Chapter 15

Ronon and Teyla led Felix down to the sparring room as it had become known to those who used it. Felix was hanging back as they neared the room and was getting visibly agitated as they entered. He watched from the doorway as Teyla and Ronon removed all their weapons and Teyla showed Felix her fighting sticks.

Teyla asked, "Have you ever used fighting sticks before, Felix?"

He shook his head slowly and as he looked at Ronon warming up he replied, "Can't say that I have and by the looks of the two of you I don't think I want to be on the receiving end, either."

Ronon asked brusquely, "Then what do you know?"

Felix replied, "We were trained to kill or incapacitate in any way possible. We never sparred as far as I could tell - numerous injuries during training. The training was along the lines of the British Commandoes from WW2 on Earth — they trained to kill and we followed the same rules. That's just the way it was."

Teyla asked, "Do you know things like tosses, disarming moves, anything like that?"

Felix replied, "Oh yes, we started off with those and moved rapidly into ... other things. We can try them but I have a big disadvantage here — look at the size of Ronon compared to me. If he got his mitts on me I'd be toast, or the best I could do would be to defend against him using my size to advantage. Other than that I am very wary because I don't know what you folks can do. How about I watch you two spar for a bit and see where I fit in?"

Teyla looked at Ronon, who shrugged and nodded in agreement — they started with the fighting sticks, which to Felix seemed to be a blur at times. He stood there and was amazed at the two different styles and at the flexibility of the two warriors. There were times when Teyla nailed Ronon a few good licks and there were times that Teyla got nailed by Ronon.

Felix sensed another presence and looked over to see Sheppard and braced to attention and said, "Sir."

Sheppard just looked at Felix and said, "Relax Sergeant, we aren't that formal around here. I thought you were going to spar with these two?"

Felix said reluctantly, "Well sir, as I explained to Teyla and Ronon, the training we did — sparring wasn't an option. You learned to kill or incapacitate quickly and efficiently along the lines of the British Commandoes from WW2, sir."

Sheppard replied while watching, "That's one of the things we learned here quickly as well, Sergeant — don't be afraid to let loose."

Felix looked at Sheppard and said, "I don't want to hurt these people, sir — if they have to rely on me I don't want to hurt them — not if I can help it."

Sheppard nodded and replied, "Commendable Sergeant, but as you alluded to — we don't know what you are capable of, so why don't you pick a fight with Ronon? He seems like he can handle himself."

All of a sudden Felix found himself flying through the air as Ronon hip tossed the smaller man and barely managed to do a proper break-fall as he hit the floor hard. Felix then instinctively swung his feet out and nailed Ronon at the side of the kneecap and it dropped the bigger man like a sack of potatoes.

Teyla was about to jump in but was stopped by the hand of Sheppard motioning her not to interfere and let things play out.

Felix got to his feet rapidly and Ronon followed suit — they stalked one another and then Ronon grabbed Felix and managed to bring him into a bear hug while facing him until he felt something sharp at his gonads. Ronon dropped the smaller man and then he slowly dropped to the floor, clutching his privates and groaning in pain.

Felix held out his hand for the bigger man to get up — the first sign of potential friendship shown to anyone by Felix. Ronon grabbed his hand and then stood up and grabbed Felix by the neck and held him against the wall for a moment, and then let Felix down.