Friendly Rivalry [OPEN]

[Drevin Bendis]

[February 24th, 2523]
Drevin flipped the Fed over his shoulder and straight into the mat they were standing, putting his fake wooden practice knife to the man's neck.

Drevin let him go and said, "And that, everyone, is how you kill a man in close-quarters. If you don't keep your guard and gun up, you will be killed by someone who is a second faster than you. That's why you should never, ever take this stuff as a joke. If any combat takes place on board, a lot of it will be in the corridors, not in the rooms, so you need to keep this stuff in mind. Now grab a partner and start practising."

Drevin picked up a towel from a nearby bench and dried his forehead so no more sweat dripped into his eyes. As he looked around, Drevin saw Ensign Bane, the officer who Drevin was helping with his CQC classes.

Bane said to him, "You guys are good at this. You're beatin' my guys asses easily."

Drevin chuckled and said, "Yeah. We're all given advanced CQC training as mandatory, so I guess you could say we could beat your guys in a fist-fight any day."

Drevin grimaced inwardly at how appropriate that term would soon be, if Cravski had his way.

[tigh]

Tigh was walking the corridors as he did every day he had made his check-ins with all his chiefs for the evening, HIs paperwork was filed with HQ and he had about a half hour of time to himeslf before he was supposed to check on the bridge staff for the nightly change of guard and shift report.

Riders convoy was due to arrive on Persephone the next day then they would be off to come up to the Esteem. Sibil had arranged for training courses to take place and even the Mercs were helping out with everything. Tigh walked in to the room that the CQC class was taking place just as Bendis was finishing up his talk to the class. He stood at the door a monite as him and Ensign Bane talked then he walked over to the pair of them.

Ensign Bane offered a salute and Tigh returned it. The rest of the group quickly went to its feet and stood at atention for him. "No need for the formalities while in training. FOr now just consider me one of the class." Tigh said waving them all to go back to what they were doing.

"Advanced training huh?" Tigh said to Bendis "Care to show me what you've got?" He unbottoned his uniform top and pulled it off so he was now just wearing his undershirt. Tigh had done his fair share of training in hand to hand though it wasn't his focus in his career at any point. He had joined as a pilot and eventually became a CAG then on up through the ladder to being an Admiral and commander of one of the Alliances best crusiers. "Don't let my age fool you of course, no going easy on, rank doesn't apply today."

Tigh turned to face the rest of the class with a bit of a smile. "After he is done mopping the floor with me, any of you are welcome to give it a try. Like I said rank doesn't apply here" He was more then willing to get done in the dirt with the troops when the time called for it.

[Drevin Bendis]

Drevin smirked at the admiral and said, "You really wanna do this Admiral?"

Tigh smirked as well and said, "Of course I do, Bendis. Now, throw me one of those practise knives."

Drevin threw the knife towards the admiral, who caught it out of the air in a blink of an eye.

Drevin started bouncing up and down on his feet, never letting Tigh out of his sight. The admiral had also taken the same position as Drevin, except he seemed to be moving a lot more. A ring of men had gathered around the area where the two men were facing off against each other, already placing bets as to who would win.

Drevin shifted his position slightly, letting his left foot drift forwards and putting his body and right angles to his opponent with his knife hand behind his right thigh. Tigh had taken a completely different stance, taking up a position that made him look like he was going to pounce at Drevin, which was exactly what he did.

Tigh ran head first into Drevin, slashing the wooden knife at his mid-section. Drevin was able to move the knife off to the side, but wasn't able to stop the admiral's charge, which drove both of them to the floor.

Drevin drove his knees underneath Tigh's stomach and pushed as they rolled back, flipping the admiral over Drevin's head and into the mat behind him. Drevin jumped to his feet and span round to face Tigh who was already on his feet.

Drevin slashed at the other man's throat, but Tigh dodged, causing Drevin to overbalance and almost send him toppling over, but Drevin reversed the grip on the knife went for his opponent again, this time blocking a stab aimed at his own head.

