Suus Mahna was a form of ancient Vulcan martial arts which took many years to learn.
T'Pol was trained in the arts of Suus Mahna, and in 2152, she tried to teach as much of it as she could to the inhabitants of a deuterium mining colony in order to ward off Klingon pirates that had been harassing them for five seasons.
One important move she taught them, the navorkot, was a way to evade an oncoming blade by dropping to the ground and rolling to the side, before returning to a standing position. This evasive maneuver was based on reading their movements to foresee where they intended to strike. (ENT: "Marauders")
Michael Burnham was adept at Suus Mahna, which she used in 2256 to defend herself from two criminals on the USS Discovery. On the other hand, Ellen Landry was dismissive of the art. (DIS: "Context Is for Kings")
USS Cerritos first officer, Jack Ransom used Suus Mahna technique, navorkot while fighting hand-to-hand against a Pakled boarding party in 2380. (LD: "No Small Parts")
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Suus Mahna was named after Michael Sussman by writer Chris Black. In return, Sussman named Admiral Black after Chris Black. (from Mike Sussman)
Spock was to have used Suus Mahna in Star Trek to defeat the Romulan crew of the Narada, but ultimately it was dropped in favor of a gunfight. This use of the Vulcan martial art was retained in the novelization of Star Trek, wherein – observing Spock defeat five Romulans by neutralizing the strongest one first, then the second strongest, and so on – Kirk marvels that Spock even fights logically. The same passage also states that Suus Mahna is a purely defensive practice; forced to use a more "Human" method to convince a wounded Romulan to reveal the Jellyfish's location after a mind meld fails, Spock – upon being told to "Suus Mahna his ass" by Kirk – insists to the point of insubordination that, with the Romulan defeated, Suus Mahna was out of place. However, when Kirk shoots back that, given what the Narada and its crew have done to Vulcan and are attempting to do to Earth, his misguided belief that the man was a threat was understandable, Spock concedes the point and proceeds to beat the information out of the Romulan. (Big Bro Quinto, Star Trek Blu-ray special features)
External link[]
- Suus Mahna at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works