DAY 02: Finding Strength [1800 hrs.]
[ Mess Hall | Deck 09 ] Attn: All
After yesterdays' memorial service, followed by the onset of the drills that were taking place in the holodecks to prepare the crew for the mission to SB84, the crew of the Theurgy was understandably sombre. Captain Ives noted this as he looked around the mess hall, the time of 1800 hrs. being when the majority of the Alpha-shift chose to dine there. As dire as the times had been for them, they still had a mission, and they would have to work through it. For now, they had to carry on, getting on with the act of living and put their hearts into what might be the last battle they'd had to fight. Stepping out into the seated people, Jien looked around, oaken eyes settling on a few of his junior officers. He had an idea, but he needed some help. "What say we all hit the gymnasium on Deck 07, work up a sweat."
Not exactly an order, the nine junior officers seated at the table would not dare let themselves be shown up by a more senior officer, especially their Commanding Officer. Some of them might already be sore from the drills that Wenn Cinn and Carrigan Trent had put them through, but Jien was pleased when the vast bulk of them decided to join him. He looked around to the others in the mess hall. "What say you? Surely there are more of you ready to join?"
In the end, a lot of people were trailing in Jien's wake when, and with quiet word to Thea, more people that weren't on duty soon learned what was going on. All too soon, the gymnasium were filled with people, grunting and sweating as they worked out together. Jien was there alongside them, and few spoke, a silent bond of shipborne kinship enabling an almost psychic communication between them. It was as if they all knew that the last few days might be their last, but if they were to die, it would be fighting for what was right - that they were indeed the guiding light that Jien has said they were.
It did not last, that moment, for as Ives watched, he could see that though everyone was working out steadily, their hearts faltered. From memories, or in thoughts of their loved ones on their home planets, he did not know. It was due time, he knew, so he stepped away from the sand bag he was at. He managed to discreetly have a quiet word with Lt. zh'Wann, the Deputy Chief Security officer. She looked at him at first in confusion, then she understood and gave him a wry grin and a nod.
As he returned to the sand bag he watched as zh'Wann spoke with two men from security, and then, only a minute later, the two men choreographed a perfect set of accidents that led to them starting a shouting match. The kind that looked to break out into blows at any moment. Ives stormed across the room in mock anger. "Belay all this!" He then looked around after giving faint smile to the two that had pretended to have an argument. "Seems this could best be settled in the ring!"
When everyone caught on to what was happening, a cry came up from the gym, as by now all had stopped what they were doing to watch the goings on. Someone began to talk to Thea, eager to use the hologrid turn on the 'ring' setting. Ives stopped him. "Never mind all that, we have all we need here. Everyone, grab a sandbag!"
A minute later, two large circles had been constructed in the middle of the gym out of the sandbags. Jien stepped into the closest one, still wearing loose and black gym trousers and a white tanktop since this hardly called for a change into uniform. He turned as he spoke, facing them all. "The usual rules should suffice. After you two are done, I think I will have a round against any challenger. In fact, Deputy zh'wann," he nodded to a nearby Andorian "sign up all challengers, make it a tournament.
Faces which had been sad and sombre an hour earlier were beginning to show life, as all manner of people on his crew raced to sign up, or place wagers on the outcomes. Inside the ring, the two fighters were limbering up and stretching, dropping the pretence since the event had been orchestrated. Stepping past Lieutenant zh'Wann, she gave Jien a nod of approval, and he settled to watch and wait for his first challenger. The Andorian also announced that she'd take any challenger, and whoever was approached first might just as well take the second ring.
Watching, Jien was pleased to have done what he could for crew morale. He would make sure the Beta and Gamma shifts could partake in their own tournaments, and he would try to come up with some kind of prize for the winners.
OOC: I throw in Jien and Ida to be challenged by whoever posts first, please don't hog both for yourself, though, but pick one of them. If you would rather enter your characters as challengers and not challenge Jien or Ida, that works too. The rules, if required, can be specified in the OOC thread.
[ Eun Sae Ji | Gymnasium | Deck 07 ] Attn: All
Eun Sae was more than a little bit caught off guard when members of her team had come to fetch her from the hangar. To be fair she was just getting off from her shift when they'd shown up but it wasn't every day her co-workers showed up to drag her by the arms to the gym. When they finally arrived she found out why they had been so eager to drag her up here. She felt a hard slap hit right between her shoulder blades "You can do it Ji do some of that awesome kicking stuff you do on the holo-deck!" He heard from one of the deck crew. Eun Sae was about to refuse but one look at the others who had accompanied them managed to persuade her. She could see the excitement shining in their eyes and part of her couldn't bear to extinguish that excitement by refusing.
"Fine...But don't be all dissapointed when I lose in the 1st round." Eun Sae muttered rubbing the back of her neck. She wished she'd at least had a moment to change into something a bit more fitting for the occasion. She sighed before unzipping the front of her jumpsuit slipping her arms from the sleeves and winding the sleeves around her waist through the belt loops turning it into a makeshift belt before tying it into a knot. Before she could move to even sign up one of her companions broke from the group to inform Deputy Chief zh'Wann that Eun Sae would be participating in the tournament. "I don't get why you guys are so hyped up for this..." Eun Sae muttered blushing faintly as a few of the more overzealous members of her group began to cheer her on even before she'd even begun to participate.
Eun Sae looked between the two possible choices for her first opponent the 1st was the Captain himself Jien Ives, The second was Deputy Security Chief zh'Wann. From what she knew both of them were seasoned fighters. "Here goes..." Eun Sae muttered as she removed her boots and socks and set them aside before approaching Captain Ives. She took a deep breath through her nose and let it out through her mouth. "Captain I'd like to challenge you to a match." Eun Sae said. Did Eun Sae think she could win? Not really but that didn't mean she wasn't going to not try at her choice in first opponent she heard a few whoops of excitement from her companions causing her cheeks to flush once more. "Do you accept sir?" Eun Sae asked.
Standing with his arms crossed, Jien watched the development of the tournament from where he stood - so far the only match being between the two enisted that Ida had asked to help out in instigating the sparring contest.
Before the spar came to an end, Jien noticed how a woman of Asian heritage - much like his own two Chosen Forms - stepped up to him. He smiled faintly and turned to face her, and she offered her challenge to a spar in a very respectful way. He inclined his head to her, almost as if bowing to her, before he spoke. He knew her, of course, since she had been with them since the onset of the Valkyrie program, well before the entire crew became outlaws. "I accept your challenge, Petty Officer Ji. Let's use the second ring."
Moving there, the crowd cheered when they saw that a second fight would begin, and that it was the Captain that would be fighting a challenger. Jien had, admittedly, not as good a grasp on the hearsay about fighting prowess, but he had come to understand that Petty Officer Ji was a fighter, and that the challenge was an earnest one. Turning to face her, Jien rolled his shoulders and let his morphogenic matrix prepare him for the battle - increasing the blood-flow in his veins and limbering up his musculature. A subtle change of his form that wasn't visible to the naked eye, unless someone wad directing a medical tricorder towards him. He spoke to her, and did so while spreading his fingers, another change to his form at first making his hands tied in white cloth, and then fitted with slim Starfleet issue boxing gloves. His bare feet became similarly bedecked by slim padding.
"I have heard about your feats during the battle," he told her, his friendly yet faint smile remaining, "and I know that it was thanks to you that the Lone Wolves could launch in time. You have my personal gratitude, for stepping up to the task when needed. It is with officers like you that I believe we have a chance to accomplish our mission."
While he spoke, Ida had fetched fighting gear for Eun Sae and she threw it out into the ring one piece at the time so that the Petty Officer could get ready. Once both combatants were all set, Ida blew the whistle that she had brought with the events fighting gear. The first signal was for preparation, and then, she blew it a second time, and the spar began. Jien began to circle Eun Sae, letting her deal the preliminary strikes first.
Eun Sae smiled as Jien accepted her challenge and followed him to the second ring moving to her side. Standing at her side of the ring were various members of the deck crew who apparently had pushed their way to the front of the crowd to cheer her on. She began to warm up performing a few stretches to warm up and limber up her muscles. As Jien spoke to her she looked up toward him as she continued to stretch. She gave the man a warm smile as she finally straightened up. "I just did my job Captain that's all." Eun Sae said rubbing the back of her neck refraining.
As Ives spoke Deputy Security Chief zh'Wann began toss protective fighting gear into the ring consisting of a pair of padded Starfleet issue boxing gloves along with shin and guards for her feet. As each piece came Eun Sae put it on making sure everything was properly fitted before the Ida blew the whistle. As the first whistle blew brought brought her feet apart raising her fists up to level with her shoulders. As the second whistle blew she matched Jien's movements keeping a sharp eye on his movements as she was sure he was doing the same to her.
As they continued to circle one another Eun Sae bit her lip debating on if she should wait for Jien to make the first move or go on the offensive. The choice was made quickly as Eun Sae moving forward toward Jien taking swift short steps keeping her feet close to the ground before quickly firing off three rapid side kicks from her leading foot towards the left side of her opponent's rib cage.
Watching the Petty Officer, Jien was prepared for her when she closed the distance with a series of quick steps. With his rear foot leading, he stepped away from the direction of her mid-level kicks, bringing up both his forearms to block the consecutive attacks.
And as the last one was issued against his guard, he made his own move. The counter was as simple as it was tough to deal with unless you saw it coming. With his guard raised and facing Ji's kicks, he stepped in, putting his foot behind the foot she still had planted on the floor, and he dealt an open hand strike against her midriff. Either it would drive the air out of her lungs, or he would sent her falling - or rolling - away from him. Either that, or she had a counter in store for him in case he got up close to her. With his experience and quick feet, it was a calculated risk, but not so much calculated as it was fighter instinct. The thoughtless kind of decision derived from decades of practice.
If he would get her on her back, he would be a gentleman and let her get up again. Then, he would take the initiative, and he would come at her with with a series of left and right hooks, followed by changing his form to his smaller one... and she would seamlessly crouch down to sweep Ji's legs out with her leg.
Each of Eun Sae's kicks were stopped by the wall that her opponent had put up and before she had time to think the man had stepped in closer into her guard. She quickly brought her leading foot back down behind her planted one and struck out with her forearm batting away the opened palmed strike at her center of gravity. Rather than retreating Eun Sae's hands shot out her palms striking out at Jien's solar plexus to hopefully knock him back to create some breathing space for herself.
If successful she'd quickly attempt to capitalize on her brief moment to get her bearings and once more set out on another offensive shifting into a standard Taekwondo Beom Seogi stance keeping the knee of her leading leg bent with the heel of her leading foot off the ground before sending another volley of kicks toward Jien's right side each kick rising with each possible impact starting at the knee up to his side and finally rising to strike at his shoulder.
The Petty Officer was quick, and she managed to maintain her balance and defend herself against his strike, her counter being a two-handed strike meant to gain her some breathing-space and solidly re-establish her balance again. Jien grunted and absorbed the attack against his torso by willingly stepping backwards, not taking the brunt of the force, and then he reasserted his guard stance - two open hands poised for interception and assault.
Next, Ji was right at it again, her fighting style of kicks becoming more and more plain. A series of attacks, powerful and perfectly dealt, came at him from his right side. In order to lessen the blows, he circled around her as he blocked the strikes with his crossed forearms or by raising his chin - deflecting it with his leg and trying to keep his balance doing so. He bided his time on the defensive until the altitude of her attacks increased, which was when she was the most unbalanced if her centre of gravity was challenged. His forearms were hurting a bit despite the padding, but in the end, it was his turn.
When the kick at the height of his shoulder came, he changed... to her female form, and she ducked a little to make the kick pass by above her head. When one delivered an attack, it was not meant to strike the surface of the target area, but a point well beyond it, which was the very momentum that might make Eun Sae's side and perhaps even her back exposed. Jien's female form was quicker too, if not as powerful, so she struck like a viper against the opening. A kick straight into the bend of the Petty Officer's knee while she only had one foot on the floor, followed by a left and a right hook into her ribcage. Those two strikes might just hit Eun Sae in the head if she went down on one knee from Jien's kick. If she could follow through, the third swing was meant to floor her - a piercing cry dealt with the strike.
Once more Eun Sae felt each of her strikes land against the solid guard of her opponent. The last kick however hit nothing but air flying over Jien's head the moment she felt her kick go wide her eyes widened. She quickly moved as quickly as possible to bring her kicking leg back down but a quick kick straight to the back of her knee brought her down to one knee. One fist landed her right in the cheek snapping her head to the left she brought her arms up quickly and felt another punch crash into her forearm. Even through the padding designed to protect her she felt the force of the hit hard.
She quickly snapped back to her feet stumbling a few steps back regaining her footing and bringing a hand up to rub her cheek opening her mouth to move her jaw a bit to ensure it was still set properly. "C'mon Ji get in there!!" One of the members of her team called from the sidelines. Eun Sae took a deep breath before retaking her stance wincing as she felt a slight pain in her knee. She chose to ignore it however as she once more rushed forward wasting no time in launching forward into another assault raising her knee and quickly firing off a combo of fast paced kicks the first kick aimed at Jien's knee her leg bending slightly before snapping forward again the strike out again at her opponent's chest before planting her leading foot back onto the ground and moving her body into a side stance before bringing her back leg up and rotating her body and launching a spinning back heel kick at the side of Jien's head.
As soon as the combo was finished she would revert back to a forward stance her fists raised to defend herself.
[Nathaniel "Maverick" Isley | Gymnasium | Deck 07 ] Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann,
(https://img05.deviantart.net/d370/i/2015/303/8/7/nathaniel___maverick___isley_by_auctor_lucan-d9evi5n.png)
To say that Nathan needed a work out was an understatement, so when Thea had informed him about something going down in the gymnasium and that those off duty would be welcome to join he was more then excited. It hadn't been a long time since he had been involved in a fist fight, but it had been a much needed thing to get into.
Entering the gymnasium he swallowed slightly feeling the excitement of the crowd as he watched Ives enter into a match with Eun Sae, and she wasn't doing that badly from what he could see. It brought back one small and happy memory that was rather amusing, especially when her body shifted to the female form. It was a little hard to keep up with pronouns that Nathan should use with the captain.
Stepping up to the ring of sandbags it seems Ida had yet to have a challenger of her own. The andorian was still taking notes for people to set up their own fights. "I'll take you on Ida, stop writing down names, and step into the ring." He said stepping forward. After all the somberness that had taken place over the last two days, with the ceremonies and everything else he was feeling the emotional fatigue if nothing else a match like this would help to clear his head.
Really how hard could Ida hit? It wasn't that she was a woman it was more that he had full confidence in his half Vulcan blood. And compared to his strength that of an Andorran? well actually he was more than excited to see how her strength would hold up. Deputy security cheif wasn't a rank they just handed out after all.
"Don't worry I will try and scale back my strength for you." He said giving her a bit of a cocky grin as he stepped into the ring. He doubted that he would be able to live up to that kind of boast, he would probably need of all of his strength for this fight.
[ Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: RosariaRosette
Jien quickly raked back her dark hair from her face when her opponent retreated. She showed good form by not exploiting the moment of pursuing Ji, her recovering after she sustained a hit to her face. The spar had more or less just begun after all. Focused, Jien kept her female form and waited for the Petty Officer to stand ready. She had meant to take the incentive and launch into a combo of her own, but the determined Petty Officer stole that incentive from Jien without batting an eye.
Eun Sae was already closing the distance, and Jien entered a defensive stance - oaken eyes locked on the opponent. The first kick came low, so Jien changed her leading foot by stepping sideways with her rear foot - avoiding the kick. Yet the second one seamlessly followed the first, and Jien had not moved far enough. Eun Sae's straight kick struck solidly into the Captain's abdomen, and the minor way in which she managed to compensate for the blow was to step backwards as quickly as she could and with as much balance and focus as she could muster - breath all but lost to her. Jien detected the high spinning kick through her experience-gained deduction rather than actually seeing it come at her with her eyes until it was already on it's way.
She was too late to mirror the spinning motion and crouching down, sweeping out Ji's leg from underneath her mid-spin. Instead, Jien ducked low again, and let the kick pass by overhead, then she changed... into his male form. And with the power and momentum of his larger bodily frame and snap of his hip, Jien gave the Petty officer a jab with his left, to the face, to disorient her. Then, he followed through with body blow with his read fist, dealt against her ribcage. Lastly, he stepped forward with his rear foot and with the step, he sought to ram a straight kick into her torso and send her off her feet.
[ Outside the Ring > Port Sparring Ring ] Attn: Kaligos
When one of the Lone Wolves spoke to her, the Junior Lieutenant pinkskin named Isley, Ida looked up just as her antennae rose in acknowledgement. He was very informal with her, boldly telling her what to do, which was something she noted but did not act upon since they were off duty. The pinkskin had transferred aboard the ship before they fled Earth, and since then, he seemed to have have made somewhat of a name for himself. His efforts during the Niga Incident had earned him an award, and even if she had no recollection of what had happened between them, Ida knew the rumours about him boarding the Yacht and taking it from her while she was infected with the Niga virus. She knew not what had happened besides the Chief CONN Officer - Lawrence O. Lance - died from a phaser rifle cutting off this leg, and the report had stated 'self-defence' and 'accident'. She could not remember anything about it, much less what she and Lance had been doing on the Yacht.
Then again... there had been this dream a couple of weeks back, where Isley had figured...
Frowning, she could not bring it to mind, and the pinkskin was already heading for the ring. Ida gave her PADD to one of the present security guards and he resumed what Ida had been doing seamlessly. Picking up two sets of the protective gear, Ida tossed one set to the halfblood Vulcan, then calmly began to bind her blue, calloused hands. The comment from the man made Ida chuckle confidently.
"You do whatever you want to, pinkskin," she said and her antennae were angled forth like twin snakes ready to strike. Her faint smile did, however, lessen the edge to her words. "I will certainly not be pulling any punches."
Dressed in black gym shorts and a white tank top, Ida raised her guard after the issued gloves and shin-guards were on. The security guard blew the whistle, and the moments stretched out before the second signal came. When it did, Ida advanced against Isley with her fists raised, and then launched into a combination of successive strikes. Five rapid attacks, three with her fists and two kicks to finish him off. This was, of course, unless he countered her mid-way, which would force her to adapt.
Still, as the fight ensued, she could not quite remember the dream...
OOC: Here is the info on Andorians: http://houseeros.com/roleplay-role-playing-forum/index.php?topic=44020.msg1450035#msg1450035
[Nathaniel "Maverick" Isley | Port Sparing Ring] Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann,
(https://img05.deviantart.net/d370/i/2015/303/8/7/nathaniel___maverick___isley_by_auctor_lucan-d9evi5n.png)
Nathan put up his guard as soon as the whistle was blown to mark the start of a match, twisting under the first blow he brought his forearm up to test the andorian's strength. If he were a pure human it would have hurt a lot more then it did, but even his half Vulcan side didn't really absorb all the damage. He slid back on his feet slightly with her first blow and rolled into the second.
Isley was wearing a black muscle shirt, and boxing shorts. the only form of actual protective gear were combat gloves, and shin guard that were handed out to contestants. He had been wearing slippers, but had taken them off on stepping into the ring his bare feet allowing him to hold ground against the smooth gymnasium floor.
As the Andorian made her first kick he made his move. His left arm wrapping around her knee and locking it against his side absorbing some of the damage and holding her into place as he allowed himself to pull closer and throw his full power and weight into Ida. His right arm braced against her stomach so as he threw himself to the ground he would attempt to land the majority of his weight against her gut hopefully winding while throwing them both to the ground.
Once she hit the ground he would simply try to roll off of her and get to his feet as quickly as possible not going for any kind of pin just yet. He wanted to pay Ida back for how she had held him at gunpoint during the outbreak even if she did not remember doing so. Than again... he had seen Ida nude, and she wasn't bad looking at all.
Those are not thoughts that will help you win here.~~~
OOC: Thanks for the link was very helpful.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Port Sparring Ring ] Attn: Kaligos
The Lone-Wolf appeared to be a well-rounded fighter judging by both his physique and his technique, able to defend himself as he was when she unleashed her barrage of attacks.
He blocked or evaded Ida's strikes until she meant to kick him in the ribs, where he instead seized her and tried to break her balance - meaning to bring her down to a prone position. Instinct bred from experience made her realise that he was about to land on top of her, so she twisted with the fall, and like he pushed her, she pushed him at the shoulder to turn them around in the fall. It made them both fall on their side, driving a grunt out of her throat, but Ida got up on her knees as quickly as possible since she expected the spar to develop into grappling - her teachings in Hleshvalath at the forefront of her mind
Yet the Lone-Wolf was retreating... and that was when it happened. Something about the way he rolled and get back on his feet sprung a memory out of her antidote-induced oblivion. Something she had seen before. She could not quite grasp the moment, but she remembered what had led up to it.
The bold jests that Ida had traded with Lt. Lance (http://houseeros.com/roleplay-role-playing-forum/index.php?topic=5458.msg105831#msg105831) on the way to the yacht had turned into full-throttle intercourse as soon as they had entered the small bridge of the Captain's Yacht (https://orig11.deviantart.net/6bcd/f/2015/274/0/8/manta_class_advanced_scout_interior_by_auctor_lucan-d9ajzpb.png). Ida was riding the Chief CONN Officer with complete abandon, scratching the Pinkskin's chest with her nails and tossing her white hair back and forth. Her breasts heaved and her sweat glistened in the artificial light. She pleaded for more and gave him everything he desired in return. She knew she ought to have set the yacht in motion by then but could not help herself when the Lieutenant had insisted upon tasting her Andodrian sex anew.
Thus, she rode him until they came together, and she felt his cum dribble out between their joined bodies. Only then did she rise and stretch, and Lt. Lance seated himself by the controls - leaning his assault rifle against the pilot's chair before powering up the vessel. "Initiating full system analysis," he said in an almost drugged state of mind while Ida lazily strolled the small deck, "Short-range comm system fully operational. Dampeners and structural integrity field are online... so are shields and sensors. Weapons and navigational systems are fully operational. Take-off procedures completed... all systems online and functioning properly."
"Take us off," said Ida with a content smile, raising her phaser pistol to cool her forehead with the metal - the lovemaking still having her heart flutter. Yet suddenly, her antennae rose, and as sensitive as they were, they had picked up on something inside the craft... the hiss of sliding doors in another compartment so faint in the humm of the engines.
"Docking latches released... Wait..." the Chief CONN Officer frowned with an amused smile, "The internal sensors says there is someone else on board. Should I still take off?"
Ida raised her phaser with a playful smile - pointing it towards the rear of the compartments with her other hand on her cocked hip. "I noticed.. and yes, detach and take us away." She tilted her chin back a little and spoke up. "Hey! Whoever you are, step forward and show yourself! I want to see hands without any phaser in them."
Remaining where she stood - with her back to the front window and phaser raised - Ida let Lt. Lance take them out of Niga's orbit.
Blinking, Ida remembered it, but she was experienced enough to overcome momentary distraction. She was on her feet, facing Nathaniel Isley again, just like she had come face to face with him on the Captain's Yacht. With the memory, she hoped nothing more would come to mind, since she did not need to recall that incident. Her actions still haunted her enough every day with its inherent shame, even if she couldn't remember what she had done. She had heard enough about it afterwards.
Baring her teeth, she closed the distance again. She led her advance with a left hook followed by a right uppercut, which she meant to lead into a straight kick to his solar plexus. She was keen to finish the fight, and avoid letting the pinkskin remind her about the Niga Incident.
[Nathaniel "Maverick" Isley | Port Sparing Ring] Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann,
(https://img05.deviantart.net/d370/i/2015/303/8/7/nathaniel___maverick___isley_by_auctor_lucan-d9evi5n.png)
Nathan didn't want to enter an extended grapple with Ida, fearing that her training as a security officer would lead to a much faster loss on his side. Keeping himself in neutral was the better way to fight as it allowed him to respond to her blows. His own training told him that it was better to respond, and not be too aggressive that was the way with Vulcan martial arts, always trying to dictate the terms of combat on logical grounds, but as of late he had found that center to be much more difficult to grasp.
As Ida moved to get up he was brought back to the last time they had fought inside the captains yacht, but had to shake off those feelings. He had already dealt with the fact that he had.. well okay maybe he hadn't dealt with the fact that he had killed Lance, even if it was the only way out of that situation he hated the fact that he had to result to using a weapon. For now his mind had to stay focused on the Andorian and it wasn't like she wasn't giving him plenty to work with.
Nathan swiveled on his heels twisting his entire body to avoid her uppercut, and snapped himself back into position by bringing about a powerful open palm jab towards her own sternum now that she had closed the distance, he stepped in closer cutting off her attempt at a kick by getting into her personal space and putting his left side in front of her. He had her where he wanted her and this time he wasn't going to let her leave so easily.
With his left side braced towards her he once again through his weight into his right side for a powerful punch this time aimed at the deputy security chief's face.
The close quarter combat brought with it a moment where he was able to gather some of her scent, the smell of sweat and gymnasium, bringing him back to an uncomfortable realization that none of the Niga incident would have happened if he hadn't been the one to break flight formation with the wolves in the first place.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Port Sparring Ring ] Attn: Kaligos
Instinct ruled her in the exchange of blows, and Ida saw the large frame of the pinkskin snap back to deliver a blow right in the wake of her rising strike. There was virtually no time for high-level thinking, just the first idea coming to her that dictated her response.
She chose to dig in her heel, and in-part absorb the blow while she turned her torso and deflected with her lower arm. Her Andorian physique was compartmentalised and protected her from the worst of the blow, even if she knew the Lone-Wolf had Vulcan blood. Still, while she had braced herself from the bite, the impact was harder than anticipated. She did not weigh enough, and the turning motion of her torso got out of hand. She stumbled a couple of steps. Next she knew, a heavy strike came for her face.
The clarity of that moment of imminent pain, mixed with the scent of his close proximity, it triggered the very things she wanted to keep out of her mind.
When the stowaway revealed himself in the doorway to the yacht's bridge, Ida could not help the chuckle that escaped her lips.
"Oh, Mr. Isley... We really must stop seeing each other like this," she said to the pinkskin, biting her lower lip a little while appraising him for the second time at gunpoint that day. She noted places of possibly hidden or tucked away weapons and the bulging pockets filled with the crude syringes she had been shown through Thea's eyes during the Staff Meeting, but most of all, she noticed the fine contours of his uniform, and remembered what he had looked without it - his body so appealing without even getting the fine benefits that their blessing held in store for him.
"Were you feeling lonely and decided to take up my offer after all? There was not too many left of you was it?" She took a step forward but remembered how he had tricked her last; how she had woken up with sexual frustration and a sore neck. She raised her phaser an inch again, remaining where she stood - the vista of space turning with the motion of the yacht. Her profession still showed through the light haze of her primal hunger. "Step forward, away from the door frame, then turn around a full turn so that I can see what you have tucked behind the hem of your trousers. Then, you will put down and kick your weapons and all of your nasty little syringes to the right side of the bridge."
While having her phaser trained at him, she could not help running her fingers over her breasts while she spoke, the complete control over the situation turning her on. Her fingers skimmed across her nipples and then down her flat abdomen and into the folds of her sex. She stroked herself slowly as she continued her list of demands.
"Then... you will remove your clothing for me, one garment at the time, and this time, I will let Mr. Lance here cuff your quick little hands behind your back. Only then will I be able to give you a proper welcome aboard..."
The strike passed over her antennae, and afterwards, she would not remember the minute decision being made. She was already underway with it. Using the force of Isley's strike against him, and using the turn he had sent her into, she crouched down and seized his extended wrist with both her hands in an iron grip, and as she let out a ferocious cry, she threw him across her shoulder.
Having his body momentarily pressed up against her back did not help the situation at all, a sick mix of revulsion about her actions and yet the effect of those infected ideas threatening to impede her fighting prowess, but she would not allow it to. No, never.
She left the Lone-Wolf no breathing room, stepping after him and brutally kicking him sideways, hopefully even before he was anywhere close to back on his feet. Her ferocity was the expression of her irritation about what he represented for her.
[Nathaniel "Maverick" Isley | Port Sparing Ring] Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann,
(https://img05.deviantart.net/d370/i/2015/303/8/7/nathaniel___maverick___isley_by_auctor_lucan-d9evi5n.png)
Nathan made a sound akin to a squeak as he registered he error he had made in missing Ida's face and registered the fact that he was being picked up a moment too late to actually react to it. The best thing he managed to do was coushin his fall as he thrown twisting around in the air trying to land on his side, but in doing so he had opened his stomach to the oncoming kick which he hadn't predicted.
His body was hit hard, and he was thrown towards the edge of the ring. Ida's foot catching him before he had even hit the ground causing him to roll across the ground after the kick. He struggled to breath as his hand went to his stomach registering the pain as he was shaken, but not defeated. He scrambled back up to his feet for a second time though time he had certainly taken some damage. He was staggered and his breath was slow as he recovered his head spinning from the kick to his gut.
Still he wasn't down or out of the ring just yet. He rotated his shoulders for a moment trying to get his wind back as he looked at the deputy security chief. As he watched her he was starting to notice her fury and how it was directed. She was overtly emotional, and he decided that he was going to do his best to draw that out in her.
"What's the matter?" He was still slightly winded from the kick as he spoke. "You look like your attention is on something else?" He smiled for a moment as he was finally able to gather his legs and wits about him.
"Trying to day dream about me? Envisioning me without my clothing again? Trying to wonder how I beat your ass before?" As he spoke he rushed in against her, wanting to get in close, wanting to make her mess up, this time he was on the offensive and attempted to deliver a flurry of strikes against her. aiming for her sides with his fists he went in for a quick succession of jabs to her stomach with the full intention of making each blow as quick and powerful as possible finishing off the flurry of blows would be a quick kick to her lower left shin, wanting to knock her off of her feet or make her kneel before him.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Port Sparring Ring ] Attn: Kaligos
Her knuckles white at her sides, Ida stalked her half of the ring while she let Isley get back on his feet. Her tactic had worked, the crowd had drawn its collective breath as if they felt the Lone-Wolf's pain, and she had expected him to surrender the sparring match to her. She was mistaken, however, for as the cheers of the crew built around the ring, Isley raised his guard anew. His words to her were private, and did not reach the onlookers because of the noise they made.