They both backed away from each other, catching their breaths as they moved.

Drevin smirked again and said, "That all you got old man?"

[Nicholas Park]

Ensign Park had been getting acquainted with the ship and the admiral but this turn of events was completely unexpected. Stopping in to check on things was one thing but the admiral had stepped up and decided to throw down in hand-to-hand combat. Nicholas was simply in shock as the admiral took off his uniform and stepped forward to face the mercenary that was less than half his age.

What was the admiral trying to prove by doing this? That's he's still fit for duty despite his age? That he is 'just one of the guys'? That in the heat of battle he'd fight just like anyone else? Nicholas doubted that anyone except maybe the mercenaries would have needed anything proved to them. If anything, such an attempt to fraternize with the rank and file was likely to do more harm than good among the Alliance personnel. Tigh was their commanding officer, a position of complete respect and confidence. Nicholas would have expected such unorthodox actions from the likes of his predecessor, Captain Pike, but not Admiral Vangard.

As the two opponents began to square off, Nicholas pushed through the growing crowd to get to the forefront. The admiral may have put himself in a place to fight and even be defeated by such an able opponent but that was his choice no matter how much Nicholas may have disagreed with the decision. So long as the practice fight went according to plan there would be no lasting physical harm... so long as the adjutant was there. The admiral may have been intent on getting himself bruised and beaten but there was no chance that the fight would be allowed to get out of hand and require the CO to be sent to the infirmary.

On top of that default position, the ensign also did not trust the mercenaries as he trusted his fellow servicemen. It is always a mistake to have men fight for greed rather than for country. One never knows where their loyalties lie or if they even have loyalties to begin with. Not only was such a young, strong, and skilled opponent operating outside of the Alliance military more likely to inflict serious harm on the admiral in an accident or an adrenaline fueled burst of attacks but perhaps this man and even all his comrades might have come here for the sole purpose of receiving such a chance to harm the admiral. The 'verse was not as supportive of the Alliance as it had once been. So Ensign Park remained on guard in the crowd, watching over his superior.

[tigh]

Tigh stood there slightly winded by the fight so far. The merc was a challange and to be honest Tigh didn't trust the man that much. This was an opportunity to test the mans skills, to know what he had on his side and if it ever came to it what he would be facing.

It was uncommon for an Admiral to get down in the mix with his men like that and that was something many might not look to be to acceptable but Tigh had seen his far share of officers who weren't willing to stand their ground with the men, Tigh was not one of them and he wouldn't back down from anyone.

" For someone half my age Bendis I would expect a bit more." He taunted back at his comment about all he had. Tigh stood up almost relaxing a bit, or so it seemed. Bendis tried to take advantage of the seeming weakness and came at him.

Tigh side stepped him and took hold of his wrist, swinging back in a twisting motion like a door. sending him flying to the groud. "That any better?" He said as he then chearged him. just as he was about to close the gap and finish him off he could feel Bendis' foot connect with his chest. It was a powerful it and sent him flying.

Now he was on his back and bendis was up and over the top of him before he could react. He left his grip on the practice knife go. "Alright, you got me there. I'll conseed this fight before I lose to bad." He was more then willing to walk away without going in to it to far. He didn't see a need in dragging it on. He had proven his point. A man of his age of his stature can't be under estimated. Even the unlikely could fight back hard and one needs to expect everyone to be able to fight.

"I expect everyone in this room to treat anyone they are dealing with as someone who can fight just as well if not better then you can. Looks can be decieving." Yes there is a fighting man in everyone even if they don't know it and the second one lets their guard down is the second they lose the fight.

[Drevin Bendis]

Drevin smiled at the Admiral, held out his hand for Tigh to grab onto and said, "Well hell, Admiral. You can put up a gorram fight. Didn't expect you to be that quick. Thought I was gonna lose for a second there."

Drevin turned his head towards the rest of the White Arrow squad that were training with him and said, "An' that, my dear squad members, is how an Alliance Admiral fights. And he fights very, very well."