[2372 Starfleet Academy] Week 1: Testing Out.

January 01, 2019, 05:27:19 AM

[ Cadet Vanya | Starfleet Academy | Indoor Gymnasium | Martial Arts Section | Starfleet Subject Standarized Test ] Attn:

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Vanya entered the Gym from the female locker area and turned heading to the proper location. A number of other cadets were there. Many of them large, but then, she stood 1.9m herself. Most had a good deal more muscle mass than she. A Klingon, a Brikar, other large and rather physical species.

Vanya approached the group and nodded. She was in tight fitting pants from hip to ankle, black with a dark green stripe down each leg. Her midriff was bare and atight fitting sports bra, kept her chest in check. At least in theory. Her hair had been pulled tight and braided into a long tail and then wrapped around her head in an almost crown fashion. Her pointed ears and gentle brow ridges visible.

More than one human sneered as she walked up. “Come to try and conquer the Federation, one by one, Romulan?” Vanya simply tilted her head and arched a brow, seeming to channel the Romulan distant ancestors on Vulcan to maintain her composure. The small group of humans laughed among themselves. A few others shook their heads not sharing in the ridicule or bravado.

A few minutes later and a different set of doors opened and a tall dark skinned Vulcan came forward, dressed in a dark gi. He approached the group and spoke in a distinct and clear voice.

“Form two lines. 1.2Meters apart from one another”

The group went to do so and after a few seconds the Vulcan went on. “I am Lieutenant Commander T’hand. Starfleet Academy Professor of Martial Arts. You are here to stand exam to ‘test out’ of your required Basic Self Defense Requirement. This course is required during your first two years at the Academy. If you pass the exam, here you are given credit as if you had completed the basic training course and passed with satisfactory marks.

I am not what is known as an ‘easy’ professor. The Basic Self Defense course is required of our officers for a reason. The life of a Starfleet officer is one of exploration, learning, diplomacy, but often in these times, also conflict. One avoids physical conflict as much as one is able. That said there often comes a time and place where the choice is taken out of our hands. If this time and place does come for you, it is the responsibility of me, to ensure you have at least the basic training necessary to defend yourself.

The Self Defense course is a full three credit hour class that lasts a full semester and the students are taught a number of basics in self defense, the mentality of martial arts, as well as how and when to employ them.

The test to bypass this class is purposefully difficult, to ensure that you possess the skills and knowledge to defend yourself in real world application of physical violence.”

The Vulcan passed a critical eye over the cadets before him. “I am a master of Suus Mahna. My strength exceeds that of baseline humanity. You will not find me an easy opponent to defeat. Nor are you ‘expected’ to. How you handle yourself during your exam and the technique and skill set you use will determine your success.” The Lieutenant Commander paused and looked over the Cadets. “Any questions?”

The Klingon male smiled and nodded.“Next of Kin?” T’hand looked to him and arched a brow. “Shall we start with your abilities Cadet?”

The Klingon had a good 20cm on the Vulcan as he came forward. “Cadet Groth, Security Track, I’ve been fighting since I learned to walk!”The Vulcan nodded seemingly unimpressed. The Klingon laughed and opened his arms wide. “Can we get this done? I’d like to go get some food!”

Commander T’hand motioned him out onto the mat and stepped out himself he eyed up the much larger and thicker Klingon and then simply stepped into a Suus Mahna stance. The Klingon laughed again, then roared. The massive cadet came charging at the smaller Vulcan. Powerful arms reared back and then came over in a double fisted blow, seemingly intent on pounding the instructor into the mat like a nail.

T’hand simply moved a bit to the left. The massive fists missing him by centimeters. As the Klingon slammed his foot down to try and arrest his forward momentum, T’hand brought up his knee into the cadet’s solarplexes. TWAP! The impact was practically felt by the students around the mats. As the Klingon left his feet and started to elevate. The Vulcan’s hand rose, and almost in slow motion cocked back and then came forward to slam into the cadet’s neck, just below and behind the jawline! The upward movement of the klingon turned into lateral movement and he spun like a rotor blade to the side before crashing down into the mat.

The entire exchange took a grand total of 5 seconds. Including the time it took the Klingon to fall. The other cadets watched him try and get up, then collapse back onto the mat. T’hand turned to the rest.

