Holocage Fight

Posted on 02 Dec 2012 @ 6:22am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius

3,507 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Holodeck 2
Timeline: MD 05 - 1520 hrs

[ON]

Shore leave for Lamar had so far been rather uneventful. He was from Earth, not Vega, and for the most part didn't have much desire to explore the strange trade city. In his esteemed opinion, it didn't hold a candle to the greatest city in the galaxy, Philadelphia. He actually had plans to go back and visit in a few days, to see his family, but for now he found himself roaming a more-or-less empty ship. There were a few engineering and technician personnel hanging around conducting repairs and refits, but most of the crew had gone off-planet already. His girlfriend, Lilou, had been promoted to Chief Engineering Officer...which was nice, but had ultimately meant that she had been absorbed in acclimating herself to her new duties and overseeing the repairs to engineering. That left Lamar by himself, now wandering the corridors in search of something, anything to do to keep himself occupied.

The lack of a dedicated gym on board Galileo had been frustrating for the warrant officer ever since he arrived, but he had managed to stay in good condition using the holodeck. That was, whenever someone else wasn't using it. With a crew of almost a hundred and only two holodecks, there was almost always a queue which ranged anywhere from thirty minutes to six hours. But now, with most of the crew gone, he had a feeling that today might be his lucky day.

Rounding the corner on Deck 2, he arrived at the first holodeck door, anxious to get in a workout of some type. He frowned as he tapped the console, then looked closer and noticed that the room was already in use. The activated program read 'Rigel VII Mud Springs' and the user was...Captain Saalm. You've got to be f------ kidding me, he grumbled to himself with a shake of his head. Damn hedonistic Orions...always getting naked and relaxing...and eating. But she was his captain, and the last person who he would bother to interrupt or intrude upon. So instead, he proceeded to the next and final door, then frowned once again as he noticed that it too was in use.

Before he started beating his head on the corridor wall in frustration, he caught a quick glimpse of the program that was running. 'Ke-ta-yatar' it read, and Lamar's mind raced as he tried to place the familiar word. His eyes also caught a glimpse of the operator, a new lieutenant named Liyar, and the flight control officer's memory sudden snapped into place. It was a Vulcan martial arts discipline. Finally! With a satisfied smile, he tapped the keypad and watched as the doors parted, hoping this Liyar person didn't mind some company...or maybe a sparring match.

Inside, the room was spartan, the grid still visible yellow against black. That wasn't the interesting part, and if one were looking for aesthetics, they came the wrong place. Instead, as the door opened, the flight control officer was given an eyefull of a tall Vulcan bringing the heel of his foot down against a poor hologram (at least it hopefully was a hologram)'s head. The resounding crack went unnoticed as the body slumped to the ground, and Liyar spun and curved into a graceful arc before brutally bringing his other leg into the next opponent's side.

He then brought the plane of his forearm against their throat, flipping them and jabbing his hands in a complicated pattern over several spots on their spines, breaking the bones there brutally. As one looked on, they could see the holodeck floor was littered in opponents who were broken and dead. Liyar flipped over another soldier as they materialized, this one apparently Jem'Hadar, and used the interlocking section of his feet to bring the Dominion warrior careening over onto the ground. Several cracks came out of that. Liyar was positioned on top of him and cleanly broke his neck with a twist of his hands. He stood up, and only then noticed the man standing at the door.

Liyar was breathing a little deeper than normal, and his hair was out of place, but otherwise came across just as organized as ever. He didn't recognize the man, and blinked at him curiously. If he was concerned about the trail of dead bodies beside him, it didn't show.

Lamar watched the brutality in front of him with a satisfied expression on his face, one of appreciation from one warrior to another. "Nice moves, lieutenant." he replied to the Vulcan who he noticed was about the same statue as himself. "Computer, pause program." he said, then casually stepped forward and over several bodies as he approached the man. The sudden shift in gravity was almost staggering, and Lamar knew from his Marine Corps training that it was probably similar to Vulcan standards. Taking a deep breath and adjusting himself to compensate, he held out his hand in greeting. "Lamar Darius, flight ops." he said to introduce himself. "I didn't know there was another combat enthusiast on board."

