"Lessons"
 by Ensign T'Kang


** Earlier **

T'Kang shuffled to his left avoiding the straight Xenexian 
blade as it swished by his head.  Twirling his Bat'leth around 
his right arm, he blocked the Tactical Officer's blow and 
threw a hard left palm strike to Calenzie's face, sending Nal 
staggering backwards.

"You fight well for a human!"  T'Kang taunted.  His eyes 
were wide with warrior's lust as he carefully circled to his 
right and continued twirling his two handed blade.

Nal licked the trace of blood off of his lower lip as his eyes 
narrowed.  "That's Xenexian.  Not human."

"Xenexian, Human, what difference does it make?!"  the 
Klingon gloated.   T'Kang was larger than Calenzie, and 
much stronger.  Already the Ensign had taken to using his 
size and strength to his advantage.

Nal was impressed at how strong and how quick the bulky 
Klingon Warrior was.  But for all his might, he was still not as 
fast as one born on Xenex.  Even the Thallonian Empire was 
no match for Calenzie or his people.

"Perhaps you need to be shown!" Calenzie retorted, taking 
up a furious series of swooping strikes that quickly had the 
Klingon on the defensive and shuffling backwards.

"So there is passion in your veins after all!  I was beginning 
to think you nothing but a nuch!"  T'Kang growled.

"A Coward?!  You mistake good up bringing and manners 
for cowardice T'Kang.  One does not need to be a Ha'DIbaH 
to be a skilled warrior!"  Nal replied as he continued to get 
the better of T'Kang with his swordsmanship.

"Ah, so you speak Klingoneese!  Most impressive.  I would 
of thought you to have studied Ferengi at the Academy."

Calenzie smiled while continuing to back the Klingon up with 
his sword.  Experience had taught the Lieutenant' that a 
warrior was not this easily backed up unless he wanted to 
be.   T'Kang was planning something.  Nal could sense it in 
his veins.

"Now let me show you how a true warrior handles a blade!"  
T'Kang boasted.   Using his massive strength, the Klingon 
used his Bat'leth held in both hands to shove Calenzie's 
body backwards before charging the Tactical Officer with a 
series of advancing downward strikes, any one of which had 
sufficient force to split a man's skull in two.    T'Kang was 
big, fast and powerful.  It took all of Nal's agility to avoid the 
singing bat'leth.   While Calenzie scuffled backwards across 
the holo-deck, T'Kang began to laugh at the seeming panic 
in his eyes.

"Who is the scared Ha'DIbaH now my friend?  You scurry 
away like a rabbit!"  T'Kang laughed.

Planting his rear leg at just the right spot, and at precisely 
the right moment, Lieutenant' Calenzie swung his blade 
around and hooked the Klingon's bat'leth, effectively 
disarming him and executing a hip-throw with the same 
fluidic movement.   T'Kang landed on the ground with a 
crash.  Seconds later the Xenexian's blade rested gently on 
the underside of the Klingon's throat.

"Who is the animal now my friend?"  Nal said softly with a 
hint of a smile.

T'Kang's eyes widened momentarily before his usual 
frowning expression returned.  "I should have seen that one 
coming.."

Calenzie laughed before reaching a hand down to help the 
Klingon to his feet and handing his bat'leth back to him.  
"You fight well T'Kang.  Given a few lessons, you'd make an 
excellent Xenexian soldier."

T'Kang just grumbled at the thought.  He was embarrassed 
at having his bat'leth taken away.  He obviously needed to 
spend more time practicing in the gymnasium.  "You fought 
honorably Lieutenant'.  I seem to have underestimated your 
abilities with a blade."

Nal smiled knowingly.

"It is something that will not happen again!"  T'Kang growled 
angrily.

Just then the holo-deck portal appeared and Dean came 
walking in.

"Anything the matter Ensign?"  Lieutenant' Calenzie asked.  
Both he and T'Kang were dripping with sweat from their 
workout together.

