But Does She Have Any Gung-Fu

Posted on Mon Mar 27th, 2023 @ 2:46am by Lieutenant Taylor Haines & Crewman Melly
Edited on on Mon Mar 27th, 2023 @ 11:25am

3,882 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Short Treks
Location: Main Gym
Timeline: 2431-03-14, 04:55

0455

Taylor stretched as he waited for Melly. He wondered if he was doing the right thing. Was he putting people in danger given her situation. He didn't think so. It was obvious the woman had been through trauma. Her release from the penal colony also reduced his fears some. On top of all this, a bounty hunter tried to abduct her. Because the hunter had failed, there would be more. She was part of the crew he had sworn to protect.

Yes, he was doing the right thing, no matter what others might think. It was right.

Melly had set the computer alarm inside the pillow fort to make sure she was up thirty minutes before the scheduled time. She was up quickly, made her area and skipped the morning meal. She would have it after as she did not wish the unpallettable nature of Nutri-Goop to interfeer. Wiggling into the outfit she had procured. Gym shorts over her nappies, a t-shirt that fit her well and finally comfortable shoes over socks. She was set!

Having warned her room mate so that she would not fear waking to her gone, Melly hurried out and made no delay in reaching the main gym and standing in attention to the Chief of Security.

"Crewman 3rd Class, Melly of Miri reporting as ordered Sir!", she said.

"At ease", he said, leading her over to a place where they were not in the way of others in the gym. One or two passed by as they ran with a scowl. The news of Melly being on the station. Most had only heard about her from FNN. This would be good for Melly though, at least in the long run."

Melly lowered her head seeing the skowls but said nothing.

"Sit", he said, sitting down on the floor himself.

Obediently she sat, placing a hand on the floor to brace as she pulled her knees in to rest them horizontal beside her. Her manner of relaxed sitting looked more appropriate for someone on Orion or the Kazon homeworld then a Starfleet enlisted.

Once she had sat down, he asked, "Do you know why we are here today? Why we will be here a lot?"

"I can only assume calisthenics or some other form of workout Sir, I am accustom to them from the Penal Colony Sir.", Melly made sure to Sir as much as she could, she did not wish to anger or offend.

Taylor smiled and replied, "That is some of what we will be doing, but it is not why we are here. You are a strong woman. If you weren't, you wouldn't be here. You would still be in a penal colony or a medical facility, perhaps using illicit drugs or alcohol all the time, or the worst case scenario, dead."

He let that sink in a moment and then continued, "We are here today and everyday we do this to make you even stronger than you are today, tomorrow we will be here to make you stronger than you become today, and so on and so on."

"I drank for a time when I was a Peregrine Bomber pilot.. it was expected of us. I tried never to drink to excess however.", Melly paused with a rare moment of embarrassment. "I was in a bar fight once, me and my squadron. When security came to break it up. I was clinging to a Gorn's shin with my arms and legs around the leg like a Earth Koala, biting his knee cap for all I was worth."

Melly let out a soft giggle and then shook her head, "I will never touch drugs. Mast..". She stopped herself and with one hand swung it to hit herself hard as she could with the open palm to her cheek. Holding it there a moment she then continued. "Admiral Norith, felt they cheaped his girls. So he gave us regular lectures. But I am ready to be stronger. I don't want to go back."

She placed her hand back down as her cheek reddened.

"I'm glad to hear that", Taylor replied with a nod. "Tell me, have you ever heard of gung-fu?"

Melly thought for a moment. Then looked up, "I can only assume it is a form of martial art? I am competant in the Starfleet Academy required hand to hand but I cannot strike my betters. But I would like to learn. If only to be able to better defend myself and others."

"Gung-fu is not exactly a martial art", Taylor said. "Many teachers have forgotten this over time. There is a martial art related to it called kung-fu. Gung-fu is more of a mental state and it ties in with the physical aspects of kung-fu. Gung-fu is focusing on the moment you are in, doing the task you are doing the best that you can. It skill developed through hard work. You can use it no matter what you are doing. If you are fighting, if you are cooking, even washing the dishes. And believe it or not, it is harder than kung-fu. If you don't apply it every day, if you get lazy, you can loose it and it can cause problems in your life. I know, I got lazy, I lost my gung-fu and I paid a horrible price."