The Vulcan swept his gaze over Darius coldly. "As you say." He spoke with his usual harsh accent, deepened a little from the tell-tale immersion in ke-ta-yatar. He didn't take the hand, but rose his in the customary ta'al. "Liyar. Diplomatic officer." The words cleared a little. "I was unaware you had requested use of this holodeck." And that was a little pointed.

The warrant officer dropped his hand back to his side as Liyar gave him the usual Vulcan hand greeting. "Oh right, um..." he held up his own hand and did his best to mimic the awkward gesture. At the mention of the use of the holodeck, Lamar slowly nodded. "Well, I actually hadn't...you see, the other one is currently in use by Captain Saalm and, well, we only have two holodecks and I was hoping to get a training session in... so I thought I would drop in and see if I could join in." he explained, glancing around at the numerous bodies still laying on the floor.

"Clarify," Liyar demanded. It really was a question, he just wasn't very good at asking nicely. "You wish to participate in this program, or against me?"

Lamar let out a chuckle as he grinned, still surveying the destruction around him. "I was thinking of joining in...but if you think you can take me, then lets go." he said in half-jest. In truth, he hadn't sparred against a real opponent since his time in the Corps, and actually relished the opportunity to go hand-to-hand against someone who appeared to know what they were doing. On the other hand, the difficulty level of the program could have been set to a minimum level, and the Vulcan's apparent 'skills' could have been nothing more than an illusion.

"Set gravity standards to 9.8." Liyar bounced a little on the balls of his feet as the gravity lowered, though at this point it wasn't really clear if it was to his advantage or against it, but Lamar wouldn't stand a chance in M4 conditions. Even if Liyar wasn't particularly nice, he was fair. He tested his ground once again, finding the momentum change to be just as disconcerting as the first time he landed on Terra. "There is no standard version of ke-ta-yatar." And so the dozens of corpses spoke for themselves. "I will be using D'Alik'tal. You may use the style you prefer."

As the gravity shifted back to Earth standards, Lamar let out a mental sigh of relief. It would have been a huge disadvantage for him to have fought in an unfamiliar environment...but then again, that was what he had been trained for in his early Starfleet career. No excuses, he said to himself.

The flight control officer removed his uniform top and quickly performed a brief series of stretches to get the blood flowing through his extremities. To say he was toned was an understatement; Lamar was ripped, but he surprisingly still about the same bulk as Liyar. It would be a good match, he reckoned.

Bouncing on the balls of his feet, Lamar moved towards the middle of the floor in preparation to begin the match. "Any rules?" he asked, wondering what the terms of the friendly engagement were.

The Vulcan merely tilted his head. "Negative." His own musculature wasn't shabby, but his was more lean, as the Vulcan physique tended toward compact. On his right arm the winding calligraphy of his tattoo encompassed the entire area, from under his sleeve to his wrist. He walked to the center of the floor and held two fingers to his chest before extending them outward, meeting Lamar's eyes. That was about the only warning he gave. In the lower gravity of Earth, while his gait was affected considerably, his strength was also tripled that of a human. He darted forward like a freight train, pounding Lamar in the chest with a closed fist hard enough to steal any hope of oxygen from him and send him flying backwards.

Lamar had sparred with Vulcans before and knew their advantages, but was still caught off guard by the sudden lunge. Not having the time to dodge the attack, he still saw it coming and braced his diaphragm to absorb the shock as best he could. It slammed into him hard; much harder than he had expected, sending him sprawling onto his back and gasping for air. Yet still, the warrant officer had taken blows before and scrambled back to his feet, though obviously sucking air. A brief moment passed and he regained his composure, then looked at the Vulcan with a grin on his face. "That's all you got?" he taunted with a light laugh, then moved forward again despite the pain in his ribs.

Liyar arched an eyebrow. "You can still speak," he shot back.

