Posted by Crewman Richard Sharp (Security Officer) in Gymnasium: Reply here

Posted by Crewman Guy Fleegman (Security Officer) in Gymnasium: Reply here
[snip]

“I’m up for a bout now, if you are, but I have no experience in Karate or any Japanese martial arts. At the academy we mainly were Boxing and Kick-Boxing, with a few eclectic moves added in for good measure.”

‘’Oh sorry ‘’ Sharp responded ‘’ For a moment it eluded me , anyway if you have no experience then I guess I’ll shall be your mentor ‘’.

M’Mera nodded, happy that Sharp was willing to step up and help his crewmate. “Let’ss head overr to the gymnassium then and at leasst intrroduce, Mrr. Fleegman to the arrt of hand to hand.” She said as she rose from her chair and walked around to the front of it while she waited for the two men to get up.

Sharp nodded and smiled but walking behind the Lt he gulped as he did not anticipate she was coming along as well. If she was going to take part the security imagined himself flying across the gymnasium * Me and my big mouth* he thought to himself.

Guy was looking forward to a demonstration of close quarters combat techniques from Richard and M’Mera. At the Academy he had only been shown the two-fisted punch, the “Kirk/Gorn ear” double hand-slap, and the drop-kick.

Reaching Deck 14, M’Mera led the way out of the turbolift and into the small gymnasium. It was equipped with a sparing ring for boxing/wrestling/fencing or other forms of hand to hand combat, and nautilus machinery. The ring itself wasn’t very big but big enough to give enough room for some sparring. Off to the side of the room was a changing area with several sets of work out clothes provided. M’Mera indicated the one of the two changing areas.
“You can change in therre, I’ll jusst be a moment mysself.”She said as she disappeared into the other change room.

“I think you’re regretting this now, are you?” Guy asked Richard.

Sharp nodded ‘’Sure am, don’t you know how strong Caitan species are compared to us humans ‘’.

“Well, it does feel a lot like getting homework from school, but I’m looking forward to it,” Guy said. “I’ll warn you, I have done a little Boxing, but I promise I’ll go easy with you, if you go easy on me with your Karate chops and the other weird martial art… Fu!”

He was not in the mood for jokes ‘’I was only going to teach you some moves on how to get your opponent down and not in one session either ,guess our D’H has different ideas !’’ he exclaimed.

Joe had had a rough and nerve-racking couple of days. His first instinct after all the things he’d been through was to find a bottle of whiskey and to retreat from existence as most people knew it for some time. He had finally made a saner decision and decided to go down to the gym instead to blow off some steam. He had been working on the speed trainer for some time now banging away at the bag quick to keep it going.

Finally, after this he pulled off his shirt and went to his bag and took out a cloth to wipe his now sweaty brow. He moved then to the heavy body bag. He started to hammer into the bag using a combination of his fists and kicks. He soon stepped back from the bag and wiped his brow again. He stood bent over and breathing hard as he smiled. Panting he said so himself.” Darn it Joe you’re getting old!” It wasn’t until then that he heard people behind him coming into the gym. Great he thought to himself. Now they’ve heard me talking to myself too!

He then turned to see Guy and waved saying with a smile, ” Nothing to see here just an out of shape old guy!”

“Yerrr…se!” Guy had to stop himself from replying ‘Yes, Sir!’ back to Joe. He found it hard to get used to the fact that the ex-COS and ex-XO was now just a simple barman on the Merrimack. Of course, Guy was one of the few crew who had been around long enough to remember that. He couldn’t remember now, exactly when Richard had joined the Merrimack. He did remember that Joe was quite a good Boxer himself. He was pretty good with the weights too as he remembered, and Guy thought, Out of shape, huh? I bet he can still leg press two or three times his body weight!

Richard had changed his clothes and on seeing Joe he too smiled at him ‘’Come over and join us ‘’ he called out .The security had no idea that the barman was once the COS and what he feared was only going to become worse.

