[Robert "Bobby" Oxford Jr]

1735
Admiral Oxford's office

Setting the glasses on the closed file, Matt studied Bobby with a intense gaze that would soon have the other man squirming where he said. Interloping his fingers, the Admiral leaned back on his seat as his mind ran over the report he had just read. There were things in there that hinted of something more that wasn't jotted down. "What did you do?" His voice was patient and soft. He knew something was up with the bandaged hand he had noticed.

"Nothing," Bobby denied easily. Admitting that he had struck an IOA in the face to the ranking officer before him was not a bright idea. The gaze was internally making him squirm. He had never forgotten that one way or another the elder Oxford would find out. Bobby could never understand just how Matt knew things that he did.

"ROBERT," Matt warned firmly as if he was talking to a ten year old rather then a man in his mid forties. "Let's try again. Cowden and you in one room. Doesn't look like nothing happened. Although its not in the report, but I do sense something happened." Bad blood between the two was well known. After all Cowden did try throwing Uncle Bobby out of the Navy years ago and placing the blame squarely on the Admiral's shoulders was not something Matt had forgotten easily.

Cringing at the name Matt used, Bobby swore. He hated being called Robert as it was more suited to his old man than him, "Other than Cowden being an ass," Bobby spoke, "he thinks that loosing the ship is our fault. He doesn't get it." Bobby was skating on thin ice if Matt's expression was anything to go by.

"ROBERT JASON," Matt leaned over, "you are going to plop your butt on that seat and tell me the whole story."

He opened his mouth to say something, and closed after seeing the expression; sat on the seat and only let a deadly silence to seep over them.

<<Tag: Lequana Ka'ti of Partho, Nick Harper, Blake Warren, Steve Hamrick, William Huxley, Akash Malhotra and Isabelle Cooper>>

[Blake Warren]

1735
Anthropology/Archaelogy/Linguistics Laboratory Area

Blake flicked through the information that had come back with the formerly-missing ship and people. He checked the silvertone watch that looked too big on his wrist. Steve was still working, and so Blake kept on through the reports.

A chair moved behind and he looked up to see Emma Forest smiling. "What?"

Dr. Forest shook her head. "It's nice to see you in a better mood these past few days, that's all."

He unceremoniously handed her a report stack. "Here you go, SV-3 and the Magadhans. Steve's writing style gives me a headache. I'll go over the information on the asteroid belt pirates they met."

"Didn't he type your dissertation?"

"I dictated and he typed. I don't type 80 WPM." Blake spun his chair around. "Space pirates, honest to God space pirates. Wonder if any of them look liked Johnny Depp."

"Clones, too."

"There's that."

"Akash is so going to take everything out on you when he limps back into this lab tomorrow morning."

Blake quietly raised the report in front of him. "Steve's nicer than Akash and Miss Cooper will think he is by the time he's used to them."

<<tag Robert "Bobby" Oxford Jr, Lequana Ka'ti of Partho, Nick Harper>>

[Steve Hamrick]

1735
Gym

Steve folded his uniform jacket and laid it on one of the benches and sat on the bench to unlace his combat boots to switch out for his sneakers. So far, it looked like SV-3 was going to continue as a unit.

Steve started to stretch until either Malhotra and Cooper showed up, or if they didn't he'd just go running. He was pretty sure Huxley was covering something in the base infirmary, but the tech sergeant was not one of the members of this team that needed any combatives training.

<<tag Isabelle Cooper, Akash Malhotra, William Huxley>>

[Isabelle Cooper]

1735
Gym

Isabelle entered the gym clearly frustrated about something, she saw Lt. Colonel Hamrick but did not greet him like she usually would. "Che idiota fa una cosa del genere!" she muttered as she walked past him to the other end of the bench, "Gli americani non pensare cose del genere?!" Isabelle threw her hands up in the air and spun back around to face Steve only to remember what language she had been speaking in all this time. "My apologizes Colonel." she said with a sigh she ran her hand through her hair, suddenly having the urge to pull it back. 

She pushed a hand into her jacket pocket, pulled out a hair band and soon had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, "Now, your note said something about defense training?" Isabelle gave Steve a look, "I am not exactly the fighter type." she told him with a small laugh. 

Tag: Steve Hamrick 


*"What idiot does something like that!"
**"Do Americans not think about things like that?!"

