Fiction Home - More by Corry Vrecken - More by David Sinclair - More in Action and Aventure

It wasn't long before David decided to step in for the holographic opponents. The holograms were a good way to practice, but they just weren't appropriate for teaching. Knife fighting simply involved too much in the way of hand to hand combat, and while the computer was highly diverse, he found himself standing in for his holographic creation to the point that he gave up on it.

Corry supplied what they needed to train in comparative safety by procuring several sets of theatrical knives. These weren't cheap rubber things, they had steel blades and leather bound grips with a good heft and balance. The blades had rounded edges that could bruise, but not break skin and in the event of a forward thrust the blade slid easily back into the hilt.

In a fit of engineering pique, David incorporated his own little twist, a small power field that generated quite a sting when the blade contacted flesh.

David continued to wear his "gypsy" costume to their bouts, but Corry quickly discarded her Air Force sweats and began showing up in the New Republic Military training outfit, a soft grey body stocking that allowed her much more freedom of movement, and fewer folds of cloth to hamper the knives.

Their schedules didn't allow them much leeway, but they found time for a training period once or twice a week. This week they had been sparring for about 20 minutes before Corry finally stuck pay dirt.

During one pass, David came at her a bit higher than usual, and she saw her opening. She ducked under his knife arm and used his momentum to spin him out of line. Then she dropped low and swept his feet out from under him. He should have landed on his side, his knife arm pinned under him, but he twisted as he fell and landed on his back instead.

With a pounce, Corry ended up with one knee on his chest, her blade point under his chin. She looked into his eyes as she smiled and cried, "HA!"

The effect was ruined by a sharp sting. Corry looked back to see David's blade lodged in her left kidney.

"Oh, dang!" She rolled to the side and collapsed onto the mat.

David laughed as he stood up. "You just celebrated too soon. Wait until after the kill, then you can gloat."

Corry rose to her feet and asked, "Want to try that again? I don't usually make the same mistake twice."

"Would you like to bet some of your pay on that?" David teased.

Corry got into position and they began to circle once more. "Now there's a good question. What does a powerful starship captain do with all of his pay when there is absolutely nowhere within lightyears to spend it?"

David stopped short and gave her a sharp look. "That's personal, Corry."

"Sorry." Corry blinked in surprise. "I didn't mean to pry."

David easily resumed his stance and continued with the exercise, "Don't worry about it. Besides, let's face it, NRM doesn't exactly pay as much as—well, private companies anyway."

Corry puzzled over that turn of phrase for a moment. For a second she almost could have sworn he was going to say Empire... but she knew he had been a freighter captain before this. Putting it out of her mind, she set up her fighting stance once more.

After the first few weeks of training, Corry had begun to draw analogies between her understanding of systems and the techniques of fighting. She could tell what was wrong with a system by the vibration she felt through the deck, the engine note, sometimes even the smell.

She was surprised to find that fighting was much like that. Slowly, David taught her to tell what her opponent had in mind by watching his center of gravity, his feet and hands, even his eyes.

Eyes however could be misleading. With David they were no help at all. He had the perfect poker face.

Lately, Corry found her mind combining all of these signals. She didn't process them on the same level that she did with engineering problems, but they were no longer distinct actions that she had to notice and meld into a meaning. She found herself understanding her opponent as a system and it was exciting.

Five rounds later they called it quits. Corry had two more kills than she had ever scored against David, and the last bout had been rather decisive.

He had changed a high feint into a cross body slash. Her left arm rode with the slash, blocked the blade, forcing his arm out and away from her body, while she brought her right arm up cross body, her knife paralleling David's knife arm and slashed his bicep with a long running cut before her blade found its home beneath his right ear.

"Excellent!" David told her as he rubbed some feeling back into his arm and neck. "You saw that move coming and didn't fall for it. I'm impressed."

As they walked off the mat together she rotated one shoulder and winced.

"Stiff?" he asked.

"And sore. My bruises have bruises." She moved to stretch out her back. "So, what's your opinion, Teach? How's my progress?"

"I think we can safely place you as a strong intermediate. Congratulations, as of this session, course completed. I'd even give you honors if you could control that running commentary."

Corry rolled her eyes at him.

David tossed her a towel and asked, "What do you have planned next? I could teach you some more intermediate moves or you could just keep practicing. The holograms are perfectly adequate for that."

"What about advanced training?"

David stopped and looked at her appraisingly, "No. I wouldn't suggest advanced training for you."

Corry was in a very good humor. David's few words of praise had gone right to her head. "Oh, you don't think I can handle it? Well, come on flyboy! Let's see an example of your advanced skills! I'll just show you what I can handle."

"Cockiness will get you killed, Corry." He warned seriously.

"Bring it on!" she grinned, throwing the towel aside and moving to the center of the mat.

David was contemplative for a moment, then shook his head decisively, "Very well. I warned you."

Corry adjusted her grip on her knife and after a moment of stillness, feinted to the left, trying to guess David's leading move.

He began a steady circle to her right and said, "Advanced fighting would be a waste of your time."

Corry snorted. "Oh, really? Why is that?"

Dropping his fighter's stance, David leaned close to her and confided. "This is a fighting unit, Corry. Lets be honest with each other, you're just maintenance. No one is actually going to trust some engineer to defend their back."

Corry's jaw dropped and she straightened in surprise, her eyes locking on David's. His words staggered her, stopped her breath in her throat. The next emotion she should have felt was anger or hurt. What she did feel was the sharp sting of his knife. She looked down to see it buried up to the hilt in her stomach.

David pulled the blade back and looked down at Corry. His tone wasn't apologetic, but it was slightly sad. "That's an advanced technique. Knife fighting isn't meant to be pretty, Corry. Advanced training means you are likely to go out and have to kill someone one day. I know that you aren't prepared for that."

Corry was rigid, her heart in her mouth. Bitterly she asked, "And what exactly am I supposed to learn from this lesson? 'Never trust a friend?' "

David's voice was sharp. "No. We were fighting—you knew that going in. The lesson is 'If you are ever forced to fight someone you trust, expect them to betray you'. Do you see the difference?"

"Yes." Her voice was low.

After a moment, he stepped closer and asked. "Are you alright?"

She didn't meet his gaze. "Yes."

David walked to the side of the exercise mat and started to gather his gear. Corry stood in the center of the mat, unmoving. When she finally found her voice again she asked, "David, is that the way you see me?"

He stopped and turned back toward her. "No, not at all. I needed something that would hurt you. The better a person knows you, the easier it is for them to hurt you. That's another part of the lesson."

He closed his bag. "Same time, next week?"

Corry nodded and then gave him the ghost of a smile, "But just intermediate, OK?"

"OK."

"David?"

He paused inside the gym doorway. "Yes?"

"How did you learn that particular advanced technique?"

After a beat he said, "You don't want to know Corry."

The gym door hissed closed behind him.