Getting Physical

Posted on Sun Oct 24th, 2021 @ 4:52pm by Lieutenant Harley Horn-Davis & Lieutenant Commander Melanie D’BrooNi- Haistro & Commodore Keiben Haistro & Commander Peter Horn & Commander Iy'dan Brell

2,939 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 4 - The Fires Of Hades
Location: Promenade - Unused Commercial Space
Timeline: Mission Day 2 @ 0800 Hours

ON

It had been almost 24 hours since Mel, Tam and Keiben had laid down the law with Peter but Keiben also had to recognise as Mel had so rightly stated that Peter needed some form of treatment to help him come to terms with his new situation. As they were in something of a sticking place in calling for help from Starfleet, being short handed meaning the crew of Cerberus were currently supporting the station restoration... This meant that psychological scarring was not at the top of anyone's list of priorities.

Personally Keiben had always found his physical routines to be some form of therapy and would help him work through things. He hoped this would also ring true for Peter as well.
With the help of their first civilian recruit, Keiben has set up a makeshift gym on the promenade over night knowing that his crew would be needing some form of recreation or place to blow off steam. Vincent being an ideal choice as he himself was a Personal Trainer, something he hoped to be of use on the station if he could convince him to remain.

They had transported over some of the Gym Equipment from the Missouri before she had warped away into an empty space on the promenade that would be large enough once everything was repaired to become a facility such as this in the long term. But right now, it was needed. Keiben had already called Peter to the space and he had gotten himself ready for a bit of a workout. Kickboxing being an excellent way of burning energy and providing a full body workout.

He wore some simple sweat pants and trainers but nothing on his chest or arms. He was wrapping his hands as with cloth ready for the encounter.

Peter walked in wearing a full workout outfit, though they were of a light fabric and deep blue in colour. Unlike Keiben, he had taken his shoes off, preferring to be barefoot. "Captain," he greeted stiffly as he moved to put his bag to the side.

"We're off duty, call me Kei!"
The burly Betazoid tugged at the fabric wrap around his left hand one last time before stretching out his fingers and then arms. "I've asked Vincent to join us. Have you ever done anything like this Peter?"

"That depends on what 'this' is sir," Peter answered, still being formal, "I have experience in several forms of martial arts and am proficient with a bat'leth." He gave a sort of quirky smile, his eyes taking on a mildly mischievous note. "I did use to be a security chief sir," he pointed out.

Vincent came in to where the makeshift gym was set up, carrying a padded bench where he took over to where a set of weight plates were waiting on the floor next to the frame work where the weight plates would be resting on the barbell. He set the bench down, his arm muscles bunching up as he moved the other weights out of the way. He stopped to watch the two men as they readied themselves for a bout.

His eyes took in the physique of both men, with a calculating eye, their stances and the muscle tone. They were showing signs of tension, evident of the tightened Trapezus muscles on down to the deltoids. He walked over to where Peter and Keiben were prepping themselves.

"Greetings gentlemen, looks like you are getting ready to have a sparring session. Make sure you get warmed up properly. I don't want you to deal with torn muscles." Vince remarked. He was dressed in a form fitting shirt which was made of a flexible material, it was reddish orange in color, with grey sweats, and a pair of runners on his feet.

"Good morning Vincent" Keiben greeted. "Thank you for helping us set this up. As for you Peter... Mel, Tam and I have been tough on you of late. We are doing it to help you even if it may not appear that way but there is an old Earth custom one of my tutors taught me at the academy. Sometimes when you are struggling to find yourself or lost in your own turmoil it can help just to hit something... In this case the man who is ultimately responsible for making you feel the way you feel. You are I are going to have a sparring match... all I ask given your Vulcan strength is that you go easy on me. My wife to be has already seen to me in the infirmary once in the last thirty six hours!"

"My wife is still missing," the Vulcan hybrid answered through gritted teeth, "my youngest keeps asking when his mother is coming home. And I can do nothing to ease his worry." He paused as he considered the request to hold back. "I will try, but cannot make that promise." He glanced over at Vincent. "Why is he here?"

"I asked Vincent to come and observe and help with our form!"

He answered the question smoothly but in reality Keiben had wanted someone else present just in case things got a little carried away.

"I see," Peter answered, then looked at the wrapping around Keiben's hands. "I may require assistance with that." Being predominantly left-handed, and having no real fine motor skills with his new right hand, he had no real confidence in doing it properly.

