Squaring off

Posted on Mon Aug 24, 2015 @ 9:21am by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson

2,688 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: All this has happened before...
Location: Holodeck
Timeline: Evening

While Nicole was intrigued as to what her new-found associate had in store for an 'aggressive' program, her newly-found hatred of the holodeck was slowing her progress. She didn't want to be late, but she wasn't rushing to get there either. It made for an interesting display of her pace down the corridor, moving from rapid trot to barely moving as her mind warred.

She'd worn a simple, form-fitting one-piece that she often used back on Rigel. It was camouflaged, contained several tools for climbing and fighting off predators, and in general allowed her to be the gymnast she was in the woods without bulky armor getting in the way.

*Of course, if we end up on a beach I'll feel really stupid,* she thought, but pushed it aside as she reached the holodeck doors, pressing the entry control.

Asking Doc Nicole out on a Monday and getting deck time by Friday was a feat by itself. Chris had to promise a few favors to get holodeck time on short notice. That was made even tougher by the fact that very few people onboard knew him yet or what his real capabilities were. In the end, when he told one of the nurses who he was bringing with him, she gave him the time, "just so she could avoid the doctor overhearing."

Now Chris was in the holodeck working out some finishing touches on his Orc fighting trainer. He'd added a couple of new modes, depending on Doc Nicole's choices for competitive or cooperative interaction. Chris used very little armor as it tended to weigh him down and slow his movements. He wore a simple tunic, loose-fitting leather pants secured at the waist with a drawstring, and a pair of laceless boots.. He carried an octagonal shield over his left forearm and his mek'leth in his right hand.

The holodeck door opened, framing Doc Nicole in the light from the ship's corridor. As she stepped in, Chris greeted her, smiling, "Good evening, Doc Nicole. I'm glad you could come. I know sickbay can be unpredictable."

"Sickbay's extremely predictable," she said slowly, stepping inside, "it's the patients that are chaotic." She around, then looked him over and wondered if she should have changed into something more old-fashioned. He looked like he was ready to do battle on against the Kalar warriors on Rigel VII. "And please. It's 'Doc' or 'Nicole'. Both sounds...odd."

Chris smirked. “No problem, Nicole. I guess I should have given you an idea of the theme. No matter. That looks quite functional, and you look excellent in it.”

She blushed a bit, seeing him stare and turned slightly away and looked down, fussing with her sleeve. "So you use this program for recreation?"

Tearing his eyes away from Nicole's beautiful form, Chris looked and gestured at the field they were standing in. "I use this program for strength and agility training. Earth humans had this mythical creature called an Orc. They were resilient and violent fighters, more so than most humans. I usually fight them alone. The opponent is a growing and improving army." Chris turned back to her and added, "I've just altered the program to add cooperative or competitive fighting modes. Which would you like?"

Nicole briefly entertained the thought of knocking him halfway down the glade, but pushed it aside, saving the fun for later. "I suppose a collaboration should be safer," she said, folding her arms over her chest. "The object is to kill the orc?"

Chris sensed a pleasant thought in his companion before it was locked away again. He couldn't make out what it was, but it made him smile more than he already was. “As a general rule, yes. Their numbers start small and build overtime as the rest of the Orc pack find our location. Speaking of locations, do you prefer the open field, or would you like to try the woods?”

"Oh the woods, preferably," Nicole said. "Much more a home court advantage for me there."

"The woods it it, then," Chris agreed. "Computer, change setting: Woods, late afternoon." The scene shifted around them. Chris and Nicole were now standing in a moderately populated forest area with trees scattered between 2 and 7 meters apart. There was very little underbrush, but a thick floor of dry leaves beneath their feet. On the rare occasion, there was a rock sticking up out of the ground, some large enough to hide behind, others just enough to trip on. The sun filtered down through the trees providing sufficient but not blinding light.

"So, what do you think?" Chris asked.

"Works for me," Nicole said, turning a slow circle and looking carefully at the trees' thick canopy above her. "Now what?"

"Now, we start. Computer, play program," Chris commanded. The computer beeped its compliance. "It may be immediate, or it may take a few minutes for the Orc scouts to find us."

