Hard Candy Shell

Posted on Thu Mar 14th, 2019 @ 3:45pm by Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Commander Rita Paris & Baroness 2nd Class Schwein von Alcott

Mission: Gaia Reborn
Location: USS Hera, Deck 11, The Armory
Timeline: 2396

Travel time between missions, even in the unbelievably fast USS Hera, still took a few days to cross the distance. 22 light years, which in her day would have taken 15 days at Warp 8 could now be accomplished in 3 days, and it taxed the engines about the same amount. One of the perks of living in the future was that the starships and systems were far more advanced, and thus the time to keep oneself occupied was considerably lessened.

Of course, they still flew as fast as possible to cross the distance. Because if there was one thing that hadn’t changed, it was that Starfleet was always in a fight for the future. Which meant that starships were always in a hurry to get where they needed to be.

But for today, with over 24 hours to their destination and the most recent crisis averted, Rita Paris found herself with some time on her hands. Recently she had admitted to her protégé Mnhei’sahe Dox that she was, in point of fact, a substandard hand to hand combatant. Which had led to both of them learning a bit about one another. After all, it was an old Earth saying that you never know yourself or another until you’ve been in a fight. Now that the truth was out there, Dox seemed just as determined to help Rita overcome her melee combat handicap as she had been to get Dox to overcome her social anxiety and self-image issues.

It was late in the day. Sonak needed more time in the lab, as the protomatter puzzle was one of a dozen such mysteries he was analyzing with insufficient data, and he was determined to find answers. Which Rita had no desire to interfere- after all, their lives might depend on Sonak’s brilliant observations and conclusions, as they so often did, thus she would leave him to work and connect with him later. One of the joys of being reunited with him was the surety that he would be there for her every evening, which did wonders to keep her on an even keel and on course.

But with Sonak tied up, the reports filed, no testing to be done and she’d already taken a long morning run, Rita was a bit anxious to do more with her evening. On a whim, she toured the Security armory, taking note of the duty roster and ensuring that her people were on point, which they had been. Most of the toxic masculinity crew who had served under French and Sexton had been replaced by fresh recruits, who were all too concerned when they saw their gold-clad commander approaching.

Respect for the rank was not something Rita discouraged. If they were doing nothing wrong, there would be no fear. If they were, then fear of the rank would serve quite handily. Since she was here, she decided to spend a little time in her EVA armor doing some training. Of all the technologies she had encountered in the far-flung future of the final days of the 24th century, the improvements to the EVA suits had been the most pleasing to her. It had also been the technology that she had found herself adapting to the easiest, since she had spent many hours in the EVA suits of her day, and these were a massive upgrade over those old suits. Being an athlete certainly helped, as they reacted to her movements and input, and responded with enhanced speed, strength and reflexes.

On a lark, as her upper armor clamshell sealed about her, Rita warmed up the comms system and placed a call.

“Paris to Dox… if you aren’t too busy, Miss Dox, I wonder if you might join me in the Armory for a bit of EVA training?” Really, this was to continue to hone her combat skills, but setting expectations was never a bad idea.

Meanwhile, Mnhei'sahe Dox was making herself busy after hours tucked under the flight console of her personal light craft, the Khallianen. The small, J-Type shuttle had been bequeathed to her when she was made a Baroness of the Artan Pirate family by the Hera's Captain, Enalia Telvan. And with her partner Mona Gonadie still on bridge duty for a few more hours, Dox was similarly looking for ways to occupy herself. While a casual inspection of their physicality would not reveal it, in habits and attitudes the two women were quite similar beneath the skin.

As the call came through, Dox dragged herself out of the console and closed it up as she tapped her comm badge. "Dox here, Commander. That sounds like a great idea. I can be there in a few minutes."

As she spoke, she pulled herself off the deck and began wiping herself clean with a towel before locking up the small ship that had been her little side project of late when she felt like tinkering.

