Eghimea hit the canvas of the ring hard and rolled to her side. She moved slowly to her hands and knees trying to clear the stars and planets from her vision. She reached up and wiped the blood from her broken lip. She coughed up a bit of blood as she laughed a bit, “I think you loosened up a tooth or two.”

David stood there looking down at her, “you are still trying to match blow for blow.” He walked over and pulled her up to her feet. “You’re relying more on your speed now, but you fall back to the idea you can power your way through these fights,” he explained as he backed up. “You can’t out power me like that. Your strengths are in your speed, flexibility, and precision,” he said then shook his head. “It’s the damnist thing I have seen. Its like you know what I am going to do before I do.”

She wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand, “I’ve always been good at finding patterns within my enemies’ actions.”

He smirked, “so to beat that, means to have no pattern?”

She shook her head as she took her stance, “even in the absence of patterns, there is still a pattern.”

He laughed, “you call randomness a pattern?” He moved in on the attack once more.

Dodging his first attack with ease, “there is always a pattern, even randomness is a pattern.”

“I would like to put that to the test,” he said narrowly avoiding her twin kicks. He followed up her attack with a powerful punch. The blow landed hard in her gut, knocking the wind from her, and forcing her on her back foot. “RECOVER,” he yelled as he moved in to attack once more.

She shifted her feet quickly and spun to avoid his follow up attack. She landed a back handed punch on the side of his head. Spinning on her heels, she brought her knee up hard, landing the knee in his gut. Before he could turn, she leaped up and drove both of her feet against his side.

The blow sent him stumbling towards the ropes of the ring. He caught himself on the ropes. He turned just in time to avoid her follow up punches. Instead of breaking contact, he shifted his stance and unleashed a series of powerful punches. “I keep telling you, you can’t power your way through these fights,” he barked at her as he punished her for closing into a slugfest.

Shifting her weight, she reached up with both hands and twisted her body so to rob him of solid hits. Once he gave her an opening, she exploded with a series of rapid short blows. “You are too predictable Ascanio,” she bent back landing a kick high. The speed and surprise of her counterstrike drove him on the back heel and pushed him back up against the ropes. The blows were fast, as he pulled his arms in to protect his upper body.

As the close quarter combat slowed, he was able to push her back a bit. With a powerful blow, he sent her back a few feet. She tried to recover, but his kick sent her back to the mat. Once more she rolled up to her hands and knees, but then out of the blue, she kicked out her leg. His grunting told her that she landed a solid blow. Spinning up fast, “how is that for powering through this fight.” Her voice strained and filled with effort.

She followed up with a series of short kicks. Her eyes shifted as she dodged to the left, then kicked him back again. She leaped up as she spun into a round house kick. The blow landed solid knocking the seasoned Chief off his feet. He landed on the mat making a glorious grunt.

Eghimea took a few steps back as she soaked up her victory, “Before, I was but the learner. Now I am the Master,” her voice matched the smile on her face.

He laughed, “only a master of overconfidence, Laju.”

She walked over to her side of the ring and grabbed a towel. She held her side, “I think I bruised my ribs again,” she said laughing through the pain.

David rose to his feet, “you know we can wear gloves and protective gear,” he said as he walked over to his corner.

She tilted her head, “why would we want to do that?”

“Oh,” he said looking at the blood on his own towel. “Maybe to avoid getting hurt,” he protested.

“That is not how you train,” she said shaking her head. “If you can’t feel, you won’t learn,” she said as if quoting someone.

“Who said that” he asked then added, “some Prophet?”

She laughed, “my father.” She leaned up against the post of the ring as she looked up towards the ceiling, “when I was a little girl, he would make me and my older brother spar before dinner. These sparring matches would last late into the night. If we wanted to eat, we had to spar.”

“Sounds like a great guy,” he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

She nodded, “he taught us how to survive the next invasion.”

This drew his attention, “next invasion?” He scoffed, “Bajor is part of the Federation.”

She turned her eyes back towards him, “so was Betazed.” She grabbed her things, “It’s not a matter of if Bajor will be invaded. It’s a matter of when Bajor will be invaded, again. That is the reason why the StarGuard was created.” Checking her crono, “damn, I’m late, again.” She slipped from the ring, “I’ve to go. Lieutenant Ruby doesn’t appreciate when I am late.”

He raised his bottle of water towards her, “next week,” he asked.

She smiled back to him, “next week,” she confirmed with a hint of blush hidden under her bruised cheek. She turned and left the holodeck.