Movement

Posted on 26 Mar 2013 @ 9:32am by
Edited on on 28 Mar 2013 @ 7:49am

7,758 words; about a 39 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: LTjg Maenad Panne's Quarters / Holodeck
Timeline: MD5 - 0600

ON:

Liyar opened his eyes and stared at the opposite wall of his quarters, hands resting on his knees. He was sitting up straight and looked, to the outside world, to be at peace. His body shifted, came alive out of stone and marble. He stood and extinguished the asenoi in front of him. The rage this morning simmered into a slow burn, curling the back of his mind, flames licking at reason. Pride would be his undoing, if he wasn't careful. Humiliation was, even above rage, not something he handled well. Culture clash, or his opinions on Lirha Saalm confirming themselves, he did not know. No matter how he tried to calm himself, it clung to him, bitter and acidic. With no recourse in logic, he relaxed his muscles, evened his breathing, and tried to concentrate on something else.

It was still early, so he had just enough time to medicate and eat breakfast before he had to meet Maenad. Those thoughts were much less strenuous. Calm came easier when it was necessary for awareness. Reprieve in physical training certainly wasn't alien to him, and Maenad's company would be arguably better than that kept inside his mind. He ate, hypoed up and changed into training clothes before heading out. The walk down the corridor was short as ever and he hit the chime on her door, standing with his hands behind him while awaiting her response.

Maenad was in her living room trying to straighten up a little as she waited for Liyar to arrive. She was in her uniform this time instead of the training outfit she'd replicated last session; Liyar had asked her in a message to wear the uniform so she could get used to defending herself more naturally. It made sense, but she didn't think it was totally necessary. She honestly could never envision a time when she would need to use any of Liyar's training.

When the chime sounded she had just finished folding the quilt that went over the back of her couch, which she draped over the back cushions. Maenad navigated her way from behind the coffee table and toed her way to the door. "Good morning," she said with a kind smile.

"Good morning," Liyar returned. "Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

"Yes," she said. "Have you?"

"Affirmative," Liyar answered. Rather than engage in more small talk, which he was notoriously bad at, he led them down the hallway and into the turbolift. Once they reached deck two and then the holodeck he stopped at the door and keyed in a more specific program than the usual, but when they entered, there was only the same familiar black on yellow grid. "Are you ready to begin?" he asked once the computer doors shut.

Maenad glanced around the empty space, hearing the muffled rumble of the ship's engines. She looked at Liyar. "Yes," she said. "What are we doing today?"

Liyar nodded. "Computer, phaser. Starfleet, type II." A normal phaser appeared in his hand. He held it up. "How much experience have you had with this weapon?"

She licked her lips in thought. After a moment she said "Well, I can hit a target if that's what you're asking."

"No. It is not." Liyar rose the phaser to her as though to fire it at her. "What would you do, in this situation? I am armed. You are not."

Even though it was Liyar holding the phaser, Maenad's half-hearted smile disappeared. She didn't like being at the opposite end of a weapon. "Hey," she whispered, raising her hand to his wrist and gently pushed it to the side. "It would depend."

Liyar's hand wouldn't be budged, but he wasn't being threatening, just standing there idly. "You are right. It would depend. Each scenario is different." He shifted his hand so the weapon was once again squarely within his grasp, and leveled it at her. "Starfleet does not teach you this training. They expect you will be protected by the security team. Or that you will not enter this situation at all. However, they are wrong. You have been in danger before."

He eyed her pointedly, recalling the brief images she'd been thinking of when she spoke to him of her last mission. "And you will undoubtedly be in danger again. The Galileo is a target. The Sienna mission ensured that. A Romulan pirate will not be kind enough to move aside because you dislike violence." He said it dryly, but gently. "Galileo is a science vessel, and you are the chief science officer. Any person who desires to overtake our vessel will be a threat to you. You will need to learn to defend yourself against this possibility. Against your fear. Against anger, adrenaline. That is what I will be teaching you to do today. To effectively neutralize an armed opponent as you are now." He lifted up her wrist and turned her hand over, placing the phaser in her hand. "Aim it. Fire it at me. Watch what I do."

Her shoulders sunk a little. Maenad knew that Liyar was right, but she wasn't half as concerned about her safety as he was. She got the impression that he was being, for some reason, overprotective. It was nice if not incredibly frustrating, but she had agreed to do these sessions and she wasn't going to start complaining about it.