Satisfied that she would soon have company, Paris limbered up by doing some basic stretches and calisthenics while she waited. While the armor enhanced what was already there, despite her build, Rita was a runner. Long lean muscle groups lent her flexibility and endurance, and though she was not considered strong for a woman her size, she could still exert force when necessary, and the EVA armor aided that considerably. But today would be an upper body workout, as she had something else in mind. Using the HUD in her visor, she placed another call.

“Baroness von Alcott… I have Miss Dox joining me in the armory for some armor training,” Rita called out, knowing the computer would make the connection and relay the message faithfully. ”It dawns on me that it might be a good opportunity for you to school us both in the art of swordplay if you’ve a mind. After all, we can take some light hits from when armored up, and neither of us is very good with a sword just yet. What do you say- up for a bit of swordmaster instructions for your two worst pupils?”

The Baroness Schwein von Alcott was also in her own personal shuttle, but for a different reason - she was looking over some Asgardian wedding dress designs in private without the Hera's ship's computer making comments about what might look good or not on her. the last thing she needed was idle computer commentary.

When the call came in though, she tapped the comm badge at her throat and replied. "Ja, I would love to join you, Commander. I will be there shortly." Taking a moment longer to look at the golden armored nightgown she was currently looking at, she shook her head and tossed her data retrieval device aside and headed to her armor rack to suit up for training.

After a few moments, Lieutenant Dox came striding into the armory, tugging slightly at the slick black undersuit worn for the application of their EVA armor that she had put on in her ship. She had been working towards walking through the corridors of the Hera with her head held high when she wore this particularly form-fitting suit, in spite of her self consciousness regarding her portly, one point six meters and nearly one hundred and thirty kilogram frame.

Seeing Rita Paris stretching and waiting, the anxious aviatrix called out, "Evening, Commander."

Schwein arrived right behind her, already in her beat up, gold pirate's EV armor, the large dome with the skull markings popped open for now to show the silver hair and bright smile of the augmented woman. "Guten tag, Commander, Baroness. It is pleasing to see the both of you hale and hearty."

Nodding with a smile, Dox greeted the Baroness as well. "Good to see you as well, Baroness von Alcott."

“Miss Dox! Baroness!” the cheerful commander replied. “I suspect you were both already finding something to while away the time, so I appreciate you coming down to do some training with me. If nothing else, perhaps some exhaustion will help us along. I’ve invited the Baroness to come down as well- I was thinking some practice with a sword in our hands couldn’t hurt, and the Baroness seems to be quite the able instructor. So, since I tend to only have sword in my hand when I am wearing this hard candy shell, it seemed like a logical exercise.” While logic wasn’t her strong suit, Rita Paris specialized in common sense.

Thus this exercise, in its myriad forms, made sense to her. After all, they would soon be losing the company of the Baroness von Alcott, and Rita noticed she was distinctly avoiding considering that possibility. The one-eyed pirate was surprisingly dear to her, and thinking about her leaving the Hera was a reality that, despite her own very active hand in the situation that had brought it about, she did not wish to consider emotionally.

"Well, you two are a bit more prepared for this than I am just yet, but that's easily remedied." Dox stepped back a few feet and held her arms and legs out slightly. "Computer. Authorization, Dox. M. Lieutenant. Access code 795-X9E. Please initiate EVA Armor up protocols for tactical sparing version."

The shimmering lights of the transporter flared for a moment around the Red-headed Romulan, and when it was finished she was now wearing the metallic crimson plates of her EVA armor, without any of the attached weapons or computer interfaces. Her visored helmet was folded open leaving her head open for the moment. As it completed, Dox called up to the room. "Excellent. Thank you."

=^=You're Welcome, Lieutenant Dox.=^= The computer replied with a chirp.

"There. Now I feel better." Dox grinned at the two women.

Looking over the crimson-clad commando, Paris frowned slightly. “No sword, Miss Dox? Are you operating on the principle that whatever weapon you lay hands on will have to do, I take it?”