Vincent stepped up to help out Peter. "Here allow me." he said with a smile. "And I can help you out with your other hand as well. I'm also a physical therapist, I do have my certifications for that." efficiently wrapping up the man's fist, then decided he had better do the same for the other hand. He then stepped back to be close and be the referee if needed.

"Now I don't expect you to use my fighting style, could be fun to see if Earth Kickboxing is a match for any of the styles you are trained in!"

Keiben tugged on the belt holding his sweat pants up and briefly pondered if he should be wearing a vest top but decided it would be sweat covered at the end so he may as well continue as he was.

Peter tilted his head a fraction as he studied the man. "I doubt you are any match for me," he said, somewhat confidently, "I have been training since I was a child." Giving Vincent a nod of acknowledgement for his assistance, the Vulcan counselor stepped onto the mat. "Shall we?"

"I have no doubt Peter... Humour me though!"

Finding his own ire flaring at the mans insufferable arrogance. He bit his tongue though and took a deep breath knowing most of this was to do with his own personal struggles after the loss of his hand and with his wife still seemingly missing, although Keiben was under the impression she had never arrived on Copernicus but he could have missed it within the standard crew transfers and arrivals.

Keiben limbered up and took his ready pose, bouncing slightly on his feet keeping his weight forward and bringing his hand up partly defensive but also ready to strike.

"Ready when you are Pete!"

Peter circled the man, doing his best to keep his tattered mental shields in place to make it harder for his opponent to read him. When he saw an opening, he brought his right hand up as if to strike, but lashed out with his left instead, before pivoting away.

Keiben saw the feint but to late and took the blow, perhaps he should have thought this through some more having realised that Peter with his Vulcan heritage and being of smaller frame making him more agile made Keibens job all the more difficult. He was quick to recover with his right leg, swinging it round aiming at Peters ankle.

IT was a glancing blow as Peter was still stepping away but he grimaced anyway. In reflex, he lashed out with his right hand, as he pivoted forward, then seemed to change his mind mid-move. Instead of making it a step, he changed into a left-legged round house kick.

Vincent watched this match, noting that the two men had some anger issues and some of it directed to each other. He posed ready to move into separate the two men.

Mel watched on saying nothing, while not sure this was the wisest course of action but Peter sure needed something to literally knock some sense into him. In her mind D'BrooNi was pinging up lots of memories of prior fights watched in the years gone by. She was shocked at how many there were. And even several he and another host had participated in.

The burly Betazoid was going to dodge under the attack but instead decided to grapple the Vulcanoid. He caught the leg deftly and used the Counsellors own momentum to turn it into a grapple, dropping the man to the ground.

The counselor dropped with a grunt and rolled with his fall, all the while consciously not using his right hand like he was actually used to doing. Somehow, it seemed as though he was afraid to use it. Coming up in a crouch, he launched himself at his opponent, aiming a left hand uppercut at the Captain's jaw in the process. He seemed a desperate move to take the heavier man down.

The blow connected sending the Captain knocking him onto his back a few feet from Peter. This was the first strike that displayed the full power the Vulcan hybrid Counsellor had at his disposal. Keiben lay there a moment waiting for the flashes of yellow he was seeing in his vision to dissipate before rolling onto his hands and knees before pulling himself upright again.

"Come now Commander... You can do better than that" he said out loud but started pleading silently 'But please don't!!!'

Before the man was fully upright however, the counselor was on him again, planting his foot against his chest in a forward kick. He was careful not to kick him in the head though, considering such a move to be dishonorable. He followed the kick with a left-handed jab, once again to his jaw. He was definitely not holding back even though he was noticeably favouring his left side.

'Thats it Keiben get yourself beaten to death by a disgruntled Counsellor days before your wedding all because you wanted to help him come to terms with his situation!'

Again the Captain fell backwards, hard this time and he was winded, his eyes stinging from the force of the landing that he started to get watery vision. He was starting to lose his cool, which was Keibens intention all along, he had just hoped Peter would have been easier to provoke.

"Come on Peter, your holding back. I can see that your fake hand is your weakness... Any enemy could exploit that and you!"

His words were pointed and chosen to illicit more anger, to allow Peter to release his rage. 'Please don't kill me!'

Vincent moved into check on Keiben but was waved off, he grimaced and felt he was going to have to get involved rather boldly and bodily.

Your riling him up now. Be careful Keiben. Its getting past bringing him to his senses. Peter Horn is quite the warrior. Not to mention the wordsmith she telepathically sent out to her husband to be sitting back expecting his retort.

