Nothing like a good match...

Posted on 12 Mar 2012 @ 7:12am by Tarishiana Barel & Captain Jonathan Holliday

3,125 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 00 - Pre-Deployment
Location: USS Galileo - Holodeck 1
Timeline: MD 04 - 2000 hrs

There were many hazards in growing up as a socialite. She normally managed to restrain herself, but it did manifest itself in her choice of attire when she was off duty. She loved dresses. They felt as natural to her as her own skin. It wasn't that she hated her uniform it had grown on her over the years, but it didn't change the fact that it was the only "outfit" in her collection that wasn't softy and flowy.

This fashion trend held true as Tarishiana entered the holodeck. The white dress was simple in design. The bodice had a simple tie closure and the skirt was composed of multiple pieces of fabric which restricted none of her movement. Unlike her other dresses it was what was underneath that made this ensemble. Beneath she had a sleeveless bodice much like the one on her dress but with a far more complicated closure and what appeared to be black leggings. The material each was made out of distributed the impact of weapons that made contact and resisted puncture from the sharpest weapons. This attribute was especially necessary for the type of recreation she was about to engage in.

She had just finished engaging the program when the pneumatic hiss of the doors caught her attention. she turned to see the ships Executive Officer, a one Lieutenant Commander Holliday, standing on just the other side. She wouldn't have know who he was if not for her obsession of checking over the service records of those she was serving under. She didn't say anything, she simply smiled.

With all the hussle and bustle of the last few days, John decided that it was about time for him to blow off some steam. On a ship this small it was generally safer and more respectful to take it out on holographically generated opponents, rather than the poor crewmember who had happened to catch John at the wrong time.
Holodeck 1 was free for most of the afternoon, but the evening, in his opinion at least, was the best time to get some exercise in, to hone the mind and centre the body before turning in for the evening.

Clad in the standard two piece exercise outfit of Starfleet design, made mostly of grey and black panels, and clutching his towel, John waited as the holodeck doors opened and revealed that he wasnt exactly alone in the room.

"Oh, sorry, I didnt realise this holodeck was in use, I can come back later" He apologised. Another new face was in this room, someone else for him to get to know, it seemed that even with a crew of less than 100, John had an almost endless supply of individuals that he as of yet knew nothing about.

Tarishiana shook her head slightly, "It's no trouble at all Commander." She motioned towards the large room behind her. She could almost sense his need to unwind and with a smile spoke again. "If you would like you are welcome to join me. I was just about to start one of my old sparring programs, but is if far more enjoyable with company."

A sparring program was something that John regretted never getting enough time to work with, it was all well and good grappling against holographic enemies that worked to a set sequence of rules and regulations within the confines of the program's parameters, but against a real person, there was always the possibility of deceit, or thinking outside the box that led to a much more enjoyable competition.

"Sounds good to me, I've been aching to stretch my legs in here for a while, I haven't seen you onboard before, new assignment?"

Tarishiana smiled at his acceptance of her offer. She had secretly hoped that someone would stumble across her in the holodeck and be willing to join. "Actually yes, I recently transferred from the USS Genevieve" she moved towards where he was standing and outstretched her hand in the typical human custom. "Master Warrant Officer Tarishiana Barel, the new Chief Science Officer."


Returning her offer of a handshake, John flashed a slight smile towards her, enough to give away that he was happy she was here, without looking anything remotely resembling a lack of professionalism.

"Nice to meet you, John Holliday, First Officer, although I assume you probably already knew that from your transfer orders" He replied relatively plainly, it was a sentence that he had already had to say to the best part of 80 people recently, and it was starting to wear a bit thin, but was sadly a necessary evil.

"Science officer huh? Seems like a Nova-class is right up your street?"

"And from the fact that I am a Betazoid." Tarishiana replied simply with a smile. "I am a language specialist by both hobby and training...so I tend to fit pretty much anywhere." Her tone was jovial as she turned to move further into the holographic room. The room was simple with a sparring mat in the center of the floor. On either side of the square mat were table containing melee weapons. Many of them were from Tarishiana's favored Terren era. While the safeties of the holodeck would prevent them from mortal injury the chance for bruises still existed. She strolled up to the table to the right placing her hand on a pair of blades, looking up at Holliday "Do you prefer melee weapons or are you more hand to hand in nature?"

"Betazoid huh? Does that mean you can hear what I'm thinking, even now? Apologies for all the questions, I haven't encountered many of your species before"

Walking around the room, John wasnt entirely sure if he should be trying to shield his thoughts, or if that was just going to make it worse for him, and easier for her.