Slightly embarrassed, Dox grinned awkwardly as she replied. "Well, I know virtually nothing about swords but I know there are a wide variety of different sizes and styles and I was hoping that the Baroness could recommend what kind she thought would be best for me."

"Ja, I have seen you fight." Unclipping the datapad Schwein seemed to always have hidden at the back of her belt, she tapped at it a bit before a neon green transporter beam activated in front of her on the floor. She then picked up the small Caitian case that had materialized and handed it over to Dox. "Consider this a gift. Caitian assassin blades. They were... A parting gift... From an old rival. Considering your skill in hand to hand, I believe these would be best suited to you."

Inside the box was a pair of 18 inch daggers curved to look like claws and carved from raw durasteel. The grips were wrapped in white eel skin and red chording. Both the blades and box spoke to the age of the weapons and how many battles they had been in.

Taking the blades out of the box, Dox admired them for a long few seconds. "I... these are beautiful. Thank you very much, Baroness." the red-headed Romulan looked genuinely awestruck by the gift and had a wide, appreciative smile on her face.

"Just promise you will be careful of the poison vials in the box." Schwein added, looking a bit sheepish. "I will attest to the potency firsthand, ja?"

"Wait, poison? Yeah. I'll... be careful..When we're done I'll contact Yeoman Dedjoy to have the vials locked away." With a slightly awkward quirk to her neck, Dox closed the box and slid it gently into a locker along the wall for safe keeping. "Okay... So... I guess now I learn how to not stab myself with these?"

Schwein replied by pulling her own shortsword and moving it around herself gracefully as if it were an extension of her arm. "Like I said before. They are but extensions of you. Do not aim for your target but aim with your fist behind your target. Move like water, ja? Short blades require more flexibility than long, but I can see you have the skills already. Long blades are more forgiving but the short blades are far more rewarding."

Watching Schwein world her sword had a certain mesmerizing, balletic quality. Dox did her best to watch and absorb her words as she spoke. She held her own curved twin blades low at her side, but her arms had a bounce to them, ready to move. "I hope I prove worthy of your opinion of me. So, what's next?"

"All right... I pulled this thing out of the armory in the Intel pod," Rita tugged the oversides billy club off her hip, which was clearly much heavier than it looked. "I loved this thing because it was versatile. Like this it's a very heavy cudgel, which, I figure a very dense chunk of metal is always useful. But this was why I wanted to bring it along."

Twisting the rounded pommels on either end of the rod, the entire thing began unwinding into sheets of metal, which, as she turned, wound themselves into a high-tech wide-bladed claymore. The entire transformation only took about ten seconds, then Rita wrapped both hands around the long hilt and moved it a bit experimentally. "It may be ridiculous or I may be overcompensating for my lack of fighting ability. But I picked this one out intentionally when I picked my kit, so I'd like to try to learn how to fight with it. If only to see if I'm wasting my time with it."

The silver-haired pirate grinned widely. "Anything adaptable like that is never a waste of time. It iz very much you, I think, ja? You can keep your opponent away and strike at great distance."

The buxom blonde nodded. "I'll admit, being able to keep an opponent at bay is a big part of the appeal of the big sharp two meters of steel. And in the armor I'm strong enough to do this one-handed if I'm willing to give up the leverage, so that I can," Rita slapped her right hip, clearing her phaser that slid easily into her grasp. Posing like a Princess of Mars, Rita grinned. "Now if I only was as badass as I look, I would be SO set!"

The silver-haired pirate returned the shortsword to her waist and pulled the claymore handle from her shoulder, the two-meter blade unfolding as she pulled it free. She then executed a complex series of spinning swings and foot movements, her feet spread shoulder width apart and barely leaving the ground.

