Chapter 552: 4th & 10 (1/2)

Vuxten ducked underneath the armored fist, feeling it clip off the edge of his antenna. He managed to get his arms up as the big Rigellian female swung her fists in what looked like, to the untrained, a frantic flurry. Vuxten curled around himself slightly, protecting his face, as he felt himself battered inside his armor.

When the Rigellian female grabbed him by the shoulder plate and yanked him off balance, she drove her fist into the top of his helmet twice, stunning him, then threw him against the wall, causing the integrity field to spark. Before he could move she slammed into him, pulled back, grabbed him by his helmet, yanked him out of the hole in the wall, turned at the waist, and slammed him face first into the floor.

The impact to the back of his head made him see stars.

”He's done,” Major Phtelmon said, slapping his tail on the floor of the Armored Close Quarters Combat Gym.

The Rigellian stepped backwards, putting her fist into her her open hand and bowing slightly.

”Did I win?” Vuxten asked groggily, looking up.

There was laughter. Not at him, per-se, but at what had happened and Vuxten was mature enough to know it.

--not even close-- 471 said. --looked painful--

Vuxten got up, shaking his head.

”One-Zero,” the instructor called out. ”Get ready.”

Vuxten took the standard ACQC stance. The Rigellian female in her armor chose the Third Stance.

”Go!” the instructor called out.

Vuxten expected her to come in and kick him in the chest again, so he brought his arms up to defend his chest.

Instead she moved up to him, grabbed his arm, spun him around, got him in a headlock and started slamming her fist on top of his helmet. The servos in his armor whined as he grabbed her wrist, suddenly grateful that all the armor was set for the same strength. He pulled her arm back but before he could much more she let him go, kicked the back of his knee, and shoved him hard.

Vuxten got one hand out, kicking his foot to turn around.

She kicked him dead in the visor with a side kick that put her heel dead center of his visor, showering sparks even with the low power.

FATALITY popped up in his vision.

”Done,” the instructor called out. ”Two-Zero. Vuxten, you're out.”

The Rigellian female put her fist in her open palm and bowed to Vuxten, then to the instructor, then moved over to the side. Vuxten shook his head and stood up. He moved over and sat down, popping the helmet seal and pulling it off.

”Here you go,” the Kobold next to him said, handing him a towel.

”Thanks,” Vuxten said. He took the towel and wiped off his face. ”She's so fast.”

”You aren't kidding. It's a good thing we're wearing armor, she'd have taken your head clean off,” the Pubvian next to him said.

”Back when I first got conscripted, I saw a Terran destroy a crowd pacification drone with two kicks,” Vuxten said.

Both nodded.

”Humans and Rigellians both have heavy muscle memory. Humans don't have to think at all about their next actions in combat, which allows their brains to run predictive analysis the entire fight. Rigellian thought to action times are in the tenths of a second,” the Pubvian said. He shuddered. ”I fought a Terran back the first time I did this course. We were wearing training armor, but even then, I thought he'd collapsed my lungs with a single hit.”

Vuxten shook his head. ”Explains why they have us do this in armor.”

The Kobold gave a soft huffing sound, the equivalent of laughter. ”Can you imagine that Casey guy in here? We'd need armor just to keep him from pulling our arms off with his bare hands.”

The Pubvian laughed. ”Yeah.”

”Pardnavan, you're up,” the instructor said. ”Awgrawk, you're up.”

The Pubvian sighed. ”Great. My turn to have a Rigellian beat me like a rug,” he got up and put on his helmet before crashing his two opposing fists together, keeping his mid-arm close to his chest.

Vuxten watched as the two squared off. The Pubvian was using a modified Second Stance. The Rigellian female was standing there loose, facing him directly.

”GO!” the instructor barked.

Vuxten watched the Pubvian come in fast, using his middle leg to throw him to one side then the other. He threw three punches, that the Rigellian slapped away.

Then he paused for a second, still moving forward slightly, but Vuxten could see the pause.

The same thing he had been forced to do.

The Rigellian grabbed him by the arm, her punch turning into a grapple, then a joint lock. She drove him face down into the concrete floor, his knee on his back.

Captian Pardnavan slapped the floor with one arm.

”Done! Separate,” the instructor called out.

Vuxten watched close for the rest of the ACQC practice. The Rigellian females always either came out really fast, using lightning speed and strength to overwhelm their opponent or waiting until there was the half-second pause while the opponent thought of their next attack string, using that pause, that moment of thought before action, to quickly overwhelm and neutralize them.

Pardnavan limped over to the table as he took off his helmet, revealing his fur was slicked with sweat.

”All right, that's it for the day,” the instructor said. ”Your reaction times and thought to movement times are decreasing. While each of you have different species limitations, with practice you'll be more skilled and better prepared than any opponent. Tomorrow, we'll do hard-light non-Confederacy or Council enemies.”

He paused for a second.

”Tomorrow, you'll be doing ACQC against Dwellerspawn.”

--fun fun fun-- 471 one said.

”Hey, I didn't see you out there,” Vuxten said.

--not captain am engineer-- 471 said, sending a laughing emoji. --have good night--

”You too,” Vuxten said. He heard the datalink clink to end the conversation and moved to the rack to have his armor removed. He moved to the locker room as soon as he was free and stepped out of the rack.

He felt sore and tired, but good.

”You're not used to training armor,” a voice said as he was sitting down drying himself off. He could tell by the lyrical accent it was one of the Rigellians.

”No. My armor's a little special. Has to be held in its own rack, away from other armor,” Vuxten said. He paused a second. ”My armor doesn't like other armor.”

”That's what happens when the Crusade modifies your gear,” the Rigellian female, Narwark, said, sitting down next to him. She was dripping, fresh out of the water shower. She started mopping off and Vuxten was again impressed by the sheer mass of her muscles. ”You going to the gym after dinner?”

”Yeah,” Vuxten said, then grinned when his stomach rumbled. ”I'm kinda hungry.”

”They're going to let us use our armor tomorrow,” the Rigellian said, setting down the towel. ”Lots of us can't wait to see your armor in action.”

Vuxten shrugged. ”It's just armor.”

The Rigellian gave him an odd look as he stood up. ”If you say so, Vux.”

----------

”One more, you can do it, Vux,” Senior Sergeant Wargnrawk said, her hands on the bar to keep it from dropping and crushing his chest.

Vuxten strained against the weight, his muscles screaming, as he pushed the bar slowly up. It was actually over his own body weight by nearly five kilograms. He took a deep inhale and exhaled explosively, the bar rising up.

”Nicely done,” Wargnrawk said, using her fingertips to guide the bar onto the brackets.

Vuxten let the bar down and sat up, swinging his arms back and forth.

”Never see a Telkan lift more than his own body weight. Most of you can't get there,” the Rigellian said, handing him a towel.

”Thanks,” Vuxten said, wiping off the end of his muzzle, clearing the sweat from his whiskers.

”Most species can't,” the Rigellian said, taking the towel back. ”Unlike Goliath over there,” she said, nodding toward Casey as she handed Vuxten a bottle of water.

”Uh-huh,” Vuxten said, closing his eyes and taking a drink.

Casey had nearly twenty-five hundred kilos on the bar, in 3.5G. He had four Rigellians helping him, standing there in case his muscles failed.

Vuxten opened his eyes, bumped the cap of the water bottle against his front teeth to push the pull-nozzle down and close the bottle, then set it down.

He watched as Casey did two more slow reps.

”Can you imagine having that kind of power?” The Rigellian sighed.

”Not even in armor,” Vuxten admitted.