Inside, Guy was screaming ** NO! . So, now he was going to be wrestled to the floor by Richard, while knocked about by Joe, and grappled by a Caitian. And this is mean to be relaxation? On the outside, Guy was just smiling back too.

“The Klingons say, it matters not how many victories you have, provided that you always fight with honour , but then Klingons are over 6ft tall and built like a shuttlecraft!”

Richard who was standing next to Guy replied ‘’I took karate lessons to be able to defend myself and not for honour ‘’.

M’Mera made her way out of the change room dressed in a Gi and saw the barman, a stranger to her. “Hello.” She said, wondering who he was. “I don’t think we have met, I am Lieutenant M’Merra, the new COSs.” She said as she moved over and looked curiously at the punching bag which Joe had just been using.

When Sharp saw M’Mera dressed in a Gi he groaned, ‘’You know what Guy, I have a gut feeling I’m going to end up in sickbay soon’‘.

“You’ll be fine,” replied Guy.

Joe gained control of his breath before turning to see the new COS. The first thing he thought of was Ginger the ship’s cat. Always slinking about and seemingly in a constant state of losing her fur. Despite this Joe pushed ahead overcoming whatever questions might go through his mind about such a species. He’d never met one before and he was quite certain that any questions he had to ask her right at the moment would be very inappropriate even if it weren’t meant to be. Joe knew his history of his mouth getting him into trouble.

Instead, he smiled and nodded his head. “Hello Lieutenant. Good to meet you. I’m Joe Milligan I run the Dragon bar and grill. You’ll have to come and see us sometime. The first time is on the house.” Joe followed her eyes to the heavy body bag and smiled asking her. ” You looking to do a few punches and kicks are you? I’d love to see what sort of art you use.” Joe then walked away a bit to give M’Mera room to do as she wished.

M’Mera grinned, “I will come use it anotherr time. Today we arre herre to give one of my guyss an intrroduction to hand to hand combat. “Crrewman Ssharrp, why don’t you sshow uss ssome of the hand to hand you know?” M’Mera stepped up into the sparring ring and took a relaxed martial arts horse stance and waited for Richard to join her.

*So this is it * Sharp thought facing M’Mera ‘’ Em..em ma’am what I had in mind was to show Guy some moves , beginning at the lower level for now and increase to more advance in the coming weeks ‘’.

Still he was already taking his position just in case the COS would decide to spring upon him suddenly and attack .

M’Mera nodded, “Do sso. I will match yourr movess. We will rrepeat it a few timess then let Fleegman trry them with you.”

Facing M’Mera Sharp spoke to Guy ‘’Before we get to the applications, I want to quickly talk to you about the guard position. In real life, some aggression can be predicted, and some others can’t. The guard is a defensive posture that you take when you have a visual indication that someone is threatening you physically, like if someone comes at you aggressively or is seeking to push or hit you’‘.

I have 14 years of experience in Starfleet, thought Guy. I hope he won’t treat me like an Academy freshman.

’’ It’s important to understand that the goal is NOT to exchange blows with your attacker, BUT to escape and stay alive. If you can connect with your strikes, it should give you a few precious seconds to make your escape , that is run as fast as you can !’’ and he went on .

“Yes, I am aware of guard positions from many combative sports!” Guy answered.

If looks could kill Guy would be sprawled on the floor ‘’Really? Really! Thanks to you I’m in this mess ‘’ Sharp hissed more then the COS ‘’ Maybe you should see a shrink for your problems , rather then see me thrown off the ship ‘’.

’’ The guard that I propose to you is different from other guards you have seen. It’s a self-defense guard, and we develop for our Seionryu Karate and self-defense classes. It’s an unusual guard where both of your hands are kept together in front of you.

Guy nodded in acknowledgement.

’’ There are many advantages to this guard: Encourages you to use both hands into your defense. Prevents you from being too defensive. Prevents you from having a passive hand. Makes counter-attacking quick as both hands are positioned close to the opponent’s face ‘’.

’’ Like any other guard, it’s essential to understand that this guard should be flexible and adaptive ‘’.