"With the claymore, you want a solid foundation with the legs and to keep your movements solid in the hips and shoulders. Never swing with your back. One hand, you can reach your third sphere of influence, two-handed, you can reach your second sphere of influence. your pommel is perfect for your third or inner sphere of influence." As she mentioned the spheres of influence, Schwein demonstrated by showing the standard reach with one hand versus two hands and then finally the reach of the pommel of her claymore around her. "Without a good foundation in martial arts, this is a good sword style for you."

Watching the fair-haired freebooter swing the blade about, Rita observed her stance first, and emulated it. Then she grasped the sword hilt with both hands, choking up on the guard then moving her hips experimentally to feel how they would add power to blows. Being sure to hold her back stiffly, she experimented with moving her shoulders to move the blade, trying to get a feel for what she was being taught. Then a few experimental swings, again, attempting to ape what she'd just seen, Rita took another honest crack at learning some swordplay.

"Okay, show me one more time, please?"

Schwein performed the basic swings a bit slower, then moved to help correct Rita as she performed them again. "Tighten your shoulder blades but do not strain your neck. Mnhei'sahe, please practice moving with your blades as well. You most get used to the weight and feel, ja?"

Nodding, Dox took a basic side stance letting her arms hang loose with the curved blades dangling low for a moment as she stretched her neck. The Baroness emphasized that she picked these blades due to Dox's existing fighting style. So she held the blades up in a fighting posture, beginning to swing them with her hands as if she were fighting bare handed, but the blades felt awkward in her hands.

Reorienting herself, she looked down at her hands and thought for a second before turning them around in her hands so the blades curved facing down. With the blades now facing outside of her hands, she resumed her basic warm-up exercises, moving quickly with the blades flowing more naturally with each swing.

Briefly distracted by Dox's display of martial prowess, Rita realized that at some point in the future, she was likely going to watch her friend do that to someone or something. Or see the bloody aftermath of it, both of which were sobering. But then, she was standing here with two meters of some sort of alloy polymer future something or other that made a big sword when you unfurled it. She liked the idea that it was a good choice for her lack of skill and general skittishness about melee combat in general. But the times had changed, and she had to change with them.

Plus she had a master swordswoman as a tutor. She'd be a fool not to indulge. Besides, it was spending time with the Baroness, which she always enjoyed the genial spacefaring scalawag's company.

Levering the sword blade, she copied the moves shown to her with reasonable aplomb, and she felt a bit more comfortable with the big blade. Taking some experimental swings, she adjusted her form a bit, then practiced a few thrusts to drive an opponent back, using a shuffle step, as staying planted was her strength with this form. "No, YOU move," she muttered under her breath.

"So... you two are already good, but I certainly need practice," Rita concluded, then she raised a finger in the air. "How about the three of us against a zombie horde? Trying to get from the farmhouse to the gas station two kliks away where we'd find the truck to take us to safety? We can make stands as well as move and fight, and it gives us opponents who are not each other to unite against. Along the way the Baroness can correct my form, and we can all blow off some stress. What do you say?"

Schwein thought it over, and nodded. "Ja, but with one modification. They are medieval zombies with basic arms and armors so you need to aim well and be ready to defend if needed. Computer, implement program Silent Hill three with the discussed changes, level one, horde size five hundred."

As the computer chirruped a few times and the program loaded sequentially, the bootylicious pirate smiled mischievously and sealed up her skull painted dome. They were definitely facing off against zombies in Silent Hill, but they were medieval zombies. They were on a bridge with a lake off to their left and a road leading in either direction. The obvious way forward though, they could see several buildings in the distance, including a well lit Texxon refueling station - a beacon of hope in the supernaturally red sunset sky.

"Right... unarmed opponents teach us nothing of sword fighting. Excellent point, Baroness, thank you." Rita tightened her grip on the broad sword as her helmet ratcheted down into place. "Hostile territory, ladies. Sensors on, helmets down, let's take the lay of the land, plot a course and move out."

