by Reiter
“Pestilence!” Ortrun Grayethorn sneered, swinging the back of his left hand for the woman’s face. He found her mind difficult to read and her head even more troublesome to strike as she ducked under the arc of his hand.
“Like your lumberjacks slow, do you?” Persephone huffed as she bolted forward, placing one foot on the thigh of the creature, and jumped up, lifting her knee up into Ortrun’s chin. Persephone winced after contact was made. He was a tree, sure enough… living and very much hard wood. However, she was able to focus through the pain, draw her blaster and hammer the face of the creature on her way down. Living wood collided against a redesigned and reframed infantry blaster. Persephone did not know if it was the original sturdiness of the weapon, or what Z had added, but she did not care as the creature fell to its back moaning in pain. “And hands off until you get me at least a little drunk!”
“She has felled Grayethorn!” a voice proclaimed and Persephone turned to see that her latest dancing partner, who was just north of seven feet tall, had not arrived in the room alone. She could see four others and they were all moving on her position.
“Go for the legs!” Goldie cried as he slid across the floor, knocking a set of feet out of his way with his sliding body, and another set with his sword after he had come to a stop.
“You got it, little man,” Olkin said as he launched another blast arrow. The feet of the third tree man flew up into the air as bark came away from the leg that had been initially struck.
“Timber!” Agatha cried as she fired on the last standing Tonnogard wotree. Her blast struck the ankle, but there was no burst of any sort. “What the–” The approaching soldier returned to Agatha what she had shot at him. Agatha, however, was not skilled in EnerJa and the blast struck her chest, knocking her to the floor.
“Aggie!” Marlene cried as she quickly brought her weapon to bear on the walking tree. She fired her rifle and the creature reached out to grasp the energy. The energized shell of her weapon exploded against its torso, just under the outstretched arm, and the force of the blast threw it back two meters.
“I’m good, Mayhem,” the woman replied, grabbing at her chest. Agatha Tulrey had been shot before, in and out of a fighter spacecraft, so she was familiar with the impact of a blast, though she had to admit she had been hit softer in her time. What confused her was that the pain and the burn of an energy bolt was missing. She looked at her chest and while her clothes had been burned, she could see the slight gleam of her body armour. “Damn… I really am good!” she whispered before rolling over to get up.
“Stay cool and stay on point,” Persephone commanded as she backed away from the one she had knocked down while ushering everyone to move with her. “Cutter, we could stand a knock-knock right about now.”
The center of the ceiling was pulverized by a contained explosion. Debris fell to the floor, but Persephone had already moved her people to safety. Two of the tree-people, however, were not so fortunate. Before the dust could settle a claw and cable was lowered down through the hole.
“Goldie, secure that claw!” Persephone ordered as she looked around the room. All possible opponents were still too rattled to mount any opposition to what they were doing. “Murder, Mayhem, switch to projectile and cover him! Cupid, drop a smoke for me!”
“What is this?!” Grayethorn hissed as he looked up to see the form of a young black and gold-haired mammal running across the room. “What false face is this?!
“No!” Grayethorn growled as he stood up, summoning ElemahntiA. The bark of his arm formed into a throwing dart and he snatched it from its pod. “I know what you are!” The Tonnogard male gave a wicked throw and when the dart was halfway across the room, the young lad jumped from the floor and twisted in mid-air.
The dart split into three. Two darts lodged in the wall having just missed their target. The boy fell to the floor, writhing in pain with the third dart lodged in his leg. His skin turned black where the dart had struck him, and blood fell from his nose and mouth.
“Now… to kill it!” Ortrun hissed as tremors started to register on the room. Thrusting both hands toward the prone young man, projectile hits ricocheted off the Tonnogard’s body as he continued to cast. Two massive columns of earth spewed up through the floor tiles and arched over toward Goldie with hands forming at the very ends. They grabbed the young swordsman and started to squeeze.