Lamar took a measured stance, right-handed with his left foot in front and right foot open in the back to give him a balanced platform. His hands came up to his chin, both of them, in the traditional fighter's stance, and he began to circle the Vulcan in a clockwise manner, testing and probing for an opening. He kept his shoulders in as he sent a couple short left jabs forward, and gauged the Vulcan's reaction. Liyar was quick, no doubt, but nothing that Lamar had not experienced before. His first assault came tactically and professionally. His quick hands darted out in a one-two combination, faking the left which he had previously thrown then coming across the Vulcan's chin with a straight right.

Liyar countermatched him, his stance wide and ceaseless, feet crossing one another in the quick but deadly dance of D'Alik'tal. Liyar's head snapped back with the hit, and felt the taste of blood along with it streaking green across his lip. The pain of it lanced through him, but he kept moving, spurred on by the dark, shifting rage inside that happily awoke to the smell of blood. The only sign of stress was a minor glazing over of his eyes as he worked to suppress the pain. He hooked his foot underneath Lamar's, grabbing his arm and twisting it hard, in a clear pain compliance move. He heaved Lamar toward him, before using the end of his elbow against Lamar's throat, winding him yet again, sending him down and using his foot to complete the move before sweeping past and holding his hands in front of him.

A loud oof sounded as Lamar hit the ground again and he swallowed a painful lump in his throat from the strike. His arm was also twinging with pain, yet he pushed it into the back of his head as he rolled backwards and back onto his feet. The Vulcan no doubt had some skill, he admitted to himself, but Lamar wasn't one to be easily deterred. He approached the center of the floor again, still circling on the balls of his feet, then darted forward with a low strike. His shoulder rammed into Liyar's midsection and he continued to push forward with his feet like a running back who had hit his first obstacle and needed an extra five yards. After several steps, he secured his grip around the Vulcan's waist and briefly lifted him from the ground, then drove him into the floor. The grappling battle for floor position began, and Lamar did is best to stay on top and throw a series of strikes.

Liyar went down like a sack of potatoes, whatever footing he had dislodged by the lower gravity, the ground meeting him unpleasantly fast. He inhaled forcefully as his back hit the deck, winding him. Then, he was being struck at as they grappled, and Liyar used the front of his forearm to block the hits, deflecting them. He used the tips of his fingers to drive into Lamar's sternum, distracting with a jolt of pain before raising his legs, hooking over Lamar's shoulders and flipping him over. He pushed back, hopping awkwardly to the side, rising once more and ducking another punch only to get hit again in the other side of his face. From the wince on the other man, he thought it might have been accidental, but kept going nonetheless. He could feel blood streaming from his nose, but either didn't notice or didn't care.

Liyar had to admit, it wasn't a bad fight. Lamar obviously knew what he was doing. The longer it went on, the more Liyar realized there was a skill in trying to best Lamar without genuinely hurting him in the jarring gravity. Liyar ducked again as a foot veered toward his face and he grabbed it, shoving it back and planting his own foot right into Lamar's opposite thigh, jabbing a sensitive part of his collar bone and sending him down once more with a well placed hook to the knee. Unfortunately, he missed the hands on his tunic, and he tumbled downward right along with him. Several blows landed on his chest, and a few were well placed to his kidneys and liver that made the lines around his eyes crinkle in pain. He crossed his arms over his head to deflect another blow back and pressed his knee upward and out, separating them again.

Pushed back from his tactical position by the Vulcan's knee, Lamar strategically rolled on his back to put even more distance in between them. He didn't want to stay locked up and close to the Vulcan for too long, especially with someone who was well-versed in martial arts techniques and had a strength and reflex advantage. Lamar's own style was less disciplined, and he knew it would be only a matter of time before he soon found himself in submission. So instead, he got back up to his feet and reset, backing away and letting Liyar get back up for the second round.

Liyar had never fought a Terran in this way before, and it took him some jerky awkward movements, a few too-hard blows before he realized the nuances of it, the meaning behind it. He slowly fell into a more relaxed rhythm as they progressed, batting away Lamar's hands with his own, deliberately halving his strength and focusing on pins, throws and sparring instead of the crippling movements of earlier. On Vulcan, this wasn't done. Opponents fought to knock eachother unconscious, to wound and kill. (His instructor in ke-ta-yatar sent him to the emergency room when he was seven years old because he incorrectly blocked a tarya-yatar to his spine. He decided, now, that sparring was definitely a superior alternative.)