Maenad took the phaser in her hand and made sure that it was set to the lowest possible setting, even they were in the holodeck with safety protocols. She stood back about two metres from the Vulcan and slowly raised her arm to point it at him. She didn't like this. Before firing, she opened her mouth as if to object, but then sealed her lips without saying anything. She fired.

Liyar ducked. She had changed the parameters. Two meters away was no longer CQB. He would have to explain that as well, but like always, he offered her a practical demonstration first. Eliminating the field of fire, bringing it close to home was the first thing on his mind, so rather than any intricate maneuvering he quickly executed a roll, fast and close. He could see the tension increasing, fear taking over her body. He shot up to his feet directly in front of her, but before she had a chance to raise the weapon again, he was there. He grabbed her wrist, jerking it outward and down. He swiveled immediately to the side, with her arm in his hand in front of him, bringing down his other hand against the top part of her closed fingers, pushing the phaser outward and down. He dropped the phaser from her grasp. Having disrupted her balance with the wrist grab, he didn't let go, and instead met her eyes. He caught the phaser and tilted his head at her. He held it up, turning it over in his fingers. "How did you feel, holding the weapon? Using it?"

She caught her breath. How could she ever be expected to do that? "I didn't like it," she said.

"No. You did not. Who do you think had the advantage in this scenario?" Liyar asked, without releasing her just yet.

"I was supposed to," she admitted a little shamefully. "But you were in the V'Shar, so I never was."

"I am in the V'Shar," Liyar agreed, "But that is not why I had the advantage. The reason I had the advantage," he continued, "was because you were afraid to fire on me." He powered down the cell until there was no charge and rose the weapon up toward her again. "Put your hands up. As you would if you were truly faced with this situation."

Maenad did as she was told, putting her hands up in front of her as though she were denying an accusation. "You're my friend, Liyar; of course I was afraid to fire on you."

"Yes. And I capitalized on that fear. As you must do, when faced with an intruder. One of the first things that you must understand is that the majority of civilians will be just as unsettled to hold a phaser as you are to be under its threat." He gestured between them. "This is what is known as the field of fire. It is the area between us, and surrounding you. This is the area that you must be always conscious of, no matter what presentation your opponent takes. Armed, unarmed, it is always a matter of using this space to your advantage." He set his hands a good distance apart and held them about twelve inches out from his chest, with the palm of his empty hand slightly raised. "Down. And up. Yes, like that. This is what is called close quarters combat. You want to be close to your opponent, to keep your hands close to your body, but not close enough to be ineffective. As you saw when you fired upon me earlier, my immediate goal was to decrease our distance," he explained.

"When someone tells you to put your hands up, you put them in this position, the closest way to reach your target." He demonstrated once more before he held the phaser out to her chest, arm straight and rigid. "This is the standard firing position of most untrained civilians." He gestured down to his wrist. "Notice that I am completely unprotected here. My other arm, down here," he wiggled his left fingers. "The first thing that you want to do is to eliminate the line of fire, between the end of the phaser and your body. So you do this. Take the wrist, and move it. Downward, this way." He grabbed his own wrist and pulled it down and past her, phaser in hand. "That way, the phaser now points out of your reach. And you have your other hand free. Try it." He held the phaser up again, without moving to fire. "Hands up."

Maenad sighed, feeling once again like she couldn't do anything right. She couldn't shoot him properly, she couldn't defend herself properly, and now she couldn't even put her hands up the way she was supposed to. She didn't even know there as a right and wrong way to comply with a criminal. Following Liyar's lead, though, she was able to repeat his way showing that she was unarmed.

"Good." Liyar wasn't normally prone to encouragement, but he wasn't stupid, either. Maenad was Terran and the one thing he'd learned over his month on the Galileo was that Terrans needed encouragement. Maenad, especially, needed it. "Do not focus on what you do not know. Focus on learning this. Put your energy into this." He met and held her eyes again. "Now, remember what I showed you. Take the wrist, and point the phaser out from your body. Eliminate the field of fire." He gestured between the end of the phaser and her chest. "Shift it from yourself, to the area here." He gestured beside her, his hand still up holding the phaser.

