The Art of the Blade

Posted on Wed Mar 25th, 2026 @ 8:28pm by Lieutenant Commander Aidan Datari & Lieutenant Commander Sora Bernadotte

2,002 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Short Treks
Location: Holodeck 2
Timeline: Somewhere between DS9 and Tula

As agreed, Sora had arrived at the holodeck ten minutes after leaving the Mess Hall. She had changed into her workout gear - even though Starfleet provided gymwear for crew, she had never particularly liked it, preferring the Terran style. So, she was standing by the holodeck door wearing a tight black crop top and shorts, both adorned with a single gold stripe along the right hand side indicating her department, with her combadge pinned to the left side of her chest. Around her waist, a simple black belt held a blunted replica of her rapier Myrtenaster on her left, and an equally blunted standard-issue Terran Officer's dagger on her right. A simple black headband was in place to keep hair and sweat from her face - even though she was pretty sure she wouldn't need it. She had also left her glasses in her quarters, to protect them from breaking, instead having used eye drops to temporarily reduce her sensitivity to light.

As she entered the holodeck, Sora kicked off her shoes, as she preferred to exercise barefoot, and, noticing that Aidan had not yet arrived, began her warmup stretch routine.

Aidan wasn't far behind, and like her had opted not to wear standard workout attire. Unlike her though, he seemed to prefer ankle length fairly wide pants with a wrap around tunic that was held closed at the waist with a simple sash. All were in a very deep blue colour, and of a linen fabric. He carried two swords which were crossed across his back, and he had left his ushaan back in his quarters since he only had two hands available to him, and had the two swords.

He too, took off his shoes, having a preference of exercising barefoot. "Commander," he greeted her as he joined her on the mat. "Would you care to inspect my weapons for the sake of safety and fairness?" He unsheathed both swords and presented them to her.

Sora chuckled. "I'm Terran. Even in training, we use sharp blades. So I'm not worried." She drew her own weapons, holding the dagger in a reverse grip. "Be my guest if you want to check mine, however."

"If you trust me, then I will trust you," the Trill answered as he took a step back and readied himself. "When you are ready," he added with a light bow meant as a gesture of respect towards his opponent.

The Terran glanced at the blades wielded by her opponent - somewhat reminiscent of the katana her sister wielded - and then looked at her own. In her right hand, she held Myrtenaster - or, well, a copy of it - a broad-bladed rapier with a much less elaborate hilt than one would expect from that kind of weapon. The handguard was a simple, bright silver crossbar, and the slightly curved handle and octaconal pommel were wrapped in black tape. For the handle, it was to improve grip, whereas for the pommel it mostly served to hide the elaborately engraved insignia of the Terran Empire. Myrtenaster's blade shimmered blue in the light of the holodeck as she raised the weapon up to her face, before swooping it down to the side in a fencer's salute. Her dagger, held in a reverse grip, was of the standard Terran design of the time - a plain, black hilt with a silver blade, treated to mimic the blue sheen of her rapier.

"En garde, Datari," Sora said, her competitive smirk replaced by a look of focus and determination as she moved both herself and her weapons into a ready position, rapier slightly extended towards her opponent with the dagger ready to parry.

Aidan watched her patiently, his left hand blade pointing upwards towards his right shoulder, the right hand blade and extension of his right arm and pointing backwards. His eyes narrowed minutely, his expression one of focus as he observed her entire stance. He took a step sideways, shifting his stance as he made ready to lash out with his left hand blade into a downward arc, bringing his right hand sword forward in the same motion, moving to pivot as if he were dancing on his ice.

Sora matched the Trill's step and moved with him. When he brought his swords down, rather than block it with her own, she made a swift step backwards, causing Aidan to hit nothing but empty air. "Nice try," she remarked as she resumed her stance. "A little too obvious." She resumed moving around her opponent in a slow circle, carefully sidestepping as she examined his stance to try and find a weakness.

The Trill grinned. "Obviously," he replied, repositioning his swords, placing the right hand one along his arm, keeping the left hand one at ready. He was conscious of his footwork, not wanting to trip over his own feet in the process. Like her, he was looking for an opening, while keeping close watch on the movement of her muscles. Expression unchanging, he stepped out again, except he swung with his right hand sword reversing the grip mid swing to bring the blade forward while in the same move reversing the grip on the left hand sword to protect his torso.

Just before Aidan's blade made contact, Sora raised her dagger to block it, while at the same time taking a single step forward and thrusting her own rapier towards the Trill's throat..

He moves aside barely in time and knew that if the blade has been real it would've done serious damage. As he reacted, their blades glinted in the artificial light as the two combats lost their careful probing of each others capabilities.

