Lessons (Part 1)

Posted on Mon Aug 24, 2020 @ 4:41am by Lieutenant Yukiko Winters

2,696 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: Marine Country
Timeline: MD 05 0600

ON:

Silk had shown up early to the marine section of the base. The captain had indicated she could show up and work out with the rest of the marines and here she was taking him up on his offer.

Of course not being one the marines her presence was not exactly appreciated by the other few that had shown up early as well. There were the usual bits of comments and jibs thrown which Silk let slide.

She was stretching when a Klingon exchange officer came by and clumsily ran into her, knocking her over. He snorted not offering a hand. "Little mouse under foot."

Silk begin to get up and he pushed her down again. "I think you should not be here," and then used some Klingon word that referred to a scavenger on his home world. Silk started to get up again and he moved and she did as well avoiding his push and catching him with her fist in a knee cap. He scowled and backed off and snarled. "Think you can fight?" he queried.

The rest of the people had stopped watching. Silk got up and nodded, "You want to find out?"

At that the rest and a few more coming in spread out as the Klingon nodded. He was not the most popular either being a bit of bully. There were already bets being put around.

Silk did a bit more stretching. She had not too far past come across a set of old movies about some sort of fictional heroes called Avengers and had particularly noted the one called Black Widow. While a lot was obviously just stunts, it had to be based off something and she had explored that. It turned out that the moves were based off Muay Thai, Kali, Wushu and just some good old fashion Juro.

Silk entered and headed toward the far end as the Klingon she had hit earlier moved to the opposite end of the room. She teased him and did a little dance like she was a ballerina.

Someone hit a metal pipe like a chime. As expected the Klingon made a roar and headed straight for her figuring to put a quick end to the little human. Silk danced away and then ran across the room. He turned and charged again. As she made to the other end, she used her momentum to put a foot on the vertical wall and flip into the air. He reacted too late, not reaching up in time and she wrapped her legs around his head and used her lighter weight and momentum to overbalance him. He fell backwards and she let go to flip to her feet as he fell hard on his back. He grunted and Silk reached forward and with her two hands slapped him hard on each ear. That would hurt and put him off. She danced backwards as he rolled over to get to his feet. As he did so, she ran quickly forward and with a foot pushed his head into the floor. He let a yell as his nose took the brunt and she danced to the other side of the room yet again.

He got up his hand clenching but this time he took his time circling and trying to move closer. Silk moved with an easy grace eyeing him. He was trying to get her trapped toward a wall and then use his vastly superior strength against her. She winked at him but he did not take the bait this time. As he closed the distance Silk suddenly dropped and pushed off the wall with her arms. She slide between his legs and punched upward, connecting hard. As the pain registered and he reflexively went to protect his privates. She came up on to her feet and jumped to again smash hard against his ears. He was disorientated and Silk ran back toward the other wall, again using momentum to get a foot up and she pushed off. She turned in the air and her feet connected in the middle of his back pushing him forward into the wall and his head snapping forward to bang his head and again his battered nose took the brunt. Silk landed on her feet as she went backward and then moved forward quickly landing hard blows on where his kidneys were. He sank to his knees and then held up a hand. Silk moved back again.

Several of the Marines had gathered to watch the bout, and they clapped their approval as the Klingon grunted, the fight concluded. Laz was standing nearby, where he’d come in just a moment before to see the diplomatic officer’s performance. He started over, smiling slightly. “Well, that was fun,” he said as he ambled towards the Klingon. “Got a little overconfident, there, Rokhar.”

Rokhar grunted again and pushed himself to his feet. “She’s slippery like an eel,” he growled.

“Easiest way to not lose a fight is not to get hit,” Laz replied.

“She danced more than she fought!”

“You just wish you could do the flying leg thing. Walk it off, Rokhar.”

The Klingon nodded, and then laughed. “Good fight!” He declared to her, and socked her lightly on the arm as he passed by.

