I sighed. “Maybe I should simply wear an Atlas battlesuit and we storm the place!”
Shea gave me a look from underneath her long lashes. “Sojonits have an old saying. ‘Lace underwear has felled more warriors then the sharpest swords.’ In some instances, a dress like this can be more effective than a battlesuit.”
Elfi added, “We can still change the whole thing. It is your plan, after all.”
I pulled on the gloves. “No, we better stick to the plan. I want this to be over with so we can concentrate on the Red Dragon and our mission. I want to leave this world. It really gets to me.”
Shea said, “If everything goes well then we will have done our part to change this world. To me, that makes it all worthwhile if there are no longer Skaakh girls seeing their mothers torn apart by scavengers and no one else dies of hunger.”
Looking at it all this way made me feel much different. “You are right; we do make a difference and that is what counts. I just pictured my first mission as a starship captain completely different, more uniforms and less silken underwear.”
Elfi blushed. “I am not wired that way but even I thought you looked extremely hot in your undies. Besides, you enjoy every moment, so quit whining, captain.”
I was split in my opinion inside as always. While part of me extremely enjoyed the feel and the look, the other found it exposing, impractical, and not what a starship captain should look like. Would I ever find true peace inside?
At the agreed time, a luxury skimmer approached, and I left the ship via the ramp and not by the IST. I found out it was anything but easy to walk down a declining metal surface in stiletto heel pumps without falling.
An Oghar and a Togar stepped out from the drive compartment and held big blaster weapons, looking nervously around.
I was glad I wore a mask as I saw Wintsun getting out of the skimmer as well. I felt nothing but contempt toward this traitor. I wondered what had turned him so completely, or maybe it was always there and I was just too blind and naïve back then to see the signs. It was he who’d shot Narth while I was unconscious in the Crawler Cat. For that alone, he needed to pay, not to mention that he was a traitor and now responsible for the capture of my friends.
He had a crooked smile on his lips as he undressed me with his eyes. “My, my, what a scrumptious sight. I had no idea pirates could look that hot. Now I need to make sure you don’t have any hidden weapons other than the obvious ones under that thin dress of yours.”
I said, “Touch me and you are dead!”
He laughed dirtily. “Be civil, pirate whore. We have the better cards. Your crew mates die if you don’t comply, and we blow your rust bucket sky high. Now let me scan you or I’ll have the Togar perform a manual search.”
He did use a handheld scanner and his hands were sliding up and down my dress and legs, around my breasts, and down my thighs. He was breathing harder, and I had never felt so angry and violated. How much worse must it have been for Jolaj?
I felt very vulnerable and cursed the thin dress that was such a great idea just a while ago. He finally stepped back. “What a nice firm body you got. I think we will have some fun later, you and I, after the duke is done with you. Now get in the Acron-Lux Skimmer, we do not want to make the duke wait.”
Elfi’s voice came on over my tiny inner ear receiver. It was made almost completely out of organic components and was of the finest Saresii spy technology from the first Saresii Empire and beyond anything the crooks on Sin 4 or pretty much anyone else could possibly scan for. “Teams are in position. Circuit is almost there and the Marine Team is on its way, too. We have you clear on the surveillance equipment.”
The coliseum was a huge ring-shaped building bathed in multicolored lights. Hundreds of heavily armed skimmers patrolled the sky around it.
While we were underway, Wintsun put his hand on my knee. “No worries, pirate whore, I’ll be gentle the first time.”
I did not know where I got the strength to remain calm. “You should worry, scum face. The time you wish you had not done that is soon at hand.”
He laughed. “It’s over. You lost. Playing as a girl in a man’s universe has its dangers. So, accept it and you might get an enjoyable ride out of it, or two.”
We approached a landing platform high above the ground and the fat duke was standing there flanked by two Togar male warriors armed with Kermac Line Blaster Rifles.
