Chapter Eight - Fight Night
One month later, the Zuikaku cruised through the Neutral Zone. Admiral Picard had spread his task force out over a general line, and Admiral Janeway and Fleet Admiral Nechayev had done the same.
Three days into the mission, Jett and Kalinara had given up trying to sleep alone. Every night, Kalinara beamed into his quarters and crawled into bed next to him. On Jett's part, it was getting harder and harder to not gaze at the Second Officer's back while on the bridge and slip into a myriad of erotic fantasies. For Kalinara, it was getting harder and harder not to fall in love with the Captain.
Jett had eventually told Kalinara his problem about hardly being able to look at her without his thoughts getting out of hand, and they'd both laughed over it. She decided to help him out and reserved some holodeck time. He was pleasantly surprised when she asked him to join her that night, and when he arrived, he found the privacy lock engaged as soon as the doors shut behind him. The holodeck program running was one of the Zuikaku's bridge. Before he could even begin to ask why she'd chosen this program, she spoke from the captain's chair, and he turned to find her sitting there wearing nothing but her captivating smile. It had been the most incredible sexual experience of his life. For almost the entire following week, it was all he could do not to blush when he arrived on the bridge in the mornings.
After the bridge adventure, her ideas for "holodeck trysts" got even more varied: Main Engineering, Sickbay, and Stellar Cartography were just some of the various places. The most daring they got was foregoing the holodeck and sneaking onto the Captain's yacht that was attached to the underside of the saucer. Eventually, they ran out of places, and good thing, too, as both were exhausted. But neither of them could ever remember feeling this happy.
But the best part wasn't the incredible sex. It was realizing they had many of the same common interests as well. Kalinara was surprised when Jett presented her with a candlelight dinner in his quarters on their 1-week anniversary.
During the meal, they learned more about each other. Jett learned that Kalinara's maternal grandmother had been half-Romulan, which was where she got her slightly-pointed ears from. That same night, he learned that those slight points on her ears were one of her highest erogenous zones.
Kalinara learned that Jett was highly interested in old Earth military history. His great (x5) grandfather had been a Confederate Brigadier General in Earth's 19th-century Civil War, which was something he was very proud of.
They learned that they both liked many of the same things, such as a passion for old-Earth music of the late 20th- and early 21st-centuries. Kalinara's taste seemed to lean more towards something that was known as "pop", and Jett's more towards something called "rap", but they found out they both liked something known as "country".
They continued learning more about one another, and for their 2-week anniversary, Kalinara surprised Jett by presenting him with an authentic replica of a Confederate battle flag to hang in his quarters. It was framed along with a picture of his relative in uniform and a set of Confederate General Officer collar insignia on either side, and on the frame was a gold plaque with the following words etched in it:
Hiram Thomas
Brigadier General, Army of the Confederacy
(1836 - 1928)
He was silent for a long time, just staring at the gift. She feared she'd gone overboard, and attempted to explain.
"Captain, if this was too much, I - "
He cut her off with a kiss that made her toes curl, and the kiss continued as he swung her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom to thank her properly.
This particular night, Jett was showing Kalinara another of his interests: the old-Earth sport of professional wrestling. Tonight, they were going to see a variant of one of the weekly shows that had been popular in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Outside the holodeck, they met up with Lieutenant Commander Korth and the Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Jackson, who had also expressed interest in attending. Upon seeing them, neither Korth nor Jackson even commented about Kalinara being with Jett. When they entered the holodeck, Jett gazed in awe at the famous arena that was set up before them. They took their seats in the front row and waited for the show to begin. Jett took time to explain to Korth what the concept was, and from the look on Korth's face, he knew the Security Chief was going to enjoy the show.
"So it is nothing but fighting?" Korth asked.
"Correct, Commander. They have men's matches and women's matches."
At that Korth appeared to balk.
"Women's matches?"
Jett smiled.
"Just watch and see, Commander, before you form an opinion."
Korth appeared to consider that for a brief moment, then nodded.
When the music began, the crowd leapt to its feet and began cheering wildly. Jett followed them, as did Jackson, who was simply caught up in the momentum of the crowd. Kalinara rose to her feet as well, in support of the Captain, while Korth stayed seated, contemplating what Jett had just said to him.
No sooner had the commentators finished welcoming the audience, than a set of entrance music began. The majority of the arena leapt to its feet as one of the bad guys (or 'heels', as Jett explained to his his officers) strolled down to the ring.
Jett gauged the expressions of his fellow crewmembers. Kalinara was regarding the wrestler with a raised eyebrow, while Jackson was booing along with the rest of the audience at whatever drivel was coming out of the man's mouth. Korth's face was neutral.