Aidan shrugged out of his tunic, revealing a long bit faint scar across his back. His spots stood out against his flushed skin. He was sporting a fair number of bruises where her blades had struck him and he had to admit she was indeed very skilled. A smile touched the corner of his mouth as he circled her yet again, ready to strike.

Sora, too, had a few bruises to show on her arms, but was happy to see that Aidan was worse off, even if only slightly. With a chuckle, she raised both her blades up in a gesture of surrender. "Time out," she called, sheathing both of her blades. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we've been at this for over thirty minutes." With a few quick strides, she made her way to the replicator by the door, and retrieved a sports bottle of water. She threw it towards Aidan, then got another, immediately taking a big gulp. "Needed that. I gotta say, Datari. You're not half bad with those swords of yours. Though not quite at my level just yet," she added with a wink.

"Or perhaps you just haven't seen me at full potential yet," Aidan teased, taking a few sips from the bottle. "That long huh, wow....I honestly hadn't noticed." He took another few long sips and set the now half empty bottle aside. "Well we still have some time, I booked it for an hour."

The Trill stood and stretched, picking up his swords. "Whenever you're ready, or do you need more time," he challenged playfully as he returned to the mat.

The Terran laughed, and glanced at the chronometer. "Well, I have to be on the bridge in an hour. So I should still have enough time for a shower." She looked the Trill up and down, and shook her head. "If you think losing your tunic will distract me, you've got something coming for you," she remarked as she drew her blades again. "I can appreciate fine art while still kicking your shapely behind." With that, she jumped off and came flying at Aidan, ready to strike.

"It was in the way," he responded lightly, turning just in time to avoid being impaled, despite the blade being blunt. At that speed it wasn't at all impossible. "Whoah," he exclaimed, brining his swords up to deflect her blades in the process of moving out of the way. "You don't play fair," he chuckled, though it was very clear from his expression he'd been caught off guard.

He pivoted, using her momentum against her as he brought the flat of his sword up towards her exposed side, bringing the other sword around in a forward thrust.

"What's it they say, all is fair in love and war? And this, my friend, is war," she replied with a laugh as she moved to block his counterattack with both of her blades. "I get the sentiment, about the clothes being in the way. Let's just say you're going to see a lot of skin in a Terran gym," she continued as she resumed her stance and twirled her rapier around to loosen her wrist, before holding the blade out in front of her and making a 'come here' motion with her fingers. This was far from over.

"There's plenty of skin here," Aidan countered, nodding towards her tight and short outfit which fit quite snugly. As he spoke, he launched another stack and they went back and forth for several minutes, the sound of steel against steel ringing around the room. It was a beautiful and pure sound, almost like a clear bell pealing. More bruises followed as steel met skin, and Aidan was definitely starting to feel it now.

He was starting to pant for breath despite being in excellent physical shape, his hair plastered against his face. His face featured a mask of determination, he launched himself at his opponent again, changing the arc of his swords just before he came within range, similar to how he'd done a few times now except this time he used his less dominant right hand to lead the attack.

Seeing that her opponent was getting tired, Sora finally found her opening and hooked her dagger around the Trill's sword, moving to pull while simultaneously swinging her rapier against his legs in hope of completely unbalancing him.

Not expecting that, Aidan tripped over her rapier and went down in an unceremonious tumble where he tried to catch himself. There was a sickening sound followed by a muffled yelp as the Trill rolled with his unlucky fall, letting go of his swords in the process. As his leading sword had been pulled away, he had landed on his right arm after he tripped, fully intending on rolling with his fall but misjudging the angle as he also tried not to impale himself on his other sword.

He gritted his teeth as he tried to get to his feet. "I think... we'll have to continue this another time ma'am," he managed painfully.

"I'll count that one as a win then," Sora replied with a chuckle as she sheathed her blades and extended a hand towards the Trill to help him up. "And will you drop the honourifics already, we're at the same rank. Just call me Sora, like everyone else. I deserve that much after this."

"You win," the Trill conceded, accepting the hand up. He stood on unsteady legs, looking a little pale. "Then you must call me Aidan...while off duty at the very least. You put up a mean fight, you must teach me how to improve on mine...some time. Right now..." He gritted his teeth, really starting to feel the bruises now as he cradled his right arm to his chest. As the adrenaline started to wear off, he was starting to feel a little lightheaded. "Sickbay" he finished.

"Sure, Aidan. Let's get you looked at," Sora replied, bending down to pick up his discarded tunic before tapping her combadge. "Bernadotte to Sickbay, we have a training injury here, Holodeck 2. Requesting immediate site-to-site transport."

"Acknowledged commander," a softly purring feminine voice responded, "standing by."

The Trill disappeared in a whirl of light as the transport took effect, leaving the Terran commander on her own.

RSS Feed