“Now we shall test your skills in less, rushed fashion?” The Cadets watching didn’t seem to have a problem with that. The Klingon was left to snooze for a bit and T’hand broke them up into sparring partners and stood by to watch as they employed their skills against one another.

Vanya found that she was naturally paired with the young human male that had been running his mouth when she came in. She moved silently to the mark on the mat but the Human didn’t seem to be done.

“Commander T’hand. Is this fair? I mean.. she’s a girl” He laughed causing a few of the other females there to test out, to look over. Commander T’hand seemed unmoved. “Fair is not a measure of this exercise cadet. Nor does the Cadets gender matter at this time.”

The boy frowned then. “But… She’s Romulan!”

T’hand raised a pointed brow. “Species recognition is likewise not a measure of this exercise”

“But they are descendant of Vulcans. Aren’t they two or three times stronger than Humans?”

The instructor nodded. “Many are, yes.”

“So.. again it’s not fair!!”

“I fail to see how that matters.”

“Well if she’s so much stronger than me how can ...”

T’hand held up a hand to stop him. “Cadet, if you find yourself in need of defending yourself or your crew from physical attack, do you think your attacker will pause if he finds you less than an adequate opponent?”

The boy frowned. “Well no”

“Indeed. If you are in a confrontation with a larger species, or an augmented one, say, the Borg, are you going to point out your inferiority?”

The young man didn’t seem to like the idea of being considered inferior. “Well if it’s a Borg I’ll just blast um!”

“What if your phaser has depleted charge? And your only option is to go physical”

“Well that’s not a fair test either!”

The Vulcan sighed. “Cadet you have failed this exam. You will learn as you take Starfleet Basic Self Defense, that you are expected to give your best at all times, even against odds that are not in your favor. Laying down and giving up is not a standard order of Starfleet. You are expected as a Starfleet Officer to overcome hardship and odds stacked against you. Not complain about them.”

“BUT!?!?!”

“Dismissed Cadet”

The boy glared at Vanya and turned and stomped off the mat. T’hand watched him go and gently motioned to Vanya and then over to a Bajoran with cinnamon dark skin, equal in height to she. Vanya nodded and moved to that mat. T’hand looked to the young Bajoran man. “Do you have objection?”

“No sir!”

“Proceed”

The Bajoran faced off against Vanya, dropping into a stance. Vanya watched this, and bowed to him, then stepped back into a Ch’Vashrek stance herself. Internally she had observed the others here and the instructor and decided to use the ‘younger’ Romulan Martial art. Perhaps only 1,000 years old, it was considered much younger than Kormerek. Kormerek focused on disabling one’s opponent by shattering bones and or killing them. A vicious form designed to destroy one’s opponent as swiftly as possible and to devastating effect. That made Kormerek ill suited for such tests with other cadets and Starfleet personnel.

Ch’Vashrek was a younger form, adept but not always as brutal as Kormerek. Spread around the planet there were many different schools of Ch’Vashrek. Some harder and more strength based, others more fluid and graceful. For this test, Vanya chose one at a mid point, equal parts strength, power, and grace and fluidity.

T’Hand nodded for them to begain and the Bajoran came in hard and fast. A series of punches launched at Vanya’s face. She leaned out of the way of the first, second and third and when a sudden kick came forward her open palm rotated down to parry it. The Bajoran followed up with a swift elbow that caught Vanya in the chin. Wack! Her head turned all of 2cm. Dark green eyes went to her opponent as he backed off with a grin, that morphed into a frown and he rubbed his elbow.

Vanya simply offered an enigmatic smile. The man came in a second time, rushing forward and leaping for a kick. Vanya pivoted to the side and used his own momentum to speed his move and flip him. The cadet landed hard on his back, the mat having rushed up to meet him. OOF! Vanya followed him down and her open palm came RUSHING towards his ridged nose at alarming speed. “RIEEEYAAH!!” The Bajoran jerked his head back into the mat, but her hand had stopped 1cm from crushing his nose into the skull.

Holding there for a moment she stepped back and offered him a hand to rise. The young man blinked rapidly and then took the hand. Standing up. A nod of respect was offered to her and they returned to their marks. A few more passes and T’hand called for a halt. Cadets were changed around and he moved among them observing. Then again, and again.