As usual, the wrestler was boasting about the effectiveness of his signature move, and of how it couldn't be beaten by anyone. He then offered a large sum of money to anyone from the audience who wanted to try and break it. Before anyone else could speak up, a familiar voice boomed from beside Jett
"HUMAN!"
Startled, the wrestler and the rest of the audience turned to find an irate Klingon standing on his chair. The Zuikaku's officers could only stare at Korth, who was glowering at the wrestler with an expression of disgust. Seeing that he had the wrestler's attention, Korth continued.
"I accept your challenge!"
The wrestler looked at Korth and laughed, only increasing the Klingon's anger.
"All right, Freakazoid...come on up here."
Korth easily vaulted over the railing between the ring and the audience, then climbed into the ring. The wrestler gestured to a chair placed in the middle, and Korth sat down. The wrestler prepared to apply his signature move, then announced to Korth and the audience.
"All right, Freakazoid, on the count of three, we go, got it?"
Korth nodded.
"I am prepared."
"One...two...three!"
The difference between the brute strength of humans and Klingons is vast, and the wrestler was about to find that out...the hard way.
The signature move was applied. Korth shot out of his seat, dragging a somewhat surprised wrestler with him. Korth brought his arms down, and the wrestler's hands parted like the Red Sea. Korth then turned to the wrestler with murder in his eyes. The wrestler's eyes were wide as dinner plates.
He quickly recovered, however, and nailed Korth with several punches that would've floored a normal man, but Korth shrugged them off like they were nothing. He returned with a punch of his own that put his opponent on the other side of the ring, and probably wondering how he got there.
The crowd went wild. Although Security usually moved in after this event, as this particular individual usually beat up his unconscious opponent a little, there was no need for them this time. Anyone could see that this was one opponent who could hold his own. After recovering, the wrestler ran at Korth again, but Korth intercepted him, picked him up by the throat, and slammed him one-handed to the mat in a thunderous bang!. The wrestler looked more than just dazed by that one.
However, Korth still wasn't finished. He picked the wrestler up one-handed once more, and stomped over to the ropes. The wrestler had a look on his face that plainly said 'Please help me...' Korth screamed a Klingon death cry directly into his opponent's face, then picked him up over his head and threw him at least four feet away into the steel ramp that led down to the arena from the back. The wrestler hit with a sickening crash! and didn't move again. There was dead silence.
Seeing that his opponent was definitely down for the night, Korth stomped into center ring once again, looked at the ceiling, and roared a Klingon victory cry. After it died away, the crowd stared at him for a few minutes, in awe at what they'd just witnessed, before going wild once more.
Jackson was on his feet, going wild with the rest of the crowd, while Jett and Kalinara sat stunned. As usual, Kalinara expressed no more than a raised eyebrow, but Jett's jaw was on the floor. He managed to recover as Korth stomped back to his seat. He turned to Korth and was about to speak when the Security Chief addressed all three of them.
"My...apologies. I did not mean to ruin your evening."
Jett replied,
"On the contrary, Commander...I think this was probably the highlight. Computer, please make a recording of Commander Korth's previous actions on the holodeck tonight and save."
'Program saved.'
Jett grinned.
"With your permission, Commander, I think the entire crew should see that performance."
Korth considered it for a moment, then nodded.
"Aye, sir."
The four officers settled into their seats once more and listened as another set of entrance music began. This set was well-known and everyone leapt to their feet as one of the female wrestlers walked out. Jett nudged Korth.
"That's why I told you to wait before forming an opinion on there being women's matches."
Korth stared, transfixed, before speaking reverently.
"She is a warrior..."
He growled deep in his throat, which made Jett look at him warily.
The match went as expected, the female wrestler defeating her opponent easily. Jett kept an eye on Korth throughout the match, and waited to see what would happen when the female wrestler won. He wasn't disappointed. As she headed backstage again, Korth let out another Klingon cry, vaulted over the barrier once more, and headed after her. Korth got to her before she even saw him, hoisted her over his shoulder, and carried her backstage, kicking and screaming. The audience loved it.
Jackson rolled on the floor laughing, while Jett stared after his Security Chief. Recovering from his astonishment, he turned to find Kalinara regarding the situation with a raised eyebrow.
"Thoughts, Commander?"
Kalinara replied with a voice that said she was barely controlling the impulse to burst out laughing right along with Jackson.
"Captain, the last cry Commander Korth uttered is commonly used when Klingons are courting potential mates."
Jackson heard that, and laughed even harder. Jett rolled his eyes and thought of what might very well be going on backstage. However, rather than end the evening prematurely, he decided to let the program continue. Moments like this were few and far between.
Author's Note: If you're a wrestling fan and would like to know who Korth turned into hamburger and which 'female wrestler' Korth played cave-man with, send me an email and I'll tell you. :)