She pressed her lips together as she pondered doing what he said. Maenad had very little faith in her ability to overcome and disarm him. She remembered what had happened last week - she would up on the floor in a hold position, and had to yell at him to let her go. That wasn't exactly something she was intent on reliving. She locked with his eyes for a very brief second before she sprang into action, almost squirrel-like. Her hand gripped his wrist, her long fingers easily wrapped its full circumference, and she used all of her arm's strength to push the pointed phaser down and away from herself.

"Good." Liyar glanced down at her hand. "Now, use your feet, swivel backward. Behind my arm, out of the line of fire. Shift your body weight. You see?" He gently toed her feet into position, guiding the swivel action so his arm was straight in front of her and the phaser was pointed at the opposite wall. "You see, it is a simple, quick movement. Not a lot of complex thought, you grab the wrist, remove the line of fire, put it out from your body like this," he gestured the phaser, "Swivel. Now I can move like this," he began to step forward as though to leave the hold, "but you can anticipate this. Follow my movements. Keep the field of fire off of you, keep the line of fire away from you. You see. Do not step back into the field, keep moving with me. It is from here that your defense will begin. Once you have your opponent in this position, you can do many things. The most commonly taught, is to take my wrist in your hand, and point the phaser back toward me. Once the phaser is pointing in my direction, I will be very focused on pushing it back toward you, but because you are pressing force against my wrist, I cannot resist too much. At that time, you can use your grip to disarm the phaser and render it useless. We will get to that later. Take my wrist and point my own hand back toward my body. Do not step in front of my body, keep yourself out of the line of fire." He gestured his free hand along the side of the phaser where it was pointed at the wall.

This wasn't turning out to be so bad, she thought. She smiled a bit as she moved around, feeling like she were being taught a new dance. "You would make an excellent dance partner," she said quietly to him, a hint of humour in her voice. As instructed, Maenad successfully performed the next move by pushing up his wrist, still firmly gripped in her fingers, back toward him in such a way that the phaser was pointed upward and away from herself.

"You are correct," Liyar replied matter-of-factly, arching an eyebrow down at her thoughtfully. "Many have compared the discipline of kheile'a to dance, although as you can see," he watched while she performed the move, "there are some differences. It is utilizing some of the same components. Moving with your opponent. Understanding their position in space, relative to yours. Controlling your own body." He let his hand be moved without much resistance. "At this point, you can use your other hand as well. At this time, your opponent will begin to push back. Like so. What you want to do is make a momentum shift inward, toward me, but maintaining separation from the line of fire. Do not step in front of the phaser, in front of my hand, no need to lift your foot off the ground, generate that power from the back of your legs, your knees. Use your momentum and your other hand for added strength to complete the move so that the phaser is pointed inward, toward my body." He tested movement against her, pressing his hand forward and out slightly to resist against her movement without much force.

Maenad watched and repeated. With the phaser now pointing at Liyar, but still in his own hand, she used her free hand to prevent him from getting closer. This seemed very straightforward, "But, you're letting me do this, Liyar. I'm not very strong and I don't think I could do this if someone resisted me."

"You are correct," Liyar nodded. "Which is why this applies a wristlock as well. You see, where the wrist comes here?" He bent his wrist again in her arm, where it was. "You press forward, like I am showing you, that compresses the wrist. That is very painful for the opponent, to move. That does not need too much strength, you can do this for any opponent. I will demonstrate this to you once you have completed the round and then you will combine the maneuvers in the next pass," he explained calmly. "You see this part of the phaser, here." He let the position drop for a moment and held it out, in roughly the same position as before. He pointed at the energizer bar and a small touchpad button in the corner. "While the individual is in a wristlock, they will be immobilized long enough for you to disarm the phaser. You will push forward with your hands, both hands now, trapping the wrist and pushing it with the phaser toward my body." He held the phaser out again until she was paying attention to it once more and continued the lesson. "What you will do is apply the wristlock, pull your finger down here, and press this button. This is an energizer bar. It indicates the power strength of the directed energy dispersal. The button is the locking mechanism, to lock the phaser into setting. When it is at zero, it is inert." He re-pointed it at himself and stepped back into position. "So you will slide it down, press the button," he guided her verbally, waited for her to do so.

Maenad gave him a sarcastic glance as she disarmed the weapon, as if to say I know how to use a phaser, Liyar.