He greeted me with what I could only describe as a slimy smile on his thin lips, revealing his needle-like teeth. “Oh, how lovely and mysterious. Well, I am sure you will share your identity and show me what you have hidden behind those feathers and veil. You see, I always get what I want.”
I said, “Why this interest in me?”
“Friends of mine on Brhama Port told me what a strong woman you are, and I love breaking beautiful, arrogant women.”
“Is it because you were rejected by one and couldn’t get her? Or did your mommy spank you a little too much?”
He pointed his finger at me, almost touching my nose, and I knew I had touched a raw nerve. “You will beg for my mercy. I promise you!”
I smiled under my veil. “The night is still young and might hold a few surprises for us all.”
“Now that you are here, I think we can come to a business agreement where I get your ship and I let you live. It’s a really good offer, I assure you. I am not always that generous.”
I said, “I thought I was here to discuss a price for my crew members’ release.”
He raised his shoulders. “I lied, I always do that, and I’ve got you now. I am sure I can persuade you to give me all the necessary access codes.”
“I’ll have my ship blown up before I give it to you.”
His grin returned. “Our little pirate lady thinks she still has choices.” His face became hard and the smile vanished. “Pirate, I do not know who you are and frankly, I don’t care. Let me make it perfectly clear to you. You will die tonight in a most unpleasant manner if you don’t do exactly as I tell you.”
One of the Togar extended his claws and growled. “Follow him or I will make you!”
So, we went into the VIP box with the best view over the fight arena. I estimated at least 80,000 beings in the bleachers around the arena. There was a GalNet Team complete with a group of flying Robo Cams.
An ocean of flags, project-a-signs, and every surface that could hold an advertisement was used to promote well-known Union products.
He offered me a seat right next to him. “Until I kill you, I will be civil and you can enjoy your evening, as it will be the last you have in such freedom. How about some Terran champagne or something else perhaps?”
I declined and sat down.
The lights went out and a single spotlight caught the fat duke and me. He got up and said, “Get up and cling to my arm or I kill you right here.”
Pure rage was building up and, as always, I felt it first in my stomach. Only because I used a mental calming exercise I had learned from Narth was I able to do as he asked.
He held up his arms and his voice was magnified to thunderous levels. “Ladies and Gentle Beings from all over our pretty Galaxy, I, Duke Donheer, welcome you all, here in person and via GalNet, Shiss-cpjt, and all the other broadcasters that are here tonight. Welcome to another Fight to the Death night, here at the Donheer Coliseum, the home of the genuine Ultra Gore Kill League.”
He made a pause to accept the applause and the cheers and then said, “I appreciate you all and because you have been great fans, I have prepared great fights for you tonight. As usual, bets can be placed until the fight siren signals the start of a contest. Merchandise and souvenirs can be purchased at the GalNet Donheer Site. Get them now because these will be collector’s items soon!”
The spotlight turned off, and the lights came back on.
An unseen promoter said, “Tonight, you will get your money’s worth of blood-splattering excitement. Men, women, and beasts will die in the eternal sands of the arena to s
atisfy you. And what a spectacle our duke himself has lined up for you. A Dai warrior just captured from the most vicious Dai Clan sold to us by the Kermac, who declared all Dai must be eradicated. A half-Dai assassin from a far-off world with a long list of skills. Will this sneaky dagger-wielding coward have a chance in open combat? Into the mix and smuggled from the deadliest planet in the Universe, three monstrosities from Green Hell, a real Stomper and two Insectosauruses.”
The crowd thundered. The speaker waited till the noise ebbed away somewhat. “Our friends of the Union Fleet supplied us with a ghastly but powerful Gray Nul warrior and to top this Royal Rumble to the Death, we announce the return of greatest of all fighting champions this arena has ever seen. The destroyer of life, the terror from a far and unknown Galaxy, the one and only Terror Hammer has returned!”
A sea of blue and yellow flags and streamers appeared, held by fans who chanted rhythmically, “Terror Hammer!”
