Fair Fight

Posted on Wed May 17th, 2023 @ 4:38pm by Lieutenant Evelyn Stewart & Lieutenant Commander Keishara Davaris
Edited on on Mon Jul 3rd, 2023 @ 10:43pm

3,442 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Prologue: Centre Predominate
Location: Holodeck 1
Timeline: MD 013: 2230 hrs

Evelyn made a point of not giving her statement about what Dulay and she found in the shuttlebay directly to Kei. She explained what had happened to one of the junior security officers regarding seeing just a handful of marines and Starfleet officers rushing out of the shuttlebay, Amarok’s body left unconscious and beaten on the floor.

She quickly left before having to deal with the Security chief. She was furious the other women had done such a lousy job of maintaining security that someone was seriously hurt in what she considered her shuttlebay. She still was also not over the fact Keishara herself used dirty tactics in their confrontation and abused her authority in the situation.

Instead Stewart went to the holodeck to keep her scheduled time. It had been weeks since she last trained properly and beating of holographic enemies was more than therapeutic.

Keishara was feeling frustrated. The beating of Lt. s'Lovok was deeply disappointing. She'd put some of her team on it and they had let her down. With reports of marines and security personnel present and implicated in the attack then she would be finding those responsible and dealing with them accordingly.

She often went to the holodeck to 'relax'. Her meditation program of beating slavers and pirates never grew old, especially with the adaption matrix she added last month. It was named Stryvek had recommended something and instead of that she renamed it Relaxation on Monol Peak... she showed him the name and he nodded his Vulcan nod and stopped asking her about it.

As the doors opened what she was different from what she expected and then in the middle of the program currently running she saw Lt. Stewart. "I'll come back later." she commented and went to turn around.

Stewart had just spun out of a hold a holographic raider had her in before hitting his head against a crate of the simulated storage facility. It was when she grabbed the phaser pistol on the ground and shot another one in the distance that she heard the doors of the holodeck open and saw Kei.

Furious that the last person she wanted to see was invading her space she tossed the pistol on a crate. “Computer, freeze program.” She called out, hearing the beep of acknowledgment and the room going still.

Still out of breath, she turned towards the door.

“I know you are the security chief but is it standard policy on this ship to just ignore someone’s privacy or the holodeck schedule?” She asked Kei in agitation.

The tension in the room grew and Kei sighed. She could not be in the least bothered with whatever macho crap, or personal shit Evelyn was carrying but still she did not seem to move apart from turning around. "The display outside read this room as being free with no program running. If you have issues with your privacy in that regard then speak to Engineering about their faulty equipment."

Stewart was angry and looking for a fight. She folded her arms in front of her workout outfit. “Always someone else’s fault, isn’t it?” She asked sarcastically, not hiding her thoughts that Kei screwed up with protecting Amarok.

Kei arched an eyebrow and moved a little more into the holodeck. "If you have something on your mind Lieutenant, just say it. I'm not a mind reader." she commented even though Evelyn's body language showed she was itching for a confrontation and the feelings emanating off her to match.

Stewart didn’t back down. If anything she took a few steps towards Keishara. “You failed in your duties to keep Amarok safe. If Rufio and I weren’t there to stop it he could have been killed.” Evelyn cocked her head and seemingly considered. “Unless that was the plan along and we just got in the way.”, she unfairly accused Kei of planning the assault.

Keishara scoffed. "I didn't fail in my duties, those who were charged with s'Lovok's surveillance were. Clearly I need to look into their conduct on the matter." she correct Evelyn. "Also, if I had planned on attacking our resident Romulan then I would not have used a shuttle bay to do so. There are many more ways to hurt someone than to 'hire' thugs and bullies that apparently run rampant on board this ship. To which I will be investigating."

She didn't care that Evelyn was getting closer. If this made her feel intimidating, some sort of hero for standing up for the beaten Romulan then she could parade around, peacock all she liked but there was no-one but Keishara hear to see it.

