Working out the Demons

Posted on Wed Oct 26th, 2022 @ 8:44am by Lieutenant Nicholas Reece [Reece] & Lieutenant Cassia Cavendish

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: USS Ragnarok
Timeline: 2393
2312 words - 4.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Nicholas was busy on the free weights, working through his third set on the bench press. He had his music buds in his ears, as he listened to his workout music. He hadn't yet been able to get the previous night's news out of his head. The station his brother was stationed to was bombed, and their grandfather was being blamed. He just couldn't work around any of it.

Cassia normally ran in the mornings when nightmares woke her, but, she had found the gym on her way around and paused at the sight of Nicholas working out. Man, he made a wonderful sight. Carefully she walked in and waited until he was on a rest before approaching the bench. She was dressed in shorts, sneakers and a tank top, her hair messily in a pony tail. "Hey" She waved a hand at him.

After returning the bar back to it's perch, Nicholas sat up, grapped the towel that was laying across his right thigh, and wiped the sweat from his face. When he heard Cassia's voice, he instantly smiled as he turned his head to see her approach him. Seeing her in her workout clothing caused his heart rate to increase a bit. Damn, he though to himself. She looks real hot now! "Hey, pretty lady. You're up pretty early."

She gave a small smile. "Same goes Handsome. What, couldn't sleep either? Or are you awake at this ungodly hour normally?"

Standing, Nicholas moved over to stand in front of Cassia. "No, I'm usually asleep for another hour at least." He smiled as he looked down into her brown eyes. Reaching up, he gently caressed her right cheek. "Had a gut feeling something was wrong with Kyle. Call it twin intuition."

"And something was wrong? Is everything ok?" She wanted so badly to lean into his hand, instead she kept her eyes on his and watched.

Nicholas lowered his hand and, holding his towel in both hands, hung it up behind his neck. He straightened as he did so, his muscles rippling slightly as he moved. "Thankfully, yes. Though, he is having a hard time right now. I'm sure you'll hear about it later today. He's stationed on Starbase Eighty. They just went through not one, but two explosions in the past week."

Cassia appreciated the view but chose to comment on what he was saying rather than the other thoughts in her mind. "That is not a good thing at all. Do you need to go to help?"

He shook his head slightly. "No, he's safe. I spoke to our adoptive uncle, his CO. He told me that things are a bit crazy right now, but they are being handled. So, here I am. Just trying to burn through the adrenalin." He moved over to the freeweights and picked up a pair of fifty pound dumbbells. As he started to do shrugs, he continued speaking. "What about you? What are you doing up so early?"

She gave a shrug. "Couldn't sleep. Must being back on a starship." Cassia didn't really want to go into it that much. "Was just on my normal run around the decks."

Nicholas paused, then put the weights back in their rack.

"Whats wrong?" Cassia asked curiously.

Looking over at Cassia. "Well, I've been lifting now for nearly thirty minutes, and I still don't feel centered." He paused briefly and then asked, "Do you feel up to some...close order training?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Sure, but I am not very good at it." Waving a hand to the open area with mats, "Here do?"

Nicholas nodded and smiled. "Sure." He followed Cassia over to the area. "I promise, I won't go too hard on ya. Unless you push me." He winked playfully as he got into ready position.

Cassia moved to stand oposite him, knees slightly bent and recalled her acadmey training. "When you are ready." She said moving into position.

Nicholas grinned slightly. He slowly started to circle clockwise, keeping his eyes locked on Cassia's. After a few seconds, he lunged forward, trying to grab her forward wrist.

Cassia shifted to face him as he moved and felt his hand grasp her wrist. Instantly, she went limp as a wet noodle. As she slumped to the ground backwards, she pulled him down and forward, off of his feet.

Nicholas had to admit, he was suprised by her skill. Seeing he had nowhere to go but forward, he ducked his head in, twisted as he went forward, and rolled through on his right shoulder. He landed with a slight thud, but quickly rolled back to his feet. Spinning to face his opponent, he grinned. "Very nice!" It seems you do have some skills after all. Let's see how far they go!" He lurched forward again, but this time, his initial attack was a feint. After he made her think that he was grabbing at her again, he dropped and rotated on the ball of his left foot, sweeping her legs out with his right.

Cassia hit the mats with a groan. She hated hand to hand. Rolling onto her stomach she watched him from a half push up and then jumped to her feet. She moved into a ready position and smiled at him. "That was your point."

"And I'll take more points from you if you're not careful." There was a look of playful mischief in his eyes as he watched Cassia. This was the most fun he had had in a long time. It almost took his mind off of his mission. Almost. "Okay, try to come at me. I'm bigger than you are, so you will need to maneuver faster, try to use my size against me. Remember what you were taught at the Academy." He could sense that she wasn't totally confident in her fighting skills, so he decided to take his attacks down a notch. He didn't want to frustrate or discourage her.

With a roll of her eyes, Cassia shifted her weight to her back foot for a split second and flung herself into a ice skating butterfly jump. It was a move where the body goes almost parallel to the ice in the air, with a scissoring leg motion. And she did it right at his head.

For a split second, Nicholas marvelled at how graceful Cassia was in her movements. Then, his brain recognized the impending threat. He snapped his arms up just in time, snatching Cassia out of the air, and, as he continued to spin in the direction she had been moving in, rolled her down to the mats.

Rolling to a stop she gave a small smile at him. She had taken gymnastics as a child to assist with her Ice Skating as well as Ballet. Standing she rolled her shoulders. "Did you mean something like that?" She asked.