He shrugged. "You can point and fire. This is more complex. You will be doing this against a resisting opponent." He showed her the movement again. "As such, you will need to learn this movement instinctively." He repeated it. Again. "Now what you will do is because this is disarmed, I do not have enough time to recharge it. I can depress the trigger," he did so, but nothing happened. "As you see, nothing happens. This is when you will make your counterdefense. You will pull my arm forward, pulling me toward you, and then you will raise your opposite elbow and plant it into my face." He rose his elbow up in an approximation. "I recommend not truly elbowing me in the face, but if you would feel more comfortable, I will permit it."

With a quiet laugh, Maenad shook her head. "I'm not going to elbow you in the face. Maybe if you were a Cardassian," she added.

"My face is grateful." Liyar pursed his lips slightly and glanced back down at his arm. She repeated the motion of grabbing and twisting his wrist out and back meanwhile moving in to send her elbow toward his face, stopping just before impact.

When she clearly looked about to hesitate again, he held his arm up with her hands over his once more, the phaser still pointed toward him, but disarmed. "Take my arm. By the elbow. Keep your hand steady on mine, you do not want me to regain control. Pull me forward. You will use the strength in your elbow to neutralize me, the strength in your grip, that force against the wristlock. For now I am showing you the steps, I do not expect you to apply much force, but again, if that is your preference, you can," he maintained unyieldingly.

She did it again, this time faster and more precise. "How was that?"

"Better. Much better." He brought them back to a regular standing position and held the phaser up. "Again. Hands up."

Maenad did as she was told and raised her hands the way that Liyar had told her to before.

"Good. Grab the wrist. Down, shift the line of fire. Move to the side," he guided her verbally through the process more quickly than before, moving with her as she did without offering much resistance, letting her body learn the moves naturally first. "Don't step to the side, swivel, feet on the ground." He switched the momentum of his heels to the side. "Right hand, point the phaser inward toward me. Other hand, momentum, shift forward with the power from the legs." He stopped them when she came around in front of him again. "Remember, do not go in front of the phaser at this point, it is still charged, and I can," he tapped his hand on the firing button. "Provide momentum," he planted his foot firmly on the ground, in place, to show her, and leaned his weight forward. "Wait until your hand has sufficiently directed the phaser into my body before you use the other hand to stabilize the move, get the lock first. Again." He came back to rest and held the phaser in front of her again. "Hands up."

They went through the maneuver another time, and Maenad could feel herself making progress and getting more comfortable with herself.

"Good. Remember to get the phaser toward me, out of your line of fire, this way. Then, step in, momentum, apply the wrist pressure, yes. Now, disarm," he watched as her first hand came down to the bar to pull it forward and press the button. "Now, pull forward, elbow, there. Again. Fast, fluid motion. Hands up."

Instead of the slow-motion action that she'd been giving up until this point, Maenad now executed her defense in less than three seconds. Probably still too slow, but she was feeling more able every time.

"Yes. Up, grab, side, swivel, grab, forward, wristlock," he guided her more quickly this time, "disarm, pull, elbow."

With her elbow stopping right under his jaw, Maenad realised that she was looking and feeling determined, like she were getting into the right headspace to stop someone who was trying to do her harm. She laughed quietly, coming back to the reality of being in a holodeck with her adorably over-protective Vulcan friend. She recounted the letter she'd written to her parents about him, finding it all very silently hilarious.

"Good." He came to resting position once more. "There are many different techniques to this, that was only one. Another that you can use, and will eventually learn in combination with other attacks is more simple, but because it will require more movements, more attacks, the blocks and hits I showed you in our last session, this one will come as you gain familiarity with kheile'a. That is, I have the phaser here, pointed at you. Now you grab my wrist." He waited until she did. "Pull it down to the side, as you did before, but pull me forward at the same time. Bring your elbow straight up to my face, to the side of my face, getting me in the cheek with the bone of your elbow."

This tactic seemed easier than the other one, Maenad thought. She gripped his wrist to pull it along side her. Once the phaser had moved past her, so that Liyar's arm was outstretched behind her and out of danger, she moved her grip to his elbow, meanwhile making a weapon out of her opposite elbow to land somewhere on his face. She didn't though, she only gently placed it into his cheek.

"Now, because I still have the phaser, I can bring it back, but you deflect. Block, sweep out, like we did before. Use your leg, kick mine back, deflecting my balance, elbow again to the head. Now in this maneuver you see I still have the phaser, so you are actively incorporating that into your defense, with the intent to knock me out, which I will teach you later."