On her forth sparring match Vanya found herself on the mat with a obsidian skinned Vulcan male with a shaved head. T’hand had wandered back over and nodded for them to start. The Vulcan offered a regal nod. Vanya returned with a bow and they dropped into stance. For a long moment the two observed one another and then the Vulcan moved. His lean form seeming to dart forward like a viper. A punch aimed at Vanya’s chin was barely parried with a circular parry, the follow up knee to her stomach was blocked with a downward thrust of her hands. The Vulcan came right on coming lashing forward with a head butt that Vanya narrowly avoided. The foot that had lifted to attempt the knee came down on her foot. Slamming hard.

Pain registered and Vanya saw the indicators of the attack flash and be registered. This cadet was no joke. Nor was he a brawler. Even as the pain lashed through her synflesh the Vulcan had pulled back both fists, intending to launch a double fisted strike to her chest and midsection. Time for defense had been exceeded. It was now time for attack.

The Vulcan’s fists had drawn back and were on their way to explode forward towards her when Vanya stepped into him with significant speed. WHAM! She body checked the Vulcan whom was flung back onto the mat and slid a meter before coming to a stop.

Looking up with surprise, the closest that Vulcans seemed to come with shock the young man did a kip up and regained his footing. Smoothing down his gi he came forward again, but this time Vanya was not simply evading. The first punch was dodged but the second parried at the wrist. Twap! Vanya’s hand turned and grabbed the wrist and yanked the young man off balance. Her knee came up towards his chest. The obsidian skinned young man seemed to anticipate it and ‘leaped’ up and over, rolling over the attack and onto the mat. Rising to his feet he spun to face the Romulan.

Vanya had brought her leg all the way up intending to knee his chest and when he evaded her, the dark green Romulan eyes tracked him. That same leg pistoned back. Lashing out at the space that the Vulcan would occupy when he stood. The heel of her foot slamming him in the middle of the chest and sending him careening off the mat and onto the gym floor.

Again the Vulcan remained stoic as he rose, coughing a few times he came walking steadily back onto the mat and right at Vanya. His speed increased in his attacks, hands lashing out over and over. Feet occasionally. Vanya parried and parried, launching her own attacks now and then, letting him back her a few meters across the mat. There was something in his eyes. A lesser person might mistake it for anger or rage, but Vanya read it as single minded determination to win the bout.

Thing was, Vanya had no intention of losing. When the next exchange of blows came in she allowed one to land on her jaw. Crack! Forcing her head to the side. Then a few more parried strikes and a kick slammed into the meat of her thigh. Twap!

As expected the young man pressed his advantage and came in even harder. Just as Vanya had wanted him to. Her hand came up parrying the next punch and enveloping the attackers arm. She used her strength to pull it up and around the Vulcan’s chest, pinning his back to her chest. YANK! He tried unsuccessfully to rip free of the hold and came up lacking in strength. Instantly adapting his other arm shot forward then slammed back attempting to crack Vanya’s ribs, to inflict damage and pain to loosen the attack. It was a standard move to break holds in 100s of different martial arts. It was the move that Vanya had invited by achieving this exact hold. When the arm came back she twisted them both just enough so the elbo missed her ribs and then with strength she rotated them back the other way at great speed. The vulcan spinning out by the centripetal force and extending from the grip she had on his wrist, up a few CM off the mat. When he reached the ‘end’ of the rotation outwards Vanya YANKED him back and down. Slamming him face first into the mat. WACK!! His body seemed to hang in the air vertical for a long moment before crashing to the mat.

Vanya applied pressure to the back of the elbo keeping him there. A few kilo more pressure and the elbo would shatter, but Vanya just held him there. A few seconds passed and the Vulcan tapped out. It was not logical to struggle past the point of the exercise.

Vanya released him and he stood. Rubbing his elbow he caught his breath and gave her a nod. Vanya bowed.

T’hand had watched the exchange and raised a brow. He nodded to the young Vulcan and stepped onto the mat himself. The cadets paused in their bouts to turn towards.

Vanya watched this and calculated the next encounter. A hand came up to slip a dark lock of intensely black hair that had escaped her braid, behind the pointed ear.

T’hand raised a brow. “Are you ready to continue, or do you require down time to acquire a baseline?”

