[center]Rea'c & Kayle[/center]

-One hour before hyperspace reversion- 

Rea'c blocked a blow that was aimed far too high before bending his right leg to lower himself rapidly where he then kicked the marines thigh to hear a pop as the bone was dislocated. Instantly there were weapons trained on him and he removed a zat from his hip and training it on the nearest soldier. "We are merely training. Sheath your weapons."

To the modern civilian, the Langford’s insides would’ve been like a maze. A series of interwoven paths and hallways, their sections seemed endless in their far stretch as Kay’s boot clipped upon the metal flooring in her way to the gym. She had gotten the location from one of the officers on duty that one of the Jaffa, Rea’c, had been spotted entering it. Her mind had already guessed at the reason and was likely not off the mark. More and more, Kay was becoming thankful she had spent her time retracing most the ship in her spare time. If she didn’t, it was likely it would’ve taken much longer to reach her destination, instead lost for hours in a frustrating amble. That idea caused a shiver to be sent through her spine. Kay didn’t like wasting her energy for no gain, even less if she was failing at her goal and to top it off, she would’ve looked rather foolish. 

Upon reaching and entering the gym door, she was greeted by a sight Kay hadn’t expected. Or wanted. 

The Jaffa had his zat out, trained upon the nearest private as if ready to attack or defended himself, while several had returned the gesture in kind. A slight irritation had entered Kay at the display. Upon the mat was a man who held his thigh and seemed to biting the back the need to scream, his face twisted up into a painful expression. His other arm held his chest off the floor while he tried to get to a knee on his good leg only to sudden been forced to lean on it and support his body barely. It was hard for Kayle to realize what might’ve happened. A sparring match which didn’t seem to go as it should’ve, ended in the private’s being injured in some fashion that caused the Langford’s men to over react. Though why they had live weapons within the training was a mystery to her, though she couldn’t call the kettles black as she carried a knife on her person at all times and drew comfort from it. Kay resisted the urge to groan at this inconvenience. 

Instead she took a step into the room, her chest inhaled, before she came to an abrupt halt within the room’s confines. Her arms pinned to her side as she did a quickly, slightly sloppy, pan around for any higher ranking officer. There fortunately seemed like there were were none on her first and only look. Her voice barked out in authority and command. “Hold your fire, stand down. Secure your weapons.” 

The sudden appearance of her voice startled one or two, their bodies jumped for a brief second, while the rest froze in place. One or two heads turned to see the 2nd Lt. standing patiently there for her orders to be followed but the rest seemed to have no need to confirm the origins, her voice enough to convince them. A moment passed by before they started to holster their weapons, their movements filled with hesitation and caution, their eyes stilled set upon the Jaffa in case he became hostile again. The tension in the room was thicker than Kay would’ve liked and felt that if even a spark was lite, the whole scenario would’ve picked up where it left again. 

Kay made a mental note to the Captain to mention this incident and hopefully prevent it from happening next time. She doubted she would be around the next time to stop the escalation. After all, nothing strained foreign relationship like a miscommunication and death. She started to pull closer to Rea’c, who would likely know at least her name, and the man down upon the mat. Her expression was fixed in a disapproving one though it was hard to tell for whom it for. 

Without wasting much time, Kay’s steps quicken to the fallen man and knelt on one knee to check his status. Pressing two fingers together, she whispered kindly to the suffering man, a dislocation nothing short of pain, as she noted the odd look of his hip socket through the thick pants. It was barely notable if not for the fact he was cradling the area and hissed when she touched it as his body flinched from her touch. “At ease, Private. Looks like a dislocation and risk relocating could cripple him.”

Kay slowly started to push the man over to his back and her hand reached for her radio to call in a medic for the man. 

After she motioned for two others to tend for the fallen man, the cleaning of Rea’c mess over with, she turned her focus onto the Jaffa. Kayle’s arm rested upon her upraised knee before she pushed off to stand on her feet and turned to him. “You realize, dislocations aren’t the best teaching methods with Tau'ri. Mainly since your partner can’t get up to try again, at least without further injury. I often thought that defeats the point of sparring or at least its effectiveness.”

