Question of Links - (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on 08 Aug 2012 @ 12:08am by Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Lieutenant JG Kestra Orexil & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Marek Pawlak (KIA)

3,241 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, Security Office/Armory
Timeline: MD07 - 1952 hrs

[ON]


Security Office - 1952 hrs


When she gauged they'd had enough of a breather, Kestra unzipped her jacket and hung it neatly over the back of a chair, flexing her arms behind her back and cracking her neck on her way to the center of the room. "Well said, Ensign Rhodes. Are you ready for round two?"

Theron watched as she hung her jacket, and after she spoke he did not take his eyes off of her. He set the bottle of water down with out taking his eyes from her and talked further out onto the mat. Then taking up a defensive posture said, "At your pleasure, Sir." He felt a adolescent twinge to turn and see how Aria was reacting to this, but knew better.

Kestra watched him curiously, remaining still where she stood. Her hands hung loosely at her sides; her knees slightly bent. She looked for all the world like she were about to stretch, not fight. "I am pleased," she invited him with a slight nod.

Theron nodded slightly in return and shifted his point of balance, sliding his left foot out slightly, bring his right forward defensively.

She considered his stance and remained exactly where she was. There were a couple ways to get him out of balance, but that wasn't the point she was trying to show them. So she smiled, harmless and still. And waited.

Theron knew that this situation was totally different. He knew she would be prepared for any type of attach. He felt his role here was to impress her, and not to win. He estimated only a 25% chance of winning in this situation. He then calculated that there was a 5% more likelihood of first strike with a frontal assult. In one fluid movement, Theron brought up his front foot, pivoted his back hip and leg, and kicked forcefully directly at her.

Kestra sidestepped the kick neatly, tapping his ankle lightly with the back of her hand as she moved to throw him off the course, her hands moving in a smooth, arcing gesture.

She was prepared. He tucked and rolled to the left, coming up on his side and using his hands for balance, swept her legs and then propelling himself up onto his feet.

She took a wide step over his sweeping leg, lifting her stationary leg just as he reached it to finish the step, brought her hands up and down on a breath, and rolled one hand as she turned back to face him, one palm up as though beckoning him. "Good reflexes," she encouraged him. He was fast and strong, but she could read his body language like a map to the next move.

'She was good.' he thought. Better than good to read him like that. He immediately stepped forward with multiple strikes and blocks.

It wasn't easy, but she held her ground, moving each attack out of the way and trying to slide in past his guard. But he maintained. For almost a minute, they circled each other that way, arms and legs mirroring and overlapping like salmon leaping at the churning base of a waterfall.

He pulled back to get his bearings after that melee of action. Theron moved side to side a bit gauging her reaction. He then launched himself into the air towards her with a flying roundhouse kick, which he expected her to evade, but then brought down his rear fist to her shoulder.

Kestra sidestepped the kick and, in doing so, nearly missed the incoming strike. His fist made contact with her shoulder and she dropped with it, sinking down and forward in sync with the motion of the attack and taking his forearm and wrist with her hands as she hit her knees, drawing him forward over her shoulder towards the floor.

He had hoped that he would not be countered and flung, but she was good. As Orexil went down Theron was pulled, as well, over her shoulder and onto the floor with a thud. His landing was not as graceful as he would have liked. Rolling away, he went to a very low defensive stance, crouched a meter away.

Kestra drew back, searching his stance. "Try stopping me from reaching her," she said quietly, striding towards Aria purposefully.

Theron reacted quickly to sudden change in the training situation. With two strides he had caught up to her and grabbed for her about the waist and hips, twisting his body in hopes to cause her to go off balance and to the deck.

She exhaled as he picked her up, twisting her leg back around to catch just behind his knee to topple him with her. But he didn't fall. Good stance, she thought as her upper body anchored towards the floor. She tapped her hands against the carpet and shoved herself back up, wrenching to grab his shoulder and pull him off balance from the top. Still nothing. The other shoulder, an arm, she shifted her weight, twisted, bucked... he was solid. She smiled at him. She'd been needing someone on her team who could work as a bodyguard. "Nicely done," she said, letting go and bending into a backbend to escape the hold.

Theron released his hold at her comment and backed a step or so away, breathing hard. He nodded to her approval. He had no desire to act proud. He also needed to breath after all that action. He glanced at Aria and smiled just a touch shyly.

Aria smiled gently as she nodded, taking a breath. "That was really good," she said, to both of them. She was nervous now, which made her movements twitchy. She wasn't going to be as good as those two.

"You're up, Rice," Kestra waved Aria forward. "It's not a competition," she replied to the nerves wafting off the smaller woman. "Just show me your strengths."

Theron stepped to the side of the room and gave an encouraging wink to Rice.

Aria let out a breath and nodded. She moved forward, her eyes lowered as she shook her arms out, trying to loosen her muscles up. "Whenever you are ready, Lieutenant."

Kestra rolled her shoulders down and back and rested her hands at her sides with a slight smile. "As you will, ensign."

Aria watched her before moving. If Kestra would defend, then Aria had to attack. She moved lightly on her feel, aiming an almost classic boxer punch at Kestra.