The strange wording of his query caused a few to look among themselves, but then T’hand was vulcan sometimes they said things weird. Vanya shook her head. “No Sir. I am ready”

With that he offered her a bow, which she returned. T’hand assumed the Suus Mahna stance. Cool, calm and collected he watched the pale skinned woman gain achieve a Ch'Vashrek stance to counter him.

“Is Ch'Vashrek your primary form of defense, Cadet Vanya?”

She circled to his right. “Yes, Sir”

A brow went up on the Vulcan as he watched her move. “Is it your primary form of offense, Cadet Vanya?”

Vanya considered it for a moment and shook her head. “No sir.”

T’hand’s eyes narrowed the smallest margin. “I thought not.”

He came in then. Much quicker than the former cadet. His moves almost a blur. Vanya accelerated her reaction time. Shutting down secondary and tertiary system processes to focus more on the fight she was in just now. Ramping up her speed to match that of her attacker. The Commander’s attacks came fast and sure. Over and over he lashed out with precisely the amount of strength and speed he needed. Vanya parried and countered over and over. The two were parrying the other’s blows that came almost faster than the eyes could track. T’Hand’s experience was a boon, where in Vanya’s was lacking. She had the skill and programming but T’hand’s ability to modify and adapt came from over 100 years of training in his form. A blow landed here.. another there. A hard strike to Vanya’s jaw. Another to her shoulder. A third to her stomach and she was giving ground.

The instructor seemed to not tire, almost grow stronger as the match progressed. More strikes from both sides. More parries from each fighter. A leap brought his foot up and around contacting the side of Vanya’s head with every ounce of Vulcan strength. Vanya let her body be carried that way and launched into a dive, rolling across the mat and rising. Green blood dripped down from the cut in her cheek onto the pale skin of her cleavage.

T’hand raised a brow, seeming to ask if Vanya yielded. She shook her head no, and he moved in again. Stronger blows. Swinging around with speed. Hammering at Vanya’s defenses. The sound of flesh hitting flesh seemed to bounce off the walls of the gymnasium. Vivid green bruises painted Vanya’s forearms and biceps as she parried hard and fast. He backed her to the edge of the mat. To step out may trigger the end of the bout and a ‘win’ for the instructor. He focused on the powerful blows now. Almost calculated haymakers trying to force her into that step! Block block and she teetered back, but instead dropped to her knee and launched out with a palm-strike that hit the Commander in the abbs and doubled him over. A swift rising uppercut, coming up from one knee to full 1.9m height, standing and putting her strength into the blow caught T’hand squarely in the chin. His head snapped back and he fell on the mat.

Vanya stepped back as the Vulcan shook his head and looked up at her, then rose. “You did not…. ‘Finish me off’?”

She shook her head. “No sir.”

“Why not? Logic would seem to dictate that fully incapacitating an opponent would prevent them from gaining their feet and besting you”

“Sir, respectfully this is a test of self defense. Not one to determine if we can kill one another. You had fallen. Honor dictates one allow a Professor the ability to regain their feet and determine if they wished to continue.

In short, Sir, this is a test. Not the real world. I do not benefit from ‘Finishing you off’.”

The Vulcan arched a brow and nodded. Then formed up and bowed. Vanya bowed in return and looked to him. “Sir, a question?”

“Another one you mean, Cadet?”

“Yes sir. If I may.”

He nodded.

“Did you fight as hard as you could, sir?”

The Vulcan paused a long moment. “No.”

She nodded. “Could you have beaten me?”

Another pause and the Vulcan nodded. “Likely, yes, Cadet. As you pointed out, that was not the point of the test”

Vanya nodded. “Very good sir. Thank you.” It struck her that not only her skill and ability had been put to the test, but her viciousness and capacity to hurt and or kill, had been tested. That the instructor was looking past ability to defend one’s self, and a bit at the character of the fighter. Vanya may still be considered a wild card, and not fully trusted. She wondered if this would be the last such test. After a blink, she concluded, very likely not.

T’hand moved among the other students and observed for the rest of the exam. Vanya cataloged her various ‘injuries’ and observed the rest of the test. Curious as to her own showing.

At the end of the test, T’hand told them that he would review their showings and let them know before morning muster if they’d tested out of Starfleet Basic Self Defense.

Vanya headed for the showers.

- FIN