[Steve Hamrick]

1735
Gym

"Channel that fury I was hearing and you'll be fine, Miss Cooper. 'Idiot' and 'American' I think were cognates? I'm going to assume you're not talking about me so we can work together better."

As she pulled back her hair, he checked that she had the right shoes. Well, lack of shoes. But it would do. "We'll give Malhotra a few more minutes. Nothing crazy right now, just some very basic chokes, mounts, and arm bars. Let you stay alive long enough for me or Huxley to track the sound of screaming for help in Italian."

And yeah, he had glanced around the gym a bit for who she was talking to. He wasn't used to the new rank yet. Even if it was, finally, a promotion that Blake had been able to stand up with him at and help pin the new insignia.

<<tag Akash Malhotra, William Huxley>>

[Deleted]

1735
Corridor towards Command

Fiala ran her fingers over her pad as she continued to look over the security of the base in more detail with the return of there people.

" OK Lt. we seem to be back on track with the details, as of response time, well we could improve on that and how many was it you wanted to keep ?" Fiala said as she slowly moved down the corridor.

" I agree on the response times, They could do with a lot more improvement. I'd like to just keep Lt. Burns, I'd keep more but I know there needed else were, were as at least I know Lt. Burns will get the times better." Fiala could only agreed with his choice, knowing Lt. Burns was the best choice.

" OK I'll have words with the boss and see you keep him for now, Just make use of him as you'll more than likely just keep hi for the week. Fiala was surprised how quickly she had picked up to be able to use the pad, expect when walking she found herself walking snail pace and a hazard to other walkers.

With a thanks the Lieutenant went his way as Fiala made continued towards command.

<Tag Robert "Bobby" Oxford Jr,Nick Harper, Blake Warren, Steve Hamrick, William Huxley,Akash Malhotra,Isabelle Cooper >

[Isabelle Cooper]

1736
Gym

Isabelle gave him a look, he was talking about learning to fight and Izzy wasn't a fighter, least not physically, she prefered words if given a choice, though she had a feeling the people who were not to fond of the expedition members would think otherwise. God forbid they run into space pirates again...or worse. 

"I am not to sure how this will go, but I am willing to learn. It couldn't hurt." she told him after a moment, Cooper took off her jacket and like Steve, neatly set it on the bench. "As for my frustration, it is not directed at you, though if it will help I can try to find some reason for me to be mad at you" 

[Steve Hamrick]

1736
Gym

"Everybody starts somewhere, Miss Cooper." He looked at the diplomat. Steve had learned to fight as a teen, pure self-defense. "My old man made sure I could throw a punch and block one, but there's more than that in the MAP, but this'll be basic stuff."

"Focus on the fact that it's halfway to 6 at night and you're here, that should do just perfect." He got down on his back and waved her to the gym mats. "Before you can accomplish any way to disable your opponent, you have to get into a dominant body position. There's four standard positions, the mount, the guard, the rear mount, and side control. Each position gives you an increasing level of control over what the other guy can do. The mount is the most dominant body position. You're on their stomach, the tops of your feet flat to the floor and your knees are jammed up in the other's guy armpits. They have to both protect their face from fist sandwiches and try to flip you off at the same time. And for people who have body weight on their side, you can sit there all day and they can't budge you."

And he really wished he had a demonstrator, but he'd decided against ordering Huxley to come. There was no way he could say it that didn't sound like innuendo. Darnit, it wouldn't be this awkward with a female servicemember, someone used to getting up and close with guys without much blushing about it.

"Get into position on my stomach, don't worry about your weight, these abs are washboard. Knees up in the armpits, you want to take my arms out of the equation so I can't keep you off my chest."

<<tag Isabelle Cooper, William Huxley, Akash Malhotra>>

<<Visual Aid>>

[Isabelle Cooper]

1736
Gym

She watched him lay down on the mat before slowly moving towards him, "I have only seen one man with actual washboard abs before," Izzy looked down at Steve, "And while they were nice to look at, I personally prefer a little bit of fluff around the middle." while she was nervous, she knew Steve had no interest in getting frisky, which made her feel much better about getting up close and personal. 

Stepping over him she lowered herself till she was just about sitting on his stomach, even though he had said her weight wouldn't bother him. "Knees in the armpits," she reminded herself as she shifted her legs so there were where they needed to be and set her full weight on his chest. Isabelle could start to see how what he told her would work. "So what now? Is this when I start hitting you in the face?" she asked with a nervous laugh. 