Kestra swept her arm outward smoothly, blocking and moving Aria's arm to thrust harmlessly past her and stepping out of her range. "Use your strengths," she repeated, watching the smaller woman's movements. "Focus on what you want to accomplish."

Aria watched her for a long moment, almost twitching. "I don't want to end up in the brig," she muttered before taking a breath. She was a dancer on a stage...that was what she always thought. She moved quickly, spinning, aiming a kick at her side.

Kestra's eyes lit as she barely avoided the well-aimed kick. Quick. Very quick. And the spin had hidden her directional intent. She hoped Theron was paying attention. They could both learn from each other's strengths. "It wouldn't be so very different from being on desk duty," she returned, nudging the kicking leg down and past her torso to see if she could knock the other woman off her balance.

Rhodes had been watching from the sidelines. He considered many times making a comment, but thought better to not.

Aria turned with the leg, taking a steadying breath. Keeping her centre wasn't always easy. She watched Kestra and aimed a hit at her, moving forward quickly. In truth, she was nervous that she would actually connect with her.

Kestra felt the nerves flowing off the smaller woman and didn't even move as the fist hurtled towards her. It thrust right past her left ear as she held Aria's eyes. "You can disable an opponent without punching them in the face," she said, taking hold of the arm right next to her head and dropping down to one knee, pulling the woman over her shoulder and to the ground. "Orient yourself to what you want to accomplish, not to the harm of your opponent. We are not the judge or jury. We are here only to keep others from causing harm to themselves and others." She checked Aria over quickly, making sure there was no injury from the drop, and stepped away. "Come again," she instructed quietly. "Focus. I will be fine," she added with a wink.

Theron put his hand over his mouth. The thought, ' . . will be fine,' came to his mind. He had this odd feeling that Kestra was about to be decked.

Aria looked at her, breathing harder. "Not about focusing. More about not hurting a..." she moved forward and did another kick...one that went high, up the side of Kestra body and then sharply down, towards her shoulder. "Superior."

Kestra ducked just in time to avoid getting a shoulder full of heel, and rolled to the side to rest on the balls of her feet a space away, sweeping one leg out to tug Aria's standing leg out from under her... and was sidestepped. Kestra exhaled, smiling gently as she drew her leg back, and murmured, "I'm touched by your concern for my well-being." She rolled forward, two fast somersaults, and pushed up, wrapping her legs around Aria's neck and tucking her abdomen to pull the smaller woman forward, over herself, to the ground.

Aria went flying over Kestra, the velocity too much for her to avoid. She cried out with the shock of it, hitting the ground hard. She grabbed the legs and dug her nails in, twisting her body to get the legs from her neck. She felt like a walking bruise, her hair a wild mess and her makeup smudged as it became less of a game and more for her to get the other woman off her, now!

Kestra winced as the girl landed, hard, with no attempt at rolling or protecting herself. The Betazoid felt the shock of it like a tremor through her own body and she paused for a moment, on her knees, gasping from the impact the other woman had felt before she slumped off to the side, pressing a hand to her side. Panic and pain and shock. Kestra took a deep breath, dragging her shields up so she could get a hold of herself and then the situation. "Rhodes. Medkit under the table. Grab it." She knelt next to Aria, carefully not touching her. "I thought you would roll the impact," she said worriedly. "Try not to move. Can you move your feet?"

Rhodes knelt on the other side of Aria with the medkit and tricorder already in hand. He slowly moved it over Aria body.

Aria groaned and wriggled her toes, looking at her for a moment. "Dude..." she touched her own neck, pushing herself up. "'m fine...and when was the last time you managed to roll with someone having twenty pounds on you having her legs wrapped 'round your neck?" she moved her neck awkwardly before letting out a breath. She felt bruised, but she didn't have backpain. She had been doing this long enough to know when something felt wrong and while she was in pain it wasn't the sort of odd pain that came with actual injuries.

"You have bruising of neck muscles and strains in the muscles down your back, etc, etc." Theron stated looking at the device in his hand. He looked at the two officers with pursed lips. He knew this could either blow up or defuse in front of him. It was really up to them.

"I've been neck-locked by Klingons who outweighed me by more than twenty," Kestra said, relieved the girl seemed to have come through all right. "The trick is landing your feet ahead of the rest of you and rolling your spine to the ground." She rested her hand on Aria's back gently. "We can work on it. With mats. You're sure you're all right? There's no shame in calling sickbay."

"Actually, I am fine and no, I would rather not 'work on it'," Aria said and pulled away from her touch, frowning. She got herself standing, taking a deeper breath as she ran a harsh hand over her own arm, almost to force herself to snap back into it.

Theron slowly stepped back from the situation. He definately did not want to be in her range of when and if the emotions flew.

Kestra rose slowly, carefully cracking her shields to allow Rice's emotions in again. What she found was more complex than simple discomfort. "I'd rather you got it out of your system now, than let it fester," she said quietly.

"There is nothing to fester," Aria said and rolled her shoulders. "We done for now, ma'am? Could use a shower."

'Ohh, that is not going to go well.' Rhodes thought. 'She may be hiding something or not really willing to open up about something.'