Nicolas was definitely impressed with Cassia's flexability and skill. "Very impressive. You can clearly take a fall. Now let's see how well you avoid an attack." He lunged forward again, hrowing a strong right hook towards her midsection as he did so. He knew that he was exposing himself to a counter attack, however, he wanted to see just what she could do.

She grabbed his wrist and spun herself backwards to the right, using his momentum against him and as he went past her, tapped his butt with her foot, sending him forward.

Nicholas landed on his face and chest with a thud. For a brief second or two, he felt a little dazed. Then, he rolled over onto his back, rolled his legs up to his head, then snapped them back down, while simultaneously reaching up and pushing off the deck with his hands. The whole transition took about two seconds, leaving him back on his feet, breathing heavily.

Sweat trickled down his well-built physique, as he moved back over to Cassia. "Okay," he said, his breath heavy and his eyes starting yo fill with a hunger. "Now the gloves come off." He dropped down into a kickboxer's pose and started circling Cassia again, looking for an opening.

Raising up on her toes, Cassia kept her arms by her side and then with a twitch of her foot spun, lashing out with her right leg towards him, but darting it back swiftly.

Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough. Nicholas snapped out with his own left leg, and tapped her on her ass, causing her to lose her balance mid-motion. "Try again." He goaded her playfully.

Catching herself, Cassia raised an eyebrow at him and then threw herself into a forward hand flip, kicking her legs out into a split as she stood on her hands, then, letting her left arm crumple, she rolled forward and kicked out her legs to his groin.

Nicholas saw the impending impact just in time. As he rotated his hips away from the kick, he reached down and grabbed Cassia's outstretched leg with both hands. He lifted her easily as he cotinued the rotation, and then plopped her back down on the mats, on her back. "Come on, is that really all you've got?" He was fully enjoying the sparring session, though, his thoughts were quickly moving towards a different type of physical contact.

Standing up, Cassia rolled her shoulders and then threw herself into a tumbling run at him. A roundoff followed by two back flips and the last one was a full layout and from her landing crouch, a side sweep at his legs as she threw herself to the left and rolled away from him.

Suprised by the ferocity of her attack, Nicholas was caught by her hit and went down onto his back, temporarily stunned by the impact.

Cassia smirked and crawled over to him and braced her hands on his shoulders. "My point." she said lightly.

With a speed and agility that belied his size, Nicholas reached up and grabbed Cassia's hands and pulled her over him and to his left as he rotated the same way, ending up atop her. Still holding her hands, he pinned them to the deck above her head as he pinned the rest of her body with his. He gazed deep into her eyes, his chest heaving from his heavy breathing. The look in his eyes was more animal and less respectful officer.

Her eyes widened but she didn't struggle. Her lips curved slightly but all she did was say "Hello Nicholas." in a soft breathy voice as her body pressed up in response.

Feeling Cassia press up into him, Nicholas growled hungrily. He kept her hands pinned as he leaned closer and kissed her, forcefully and passionately.

Cassia kissed him back, matching his passion with her own. She could not move but was not complaining as she shifted against him restlessly as they kissed.

Feeling the desire to hold her in his arms, Nicholas released Cassia's wrists and rolled over onto his back, pulling her atop him. He wrapped his arms around her, moving his strong hands over every part of her body that he could reach.

Straddling him easily Cassia ran her now free hands down his sides as their mouths fused and tongues dueled. She tugged at his shirt as she shifted against him and had just about freed it when there was a startled squark from behind her and a shocked gasp.

"Oh... so sorry... oh my" and then the sounds of footsteps running away.

Cassia broke the kiss with a soft laugh. "opps"

Nicholas chuckled softly as well. "Heh, maybe we should move this to a more private location. My quarters are two decks away. Yours?"

"Same. Deck five like yours." She shrugged. "Whichever one is closer to the turbolift will be the winner."

He nodded in agreement. After she climbed off of him, he quickly got to his feet, his arousal very apparent in his workout shorts. He took her by the hand and the two practically ran from the gym. They made it to the nearest turbolift without running into anyone else. After the doors slid shit, Nicholas pulled Cassia to him. "Deck five!" He then locked his lips on hers again and tried to wrap his tongue around hers.

She melted against him and wrapped her arms around him as her hands shot into his hair. She paid no attention to anything other than the man with her. Her tongue dueled with his and she slid her leg up to his hip.

Before they could go further, the turbolift reached the requested deck, and the doors slid open. Nicholas broke the kiss long enough to pull Cassia after him. He knew the his quarters were only three doors away, and they reached it in less than ten seconds. His doors slid open and he pulled her in after him. He instantly turned to Cassia and pulled her to him, reattaching his lips to hers. He reached down, grabbing hold of her ass and lifted her up off the deck.

Wrapping her legs around his waist Cassia leaned against him and after a moment of tongue dueling broke the kiss. "You win" she breathed and then began to kiss her way down his neck.

Nicholas moaned softly as he felt Cassia's lips on his flesh. As she continued to kiss him, he carried her to his bedroom. When they reached the foot of his bed, he moved his hands to under her armpits and pushed her off of him, then tossed her down onto his bed.

Landing on the bed, Cassia sat up, smiled and reached for him, pulling him down with her.

As the doors to his bedroom slid shut, Nicholas lowered himself down onto his bed, atop Cassia.

OFF

Lieutenant Cassia Cavendish
Chief of Flight Control.
USS Ragnarok

Lieutenant Nicholas J. Reece
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
USS Ragnarök