“He’s what you call an acquired taste,” Laz said to Silk as he came up next to her, watching the Klingon go. “I’ll let you know if anybody here acquires it. I see you’re already making friends.”

Silk nodded the Rokhar and then turned to Laz. "I expected that since I am not a marine that more than a few would be wondering what a wet paper bag Fleeter would be doing here. It just gave me an opportunity to try to show I am not quite a wet paper bag and to try out a couple of new things I have been learning. Like I mentioned to you, I like to learn. So captain....ready to give some lessons and really put me on my kister?"

Laz laughed and gestured her over to some mats away from the center of the gym. “Over here, where people won’t see me in case I get my swimsuit area punched like Rokhar. What new things have you been learning?”

Silk followed over. "Mostly the newer stuff is Wushu. If you caught some of that it was what the Klingon was complaining about. It is from Earth, but combines acrobatic techniques with martial art kicks and punches. Both with empty hand and with weapons. I find it helped me as I am generally smaller, lighter and less muscular than many, but a bit quicker. Allows me to take advantage of that. I am not so familiar with non-Terran forms and positively am still trying to get the hang of some of the Vulcan stuff."

She squared off on the mat to face him. "As long as no broken bones, a few bruises and such are fair game. I have a friend. She comes from a race that can actually fly and she always told me that when they learned to fly: 'The ground is a harsh mistress, her painful lessons you will learn quickly to avoid'." Silk chuckled at that and then keeping her head so she could eye him, made a bow. There was still a lot of traditional Bushido in her.

Laz returned her bow, though less formally than she presented it. Then they stepped into their ready stance, and Laz looked her over for a minute, assessing her form. Suddenly, he kicked at her leg, testing her. She lifted her leg out of the way with plenty of time, which told him she was definitely quick, in case her bout with Rokhar had left any doubt. He feinted another kick as if he were trying to catch her off-guard, then darted forward to try a grapple.

The rest of marines like previous with Rokhar had pretty much dropped what they were doing to come watch. They did not shout like they had earlier but watched their captain go after the Fleeter.

Silk danced back as he came catching the shift of the shoulders. He was fairly fast himself and certainly had reach and strength on her. He also had experience as well and she had no doubt learned a lot of not formal technique. She knew she could allow him to get a good grip on her. She had not studied Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as much but it was all based on smaller lighter against heavier and stronger. She suddenly moved forward and pulled his shirt adding to his momentum and putting a foot in the back of one knee.

Laz stumbled forward as she kicked the back of his knee, and between trying to keep her feet and her pulling him forward, his own grab turned more into a push, spinning her towards the wall. Instead of fighting gravity, he let himself tumble forward and roll to his feet. He turned around smiling at her. “Jiu Jitsu,” he said. “Good.”

He circled around, keeping her close to the wall. She was agile and quick and his best bet to mitigate that was keep her against the wall as much as possible and limit her options for escape or to use that agility against him. Laz approached in a fighting stance, taking the aggressive route he usually did in a fight, and came in towards her hard and fast. He raised his hands as if going for a punch, but then aimed a kick at her midsection that mostly connected, though she just twisted out of the way of it, turning it into a glancing blow. While his training hadn’t been as heavy on technique as hers, it had been practical, and twenty years of combat experience taught him even more. He utilized feints and tricks often, trying to force an opening to exploit. He’d been called a dirty fighter more than once.

As Silk twisted away from his kick, he didn’t let up his attack, turning towards her with a left elbow and then a right hook to the body keep her as close to the wall as she could. She blocked one and got out of the way of the other, and Laz kept smiling. They were sparring at half contact, only hard enough to get a little rocked by a good shot, but a fight was a fight, and he’d always loved a fight.

The rest of the marines were shouting now. "Come on cap, take her down!" was a common theme. Silk ignored them. She had not cheated yet, she actually wanted to use what she had learned. Yes in a desperate situation which had happened, she had 'read' the others mind. Once you knew what the other person was going to do before they did it made for tilting the field.