Chris moved closer to where Nicole was standing and took a more defensive stance with his back to hers as she circled. Chris tightly regulated his breathing in order to hear the rustle of leaves or the whistling of an arrow that would indicate their enemy's arrival. He peered over his shield scanning for any movement which might give the Orcs away.

Nicole glanced behind her as he backed up to her and shook her head. *Good idea, one confined target,* she thought. She'd spotted two movements within the trunks and they were shortly going to be outflanked. She flicked her wrist, a thin, metal rod slipping out. She gave it a twist and three hooks popped out with a quiet 'click'. She stepped forward silently and quickly spun it, throwing it at a branch and latching on. She took a running leap and quiet as a gust of wind she was in the air, scaling a tree. As soon as she was above the canopy, she retracted her grappling hook and began flipping across the branches, several trees away within moments.

Chris heard the high speed whistling of the arrow just as he saw the end of the bow tip out from behind a rather large oak tree about 20 meters away. He repositioned his shield slightly to the right just in time for the arrow to ricochet causing his shield to reverate like a small gong. "They're coming from this way," Chris stated moving to close the gap before another arrow could be fired.

Nicole swung up to a higher branch, then leaped down to a lower one, before swinging around and flipping over to land silently on the ground behind the archer. She watched Chris' approach as the archer fitted his bow with another arrow. *Ugly creature,* she thought. She snuck up quiet as a ghost and as it pulled the arrow back, she slipped a small knife out of a concealed pocket and quickly cut the bowstring before leaping up and grabbing a branch, swinging her legs up and disappearing in the canopy again as the orc turned his back on Chris, looking around in confusion.

The orc turned back toward Chris just as he reached it. His mek’leth slashed across the creature rendering him dead on the spot. Chris quickly lifted his shield back up in front of his body knowing that another orc would be near by.

Keeping his back to the nearest tree, Chris circled it looking for any sign of remaining orc scouts and his companion. Chris saw movement to his left. Turning to square off, he took note of their shields and swords, if you can call them swords. They were more like steel plates with a hook on the end. Raising them high, the orcs continued to charge Chris’ position.

Nicole suddenly swung down from the canopy with the speed of a striking cobra, her knees hooked over a branch. She grabbed the only weak point either of the creatures had showing: their thumbs. She wrenched hard, twisting them out, eliciting a shout of pain from the orcs, and forcing them to lose grip on their weapons.

She let go of their hands, grabbed the falling 'swords' and curled back up into the trees, leaving them standing there, weaponless as she disappeared back into the forest.

Chris was slightly amazed by Nicole’s ability to swing through the trees. It was almost like she could fly on her own. Chris could not be amazed for long though, because as soon as he slew his enemies, he saw 5 more running from behind them with another 7 about 100 meters behind.

Chris continued to close the distance between him and the group of 5. Dodging to the right, he forced the group to split around a tree, allowing him to separate and dispatch two of their number. His shield clanged as Chris turned to block the attack of the remaining three. He thrust his mek’leth from beneath his shield into the belly of one of them.

Nicole suddenly dropped down on the shoulders of one of the orcs, flipping back and tightening her legs around its neck, jerking her hips hard and snapping its spine. As it dropped to the ground, she released her legs and sprang back on her hands, coming upright as the last orc rounded on her. "Bye!" she said, turning and running, swinging her grappling hook again and launching back into the canopy.

Chris turned to watch as Nicole swung gracefully back into the trees. He couldn’t help but smile a bit as he watched her while simultaneously jabbing his mek’leth blindly behind him. He sensed a spirit of spiteful joy coming from Nicole as she leapt though the trees. She was teasing him. It caused Chris to chuckle a little while he twisted his weapon in the gut of the orc. As the life left the monster, he shook his head and turned back to his next wave of attackers.

Chris felt renewed energy as he charged the 7 oncoming creatures. Raising his shield again, he deflected a short series of arrows from the 3 archers who had to shoot their volley. The remaining 4 continued their charge with their weapons held high. This group, carrying their own shields would be more difficult than the last.

Nicole dropped down behind the line of charging orcs. She threw out the line to her grappling hook and managed to loop it around the middle two of the four charging ones. She yanked hard, clotheslining them and bringing them down to the ground on their backs. Behind her, she heard the archers releasing another round of arrows. She turned around, tracking their progress and reached out, grabbing at them. She caught two, but the third one hit her left flank, making her hiss in pain. It only caused her a split second's hesitation however, and she turned around, flipping the arrows in her hand and knelt down, driving them into the eye, and directly into the brain of the downed orcs, their bodies twitching, but otherwise unmoving.