The damn pinkskin was trying to get under her skin, and even if she knew this, Ida bared her teeth at him when he brought up the Niga Incident. He had no right, and worst of it was that he was undermining her resolve by tearing the stitches of her wounds from that day - making her bleed after spending weeks to try and put it all behind her. She hated him for it. He had no idea what she had been through. The shame of betraying the very crew she had sworn to protect, and to earn their scorn and hate when she had been the victim of that virus. She had been raped down on that planet, by a damn plant. The humiliation of the whole thing was arguably worse than the violation itself.
"I don't know what you are babbling about, pinkskin," she said in a low, dangerous voice, and she leaned on the well-known fact that the victims of the Niga flora did not remember their times under its influence. She raised her guard in answer to his pending attack. "Yet I dare you spit salt in my wounds."
No more had she said it than he had closed the distance, and his proximity intruded the memories upon her again, just when the first strike landed against her side.
Lance was dead and the Yacht had been ordered to attack Wolf-03. Isley's hands were bound before him but he was still holding his own in the fight. Having been pushed back, Ida rebounded against the controls with a sexually frustrated groan. Undeterred, Ida set after the man - catching up to him just as he grabbed something tube-like from the deck plates. A syringe that held the antidote.
With a laugh, Ida stomped upon the out-stretched hand with her foot. Had she been wearing boots, she would have fractured the hand, but as it was, it only broke the syringe inside Nathaniel's hand - stinging him with the ruptured thin metal alloy and glass shards. She would have followed up with grabbing the wrist of the aforementioned hand and seated herself on his face - rubbing her wet sex over his face...
...yet that was the time when Kestrel's photon torpedoes connected with the Captain's Yacht. Once, then twice.
Not only was Ida thrown completely off Isley, the limp body of Lt. Lance was cast up unto the control panel, but everything not nailed to the deck was thrown into the air. The noise of the buckled hull screamed, the sound so much more frightening when sensed through Ida's antennae. The computer's voice rose over the din of the fizzling plasma conduits. [Shields at 3%,] said the apathetic voice, while Ida bumped her head against... the ceiling? The intercom chirped again. [Warning: Artificial gravity generator damaged. Graviton stabilizer off-line. Artificial gravity currently at 0 %.]
Yet that was not enough. Not only had Ida got her easy cruise together with Lt. Lance ruined by a stowaway, she had been forced to fight when all she wanted to do was fuck. No, Wolf-03 was smiting her yacht with phaser fire too, and as the sparks and smoke flared inside the Allegiant, the computer added, [Warning: Shields at 0 %. Warp Core breach imminent. Ejection system off-line. Abandon ship.]
What could Ida do at that point but to laugh at it all? It was all so hilarious. In zero-gravity, she laughed with her white hair streaming around her head like medusa's snakes. Her blue eyes were upon Nathaniel Isley, determined to get what she wanted from him before she was done for. All that mattered was her hunger for him at that point - to feel a cock inside herself one last time.
"Pinkskin," she said, and pushed away from the ceiling in order to slowly - sensually - drift towards him. The loss of gravity had turned the tables. Strength only got you so far without gravity to place weight behind each blow. "Why not celebrate before we die? Come here... Let me help you out of those clothes... I can see how hard you are."
Ida growled while she fought to deflect the blows Isley was dealing unto her raised guard. He had no right to remind her about her failure as a security officer, as a soldier fighting to protect the crew. She parried as best as she could. She was jarred by two more hits against her well-protected torso - her endoskeleton absorbing the padded blows even if it would bruise her. She could taste her blue blood in her mouth. Shortness of breath. Tunnel vision. Her antennae compensated where her eyes failed to see, and she sensed the low kick when it came for shin.
She slid back on her rear foot, placed her whole body weight there and raised the leg Isley had meant to kick out from underneath her. Instead, she dealt a kick straight into Isley's powerful frame - sent into him just when his kick was supposed to have hit her leg. Hoping that the power of her attack would unbalance him, since he was only standing on one foot while he tried to kick her, Ida followed through by stepping after his stumbling path.
The strike fell down unto his head at an angle, and then she reversed the path - dealing him a rising backhand blow and crying out forcefully in part defiance... and in part release of energy with when executing the attack.
[Nathaniel "Maverick" Isley | Port Sparing Ring] Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann,
(https://img05.deviantart.net/d370/i/2015/303/8/7/nathaniel___maverick___isley_by_auctor_lucan-d9evi5n.png)
Nathan winced as the first blow caused him to drop to a knee. His foot sliding out from under him as she kicked him. His own leg managing to catch himself but only after he dropped down to a disadvantage. Wincing in pain as he had underestimated the andorian's strength and had managed to piss her off. He was no longer sure if that second part was a good thing.
As her second blow reigned down his arms moved up instinctively using his forearm to block the blow to his head. He grunted as he felt the strike burrow in against his forarm. He was going to have bruises for this, but as she came back with her third strike this time he was able to stop her by grabbing her wrist as she went with a back hand towards his face. He breathed for a moment catching himself as he looked up at ThanIda. "I will spit whatever I damn well please."
"Anyone ever tell you that you are hot when you are angry."
In for a penny in for a pound. Isley had already decided that he was going to provoke Ida, and he wasn't going to back down just because it was working. If anything he understood the pain that he was using against her. While he had never been infected during the Niga incident he had most certainly been affected by it, and with all the things that had happened after that, he more than understood the thought of regret, pain and anger.
"You know I kinda regret not taking you up on your offers back in the shuttle." As he spoke he simultaneously pulled down on Ida's arm while also using that momentum to get himself back on her feet, though he could feel the damage that was being done to his body. Ida hit like a tank, and he wasn't sure how much more he was going to be able to take as he jumped up.
He brought his elbow down on Ida's back attempting to knock her down to the ground as he rose upwards. But even as he stood he struggled to keep his feet her kick to his stomach showing that it had done more damage than previous thought. "Maybe after I kick your ass again." He wiped green blood from his lips and managed to regain a firm placing on the ground.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Port Sparring Ring ] Attn: Kaligos
Even the crowd would have seen Ida's eyes go wide in indignant fury when Junior Lieutenant Isley caught her wrist and complimented her, uttering damn lie - obviously - about how she was compelling to him. She meant to cut him with her sharp tongue in reply, but then he said... He bespoke what had happened on the Yacht, and her words escaped her - the memories coming to life out of the oblivion.
Ida had succeeded in beating him to the manual ejection system.
[Warning: Warp Core breach in one minute.]
"Get down here," Ida said to Isley where she floated by the only control panel that would release the core, "or I will not insert the command." With the imminent breach, they had reached an accord to manually release the clamps together, and her terms had been that he would give in... that he would remove his clothes first, and that he would have sex with her afterwards. Looking at the naked pinkskin pilot through eyes slitted with pleasure, she was fondling her voluptuous body in the pulsing red light. She watch him knowingly. She had him now. She waited for his move - her free hand clear off the input commands in the control panel behind her.
"Come here, stick that thing inside me..." Weightless, the blossoming detonations in conduits all around them forced her to pause. She moaned and bucked her hips, all the more excited by the danger. She turned her back to him, arching her back to let him see where to put it. "...and we'll release the core together..."
[Warning: Warp Core breach in forty seconds.]
Pushing off, he finally worked his way down to Ida, and soon he was pressing up against her from behind. Ida felt his hands upon her, caressing her hip from behind. Weightless, with her hands upon the emergency control, Ida leaned her head back against his shoulder, her body melting against his - eyes fluttering. She wanted more of him. She raised an arm to grasp the back of his neck - to have his breath close. He brought one of his hands to her face, his fingers extended for her to suck on them. And she did, as if she had his cock in his mouth.
Her breathing overrode the noise of the damaged speakers on the Bridge - the static scramble of a plea from Wolf-03's. She did not make out the words from that distance, not under those circumstances. Her other hand also left the control panel, forgetting the ejection of the core, and she reached low - around his lower back - keeping his lower body against her own with fingernails digging into his buttocks. Her spread legs worked to ensnare his, and when she undulated her hips in response to his presence, she felt his hardness...
The memory might just have imbalanced her more than both his words and the brutal tug on her outstretched arm. Just barely she was able to keep her footing even if she was bent over, just like she had bent over the control panel. Her attacks might have gotten the better of him, but the memories he had triggered and brought to the surface made just as much difference for her. Unchallenged, he was able to drive his elbow down into her back, and she was knocked straight down into the floor.
[Warning: Warp Core breach in twenty seconds.]
...she felt his rigid length between her legs. It had yet to visit her aching and wet sex - the top-side of the length nestled between her hungry nether lips. With hands reaching backwards to keep the fighter pilot against her body, with her mouth open and tongue licking his fingers, she rocked her weightless hips along his length - the elusive yet so wonderful head slithering along her heated crevice. Their sweat mixed between their moving bodies, and Ida's muscles flexed as she moved against him - entry so imminent she could imagine the feeling already. All she had to do was lean forward a little... arc her back just so... and he would traverse her sheath inch by inch in that blissful first thrust.
At that moment, the lights in the Warp Core compartment died, then flickered to life again. The emergency batteries had kicked in. There was an odd metallic taste in her mouth, yet she reckoned it was from the hazardous environment they were about to have sex in.
[Warning: Warp Core breach in fifteen seconds.]
It was hard to keep focused, and she bit into the pilot's finger - tongue stroking it. Fifteen seconds? A part of her screamed for Mr. Isley's cock a that point, but raw self-preservation made its voice heard. Moaning hard, Ida released the back of the pilot's head and bent forward - fingertips sliding across the touch screen''s surface. Leaning forward as she did, Isley's next thrust would easily slip inside her, and she managed to power up the release mechanism manually with the movements of her fingertips. She bit her lower lip, head swimming. Odd, given how she had become used to her own heights of arousal...
[Warning: Warp Core breach in ten, nine, eight...]
....her fingertip reached for the pulsing red button on the display, heralding an alarm going off that told of the fact that the Warp Core was about to be ejected. Face gone limp, Ida was still reaching. Her blue fingers brushed towards the red metallic surface of the button... but she could not feel it. Nor could she sense if Isley had entered her - forcing his great length inside her... Vertigo. Ignorance. Oblivion. Her midnight blue eyes rolled backwards, and her fingers...
..left the button untouched.
[...seven, six, five...]
On the floor of the ring, Ida raised her head, breath ragged from the fighting as well as her artist's imagination of those past events. Through the haze, she knew why she had fallen unconscious on the Yacht.
The hand Isley had put against her mouth was the one she had stomped on, resulting in the antidote inside the syringe covering his hand with it's residue. Since the antidote was laced with a sedative, she had not woken up in the Theurgy's sickbay until it was all over, when the timeship Relativity had come to the crew's rescue. One of the reasons that Captain Ducane and the Relativity had found them in the timestream had been the detonation of that warp core Isley had released after Ida fell unconscious, the personal log that Edena Rez had compiled and left to the after world being the other.
"Maybe after I kick your ass again..."
Baring her teeth, Ida tried to snap out of it, and acted with the ire he raised in her. Tossing her white hair out of her eyes as she looked up at him, she kicked out with her closest leg - sweeping out his feet from underneath him without forewarning. He was already unbalanced from the hits he had sustained, perhaps just as much as she. The complete surprise of her attack raised a cheer from the crew around them, all of them likely having thought Isley had already won.
After he went down, Ida scrambled to climb on top of him, hissing through her front teeth as she applied her forearm against his windpipe, forcing his head back and suffocating him at the same time. She fought to keep any flailing arms down and to keep him from getting on top of her. He was bloody strong, but she was bloody furious. Not just about his lack of respect...
...but because she now wanted precisely what he was ridiculing her for.
[ Starboard Sparring Ring ]
Eun Sae brought her kicking leg back down quickly reestablishing her footing. Near seconds after regaining her stance her eyes caught sight of the incoming assault Jien was mounting. His first left jab was dodged by a tilt of her head sending his punch over her shoulder the next however was not taken as well as she felt Jien's fist impact her ribs. She stumbled back one hand falling to her ribs the next hit coming in the form of a straight kick aimed directly at her chest. She quickly brought her arms up. She felt his foot impact her forearms she winced as pain exploded through her arms but without missing a beat she quickly stepped forward throwing two quick left jabs toward Jien's face before launching a low right hook aimed at Jien's side.
[ Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: Eun Sae Ji
It was a testament to Eun Sae's skill and experience to be able to block Jien's kick - taking the blow against her arms - even though Jien had held back a bit in his attack. The Petty Officer swayed back with the force, but with the recoil, she got up and close. She managed to deal a jab to Jien's face, followed by a second one that he had no time to counter either after getting his bearing after the first one. She struck hard, even when she jabbed, and definitely harder than what her bodily frame suggested. Obviously she had begun practising martial arts at a very young age.
Jien whole image flickered, his morphogenic matrix rebuilding the form he wore. The hook to his side came, and he deflected it to the side with his forearm. With the block, he spun, and being in such close quarters, he spun to deal her a sideways elbow-strike. He was not going for her head or neck since it might be lethal, but lay the powerful blow in height of her torso.
The body blow was meant to disorient and unbalance, and so was the knee he launched towards her with the spin. It was only the third blow that was meant to end the fight - the spin ending with devastating strike to the head with his padded first.
[Nathaniel "Maverick" Isley | Port Sparing Ring] Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann,
(https://img05.deviantart.net/d370/i/2015/303/8/7/nathaniel___maverick___isley_by_auctor_lucan-d9evi5n.png)
Ida was strong enough to pin him down, and Nathan struggled as he felt her forarm press down against his throat, he could feel his wind pipe being cut off as he was brought face to face with the Andorian he had been intentionally pissing off for the last while. He struggled feeling his arms trying to flial as he initially kicked into a panic, but as the moment continued and he felt his neck being squished the panic fadded.
and was replaced with a powerful anger of his own. His legs kicked out for a moment before he managed to find a footing, placing his feet flat to the ground. At the same time he reached up and grabbed her shoulder, and kicked the ground throwing his entire lower body strength to throw Ida off of his body but more than that. He couldn't roll Ida was making all of that too difficult, so as he pushed up with his legs he pulled forward on Ida with his arms, and did his best to throw her.
In their current position it was a sloppy attack at best, but if he was doing this correctly he would literally throw Ida off of him, and use that force to flip their positions getting on top of Ida, at which point he punched down at the Andorian's face, and coughed viciously trying to regain the breaths he had lost while being choked. His throat and mouth had gone dry due to the strangulation and he was pretty sure that the Andorian deputy had just tried to kill him. "I don't go down that easy. You want it you gotta earn it."