Following their lead, Dox activated her helmet and visor as well and began scanning the area for the inevitable hostiles that she knew would be appearing at any moment. At the sound of the word 'zombies', the young pilot's anxious mind immediately went back to the disastrous mission to the infected Section 31 base, overrun by undead creatures.

As she thought back to that horror, her stomach tightened slightly as she had to take a quick moment to remind herself that this was only a holosim. After a few tense seconds, her HUD began registering movement in the thick mists ahead of them. "Picking up movement, thirty-nine meters ahead. Port and starboard, converging on our position."

Shuffling her feet slightly, Dox brought the twin Caitian blades up in readiness.

"So Dox is short range, Baroness, you are medium and I am long range. So strategically, as a trio, how do we organize these styles to fight mobs?" Paris asked. While she'd learned basic combat tactics years ago at the Academy, and she knew how to organize crew with phasers, this was an entirely different style of warfare, and in this case she'd come not to lead, but to learn. Of course, she was hoping the comely corsair's answer would not be 'piratical free for all'.

The Baroness didn't get where she was with piratical free-for-alls except in the tavern, and even then she had a plan. "Rita, you lead and go for groups and breaking the lines. Mnhei'sahe, focus on guarding the flanks and stay low and fast. I will be the rearguard. Stay in the first sphere of influence of each other as we move in a line." As she spoke, she returned her claymore to her back and pulled out her shortsword.

"Low I can do." Dox half-joked at the expense of her limited height. As she did, the advancing creatures began pushing through the dense mists and began scrambling towards the trio. Bouncing slightly on her heels, Dox was trying to psychic herself up for a style of combat that was largely unfamiliar to her. "Okay... here they come."

“Let’s start advancing, move to them unless we encounter too large a group and we need something solid at our backs other than the Baroness,” the gold-clad commando declared, then she started moving forward until they were nearly in range of the first undead. Clad in helms with broken and rusty chainmail, some bearing shields, the partially denuded corpses nonetheless wielded a variety of swords, knives, clubs and hammers, and they groaned as they moved, that much moreso when they caught sight of the bright and colorful Paris.

Adjusting her grip on the weapon, Rita swing in an overhand strike, which one of the zombies blocked with a shortsword. Deflecting off the block, Rita slid off the intervening blade to drive through one of the evil dead’s neighbors, cutting him in half before bringing up the flat of the blade to shove the lead zombie back. With some space cleared, she took a wide swing, taking advantage of the long blade as she’d been shown, and zombie parts scattered a bit, giving them ground to advance.

“Since vitals strikes are useless here, that means we need to work on what would be crippling or killing blows to be effective,” she noted, learning as she worked.

Following Rita's lead and the Baroness' instructions, Dox moved to the flank, twin blades raised at the first few creatures trying to get at them from the sides. The nearest creature swung down hard with a longsword that Dox deflected to her own side with a backhanded swing of her own that caused her to backpedal slightly.

For the first few seconds, the usually combat-ready young Romulan was limiting her moves purely to blocks as the creatures advanced, beginning to push her back.

Realizing she was beginning to feel a wave of panic coming on, Dox cursed loud in Rihan, "HNAVE!" and redoubled her efforts. Pushing back against the oncoming wave, she planted her foot against the shield of one creature shoving it back off its feet to topple a few of them on top of each other with a loud grunt.

As they began to regroup and get back up, Dox took advantage of the moment to move at them. Low and quick, as Schwein instructed, she began jabbing tightly just past the leading edges of the two advancing most creatures, her blades curved back against her forearms severing their necks on the sides in a grotesque display as they flumped to the ground, heads only connected still by a few inches of rotten flesh.

As another tried rushing past her to get to Rita's position, Dox spun down hard to her side and swung low, cleaving the creatures leg it two at the back of its knee forcing it to the ground where she could counter with the second blade to take it's head as well. But this left the anxious pilot open to a mace that came down hard against the armor plating on her back shoulder as she let out an angry yell of pain.