Stewart nodded as she stepped into Kei’s space. “A little late to realize that, isn’t it Commander?” She asked rhetorically. “But I’m sure your efforts as an investigator will be a comfort to Amarok. Make up for your mistakes as security chief to begin with.”

"Well people aren't always as they appear." Keishara gestured to Evelyn. "I didn't think when we first met you were a raging emotional mess, but here we are. Again. You itching for a fight like someone said 'computer, lights on'." she sighed. "And you can comment on my perceived mistakes all you want. I'm not here to comfort Amarok nor babysit a ship full of apparent children. You'd think at the rate your lifespans go you'd be more careful about what situations you get into."

Stewart seemed to take in what Kei was saying. “Think about my situation…you’re right.” She nodded with agreement and seemed to take a slight step back only to suddenly sucker punch Davaris in the jaw as hard as she could, knocking the Commander back. “That was for breaking my nose.”

Kei took a moment, her head in the position forced by the strike. She laughed and then smiled as her head turned to face Evelyn and her hand rubbed her jaw slowly. "It looks better now." She took an instep and palmed Evelyn square in the centre of the chest with enough force to make her step back also.

Evelyn gave a dry laugh and small smile of amusement as she found her center of gravity again. She gestured with her chin at Kei’s uniform jacket. If they were doing this she’d give the other woman every chance at a fair fight first.

Kei glanced and moved, side on, towards a small place to put her jacket. She removed it to reveal nothing but a tank top underneath, a vest if you'd like, as she tended to run hot in these uniforms. She tossed it and turned back to face Evelyn. "I assume given how much I felt your hit earlier that the safety features are off?"

Stewart loudly scoffed at the thought. “Of course they are off. You aren’t going to work hard if there is no legitimate risk.” She said, almost offended at the idea. She wasn’t reckless and had programmed the raiders to have stunning weapons only, but you learned through pain. Knowing subconsciously she couldn’t get hurt would make her lazy and defeat the purpose of staying sharp.

In her own fitted matching grey pants and tank top, Evelyn took her braid out to pull her hair back into a much more practical ponytail. “Unless you are afraid without them.”, she taunted when she finished fixing her hair.

"There is nothing about you that frightens me." Kei rolled her eyes. "Nothing I have not seen in myself, or in countless others I have met." she too fixed her hair into a tight ponytail. She would not attack first, she would not be provoked. Kei's style itself was prone to 'attack is the best form of defence', but she was more careful when it came to her personal safety.

Stewart waited until Kei had settled, ignoring her words. She noticed Kei was not going to attack outright and took the advantage herself. She took in the fact she and Kei were almost exactly the same physically, though Kei had a slight advantage in both in height and her reach. Focusing and channeling her emotions, built on the logic of the situation and her strategy. Evelyn was going to have to get in close and keep Kei off balance with her speed.

Evelyn knew she wasn’t physically the strongest person but she was fast and agile. Her half-brother taught her how to fight and use the skills she developed as dancer to become strengths. He wasn’t shy about her learning multiple martial arts, especially Klingon techniques, the hard way. Remy also had no reluctance in teaching her the basics of more Earth based styles such as Muay Thai and what he specialized in, Krav Maga.

“Still have cold feet.” She taunted before moving to kick at Kei, followed by punch towards the woman’s face to throw her off balance before using her speed to spin on her heel low to sweep the security chief’s legs out from under her so she fell on the floor. Only then did she back off of her aggressive approach, letting the El-Aurian pick herself up.

The match up between Keishara and Evelyn was always going to be close. Truth be told Kei had forgotten more about martial arts than most Humans learned in their life time. She loved the art of Sto'man'govar. It was akin to jiu jitsu with a flavour of something similar to aikido. There were many other numerous styles that rolled around, ground work, kick boxing styled types.

Kei threw her legs and acrobatically was back on her feet and into Evelyn's inner space. With a grip of her arm she rolled Evelyn over her back and dropped her onto the ground with a thud. As she hit the ground Kei went in on top of her and pinned her with an arm lock.

