Bare These Bones
Break the Limits
Bones could understand why Jim was so focused on setting Vahl'Sai up with Spock; at least now that he had seen her. Bones had never seen the Savarian in her element before, but now that he was watching her fight, he could understand where Jim had come up with the plan. She was different from Spock in many ways that it was hard to think that setting her up with the Vulcan could ever actually work. But she matched up with his personality in many ways as well.
Vahl'Sai showed her emotion openly, most of the time, opposite of Spock. But she had a type of precision when she fought and taught the students in her class that as well. Everything was well calculated before executed, all of her moves being played out with practiced ease. She never acted irrationally; everything was planned and thought out in a way that would make Spock proud.
Uhura watched with wide eyes as Vahl'Sai took down the entire class one at a time, never injuring any of her students but giving them enough of a hit to understand what they would need to do. She made sure that they all understood what they were supposed to do before she actually forced any of them to practice.
Bones and Uhura winced in unison as Vahl'Sai threw her weight to the side and slammed her shoulder into Cadet Namashi's side, the male falling back onto the mats with a groan. She repeated the same process as always, offering a hand and assisting the cadet back onto their feet to move away and regain their composure.
"She's ruthless when she's fighting, but she's kind when she's teaching," Uhura said with awe in her eyes, watching the next cadet move up to allow Vahl'Sai to continue the lesson. Uhura found herself enraptured with the movements of the Savarian, her eyes following along as the Commander was able to glide through the movements slowly but efficiently, her mind completely focused on teaching her class the proper ways to dodge or relocate an attack on their person.
In what the two observers knew must have been routine, Vahl'Sai soon sent them off in partners, glaring at a couple that had dared to move toward friends that they would talk with more than do their work. They glared back slightly but chose different partners. Bones was unsettled at one point when one of the girls dared to glare back, looking directly into the Commander's eyes. Vahl'Sai raised one eyebrow, tilted her head to the side as she challenged the girl. She quickly dashed off to find another partner when her teacher took a step in her direction, accepting the Cadet's silent challenge.
They had been sparing together for a good thirty minutes as the Savarian Commander made her rounds, sometimes moving to the sides to speak with the spectators. She was friendly enough that they didn't feel intimidated to speak with her, even after they had all seen what she was capable of doing. It was thirty minutes after they had paired up that the doors opened and Admiral Pike stepped in, motioning Vahl'Sai over silently. She went without a word, most of the class following her with their eyes for a moment.
"I wonder if Spock's actually going to be assisting today," Uhura muttered suddenly, not able to see if he was standing outside the doors with the others or not. They closed behind Vahl'Sai, another Commander that had been with Pike stepping in to watch the class while she was out for the moment.
Vahl'Sai nodded her thanks to the other Commander as she passed him, stepping out beside Admiral Pike. There were several others from the High Command that were there, but not even half of the full panel. Her bright green eyes landed on a very tall male that she had not met before, his features telling her immediately that he was not of human heritage.
"Commander Vahl'Sai, this is Commander Spock," Pike introduced, motioning to the pale skinned male. Spock nodded his head in acknowledgement, getting a nod back from the white haired female a couple feet away from him. "He's going to be assisting you with the testing process since he too will be undergoing evaluation to re-board the Enterprise."
"Of course, the help is greatly appreciated. My class has grown quite a bit since the first days that I had taken over," she replied smoothly, her accent causing her words to swirl on her tongue in a very inhuman way. "It's an honour to finally meet you, Commander Spock, though, I feel I know you already," She said as she turned her attention toward the black haired Vulcan.
"May I inquire as to what you mean?" Spock asked with a curious tilt of his head.
"Many of my students, and some cadets that are not in my classes, have compared me to you in many ways. I believe that Cadet Uhura phrased it as 'refreshing in a sea of illogical people'."
"Vahl'Sai isn't very accustomed with Human slang," Pike explained more easily to the Vulcan, drawing the attention of both xeno's, "She's confused by the way we phrase things sometimes and it often reminds people of how Vulcan's are very logical."