He wasn't even sure what he was talking about anymore, victory? there was that, but also this fight had enthralled him, and now he wanted the Andorian he had been mocking for the majority of the fight. As he straddled her she would notice something rather hard poking towards her stomach.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Port Sparring Ring ] Attn: Kaligos
Ending up on her back, Ida snarled ferociously, but no more had she landed than Isley were on top of her - delivering a savage blow to her face that left her in vertigo - half of her face aching and without any sense of orientation. She was out of commission for the time being, even if she retained her senses - eyes trying to find focus on the shape that straddled her. She was not quite sure, but she thought he was rather worse for wear as well - leaning over her and recovering from how she had almost managed to choke him out.
Then he spoke to her, and for a moment, she did not make the connection, until she shifted and tried to shimmy out from under him. That was when she felt his rigid tumescence, and her eyes went wide. Was he saying..? Not just did it anger her that he had the gall to ask her to sevice him, but they were surrounded by the crew, and the damn Captain was in the ring next to theirs. True, below the layer of resentment she held for him, she wanted nothing rather than to make new memories - unsullied by the virus - but not that way. Not at the cost of more shame, not when she had suffered her share of that already.
"You should know by now," she grated and struck him into his ribs as hard as she might from her awkward position, "that nor do I!" THe double meaning might have been plain to them both, but not the crowd, but they saw her deal the second strike towards Isley's face - with more momentum gained and using the floor below her for support when she launched it. The Vulcan halfblood would not shame her publicly. If anything, he could very well live with the shame of having his desire manifest before the entire crowd, at least that was not a concern she'd share with the man.
She would keep striking from her prone position until he fell away, or he ended the spar by striking her out.
[Nathaniel "Maverick" Isley | Port Sparing Ring] Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann,
(https://img05.deviantart.net/d370/i/2015/303/8/7/nathaniel___maverick___isley_by_auctor_lucan-d9evi5n.png)
The first punch hit Nathan hard enough that his entire body lurched on the strike, but also caused something else. there was no audable crack but he could feel it break in his side. The pain rushed through his body and the second strike caused him to fall back. He clutched his side feeling what felt like pure agony. Every breath he took was ragged and caused a fresh wave of hell that caused his side to spasm which only caused it to hurt that much more. He shuddered for a moment before slapping the ground for end of match treatment there was no way he could continue.
"Sickbay." The word escaped his mouth, but his voice was dry and cracked, any doctor who examined him would notice that two of Isley's middle ribs had fractured by her punch. Even with his reinforced Skeletal structure she had used all of her force on a weak point in Isley's body. He groaned for a moment getting his breathing under control trying to reduce the spasms in his side. It was some of the worst pain that the pilot had been in within resent memory and it caused him to shudder a little, but once his old meditative tricks were able to take over he was able to control his reactions.
"Damn." He supposed that meant that Ida had won this round. Considering their previous match it meant they were currently at a draw, and he hated that. At the same time however he had a new found respect for the Andorian woman. He retreated to the edge of the arena still clutching his burning and broken side waiting on a doctor to examine him, but his eyes were pretty much locked on Ida, if he had wanted her before, she was definitely at the top of his list now. He shuddered for a moment though kept himself solid despite the fact that every breath brushed his injuries making them that much more raw and painful.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Port Sparring Ring ] Attn: Kaligos + Any challenger
When the fighter pilot fell off her - no longer straddling her and keeping her pinned down - Ida threw her legs up and rolled backwards to get some distance between herself and her opponent. She stumbled as she straightened herself, balance almost lost after the strike she had taken against her face - no doubt bruised and bleeding from her eyebrow judging by the translucent blueness that clouded her vision. She got her guard up, even if she was in no good state to continue the fight - still on her feet due to pure will.
And yet her opponent was not there to trade blows with her, and she saw him still clutching his side. She blinked, realising that she had actually managed to fracture his ribcage. A sudden feeling of remorsefulness washed over her, and she dropped her guard, looking out over the crowd. "Medic!" she called, looking for the face of a medical officer, but when she didn't find one, she said, "Thea, activate EMH Mk I."
Nathaniel was getting out of the ring on his own, albeit slowly, and Ida watched him from where she stood - padded fists at her sides and breathing hard - glistening sweat running down her skin. The medical emergency hologram had materialised, and after sating his trademark query, he spotted the pilot and walked over there to scan him with a medical tricorder. The bald projection shook his head and made an acerbic remark about the practice of unarmed fighting as an uncultivated bloodsport. Ida did not hear it, still looking into Nathaniel's eyes while the crowd cheered for her. The bets that had been placed were traded, and since Isley had been the slightly more obvious victor given his physique and Vulcan blood, some crewmen earned a fair share of replicator rations.
In the look she and Nathaniel traded, there was a tension that was truly overdue to address, and Ida couldn't wait to find him alone, so that she could confront him for all the vile things he had said to her... and to replace those memories he had sparked.
"Do we have a new challenger?" she proclaimed eventually when she had regained her breath, and broke eye-contact with Nathaniel - searching the crowd for her next opponent.
[Nathaniel "Maverick" Isley | Port Sparing Ring] Attn: ThanIda zh'Wann,
(https://img05.deviantart.net/d370/i/2015/303/8/7/nathaniel___maverick___isley_by_auctor_lucan-d9evi5n.png)
Nathan rolled his eyes as he was lectured by the EMH giving him a roll of his eyes. "Tell you what, Why don't you step into the ring with Ida, and tell me that you wouldn't get a little uncultured?"
Nathan couldn't help but smile at the thought of a medical program having to get into a fist fight. Sure the one from voyager might actually do it, but this thing wasn't even close to a person. Thea was in many respects far more fun and interesting than the EMH mark one. "Weren't you replaced by a guy with hair?"
He taunted for a moment as he walked away from the gym.
As he was being scanned he winced feeling the pain caused by his own breathing. He was going to need treatment that the sickbay had better qualities for. He turned and looked at Ida, giving her a pained smile as he left the room. He wanted her, there was no way he couldn't admit that, but considering his current condition he wasn't exactly ready or able to perform. If anything he was in an uncomfortable amount of pain that prevented him from doing what he really wanted too, which was take Ida right there in the gym.
[Nathan exits]
Eun Sae felt two of her punches strike their designated target namely Jien's face. A small smile formed on her lips glad that she'd finally been able to land a proper blow on her opponent that wasn't negated or nullified in some way or another. But her small moment of satisfaction was cut short as her hook was batted aside and before she could react Jien had spun his body. The strikes came in quick succession a hard elbow striking the outside of her shoulder followed by a knee that managed to catch her in the side knocking a great deal of the air out of her lungs. What finished off the combo was a hard punch to the side of her head luckily softened by the padding of Jien's fighting gloves.
Nonetheless the blow sent Eun Sae's mind spinning as she stumbled a few steps before dropping to the mat. She managed to push herself up bringing a hand to touch her cheek with the tips of her fingers. Her hand upon the mat curled tightly into a fist she wanted to keep fighting but somehow she could only think that if she kept on she'd continue to be outmatched. Pushing herself back up to her feet she winced as she felt her side ache in protest along with her shoulder. "I concede sir..." Eun Sae said. She gave her superior officer a slight if a bit pained smile "Match well fought hopefully we can spar again sometime." Eun Sae said.
Jien stayed his advance, about to pursue her as she stumbled. She yielded the spar to him, and he stepped back, lowering his guard. As he did, his physical image flickered again, his morphogenic matrix still compensating for the strike she had landed to his face. Physical violence towards his form forced his matrix to compensate, and as it did, it drained him of energy. That she had unbalanced his matrix served as a testament to her skill, and he was pleased that she had challenged him so. He did, however, want to continue fighting against a new opponent before stepping out of the tournament.
"Well fought indeed," he said with a faint smile, "and I would very much enjoy going a round or two against you again, Petty Officer. You are not only quick with your feet, but also know how to use your body weight's momentum in your strikes. My apologies if you might have to visit Sickbay, but if Mister Covington gives you trouble for it, give him my regards."
And so the fight was ended, and Jien turned to see if there were any new challengers. He saw that the Deputy had also been victorious, but she seemed worse for wear. As stubborn as she might be, Jien was not certain if the Andorian would win another match against a fresh and rested challenger.
[Ensign Christopher Slayton | Port sparring ring] Attention : Ida & All
Chris was wearing a pair of black workout pants with a white tank top that left his arms and shoulders bare as he approached the "ring" and crossed his arms over his broad chest, not in an arrogant manner or way but one of patience.
"I stand ready for a good spar, if you are willing?" He respectfully announced even though he didn't know who his opponent would be but he was actually looking forward to this as Sniper would've called it "Captain pummeling day" back in the good old days prior to the bad ones back on the Harbinger.
At that thought, a smile crossed his face as he uncrowded his arms and started to shake them out to get ready.
[ Captain Jien Ives | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: DocReno
After Eun Sae Ji left, Captain Ives was left without a challenger, having finished his fight ahead of he Andorian Deputy. Momentarily, however, the new fighter pilot from the Harbinger stepped forth to join the tournament, and the security guard who stood in for the Deputy while she was in the ring announced the man as the Captain's new challenger.
"Good evening, Ensign," said Jien while currently in his male form, inclining his head towards the human that was due to step into the starboard sparring ring. He had raised his voice a bit to override the cheering crowd. "We might just have spoken briefly before the rescue shuttle collected you, Doctor Duv and our Deputy over there, so I suppose I will have to welcome you aboard the ship in this fashion instead. In lack of a conversation in my Ready Room, I suppose I will have to gauge your character in this crude fashion instead."
Jien rolled his shoulders and raised his guard, waiting for the two whistles to announce the commencement of the fight.
[Ensign Christopher Slayton | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attention: Ives & All
Chris was slightly thrown off as the Captain hirself stepped up to accept his challenge and so he in turned respectfully bowed towards the Captain as he stepped fully into the ring before cracking his knuckles.
"Very true, Captain." He admitted as the quickly entered into a brief warm up kata before moving into a full fighting stance, "I will try and not go full tilt unless you don't want me to hold back...captain."
Chris then adjusted his stance just a little bit more, rotating his left fist by six degrees as his fingers tightened into a fist with his thumb on the outside, his left foot exactly six inches out and he bent at the knees..ready to go.
[ Captain Jien Ives | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: DocReno
With his guard already raised, Jien gave the human a faint smile after the first whistle was sounded, and he said, "Have at me as you will, for how could I otherwise judge your character?"
In the corner of his eye, Jien thought he saw Ida looking towards the fighter pilot from where she stood in her ring - another challenger due to face her. Jien took little note of the fact, and did not see the unreadable expression on the Andorian's face when she looked at the man. With the fight at hand, he did not remember how he had noticed the two of them speaking in Below Decks a couple of hours earlier, and had no knowledge of what had been said between them.
Then, the second whistle rung, and the second fight in the starboard ring commenced.
Noticing how the pilot chose to remain on the defensive, Jien obliged him by issuing the first strikes in their spar. He closed the distance and led the advance with a left hand jab followed by a right hook towards the face. Then, he changed his form... to her female and more shorter one, and she ducked down to level a straight punch towards his midriff - perhaps ducking underneath any counter that the pilot had in store after her first two punches.
OOC: I edited the heading of your post since it mentioned the wrong ring.
[Ensign Christopher Slayton | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attention: Ives & All
As a practitioner of Hleshvalath, Chris waited to see what kind of offense his new commanding officer could put up and he did not hesitate as he blocked the first couple of blows but when Jien flowed from his male to female form, the direction of the blows changed to and Chris moved to match them.
As the Captain went for a blow to his midriff, Chris took it as he started moving with his own move the moment that the blow struck, allowing the Captain's momentum to start Husker's turn into a downward angled strike to the inside of hir left shoulder blade, just enough to cause her to be thrown off balance as he followed it up with Chris wrapping his right arm up and over the opposite shoulder and neck, almost like he was going to use a move commonly known as a "cobra clutch hold" which could be transiting into one of two different moves.
But Chris chose neither as he then attempted to lift the Captain up in a dead lift, using only his own upper body strength. "You will forgive me if I am not gentle, Captain, none of my sensei were masters of that field." Chris said respectfully to Jien as he attempted the next part of his move.
[ Captain Jien Ives | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: DocReno
Caught in a grapple technique that her opponent issued as a counter to her third blow - having been caught since he had managed to unbalance her with the strike behind her left shoulder - Jien could but chuckle strenuously at what the man said. This, before he either slammed her whole body into the ground or twisted her down into a choke-hold. "Nor were mine," she said and then she changed back...
...to his male form, which was taller and gave reach, strength and an element of surprise. As his mass increased, he counted on that to compromise the hold, and his feet still touched the ground. He drove his elbow straight into Ensign Slayton unguarded side - the grip the man had opted to use not offering much in terms of defence. Three times Jien drove his elbow into Slayton, and when the man was properly unbalanced by the blows, he turned the loosened grip against the man. He seized the arm that was in front of his neck and with it, he twisted around and threw the fighter pilot across his hip and straight down into the floor.
[Ensign Christopher Slayton | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attention: Ives & All
Chris was a born fighter and had fought a number of things in hand to hand combat from the klingons to romulans, cardassians, and even targs and he knew how to handle himself quite well..
..fighting a shape-shifter was a new experience.
Chris took a second to analyze his options before quickly moving to a standing position once more and switched to a guard position but he kept his hands loose in order to help with the blocks. He was still taller then the captain in his male for by three inches and heavier by a few pounds..but the captain had twenty two years of combat experience on him..
Chris' eyes narrowed as he slowly moved in doing a few probing strikes seemingly at random which was standard for probing strikes in CQC as a way of probing before he finally moved into action and switched Hleshvalath for Vershaan, an Andorian martial art that was a form of Andorian jiu-jitsu but it was rarely taught to other races due to the dedication that it required and some masters of the art viewed most pinkskins as not having the patience for it as it was a serious art.
But Chris wasn't like most pinkskins as he started shifting his blows so that instead of the simple straight forward blows that he'd been doing only a few seconds before was now much quicker, allowing the fighter pilot to focus more on the power behind his reflexes rather then on using the pure force behind his build.
He kept it up before he feigned a step to the right and halfway followed through with it before he rolled sideways behind the captain and quickly locked an arm around hir waist then did a rolling hold so that he was in a scarf mount position as he tried to lock in another hold.
[ Captain Jien Ives | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: DocReno
Initially, Jien indulged the human when he tested his defences. The crew was riveted by the development, anticipating that the build-up would lead to something spectacular, and it came when the fighter pilot changed his manner of approach. From strikes that Jien rather easily deflected to a few ones that seemed more earnestly thrown at him. Seeing no direct openings, Jien remained on the defensive.
Then, suddenly, the pilot dove into a roll that forced Jien to try and turn around with his rear foot leading in a retreating step. Jien needed distance to perceive what the man was about to do, but Slayton had been too quick - the hold around his waist secured before he could turn around to face him fully. Down into the floor he went, and while he kept his head from connecting at the impact, his side and shoulder was jarred, and he had lost orientation. Before he knew it, Slayton had him in a preliminary wrestling hold, and Jien was forced to do something about it before the pilot could secure a better grip.
