Minerva had put on her gym outfit and headed down to the gym. She had though her hand to hand skills were adequate, but her missions had shown they were woefully incomplete. She need to become more skilled, before she went out to another mission.

After a bit of digging around in the ADD database, Minerva found a SFA who was willing to teach her a bit more about the martial arts. Nallia was a relatively new addition to ADD forces, but already her fighting style had been talked about throughout the ADD. Minerva hoped learning from such a person would help her out.

Minerva had spent the last half hour getting ready for her first sparring session. Little did Minerva realize what she was getting herself into.

Nallia had been in the gym for the past hour, her body moving through the various stretches and exercises that she had been taught to go through before beginning a hunt. Not that this was a hunt, she had been contacted by someone asking for some hand to hand lessons. But being fully limber before what could potentially be very frantic movement would be useful.

She wore her usual armour, and her weapons were leaning against the wall. She saw no point in practising in anything less than full combat gear. Her visor was also leaning against the wall, and her yellow eyes constantly darted around the room. Her gaze was unsettling, and the other agents who had been in the room had long since left.

Well except for the four agents who now stood around her. Nallia had gained a reputation as a unarmed fighter, and these four agents had taken offence to a new member being considered better than them. Those three had been taunting her, and trying to distract her and make her fall. Of course Nallia's patience had finally snapped, and now the four agents stood ready in a loose circle around her.

Nallia heard the door open, and as another agent stepped in she used the distraction it had created to move. By the time the first agent had realised she was moving three carefully aimed strikes had caused her to collapse on the floor, the nerve clusters Nallia had struck spasming from the impacts. The others recovered and tried to move to engage Nallia, but with the reaction speed differences and all her foes now in a single field of view it was a matter of seconds before they had joined their companion in groaning on the ground.

Only once the immediate threat was gone did Nallia turn to face the agent who had unintentionally provided the distraction that Nallia had exploited. Stepping over the groaning agents she moves over to the agent who had stepped in the room. Coming to a stop in front of her Nallia's eyes suddenly focus exclusively on her, and a predatory glint shines in her eyes. Would you be Minerva Rocha by any chance?

Minerva walked into gym just in time to see a flurry of movement. A blond haired woman clad in battle armor was surrounded by four of her fellow agents. In a quick three strikes, the blond in armor had disabled one of the agents. The other three agents attempted to react but in seconds they too were disabled. The blond satisfied with her work turned to ask Minerva to identify herself.

Umm, Yes, yes I am Minerva. Are those agents going to be alright.

Nallia offers Minerva a smile, that combined with her eyes, would send a shiver up most humans spines. Nallia had been trained as a hunter, and even now she generally saw most beings as prey, even the other ADD agents. That showed in her eyes, and in her expressions. When in a group of agents her face blanked out and she became shy and meek. But here, with no-one else present, her more predatory side shows through.

The strikes were simple nerve blows, their minds should be able to work through the mess of signals soon enough and than they will be fine, well a little sore in a few choice locations. My name is Nallia V'latora. You wanted some unarmed combat lessons, correct?

Of course to most fighters there was be nothing simple about those strikes. A hard sharp blow to clusters of nerves which would overload the nervous system and leave the victim unable to move. But to Nallia such strikes were her basic attack, and she treated them as simple as a result.

Even if she hadn't seen Nallia's prowess before, Minerva would be able to tell just from her eyes how dangerous Nallia. You don't give that 'look' unless you have the skill and mentality to back it up. Minerva would be quite scared if she met Nallia in a dark alley, even in brightly lit gym in the middle of armed base Minerva was a little nervous.

Correct, it appears you would be an excellent teacher. I have not done so well in my last few brushes with hand-to-hand fighting and I would like to improve a great deal. Would you be able to teach me?

I am able, but if you actually learn anything will come down to you. First off, do you expect to be fighting shuro in that? Nallia pointed at Minerva's gym outfit in the off chance she didn't realise what Nallia was referring to. My first piece of advice would be to actually wear some armour. The extra protection comes in handy. Nallia's voice had been teasing, but when she continued all trace of that tease had vanished to be replaced with a cold emotionless tone.

Why would we practice in anything less than full armour? Always practice at your hardest level, and you will find it much easier to apply that practice to an easier set of equipment than vice versa. Wait for a few seconds and I'll gather my stuff and we will go get you some proper armour to practice in. While I'm doing this could you tell me what you already know about unarmed combat, and your attempts to use it against shuro. As Nallia said the word 'shuro', which was the Kaji word for slaver, she started walking towards her equipment which currently rested on the wall. While Minerva answered her question she picked up her various weapons and they were latched onto her mesh bodysuit.

Minerva was a bit mad at herself for disappoint her teacher straight away. She had gone in her gym outfit, because she was heading to the gym. She didn't even think about training in her armor. But as Nallia had pointed out, she should be training in her heaviest set of armor.

I have some hand to hand training in the ROTC back on Earth. But they expected to try to use your bayonet first and fullmost. If you lose your weapon, you are in way over your head.

And let me guess, they also teach you to fight humans, which have roughly the same physical capabilities and limits? Even amongst the ADD the melee training is designed for use against humans, which means when you do encounter a shuro you are unprepared to face something with vastly different physical capabilities. And as such you generally lose.