Countering, she rushed up, shoving the creature back as she dug her blades deep in its midsection through to its spine, pushing through its armor and throwing it back to the ground before righting herself for the next wave. She was breathing heavily now as she rotated her arm in its socket when she had been hit to stretch it back out.

Schwein nodded in satisfaction as she almost casually walked behind the two, slicing through stragglers with her shortsword with a fluidity and ease that would make any man weak in the knees. With a quick spin, she was inside the raised weapon of a zombie that was trying to threaten her and its head was just... Missing... And she was moving on as it slowly decided to fall over. "You are both learning well. Remember to strike not with your back, but with your shoulders and hips. Keep a good foundation and they will not move you. Use the whole weapon as a part of you. It is an extension of your body and an expression of your inner self, ja?"

The ’good foundation’ part was easy for Rita, as she liked not having to use footwork with the weapon in question. Trying to remember the moves and to use the right parts of her body were a challenge, but she was keeping at it, working to get the feel for the fighting style. As she drove a broad diagonal arc, then followed it by shifting her hips and shoulders to bring the big blade back up again, she chuckled. “I’m not sure if my sword fighting is a very flattering reflection of my personality…”

Bringing the wide blade across the crowd before her in an arc, it didn't fell any of them, but it did back them off, which she had to admit was definitely what she wanted- a bit of room to breathe and choose her next strike.

While Rita pressed her attack, at the flank, Dox re-centered herself, taking a deep breath before continuing to press forward. Tucking in low, she dodged a heavy axe to one side, and began thinking the way her training in the Romulan martial art of Llaekh-ae'rl taught her to. She could hear her mother's words in the back of her mind as she moved, 'If an arm attacks you, kill the arm.'

As the axe head slammed past her side, in one sweeping motion, she brought down the nearest blade to sever the arm of the creature wielding it. As she did, she swung in with her second, short curved blade to cleave the top of its skull off while it pondered its missing arm. And no longer second-guessing herself, she simply kept moving.

Bringing herself back over, a double swipe to her left beheaded another creature with it's weapon raised high, causing it to stumble back upon another two. She was weaving left to right, either disarming or incapacitating each wave as it approached, taking a step further with each strike.

As they continued to fight along, Schwein continued her lessons. "Rita, bend your knees a bit more for stability. There are nine strike points in swordplay and you will need to master movements for all nine for offense and defense. They are up, down, left, right, the for angles between those, and stabby center. Shorter blades can move between them seamlessly but long blades must plan the next block or attack after every swing."

As she spoke, the gold armored pirate demonstrated the nine cuts with her own sword as she cut down a few zombies in the process. Then she used her free hand to rip the sword out of a zombie's hand and threw it into the skull of another zombie that was trying to sneak up on Rita, lodging it in its skull. She then delivered a quick backhanded slice to the disarmed zombie. "A claymore is most powerful in left, right, and top strikes. These are good for crushing your foes and driving them before you."

“Hopefully not to hear the lamentations of the women,” Rita grunted as she recalled the previous lessons, reinforced by what the Baroness was instructing her to do now which paralleled those earlier lessons. The nonstop swinging of the heavy blade, even with the power assistance of the armor, was wearing on her. Swinging wide up high, she decapitated a few even as she stumbled, tangled up in a zombie she had cut in half whose upper torso was still trying to gnaw its way through her armored boot. Stomping on its skull, Rita scanned the locale.

“I need a breather… what do you say we make for that clearing by the pond, buy ourselves a minute to rest?” Her shoulders were burning a bit and her grip was getting a bit shaky, which Rita knew was a warning sign. While her armor could pump her with a stim, better to function under her own power, for the most part, she reasoned. Placekicking one zombie, she smacked another with the flat of the wide blade, driving its skull into the sky like a baseball to provide them with an opening.

Continuing to slash at the oncoming hoard, Dox was breathing heavily when she nodded and called back, "I second... that idea."