Again, he changed... to her female form, and with her more diminutive size, she used the opportune moment to slip ut underneath the man. It was not without complication, the sudden change still allowing for Slayton to use superior weight against her, but she evened out the odds of slipping out by delivering two consecutive elbow strikes - one towards his face and the second one into his ribs.
Regardless if she stuck true, she managed to squirm out from underneath him - hair on end and with bruising along her side. Her morphogenic matrix compensated for both, making her ripple in the eye of the crowd, as she tried to secure a choke-hold from behind Slayton's back. With an attempted half-nelson hold, and trying to wrap her legs around him from behind, she meant to make him tap out. He was strong, and successful or not, her breaths wheezed through her bared her teeth as she meant to make him yield somehow.
[Ensign Christopher Slayton | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attention: Ives & All
Chris had to admit that the captain really, truly and honestly knew what she was doing when the elbow strikes landed in the perfect spots and would've done the desired effect if pain and Chris weren't old friends at this point and he simply grunted in frustration and effort as he felt her quickly maneuver around then slip him into a attempted back-mounted choke-hold, which would be a good idea except for the one problem.
Chris took in just enough breath to inflate his lungs just enough for what he was about to do as he fought to stand at his full height of six feet four inch height and quickly slipped one hand the best that he could around to the back of the captain's head while grasping at hir lower back just above the right asscheek as he used the pain to focus himself for the next part of the move.
Chris then tensed his legs and threw himself backwards, combining both his weight and that the weight of his captain's female form into a move that was simply brute force but once the hold was broken, Chris then grabbed one of the captain's legs while moving into a standing position with his right arm wrapping around hir left ankle so that the top of hir foot was under his arm-pit with his hand resting on his chest before sitting back down between the captain's legs with hir left leg between his.
He then wrapped his right leg around hir left leg as a way to prevent hir from sitting up as he quickly placed his left hand just below hir knee as he grabbed his left wrist with his right hand and then leaning back as he locked the captain's Achilles Tendon into a submission hold of his own.
It was one of the slightly more serious moves of Vershaan, one that had required a lot of pain of Chris' part over the years that he spent on Andor to learn how to effectively hold as he now held the captian, hirself not only an accomplished hand to hand fighter but also a shapeshifter which made this hold a serious but dubious attempt at best.
But Chris couldn't help as he looked into Jien's face and broke into a smile, not one of someone who was full of cockiness that his victory was close at hand or anything like that but a smile of someone who was actually really enjoying himself truly as it had been a very long time since he'd sparred with anyone this good...
...not since before Sniper and their "mutal partner" left the Harbinger as the three of them were serious students of their arts and hence he was enjoying himself and he hoped that the captain was enjoying hirself as well.
The pilot was good, well trained in his arts, and Jien was caught in the foot-hold - her facing the man across the hold and catching his smile. It was a show of good spirits, and Jien returned the smile with a faint one of her own. It was a friendly spar, and Jien did not think the smile cocky, rather made in good humour. Likely, the fighter pilot knew that she could alter her form with her morphogenic matrix and escape the hold easily, yet she was not too keen on using her abilities in such a way to secure victory. Escaping the hold determined whether or not the pilot had won, after all, so she would give him and the integrity of the match its due by not liquefying and reforming outside that footlock.
Instead, before the strain on her mimicked ligaments became too painful, she changed... to his male form, and from the lock, he vested his experience in the task of kicking the human as best as he might in order to disorient him. He judged it required to prevent him from seeing how he meant to escape. It was an awkward angle, and Mister Slayton was barely in range, but Jien did what he could before he pushed Slayton's foot down into the floor and rolled sideways across it. It reduced the pending pain to a discomfort, and with the roll, Jien tried to either straddle him across the chest or - if he was quick and Slayton was disoriented enough - he would catch his opponent's arm and enter an arm-lock instead. With his back on the ground, he would try to force the pilot to tap out.
If he - instead - only could get on top of Slayton, he would not be shy about using a rapidly plunging fist to further dicombobulate the man.
OOC: So sorry for the wait man. New applicants, work and family ruined my planning the last week. :) Hope the move above is clear enough, otherwise, here is a video (https://youtu.be/WEZyc0aT5hY).
[Ensign Christopher Slayton | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attention: Ives & All
Husker had to admit that the captain had done a gutsy move as he felt the captain's body shift under his grasp and the kick to his head was well timed and actually quite well executed but it forced him to release the lock on his captain's tendons before he quickly gathered his wits.
Pain wasn't new to him and it only brought things into a sharper clarity.
Husker rolled to his left to avoid the plunging fist but instead he quickly wrapped his legs around the captain's waist, locking his feet together as he quickly wrapped his arms around the fist that the captain had just tried to hit him with before Husker forced his whole body to roll, not only with his already muscular bulk but also with the captain's shifting build, so that the Captain was now the one on the ground as Husker quickly rotated his body around
Once he was in the right position, he moved the two of them up into a sitting position with Husker behind his captain as he took his right arm around the front of the captain's neck with his elbow directly below hir chin before he grasped his left bicep with the right hand.
As he continued the move, a surge of red hot fire rushed up his side and Husker gritted his teeth as he felt it. By doing the roll, he possibly had aggravted the muscles that had been shredded during the fight against the Reavers a few days before hand and while medical science had removed the reason for lengthy periods of healing, it hadn't removed the situation of over stressing those very same injuries.
As Chris gritted his teeth, a sharp intake of breath escaped him as he forced himself to continue with slapping on the submission hold.
[ Captain Jien Ives | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: DocReno
The fighter pilot was strong, and Jien ended up in the lock - having pried his fingers between the hook of Slayton's arm to relieve the stress against his throat. It was not easy, not the least, to work against a hold such as that. There was little leverage to withhold the pressure, barely any room to slide one's fingers more firmly between the brawny arm and his own throat. For a couple of seconds, Jien tried to kick himself around and to roll out of he submission hold - using every technique he had at his disposal - but the pilot seemed fully bent on trying to win the match.
Bound to honour the match by not deviating from his male and female forms, he might be loosing the match, but he had one more trick to play, and that was - indeed - to try and find a way out with his smaller form. So, he changed... to his female form, and with the reduction of mass, Jien tried to ram her forearms up inside the man's hold. With both her forearms wedged there, she had better leverage, and started to pry the hold open - trying to roll out of the grip as well. Seeking strength for her mimicked muscles, she cried out as she tried to get out of the hold - not knowing that the pilot was struggling too with the reminder of his old injury.
During that fierce struggle, Jien was disoriented, unsure how successful she was and unable to offer a good counter. The pilot's lean body was hard against hers, and with the blood rushing through her, Jien was reminded about another spar that had gone out of hand, and the fact that it had been when fighting another pilot as well. The sudden memory of having sex with Nathaniel Isley before the Niga Incident threw Jien somewhat, making her loose focus. Still, she did not give up, trying to deliver an elbow strike towards Slayton's face when he was still behind her.
The ending was inevitable, the both of them wearing out, so it was a coin-toss between them - who would buckle first during the impasse they had reached? Jien was at a disadvantage, even if she had some leverage to keep Slayton's arm away from her throat. She had made both her forms sweat like humans did, embracing their physical functions as her own, and with the struggle, her arms and face beaded with it. She suppressed the memories of Isley as best as she could, and she would continue until her simulated muscles gave out, and Slayton proved himself the victor... unless he gave out first.
OOC: So sorry for the late reply, as you have noticed, we had a new applicant and she took up my time making character images. Here you are, and I love to hear back from you in regard to what Lin Kae actually did. Don't forget to include CanadianVet and IronFerrox in the PM reply on that too. :)
[Ensign Christopher Slayton | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attention: Ives & All
Chris fought to focus through the pain and forced it down for the moment with the full understanding that he would have to go to sickbay and see if he had accidentally caused some kind of new hell with that injury.
He felt Ives' fingers around his forearm as s/he tried to keep it from slipping around hir throat and thus completing the circuit of the submission hold but as Chris' oldest brother Marcus had once taught him was that the octopus with a mission could be much more flexible.
Mind you to this day Chris still couldn't understand the meaning of that particular saying...
Chris simply adjusted his weight and used the positioning of the arm that the captain was having issue with and moved hir into a better position only slightly as he then bent just enough to provide enough pressure to his captain's lower abombile walls that would provide enough of a distraction to allow him to complete the hold.
Right now it wasn't about winning to Husker, but to see what s/he would do next in an attempt to try and stop him.
[ Captain Jien Ives | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: DocReno
In failing to secure her forearms within the span of the pilot's submission hold when she changed from her male form, Jien had ended up being in her physically weaker version and at the pilot's mercy. While inferior in terms of strength, however, she was quicker and more limber - agile enough to offer different methods to get out of the hold - but her opponent was well versed in this type of combat. So, whatever she had gained in the change - failed initial attempt aside - was negated by Husker's skill and experience.
Of course she could cheat, change form and slip out before he realised what had happened, but that would not be fair. She forbade herself to do it, as tempting as it was. No, her Chosen Forms were what she would use, and with that in mind, she had decided to yield. However, before she had a moment to clap out, the man proved he knew what he was doing by distracting her, and completing his hold. A fair outcome, and to his credit, Jien smiled faintly before she tapped the mat - yielding the match to the new Lone-Wolf.
The fight had her blood rushing, and it was an exhilarating feeling she was left with after the match had come to an end - pleased that she had taken the initiative to arrange for the sparring tournament. Not just for the sake of the crew, actually, but for her own enjoyment.
[Ensign Christopher Slayton | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attention: Ives & All
Once the captain started tapping the mat, Chris released the hold and quickly, a bit stiffly though, into a standing position and respectfully bowed to his opponent before wiping a bit of sweat off of his forehead before dropping down to one knee to rest in the ring.
As he knelt in the ring, he took a couple of minutes to take stock as to how he was and found that old familiar thrill that he hadn't felt in years..not since his time with the Klingons and he found that he actually missed it on a level that he wasn't expecting and in a strange way, he also felt better and this caused his brow to furrow and his eyes to narrow deeply as he processed the information as he slowly started to rotate his right shoulder to try and get it ready for the next match if one happened.
Inwardly however he realized that he was feeling better because he was actually able to "stretch his legs" so to speak in the sense of a fighter and he had fought using techniques that he hadn't used in a while so as he slowly stood back up, Chris realized that he was actually ready for what ever came next.
But then again in a small portion of his brain, it asked why does one always find understanding in the strangest of situations?
"Thank you for an excellent match, Captain." Chris said in a respectable voice before he looked around and saw Ida standing in the next ring, looking for an opponent. "So tell me, ThanIda, will you accept my challenge?"
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: DocReno
Having watched the end of the fight between her Chameloid Captain and the pilot from the Harbinger, she had been certain that the Captain would win, but that was before the fight entered a phase of grappling, where she suspected that the Captain would not cheat and change form. As it were, she was right, but most of the crowd had thought their Captain would win, so there were a few lucky crewmates in the crowd that had just earned a lot of replicator rations.
"Likewise, Ensign Slayton. I will be wary of entering a match with you on those terms again. Next time, I will keep my distance." Captain Ives said this in good humour, always having been a respectful winner and now proving that she was just as respectful when she'd lost. "Best of luck in the tournament."
Watching as Ives left, Ida did not see how Husker's gaze fell on her, but when she heard his voice, Ida chuckled and turned her head - meeting the pinkskin's eye. She was still quite sore after fighting the pilot with Vulcan blood, aches all over her body and feeling like she had been sucked out of a hull breach and then tractored back inside again. Still, her blue blood beat in her ears, and she had an itch she had to scratch after the fight with Isley, so why not scratch that itch with another fight? After the talk she had with the Harbinger pilot after the memorial service, she was confident she knew exactly where she had the pinkskin. No doubts there as to where they stood, and how much ground there was to cover given their separate pasts.
"I will," she said loudly in answer to override the crowd, gloved hands by her sides as she stepped from her ring and into Husker's. She might be worse for wear, yet it was nothing like the state she had been in after Husker's old crew beat her to a pulp on that Akira-class ship - the one they'd destroyed together. "I forgot to thank you back Below Decks. I did run into Kalen Jinnai on my mission. Thanks for the heads up. "
Before the match began, she put her hands on her hip and spoke to the Ensign - their words for them alone since the crowd drowned out their conversation. "As it were, when I came face to face with that name, I recognised him. He was one of those that had played a number on me before I was thrown into that holding cell next to yours. Though bastard, like you said. Especially for a greying ridgenose."
[Ensign Christopher Slayton | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attention: Ives & All
Chris could only smile at his fellow officer but he also gave himself a moment to drink in the sight of Ida standing there in a workout outfit, a faint sheen of sweat adorning her lithe and toned body as she gave him ever so slightly a cocky smile back..
Chris shook his head to clear it as the last thing that he needed to think about was other things before he cracked his knuckles as he slowly stood up followed by rotated his right shoulder before bouncing back and forth to try and get some circulation back into him following the grappling war with the captain as he waited for Ida to step into the ring that he was in before he interlaced his fingers and started to rotated his hands, wrists, forearms, elbows and shoulders all in one motion as he waited.
"I worked with Kalen for a while, Ida. I hope that my information about him was able to give you a leg up on anything that he tried to do because he is a sneaky and snarky bastard." Chris said as he kept getting ready for a fight with a fighter that was not only on equal footing with him and knew the same fighting styles but also was from a race that was stronger and tougher then he was as a human. "One day I hope to hear how you put a rather sizeable number of boot prints into and through his thick skull, Ida."
He then threw her a wink to let her know that he was happy that he was of help before his expression went serious as he was ready for their bout.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: DocReno
When he said he wanted to hear the story, Ida gave the pinkskin a lopsided smile. "No, I think I will give you a first-hand demonstration instead."
The whistle blew, and Ida's second match began. True to her word, she went all in, pulling no punches as she launched a three-strike combo against Husker's head and side - ending with a low kick with her leading foot with the aim to either unbalance him or make him fall down. Regardless if he did or not, she stepped back afterwards, on the defensive in case his riposte would be swift.
Indeed, just as quickly as she had closed the distance and pummelled him, she was just as quick when she fell back. A precautionary measure, since she was not about to take any chances with this particular pinkskin. Not since she still felt the aches of the previous fight, and the fact that Slayton had made the Captain yield their spar to him.
[Ensign Christopher Slayton | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attention: Ives & All
Chris was fully expecting only the best out of the Zhen but when she came at him with a flurry of blows, the shorter woman attempted to do what she could to knock the six four pilot off of his center and as quickly as he was able to block the blows-Ida just as quickly moved out of range for any attempt at him returning with his own strikes.
Chris then switched things up from Vershaan which was more grappling based to something more tried and true as Chris narrowed his eyes in focus before he quickly moved into what was a modified version of the basic Muay Thai stance as he put his left foot facing forward with his right foot slightly behind his left foot with his balance on the balls of his feet so that he wasn't able to be caught flat footed with his knees bent in a way that it looked like he was "sitting while standing up" but he kept his chin down with his hands up high.