She grinned, but did exactly what she was told to do. All of the steps she'd been taught so far were once again repeated, but when she went to knock him down with her legs by upsetting his footing, she stopped. She put her toes against the side of his feet and gave an easy push, just to show that if she were actually kicking at his feet he'd have gone down.

"Which is the point," Liyar maintained adamantly, but he let it go for now. He would test her real force later on. "Now, for the next maneuver, I put the phaser here." He raised it to her head and then gave it to her. "Hold it up here, to my head, as if to threaten me by shooting me in the head."

Maenad took the phaser and studied it in both hands for a moment. She didn't like holding it at all. She made sure that it was powered down and locked before she did anything. Maenad's tongue ran over her top lip very quickly as she raised it toward Liyar's head. She was afraid of what he was going to do her, though perhaps she was more afraid of not knowing what to expect from him. "Don't hurt me," she visibly tensed, but the faintest of a smile was on her cheeks.

"Kheile'a is not about hurting your opponent," Liyar corrected her. "It is about neutralizing the threat to your safety in the most efficient manner. My society is largely a pacifistic one. We do not employ violence unless necessary, and we focus upon eliminating the threat rather than injuring someone needlessly. Be aware of your surroundings. Notice how my eyes are not meeting yours, I am looking down, as if I am afraid. My head is down, I am submissive. If I meet your eyes, the dilation of my pupils will give away my intent. You may not notice it yourself, but your brain will notice it, set you on edge, that gives you an advantage, so do not meet their eyes. But you have the phaser to my head, I am in a submissive posture, you see, hands up in front of my shoulders," he held them up like before, but a little higher, near his shoulders. "Now you have me as a hostage. But," he grabbed her wrist quickly in both hands, with his first under her wrist sending the phaser over his head while leaning back on his leg. He then shifted until his hand came under her wrist, he circled his hand until they were palm over knuckles, with her hand braced over the phaser above his head. Then he twisted the phaser away from him and moved his fingers as though revving an engine, with his elbows pointed downward, bowing forward. He did so, sending her to her knees in a pain compliance hold. Once that happened, the phaser dropped out of her hand as he released her grip. "You see, the phaser is above me, now you are here, easy," he brought a knee up. "Get you in the face, tell you, comply and cease or I will break your wrist. Many things. The pain compliance move as you see, when you follow what your body says, there is no pain, when you follow the move, like so. But when you resist," he 'revved' again on her hand, bowing forward, bending it backward, "Then you get the pain, right there." He let up. "Because you are not as strong as the average Terran, you will be relying on pain compliance techniques to help you in mastering your opponent, but you do not need to worry about strength. Any person, even a child, can adequately defend themselves if given the right technique." He took the phaser from the ground and helped her to her feet.

Once he'd let go and she was standing again she rubbed her wrist with her free hand. He wasn't rough with her, but she was easily bruised, and even a little pressure could leave her feeling tender. She didn't make a scene, however, and she gave him a sideways smile. "I think I'm doing well," she admitted. Her hair had come loose and was looking all out of place, but she didn't notice. "I think we should play velocity some time," the thought was disconnected and came from nowhere but a buried realisation that she was having fun. Real and truly genuine fun. She'd enjoyed herself the night before, she'd had fun since coming aboard, but this was the first time in a very long time that Maenad could say that she was thoroughly having a good time. Most of all it was because her subconsciousness had reminded her that she was with a friend and that she could be entirely herself. She had fun playing velocity; Maenad was quite good at it, and used to play at university. But she hadn't had any friends with whom she could play it with in years. The question, well the comment, came as naturally as breathing and she had hardly even noticed asking it. "If you want to. It would be more fun than playing with holo-characters," she said, looking from her wrist to him as she readied for whatever he wanted her to do next.

"You play velocity?" Liyar asked, tilting his head to the side curiously. He shrugged a palm upward and nodded. "Yes. I will participate in a game with you. The mechanics of playing a game like velocity are rather similar to the mechanics I will be teaching you in sessions to come of kheile'a," he compared it. "Now for this, I put the phaser here. At your head. You put your hands up, nearer to your shoulders. Head down, eyes downward," he instructed.

She smiled when he said he would play. Maenad said nothing, but followed his lead.

