contact. "Focus on your power stance. You possess everything you need from here to complete the move. I will not be harmed." He sent a small tap of reassurance through his arms and then, quite suddenly, found himself jerked forward in a quick move. He landed half on his back, half on his side, with his arm out over his head, and sat up, looking unphased. "Very good," he said, and the encouragement was obvious, if subtle on his Vulcan features. "There is one other maneuver that you can do to resist the rear choke as well, but I will save that for our next lesson." He stood and rested his hands on her shoulders, rubbing his thumbs against her collarbone. "You did good today."

Maenad smiled, showing her teeth, and raised her shoulders around her neck. "Thank you," she mumbled, trying to be modest. Hearing him use the colloquial good pleased her too, even though when others used it she bit her tongue. She liked it when Liyar acted more... human. She bent her elbows and touched the sides of his arms with her fingertips, looking into his eyes. "You look tired," she said quietly as she straightened the ruffles in his t-shirt.

He pushed the tips of his fingers back against the hair at the top of her head and brushed them down to her neck, paring two of his fingers to run them down her jaw and under her chin. "I will survive," he replied, meeting her eyes. His own held an inscrutable brightness. The chronometer behind them began to emit a series of interspersed beeps, telling them both that shift was beginning in ten minutes. "I believe we have run out of time," he observed and then, because he could, he moved closer and kissed her softly. He lingered for a few moments before pulling away and smoothing over her shoulders. "I should leave you to get ready."

Maenad pressed her lips as she looked between his eyes. She didn't want to go sit on the bridge for eight hours. She wanted to stay right here with Liyar. She felt a fluttering in her chest, behind her breastbone, beneath her jaw and behind her eyes. Before he could turn to leave, she held him by his wrist. "What are you doing today?" Anything to stall him, she thought.

He let himself be drawn closer to her and draped his arms loosely around her shoulders. "Just work," he murmured thoughtlessly into her hair. "I will come and see you after shift," he promised with another small kiss to her forehead. He felt her body weight against him, and inhaled her scent with semi-closed eyes until he decided he should back away. Better to leave now, he thought, before he ended up making them both late. He clasped his hands behind his back and bowed to her from the head and then turned to walk out of her quarters.

OFF:

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer, SSC
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, VDF/SDD
USS Galileo

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