"Nein. The water is an ambush. Make for the wrecked cars on the side of the road up ahead." She pointed to a trio of rusted out hulks they weren't too far from that looked like a monument to tetanus, but safe enough.

Glancing quickly in the direction Schwein pointed towards, Dox began side-stepping to keep the creatures from bottlenecking the trio as they moved.

"Got it!" The crimson-clad Lieutenant called back as she began ducking Low, slashing at the knees of the oncoming horde, trying to force enough of them to the ground to create a temporary barricade at their side. It slowed their advance down, but just a little bit as Dox began to move towards their target.

“Okay, not that I’m doubting you, but my scanners aren’t showing any hostiles over there. How can you know it’s an ambush?” Shoving a few of the zombies into one another, Rita skewered three of them, then realized she’d made a mistake as she lacked the strength to pull the blade free of them. Instead, she lowered the point and brought up the hilt, causing bones to crunch and pop as ichor sprayed about them while the great blade demolished the corpses through which it was currently embedded.

While she wasn’t winded, the upper body workout was a lot more severe than the pretty pilot was accustomed to, and her muscles were hitting the fatigue point fast. Letting go with her right hand, she reached over her shoulder to produce the cutlass she stored there, the bell guard closing about her fist as she grasped it. The smaller, lighter blade was less strain to use, but the tactics were considerably different, and she quickly realized her tactical mistake as the horrors were now getting closer to her.

"I use this scenario for exercise," the Baroness replied as she pulled out her claymore as well and decided to help clear out the path a bit and to explain some basic dual wielding techniques. "When dual wielding like that, use your smaller blade as a tool to support your longer blade. Like this, ja?"

As Schwein swept through the zombies with broad side to side strokes with her main hand claymore, cutting in front of Rita, she used her offhand shortsword as more of a tool to perform basic stabs with to finish off those her claymore didn't outright kill, or to parry the weapons in the way of her claymore to clear its path and in her own defense.

Locking her armor's fingers in place around the textured hilt saved Rita a bit of strength, and she worked to emulate the tactics and strokes the Baroness was employing. Sure enough, the bell-guard on the cutlass was quite handy for an off-hand weapon, and while she was still clumsy with it, Rita could begin to see the applications.

"Someday I'll tell my grandkids that I was trained in swordplay by the Baroness von Alcott. Hopefully, I'll have the kind of grandkids who'll ask, 'Who's that?' and then Gramma will be off on one of her wild stories. Of course, I hope you show up to illustrate them every once in a while. Hopefully, the Captain will institute Christmas at the Fortress... that way we'll all come together no matter how... get off me you freak! Uhng! Dammit... gnuff!" Rita struggled to keep the big sword moving as they staggered the last few meters to the junked cars, and one of the random armored zombies nailed her with a mace, scratching her helm's clear dome. She punched it away with her off hand and punted its skull like a football, but she was breathing heavily and sweating, even in her environmentally-controlled exploration armor.

"My arms feel like molten lead. Angry, hot molten lead. Much heavy, very ouchie," Rita planted the point of the big sword in the dirt and leaned heavily on the wide crossbar. "Two minutes. M'beggin ya. Ohhhh, mama."

Coming up around the side, Dox was breathing heavy in her armor with her blades still raised as she backed up to Rita's position.

Schwein dispatched a few more, executing a dangerous looking whirlwind maneuver that let the momentum of her sword and body shear through at least half a dozen zombies before sheathing her weapons and slapping the side of her large skull painted dome, sliding it back out of her face. Smiling at the other two, she didn't even look out of breath, nor did she have a drop of sweat on her. "This is a good warmup, ja? You are both doing very well. You will have muscle memory by morning. Next, we will have to decide to go through the center of the horde or face the boss character - an undead kraken in the water."

