Targets in the Grass (Part 5)

Posted on 04 Dec 2012 @ 8:16pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Chief Warrant Officer 4 Cyrus Kiwosk & Crewman Athlen & Warrant Officer Evan Kell & Petty Officer 3rd Class & Trisant Myrddin
Edited on on 05 Dec 2012 @ 2:54pm

3,995 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: Vega Colony, Galileo Crash Site
Timeline: MD 06 1842

Kiri lifted herself with just her legs from the kneel, still looking rather concerned. The other woman's hands were much warmer than her own, for a moment she forgot about it being there. Then in a flash of realisation Kiri withdrew and bowed her head head a little, that was enough. The situation was making her nervous and if she was nervous then she'd get stupid. In front of everyone as well. Taking a step back Kiri bought a small smile, the redness of her cheeks fading, "Would you like to continue?" Kiri though spurred by her victory did not, still they had started.

There was no way Maenad would throw Kiri to the ground, not even in practice. "No," Maenad shook her head, making a soft sigh, watching the younger woman carefully.

Falling silent Kiri didn't know the reasons. Was it that she had shamed Maenad, that she had hurt her worse than it seemed? Was there something else that was wrong, had she offended her? The sigh made it worse, the eyes watching her, "Yes sir."

Maenad gave Kiri a light smile, but didn't say anything. There was nothing for her to say, really. She couldn't exactly come right out and teller her I could take you down. She was taller and broader than Kiri, and she was much bigger boned too. Kiri might have been vicious, she had sort of just proven that, but in a duel such as this, Maenad felt unmatched. But most of all, Maenad just didn't want to hit, punch, spar, anything with Kiri. She strangely cared too much for her well-being, something else she thought would be inappropriate to say. So, instead, she just have her a friendly sort of smile, hoping that she could communicate the awkwardness of the whole situation.

She didn't get it, she was too worried about the situation. Kiri returned the smile, at least she didn't have to do any more fighting right away. The way things were going she might need to sit down soon, her tired body was starting to give out.

---------------

Athlen and Liyar both fell into an unfamiliar stance, circling one another with equal looks of grim concentration on their faces. Athlen went for an immediate lunge, but was caught out by a heavy smack to the chest that sent him sprawling. He rebounded quickly, darting under another arm and hitting out with several consecutive strikes. They were all blocked efficiently, save for the last chop with much of Athlen's natural strength behind it which got the Vulcan in the throat and forced him to the ground. Between them, both obviously appeared to hold the same general skill, and had silently agreed to a good old fashioned fight.

Kell and Trisant weren't exactly in the same deadlock. Kell discovered with interest that Capellans were stronger than Bajorans, but when he tried to clumsily use that to his advantage, he found himself eating dirt more often than not. "This isn't working out so well," he muttered to himself wryly, pulling himself to his feet again.

Trisant's hearing was also better than Kell would have expected as well. "You're doing well," Trisant told his opponent. He sent a jab sailing for Kell's right flank and the stronger Capellan blocked it. "My offensive attacks aren't getting through, and, besides, you keep standing back up."

Kell hummed a little snatch of a Terran song as he stood back up and fell into an offensive stance once more. I get knocked down, and I get up again...hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm...

In the corner beside them, Liyar moved fast, flipping to his feet and extending his hand out, pressing the tips of his fingers into Athlen's chest. Athlen made an ungraceful noise as the accompanying wave of tarya-yatar hit him like a truck, bringing him to his knees. "Sneaky... Vulcans...!" Athlen grumbled, but wouldn't be deterred. He caught his breath and rose again. Rigelians weren't as strong or as adept in the mind arts as Vulcans, but Rigelians spent their whole lives learning to fight and channel emotions and he was up and at Liyar with heavy blows once more. Both of them were clearly disciplined in their respective styles, punching, kicking in wide sweeping movements and using the hardened boney areas of their bodies to slam into one another unforgivingly.

Kell watched Cyrus who was mimicking the popular stances and jabs, and awkwardly attempted to copy him. He'd had his hand to hand training on the force, but that was escaping holds, using pain compliance. This was different altogether. Sarai was always the Krav Maga champion, Kell just had his hair stuck up all over the place and smudges of dirt on his face. Fortunately for Trisant, he long had the conditioning since he was a child not to lose his temper over it. He stood again, hands in loose fists in front of him, jabbing out at Trisant's shoulder.

"Gah!" Trisant cried out at Kell's first solid hit. Trisant's upper body went careening back, and he used the momentum to send a sweeping kick to Kell's right leg.

Hmm, hmm... "Oof!" Kell breathed out gracelessly as his leg was hooked and he hit the ground unceremoniously. He picked himself up, rolling his eyes heavenward. He darted out once more and wildly flung his hands but once again found himself pinned. This really was not going well...