Kestra's lips curled slightly in a mild expression of amusement. Not mirth. Just dull amusement. "'We' are not," she answered cooly. "You are on duty until zero-hundred. Rhodes will be dismissed. After you've both been debriefed. If you don't require medical attention, you'll get your PADD and take a seat. I sent you both a mission briefing after we met earlier today; have you had a chance to look it over yet?"

Theron cringed slightly at the change in the Leutenants tact. "Yes, Ma'am." he stated, "We have brought aboard senitive materials and equipment, which needs to be safeguarded at all cost."

If Aria noticed the change in atmosphere from her Chief, she didn't let on. She nodded to what Theron said. "Scientists and their...well, equipment, ma'am."

Kestra nodded, "Sensitive is right, Ensign Rhodes. Their research is highly classified and it is our job to get them safely from here to the next stop Command has planned for them. These are very smart people who have been largely alienated due to the nature of their studies. They don't necessarily have the command of social niceties one might wish for, so I'm going to need someone to keep an eye on them. Help them get what they need during the next few days, navigate them through the ship, etc. Rice; you'll do nicely. You can check in with them when we're done here." She picked up her PADD. "Now, who can tell me the three safety zones on this ship in the event of an emergency?"

"Yes." He wanted to be sarcastic to such an elementary questions, but just answered appropriately, "Bridge, Engineering, and computer core."

Kestra considered him. "And why is that?"

Theron responded, "Loosing control over any one of those areas would compromise the Captain's ability to control the ship."

"Right. So how do we go about protecting those areas of the ship?"

Aria kept herself silent, her eyes focused ahead. It looked like Kestra and Theron were having a buit of a conversation and she didn't want to intrude on it. Not when he was on a roll anyway. And her last answer had been ignored as well, so it didn't seem like much of a point.

Ens. Rhodes eyes flickered over to Ens. Rice and back to the Lieutenant. He had thought this questioning was going to be for the two of them, but with the continued focus on him, he was becoming concerned for Rice.

Rhodes replied quickly to the Lieutenant, "We deploy armed defensive teams to those specific areas first and other locations if man power is available." At this point he dared no look again to Rice. He had to be at his best for the both of them.

Aria, however, looked at Rhodes, giving a weak nod to the words. Textbook, and she was glad he was smart enough to say it as such. She would have been messing around with the wording. Which made her surprisingly glad he was there with her.

Kestra watched them both closely. Rhodes was clearly doing his best to focus and ease what he perceived as a rift between herself and Rice; another excellent quality in a bodyguard. Rice, however... It worried Kestra that the girl was taking a simple hand to hand combat excercise so personally... to the point where she was allowing it to make her recalcitrant in a briefing. Her questions were all open, yet Theron seemed to be the only one interested in replying, and Kestra could feel Aria's mood darkening by the minute. Unfortunate. She had such a lot of promise, but her attitude was going to hamper her if she kept it up. Once more, she opened her next question to the room, "In a situation with limited manpower, where would the first most important safety zone be on this ship?"

"Sickbay, ma'am," Aria said, her voice soft as she glanced down. "And the lounge, should civilians be gathered there."

Rhodes was very glad to hear Rice's voice. He nodded, "Agreed." He said with a supportive tone.

Kestra shook her head, "On another ship you might be right, but here, the lounge is off limits. On the Galileo, the best tactical scenario for civilian and non-security personnel will be the mess hall. We've got holographic camouflage in place to hide the entrance and a variety of security measures to protect those inside. Sickbay, yes. Are you both clear on the best tactical paths between mess, sickbay, and the escape shuttles?"

"The mess hall..." Aria arched an eyebrow before sighing. Something new to get used to. She liked the observation lounge, especially since on Nova class ships they tended to double as a recreational area. She closed her eyes, taking a breath. "Sickbay is on deck 4, there are no escape pods on that deck. However, there are some on decks 1, 2, 3 and 8. Mess hall is on deck 2. In an event of an evacuation, getting people from sickbay to deck 3 would be easiest. The best tactical paths were in our briefing pack, however should any area be compromised we will have to adjust accordingly, ma'am."

Theron could have hit himself. He knew that from reviewing the tactical schematics of the Nova Class vessel. He did feel good that Rice had answered the question well.

Kestra looked at both ensigns and then at them again. "You both have done very well this evening." She paused another second and said, "Dismissed."

The two security officers turned away in unison appearing glad the ordeal was over.

Then as an afterthought Lt. Kestra spoke up, "Ens. Rhodes."

Rhodes turned about replying, "Yes, Ma'am?"

"I'm going to have you pull special duty tonight on the Bridge. Report to the tactical station for Gamma Shift."

Rhodes hesitated a second thinking over all the posiible ramifications, then nodded and said positively, "Yes, Ma'am."



[OFF]

--

LTJG Kestra Orexil
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Ens. Theron Rhodes
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Ens. Aria Rice
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Master Warrant Officer Marek Pawlak
Asst. Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Rhodes
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo



- - We would like to thank and honor the leadership and friendship that Katrin has give us since coming on board the Galileo.

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