Sparring and a good match

Posted on Sat May 31st, 2025 @ 4:20pm by Lieutenant Commander Tarian Aloria
Edited on on Tue Jun 3rd, 2025 @ 1:35am

1,189 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: In The Nick Of Time
Location: Holodeck 1
Timeline: MD01, 1400hrs

[ON:]

Since the ship was underway and it would take a little bit of time before they reached their destination, Tarian thought it would be a good of time as any to get caught up a little bit on his sparring abilities. It had been a while since he took the time to actually spar, even if it was just with a holographic opponent.

So, Tarian decided to head down to the holodeck and see what programs that the ship had for such an event. Walking up to the holodeck controls on the wall outside of the holodeck, Tarian said, "Computer, show me holodeck programs that we might have for sparring. Doesn't matter where it came from or what species programed it. Just show me some programs that I might be able to use."

Within moments, the computer began listing off the various programs that Tarian could use. He quickly realized just how many programs that the Federation databases had in store. Looking through some of them, Tarian quickly settled on one that an Andorian had programed. Tarian quickly pulled it up and moments later, the computer said, "Program is ready. Enter when ready."

The doors parted way and let Tarian walk into the environment. It was programmed to be on the Andorian homeworld, so it ended up being rather cold. However, the good thing about the program was that it instantly scanned Tarian and put him into some warm holographic clothing that wasn't too constrictive.

Once the doors closed behind Tarian, the computer asked, "How many players?" Tarian replied, "One." The computer didn't say anything for a moment, but it did give Tarian some Andorian blades and weaponry that one might use on Andor throughout the centuries. Tarian quickly saw a few smaller weapons that were blades that he had used centuries prior when he visited the Andorian homeworld. He grabbed them and the computer said, "When ready, simply say the word: GO."

Tarian took a step back and took a look around at the simulated environment to gather his bearings before saying the magical word of go. Within a moment or two, there was an Andorian that the computer generated and he lunged towards Tarian. Tarian had to jump to the side to make sure that the Andorian missed him. Tarian took his weapons and turned around to see what had happened to the Andorian. He was on the ground, but quickly getting up and making his way back towards Tarian.

Tarian decided to jump the gun and lunged towards the Andorian before the same could be done towards him again. Tarian managed to catch the Andorian on the arm before he was able to get out of the way. The blood that started to come out of the arm of his opponent was blue, which caught Tarian a bit off guard. Since they were pretty similar to humans, Tarian thought that they might've had red blood instead of blue.

But, that moment that Tarian used to think about that, his opponent used that leverage to lunge towards Tarian and got him in almost the same place that Tarian got him. Looking at Tarian, the Andorian started to antagonize him a little bit to see what he couldn't get out of Tarian.

"What? Can't take a little bit of a scrape on the arm? Here I thought you pink skins could take a bit of a beating, but maybe I was wrong," the Andorian said, giving Tarian a bit of a mischievous grin. He even bore his teeth a little bit, much like a Klingon would while they were sparring or fighting. Tarian couldn't help but chuckle when he heard this, as it was something that he didn't think a holodeck program would do, even in a sparring program.

Tarian looked at the Andorian and replied, "Oh, don't worry. Us pink skins CAN take a beating. Just depends on how much you actually throw at us. I've only seen you lunge at me thus far and haven't given me much of a challenge."

The Andorian couldn't keep it in any longer and let out a belly laugh that could have rivaled that of a Klingon on blood wine. He replied to Tarian and said, "Oh, don't worry. I'm just testing you out to see what you would do in response to that. I've barely even scratched any sort of surface."

With that, the pair went back to sparring one another. For what felt like hours, they sparred and managed to be tip for tap with one another. Even when Tarian increased the difficulty on the program, the pair managed to keep up and never miss a beat for one another. By the end of the first couple of rounds, both of the men were cut up and bruised. But, they weren't terribly bruised or battered from the sparring match.

Tarian called to the computer for a timeout and the simulated Andorian went from wanting to fight to bringing Tarian a thing of water. The Andorian offered Tarian his own thing of water as he took a few sips off of his own. Tarian thought that it was a little bit of a quirk to have a simulated person drink water or anything after a match like that. But, it was nice that computer realized that it could be a moment for Tarian to get hydrated before doing anything else.

Tarian took a seat on one of the benches that appeared on the outer part of the arena area and the Andorian walked over to sit with him. The Andorian asked, "Why did you end up wanting to do a sparring match here in a place like this?"

It took a few moments for Tarian to think of why he actually chose this program over all of the rest. There were tons of them from Romulans, Klingon, Cardassian, and more that he could have picked. But, he chose that one.

Looking at the simulated opponent, he replied, "Well, I've met some honorable Andorians in my time and they were some dang good fighters. It made me want to test my skills on another one, even if it was just simulated."

The Andorian chuckled and said, "Well, if you ever wanted to come back and test your abilities some more, don't hesitate to come on back down here then. But, I think you might want to get cleaned up before getting back on duty."

Tarian quickly checked the time and realized he was in the holodeck way longer than he anticipated. So, he thanked his simulated opponent and saved the program before closing and exiting the holodeck. Tarian made his way up to his personal quarters and showered before getting a new duty uniform on and heading back to his office.

They were still a little ways away, but Tarian was glad to have the chance to knock some of the dust off of his old sparring abilities.

[OFF:]

A post by:


Lieutenant Commander Tarian Aloria
Chief Temporal Operations Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656

 

RSS Feed