"Either...I studied Judo and Kendo in my youth, I'll leave it up to you, just...make sure you leave the holodeck safeties on, I don't fancy a blade through the stomach any time soon, the CO might get annoyed that she can't launch because her XO has been turned into a kebab"

Tarish let out a light laugh, "I don't mind the questions...my career is built on asking questions." she watched him walk toward the table as she continued speaking. "You can try to shield your thoughts from me if you like..." she broke her rule slightly to answer his question. "But I pride myself on only prying if granted permission...So unless my life is in danger your thoughts are your own." She glanced down at the table deciding on a pair of blades that would have resembled sai if they had not been sharpened. "I have no intention of allowing either of us to be...kebab-ed?...as you put it. Feel free to choose whatever you like." she finished as she motioned towards the table and turned to stand on the mat.

"Sounds good to me" He replied, heading to the same weapons rack that Tarish had been eyeing up, before noting a familiar weapon, the katana, close enough in design to the standard armaments in Kendo. Picking it up, he felt the weight in his hand, before heading towards the centre of the sparring area.

"Weapons it is, lets see what you got shall we?"

With her weapons in each hand Tarish gave a slight bow to her opponent. While she had little formal training, the politeness from a duel all appeased her more proper nature. She stood for a moment watch Jonathan hold the sword. It was a weapon he was familiar with. A slight mischievous grin formed at the corner of her lips as she made her first move toward her XO.

The sound of metal against metal rang out as he block her first attack. With a flick of the wrist he had her pushed back slightly. As the way with most matches, it was his turn to be the aggressor.

Surprised at the raw strength that the Betazoid possessed, John decided that he was probably going to have to watch his game for the rest of this competition, lest he be caught off balance by a lucky shot. Stepping towards her he advanced first with a thrust to her midsection, which she deflected relatively easily with her offhand blade, before he brought the sword around to hear in a broad swing aiming for her shoulder, waiting to see if she would offer any defense.

Tarishiana had barely been able to get her blades up in time to deflect the strike. She was able to avoid the sharp metal from making contact with her skin but her dress was a different story. She heard the smooth ripping sound as the blade cut though her billow in her sleeve leaving her upper arm exposed. She looked up at Holliday with a grin, "You owe me a dress."

Laughing as he saw the incredulous look on her face, John couldn't help but become a little bemused by the current state of his science officer. He hadn't intended to take a chunk out of her clothing, but somehow had managed to succeed.

"Sorry, I'll have to have a word with the replicator later on" He joked as he once again lunged with the weapon, this time heading for her thigh in an attempt to knock her off balance.

"If you're lucky I'll even replicate it myself instead of letting the boys in the supply rooms worry about it!"

Tarishiana parried the lunge with a sense of ease. "I see I might have to start cheating with you." Her tone was flirty which matched the smile on her lips as she used the guards on her blades to trap his. With a twist of her wrist and a little delving into his mind she was able to wrench the sword from his hand. In order to pull this off she had to sacrifice her off hand weapon.

With an agonising twinge of pain through his wrists, John was powerless to stop his Betazoid opponent from launching his weapon across the floor, an illegal move, but effective, and afterall, in a real-world combat situation, your enemy was never going to let rules and regulations stop them from killing you.

"Fighting dirty are we? Ok, ok I can do that, I think"

Realising that he was destined to lose as long as she was armed and he was not, John decided that a rather different course of action was required, he had to get that blade from her hand. Taking a deep breath, in two steps John covered the distance between them, dropping his shoulder and slamming it into her chest, hopefully enough to knock the wind out of her sails.

With his spare leg, he quickly locked in behind her knee, and pushed down, hoping that it would be enough to bring her to floor, and hopefully lose that weapon of hers on the way down!

Tarishiana knew she was going down, the only question was if she could take Holliday down with her. His shoulder collided with her chest and while for that moment her lungs burned for the air that had rushed out in the impact she was able to get her arm under his arm locking his shoulder to her. Where she went he was going too.

She let our a grunt of sorts as her back collided with the matting. Thanks to the holodeck other then more of the air being pushed from her lungs from his weight, the impact caused no pain. Using her legs Tarishiana rolled and flipped and managed to take the superior position only momentarily before she was once again thrown against the mat.

"Not bad, you're better trained than you let on!" John called out, almost out of breath and his brow now beaded with perspiration as he struggled to hold onto the writhing warrant officer. Luckily on the floor, with his experience of Judo, he was pretty certain he had the advantage. With all his strength he lifted his back upwards, simultaneously wrapping his arm around her taught midriff in order to flip her back onto the mat, rather than her current position on top of his back.
Going in for the kill, he wrapped his spare arm around her shoulders, pressing her into the mat, trying to see if she would accept his superior position and surrender.