Duke Donheer said, more to himself than to me, “It is a shame to kill him, the crowd loves him, but no one defies me and makes a fool of me!”
The round arena was now lit and cages lowered from above. I saw Har-Hi in one and Hans in another. A third held a huge Gray Nul. I had never actually seen a Nul in reality and I had to admit that being looked more frightening than a Y’All.
Of course, ever since I’d gotten to know TheOther, I’d gotten used to the way he looked. The announcer presented six more ferocious-looking beings: a Saurian, two Yellow Throat Shiss, a Togar fight champion, and two Perthanian Union citizens who had been captured and were forced to participate in this spectacle.
What galled me most was that this arena spectacle included Union citizens kidnapped and forced to fight and die and, according to Donheer, he had billions of viewers and lucrative advertisement contracts with Union companies.
Every advertisement director who approved this should be held accountable for treason, every Union citizen considering this entertainment and supporting it declared to be enabling criminals and stripped of all citizen privileges.
The duke said, “Kiss me!”
“Not in your lifetime.”
He gave the Togar who stood behind me a sign. “Defying me has consequences! Maybe that will make your Dai fight even more! There is nothing the crowd loves more than a damsel in distress and monsters with slimy tentacles.”
The Togar aimed his weapon at me and snarled, “Get up, pirate!”
The duke said, “On your knees and beg for mercy, or I’ll have you tossed into the arena.”
Not waiting for the Togar to make me comply, I vaulted over the railing of his floating VIP box and landed in the coarse sand about five meters below, rolling over my shoulder to lessen the drop impact.
The duke said, “Captured by myself during a tremendous space fight. One of the Union’s most wanted criminals. The lady pirate known as Black Velvet. Special bets can be made for who kills this slender weak Human female first.”
Elfi spoke in my earpiece, “Team Aqua has breached the outer defenses unnoticed and is in the process of neutralizing everything in sight.”
That meant my marines had successfully landed on the duke’s island and had begun searching for the Loki torpedoes.
Elfi then said, “Team Blackout is also progressing toward their objective.”
Narth said into my mind, “I have recuperated well enough. I am certain I can teleport.”
“Can you take the Golden along?”
The answer came immediately. “Yes.”
I was sending him my mental instructions. “Narth, take the Golden home.”
The cages holding the fighters and monsters clapped open and a pile of swords, spears, and sabers was uncovered in the center of the arena. The Stomper, a terrifying monster with eight legs with a mass of long tentacles on one end, screamed and went straight for me. Hans was immediately attacked by one of the huge Insectos. Looking like a cross between a praying mantis, scorpion, and dinosaur, it had sharp-looking scissor claws and a stinger oozing with greenish slime on a long flexible tail, while it scurried fast through the sand on its six insect-like segmented legs.
The Gray Nul, as big as Hans, was wearing a slave collar. It blinked, and I knew someone was causing the Nul pain, perhaps controlling him via remote-controlled shocks or something of that kind. They had glued something over his only eye, making him blind.
The huge Nul staggered through the sand while he tried to get rid of the gooey sticky mess over his eye.
I kicked the nice open-toed heels off my feet and ran as fast as I could toward the pile of weapons. Barely escaping the Stomper’s attack, I came close to the Perthanian and said, “If you want to see Union side again, make your way to the spaceport and find the Silver Streak as soon as the lights go out.”
I didn’t wait to see if he understood. In my ear, Elfi said, “The Golden has just popped out of thin air and now Narth is here as well.”
I asked, “Is Circuit ready?”
“Almost, he needs five more minutes to hack into the power grid.”
The Stomper collided with the Nul and grabbed him with his tentacles. I never liked the Nul but even he wasn’t here of his own free will. I threw a Vibrosword as hard as I could in my XO’s direction and Har-Hi jumped and elegantly took it by the handle out of mid-air and swung it immediately against the Insecto, severing its right claw arm right off.
Hans had just shown what he could really do, grabbed the tail just behind the dangerously sharp stinger of the other Insecto and with a groan, ripped it right out of the poor animal and used the tail like an oversized club, beating the wounded animal with it.