Melly thought hard for a moment, thinking back to all the bad and thinking that focusing on the current moment would be a definite improvement. It would be hard but she endured far worse, so she smiled up to Taylor. Leaning up a bit to not sit like she was Melly straightened her back with a soft crinkle noise as she sat down and nodded. "Please teach me this Sir, I know it will be hard but I wish to find ways to improve myself. I would like to learn this and work hard. I wish to make myself a better person and show people I deserve the second chance."

Taylor was glad she didn't ask him about what had happened. He would have told her, but he was glad she hadn't asked, at least not yet.

He smiled and said, "Good, now you just broke part of the rule to gung-fu and that is the focus on something and do it well. And this one, I think you need to decide on early, as it will impact how you approach this. Do you want to learn gung-fu to become a better person or do you want to learn gung-fu to show people you deserve a second chance?"

She was in shock, she had already messed up, this was how it was with her. Forgot I was here didn't you? The nagging voice of self loathing in the back of her head reminded her. You failed. You should be back in that cell.

Shaking her head once to clear the thoughts she brought her open hand up again to strike herself harder this time, maybe so that she would remember her mistake for the rest of the day.

After a audible smack from her hand she lowered it as her cheek reddened further, looking down at the floor she said in a defeated voice, "I want to learn it to be a better person. I apologize for my failure. May I ask my punishment Sir."

He put his finger under her chin and lifted up until she was looking at him.

She lifted her head as he guided and took a deep breathe.

"That was no failure", Taylor said with a smile. "That was learning. From that, you learned a little more about gung-fu and its meaning. When we succeed, no matter how small the success, we celebrate. When do not accomplish what we set out to do, we learn from our mistake and make it part of our learning. There might be a few push ups or situps while we think about our mistake, but there are no punishments."

He paused and asked, "Do you want to know what happened to me when I lost my gung-fu and tried to do two really important things at once? It's a bit extreme, but it is an example."

She released the breathe and smiled that he would not punish her and that he was patient. His kindness was putting her at ease but she was still fearful, that fear would likely not go away anytime soon but it wasn't persay toward him but toward all. With a small nod she whispered, "Please tell me, so I can understand Sir. What happened?"

"At my last assignment, we were attacked by Gorn pirates", Taylor said. "There were more of them than there were of us. There was one person I was trying to protect as they didn't have a lot of training. Instead of just fighting the Gorn before me and trusting the person to get out of the way, I tried to fight and pay attention to the person I was trying to protect at the same time. The Gorn used my distraction and shoved his claw into my eye. When I was trying to hold my eye in, he bit my arm off at the elbow. I passed out from pain and blood loss and the person I was trying to protect died."

He pause a moment looking quite upset.

"Now, I must develop my gung-fu all over", he said and picked up his right arm. "I have to learn to use this arm right as sometimes I can break things because I squeeze to hard."

He pointed at his right eye, "And I am still adjusting to this eye because it is cybernetic and my other is real. I have a long way to go still both with my new parts, but with my gung-fu as well."

Melly covered her mouth in shock, not out of disdain for cybernetics but the story she was just told. How dare she make a light hearted story about Gorn when this man lost body parts and a loved one to them. She would definitely be punishing later when she had time to herself. She did the only thing she could think of, she leaned forward and gave the man the biggest hug her small form could. There were no proper words to express so she just instead gave, would it be considered human compassion? Her species were kinda human, in the cross dimensional second earth sorta thing way? But no matter, she would hug him until he told her to stop and she would show him that she cared. She only wished she could think of something nice to say to comfort him.

Taylor really wasn't a touch, feely guy, but he had heard Melly gave hugs alot, so he let her for a few moments and then said with a chuckle separating them, "Ok, back to you, we can't start out with you trying to do everything with gung-fu in mind, so I thought of a few small things to get you going. So for now, what I want you to practice is that when you go to meet with the counselor, make sure to answer her questions with getting better in mind. She can't help you, if you don't help her."

He paused a few moments so she could take it in.

"Second, I hear you have a roommate. I want you to make sure to keep your area of the quarters as neat and possible as possible. It wouldn't be fair for her to deal with any mess you may have made would it", continued.