Meanwhile, both Vulcanoids looked as if they were trying to kill eachother. Liyar with the terrifying efficiency of Vulcan brutality and Athlen, bouncing shallowly on his feet to throw his strength against him. Every time Liyar went in, Athlen would use velocity against force. Every time Athlen went in, Liyar would easy throw him back like he was an irritating fly. As they progressed, they were both looking scrappy. After a while, out of the flurry of movement, Athlen landed a mean roundhouse to Liyar's face. Once again, Liyar went down and Athlen leaped on top of him, placing both hands on the side of Liyar's head in a Rigelian gesture of concession. Hands on the head meant a broken neck. "T'an ser va'l!" Athlen cried victoriously.

"Nekhau nash-veh," Liyar granted with a blink. Athlen rolled off, grinning madly with adrenaline and endorphins while Liyar sat up to catch his breath, looking over at the rest of the partners who were looking as equally as dirty and discomposed as them.

Cyrus watched on at everyone with genuine interest, letting them warm up. Athlen and Liyar were obviously accustomed to hand to hand, Trisant and Kell was your typical brute vs skill, but what was surprising was Panne. Kiri was no pushover, despite her mentality and had the basic stances very even, but Maenad was a black sheep. She wasn't as sloppy her blocks were clean...Cyrus wondered where she would have learned anything during her studies.He shrugged and thought nothing else on it. She was decent, better than he had expected.


Cyrus waited for everyone to finish up. "First thing is a standard jab...Throwing a jab comes as much from the legs as it does the arms." He Shot a flurry of lightning jabs into a nearby dummy. "Notice, legs propel me through the bunch, I'm connecting with my full fist, not one or two knuckles." He slowed down the next set of five jabs so everyone could see. "If you can get in close enough..." He sped back up and landed a massive elbow to the training dummies temple, deforming it. "Your elbow is one of the hardest points in the body. Don't be afraid to hit them with it. "

He stopped shook out the tightness in his arms and shot out an open palm. "Some people don't like an open palm, but I would like to demonstrate it's usefulness...Can I get a volunteer?"

Maenad looked around at the others and saw no volunteers. Being the senior officer, and after having sat out the target practice, she decided to humour Kiwosk and be his 'victim.' She stepped away from Kiri and approached the burly man with a collected unblinking grin on her face. She wasn't afraid of Kiwosk; she found him quite amusing, in fact. "Cyrus," she said with a sardonic grin, her eyes half closed.

Cyrus's eyebrow tilted upwards and chuckled. "You always did want to beat the snot out of me...why not let you." He gestured for Panne to join him.

Maenad only kept her lips flat, her hands clasped behind her back while Cyrus introduced whatever it was they were going to do, her eyes watching him.

Cyrus looked back to the group of individuals. "Now the whole purpose of a palm strike is not so much to hurt the opponent, though you certainly can, but it's to give you some breathing room so you can think of a way out of the situation you are in. " He turned back to Panne and smiled oddly, his mouth only going up on one side as he gauged her potential.

"If the Lieutenant doesn't mind, I'll demonstrate and then you can strike me one..." he offered.

"By all means," she replied quietly, turning up her palms.

Both Athlen and Liyar were interested, setting twin pairs of eyes on the security officer from their seats on the ground. Liyar had one knee drawn up and rested his arm across it in a more casual stance than he usually displayed as they watched Maenad and Cyrus. Open-palm techniques were rarely relied on in Vulcanoid fighting styles, preferring to keep the psionic receptors in their hands shielded using closed fists and forearms. The only time Liyar had uncurled his hands in the entire fight was when he'd applied the tarya-yatar that floored Athlen in the initial stages. Kell was sitting somewhere off to the side of them, looking on while brushing off some dirt from his training uniform.

Nexia sat on the ground, with legs crossed underneath her as she watched with excitement. She was a pacifist, by nature, but she understood the necessity of knowing how to defend ones self.

Kiri stood, watching with great discomfort. Maenad was the person she had the greatest emotional attachment to here, the one she least wanted to see hurt. Yet she was putting herself in harms way. Clutching her own fist at her chest she watched with wide eyes, why couldn't they just demonstrate on holograms?

"So basic palms is as follows. " He moved his palm slowly, pressing gently into Panne's forehead, then chin, against her breastbone, finally the soft spot of her stomach. "The forehead holds a vital pressure point, you can stun someone for a while with a good shot to the forehead. Next up is the chin, you can knock someone off balance and possibly knock them unconscious. Third up his the breastbone which can knock someone as far back as two feet depending on the force. Lastly we have the gun which is not recommended for a palm, but can do some pretty nasty non-lethal damage." He stepped back and put his arms wide inviting a shot from Panne.