"Had enough? Or do you wanna warp my mind again to get your own way?" He said laughing both through exhaustion, and enjoyment - it had been a while since he could vent his anger and frustration this way, and it was doing wonders for his stress levels!

Tarishiana couldn't help but appreciate her current position. With a coy smile on her lips. Her breath was quick as she moved her hands to his hips starting in the back and moving more to the front as she pulled her left leg up moving her foot closer to her hip. Pushing as hard and as quickly as she could Tarish threw her hip up towards her right shoulder. Using her hands and the momentum created by this moment she was able to roll Holliday on to his back in a not so gently movement. She was basically along for the ride as she rolled with him.

Tarishiana knew he had a weight/strength advantage against her, but that didn't stop her from moving her hips over his and using her legs to keep his apart and flat on the ground. A knowing grin came to her lips as she held his wrist against the mat near his shoulders. "Your assumptions on my training was all you...Sir." She looked over the Executive Officer for a quick moment and drew a few quick breaths. She was finding this match exhilarating and the attractive opponent was an added bonus. "I don't always have to warp your mind to get my way." She finished with a knowing smile.

Before John could even react to her first retaliation, the wind was knocked from his sails as he found himself well and truly pinned. The Betazoid might have been smaller and lighter than him, but that wasn't stopping her from putting some considerable pressure on his increasingly delicate-feeling joints.

"Damn..." He panted as he tried to catch his breath, something easier said than done from the position he was currently in.

"You aren't half bad...ok...ok I give in, the match is yours....although I expect a rematch, heh and don't make me make it an order!" He chuckled as the air finally returned to his lungs.

"You can get off me whenever you like Ms Barel."

With a satisfied grin and a tip of her head Tarishiana rolled to the mat next to Holliday. Her breath was still coming quickly and her skin had a sheen of moisture from her exertion. She hadn't the energy to get very far but she was far enough they were no longer touching. She turned her head so that she was looking at her Executive Officer. "You can have your rematch as soon as I get my dress." She replied with a laugh as she lifted up the scrap of fabric that used to make up her sleeve. Without hesitation the next sentence escaped her lips. "Want to have dinner with me?"

Laying on his back having finally managed to flip over, John felt that ever-so-familiar ache in his joints from the stresses of exertion during combat, it was a feeling that he relished, to him it meant that he had gotten in a good workout. Panting, John felt the air start to work its way back into his body, and the feeling of tiredness in his head slowly began to subside.

"Thats a deal" He laughed to himself in reply to the state of his fellow combatant's clothing, it had been an accident, but it had at least broken the ice between the two officers before this mission began to become real as they left drydock for the first time.
An offer of dinner had taken John aback a little bit, his command training had taught him that acting in such a way with a junior officer was never a good idea, after all, his was the XO of the ship, and was supposed to maintain decorum and authority at all times. That said, he was planning to try and get to know the senior staff a little better, and he was nothing if not famished.

"Sounds good to me...I tell you what...how does a half hour respite sound to get better acquainted with our sonic showers and a fresh uniform, and I'll meet you in the mess hall?"

Tarishiana picked up on Holliday's hesitation. She has only realized how it has sounded after the words had left her mouth. She debated on attempting to clarify but decided that would only add more tension to the situation. She moved into a seated position stretching her arms above her head to loosen up the muscle that were already becoming tight. "If you have your heart set on the mess hall, I can work with that." She gave him a little grin, "Except for the uniform part...Are you sure you don't want to just do a simple casual and informal meal at my quarters? We can leave the door open if you are worried what your parents might think." She could help but give him a playful wink to follow her teasing.

His eyes opened wide at the suggestive manner of her request, John was in reality, not expecting anything like this to have come up from a simple sparring match, much less that he end up being teased by one of his department heads over something as basic as standard Starfleet procedures as far as officers fraternising was concerned.

"I, err, I um.." He realised a few moments into his sentence that so far all he had managed to come out with was a sequence of non-sensical syllables that didn't really add up to much. Clearing his throat and stretching out his back, he made a concerted effort to finish the sentence.

"I would be honoured. Your quarters it is - see you there?"

"Computer end program." She called out as the sparring room faded quickly to reveal a room covered with holo-projectors. With a grin and a tip of her head Tarishiana moved into a standing position and headed for the door. She couldn't help but cast a glance back at the Commander where he sat on the floor. She had a shower calling her name and a dinner to replicate.

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