"Now you take your hand, circle, over quick, jab up, my wrist, grab it under the wrist, fingers under the wrist," he guided her. "Now, lean back on your non-dominant leg. Get a stable core, otherwise I can just," he pulled forward, pulling her with him a little. "Do not squat, or else," he kicked a leg forward near her groin. "Forward step, lean backward, create a balance, and up." He stopped and then demonstrated the maneuver, kicking back his leg and then jabbing his hands upward as he did. He came back and repositioned his hand where it was over her head.

"Like this?" she asked.

"Yes. Now you take your fingers, dominant hand, under, up to the top of my hand, remember to keep the line of fire away from your head, my hand is above your head. Have you ever used an older hoverbike?"

She laughed. "No."

Liyar frowned. "Computer, generate KX-9356 handle." A simplistic grip hold appeared on its own, suspended in front of them. "So you take your hand, and put it on that, and turn it forward, that is what starts the engine. Although it is no longer a combustion engine, that is the general principle, that movement." He showed her with his hand without using the handle. "Now you try."

She did, but found it all very silly. "All right," she said, elongating her vowels like she was trying to get the point.

"So, again, I have the phaser here. Hands up. Momentum shift, balance, lean back, up. Then you put that one, under my wrist, right. Over, to the top of my hand, so you brace your palm against my knuckles. Down - do not put your hand over my hand, you want the flat of your palm to directly impact my knuckles, to see your knuckles the entire time. Good, twisting the phaser out of your line of fire, pushing my hand back. Then you want to shift your balance forward, elbows pointed at the ground, phaser up, and bow forward, like you are engaging the engine. Do it hard, as if you were naturally creating that movement with the handle."

"How was that?" asked Maenad once she'd followed his directions.

"Harder." He still had the phaser in his hands and he was on his feet. "Make certain to balance my hand against the phaser. Use the force of my fingers flat against the phaser to act as a lever. Push it directly toward my center, down, power down to the center of your body, like a bow. Forward. There." He gave a solid punch downward near his solar plexus to demonstrate. Once she'd improved, Liyar went on. "Good. Now you see here, you keep applying that pressure, you put your other hand here, brace the wrist, remember to keep the phaser to the side now that I am on the ground, out of your line of fire, the phaser is dropped. I can only resist for so long before my wrist will break, you have me in the submission." Liyar lowered to the ground as she applied the pressure, and when she truly shifted his knuckles forward against the brace, he fell to his knees, phaser clattering to the floor in front of him. His face was as serene as ever. His hand was now facing outward, her hand braced over his on the phaser, his wrist bent back. "Most will submit at this point. Once you have disarmed them, take the phaser," he glanced down at it, "Then you have the phaser, you can, fire, or you can knock them out with a knee, up under the chin, hard force, since I am taller than you, you have the advantage here, your knee can reach, up under my chin. Force, knock me back. This works if you do not successfully manage to disarm the opponent as well."

Maenad raised her a knee to his cheek, mindful however that she was wearing a skirt. She stopped when it touched, held it there for a moment, then replaced both feet flat on the floor. "I think you let me do that," she grinned as she offered a hand to pull him up.

"To a degree," Liyar nodded, staring up at her quietly. He had one of his feet on the ground, so he didn't need the assistance, but he placed his hand in hers anyhow and rose. "I have been demonstrating the typical response of an average opponent. Were you to directly face me at this point I sincerely doubt you would be victorious. But it will come in time." He spent a long moment merely looking at her, as though transfixed. It was broken rather mundanely as he held up the phaser to her head. "Again. Quick, you want it to be instantaneous."

Maenad sighed and got back into position. She smiled at him after she'd closed her purple-ringed eyes for a second, then shook her hands from her wrists, waiting for him to point the phaser at her head again.

"Hands up. Back, center of gravity, forward, over head, under, brace against phaser, palm to knuckles, bow, engage," he talked her through it again with more speed, and ended up on the ground with the phaser on the floor once more.

Maenad finished again by resting the side of her knee against one of his cheeks, then withdrew and held Liyar's hand as he stood up. Even though he'd admitted to letting her 'succeed', she knew that she was still doing it right, and that was almost enough.

They rose again and Liyar picked up the phaser. "Computer, program Liyar-67-alpha. Level 1, half strength, Terran, armed 1." A holographic, average looking person materialized in front of them holding a phaser. "These are the maneuvers I have taught you for today, but as you can see, there is a difference between facing myself and using true force against an opponent. One who will not let you defeat them. This means that you cannot hesitate."