Stewart felt the air get knocked out of her lungs when she connected with the floor. Before she could recover she grunted at the painful feel of Kei’s arm bending hers into an unnatural position to maintain her control over Evelyn.

Using more energy than she wanted, and all her strength, Stewart used her body to push Keishara’s body off of hers. Gripping where Kei had hold of her wrist, she pulled the Commander in and thrust her own knee up into the tactical officers gut to release her hold before using her free elbow to the side of her head to make her fall to the ground.

Evelyn took a few steps back to catch her breath and collect herself, if she wasn’t so angry she would admit she enjoyed the fight as she hadn’t had such a good one in years.

After a few moments, she went back on the offensive once Kei was back on her feet, striking and kicking at her.

The connection of Evelyn's elbow made Keishara see stars for a moment as she fell from her body. She rolled a couple of feet away and rose to her feet once again.

Regaining composure she looked up to see Evelyn bearing down on her. All that rage, all that aggression, Kei could feel it almost pouring out of Evelyn. She threw her arms up to protect herself, raising her legs to do the same at times. Deflecting shots, taking hits, she was used to that. Hells she took many more times than she could count when she was younger, a slave amongst pirates.

There was an opportunity, a mere second of lull as Evelyn took an inhalation of breath and Kei took half a step back before taking a full one forward and striking Evelyn in the stomach, a body shot, before taking a step back and landing her same right hand across Evelyn's jaw.

Again she took a step back to let Evelyn compose herself. "You honestly don't see how your anger gets you nowhere?" she asked.

She felt the ringing more than heard it when Kei’s hand connected with her jaw and she shook the disorientation out of herself. Taking a quick breath she glared at the Security Chief who had her own fiery temper. “I don’t need to be lectured about my anger from you of all people.” She said between pants. Evelyn saw the volatility in Kei that first night they met.

Her own rage seeming to be an endless pool that never dried up, Stewart started on another offensive. She knew how to control her emotions and allow them to heighten her abilities. Despite what Kei thought, her anger was what was making her movements sharper and gave her more focus.

For every block and deflection by Kei, Stewart countered with another punch or kick. She kept Kei focused on having to maintain her guard and off balance. When Stewart’s frustration at Kei’s solid defense got to her, she grabbed the other woman’s shirt and threw her into a wall of durasteel crates to break the woman’s defense complete for a moment before losing control and pummeling the woman with a series of kicks and punches that left herself far too exposed as she lost control.

That cold, hard smack of the durasteel on her back knocked some of the stuffing from her body. Air that she'd been using, strength to keep Evelyn at bay gone for a moment. Keishara's arms were sore from blocking, her fists hot with friction from pushing strikes aside but the punches she could not stop, the kicks left her feeling rather bruised.

As one punch came in Kei used Evelyn's momentum and her own weight to spin them 180 degrees. Now Evelyn was up against the durasteel crates. Kei threw in a punch to the gut, another to the ribs and as Evelyn began to bend she once again tucked underneath her as she did so and flipped her very acrobatically in the air and she landed on her back once more. It was a very similar, if not exactly like the one before.

Kei spun onto the ground and on top of Evelyn. She could feel her ragged breath, the lack of strength in her arms and watched the beads of sweat slip from her brow. Kei had pinned Evelyn's legs with her own. Her arms with a firm grip on her arms. Her head hovered above Evelyn, her hair an absolute riot with stray hairs everywhere. If she saw herself in a mirror even she'd think she looked kind of hot... but she was a very modest sort.

Evelyn tried to push Kei off with her body like she did before, but she couldn’t. She was sore and tired. She could feel the burning in her lungs as she gasped for much needed air. She could hear her rapid pulse in her ears as the adrenaline bled out of her body. Her face and body flushed. Despite her body softening in submission, she tilted her chin in defiance at Kei. She may have lost but she was too proud to give up her anger completely in the moment.

"Evelyn, yield. I need to hear you say it." Kei did not loosen her grip, her eyes fixated on Evelyn's over her last attempt to be defiant. She was going to say it was only logical to concede when you had no power otherwise but she felt the Vulcan angle would only spur her on.

