Ensign Tho’Bi - Fear the Unpredictable Andorian

[Tobi]

((Security Training Facilities - Deck 8, USS Artemis))

He felt the shift in his biochemistry already beginning to happen. The vibrations in the room became sharper, more focused. His heartbeat slowed a little.  

Silveira: The purpose of the exercise is to have your opponent outside the circle.

The Andorian followed the Chief's directions and took up position within the large golden circle printed onto the blue and grey mat. He could feel the mat compress slightly with every footfall. 

Silveira: You're attacking 

With all the talk of defense, the Andorian had not expected to be the one doing the attacking. 

Tho'Bi: ::unsure:: Sir?

Silveira: I told you we don’t always get what we want. When ready Ensign, I am all yours.

He nodded and took up an opening combat stance, as best as he could remember it, which wasn't very well.

oO I don't want to hurt anyone Oo

The Andorian moved in, in a quick series of long legged strides. His antennae sensed the Chief's weight distribution from leg to leg, but the young Ensign paid no attention to it.

Tho'Bi threw a loose combination of blows aimed around the Chief's torso.  

The Chief was tall for a human, only a handful of centimeters shorter than the Andorian Ensign. The blows were blocked, but to the Ensign's surprise, the Chief seemed pleased.

Silveira: See… That’s a good start…

Tho’Bi: ::confused:: O.. Kay…

The Chief winked. Lieutenant Vailani never winked. She scowled. The Ensign was accustomed to scowls. He didn't know what to do with a wink.

The Chief's feet had meandered close to the inside edge of the golden circle printed onto the blue and grey sparing mat. Had the Andorian been paying attention, he'd sensed the shift in weight, the pressure rolling forward across the mat, from heel to toes, but he was not and he did not.  

Thwack! The first punch arrived just as the Andorian registered the Chief's movement away from the inner edge of the circle. His right forearm collided with the blow, more than it did block it, his dense bone structure accepting the impact with ease.  

A series of punches followed in rapid succession. Each was blocked, but such was the speed of the attack, the Andorian's weight had fallen back onto his heels. Had the Chief wanted to, he could have pushed home the advantage.

Silveira: You're better than you think Tho’Bi. ::Tho’Bi had resisted his counter attack :: Again, take the offensive.

The lens of his antennae tightened to a harder, clearer focus, his heartbeat had slowed more, and the clutter of his mind had been quietened. The second stance came more instinctively, still ill-formed, still imprecise in balance and poise, but it arrived without effort of thinking. 

Tho’Bi: ::nodded::

Uneven footwork, aided by long strides, carried the Andorian out around the Chief's position, rotating the angle of attack. It was clumsy and telegraphed, but it was some semblance of strategy, some attempt to move the battlefield, change the lay of the land.

The Chief switched up immediately, whereas before he had waited for the attack to arrive, this time he met the Andorian mid manoeuvre. This had the effect of using the Andorian's attempt to rotate the attack against him, it tightened the angle on the Andorian, forcing him to launch blows off-balance and across his own body. 

The Andorian reset to lead from the left, the right now jammed up by the failed rotation attempt, and set to land the first blow.  

Fwoosh! The Chief's leg swept round and caught the Andorian’s left leg, below the knee, just as he threw his first punch. While his calf compressed, his shin remained rigid and did not yield, transmitting equal and opposite shock waves through both their legs.  

The Andorian’s first punch was sent wildly off course, and rather than landing on the torso, arced diagonally upwards and to the right, catching the Chief with a glancing blow to the very top of his shoulder; the wildness of the trajectory of the punch seeming to have caught the Chief a little off guard.

The remaining punches resulted in an untidy clash of limbs, ill-timed and lacking coherent form or pattern.

The Chief slid back, establishing a new staging ground within the golden circle. 

 

Silveira: Nice… Trust me when I tell you that we should fear the less trained and skilled opponent. That makes him unpredictable.  

Tho’Bi: ::smiles:: Then I must be a source of great fear for you, Sir ::bows::

The Andorian mirrored the Chief's positioning, establishing himself a space between the circle's inner edge and foe.

Silveira: Response 

It might have been the word ‘unpredictable’ hanging in the Andorian’s mind, it might have been his Andorian blood, frozen into the glaciers of that distant terrible moon, whatever it might have been, the young Andorian found himself taking the attack to the Chief. 

Long legs clad in the featureless black of Starfleet garb, rushed at the Chief in a scattered footfall dash. The Andorian pivoting on his left leg and rotating his hips, to bring his right foot around high, and arriving from the side of the Chief.

Silveira: Response 

The one meter ninety centimeter tall Andorian bounced and switched weight to and pivoting on his now landed right, rotating his hips the other way, to bring his left foot around high, and arriving from the mirror side of the Chief. 

Silveira: Response 

TAG/ TBC 

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Ensign Tho’Bi

Engineering

USS Artemis-A

A240203T11