"Liyar!" she shouted after the fighter appeared, frozen in some kind of attack pose. "I don't want to fight a character yet; I'm not ready!" Maenad walked up to it, looking it over. He didn't look very friendly. She circled him, seeing that his arms were as thick as her calves. "Liyar," she mumbled plaintively as she completed her circle. She eyed the Vulcan, then studied the fighter's face up close. His eyes had a certain bit of crazy in them that she didn't appreciate. "This man will kill me," she said finally, standing up straight and looking at Liyar over her shoulder.

"He will not. You will defend yourself. Breathe." Liyar locked eyes with her as she turned to face him. "Your fear stems from the fact that you believe you cannot do it. Which is, while irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, also a falsehood. You understand the mechanics. You understand the source of your power. Your position relative to his. Use it. You anticipate his response and then you neutralize him. Fear of the unknown does not apply. You know him. His responses. You know yourself. Your abilities. Calm your body. Focus on your target."

Maenad held Liyar's eyes for a few seconds more, a tired frown taking over as she turned back to face the fighter. He looked just as menacing, just as deadly as before. Did Liyar never care to notice what she looked like? She didn't stand a chance against this guy, half-health level one or not.

The man unfroze on Liyar's command and stepped forward, holding the phaser up to her chest. "You, stop. Don't move. Get your hands where I can see them, now!"

The reality of it all suddenly swarmed into her. Maenad could feel her pulse, the drift of adrenaline picking up in her veins. She licked her lips nervously while her face looked grave. Already making a mistake, but out of surprise more than a lack of judgement, she took two steps backward - but she did put up her hands how Liyar had shown her.

"I said don't move!" the hologram shouted, closing the distance between them, aggressively pointing the phaser toward her.

It was now or never, she realised, and she jumped into motion. Her fingers wrapped around his wrist as she snapped her hand up to move the phaser away. Liyar had shown her to push the phaser downward, but instinct told her that in this case with the height of the weapon, it would clear her faster if she pushed upward.

The hologram instantly jerked his arm forward at that moment and pulled Maenad's body toward him, depressing the trigger of the phaser. Liyar didn't react other than to say, "Computer, freeze program." He eyed Maenad's stance calmly. "You must resist the urge to substitute what I am teaching you with what you believe to be better options," he said gently. "Trust me when I tell you I understand the mechanics of your size and height in comparison to others, that I am teaching you the most effective methods you can use. I notice as well that you were aiming for the maneuver you felt to be the easiest, however, I would like you to focus on the first move I taught you, to disarm the phaser and create the wristlock, as this does not require any additional component movements."

Maenad sighed, visibly angry.

"Try it again," Liyar encouraged with a nod. "Defend yourself."

When the hologram came at her a second time, yelling at her to put up her hands and all the rest of it, she, as before, did it all again.

"Do not step back, stay in position," Liyar reminded her. "To the side."

She gripped his wrist as she'd been taught. Instead of pushing it up, she pulled his arm down and to the side this time, then swiveled to the side and tried to push back his wrist and the phaser like Liyar had shown her. He was stronger, though, and he resisted, but Maenad used her other hand and leaned inward. She overcame probably because of the program, but after a second or two of trying to gain the upper hand, she did. She was able to disarm the phaser and get it free from his grip, it was all supposedly because of pressure points.

"Good. Now you have the phaser, he is still in the lock, pull him toward you with your other hand on his arm, and elbow, there," Liyar's voice was a steady presence as he watched her complete the entire move and the man crumple to the ground. "Good. Again. You want it to be natural. Computer, level 1, full strength."

The hologram disappeared and then reappeared. He was roughly the same height and weight, but with the true strength of an average opponent. They went through the same moves a bit repetitively, and Liyar increased the strength of the hologram gradually to level two and then level three, showing her that her defense was just as effective on each level of strength as long as she remembered the proper sequences of movement. He continued drilling her in the same move before he started to see it became less about remembering steps and more about her analyzing her opponent and reacting swiftly. Finally he froze the program again. "Good. You are getting more proficient at this."

Although Liyar thought she was getting better, she was becoming tired. Maenad wiped the film of sweat from her forehead onto her uniform sleeve. "Can we stop?" she asked, taking a few steps toward him.

