Testing Reflexes

[Annabelle O'Halloran 0]

 

Anna looked at the target and then the computer kept score. She set the rifle's safety and then stepped and looked sideways at Jon. They were both off duty and he'd been working with her on using the phaser rifle in the week and a half since they'd left the Vorta homeworld behind. She didn't say anything and waited for him to weigh in on her results.

 

Nodding with approval, Jon said, "Excellent improvement from last time. Although, I wonder how well you can shoot from the hip."

 

She gave him a speaking glance, and looked at what she still felt was the unwieldy length of the rifle before setting it down. "You can't shoot a rifle from the hip unless you are much taller than I am or have freakishly disproportionate body strength." She smiled then and with only a hint of mischief, pulled her knife from the sheath that hung from her belt and almost faster than human eyes could follow, hurled it, not surprised to see it land as a perfect bull's-eye in the target. "It's a pity it's not standard issue with the uniform," she said with a tinge of real regret. They were in casual clothes and she'd brought the knife thinking to get some practice in after the phaser training was done. She turned her head and smiled at him with a little bit of self-satisfaction, adding, "That's as from the hip as I can get, Jon."

 

He let out a chuckle, "I meant shooting without aiming, but as for that knife, it got some good distance which means you have some good reflexes." He then walked over to retrieve it. "Let's see you try a throw like that again." Shamor handed the knife back to Anna with a grin on his face.

 

She took the knife back and there was just something about his smile that gave her pause. It had a little too much cat that ate the canary to it. "No problem. This I can do in my sleep." She flipped it a couple of times and then raised her arm and let it fly, looking ahead to the target. She definitely needed practice hitting moving targets with a phaser, not to even mention the phaser rifle but with a knife, it was like the blade knew where the target was going before it got there.

 

As she launched the knife, confident that it would hit the target again, Shamor caught it in mid-flight and proceeded to examine it. Clearly he was impressed by the craftsmanship of the blade.

 

Anna looked from the still empty target to her knife. In Jon's hands. She'd been aware of him moving but hadn't seen this coming. "Oh, that is just not right," she complained in a joking manner. "I know about the eye but this is ridiculous. You asked me about shooting from the hip but catching something moving as fast as that knife was and not being sliced by it, is just crazy."

 

While grinning, "I wasn't using my eye, that was pure instinct. Besides that's easier than laser deflection. By the way where did you get this blade, it's well made."

 

"Laser deflection? You can deflect laser fire?" Anna just shook her head and resheathed her knife. "I saw it but I still don't hardly believe it and I made the knife." She reached for his hands and turned them over, checking for herself that there wasn't a nick on them before letting them go. "Unbelievable."

 

Looking down at his hands, he said, "To think these hands can build, defend, and destroy. I hope you don't think of me differently."

 

"I don't think anything bad about you, Jon," Anna responded immediately, not wanting him to think his abilities made her nervous. Of course, they did, a little. "You've never said or done anything that makes me think you would ever behave in a dishonorable way." He'd said build and defend which seemed to be very much in character for him. However, the word 'destroy' gave her pause. "I'm just wondering," she asked, meeting his pale green gaze. "When would destruction be called for?"

 

He shook his head. "That was from a time in which I was different. When all I knew was the art of war. Through my travels I've managed to put my skills to better use."

 

"And those skills are formidable," Anna answered lightly seeing the shadows in his eyes when he talked about the past. She couldn't imagine what it must be like to have memories more than two thousand years old. "It's getting late, how about we go get some lunch and you can pick an era and tell me the best things about it?"

 

Nodding with approval, he replied, "I'd like that."