"That 'Laughing Murder' of yours... meant to work quick and put people down, not march across a battlefield with it huh?" Rita popped her own helmet, and leaned heavily on the crossbar of her sword. Bringing up her armored hand, she mopped at her face and up under her visor. "I vote the horde. We'll learn more swordsmanship that way. That's what you meant by a trap, eh? An undead kraken is number 347 as to why I carry a large multifunction grenade launcher on my back when I do dangerous things these days, instead of just the phaser and a miniskirt."

Retracting her helmet for a moment, Dox kept her back to Rita's position while keeping her eyes on the path they had just come through with one blade still slightly raised. "Yeah... My.... my murder stopped laughing after about the first twenty-five of these things. But, yeah. I'm voting with 'horde' too."

Rita's reference to 'laughing murder' was a joke at the expense of the English translation of Llaekh-ae'rl, the Romulan martial art Dox studied. Turning with a slight smirk towards her Commander, Dox continued with a chuckle. "And, ya' know, it's not like I gave it the pretentious ass name."

"Better than mine. The school of 'try not to get killed and run faster', renowned throughout the galaxy." Taking a deep breath, Rita took a few experimental stretches, wincing at the tightness of her upper body muscles, and she could feel that this was a heck of a core workout. "Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Let's hit a half dose of stim and a little steroid, pop a few asprin, get out there and learn how to be dangerous acquaintances- what do you say? Well, more dangerous in your cases..."

Turning back to the path, Dox brought her helmet and visor back up as she shook her arms out. "Aye, Commander." She was tired and sore and fighting back a wave of intense anxiety, but she pushed through that to restore her focus as she brought the Caitian blades back up.

Snapping her helmet into place, Rita checked the time- it was passing outside this holodeck, and she needed to be aware. She checked the scans of the combat theater, so she wouldn't be surprised. Activating a mild stimulant with some analgesic to ease her sore muscles and a bit of steroidal influx- after all, if she was building muscle she may as well capitalize on it. Taking a high over-body stretch, she took a few long, full body stretches. "Zombieland survival rule #7- limber up."

Stepping over to the wide long blade she'd chosen, the sweaty Starfleet siren yanked at it, not getting it out of the ground on the first try. Nor the second. By the third, she worked it back and forth to loosen the earth's grip on it, and she managed to yank her sword free.

"Good to know..." She quipped, sheathing the cutlass on her back and doubling up again on the grip of the sword she recalled she'd nicknamed when she had chosen it from the armory. Hefting it, she felt like she was starting to get the hang of just how to fight with the big chunk of metal. Which something told her she'd need to know how to do before long. "Okay, time to live up to your name, Overkill."

Looking slightly over her shoulder, Dox shot Rita a quick grin and a light chuckle. The rotund Romulan found the leggy Blond anachronism's penchant for giving things whimsical names aggressively charming.

"Fitting..." She said. "I like it." Before returning her attention to the task at hand, and the oncoming horde of heavily armed creatures converging on them.

"It's not quite Fang and Claw over there, but I'm learning to like it." Wobbling her head about, Rita Paris exhaled long and loc, centering herself with a simple expression of a complex concept of meditation. When she was through, her chin snapped up and she fixed Schwein with a determined expression.

"All right, Baroness, I think we mere mortals have caught our breath. Let's move," Paris declared, stepping forward in the lead to take command and point, the long wide blade declaring her position in the battle triangle they were forming, as in the distance the Romero virus victims clad in varying stages of arms and armor of a medieval nature turned at their approach, brandishing rusted swords and crude implements of destruction. Flipping on the searchlight mounted on her shoulder, the gold-clad avenger made it obvious to the shambling mockeries of life just where they were, and began drawing them toward the landing party, in her hopes to spread the density of the horde out a bit.

“Come get some, you primitive screwheads!” Rita muttered, making a reference that only she would get.

The silver-haired pirate pulled free her short sword and resealed her armor, preparing for the big push through the bulk of the undead horde. As the moaning and slavering undead closed in on the trio, the Baroness von Alcott offered a crooked piratical grin to her Starfleet compatriots.

"Next time we must visit my goblin training program, ja? Much more fun!"