"Understood," Spock said with a nod. Vahl'Sai found herself curious of the Vulcan race. From what she did know, her people were very far away when it came to being on a scale of comparison with Vulcan's. Not only with their mental ways, such as emotion and whether they supress it or not, but also with their looks. Vulcan's all looked relatively the same, but Savarian's varied in many ways. They all had the same golden tan hue on their skin from the amount of time they spent outside and in the harsh sunlight on their planet, but their hair and eye colour varied from blue, all the way to bright red. Vahl'Sai's snow white hair was actually very rare, scientists considered it to be much the same as the human gene of red hair and green eyes.
"Anyway, back on topic," Pike said, looking to Vahl'Sai, "Commander Spock will be assisting you with grading half of your class so that the process doesn't take as long. We are going to be staying to watch over the certain cadets that will be moving to take up spaces on the newest starships, as well as the Enterprise."
A sudden commotion from the gym caused the small group to turn to face the doors, the Commander that had stepped in to watch over the class stepped through the doors with a look of shock on his features.
"There's an escalating argument, Commander, they won't listen to me," he said with a hint of aggravation in his voice. Vahl'Sai sighed inaudibly before turning to head into the class, marching past the other Commander. Two of the men that were fighting were two that she knew were both trying to become security officials. They had been going through an ongoing macho fest since they had entered her class.
Without a single word she marched up toward the large group that had circled them, a path parting as soon as the students realized that she was coming. Jim Kirk stood to the side with a bloody nose, most likely from trying to stop the fight. She ducked under a swinging fist, leaving both men momentarily shocked. Driving her right elbow into the gut of one, he ducked to the ground in pain and fell away to the right. She jabbed her knuckles into the thigh of the man to her left before slamming her right palm against his chest to knock him back, a rush of air escaping his lungs. The room fell deathly silent as all eyes moved from Vahl'Sai, to the men on the floor, and finally to the men and woman who had entered after her.
"Would someone care to explain what is going on?" Vahl'Sai demanded, looking around at the students that had crowded the fighters.
"They were fighting over who would get a place on the Enterprise," one of the cadets said from the back of the crowd, probably because he knew that Vahl'Sai wouldn't snap at him if she couldn't see him.
"And who was it that struck Cadet Kirk in the process?" At this, she looked down at the men on the floor, both of whom were recovering from their hits. Neither looked ready to admit it, both avoiding her eyes as they tried not to embarrass themselves further. Vahl'Sai turned her eyes over to Kirk, seeing his eyes widen when she turned to him.
"Jason," he said in a calm tone, clearly disliking the idea of ratting someone out, even if they'd struck him.
"I wasn't aiming for him!" Jason Mack yelled suddenly, causing Vahl'Sai to look down at him in hinted irritation. "He stepped in the way to stop the fight, I wasn't trying to hit him," he explained in a tight voice, looking annoyed that he was being looked down upon. Vahl'Sai hummed quietly to herself before ducking down to take hold of his collar, pulling him to his feet. He shook for a moment in surprise before he allowed her to release him and move over to assist the other Cadet to their feet.
"Say you wished to have my position, would you throw a fist at me?" she asked steadily, looking between the two men. They avoided her eyes, glancing at one another quickly before their eyes fell on the people crowding them. "Answer me."
"No," they muttered in unison.
"Do not speak like scolded children," she snapped, causing them both to look up to her in surprise. "It is dishonourable to fight with men or women that are your allies. You are meant to watch one others backs in a fight, instead you brawl over a simple matter of starship placement? I understand that the Enterprise is a highly viewed placement, but on what planet do you think that fighting with one another on your assessment day would benefit you?"
"I'm sorry, Commander Vahl'Sai," Richard Lore said with a calm voice, looking her in the eye.
She did not seem pleased to hear it. "If I were to tell you to apologize to Cadet Kirk, would the nose bleed Cadet Mack gave him disappear? If Cadet Mack apologized to you would it heal your bruises or the cut on your lip?"
Lore froze at her words and a flush appeared in his cheeks as he looked away from her in embarrassment.
"The two of you will still be assessed today, bruised and sore or not, it changes nothing." The two men flinched at her words, knowing that they were going to be leaving the gym that evening with many more bruises to add to the ones that they gave one another. "Assemble on the sides of the mats."