Chris then sprang into motion leading with a right hook into a left sweep at her knees before attempting a right elbow/forearm strike to her right temple and as he struck out with specific limbs, he would use the others to block with such as if he struck with his right fist, he would block with his left as he kept his green eyed gaze locked firmly on her body-not in the sexual sense or the sense of an artist but in the sense of seeing how her muscles would ebb and flow into the next move.
But Chris wasn't going to try and out power Ida, he knew better from months of training with Paran because she was an Andorian which meant that she had a bit more power behind her feminine appearance which meant that he couldn't match in in the power department so it would come down to who had the better training...but even that was slightly up for grabs because they both were trained by the masters of their respective styles...
As he struck and moved, lashed and withdrew..the man from Asgard couldn't help but to smile at the chance to still just unwind in good company.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: DocReno
With her shorter stature, Ida was keen on using it to her advantage. Range was an asset in a fight, but it could also be a detriment if the opponent could use it against you. This, Ida had done before, and she was at it as soon as Husker countered. She dodged below the right hook, and could use both arms to break the momentum of the sweeping kick. When the elbow strike came in full force, she passed underneath it as well, and as she did, she drove her own elbow straight into Husker's torso. She did it in passing too, swaying out to the side of his directed attack. It made her end up halfway behind his back, and she had the opportunity to follow up on her strike against his side.
She did so with her own low and savage kick, aimed straight into the bend of Husker's closest knee - meaning to unbalance him and make him drop down. No more had she put her foot down until she launched the other one, consecutively delivering a spinning kick that would either collide into his centre, or right in his face - all depending on how unbalanced he had been by her first kick.
It escaped Ida how Husker was enjoying himself - hardly able to see his facial features in the flurry of blows exchanged. Nonetheless, despite the aches and bruises it might leave, Ida always found sparring to be invigorating. What made her more keen on the fight in question was how she kept crossing paths with this pinkskin, and she had yet to come to terms with how he reminded her about home. On one level, she could barely stand the sight of him because of it, yet on the other, there was still some strange pull towards her heritage and the family she'd left behind. Sometimes, in the off hours where she was alone and drew in the solitude of her quarters... she would miss her twin brothers.
After dealing her spinning kick, she sought to distance herself again - not about to enter close-quarter combat with the large pinkskin unless she had to.
[Ensign Chris Slayton | Starboard sparring ring | USS Theurgy] Attention: Ida
*Yep, this is going to be one of those kinds of bouts* Husker mentally chided himself as he felt the Zhen's blows impact where he wasn\t able to get his guard or counter up in time but he was used to getting beat on, not just because of his training but also because he had brothers that he got into fights with and sisters that he had to defend the honor of growing up.
Istead of giving Ida and chance to recover and regroup, he shifted his own game plan by very quickly closing the distance between the two of them, opning up with making that he was going to lead with a left hook but instead quickly lashed out with a savage right snap kick to her ribs instead before following it up with an attempt to go for a body blow with his left knee but instead he went and grapevined her left arm with his left arm, trapping it long enough to land two quick knee strikes, while fully leaving him open to any blows from the shorter woman as he then quickly latched onto her upper body by using her grapevined arm as a connection.
For a brief moment he was chest to chest with her in a manner that he could feel her heartbeat and she could feel his as he looked into that face and he was still smiling from the thrill of their bout before he quickly hit a move from a position that it wasn't commonly hit from as he threw his body backwards while lifting and tossing Ida's over his head..
...but as he suplexed her, the blow that she had landed to his face suddenly expolded into a blinding white array of pain which made him quickly snap his eyes shut while loosing his balance as everything connected to his right eye blazed as he tried to force the pain down.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: DocReno
The pinkskin was quick to close the distance even after sustaining the kind of beating that he got from her. Ida had not been prepared for the swift way in which he moved in despite the kick to his head, and yet experience allowed her to try and sway with the directed force of the kick towards her ribs and the knee he tried to drive into her. It was a feint, however, because he trapped her arm instead, making her snarl into his face. She did her best to ward herself from any harm sustained from the twain times Husker tried to drive his knee into her, and she did it by trying to spin them around - to make him loose his footing.
Before he acted on his grapevine grip on her arm, she thus had no opportunity to deal him an definitive blow. Yet it was as if his battered body caught up with him right then, just as he lifted her feet clean off the deck and sought to slam her down. She felt his breath, and she had her teeth bared at him, and that was when he failed - grip loosing enough to make her absorb the blow with ease - her free arm warding off the impact. The half-way disentangled manoeuvre ended up with her knee in Husker's face - slamming his head down. And no intention had she to linger, so she rolled forward - getting back up on her feet a short distance away.
As she rounded on him, the feeling of her body smothered up against her before the fall... it felt like a distraction she could not afford. She refused to let the thought get to her, already saturated with such lecherous ideas from the spar with Isley. No, this shadow of her past was not about to give her ideas. Before he got his bearings back and his feet underneath himself, Ida was not about to be idle. No, she had her guard up and went over to him, twisted her hip and snapped a kick across his already sore head before he got up. Then, she twisted her hip back again, and with that short step, she dealt him a savage uppercut.
Cautiously, she then stepped back twice - gauging the effect and keeping her distance.
[Chris Slayton| Starboard Sparring Ring| USS Theurgy]
There was the crunch of Ida's knee against the injured side of his face followed by a wetter sounding crunch caused by her follow up move at which point Chris' whole world exploded into one of white hot pain as he rolled backwards and to his knees as he fought to get the pain under control as the memories of the last time he was in this much pain.
"Hom ghIqtal" "Hom ghlqtal" "Hom ghlqtal"
The guards chanting as he clutched at his face as the Cardassian moved back, a snarl of triumph on his face.
Chris clenched his fists tightly as he forced the rest of the memory down as he got up to his feet, unsteadily at first as his right eye was clenched shut as he squared back his shoulders before moving in slowly to test her reactions before he started to step them up quickly, hoping to finish the match before the pain became to great.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: DocReno
Ensign Slayton took both the kick and the punch, and yet - somehow - the pinkskin was back on his feet. Ida narrowed her eyes, seeing him close the distance, and yet he did not come back to her in force. Instead, he utilised 'feelers' in attempt to assess her as an opponent. A popular sparring technique, and one she might use in the beginning of a fight. Perhaps Husker was disoriented, requiring time to rebound from the hits he had taken. In either case, Ida would not indulge him. In fact, she would not give him the cues he searched for: the unintentional hints of her intentions. There were many subtle cues that she had rinsed from her techniques, neither cocking her arm back prior to a striking nor widening her eyes or raising her eyebrows. She did not betray her sudden answer to his probing technique with her breathing either - just acting on her instinct as she moved in.
In a real fight, her target zones would be the the eyes, temples, nose, chin, or the back of his neck. Instead, the strikes she unleashed went for the sides of his neck instead. She went for his torso too, the solar plexus and his ribs - about to immobilise his breathing instead of killing him. Yet as she did, she noticed how the pinkskin stepped up his speed too, his probing strikes coming quicker, and the rapid exchange of blows turned into trade of blocks and counter attacks that left them both without a solid hit.
What felt like a minute of consecutive techniques was surely no more than a couple of seconds, seconds that wore on their stamina and demanded complete focus lest the punishment would be a decisive for the outcome of the match. They were both weary, bruised and sore, and the ending was drawing near. Ida felt it coming, and she meant to do what she could to win, defying her exhaustion. The crowd had fallen silent with anticipation, the only sounds being those their bodies made, and the hissing of their breaths.
In the end, she was the one who changed the rhythm. She swayed back, exiting punching-range and shifting her weight to her rear, right leg. Her front kick went for the centre of his chest. The second kick came when that foot came down, going for the side of his knee. The third kick was an ax stomp with the same leg, with a preliminary upward swing before the power of the strike was concentrated to her heel. To add more power, she bent her rear left leg a bit to gain more downward momentum. She meant to floor him with the last one after ruining his balance with the first two.
[Chris Slayton| Starboard Sparring Ring| USS Theurgy] Attn: Ida
Chris' body was starting to ache from the sheer amount of punishment that was being done to it from Ida's attacks and combined with the fact that he now had damage to one eye that prevented him from looking out, let alone opening that eye, was going to make the rest of this fight difficult if it was to go on any longer.
When she moved out of range of his arms, he quickly exited CQC mode and watched her movements the best that he could before she managed to get a good and solid kick into the center mass of his chest which knocked him back a little bit but she quickly followed it up with a blow to his knee but her follow up blow he quickly pivoted and the attempted ax stomp was met with a follow through thrust kick to her stomach and abdomen which he followed through from his previous pivot.
But somewhere in the back of his mind, something clicked as he moved to a partial standing position and started hitting various levels of kicks at her, trying to keep the assistant chief of security off balance and when she tried to stand, he quickly moved in with forearm and elbow strikes but when she attempted to reply with attacks of her own-he fought to block them the best that he could.
But the soreness that was creeping through his body was starting to make him a little bit sluggish as he fought to keep his attack up and while he may have been a simple human, he was still a man from Asgard and they never gave up a fight...at least while they could still walk, talk, and blink because he wasn't just a fighter..but incredibly stubborn as well.
At that moment, even though he was in pain he couldn't help but see that his opponent was holding back and he smiled at her but it wasn't a mean smile or a sexy, snarky smile-but one of geniune respect for the fighter. "Come on now, ThanIda. If we're going to finish this bout, stop trying to hit me and hit me." he said respectfully to her.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: DocReno
The pinkskin looked rather worse for wear, and yet he fought on. He even wasted his breath to speak, and as sore as Ida felt after her round against the Vulcan halfbreed, the words stirred her. He might not have meant to invoke her anger with her challenge, and it was not exactly ire that animated her when she launched her next assault. She closed the distance after Husker's attack had pushed her away, and when she did, she came back as if she had been recoiled by a spring. She held naught back, driving her fist into his midriff as she returned, and as if that wasn't enough, she sized his shoulder and drove her knee into him with the same momentum.
The descending elbow strike to his head was am emphasised punctuation to the combination - meaning to floor him with it and end the match.
No, ire did not drive those final attacks home, it was no answer to a taunt of his. It was a show of respect towards him, acquiescing his wish for her to win the spar without any half-measures bringing him to heel. If he was about to loose, he wanted to loose the match on no uncertain terms, and as much she would grant him. It was just a fine balance to not cause him too much harm. She had enough experience to make that judgement call, and as it were, she was not certain how much longer she could have kept it up. She was beaded in sweat all over her toned body, aching to the marrow of her bones, and her high metabolism had drained her beyond what she was used to - exerting herself almost beyond her means to win even the second match fought.
[Chris Slayton| Starboard Sparring Ring| USS Theurgy] Attn: Ida
<Oh yeah..smooth move, exlax.> Chris thought to himself as Ida quickly rained one blow onto him after another but he knew that he couldn't hold out much longer and had chosen this path for a reason and as his body hit the ground, he rolled over onto his stomach to try and force himself to at least a kneeling position.
But as he tried to move, he found that his body wasn't responding as well as he would've liked as the combined injuries caused him to simply twist onto his back and look up at the woman at which point his breath got caught in his throat as his head started to spin .
There stood Ida, the light of the room shining off of each and every single droplet of sweat as it rolled off of her lithe and trim form, her breasts heaving with every breath from the sheer amount of effort caused by her last attack and her hair in slight disarray from all of it...
"I would really love to paint what I'm seeing right now..." was the only thing that he could think to say right before he winced extremely hard as the last set of blows to his head caused his head to explode internally with tremendous pain as he winced hard enough that there was a light crunching sound somewhere in the area around his eye that was swollen shut from her efforts.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: DocReno
When Husker did not get up again, there was a moment of hesitation before the crowd dared raise their voice in a cheer for the victor. A cheer not joined by all, some still remembering the Niga Incident - no doubt - and not entirely convinced that what she and the pilot on the deck had done in the battle against the Calamity was enough to redeem her. Others did not cheer because after having won against Captain Ives, their bets had been on the pinkskin. Either way, Ida did not care.
She looked towards Husker and inclined her head respectfully while she was declared the winner of the match, and present medical personnel moved to help the pilot out of the ring. Ida watched the pinkskin long enough to make certain he was not too badly hurt before she turned to the crowd.
"Do we have another challenger?" she called, blood stirred by the fact that she had won two matches in a row, and not about to forfeit the victory of the tournament merely because she was exhausted and sore, bruised and bleeding from the corner of her lip. If there was another challenger, she would take him or her on, and not yield the victory unless she had to.
OOC: Next match will be the last one before we shift focus to Episode 04. If there are no challengers, ida won the tournament.
[ Wenn Cinn | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attn: Auctor Lucan
"Here." A voice called out from the crowd. Through the throng stepped the bulk that was Wenn Cinn.
He had watched the previous two matches, arriving when he had heard of the tournament. Initially he had come only to spectate but the competition had stirred something within. Cinn knew the therapeutic qualities of physical exercise and the rush of endorphins that followed. It was addictive. Ida would be aching, but no doubt that she was currently feeling on top of the world. Many times Cinn had chased that rush. It was that, and his sense of duty, which had kept him going through the resistance. He had known it wouldn't have taken much to get him to join this impromptu tournament.
In fact, it was the way in which she called for another challenger, almost gloating, that was the straw, which broke the camel's back. Cinn loved Ida, as a colleague, as a friend and as a daughter. But just because you love someone doesn't mean you cannot teach them. In this case, that lesson was humility.
Keeping an eye upon the Andorian he began to strip from his duty uniform until he was down to standard issue undergarments, shirt and shorts. From behind there was a catcall as he removed his trousers, no idea if it was from a man or woman; it still gave Cinn a smirk.
One of the Gamma shift security officers began to wrap Cinn's hands. Wenn had seen him before, but couldn't remember his name. He'd transferred from Harbinger. At least he knew how to wrap hands for fighting. Three times around the wrist, then three times around the hands. As they wrapped in an x fashion through the fingers and around the thumb Wenn started to build his strategy. Ida was fast; she was nimble, and capable of hitting with both precision and force. However, she was also tired and no doubt aching from her last two matches. As a big man, he figured that she would try to use her speed to catch him off guard, as he could withstand her assault in a traditional boxing setting. He had a plan; he just needed to enact it.
Once they had wrapped over his knuckles and finished at the wrist. Cinn began to stretch. He'd need the mobility. "What do you think Deputy? Care to wager on shift rotation? Perhaps replicator rations or time on the holodeck?"
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: Arista
Hearing the voice, Ida turned around and saw the mountain of a man that was her superior officer. The chuckle that escaped her at the realisation of whom her next challenger would be, it was that of a single warrior beset by an army after a whole day on the battlefield. Her instant thought was that she'd loose, but it passed quickly, not about to back down just because it was Wenn Cinn that had taken up the challenge and entered the tournament.
"Oh, going up against you now, I would be fighting for the glory," she said over the din of the crowd, beginning to pace the ring and stretching her wrapped and padded hands. She had not sparred against Wenn Cinn since before they fled Earth, which somehow seemed like decades ago after all that had befallen them and the crew, "As for you, you'll have to settle for the inferior feat of winning against me in my present state, and perhaps winning the tournament... Provided there are no challengers left. I am certainly not going to throw my rations away."