Rea’c sheathed his Zat onto his own thigh and he moved over to the rear of the room. “I shall bear in mind your rules and regulations. However Jaffa see sparring as being done in order to improve oneself and preparing them for battle. In battle injuries may be sustained that could incapacitate you. With un-experienced warriors this must be taught and by the moves he was performing I assumed as such. It could have been a lot worse than a minor dislocation, he will be on his feet in no time.” 

He moved over to the back of the room and picked up a wooden representation of a staff weapon. He then twirled it in his right hand, before spinning it around his back and into his left hand before bringing it round again in full circle. “I apologise if I seem to have breached some of your rules and regulations however it would of been good if I had been told before I started sparring with anyone.” He lunged forward before spinning back up and around. “We are a very different people. The Jaffa and the Tauri, not to mention with the Tok’ra brought into that. Our paths may have been similar before when we had one common enemy but now they have diverged.” He checked a watch that he had acquired on Earth to keep track of time the same way the Tauri did. “If there is a way I can make this better please tell me. However soon I must kel’no’reem.”

Kay understood his words, her mind knew a bit of the culture he came from after researching it alongside his language, but it didn’t make them acceptable here on the ship. It just made it slightly easier to condone when it happened, mainly since they were supposed to work together. She sighed a bit when she came upright and straightened her stance. The problem between the Jaffa and Tau’ri was the fact they didn’t think the same. Even when it came to combating the same enemy, prior Stargate and Jaffa tactics had differed from each other. Her eyes watched him retreat before he bent to pick up the wooden duplicate of a staff weapon then skillful twirled it about as if it was a second nature to him, likely a high fact due to how long they learn to use them. A slight pang of jealousy ruffled through her chest but she was careful not to show it.

Despite her efforts, her staff weapon skilled still needed work. Though she could handle the physical sparring better than the shooting part, the weapon relied heavily upon strength to wield it and a graceful hand to twist it about. Only the later she had been best at. When he mentioned making amends before his meditation, Kay’s hand reached for another wooden staff and weighted within her hands. Her silence seemed to span for several minutes until finally, after she had measure the weight and slowly grew use to it, then turned to him.

“I’ve learned from my father, the only way to learn is through hands on experience on it. Since you’re sincere, the best way to make amends is to try to learn how to tone your methods down and still provide the maximum teaching result.” She took a tight hold of the training weapon and continued. “We learn best by inflicting light wounds or simply telling what you could do, instead of doing. For example, if I thrust forward…”

Kay placed both hand accurately in the correct positions then thrust forward but stopped it at the end. It didn’t even come close to touching him as she held it there, her muscles taut and clearly more of a display then an attack. “If I had attacked like this, where am I exposed? Where you could hit for the most damage? To discourage injury, keep in mind I’m due to join you on the Strike team. So injuring me too much would result in someone else, one’s skill you’ve not measured, to take my place. Personally, I think it’s more strategic to know your allies’s strengths as well as their weaknesses to cover for them when needed, isn’t it?” 

Rea’c moved around in a quick succession of moves, he stepped to the right swinging around the tail of the staff to the woman's legs knocking her off her feet. Gently but probably still a little bit too rough something he realized after, this was no Jaffa he was training with. She was not used to pain and though he no longer carried a symbiote the tretonin still allowed him to retain some of the healing abilities left over. Once she was on the ground he pointed what would be the weapon end of the staff at her head. 

“While moving forward and stabbing with your right hand you left your left guard open.You left it open for a low sideswipe in which case I managed to knock you down onto the ground. Had you been a hostile and this a real situation you would be dead.” He extended his arm and helped her up onto her feet before he began leaning on the staff. “This is too advanced to begin with anyway. You are a smaller build, which makes you more agile.” He performed the same move which she had just performed. “These moves are made for strength and for someone more of my build. They rely on strength to knock the wind out of you or alternatively off your feet.” He took a different stance with his legs closer together. “For you to strike you should use movement to build your momentum while also avoiding attacks.”