[Steve Hamrick]

1737
Gym

Even as Steve raised his forearms in the proper position of protecting his face, he broke into laughter. "Then you and Blake have different types! God, straight guys are lucky women aren't as shallow as men."

But as for what they were doing. "Hit, choke, whatever would you let kill me or keep me from killing you. Now, in my position there's things I can do to defend myself."

Steve moved his arms and forcefully jammed his elbows to her thighs to try to shove her back. "I can place my arms to create some distance and keep you back off my chest. If you're not quite sitting on me, like you are, I can buck and kill your balance,"

He did it faster than he could say it, trapping her foot and grabbing her arm with both hands spaced well apart and flipped her over. "Beer can grip with one hand, thumbless grip with the other, and pull to the side while flipping your body and trapping their foot with your leg to keep them from protecting their balance. Now, your next move should be to lock your legs around my upper body, and that will still give you a dominant position, the guard. I can try to attack you, but you're using the strongest muscles you have to move me wherever the hell you want me. My priority has to be to break your guard. If I try to attack, I have no leverage to do anything."

He added one more point as he stayed in place to let her try to lock the guard. "The longer it takes to complete the guard, the longer I have to get into a proper mount on you and choke you to death with your own shirt collar."

<<Visual Aid>>

[Akash Malhotra]

1735
History Labs

Akash sighed as he closed the book and gazed at the time. Realising that he was late for some training by his Marine CO. He had gotten the memo but reading all they had brought from the AU was absorbing him and he didn't leave when he got to the good parts. He was working away on request from the Admiral on the clues to the attack and what caused it so the same could be avoided here or at least they had enough heads up to save as many as they could should the base be attacked on such scale. Tapping the book for awhile longer, before Akash made a note on the diary to speak for Pratt and Warren as well. Forward planning never harmed anyone and he hoped that Admiral's youngest brother would come with a battle plan.

After all, Akash mused as he headed towards the door; the Colonel was combat specialist as well veteran of the Program. Switching the lights off, the historian made his way towards the gym.

1736
Gym

Forgetting to change he walked in to see Cooper and Hamrick already in a session which meant he could watch from the distance. Combing his facial hair he made a beeline for the bench and watched the duo. All in all these moves were going to help them off-world to for self defense or in battle when weapons weren't allowed. Basic training might be a good thing just keep them all in top shape. He was sure he had lost weight since arriving here.

He could blame it on the lame food as nothing was better than a home cook meals. Once he was back home he could pester his mother.

<<Tag: Lequana Ka'ti of Partho, Nick Harper, Blake Warren, Steve Hamrick, William Huxley, Akash Malhotra and Isabelle Cooper>>

[Blake Warren]

1736
Anthropology/Archaelogy/Linguistics Laboratory Area

Blake did one last thing as readied himself to head for the mess hall, sending three emails. Well, one email to three people, with an attachment. Might make Signora Cooper and Akash feel better while nursing their bruises.

As the email program finished, Blake clicked the computer shut and left the lab, intending to just drop through the gate area and then go to the mess.

1737
Corridor towards Gateroom/Control Room

He was just distracted enough that it took him a moment to recognize Skala, still grateful for her ability to keep control of things with the little incident. "Lieutenant! You're headed for the gate room? I just wanted to thank you, I can't quite remember if I got a good opportunity to do so during the craziness before. And Major Harris, have you seen her around? I was actually just headed for the mess hall, I've heard it's meatloaf tonight."

<<tag Lequana Ka'ti of Partho>>

[Grant Fulcur]

1737
Gym

Grant was exhausted. Recalled from Vedas for Homeland operations by the CIA, Grant was boots down and full steam ahead into the Middle East. Tensions had been high between Israel and Palestine and things had hit the boiling point, and as much of an honor as it was, the frustration of being on the CIAs shortlist whenever the president called for the best was real, but the CIA needed their most trusted agents, and so Grant had been tapped.

2 months stationed out of and around Jappa had led to multiple combat and infiltration scenarios aimed at stopping what the government considered a civil war from breaking out between the Israelis and Palestinians, and even after the premier service order had been reminded, Russia reared its ugly head in the Ukraine, forcing Grant into service again. It was only after a short stint out of Turkey, in Chad tracking the Boko Haram and a final week back in Mosul training guerrilla militia to defend Iraq that the CIA removed him from the Eastern front.