Ida saw how he had removed his uniform and would be fighting in Starfleet undergarments instead of exercise wear. It meant he hadn't warmed up, perchance being slower because of it. His powerful frame reminded her suddenly of another Bajoran she'd fought recently, Kalen Jinnai of the Harbinger being of similar build albeit more grey and old than Wenn Cinn was. It had been a reminder for her that some Bajorans were tougher than they ought to be, and that her endoskeleton and strength only accounted for so much. She needed no such reminder when going up against Wenn Cinn, however, for she already knew he was an opponent to be reckoned with. As she watched the security officer putting on the slim, padded gloves for his large hands and shin guards for his legs, she walked to the edge of the ring and asked for some water. A bottle was passed into her hand and she took swig from it. Then she poured some over her head to cool herself off. The cheers from the crowd demanded that the match would begin soon, so without further a due, she returned to the centre of the ring - raking back wet hair from her face and clearing her thoughts.
When the first signal came, she was ready - guard raised. When the second came, the fight was on.
[ Wenn Cinn | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attn: Auctor Lucan
He was ready. Hands wrapped and gloved, shin pads in place. Truth be told, he was looking forward to this; He needed this. The chance to feel truly alive again after the memorial service. Cinn knew Ida wouldn't disappoint. She certainly didn't with the pre-match entertainment. Males from the crowd hooted and hollered when she poured water on herself.
Ever since he had returned from the dead, she had been distant. Whether she was still coming to terms with the resurrection, or the horrible things that had happened while he was gone, he didn't know. What did he know was that he missed her, and their training together. They'd practice, sometimes for hours and she would take her lumps and come back swinging. Never mind, it was time to blow off some steam and get back in the game.
In the center of the ring, they stood facing, each giving a stern look. On the first signal Cinn raised his guard, on the second he moved, closing the distance in one step he swung at Ida with a jab and cross, or what the humans called a one two. He didn't expect these hits to do any real damage apart from to ensure Ida kept up her defence in front for the next stage. While he crossed, he hopped the right and pulled back in his arm to immediately throw an uppercut. Hopefully she would be so busy blocking the early shots, that she wouldn't be able to keep up with the move and quick uppercut. Cinn knew his punches were hard. He'd just have to keep sapping her resolve, until she could take no more.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: Arista
The chill of the water helped Ida focus, invigorated like no iron-blooded pinkskin species would be by the sensation when it trickled down her body. After two matches, she was limber and quick enough, but the cold water stirred her blood even more. Her superior officer had just stepped out of the crowd, but despite how slow he ought to be, she was not about to take anything for granted.
And right she was, because the brief stay beyond the realm of the living had done little to deteriorate Wenn Cinn's quickness - warmed up or not - since he immediate seized the initiative. An inexperienced fighter might be intimidated by the size of an opponent like the Bajoran, but as overwhelming as it might seem when a person with the kind of muscular bulk like Cinn had moved in to attacked, Ida was no inexperienced fighter. She slid one foot back and deflected the first jab to the side with the turn, and dodged below the hook, and in short order, the uppercut came - something she saw coming because she had bent her legs.
Snapping about, she slid her other foot back and struck the rising attack aside with the edge of both her hands. It granted her a small opening, with Wenn Cinn's side exposed. There was no time for a kick, the shortest distance covered by dealing him an elbow-strike into his ribcage. She did it with a step forward to apply enough force to make any difference on an opponent such as Wenn Cinn, the pivoting momentum of her whole upper body and her hips behind the strike. She had to gamble that he wouldn't move away in time, because if she did not hit him, her whole back would be exposed to any counter he might deal against her.
This was likely her toughest fight yet, and still she rejoiced in the challenge, because Wenn Cinn deserved whatever she might give him.
[ Wenn Cinn | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attn: Auctor Lucan
No matter that he had stretched, Ida was ready. She dodged all the blows, and used the uppercut to land a strike onto his ribcage. The hit didn't do enough to wind Cinn, but it did remind him that he was not sparring against any fresh cadet. Not that he needed any reminders. Ida and Cinn had been practicing with each other since well before their ill fated venture to Earth. Nicander had had to reset dislocated shoulders, cracked ribs and swollen knees before, and that could be from when they went easy on each other.
He used the momentum of the impact to move a few spaces back from Ida. The slight sting from his chest gave him cause for a hearty laugh. Say what you will about Wenn Cinn. He was alive and, by the Prophets, he felt alive.
"Good, good..." He complimented her on the counter, encouraging and compelling her on. As he set himself up for the next interaction, he watched Ida with his intense dark brown eyes, analysing and computing on what she would do next. The memories of the occupation lingered and in his minds eye he could see, as he could when he was younger, Vedek Orri in the caves that they called home.
"You just need to slow down, stay calm and just let things come to you" Orri lectured. The elderly monk had taken a keen eye to Cinn, and a number of other new conscripts, teaching not only religious text but also fighting and self-defence. During this training time, Orri stood looking refreshed and ready, as if he'd just been on a nice summer's day walk. Cinn on the other hand, looked at the monk out of breath and bent over, his hands on his knees and sweat dripping from every pore. It had been a tough session.
"What... do you mean?" Cinn managed to rasp in reply between large breaths. Orri gave a patience smile. In his reply, as he did often, he was cryptic.
"The fields do not go to the rain, nor does the boulder to moss. They allow it to come to them. As should you."
This time he would wait.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: Arista
After she had landed her strike whilst passing him by, Ida rounded on Wenn Cinn - hearing him complimenting her briefly on her technique. Another time, she would have taken it for what it likely was, a cursory compliment on a well executed move. Now, however, it sounded like he was belittling her, as if she was a little girl. She did not know why her ire spiked, but it was as if she felt she had come a long way since he died, and he did not have the right to make such a comment anymore.
It suited her fine that he decided to be on the defensive, since she would nothing rather than attack him because of his comment. Where had he been when the obscene outbreak had swept through the decks? Where was he when a malign, omnipotent entity took their will and judgement away from them and made them all her play-things? Had it been him or her that were present when the Calamity attacked them? What right had he to belittle her after all she had been through? They had lost Grayson, Kingston, Ferik and Bellde'side outside the Hromi Cluster, and almost the entire security staff on the Harbinger when Sonja Acreth escaped. Drovo, Ceratto, Vessery lost in the strife. She had been raped and beaten in the line of duty, trying to protect to different crews from threats internal or alien. And then Wenn Cinn sweeps in and treat her like she was some green Deputy fresh out of the Academy that didn't know one end of the rifle from the other? By Lor'Vela but he would damned to patronise her...
Oh, she realised why her ire had spiked, just as she went back in. She led in with her left side, feigning a side-kick towards his groin, yet she retracted her leg before she hit, only to deliver a straight kick towards the back or side of his knee with the same leg - the blade of her foot cutting down to imbalance him. Regardless of success, she shifted sides, her right leg driving hard into his back or the back of his head if he had gone down on one knee. Her finishing strike, before she meant to step back and put some distance to her opponent, was a rising backhand blow towards his face - delivered at the beginning of her retreating step.
[ Wenn Cinn | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attn: Auctor Lucan
His compliment had fallen flat. It was just then that Cinn began to realise that something was indeed wrong. That cold fire that burned in her eyes was now capable of melting tritanium beams. She was fighting for more than the glory of beating him in the competition, if only he could work out what. The puzzle distracted him momentarily, making his careful preparation useless. Ida brought in a side kick, only to shift her attack when Cinn moved to defend. Her foot caught the back of his left knee, driving it to the floor. The hit snapped his attention back to the matters at hand, on instinct he ducked his head down. He could almost feel the smooth blue skin brush against the short stubble that was his hair, but he knew it to be the displaced air.
When she brought back her arm in a backhand, Cinn caught her wrist with his right hand and used the opportunity to strike with his left, directly up towards her ribs. It would be weaker than his right, but if his aim were true, it would still pack quite the punch. With the backhand disrupted, Cinn released her wrist immediately, opting to follow his strike with his right foot, sweeping round in a low kick. He aimed to take Ida off her feet. Either way, he continued the movement with his whole body, moving into a roll away from the Andorian and pushed back up onto his feet.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: Arista
Wenn Cinn caught her backhand strike, and it was decidedly an easy feat since Ida was a bit unbalanced by not hitting him with her kick. The counter came as a viper's strike - his padded fist driving hard into her side since she had no means to block it. Having already having sustained a lot of hits from her two previous opponents, having a third one the size of her superior officer landing a strike like that jarred her more than it normally would. She quipped for breath, for while her endoskeleton protected her a lot more than the fragile ribcages of other humnaoid species, the blunt force trauma was quite considerable.
While she got her wrist back from Wenn Cinn's large hand, the low kick came straight for the front of her calves. He would have made her end up flat on her face if she was not already doubled over from his strike, making the feat of rolling forward in the nick of time a bit easier. Rolling over his kick, she meant to come up on her feet again, but she could not quite straighten her torso yet, making her stumble once she got up . While it put some distance between her and Wenn Cinn, it was hardly a graceful achievement. Forcing some air down, at last, she blinked hard above her raised guard, circling Cinn in the ring. Her breathing laboured, she still spoke her mind - a few words she could not help herself from uttering in answer to his 'praise'.
"Why did you wish to deny me the chance to be CSec on the Harbinger?" she grated, supposing that was the best starting-point to make him understand. "Did you fail to hear me when I told you what the crew has been through?" She did not say it out loud, but the implication was obvious. What I put them through. Beyond that, she knew she was unfair to think of the second aspect, but she could not help herself.
What you could have prevented. if you only had been there.
She closed the distance again, this time leading with a one-two combo of jabs and a straight kick right towards Cinn's midriff. If she could, she would then step forth and deliver a second kick straight towards his head.
OOC: Pardon the slight delay.
[ Wenn Cinn | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attn: Auctor Lucan
Cinn brought up his right hand to deflect the first jab, but didn't manage a manoeuvre to dodge the second. He clenched his jaw in preparation of the hit; the moment it struck, he could hear his sandpaper-like stubble give a short rasp over Ida's glove. If she hadn't been wearing padded gloves it would have, of course, hurt more. The cushion allowed him to retain his senses and notice the next move.
He hopped to the side to avoid the kick using his left hand to push the leg away and with a twist he extended his right arm in a ferocious punch aimed squarely at Ida's chin. On the outside his face had a grimace, but inside he was livid. How could she think that he would actively block her transfer request?
"So that's what this is all about? You're pissed at me that I wasn't happy you wanted to leave?" He asked incredulously, the anger slipping over his calm façade. "Why should I be? I died and through the grace of the Prophets I was given a second chance. I returned to find that the crew had been through terrible hardships, but they still had you." As he spoke the tone of his anger quickly changed to disappointment. Of course he was upset with Ida, it hurt that she'd think him so petty as to deny a transfer, but it dawned on him that he struggled with the fact she was so ready to throw in the towel. Whether she realised it or not, she had been a rock for Cinn, unyielding and relentless. She wasn't perfect but no one, beside the prophets, was. He respected her but with this, his faith in his partner was shaken. "We had the chance to start to make things right and you wanted to run? I thought better of you than that." Pausing, he looked over his deputy.
"The worst thing? After all we've been through, you didn't even allow me to be part of the decision. You dictated what was happening" He paused before continuing. "I will always, always support you Ida, but I don't have to like it. I didn't deny your transfer. Nothing could make me do such a thing."
The sadness in his voice may have masked the fact that they were still sparring, but Cinn's actions didn't. Whether Ida was ready or not, he was explosive in his movement, rapidly closing the range between them. He kicked out straight with his right leg, intending to smash her gut before swinging in with a left hook.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: Arista
Ida's first kick was deflected to the side, and Wenn Cinn's counter nearly ended the match before it had even really begun. The devastating force of his right fist slid past her temple as she swayed out to the side. She retreated, aborted the attempt to kick him a second time, and resumed to circle him instead. She might have been able to take the punch, but after two matches fought, she couldn't have been sure she'd remained on her feet.
He spoke, and as focused as Ida was on the spar, his reaction did nothing to soothe what she felt. Rather, he fanned the flames with every word. They 'had' me, indeed. They had me infect them with a viral disease that made rapists and victims of them all. Ida curled her upper lip at the thought, and the livid glimpses of madness that rose from her subconscious. Isley had reminded her, and now the memories were far closer at hand - not entirely suppressed by the antidote. Perhaps something because of her physiology, that she couldn't remain forgetful about the nightmare. Worst of all was how demeaning his words were, Cinn speaking as if he had the right to judge her.
"The worst thing?" she repeated in wake of his self-entitled reproach, as if he had some kind of right to second-guess her, but she got no father before he came at her. As infuriated as she was by his sentiment - acting as if he hadn't walked out of her quarters that morning instead of asking what motivated her decision - she almost didn't defend herself in time. She took a glancing, burning hit across her ribs as she shifted feet and moved aside, but by keeping her eyes on him, she saw the left cross coming for her. She caught it on the inside with both her raised forearms, absorbing the heavy impact by splitting it across her rigid arms, and then lashed out sideways with the arm closest to his face. It was a hammer-blow, dealt with the edge of her fist where the padding was nominal, and it went straight across his jaw. Her follow-up was a straight punch for his nose, launched consecutively with the first since that arm was already raised and within his guard too.
She did not follow through with a third attack, however, instead stepping back so that she wouldn't be caught in close-quarters combat with her superior officer. Instead, her finish was a verbal one. "You may not have denied it formally, but you did not trust my judgement in the matter, thinking you knew better, but you have no idea what I have been through." Ida lashed him with her words, and her eyes remained unblinking as she circled him. "You had no right to judge my call... not when you weren't there."
You weren't there...
[ Wenn Cinn | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attn: Auctor Lucan
Cinn took the hit to the jaw, but managed to avoid the punch to the nose. As Ida retreated, he checked quickly with one hand to ensure that all his teeth were still in place and that he hasn't bleeding from a split lip. He tried not to but couldn't resist smiling. It was amusing, here Ida was trying to articulate her pain, and all he could feel was his own, both emotional and physical. The pain was good. The pain showed he was still alive, and it felt great to be alive.
"No. You're right..." He said, snorting into a deep chuckle. "I wasn't there." He raised his guard in preparation to defend against an attack while he spoke. The humour he showed just moments earlier was gone. "It wasn't by my choice, remember that. Know that I remember everything. I remember hearing the sound of the explosion, the look on your face when I was sucked through the open bulkhead. I felt the cold emptiness while my skin expanded until I was eventually consumed by sheer darkness."
He stopped, swallowing back down his torment, leaving only sorrow. He looked deep into Ida's midnight blue eyes. "When are you going to forgive me for dying? What happened to you was horrendous, but what could I have done? I'm not perfect Ida, only our gods are. Any ideas that I am is just karskat." He used the Andorian word to emphasis his point. "You want to punish me for not being with you? Fine. Go right ahead. Beat your hands against me." Cinn took a step towards her and opened his arms wide, as if he intended to receive a hug from the Andorian though he knew better. "Give me that angst and despair, until your anguish is gone. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. Not until the Prophets recall me."