They fell into circling, fast movements, throwing hits and jabs and punches, blocking one another. Liyar ducked under Lamar's arm and grabbed the under part of his shoulder, using a well placed (and unexpected) head-butt to throw his opponent off before backing off into a severe roundhouse, landing his foot into Lamar's chest and arcing backwards with a graceful spin, skittering to his feet. The move may have worked, but he miscalculated the perception of gravity and stumbled in making his next sequence, leaving Lamar an opportunity to attack.

Liyar's headbutt had put a gash above Lamar's eyebrow and the Human wiped the blood off of his forehead as he recovered from the kick. His ribs ached from the blow of the kick and he took a couple painful breaths, but quickly noticed the Vulcan's error. Charging forward, the warrant officer slammed himself into Liyar and wrapped his arms securely around his mid-section, then spun around behind him. With a loud grunt, he lifted the Vulcan off the ground and arched his back as he performed a suplex, sending them both to the ground and then quickly rolled over to try to get on top of Liyar and in an optimum submission position.

Liyar landed stomach down with his arms behind him. He realized that to remain in this position for too long was to concede defeat, and he was not in the mood to concede today. He spread his arms wide, using sheer strength to separate from Lamar's hold, inverting his wrists to grab over Lamar's and bend them painfully. He used that as a distraction to get a foot under him in a half-kneeling position to throw Lamar back and stagger to his feet. Once he did that, he realized the aim of the game and turned, wasting no more time, rushing at him. He grabbed Lamar, using the force of his strength to lift him off the ground, whirl him around and and plant him on his stomach. Liyar locked his legs to prevent errant kicks and forced both of his arms behind his back. "This is the aim of the match, is it not?" he asked, holding Lamar down. "Do you yield?" Liyar applied another slight twist to Lamar's arm.

Despite his best efforts, the warrant officer realized he could not escape the hold. He had tried his best to roll out of it and to free an arm or leg, but to no avail. Most concerning was that his arm felt like it was on the verge of breaking again. "Yea, yea...alright!" he called out through clenched teeth.

It took a half-second for that to register but once it did Liyar let up immediately and rose to his feet. His face schooled carefully into an emotionless mask, Liyar felt the sting of Lamar's arm and head with a little snap when he lowered his shields to check. He leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose to stem the flow of blood. "Are you harmed?" the Vulcan asked.

Lamar let out a breath of exhaustion before he sprung back to his feet. Aside from the gash on his forehead and the painful twinges in his ribcage, he felt fine for the most part. "Nothing that a quick visit to sickbay can't fix," he replied with a shake of his head, "What about you, lieutenant?"

By the time Liyar righted his gaze once more, the bleeding had stopped. "I am functional. You are adept at this form of combat." It might have been a question, though the phrasing was observational. Lamar Darius was a flight control officer. Perhaps he had switched departments. Or, perhaps, like himself, he simply had the background. The words were wooden and terribly dull, but it was an attempt (sort of) to be personable.

The warrant officer gave the Vulcan a sideways grin and slapped him on the back of the shoulder. "Thanks, you're not too bad yourself, sir. I spent my entire career in the Marine Corps before transferring to Fleet a couple years ago. What's your excuse?" he asked.

"Familial and occupational hazards," Liyar replied in an ordinarily stoic manner. "My primary position is within the V'Shar," he explained.

"V'Shar?" Lamar wondered out loud, trying his best to place the familiar word but to no avail. "Sounds familiar but I'm not exactly sure what that is." he admitted after a long moment of pondering. "How about we go get ourselves checked out in sickbay and you can tell me about it on the way?" he proposed. Lamar's forehead gash was still bleeding and it left a couple patches of blood on his uniform top as he pulled it back on.

"As you say," Liyar agreed, calling for the arch. The bodies around them disappeared and the holodeck returned to its usual pristine black-and-yellow standard. They walked out, conversation positively genial by Vulcan standards, and headed toward the medical deck.

[OFF]

--

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

WO Lamar Darius
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo

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