"I could use a sparring partner, Welles," Reed called mildly just as Andrew walked past him. He paused and glanced at Reed, considering. "Just for the practice," Reed continued, as he moved to grab some gloves, "if you're up for it." Andrew nodded, gritted out a "yes, sir," tossed his towel to the wall, and walked towards the center of the gym. They started circling each other, fists up, eyes watching for any opening. Andrew was definitely going to give his boss a workout.
Reed struck first, a jab from the shoulder that Andrew easily blocked, then spun into a back kick. But Reed seemed to sense it coming and dodged quickly out of the way, throwing a kick of his own that Andrew shoved away. Then Reed followed up with a quick flurry of punches that Andrew narrowly blocked.
"You don't like me much, do you, Lieutenant?" Reed remarked as he deftly shoved down a roundhouse kick. Andrew glared but kept silent. "And," Reed continued as he bounced a fist off Andrew's shoulder, "I know why." Andrew faked a power kick, spun, and connected with his other foot, staggering Reed back. 'No you don't know why,' Andrew thought grimly as he moved in to try to capitalize on his strike.
But Reed recovered quickly and grabbed Andrew's arm as he ducked the right cross that Andrew had flung towards his jaw. Reed clamped down on that arm as it shot past him, and he pulled Andrew towards him, spinning him so his back was to Reed's chest, attempting to twist his arm and cause him to fall forward. Andrew stepped back into Reed's body, and thrust his free elbow a little too sharply into the other man's ribs, forcing a grunt of discomfort. Reed's grip loosened for a second and Andrew broke free. He turned to face his opponent, his guard up immediately.
Reed glared at him, the elbow shot obviously harder than it should have been, considering it was supposed to be a 'friendly' session. "You're still holding a grudge," Reed continued, his eyes narrowed and watchful as they circled each other again, "because we stopped you–I stopped you–when your captain stole our injectors and tried to escape."
Andrew's face did not betray the surge of anger he felt as he ducked and blocked Reed's next attack. That fight, between the two Enterprises, had really been a fight between him and Reed, each of them sitting at tactical, firing at each other as the ships careened through space. When his Enterprise finally lost warp power and the cannons were knocked offline, Andrew was ready to break out the phase pistols and arm every person he could, to repel Archer's forces as they boarded his ship. But Captain Lorian had ordered him to stand down, and when Reed led the boarding party to his bridge and removed Lorian under heavy guard, Andrew's humiliation and utter failure at his sworn duty was personal and painful. He had been thoroughly beaten by Malcolm Reed.
His attention lapsed as his mind replayed that failure, and he felt a tap to his jaw as Reed broke through his defenses. Stepping back, he was easily tripped when Reed's foot hooked behind his leg, and Reed caught his arm and twisted it, not painfully, but with a force that pinned him to the floor on his back. Reed was at an angle, gripping Andrew's right wrist with both hands, his left foot braced against Andrew's ribcage. Reed held him tightly, but Andrew still struggled to pull away. "You're going to dislocate your shoulder," Reed commented, continuing to hold him down as Andrew struggled and pulled in a vain attempt to roll away from the other man. "Do you yield?" Reed asked him.
Andrew gritted his teeth. "I never yield, sir," he growled, struggling in the opposite direction, "I fall back and regroup." He could feel Reed straining to hold on to him, and suddenly Andrew flipped his legs towards the other man to add to Reed's backwards momentum, and rolled over on top of Reed, ignoring the short jar of pain that shot through his shoulder. Reed released his wrist and tried to scoot backwards, but Andrew was on top of him too fast, and had a forearm pressed against Reed's throat, his knee pinning down one of Reed's arms, his free hand grasping the other. The two were nose to nose, then Andrew jumped to his feet and backed off.
"I'm done, sir," Andrew muttered and picked up his towel. "Welles," Reed had regained his footing and his voice echoed off the gym walls, "you're a brilliant tactician. If your Enterprise had been in better shape, things might have been different. Andrew glared at him. "Like you said, my ship is gone, sir," he stated flatly. Reed regarded him, then replied, "I'll see you at 0800 tomorrow in the armory, then." He turned his back on Andrew and walked to the punching bag.