And it was only then that Grant cursed out his superiors for removing him from Vedas right when they bumbled everything. Reading reports about a lost cruiser and an alternate reality, which would have made his head spin before going undercover back in the fall of 2013, only served to make him charge into his bosses office and slam the reports on his desk.

Grant had warned them that Vedas, while harboring the best of intentions, was a disorganized mess and a ticking time-bomb waiting to happen, and it was only after the capture of the Shiva that the government oversight committee elected to send in the IOA. But this too had its drawbacks; the IOA looked into the CIA as well, and if they were looking into Vedas, they knew Grant was CIA and might blow his cover just for an entertaining line of questioning.

Grant hoped they would be more civil and professional, but the IOA often were lose cannons and were the embodiment of red tape in Grant's eyes. If there was an enemy to be had when it came to the freedom of movement Grant needed to do his job for the CIA at Vedas, it was the IOA. But for now, Grant's job was to blend back in. Grant had been in charge of the armory back when he was stationed at Vedas and had requested to reassume that role, but had yet to hear back from the Oxfords on where they were assigning him on base. Until then, Grant wandered the base, getting reacquainted with its halls and acquainted with its new personal.

----

Grant entered the gym and saw an all-too-familiar yet still amusing sight; a civie being taught the techniques of ground submission. It was only weeks ago grant was teaching the Iraqis similar excursuses. Grant grinned a little bit, knowing the soldier on the mat was probably getting a rise from the female currently straddling him. Might as well give him something to think about, Grant posited.

"You're timid," He called out to Isabelle, "Remember: he's trying to kill you. Kill him first."

Grant walked over and leaned on the wall next to the bench, curious to see if she would take his advice. He addressed its occupant, a man he recognized as Akash:

"You done this before?"

 <TAG: Akash Malhotra , Steve Hamrick , Isabelle Cooper ; Robert "Bobby" Oxford Jr ; Blake Warren ; Lequana Ka'ti of Partho >

[Isabelle Cooper]

1737
Gym

Isabelle was listening to what Steve was telling her and didn't see the others enter the gym,  "I can place my arms to create some distance and keep you back off my chest. If you're not quite sitting on me, like you are, I can buck and kill your balance," he dug his elbows into her thighs, so she pressed her knees in tighter. 

Her attention was drawn from Steve as she heard someone speaking to her, "You're timid, Remember: he's trying to kill you. Kill him first." Isabelle turned her head to Grant, but no sooner did she do did Steve move and she suddenly found herself on her back, pinned to the mat. Steve's weight on her chest knocked the air from her lungs, "The longer it takes to complete the guard, the longer I have to get into a proper mount on you and choke you to death with your own shirt collar." 

"Oh avvitare questo." she muttered, making her right hand into a fist she brought it up and slammed it as hard as she could into Steves jaw in an attempt to get him off of her. Of course she didn't mean to hurt him, if her hit did anything, she just didn't want to be killed. Not that would happen here anyway. At this point she wanted him off her. 

[Steve Hamrick]

1737
Gym

He'd been about to move her ankle to demonstrate the guard and get her to properly close it, when some unwelcome input came from the peanut gallery.

And he wasn't expecting Cooper to swing, not particularly effectively even with her managing to properly connect. Too much distance and no leverage. And he'd taken fists in the face from much stronger, bigger and far more offended men. Still, he'd give her points for spunk. He rubbed and worked his jaw some while grabbing one of her ankles.

"She's not timid, she just doesn't know sh!t yet! The guard's a crap position to attack from anyway until she closes it at minimum." He turned his attention back to her.

"The effort's good, Cooper, but the guard, if you'd flipping actually cross your ankles tight and close it, is the least dominant position and unwise to attempt to attack from. Your goal is to control what I can do by jerking me around and then flipping me back over to get a more dominant position, while I try to pass your guard."

But if, Buttinski wanted to help. Steve turned enough and leaned back on his calves in Cooper's unclosed guard to see the rank. "Malhotra, you can wait for me to finish the position drills with Cooper, or you can work with Major Peanut Gallery if he's willing. Getting in and out of dominant positions and then chokes from those dominant positions, with some arm bar techniques. I'm not going crazy with more advanced techniques on them yet."

<<tag Akash Malhotra, Grant Fulcur, Isabelle Cooper>>