Evelyn held Kei’s gaze as she struggled to catch her breath. She wanted to continue but she knew she couldn’t. Setting her jaw tightly, she nodded to the other woman and conceded that she yielded, all fight leaving her body in that moment.

Keishara began to loosen her grip on Evelyn's arms before sliding off of her and rising to stand. "I never wanted us to fight. You have to know that."

Evelyn just sat up and rested her forearms on her bent knees, glancing up at the woman. “No, you wanted something else.” She said bluntly. Stewart was honestly surprised Kei didn’t try to kiss her when she had her in such a compromising position.

"Yeah?" Kei said wiping the sweat from her forehead. "What was it you think I wanted?" she asked. "Since you know everything about me."

Evelyn quickly stood up and stepped into Kei’s space enough that she was pressing into the wall. “You wanted me.” She says softly before kissing the El-Aurian deeply, staying in her space so she would have to consciously push Evelyn away to prove her wrong.

She didn't think Evelyn had that much energy left but she was across and sucking her face within a flash. For a moment Kei was caught off guard and did enjoy what was happening but still pushed her off with some force. The sound of their lips parting loud.

Evelyn looked at her with a completely cold and clinical eye. She completely dropped her mental guards so Kei could feel she had no genuine attraction to her romantically. “Wow, I’m surprised you have the self control to stop.” She said sarcastically, though with genuine surprise in her voice.

"What the fuck Evelyn?!" Kei said very seriously. "You confuse the Hells out of me... first we have sex. Days later you are shouting and pushing me around in the corridor, then you want to pick a fight with me in here. Then you kiss me!" she moved into her space. Not aggressively so but close enough to feel the heat from her body. "Choose. Fight me, or fuck me. Either that or we meet in the middle." Kei's eyes drifted over Evelyn's body.

Stewart looked at Davaris, “That’s the point, Kei. That’s all there is with you, sleep with you or fight you. There is no middle with you. Even now you want me.”

"I want a lot of people. I don't limit myself to one partner unless they are pretty special." Kei replied honestly. "I know restraint, I use it every day more than people know."

Stewart scoffed at that, not knowing what to make of it. “So what the hell does that mean?” She asked bluntly, tired of dancing around the issue. “Am I just expendable to you?”

"Isn't everyone?" Kei shrugged but at this point wasn't looking at Evelyn. It was a harsh lesson she'd been taught as a younger woman but she had been trying lately to improve her outlook on life despite how things had gone of late.

"People let you down, they hurt you, stab you in the back first chance they get if it suits them, or if they are pushed far enough... although I am trying connection rather then the disconnect of my life so far. So, no. You are not expendable. I don't waste my time on those that are mundane and common."

Stewart leaned against the storage containers and sighed heavily, ignoring the pain in her ribs from it. “I can hurt you.” She said frankly, though she was more thinking out loud. “You may not think so but I can, Keishara. I can because I feel nothing like you do about me.” She admitted, knowing that she could take advantage of Kei’s feelings for her whenever she felt like it. “I was drunk and I took advantage of the situation. I shouldn’t have done that and I know I can do it again. I don’t want to take advantage of you. What I want is to be your friend. But there are certain boundaries we can’t cross.” She said looking at Kei, knowing they both need to hold each other accountable if they wanted a friendship to work.

"I can promise that any advantage taken will be as much on my terms as they are on yours." Kei smiled finally. "However, I can keep boundaries." She paused. "Also, we really can't beat the crap out of each other so much if we're going to be best buds."

Evelyn nodded, laughing a little before wincing and grabbing at her ribs that she suspected my be bruised. “God that punch really hurt…” she complained. “Tell the Doc we were playing Parrises Squares?” She asked of Kei’s suggestion to explain their injuries to the doctor.

"I'm not sure the doctor would believe us even if we brought her sweets..." Kei smiled. "After last time I am pretty sure we are both on his naughty list. "Let's just skip him and go straight to the DMZ."

 

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