Lieutenant Jack Kessler - Who's hungry
Joel Cannistraro
((OOC: Set shortly after the Ronin disengages from the Lattice Alliance leviathan and leave Ross 580 system and eventually engages warpdrive on their way back to DS33 with rescued personnel from The Lid, many of whom are now babies and Lt. JG T’Fearne and Lt.Cmdr O’Connor who are reduced to teenagers.))
((Holo-Suite 03, Deck 04, USS Ronin))
The scene that lay before them was one of Jack's favorite training programs. D'Rakan City was not a glamorous city by any means. In fact what stood ahead of them was a run down, burned down waste land of a city. Trash littered the streets. Merchant shops had been broken into and vandalized by the local gangs. Fires burned in trash containers to help heat the homeless who scattered at the signs of movement for fear of their own lives.
The street was one narrow and long hazard. Plenty of spaces for hostiles to attack from and plenty of debris to be used as a weapon or used against you. At the far end of the street was one dimly lit structure. A flickering neon sign flashed the name of the operation above it. The name barely legible read, "Zushi Barangaroo".
T'Fearne: ::tilting her head to look up at Kessler:: Chief. What is this?
Kessler: You want sushi. You'll have to get there to have it. This is a level 6 Security training program I designed. Any hostile you encounter can be any species from the Starfleet database. The computer chooses randomly and it keeps changing who and what you encounter so that you have to adapt on the spot to different tactics. Akai sticks can be added if you want them.
T'Fearne: ::nodding:: I see what you are doing…This is an acceptable challenge. But let’s go to the Musashi Lounge on level B, in the Mission Pod after this. ::small nose wrinkling:: Holodeck sushi is disgusting. Where is this simulation anyway? What planet?
T’Fearne’s brow arched and Jack smiled as he thought about the simulation itself and where the original idea had come from.
Kessler: D'Rakan City, planet unknown.
T'Fearne: ::eyes narrowing:: Did you choose this chaotic, degraded environment because you sense it reflects my current internal conflict?
Jack paused before answering. He eyed T'Fearne for a moment and then let his gaze drift from her to the chaos that lay ahead of them. How he answered her was more important in her current mental and physical state that it would have been if she was her usual self. Or so he told himself. The truth was, he chose this setting because sometimes you just had to let off some steam in ways you had not thought of before. Jack began to remove his duty tunic and looked back to T'Fearne.
Kessler: The logical side of you is probably saying, violence is not the way to deal with your current situation. While I normally agree with that, I do think sometimes, we just need to let off our frustrations in ways you would never really show anyone else.
She spun back around to face Jack. A mischievous grin spread on her face as she pulled twin akai sticks out of the hidden pockets from her uniform. oO Clever little one. Oo She snapped both batons outward with a flick of her wrists.
T'Fearne: It’s perfect! Try to keep up, sir.
Jack grinned at the over eager enthusiasm of the teenager ahead of him. She to some points reminded him of Krystal and the attitude she would probably be displaying right now.
Kessler: ::kneeling down to one knee and picking up a long metal pipe:: I'll do my best.
She started forward, light footfalls kicking up a trail of dust, but turned back to look at him. Jack was still down on one knee, somewhat admiring the determination in the officer before him but also wondering if she truely grasped what she needed to let out. The frustration of what she was dealing with had to be overwhelming. He knew it would be for him.
T'Fearne: ::hesitantly:: I thought we…would handle this together?
The question caught him off guard. He had not realized he had delayed his advancement but he was also well into thought and concern for his team-member. Jack slowly stood for a full stance. The two meter long pipe now balanced in his hand at the midsection.
Kessler: I will always have your back T'Fearne. You never need ask. Just know I will be there for you always.
Jack began stepping forward until he was up beside her and then he took off in a brisk pace forcing her to change thought and tactics to catch up with him.
T'Fearne: response
Jack grinned as he passed a barrel of trash burning with a red hot flame dancing above the rim of the container. He twirled the metal pipe in his hands, loosening his arm muscles and let his eyes dance from one side of the street to the next as he marched forward. Within a moment a loud screech came from their left side as two raggedy clothed humanoid forms came racing at them from an alleyway. The hostile faces were wrapped in shredded, tattered cloth and their heads were wrapped as well, completely concealing their identity. One individual turned to T'Fearne and the other used a pile of debris on the ground to hurl itself at Jack.
Kessler: Street thugs. Watch....
His sentence was cut off as he had to throw both hands up, using the metal staff as a deflection point and tossing the street thug over his head. Jack spun around to face the thug, twirled the staff around his back and then turned the staff into a long reaching swinging melee weapon reaching the full distance between him and the street thug. A satisfying crack recoiled down the staff to Jack's hand as he followed through on the swing. The thug dropped to the ground unconscious and no doubt with a holographic broken jaw bone. Swinging the staff around he turned back in the direction from which the attackers had come to see if they had any friends, all the while listening to the short lived fight between the other street thug and T'Fearne.
T'Fearne: response
Grinning Jack turned back up the street and continued on, once again shifting the staff in his hands and positioning it for the next attack. He paused as four figures stepped from the right side of the street about ten meters ahead of them. The four figures were all male Orion pirates and they all were larger than Jack. The computer was really going to test them and he wondered if he should have dialed down the settings a bit. Each Orion was carrying some sort of long bladed weapon. Unlike the street thugs who had technically been unarmed, these four were armed heavier than Jack or T'Fearne. They would need to even the odds and do so quickly.
Kessler: You don't by chance have a bat'leth hidden away in some secret pocket do you?
The statement was more an attempt at humor but also to convey to his security officer, they needed to level up their weapons as well.
T'Fearne: response
Kessler: Then I guess we are going to have to crack heads.How do you feel about flying?
Jack did not stop to let her answer, he rushed forward swinging the staff above his head and darting to the center of the group of four Orions. With a hefty swing he made the four duck and bend sideways to avoid contact and then he dropped to his knee, lowering his head and hoped T'Fearne had read his movement. It was a split second before he was rewarded with his answer. A boot landed on his back and then another on his shoulder as it shoved off with an intense amount of force. T'Fearne would now be airborne, leaping or diving over the Orions. Jack came up off his knee with surprising speed and swung at the lower legs of the two directly in front of him. His staff was blocked by a sword blade that had it's tip dug into the ground and the second Orion lunged forward swinging his bladed weapon at Jack.
T'Fearne: response
He barely heard what she yelled as he ducked to avoid decapitation, or at least the holodeck's version of what that would look like. Stumbling to his side trying to regain his stance he hit the ground and rolled to his right and came back up with both feet planted firmly on the ground just as the attacking Orion brought his blade down to slice Jack perversely in half, from the top down. He threw his arms up, staff locked in both hands and used the metal pipe to stop the downward swing. The strength and force this hostile had was more than Jack could handle for much longer. They needed a new plan of attack.
Kessler: ::deflecting incoming blows:: You still want Sushi T'Fearne? ::beat:: I think I am getting hungry!
T'Fearne: response
[Tags / TBC]