He stepped twirling the staff under his left shoulder before switching hands to his right and took a turn in the opposite direction swirling lower and switching hands again all the time moving forwards, until at the end he feigned passing over hands and instead thrusted the staff forward and up. “This way you keep your opponent on the defensive while building up your momentum for your final strike. However if your opponent stumbles on the defensive you still get a blow in and open up the way for additional strikes.” He swirled the staff. “I will leave my guard open to the last attack. Attack at will.”

Kay knew it was going to hurt. Her eyes shifted and noted the staff’s movement, the Jaffa’s aim at her legs. She braced but made no move to block it, her body tensed and mind screamed for her to react.

She bit back the yelp which threatened to leap to her lips, her mouth slammed shut and tightly sealed. Pain ruptured through her legs while she landed upon her back, her body curled up to fall in the right way. Her head keep up as one hand cupped over it to protect and fought the instinct to roll onto her side, followed by an impulse to bring her foot up and shot it into his kneecap. She wouldn’t have damaged yet it would’ve affected his aim, allowing her time to bring up her weapon enough to aim for his middle…

However she didn’t. Rather, she chose not to as the man needed to learn how to be gentle and it was difficult to do that with a target that could defend well enough. At least at first. What Kay wanted to show was the fact Tau’ri were adaptable and stubborn, something the Jaffa wouldn’t see if he kept injuring them.

Her eyes looked hard at the weapon now pointed at her face, not a trace of fear or worry that the man could easily bash her head in. She hadn’t been aware her own knuckle whitened upon her weapon, her hand stilled griped it with a white knuckle grasp yet made no movement to bring it up. She forced the pain from her mind while her hand reached for his aid and brought herself up to her feet. Kay could tell her leg would be bruised but only another, much to her regret, but only another hit would tell if he was learning. Besides, for her, a few bruises wouldn’t hurt her in the end. When he had finished his display, she once more took a stance similar to him as Rea’c demonstrated. Her feet pressed together as she started the twirl from her shoulder then out and about, gaining momentum easily. The mimic was decent with the practice she had placed in it when she wasn’t studying up on the language itself, though it would’ve been perfect if she had been able to devote more time to it.

It drew lower then quickly darted up, her right jerked up the heavy end while the other held it down. It lashed at Rea’c’s side, but with barely any of her own forced pushed into the upper thrust. Just enough to keep it from coming too far back and colliding with her face on the pull up. 

Rea’c was impressed, she learned quickly. Or she was more skilled than she let on. His watch beeped and he looked down at it after she executed her list of moves. There was now little time before they were set to exit hyperspace. “I must Kel’no’reem now. However if you wish you are always free to join me if you wish to learn more about my people. Though I assume it is much like what you call your meditation.” 

He moved to the rear of the room and put the practice weapon back where it belonged before putting his top set of robes back on and arranging them correctly. 

Kay’s body stiffened and feet pulled together when the watch upon Rea’c’s wrist beeped, his hand closed around the display then shut off the timer. It seemed their time was up far quicker than Kay honestly wanted as her eyes hid the disappointment. The wooden staff was tilted upright, her hand easily placed to stand at her side in wait. Naturally, for her passion both in languages and cultural background, the offer made by Rea’c was a carrot Kay couldn’t ignore. This was a chance to learn and experience an aspect of the spiritual beliefs, a rare chance which she would’ve figuratively given her right arm for. Needless to say, her eyes light up and expression showed her enthusiasm before she could find the right words. Even if she already knew more about the Jaffa than most the crew upon the Langford, her interest was perked.
 
Hands scooped the middle of the staff into her grip while she started to move to put it away, the weapon set back on the horizontal rack where she had original found it. Kay patiently waited for Rea’c to finished dressing, his hands moved with practice and instinct rather than thought until he then turned towards the door. Immediately Kay hopped in step beside him and voiced her intentions. “For me, that’s a hard to resist invitation so I’ll join you. Though I will admit, the only type of meditation I’ve done is through prayer with my father. So I can’t do complete silence, hope that won’t be a problem.”
 
When they reached the door’s exit, Kay’s mind finally remembered the men who had been patiently standing alert during their short lesson. Her head jerked behind her as she continued to follow Rea’c, her voice tossed backwards in a shouted a brief, commanding order. “At ease!”
 
In moments the pair vanished down the hallway where the lessons began until the ground mission began.