“Okay, please continue,” Guy replied.

’’ Shall we demonstrate the moves ma’am ? ‘’ then as an after thought he asked ‘’Which one of us shall be the aggressor ?’’ the security was by now feeling rather excited and in a state of increased energy for he never had the chance to practice with anyone....... except pretending the punch bag was his opponent.

“I will guarrd, ass I wissh to ssee yourr movess and how you attack.” M’Mera said as she easily brought her arms up to a guard position. They were bent at a 90 degree angle though they crossed each other at the wrist with some space between them. Her paws were relaxed and it was apparent that she could easily move in any direction to stop a blow. Or easily turn her lower body too.

*Weren’t they suppose to bow at each other first * Sharp thought * Oh well here goes’‘.
He was quick to asses the situation of the position she took and saw there might be a chance to enter his punch under the space where her wrist was . Knowing that if he punched his opponent’s head in a self-defense situation, there are high chances one could end up damaging or even breaking one’s hand. Palm strikes are a safe and effective alternative to the punch. Using the heel of the palm to one’s attacker’s nose, jaw, or ear can not only cause severe damage, but it can potentially knock his opponent out cold. That’s precisely what he aimed for .

Holding his guard with front hand, Sharp flexed his wrist. Step forward and aimed for either the attacker’s nose or jaw. This first strike is done mainly to disturb and block his opponent’s vision.Right after impact, he launched his rear palm strike to the nose ,knowing this second strike would be his powerful hit. Rotating his hips for maximum power, he kept his core solid and was ready to push with his rear leg.

One thing was certain he was observant ,agile ,quick thinking and kept his full concentration on his opponent. If he failed there was always the other option and run away.

M’Mera watched her opponent’s eyes. The eyes tended to telegraph intent before the body did. She was impressed with Sharp’s stance, he kept his body and core balanced as he delivered his double hit. She allowed his first strike to brush her jaw and deflected his second one that was aimed at her nose. She could have allowed it to land but even a mild hit on a Caitian’s nose was debilitating as the nerves in a feline’s nose were very sensitive. Her movements were fluid as she balanced on the balls of her feet and as she moved her arms to do most of the deflecting, her body easily remained centered and flowed right or left as she reacted to the strikes Sharp was sending her way. After he had completed his second strike she used the same one-two move and struck back at him. She was sneaky though and while she attacked she pivoted her hips a bit and her tail snuck out and wrapped around one of his legs, trying to pull him off his feet.

Sharp tried his best to free his foot but it only resulted in him loosing he’s balance and falling on his back with a thud on the floor .It did not surprise him for the security knew he was no match for a Caitian species ,no matter how many black belts he wrapped around his waist ‘’Lt I do believe its enough for to-day ‘’ .

Getting up he glared at Guy ,then turned to face M’Mera ‘’ May I be excused?’’ he asked rubbing his back.

M’Mera blinked as she looked at him, “We are not finisshed, Crrewman. You werre going to sshow Mr. Fleegman these movess and walk him thrrough them.” She stepped out of the ring and motioned to Fleegman. “Crrewman Fleegman, would you pleasse join Mr. Sharrp in the rring. Mr. Ssharrp, I would like you to walk Mr. Fleegman thrrough the movess we just made sslowly. Give him a feel for them. Teach him the bassic defenssive sstance and how to block, then how to make the two sstrike movess.”

Guy moved into a position where he could climb into the ring.

“Er… I’m quite happy to reschedule for a rainy day!” Guy replied. He didn’t like the way Richard had just glared at him, but he was also loath to face the wrath of M’Mera either!

• Guy, Sec

Sharp nodded ‘’ I agree , after all he saw the moves we did ‘’ he said rubbing his back absentmindedly .

Sharp sec

M’Mera nodded once as she moved into a position where she could watch the two Security officers. She glanced over at Joe as the two young men prepared to spar, “Do you do morre then sparr, Mr. Milligan?” She asked curiously.

Lt. M’Mera COS