"Now that that's underway, I do believe I have a year of biology I have to catch up on. Lieutenant, if you will."

Maenad watched and listened carefully as Cyrus explained pressure points and weak spots. She had only hit a few real people in her life, but had ample experience with holograms. As the senior most officer present, she knew that she had to make a positive impression on those who were there. She knew she could drop Cyrus any number of ways, most of them unconventional, but she had to do it as Cyrus had instructed. Hoping that he underestimated her prowess, and gave it her all. From her statuesque standing position before him, she suddenly bolted into action as a lightning strike. One hand, flat-palmed as Cyrus had talked about, impacted his gut, which bent him forward. Her right hand went to his forehead as he came toward her, pushing his head back. Meanwhile, the left hand that had gone to his stomach was now at the side of his neck, pushing him to the side and into the ground. He hit the ground, she wasn't certain how hard, but she knew it was harder than she had meant. He was tough; he could take it. With a restrained smile on her face, Maenad closed her mouth and bit the inside of her lips. She replaced a few strands of unkempt hair behind an ear and straightened her dress, looking down at Cyrus. Part of her was expecting him to get up and break her over his knee, and she naturally withdrew a step backward, but that funny smile was still on her face.

Panne's attack was effective, forcing him down to one knee before knocking him into the ground. He still under estimated the Lieutenant as he began to shake uncontrollably.

The air was knocked out of him and he was desperately gasping for air before he started laughing, half in pain, half at the mental image of the wisp of a woman beating the snot of out the burly marine. He rolled over slowly trying to catch his breathe, but it induced another fit of laughter. He got up onto his feet eventually, still chuckling as he looked to the group of individuals. "So...I do believe that everyone has seen that it doesn't take much to knock someone my size to the ground. " He cracked his neck and chuckled again. "You strike like a girl." He joked, though it was only half hearted.

Having his breathe once more he assessed the damage done. His gut was fine, though the side of his face felt sore, it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. A memory flashed back to Fernandez punching him in the face and he twitched slightly. She certainly had speed, but she exerted way too much on each blow.

"Lieutenant...now that you have rattled my brain properly. Two things." He said as he held up two fingers. "First. Is that you don't need so much a wind up when you strike. You get just as much power from extending your arm as you get from moving your body with it. A palm isn't a jab...The second." He continued. "Is that you don't want to aim for the gut first with a palm. It worked because I let you." He said matter of factly. Kiwosk snapped a kick without out warning, that stopped breathes from her gut, while he extended his own hand to her forehead faster than a man his size should have done. He never made contact, he wasn't trying to get even just to better instruct.

Maenad flinched when Cyrus came at her with an unexpected kick. She instinctively grabbed the underside of his thigh just above the pit of his knee with her left hand and grabbed his ankle with the other, preparing to twist it and throw him to the ground if she needed to. She didn't, though, because she knew they weren't demonstrating kicks right now.

In a serious voice he continued. "Try a kick for the gut, it's safer and doesn't leave you as open. Your fast enough Lieutenant so you could probably get away with the rest of your attack as so." He shrugged. "That's all I can really say. Your quick, and speed keeps you alive."

With a little flushing in her cheeks, even though she didn't much like Kiwosk, it felt good to be complimented by him. A part of her was still expecting him to take her down, but he didn't. And she would have kicked him if he had told her to try whatever she wanted; she had always been fast and strong in the legs. Perhaps she was overconfident, but she thought she could break ribs with her kick. Maenad ignored the comment about letting her knock him over - the fact that he had laughed so hard, and for as long as he did, told her that she had surprised the hell out of him. That was just Cyrus' good old pride talking. Maenad returned to the group, standing beside Kiri and still smirking somewhat. She had wanted to do that for a long time.

Kiri let out a small gasp when she saw the kick, so sure that it would hit. In her own mind this was clearly not a good idea any more, there was too much chance people would be hurt. Next time, if there was a next time she would leave out the close combat training. She could just do it with Mor'an, that was safer.

"Now as for the rest of it lets begin." Cyrus explained his way through basic side and front kick, and various holds, in the same manner being clear, precise and letting them all practice.

Maenad looked down at Kiri, who was obviously perturbed by her inadvertently hurting her and probably the whole exercise in general. It was getting dark out now too, and she thought this should be wrapped up. "Mister Kiwosk," Maenad took a few steps forward, "I think we should call it quits sooner than later; maybe we pick up here next time?" She was by no means ordering him, and her tone made it sound more like an advisable suggestion more than anything.

Cyrus looked at Panne. "If you're asking for my opinion Lieutenant-Professor, I would say that if you are sparring you're going to get a little bruise and possibly a cut, but this isn't my call. I'm not running the show here."