The Vulcan's eyes sparkled dangerously as he circled his opponent. "And you are weak, barely defending yourself," he spat, once again giving the man no time to properly get up by kicking him back down to the mat, striking him hard.

This time his true Vulcanoid strength and power came out and Keiben went down harder than before and his was convinced he heard something crack, one of his ribs maybe but he kept it together, finally seeing he was making headway with the man. Instead he sucked it up and endured the pain enough to strike at Peter's legs with a sweeping strike, knocking him from his feet. but the action took it toll on Keiben and he winced in pain, waving off Mel and Vincent's approach.

'No Mel, he needs this... I'm ok but stop him if you can see he's going to take my head off!'

Vincent growled at this, Keiben shouldn't be pushing himself this hard, and he looked at Mel "Is he this stubborn always?"

Peter was forced to catch himself using his right hand, or risk breaking something in an awkward and uncontrolled fall. He felt the jolt up his arm and he paled considerably, not having intended to catch himself like this at all. He seemed oblivious to the Betazoid's pain as he pushed himself back to his feet. He flexed the fingers of his right hand, trying to get a proper feel for them but it still felt completely alien to him.

This time, Peter waited for Keiben to get back to his feet, waiting, and studying him to see what he would do next.

He had to continue to push Peter, he knew this, but for how much longer would his own body hold out. The Captain was no layabout and took a great deal of pride in his physicality, and put side by side Keiben appeared the larger, strong man... until one took into account the Vulcan strength. He had one last gambit left to try to get Peter to stop shielding himself from using his prosthetic limb.

"Come on Pete, you're just proving you can't protect yourself, like you couldn't protect your wife and kids, I had to do that for you!"

Keiben could see the anger in Peter's eyes, flaring like a untamed, unchecked rage. 'Oh shit!'

"Take that back!" Peter spat. He had always taken great pride in his ability to protect his family. Yet even though there was a note of truth in the captain's words, it wasn't something he was actually willing to admit. In pure, unchecked rage, he launched himself at the taller man, left reaching for his throat, while the right swung back to punch him, the hand balled into a very tight fist.

'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit' was all the Captain could think as he saw the prosthetic hand charging towards his cheek. He managed to duck under the punch aiming for him but Peter's other hand caught him by the throat deftly. Thankfully he saw the package he had been waiting for arrive behind them.

"Behind you Peter.... look behind you!"

The hand squeezed, its owner's face distorted with unchecked fury. He wasn't going to fall for that, now was he? The hand that had missed the punch now just hung limp, as only one was needed to hold the man up.

"Commander, Captain..." The Trill Officer escorting a women clad in Starfleet Medical Uniform had stopped in the doorway next to Mel and Vincent. "I have a Lieutenant Horn-Davis here!"

Startled by the name, Peter let go of the captain and whirled around on his feet. "Harley!" he called out, his fury evaporating and making instant way for relief. "You are safe," he then choked out, dropping to his knees as his emotions now threatened to overwhelm him.

"Peter what are you doing?" the dark haired woman asked, tears in her eyes. She swiftly moved towards him and knelt down beside him. "I am here, I have been found by Lieutenant Brell."

Unchecked emotions emanated from the Vulcan counselor as he wrapped his arms around the woman. "Thank you," he whispered towards the Trill, before burying his face in Harley's hair. "I am so glad you are safe," he breathed, the injured captain seemingly forgotten.

Vincent ground his teeth at this whole display at the fight between Keiben and Peter and looked towards Brell, thank goodness his husband arrived when he did with Peter's wife.

Then Vincent turned his gaze towards the two men, "From now on you two if you get into another bout like this, you WILL be wearing protective gear." then he added towards Peter. "You are needing physical therapy for you to get used to using your arm, I offered and with the permission of Doctor D'BrooNi I want to make certain you get used to using it and get adjusted to it."

He then turned to get the medical kit that was near by for the wounds to be treated, and brought it near for Mel to avail herself of the supplies.

Peter just gave a simple nod of consent, while refusing to let go of his mate. Even though he doubted such an event would ever occur again, he still nodded in agreement, otherwise saying nothing.

"You have my permission," Mel said. She looked between both of them Keiben and Peter. "Hopefully that's out your systems now. Harley I am so relieved to see you."

Harley looked up at her long time friend, "It appears this man, Lieutenant Brell found me at a crucial point of time." she looked at her husband, then back to Mel, "I think we've got some patching up to do on our two men." giving a shake of her head. "Why they feel they need to play so hard is beyond me at times."

A weary but playful smile danced on Harley's lips. "Also, you and I need to catch up as well, Melanie."

END

 

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