Kirk shook off the hands and words that people placed on him in pity or sympathy, looking to where Vahl'Sai was watching to make sure that Lore and Mack walked to different sides of the mats. She soon turned her jade eyes on him, catching the movement as he wiped at his upper lip to remove the drying blood. She stepped up before him without a word, the tips of her long fingers guiding his head up to look at the injury.
"You don't look to need medical attention, however, I insist you sit out and allow yourself to recuperate until later in the class so that you are fully capable of completing your assessment," Vahl'Sai said with authority as she turned his head from side to side so that she could fully view the injury.
"Fine by me," Jim agreed easily before he turned to head toward where Uhura and Bones were standing to the side, having rushed to their feet as soon as Mack's fist had connected with Jim's face. Vahl'Sai turned toward the seated council members, Spock standing to the side with his hands behind his back. Clearly they didn't feel any need to step into the affairs of her class and she was relieved for that. When the Cadets all moved out of the way to sit along the four sides of the mat corners Spock stepped forward from where he had been standing near Pike, nodding to Vahl'Sai as he moved to stand on one side of the long rectangular span of mats while Vahl'Sai walked more slowly to her side.
"Commander Spock will be assisting in your assessments today, show him your respect," Vahl'Sai said in a booming voice, her bright green eyes flicking over the people that sat around her. She stood roughly in the center of the mats, looking around herself to see that it was fairly even on either side of her. "All cadets to my left from this point will be tested by Commander Spock, and all Cadets on my right will be tested by myself. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Commander!"
"Are there any questions?"
She faintly saw a hand rise up above all the other heads to her right, causing her to pause before looking over to where Cadet Kirk sat at the end of the line of students, looking completely relaxed with a smear of blood still lingering below his nose.
"Yes, Kirk?"
"Could you and Commander Spock give us a demonstration of what we're to expect?" he asked evenly, a small grin tilting his lips. She refrained from raising an eyebrow at him, knowing that it would be pointless since he would only mirror the movement. Instead, she turned to the Admirals, seeing that Pike seemed pleased to hear the question.
"I think that would be a wonderful idea, Commander Spock?"
"Of course, Admiral Pike," Spock agreed easily, looking over to Vahl'Sai. She nodded her head simply, moving to give Spock space to stand in the center of the mats with her. Whispered excitement fell through the room, the cadets surrounding the mats shifting in their places, watching the two carefully. Vahl'Sai could make out only a couple of that the cadets were saying before she placed her full attention on the male across the floor from her.
Neither looked ready to fight, they weren't standing in any kind of a fighting stance, but were simply watching the other carefully, gauging their strengths and their weaknesses for the first time. Vahl'Sai knew that she was stronger than the Vulcan, but she was unfamiliar with how they fought and did not know what to expect of him.
Vahl'Sai made the first move.
Ducking low to the ground, she dove at Spock's legs, throwing him off as he moved swiftly to the side to avoid getting jabbed in the leg by her knuckles. Vahl'Sai placed her palm flat on the ground and used that arm to hold herself as she kicked out from her low stance and knocked against the back of his left knee, sending him down. The quick movements that she had taken spurred Spock into movement, the two of them quickly moving into a flurry of motion.
They caught on quick to one another's movements, learning the moves that were to be expected of them. Vahl'Sai knew right away that Spock went for her neck quite often, something that she was already very cautious of because of the animals and creatures on her planet that killed their prey by snapping the neck or cutting the jugular. Spock quickly learned that she did not have a low limit for flexibility. She nearly clipped him a couple of times by spinning her body with one foot on the ground, the other swinging up from behind her to nearly hit his shoulder or head. He also took notice of the constant use of her legs and feet.
Even as they strived to win, put the other down, they we left at a standstill of power, limited only to the use of human fighting skills. Had they been using Vulcan and Sahvarian fighting styles, it was hard to think of who the victor might be.
There will be a small amount of fighting in the next chapter, but I'm not going to drag out an entire match between them. Just for those who wanted to know what it would be like for them to fight one another. They finally met! It's took five chapters, but they met! Vahl'Sai's life style is going to become more incorporated in the story, so you're going to be learning new things about her race that makes Jim want to match them, too. Hope you liked the update and I hope to get many reviews! I love getting your feedback