Nallia finished clipping on her weapons, and placed her visor over her eyes. She felt the brief pain as a dozen wires slipped through the pores of her skin and attached themselves to the nerves connecting her eyes, but it was a pain she was used to and it faded quickly. The enhancement provided by her visor more than made up for the brief flare of pain she felt when putting it on.

Lead the way to where-ever your usual armour is currently being held. As Minerva, closely followed by Nallia, walked out of the room Nallia asked another question. And what have you encounters with shuro been like?

Well, there are no shuro on Earth, so we are only taught to fight humans since that is all there is. So really this is my first time to fight beings with different physical capabilities than myself.

Minerva watch as Nallia placed her visor on. It looked like nothing held in place, it seemed weird. She wasn't sure how it held on, but it had to be uncomfortable. Still Nallia showed no physical reaction, so she must have done that you so many times that she was use to it.

Minerva began to head out to her room where she had a spare set of armor. Well, I only had a couple of encounters. The first encounter was with a Syrictae named Rahs. He was very capable fighter from what I read and I realized that despite my orders I didn't have much of a chance against him. So I attempted to drug him, that didn't work.

The other was against a strange alien that had disabled the squadron I was in. I thought I had managed to finally disabled his craft and forced it to crash on a uninhabitted planet. However, it was just a ruse for him to force me down on the planet so he could hunt me. After playing cat and mouse with me for a while, he caught me after a melee fight between the two of us.

Nallia waited until Minerva finished talking and the two were walking through the corridors before responding Just because they are not their it does not mean you cannot train to fight them. The problem is that human organisations are not interested in discovering a combat style that can be applied to all races equally, regardless of strength or speed. I have noticed that humans are one of the most adaptable species in the galaxy, in fact my mentor considered them to have the potential to become the main force in the galaxy. If they were given the time to build themselves up and advance their technology. However that is getting off topic.

What I can offer you is not a fixed style, there are no set attacks or techniques. What I use in my Horii, my hunts, is opportunity. Trying to drug a vastly superior foe is a good basic plan, but their must have been a flaw somewhere in it, either plan or execution, since it failed. As for the second ... that sounds exactly like the sort of trap I, or my mentor, would use. Draw them down into your terrain. pick the field before the battle begins, and use your opening moves to draw them into it. If you manage that, then the Horii is already half won. Assess their strengths and weaknesses, and find the environment that gives you the greatest edge. If they are big find somewhere that size become a liability, if they are stealthy find somewhere with open lines of sight and no cover. Identify your target, assess their capabilities, and strike at their weakest point. Do not give them a chance to respond, do not give them warning that you exist, or about what you know.

To use an opportunity you must be able to see them. First Test for your lari, or your eyes. How much faster than you am I? You have seen me move at full speed back into the gym, so you should be able to guess how fast I am relative to you.

Minerva thought about, she had blown through the four ADD agents like they were nothing. Only the first was even worthy of three quick strikes, and she didn't realized she was hit until the third strike came down. You are significantly faster than me. The others stood no chance against you individually, they really only had a chance by having you surrounded where you couldn't see all of them.

Once I walked in the the room, the situation changed and you managed to take out one relatively quickly. More importantly you placed yourself in a situation, where the three remaining ones were in front of you. You could then see where all them at all times and attack each one individual as they attempted to respond.

Nallia sighed in annoyance at Minerva's answer. Not because it was a bad assessment, it was a fairly competent one, but because it did not answer the question Nallia had asked. A good assessment, but not what I was asking. Significantly faster is to vague, and you cannot make a plan based on something that imprecise. I will ask again. Relative to you how much faster am I? Am I twice as fast, three times, four, five? When assessing something always assume your own abilities are '100'. From there you need to rate their capabilities and assign numbers that use the same scale.

Nallia went silent as she waited for Minerva to supply an answer. In a Horii you could not take risks and base plans off vague, imprecise data. It left to much to chance, and potentially let your opponents weakness go unnoticed, and their strengths unchecked.

Minerva sighed, her answer wasn't good enough for Nallia. She wanted to exactly how much faster Nallia was compared to her. Minerva thought about it for a moment. Minerva knew little about the ADD agents Nallia faced, but based on what Nallia stated, the average ADD agent had to be about the same as herself.

With Nallia being able to score three strikes before the first ADD agent could respond so therefore the answer was clear. You are about four times faster than I, since you moved and struck three times before I expect myself to respond.

Nallia offered a smile to Minerva at her reply. We will see just how close you are to being correct shortly. Nallia would soon offer Minerva a chance to discover just how much faster Nallia was. If Minerva had guessed wrong Nallia would just have to come up with a suitable reprimand.

Nallia looked at a door they were approaching, her visor shifting vision modes as it scanned through the walls and door to peer into the room beyond. Looking at the items inside and zooming on several different factors Nallia offered Minerva an extra smile. Pointing at the door she asked Is that your room?

Minerva was a bit surprised, when Nallia made her comment. It was becoming apparent that her test would begin soon enough. Minerva watched as Nallia seemed to be staring at the walls, or perhaps through the walls. Yes, that is my room.