Silk had switched to mostly defensive moves. She was thinking of the old philosophy of Be Like Water. "To obtain victory, therefore, it is believed essential not to be rigid, but to be fluid and adaptable to any situation. Be like water, , be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Remember water can flow, but also water can crash like a wave."

Silk had continued to try not to get trapped and had mostly weaved and bounced been defensive. Suddenly she made a quick strikes, one foot to the ankle, one fist to the face, the other fist to the solar plexus. Once could not defend against all three at once. The fists where quickly deflected but the ankle strike caught. It allowed her to slip away from the wall and she ran hard got a foot on the other wall and back flipped to try to get her legs around his neck.

He recovered fast and caught her and slammed her down like a sack of potatoes but the momentum was enough for her to get her feet planted firmly on his chest and with the floor as brace push with hard forcing him off. She popped back up and went back into ready with a bit of room again from the walls.

Of the gathered group some had started to cheer her on. They all knew their captains mettle and most had figured he would have put the Fleeter down in a few seconds. While this was not a desperate fight, the blows being pulled, it was a test of skills and training and experience. As the fighting arm of the Fleet they were all professionals and seeing the dance was something that registered on their radar.

"Forty credits she lasts another minute, no way, she goes down in thirty," the marines watching where calling to each other.

Laz kept smiling, ignoring the crowd. It was just him and Silk, as far as he was concerned, and he took a second to hop on the balls of his feet, watching her. His ankle was a little angry, but nothing a couple drinks couldn’t fix. She showed a lot of technique, some of the forms he recognized and some he didn’t. It wasn’t often he got to have a technical fight like that, and it was refreshing. After a second, he approached fast again, directly at her, just like last time. He knew she’d be ready for it, knew the smart fighter would dodge and attack from the outside, keep him at a distance.

So he was ready he saw her lift her left foot, planning to pivot to the right, and even as she started to move, he went with her. She threw a punch to slow his charge, but he slipped inside of it, blocking with his forearm, turning her arm and capturing her wrist. He threw himself sideways into her, grabbed her shirt with his other hand and twisted, throwing her over his hip. Holding onto her wrist, Laz came down with her and pinned her to the mat, smiling. “Having fun?”

"Hey!" Silk laughed though it hurt just a little. "I did not know grabbing clothing was allowed!" She laughed again and with her free hand smacked the mat with the other. "So how did I do captain? Good enough to work out with your roughnecks?"

Laz said, “Sure.” He helped her back up to her feet. “Hell, you can probably even go out drinking with the ones who won some money off you.” He looked at the assembled Marines and waved them off, the fight over. “There’s usually somebody down here most nights or mornings, and if there’s not we got this gear over here. Heavy bag, speed bag, training knives. You’re welcome to any of it. Besides myself, Chief Parker does a lot of the hand-to-hand training. She’d probably like to know where the hell you learned the flying leg thing, too.”

"Thank you captain," Silk replied. "I also would like to get some survival and range instruction in. Consider myself alright hand to hand and with hand weapons and of course can always learn more, but shooting and survival that kind of training sure would appreciate being tossed in with the rest if the opportunity arises and I have the time."

She laughed and then backed a couple of feet. "Well, let's make this formal," she made her bow again. "Now then, how's that ankle? I know I going to do a big soak in tub tonight for the ribs."

He returned her bow, and then wiggled his foot. “Nothing that a whiskey can’t fix. That was a good kick. Like it was laser-guided. Care to join me in my medical care? I’ll even throw in dinner.”

Silk nodded perhaps a little to enthusiastically. "Whiskey sounds good for what ails ya. Dinner as well, lead on."

OFF

Marine Captain Lazanos Torena
CO, 21st MEU
DS5

Lt Yukiko "Silk" Winters
Chief Diplomatic Officer
DS5

 

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