The spectators exploded in a frenzied uproar and chanted his name even louder. I threw a sword to the half-Dai, who was just as agile, catching it as Har-Hi attacked the Sauron.
With a grim satisfaction, I took a long-handled battle-ax with two sharp-looking blades and swung it around. The weapon was not high tech. It did not have any Vibro or other function but it was made of a tough metal and had a razor-sharp edge as I found out after slicing it through the upper thigh of the attacking Togar. The majestic cat warrior screamed and his shiny brown fur was dulled by his own dark blood.
I was no longer Freya or female. I was Eric, child of Nilfeheim, Neo-Viking by blood, savage warrior by heritage, and all layers of my complicated personality peeled back as I put every ounce of my strength and anger into the second blow, decapitating the Togar and sending his head flying.
Har-Hi was fighting the Insectosaurus, and he clearly had the upper hand but the Yellow Throat Shiss, who wore a costume much like Hans’, appeared to be an experienced arena fighter and ganged up on my friend, was about to attack him from behind. Normally, I would not have thought twice. In my opinion, Har-Hi could clean the whole arena by himself, but he most likely was still fighting the effects of the paralysator shot, and I knew out of my own experience how that felt. To all this, he could not rely on his own swords and weapons.
I was bringing the ax down along the spine of the first four-armed lizard that effectively took this Shiss out of the game and tried to reach his attacker in time. The costumed Shiss turned and almost decapitated me, but Har-Hi had evaded the Insecto so skillfully that the sharp stinger of the beast hammered into the side of the Shiss head. There was no doubt this was a calculated move.
There was no need to help Har-Hi. I looked around and saw the Nul, still unable to see clearly, being tossed through the air by the Stomper, and he would certainly die during the next attack. The Stomper uncoiled his tentacles and one of them snatched the Nul. He struggled against the pull of the tentacles. Any lesser being would have long ago died between the maws of the Stomper. I ran toward the Nul and yelled, “Nul Warrior, lean as far back as you can to put more tension on these tentacles. I’ll cut you loose!”
I ducked at the last moment as one of the barbed tentacles whipped toward me.
The ax was a primitive weapon indeed, but I would not have wanted anything else at that moment. I d
rove it through the first tentacle; it proved to be razor sharp. Stinking ooze sprayed over me as I hacked through more tentacles like a maniac. The Stomper had forgotten about the Nul and now focused on me. I had to duck, jump, and slice with the heavy blade, sticky with the rancid-smelling blood of the Stomper.
I knew the Sojonit body-changing process had changed my outer appearance, but in order to pack my male frame into a female shape, the additional mass was compacted and the result was denser muscles. I’d never felt as strong, even though I had thinner arms. I marveled at the agility of the female body that allowed fight moves a male body could only achieve with constant training.
Somewhere, I heard the crowd but I had to focus now; one false step and I was toast.
I was a warrior again, unrestrained by rules and notions. Listening to my instincts more than to my thoughts, letting my senses guide my muscles even before they reached my mind. The skin of the Stomper was hard as a rock and it took heavy blows to make it even splinter, but there was a thin yellow line of skin between the top and bottom armor where the legs moved that wasn’t covered by the crystalline armor and the ax blade cut deep into it with each blow I managed to land.
Something scratched my back, and I was certain the barbed tail of the Stomper had not completely missed its target. I was bleeding from several cuts, but then I was close and with three strong chops, I severed one of the Stomper’s legs.
The sand was drenched with the Stomper’s blood and it stuck to my feet. The beast was now screaming and each blow with the ax cut deeper into the side, cutting chunks of flesh out of an ever-deeper gouged wound. The last tentacle severed and another leg useless, the Stomper now groaned and his remaining legs buckled! It was finished. I jumped on the still-breathing Stomper and split his skull open after hitting it several times, ending the poor creature’s misery.
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 7 Page 116