She stood up and broke off the end of the arrow, pushing the head through and out of her body. Thankfully, it struck very close to her side and didn't have far to go. She winced in pain but didn't cry out, and once it was extricated, she retrieved her grappling wire and climbed back up, needing a moment to heal.

Chris witnessed Nicole get struck by the arrow. The holodeck safeties were supposed to prevent severe injury. He was about to tell the computer to end the program when he saw her continue her fight against the orcs she had felled. Apparently, it wasn't a severe wound.

Chris continued his charge. He blocked the attack from the orc on his left with his shield while striking the one on his right. He immediately turned and slashed the orc to his left as it fell off balance. He continued forward as Nicole returned to her tree-top hiding place. She appeared to be moving a bit slower, and Chris sensed her pain, but he noted her drive to continue. He watched as the archer orcs followed her ascent and took aim.

“Nicole, look out!” Chris shouted. He dropped the mek’leth to his side to swing by its lanyard. Sliding his shield off of his arm, Chris twisted his torso to the left. Cradling it is his right arm, he twisted back to the right and extended his arm with all his strength to Frisbee-throw his shield the 10 meters separating him from the archers. It struck the orc in the center on his left shoulder, knocking him toward the being to his right. With a small deflection, it struck to creature to Chris’ right as well, rendering all 3 off balance.

Chris retrieved his mek’leth from his side. He ran the remaining distance and raised his weapon across his chest. He twisted and slashed the throats of the orcs to his left, momentarily turning his back to the third, expecting it to be only armed with its bow. He felt a sharp pain just below his ribs in his back. Looking down, he saw the orc pulling a small dagger from his side. Letting forth his rage, he turned quickly and cleanly severed the orc’s head with one swipe.

Nicole dropped from the trees, catching the shield and immediately sending it flying again. The two orcs she'd brought down with her grappling line had gotten back to their feet when the shield struck, breaking the nose of one and striking the other in the temple. She caught it as she rushed at them and took her knife, stabbing one in the throat. She grabbed its shoulders for leverage and lifted up, locking her legs around the other's neck and twisting.

The two bodies hit the ground and Nicole dropped with them. She'd heard Chris cry out and knew what that sound meant. "Computer! End Program!"

The woods and bodies and sunlight vanished, leaving her standing next to Chris, who was holding his bloodied side. Her breathing quickened a moment, but she fought it down, dropping down next to him. "That looks bad. I think someone programmed his exercise a little too well."

As the grid reappeared around them, Chris looked down at Nicole. “That wasn’t necessary. It’s doing exactly what it was supposed to do. The program allows injury to heighten the stress level and realism of the training. However, it will not allow me to get a severe or life-threatening injury. Remember when I mentioned I might show up with broken bones?” Chris suddenly remembered what he witnessed earlier, and his irritation surged. “What about you?! I saw you get hit with an arrow!”

Nicole didn't even spare the hole in her outfit a glance. "You saw my outfit get hit with an arrow," she said. "But between us, you're the one who's bleeding."

She pressed her hands on his wound, trying to staunch the flow, while at the same time trying to ignore the growl in the back of her throat. "And if this is normal for your program, we'll have to talk about what 'normal' is permitted around here." She sighed and shook her head. "We need to get you to sickbay to seal this."

Chris sensed several things all at once. First, he could tell Nicole was hiding something. He had seen the arrow sticking from her side before she broke it off. There’s no need to break an arrow that’s just in your clothing. Secondly, there was some amount of concern combined with irritation, probably due to his form of recreation. Lastly, he seemed to sense a hint of arousal. This woman was once again peeking Chris’ curiosity, interest, and attraction. He decided to sort out what she was feeling later.

“Ok, Doc Nicole, if you insist, I’ll go,” Chris conceded. Giving her a sly grin he added, “on the condition that this evening isn't over yet.”

"We'll see," Nicole said, contacting Sickbay for a beam-over.

TBC

JP

Nicole Anderson
CMO

Chris Halloway
ACEO

 

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