Liyar blinked toward her, moving his head to follow her as she approached him and nodded. "For today, yes." He pressed the tips of his fingers together. He lifted her wrist, pulling a small dermal regenerator out of his back pocket and flicking it on. There were several bruises along her arm and hand, and he began carefully administering treatment. "How do you think you did?"

Maenad watched Liyar as he healed the bruises on her arms, noticing how careful and gentle he was with handling her. She distantly smiled at that, then looked away from her arm and his hands to watch his expression and eyes as he worked. "I think that I did better than I thought I could," she admitted, "But anything higher than level three, Liyar... I would have failed."

"Because you lack faith in the idea that you possess the requisite strength to complete the maneuver," Liyar ascertained knowingly. "And you are skeptical of the idea that something like a wristlock is effective for a stronger opponent. What I am teaching you to do is not to overcome your opponent with your own strength," Liyar said with a small shrug, his tone light. "But rather, to encourage you to understand how your opponent's strength may be used against themselves. The harder that hologram struggles, the more pain they put themselves in. Although you are correct, yes. At some point the threshold for strength becomes such that a different maneuver is necessary, which is why I am teaching you multiple disarming strategies. The mar'shaan, mar'shaan kemah, you recall from our last session." He touched her shoulder lightly to jog her memory. "That movement you use by pushing your opponent's leg backward, for example. Throws, are another thing you will be learning. I ask that you trust me. I do know what I am talking about," he said with a hint of dryness. "Contrary to popular opinion, I am sure." His eyes were smiling. He turned her wrist over and felt along the edge, an inscrutable look on his features as he focused on dissolving the bruising and pain.

"I do trust you," she said quietly to him. As they stood there in the silence of the empty holodeck, she wondered about why and how all this started. There had to be others on the ship that Liyar spoke to fairly regularly; why her? Why did he was he particularly concerned for her? Yes, she was his friend and maybe it could be explained that way, but it seemed too dismissive. "Thank you, Liyar," she said once he'd finished, for healing and for training her.

She always thanked him, and he didn't understand why. He'd seen and heard Vulcans dismiss such gestures, but often found their dismissal disrespectful. Even so, he didn't know why she continued to express gratitude, especially for something he was aware she did not employ any enthusiasm toward. He blink-nodded at her again and released her wrist. "You are welcome." He gestured toward the door. "I understand you require to prepare for our first away team."

"Yes," she smiled. "We're going down at thirteen hundred." What was ironic about the away mission was that Maenad's almost obsessive fear of death, disease, pain, and the like didn't carry over into exploration. She had more reason to fear wandering a molten planet than she had when seeing someone with a bloody nose.

"I understand R1 is a Minshara-class moon," Liyar said curiously. "Aside from Terra, I have not had the experience of visiting another Minshara-class," Liyar said almost conversationally. If he weren't Vulcan he might have admitted to some trepidation.

"Oh," Maenad inclined her head somewhat. She had forgotten that Vulcan was a class H. Although she'd lived there cumulatively for about a year, it wasn't something she actively thought about. "Well, I am looking forward to it. How long has it been since you've been to Earth?"

"About one month," Liyar answered. "Are Minshara-class worlds always that diverse?" He had seen just about every possible rendition of an ecosystem he could have hoped to see on Terra. It had been interesting, but also very unnerving. Vulcan was rather homogenous, comparatively.

"Yes," she nodded. "M-classes are thriving with so many kinds of life it's impossible to fully catalogue. There are countless billions of species that live on any given world, perhaps trillions over the course of its existence."

"Fascinating," Liyar said distractedly, thinking of the various flora and fauna he'd seen on Earth. "Vulcan does not share this diversity," he informed her. "We once did, but it was many thousands of years ago. I will be most interested to study the differing forms of life on R1."

"It will be great," Maenad agreed. She eyed him funnily, wondering if this were his way of trying small-talk. "We still have time before duty begins, if you want to get breakfast."

"Affirmative." Liyar looked up slightly. "End program." The holodeck characters and the phaser disappeared as the arch appeared. He paused for a moment before they walked out, and he might have truly shrugged if he were human. "I am not particularly good at small talk," he admitted reluctantly.

"Nor am I," she smiled, then walked out of the holodeck in the direction of the mess hall.

[OFF]

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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

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