He paused again for a few moments.

"Last, the names between you and me", he said. "If we are in uniform, I am Lieutenant Haines and you are Crewman Melly, just like Starfleet says it supposed to be done. If we are in the gym or other training areas, I am called Shifu, which essentially means teacher. And when neither of us are in uniform, you will call me Taylor and I will call you Melly."

He paused and said, "I think that is a good start, don't you?"

Melly did not interupt him as she she returned to her sitting position and listened intently. She was happy that he didn't push her away or become uncomfortable as some do. So she instead listened and once he had finished she began to address his requests.

"Yes Shifu Sir.", she acknowledged immediately feeling that it is best to start with noting the honorifics.

She thought a moment then continued, "I will see the Counselor again in a week, this weeks session went well enough I think, I dug up some painful things and Ms R'elle had me tell her why I do not like being touched in my sleep, but she was supportive and encouraging. So I will focus on getting better and becoming a good girl."

Thinking now on her room mate, "I sleep on the floor in the corner, where I belong. So my room mate Ash made me a pillow fort. That way I can be safe and in comfort. Each morning I tidy the area and when I eat my slave Nutri-Goop I immediately recycle the plate and utensil. I'm always tidying up and worrying over keeping everything clean. So no worries there."

Finally the last part she thought, "I.. will have trouble saying your name to you. He kinda nailed that in hard on me. I will try but its hard. But I will work at it and do my best."

"This will indeed all be a bit hard", said. "So now that we have started with the mental aspects of this all, let us move to the physical aspects."

He stood up and motioned for her to follow him. He took a padd out of his gym bag and looked at the track. No one was running at that point.

"Ok, move to the starting spot and I am going to go down forty yards on the track", he said. "When I say go, you run as fast as you can to where I am. Got it?"

Melly rose and followed a few feet behind Taylor staying behind him at all times. She did her best to keep up, his legs were of course longer then hers. Once he ordered she go to the start she gave a enthusiastic nod before skipping almost happily over to the start and stretching. Making sure her legs were limber she leaned to the right and then the left as she stretched and then stretched her arms out. "Yes Shifu Sir. I am ready."

She tensed and leaned down into a pose to dart the moment ordered. She had not gotten a good run since... before the penal colony.

"Go!", he called out, starting his timer. He wondered how fast she could cover the distance. They would need a good base line for her to improve.

She took off, immediately stumbled but continued forward. The crinkling sound much louder as she ran but as was obvious the mind was eager but the body unwilling. The months of inaction had taken there toll, she slowed but kept pushing forward never giving up. But half way it was obvious she could not but she would not give up. Ten yards from Taylor she stumbled again down to her knees but she tried lifting back up but her wobbly knees would not hold. Instead but to the laughter of a nearby onlooker she simply on her hands and knees crawled to Taylor, this causing her crinkle sounds to be louder but she made it.

Curling up at his feet panting she gave a obviously fake smile of optimism as she looked up, "So how did I do?"

He stopped the timer and said, "13 seconds, but that's ok. Move off the track once you can and wait here."

Melly obediently crawled off the track and curled up to catch her breath.

He put the padd down and walked over to the onlooker somewhat casually, but then as he got within ten feet of them he stood up to his full height and let his broad shoulders do a bit of the talking.

"Did you find something in-particularly funny about someone tripping, falling and possibly being hurt?", Taylor asked.

The person looked like they were going to say something, but they decided better and left.

"That's what I thought", Taylor replied as he walked back to Melly.

"Are you ok?" Taylor asked as he pulled out a personal med scanner and ran it over Melly.

The scanner said she was physically fine but elevated heart rate and breathing, but nothing more then out of shape. Melly nodded but was panting like she ran a marathon, she was more out of shape then she thought. She was disapointed as she used to be in such good shape. That was something she would soon fix.

"Well there is nothing broken, so that's good", Taylor said. "Let me know when you are ready for the next task."

Putting her hands to her knees, she pushed herself up and despite the heavy breathing she looked to him and nodded, "Rea.. ready Shifu Sir. And thank You for standing up for me."

"Not yet", he said. "Catch your breath, get some water. And you don't have to thank me, a teacher always stands up for his student and Starfleet personnel are always supposed to stand up for each other."