Maenad frowned for a second, not quite following him, before realising that he had missed her meaning. It was probably her fault; she always assumed that she made perfect sense, but without context she saw where Cyrus was coming from. She rubbed her shoulder, then laughed a little. "No, I meant it's getting dark," she half whispered.

He shrugged. "I taught them everything I was planning so really it's practice until they don't want to practice anymore..." He sighed. "Which means that I'll start with the tearing down of the shooting range soon."

But, he was right; Kiri was the one who had organised all of this, Maenad thought as she turned around and looked at Kiri. "How late do you intend this to go?" she asked her apologetically.

Kiri paused, not sure which of them she should be looking at, "Um, well, not too late." That wasn't an answer and she knew it, she had planed for it to end when everyone was ready for it, "Have you had enough?" She turned to everyone else. This entire thing was really for them, so it didn't really matter what she thought.

Liyar looked up and regarded Kiri. "I am amenable to concluding today's events at this juncture," he spoke agreeably, mostly because he wasn't sure what else to do. "I am also amenable to continuing, should the majority wish it." Well, that was a rather non-descriptive answer.

"Well, it is getting a little late, and some of us have shift," Athlen pointed out. "I say we end it for now and call it back another day to continue?" Athlen suggested with an easy wave of his hand.

Maenad looked at Liyar as he spoke, then to Athlen who picked up where the Vulcan had left off. Then she looked at Kiwosk's face, even though he hadn't said anything yet, then she looked to Kiri to gauge her reaction. She felt like she had crashed the party; her awkwardness was sometimes more impressive than it was uncomfortable. Holding her palms out in front of her, Maenad felt her back straighten. "I was only asking; don't feel like we need to end because of me," she defended herself, though her tone was one part sincere, one part joking, and the rest a jumble of mixed emotions.

Athlen gave Maenad a bright smile, reassuring and decidedly counter-awkward, comfortable in his own skin as he was. "I think you're right to bring it up," he said lightly. Liyar decided to let the sociologist handle it, because he was realizing how very simple things went when he didn't say anything at all. The sky was streaking red and yellow, and he settled down to watch the sun setting low in the horizon. "And, this is Class-H. We're going to be getting very cold, very soon," Athlen pointed out, looking over the large desert expanse as the muted colors of the sky darkened.

Maenad acknowledged Athlen, but didn't speak. She looked up at the coloured sky and thought it looked nice. A twinge of homesickness then struck her, and not for San Francisco of Montreal, but her parents' house in the countryside around Nantes. It annoyed her that she had to feel like this right now, of all times. And the suddenness of it bothered her too. The feeling grew until Kiri said something.

Trying to find her footing Kiri spoke a little louder but not that much, "Then maybe it is best we save it for another day." It hadn't been fun for her, not really. It had been educational and she felt her skills had improved a little. More than that she had new words to think on about herself. Tired she looked to Maenad for approval.

"Well done," Maenad said to her and everyone, even though she was looking at Kiri. Her voice was uplifting and thankful, thankful to have been distracted from her thoughts.

Kiri found a smile for her, "Thank you for helping," If it wasn't for her then maybe she'd have had to be the example and have Kiwosk kicking at her. It would be rather horrible to be on the reviving end of that.

"Sounds good to me then." He turned to look at the rest of the people still participating. "Alright, stop punching each other before you all lose a tooth or something. We're done for today." His deep bellowing drill sergeant voice seemed to carry with ease across the field.

Lt. Rhodes approached Chief Kiwosk as the group began to disband from the area. He had watched the training from a distance, tending to other needs, but came back to watch the training. Stopping beside the Chief, Rhodes said, "Fine work today Chief." with an encouraging tempo in his voice.

He glanced at Rhodes and smiled. "Thanks boss. I appreciate it. It's been forever that I taught someone instead of just doing it." He rolled his shoulder and sighed. "Though I feel bad for Stealing Lieutenant Cho's thunder a bit. She was having issues with the Type three and I think I came down on her harder than she's use to..."

"Not to worry," Rhodes replied, "She has to be able to take some critique and work through it. I'll touch base with her later."

Nexia smiled as she was impressed with how well everyone had done so far, even if she only shot the rifle a couple of times.

Cyrus thought on this and nodded. "Good to know. Thanks boss."

[OFF]

CWO Kiwosk
Security / Tactical
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 3rd Class Nexia Alona
Oceanology Specialist
USS Galileo

Lt. Theron Rhodes
Asst. Chief of Security
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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

Warrant Officer Evan Kell
Intelligence Officer, SFI
USS Galileo

Crewman Athlen
Sociologist, SCC
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 1st Class Trisant Myrddin
Stellar Cartographer
USS Galileo

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