Lt. JG Natasha Cole - The Hardest Part
Natasha Schell
((Security Training Facilities - Combat Mat Room - USS Artemis-A))
Vitor came forward with brute certainty behind the technique, and for a few violent seconds it stopped feeling like a sparring evaluation and started feeling like collision. Natasha drove into it anyway. He caught the shots she aimed higher, but the ones she buried into his torso landed hard enough to matter. She wasn’t trying to look clean anymore. She was trying to make every inch expensive.
Silveira: I… can… keep… this… all day…
Everything hurt for a second; ribs, shoulder, hip, pride, but pain was just information unless you let it become permission.
Cole: ::breathless:: Then stop… announcing it and… prove it.
Natasha surged forward before the last word had fully left her mouth, not giving him the courtesy of distance. She angled off-center instead of straight in, shoulder leading, one forearm rising to jam his guard while the other drove short and hard toward his ribs.
Silveira: Your… too… close…
Natasha planted a hand, pushed herself back up, and reset her stance with less wasted motion than before.
Cole: I don’t need room to be dangerous, sir.
To prove the point, Natasha stepped inside his next angle and stayed there, forcing the fight into elbows, forearms, and shoulder pressure. Every movement after that was designed to deny him clean extension.
Silveira: I… couldn’t… tell…
The corner of her mouth twitched, not into a smile this time, but something fiercer.
Cole: Come on, Commander. You wanted better. Here I am.
Then she moved. Fast enough to steal the breath between his thoughts. One hand feinted high just to draw his attention while the real attack came lower and closer - a driving step into his base, forearm across his center, trying to force him backward on her terms for once.
Commander Silveira pushed back and straightened himself.
Silveira: Stand down Lieutenant.
Natasha stopped on instinct sharpened hard enough to hurt. The strike died half-formed in her shoulders instead of landing, momentum dragging her one step too far before she caught herself and dropped off-line, breath ragged and jaw tight.
Cole: ::tight, still keyed up:: You could’ve picked an easier moment to call it.
She dropped beside Vitor, her breathing had started to level, but the adrenaline was still there under her skin, making everything feel fractionally louder. She accepted the hand with a grip firmer than necessary, more grounding than gratitude, and let the contact pull her the rest of the way.
Silveira: You know, this was the hardest part of your certification. ::he nodded:: Being able to stand down in the next second is a skill few manage to achieve. ::He shook his hand in front of her.:: C’mon you can trust me now… Honestly it took me five certifications to be able to stop at a word's notice.
Cole: I grew up learning how to push through. My father trained persistence like it was a virtue. Knowing when to stop always seemed to count less. ::small shrug::
Now that the fight was over, every glancing hit was beginning to introduce itself by name. She touched briefly at her ribs, testing the damage, then let her hand fall with a breath through her nose that was almost a laugh.
Silveira: I’ll file up the paperwork once we get a little badged up. Sorry for going a little extreme but I take training seriously, I had more than my share of fights and we always need to be ready.
Even if we have to rub a little salt and push the mental envelope hard.
You did very well. ::he winced as he tried to wink at Nat:: I on the other hand might be getting a little too old for this…
Cole: I’ll take “did very well.” Though next time I’d appreciate a little less psychological warfare with my bruising.
She let out a laugh that introduced a developing bruise.
Cole: For what it’s worth, I’d rather get pushed too hard in here than find out where my edge breaks somewhere that matters more.
They shared a laugh as the two made their way to the medical supplies.
End Scene for Natasha Cole
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Lt. JG Natasha Cole
Security Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240205NC4