She smiled feeling reassured by his actions as she slowly went over and got some water from a nearby fountain. Once hydrated she returned and looked up to him feeling mildly better now as her breathing has calmed as well. "Ready Shifu Sir."

"Just Shifu", he replied. "We aren't in uniform. Now, the next thing I want you to do is get into pushup position."

He waited.

"Yes Shifu.", Melly said as she lowered to her tummy. She placed her feet even and together as her palms were to the floor. Resting her forehead on the ground she took a deep breathe and released to center and prepare.

"When I say go, you are going to do as many push-ups as you can in one minute", he said. "1,2,3 go."

She winced and slowly raised although her arms as her legs were before them showed signs of wobble. But she pushed on. She raised to one, a smile of victory crossing her face before she lowered and slowly with great effort got a second joining another smile of victory. She did this but in the end of the sixty seconds she just had reached twenty three. Her arms had held out as she showed some signs of regaining her strength but nothing too spectacular. But she relished in her victory with a self esteem boost.

"Excellent", Taylor said with a smile as he noted the results in his padd. "Alright, we are going to do the same thing but with tummy crunches.

He gave her a moment to get set and then just said, "Go", not giving her the count down.

Melly laid back on the floor and bent her legs at the knees. She adjusted her arms and eeeped at the lack of warning as she raises up for a count of three and then returns back down, then up for three then back down, each time with a choir of crinckles as she does. She continues for the full sixty seconds getting around twelve in of her goal of twenty.

"Well done", he replied, offering his hand to help her get up.

She took his hand with her tiny one and gladly accepted the help up, she was a feather to an average adult male. At her heaviest she weighed maybe seventy pounds. Looking up to him with soft grey eyes she smiled.

"Now, we are almost done", he said writing the results down. "Let's go over to the weight section."

She followed unsure how this would go, she worried that most of the weights would weigh more then she did but she did not protest only follow very quietly.

Taylor set the weight on the single handed gravity weight to 25 pounds. He figured that might be her limit for one hand.

"Alright Melly", he said setting the weight on the bench. "Let's see what you can do."

He watched closely in case he had to step in and help her so she didn't get hurt. It was a small weight but if her run was an indication, she might not have as much strength as he gave her credit for.

Melly looked to the weight and placed her hand timidly around the metal and tried to lift it with a grunt, then with a whimper it budged. So she placed two hands on the weight and straining lifted the weight slightly off the bench before dropping it back down. Trying again she lifted to no avail and sighed dropping to her knees and covering her face before slapping the side of her face over and over and over for failing.

Taylor knew what she was doing so he put his had between her hand and her face.

"Melly, do you remember what I said we are doing when we don't succeed at something we try?", he asked. She didn't quite seem to realize she was slapping his hand. It was a pretty good slap.

Upon realizing she was striking her superior she stopped instantly and out of trained instinct nuzzled his hand with her head and then nodded softly, "We learn from our mistakes and make it part of our learning Shifu."

"Exactly", he replied. "We don't hit ourselves. We both learned you had reached your limit. And you did succeed; you moved the weight a little bit. I think we can skip leg weights for now. I hope you realized that I was learning of the ways I need to help you get better. We can't improve if we don't know what we need to improve. Now, our last exercise. Please clean the equipment."

Melly listened and put everything to memory almost sighing loudly in relief that there was not more physical. A beam of pride lit up her face as she listened to Taylor before nodding and hurrying over to the side area and getting the cleaning wipes. Lowering to her knees before the weight bench she first cleaned the weight she used, but then she cleaned the bench, she then looked about and rose moving off to clean another station that they had not used. She wanted to be a good girl after all.

Taylor smiled. He was hoping that she picked up on his instruction and cleaned everything. When she was finished he said, "Well done my student."

He looked at the chronometer and said, "It looks like it is time for us to go get ready for our shifts. I hope you found today helpful."

He put his hands together with one hand over a fist and he bowed slightly to her.

Melly finished cleaning and put away the cloths before returning to Taylor and putting her hands in the way he had his and bowed her head, "Yes Shifu, thank You and it was very enlightening and uplifting."

RSS Feed