He repeated once again. "When are you going to forgive me for dying?"
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: Arista
Ida kept her distance, circling her superior officer while he spoke. He was calling her notion misbegotten; the idea that he was supposed to have lived instead of being killed in action. She knew he had no choice in the matter, either in dying or returning from the dead, but her quarrel was not - she convinced herself - that he had not been there, but that he had not proved to be better. How he could begrudge her decision so offhandedly and disrespectfully, even when told what she had been through, he would act the way he did in hearing of her transfer to the Harbinger.
Rationally, she had already forgiven him for dying, because how could she possibly hold that against him? She denied herself to linger at such a thought, because she was better than that. No, her issue was with his arrogance. This, she clung to, and while he spoke of her being like a child loosing a parent, she thought him wrong, and raised her mental guard against the implications of his words. Instead, she saw the opening, and struck in the wake of his misguided words. For they were nothing else but misguided - that, she stuck to - eyes burning as she gave no quarter in her assault.
"You arrogant," she hissed, and drove her fist into his solar plexus with all her forward momentum, "vile alneesh!" Her second strike was an uppercut, sprung from a leap from the mat to gain force kindled by her legs. With heaving breaths, she paused before she continued. "You don't even see your own faults, thinking me a petulant child!"
Shifting forward, she dealt a left hook across, then she delivered a side-kick straight for his ribs - meaning to crumple him like the paper figure of trust he had proved to be.
[ Wenn Cinn | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attn: Auctor Lucan
He knew what was coming. If he had been watching from the audience, he would have shouted and jeered at the stupidity of someone leaving themselves so open. Inside he resolved himself and prepared for the hits. He would stay upright. He needed to be a black rock. Strong and immovable against the crash of blue tides. He would allow her rage and anguish to wash over him and perhaps then, he could find the real route of her problems. Every avenue he had tried so far had failed. Maybe if he tired her emotionally as well as physically he could find the real cause.
No matter how you prepare, a solid hit to the stomach hurts. Cinn couldn't help but grunt as air was forcibly expelled between gritted teeth. Ida continued to insult, throwing an uppercut catching Cinn on the tip of his chin as he pulled his head back. He might be a rock, but he couldn't crumble, certainly not after the first salvo. It was then she finally said something of merit.
Cinn was faulted. He wouldn't deny it. To learn how this time, he would need to be more than passive. When the left hook came in, he dodged in an active burst of speed preparing for what comes next. As the side-kick came, he turned into it, grabbing the kick in his hands. Simultaneously he shifted his feet towards Ida, effectively putting his back towards her. Once stabilised he used his closest leg in a swift motion to catch her behind the knee with his own. With no support, she would have no choice but to tumble unceremoniously to the ground and onto her back. With his opponent floored Cinn stepped back, ensuring the distance to ask a couple of questions.
"Then educate me, deputy. How am I flawed?"
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: Arista
While some of her attacks came through, others didn't, and Ida ended up on the floor in the middle of the ring - Wenn Cinn stepping away. She had managed to get a grip on his shirt, ripping it on the way down, but the hold had not lessened the impact the least.
Gritting her teeth, her whole body aching, she was still already climbing to her feet when he asked her how he was flawed - that she would educate him in his shortcomings. To her, it sounded so arrogant, as if he had uttered a challenge. Had he used her title to put her in her place, daring her to speak up against him? She did not know, nor did she care. If he wanted it spelled out for him, asking that she would drive it through his thick skull like her fist, then she would grant just that at earliest possible convenience.
"I did not make my decision to transfer to the Harbinger lightly, and even though it was my own decision," she said, glaring at him across her raised guard as she resumed circling him, "you failed to see how much I needed it. I swore to protect this crew, and I stepped up and did more than expected of me to do so, but regardless of what I did, the memory of Niga still lingered, and it was time to leave this ship in better hands."
It was plain how she indicated him, even if she could not say it outright given the development. "Instead of supporting me, without a smidgen of empathy for my situation, you stone-walled me and left without a word. Without any respect for the fact that a lot has happened since you died... you still expected me to stay. By Lor'Vela, I believed I was doing both the crew and myself a favour by going to the Harbinger, but you did not even want to hear me out - dismissing me as if I had spit you in the eye. It was never about you or me, but you made it so - not I."
In the end, her transfer to the Harbinger had been fortuitous for the Theurgy, but for altogether different reasons.
"While I saw the bigger picture, you didn't, and I had greater faith in you, both as my superior officer... and as my friend."
With the final verbal lash she gave him, hoping that it struck close to heart, she came at him with a new barrage - not about to be idle. She came in high, feinting him, only to go low with her final step - lowering her point of gravity and thus driving her elbow into his torso while she crossed the point where he stood. Yet she did not stop there, using her forward momentum to trip him backwards across her leg. She had wits enough to not try and enter a wrestling match with him, instead settling on a savage kick to his already struck rib-cage before darting back - meaning to get out of his reach.
[ Wenn Cinn | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attn: Auctor Lucan
The words Ida spoke did hurt, a metaphorical knife wound, although he did not have much time to recover before she came at him again.
He pushed to dodge the elbow stepping back to ensure his balance yet, once again, his deputy seemed to know his every move; She put her leg behind him and sent the mountain of a man tumbling to the ground. Although not for long, for like a rolling some gathers no moss, Cinn kept the momentum to push his body over his shoulder and up onto his feet again, the kick that Ida had placed skidded across the space in which he used to be. Cinn now removed his ripped undershirt and tossed it aside. Black muscles rippled as he brought his guard up in case of another thrust from the Andorian.
"Ida, I'm sorry." He said simply, and honestly. He watched to see her reaction. "I was coming to terms with my own mortality, actually, I still am. After getting my life back, I didn't want to lose you again. As you say, we're friends, and it hurt that you didn't want to include me in your decision making process. It wasn't the best way to handle the news, but it is what it is." Cinn circled Ida, calculating. He thought back over the her last few moves, and assessed where she was hurting the most, where she was open and where she couldn't move fast enough.
"If you say you weren't transferring to Harbinger to run from your problems, I believe you. I do also believe that the crew needs you, now more than ever. You're strong, courageous and noble. I don't know why Ives chose others over you to replace me, but I want to work to ensure it doesn't happen again, if I am returned to the Prophets. Now..." He paused, changing topic. "Defend yourself."
He enclosed the gap between them almost instantly, his right leg moved into a side-kick toward her ribs, only to move back at the last second. Cinn hoped that as she moved to defend, she wouldn't see the left hook that he brought down to bare on her. Regardless of whether it was successful or not, he would follow again with an actual side-kick from his right leg, this time however was high, aiming for her head.
OOC: Sorry about the delay!
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: Arista
Ida heard the apology, but she had no mind to forgive him that easily. At least she had not counted on forgiving him so soon, but his words rang of honesty, and she found herself believing him more than she'd thought. She had been set on sneering at him, ridiculing him, or whatever fitted his excuses best, but she realised that none of such retorts came to mind when he spoke. Silent, she watched him, no words coming to her immediately.
Wenn Cinn was not going to be idle, however, because he moved in with a cursory forewarning, He meant to kick her sore ribs, her side made sore again after the glancing blow she had taken from him seconds earlier. She moved to defend herself because she wouldn't be able to sustain another solid hit against the area without having great difficulty continuing the spar. So, with crossed forearms, she meant to absorb the blunt force of his leg... Only to see it revert back from whence it came. Her eyes widened...
...and the strike caught her across her neck and shoulder, and the immense force of it make her knees buckle. Or perhaps it was the nerve clusters in her neck that jolted her balance? Either way, it sent her staggering sideways, knees feeling like they were made of water. The only benefit in taking that blow was that she got out of his range, because no more had she cleared it than she felt the wind of his right leg passing her temple. She tried to counter, she truly did, but it was too late and she was too slow. Cinn had both feet back on the ground by the time she got her guard up again, and she moved carefully in a half-circle around him.
"Ives chose well, I'd say," she grated, white hair plastered to her brow. "Else I would not have ended up where I did during the mutiny. Found in the rarest of things, but I was confident that this crew had all the protection it needed now that you've returned. You didn't need me, not as much as I thought the Harbinger needed someone. I was grievously wrong, but not in how this crew could have managed without me now that you had returned..."
She went in, barely letting the syllables leave her teeth before she dealt him a right hook across his face and a left uppercut, followed by a side-kick to his ribs. The one-two-three combination common, perhaps, but she made the strikes uncommonly hard - putting all her weight behind them with the twist of her hips.
[ Wenn Cinn | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attn: Auctor Lucan
The hit came hard and fast. Although he wished he could have said otherwise, Cinn had been distracted by what Ida was saying. She left little chance to react between her words and her actions, as such, even though Cinn raised up his guard, with his hand up near his shoulder, he used his elbow and the back of his forearm to merely deflect the brunt of the attack rather than avoid it altogether.
Instinct and senses came back. Cinn pulled his head to narrowly avoid the uppercut. The attack had left Ida open, and he used the opportunity to put a small jab up into her ribs. It wasn't as hard as he would like have liked, but he had no time to set the shot up well. It was quick, dirty and, unfortunately for Cinn, ill advised. His rebuttal to Ida, whether it had really hit or not, didn't do anything to stop Ida's side kick from slamming into the side of his chest. As the smooth bare skin of Ida's leg slapped into him, she would no doubt feel their perspiration mix. She might be tired and slowing against the chief, but she could still get some hits in. He hooked her leg with his left arm before bringing in his right to follow up his chest jab, with one against her thigh.
He would never admit it, but the feeling of her cold cobalt skin against his was gratifying. She was beautiful and enchanting. This plus the fact that she could equal or best him in sparring meant the Andorian was rather intoxicating. She made him feel alive like no other really could. In a world without consequences he would take her, here and now, on the floor in front of everyone. This was not such a place however, and he pushed the thought from his mind. It had been a good idea to strip from his uniform for mobility but the lingering effects of such contemplation left him feeling a bit exposed. Cinn wasn't worried about his physical appearance, thick muscles over dark skin was something which seemed to attract the interest of a good few people. His main issue was the fact that since he was no longer in uniform, and with his undershirt ripped and removed, he only had the standard issue underwear to keep his modesty. It would not be becoming of an officer or a gentleman to grind the match to a halt because he was 'standing to attention'. What really didn't help was that he was now aware of the issue, and had to ensure that the match ended soon, otherwise Ida would have something else to be upset about, rather that his actions following her news of transfer.
After pushing away from the white haired woman, Cinn brought his right leg across in a high kick. The kick was high and fast, aiming across for the side of Ida's head. The move was another testament to the fact that while Wenn Cinn was a large man, he was still quite graceful and capable of moving in ways unexpected. He didn't think that this move would hit, instead his real play was the hard swing hook, following in behind.
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Starboard Sparring Ring ] Attn: Arista
Caught, Ida had thought Wenn Cinn would break her down and lock her in a grappling technique, but as if her touch burned him, he pushed away instead - causing her to stumble and to try and compensate for her imbalance. She ended up at the edge of the ring, where stepping across the line would cause her defeat in the match, but she managed to find her balance in the nick of time. Weary, bruised and bleeding, slick with sweat and training clothes sodden, she still raised her guard, and bared her teeth as she recoiled against the push - heading back at Cinn with little thought left in her head than to never surrender despite it all.
Yet her superior officer was also moving in, quicker than she'd thought - having misjudged his speed because of his size like any common fighter might. She should have known. She should have taken precautions. Instead, his kick headed towards her head and she had little margin to react. She slid forward with her leading foot and dodged downwards. Not perfect, but it got her out of harm's way. His padded foot skid across the back of her head, a glancing blow taken, but not enough to topple her over. It rocked her equilibrium, but not her spirit. She cried out as she rose with a soaring fist, meaning to strike Cinn in the wake of his kick. Little did she see his true ambition - the hook that followed his kick.
She had no way of knowing whether she hit him or not, for she lost any sense of direction - the impact of his padded fist to her face making her fall. The devastating blow was followed by the impact of the deck - driving the air out of her lungs. She was on her side, ears ringing and limbs unresponsive. Listlessly, she tried to rise up, but only ended up rolling over on her back - chest heaving from the exertion of her three matches. She was out, she realised. Finally bested by the resurrected ridge-nose. With neither breath nor mind to speak her surrender, she tapped the hard surface next to her aching face with her fingers.
Thus, her winning streak ended, and the sparring tournament's outcome was decided, for she did not believe there would be any more challengers.
[ Wenn Cinn | Starboard Sparring Ring] Attn: Auctor Lucan
Ida's final punch was not as hard as her previous, a sign of her failing resilience. Cinn's blow had sent her to the floor, the floor in which she was not getting back up from. The match was over. The hulking Bajoran ungracefully brought himself down hard beside his deputy, signalling for the medics as he caught his breath. He could feel the cool sweat beading down his back as he indicated for them to help the Andorian.
Cinn stripped off his protective fighting gear as he watched the work on Ida. She would be fine, and in a few moments she would be ready to head home for a good night's rest. The fight itself had been tougher than he had expected, dealing both physical and emotional blows. Now it was completed and the healing could begin. Someone who had been looking after Cinn's uniform had brought it across to him and he got into his trousers as well as loosely fitting his division shirt. No need for anything else.
When Ida was ready, Cinn got to his feet and put out his hand, pulling her up onto her own. There was no need to congratulate each other on a match well fought, they would both know. For Cinn, the competition was over, he had set out what he had wanted to do. If anyone else brought forth a challenge he would, of course, answer it. For now, his plan was to get his friend and colleague home. As they made their way to the doors, he leaned across to the blue beauty.
"Whether you felt needed at my side or not, I am eternally glad to have you. Together we can find the strength to keep this crew safe."
After three matches and being knocked out in the third, Ida was not entirely all there when Cinn spoke to her, even if the medical personnel had taken care of the worst of it. She would still have bruises, and she had been told to go to sickbay in the morning so that she might get a session with a dermal regenerator. As discombobulated as she felt, however, she still picked up on Cinn's sentiment; a comment of reconciliation.
She turned her head and antennae towards him at the exit from the gymnasium, and she inclined her head in shown mutual respect. "I'd like to think we can," she said quietly, and then looked back towards the crowd, that was dispersing from the sparring rings and resuming their usual activities - all bets traded and Cinn declared the winner without any greater protocol or ceremony to it. The word would spread, for certain, but the happenstance tournament had drawn to a close as quickly as it had been initiated. Ida shed a thought to Captain Ives, who had gained her help is starting it up, and she had been surprised at the Chameloid's method of strengthening crew morale. She thought of her matches against Isley and Slayton, and she'd already decided to visit the former so that whatever remained between them could be sorted out, once and for all.
"Perhaps it might not be for too long," Ida glanced back at Cinn after she'd made her comment, "but if those Prophets of yours brought you back, it was hopefully not for the sake of us all dying in the attempt to spread the truth so soon after your resurrection. Sleep well, ridge-nose. I will see you on the morrow."
And she walked away down the corridor, ignorant of any lingering looks from her superior officer.
- FIN