"No, not really.  I need to speak to Ensign T'Kang for a few 
minutes.  The Computer said he was in here so I thought I'd 
check."  Jack explained.

"The Lieutenant' and I were just finishing."  T'Kang bellowed, 
still upset over being beaten by Nal.

"If now is not a good time,  I could talk to you later."  Jack 
offered in response to T'Kang's tone.

Calenzie smirked slightly and shook his head.  "I think the 
Ensign is just a little miffed at being beaten by yours truly."

"Klingons do not get miffed."  T'Kang seethed.

"Whatever."  Nal smiled wiping the back of his neck off with 
a towel before turning to leave.  "If you'll excuse me Ensign 
Dean, I have bridge duty in twenty minutes."

Dean nodded and watched the Lieutenant' leave.  
Swallowing slightly while looking at T'Kang's bat'leth, Jack 
asked, "I need to ask you a few questions about crewman 
O'Donald.."

*****

** Present **

The repairs to the warp injectors was completed without 
incident.  T'Kang was happy, if that were possible for the 
genuinely sour demeanored Klingon, that the Intrepid was 
underway so they could monitor how well the plasma 
injectors were operating thanks to their realignment repairs.

Lieutenant Hannoyh had let the Ensign supervise the 
reinstallation of the unit back into the warp core, though s/he 
insisted on being present when the actual alignment of the 
injectors was performed.   Lately the Hermat was scarcely 
seen in Main Engineering.  T'Kang was not one taken by 
small talk or rumors, but the word was the Chief Engineer 
was having a thrist with one of the members of the crew.     
T'Kang didn't care about such things.   All that concerned 
him was that the Chief Engineer was not available to do hish 
job.  Which made T'Kang's that much more difficult.

"Frainar III"  T'Kang mumbled in a grumpy tone.  "We've 
been reduced to a delivery freighter sending supplies to a 
back water planet infected with the flu."   The Klingon shook 
his head, "Just what I joined Starfleet for."  The Klingon said 
sarcastically remembering his father's tales of great space 
battles and Klingon deeds of heroism.   As the Klingon's 
thoughts turned to the past and the house of Crass, his 
expression soured even more.  His house disbanded.  His 
family name stricken from the Klingon journals.   Those 
family members that were not killed forced to live a life of 
servitude to the conquering houses.    T'Kang's fist clenched 
tightly at the unpleasant thought.

"Plasma flow is operating at one hundred percent efficiency 
sir."

The voice shook the Klingon out of his thoughts of a beaten 
family house and back to the here and now.  "What?"

Crewman O'Donald took a small step forward and repeated.  
"The plasma injectors. They are working at full efficiency 
now sir."

T'Kang regarded the fiery red head that had inadvertently 
caused him so much trouble.  An over sight really.  A 
warrior's clumsiness grabbing her wrist so and causing her 
harm.  The Klingon would have to make a conscious effort to 
never let his emotions get away from him like that again.   
His strength could seriously harm the humans on this vessel 
with who he served.

"Yes.  The repairs were successful.  Your help was of great 
aid in finishing the job."  T'Kang fumbled, trying to keep his 
tone civil as the many counselors from Starfleet Academy 
had constantly reminded him during etiquette training.

"Maybe you would like to join me for lunch in the mess hall 
sir?"  O'Donald asked.

T'Kang glanced at the petite officer and shook his head.  
He'd rather get another bat'leth lesson from Calenzie than 
sit and socialize with an eager engineer trainee.  Frankly the 
thought terrified him.

"No.  I have work to do here.  You go on and have a 
pleasant meal."  The Klingon said both curtly and in a loud, 
warrior's tone.

"Okay."  O'Donald replied with a hint of disappointment in 
her tone.

T'Kang watched as the crewman walked off and exited main 
engineering before tapping up the display and inspecting the 
plasma flow efficiency readouts for himself.


<<  OOC: Ensign T'Kang's Biography can be seen at
http://www.spectr.com/dmz/tkang.html  >>