Persephone said nothing as she tossed up her gun and slapped her hand to her belt. She tossed two grenades just before catching her blaster. “Detonate!” she commanded and the grenades exploded just as they came into contact with the columns of earth. The arms flew apart and the tree-man screamed, grabbing his head as thorns shot out from various points in his bark. At the point of each thorn, energy shot out in all directions. Explosions small and large riddled the chamber and Marlene was floored by one. Agatha was quick to grab her tandem partner and start running for the statue. Freed from the animated earth, Goldie slowly resumed his appointed task and signaled that the claw had indeed been secured to the statue.
“Captain, we are leaving!” Olkin cried out.
“Damn right we are! Everybody ride Z!” Persephone barked.
“After all, why today should be any different?” the pirate captain muttered as she ran for the statue that was now coming away from the floor. With Goldie on top and the tandem girls taking hold of either leg, Persephone jumped up to take hold of an arm with her left hand, aiming her blaster with her right.
“Let’s not mind the fuel, Cutter,” she directed and she could hear the engines of the field-procured shuttle throttle up. In seconds, they were above the mansion. Satithe gave the all-clear signal and Persephone hit her brace-com controls to detonate the bomb she had left in the room. Two bright flashes occurred; both with tremendous amounts of energy. The second was Persephone’s bomb and using her virtual goggles, she took a look at the room. The light had died down and she could see pulverized bodies all over the room. None of them were Jeelah, or tree-people, or the body of the Jockey named NBA. “Dammit!” she hissed.
“What’s wrong?” Agatha asked.
“We got the brains of the outfit, but somehow I missed that Jockey prick!”
“Another day, Captain,” Goldie was quick to offer. “Another day.”
“Yeah,” she grumbled. “But it would have been game over if I had nailed that bastard!
“Right,” she thought, tickling herself with the notion. “… since when does it ever go that way?!
“Haul us up, Cutter,” Persephone commanded, depressing a command on her brace-com. “We’ve got a Z to chisel out.”
“Good grab, Captain,” Annsura radioed. There was a definite elation to her tone.
“Good plan, Cutter. Murder’s going to convey our appreciation when she’s done looking after Mayhem.”
“Then I won’t say anything,” the young woman replied. “Wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”
** b *** t *** o *** r **
When the recess had been called, Adleon had assumed he would be going back to court the following day. He had been wrong. Apparently there was much to discuss in his case, and a great deal of it he had failed to consider. There was a clear change in the mood from the last time he had been in this chamber. There were also far fewer people. The audience gallery was now nearly at capacity, when upon his last visit there had been only five seated in the lower benches. Also, there were only three people seated at the raised bench; two of them were not even of the Northern Temple.
“Two things: apparently my case has received some attention, and my new judges must have come to a decision,” he thought as he looked to each of the councilmen. “All of them are able to keep contact with my eyes… but they don’t look happy… I am to be tested!”
“Gallant Adleon Veej,” Councilman Tardell Homvrin spoke. “I trust you have had time to reflect just as we have.”
“How am I to be tried, Master?” Adleon asked, receiving some murmuring from the audience. Homvrin was quic
k to raise his hand and get silence in the room.
“In actuality, Gallant Veej, the methodology we were going to leave to your choice,” Tardell explained, slowly lowering his hand to his chin. It was not the reaction he had expected. The boy had intuition, and given the way he stood in front of them, perhaps ‘boy’ was an improper reference.
“You will note that Trial by Combat is the most expedient means, Gallant,” an Elder Councilman spoke up. Eoadyn V’Darso was a Master form the Eastern Temple, the Endowment Ethos, and very curious with regard to what he was seeing. “If nothing else, you strike us as a pragmatic man. With your leave, that is, Speaker Councilman.”
“Rudeness is not a stride of your character, Councilman V’Darso,” Homvrin replied, nodding his head at the silver-haired Master Chevalier. “I suspect you are as eager to settle this matter as I am.”
“So sayeth us all,” Councilman Heth boomed. Western Temple Chevaliers were known for their impatience, and the Allotment Ethos Master was no exception. “Let us move this along.”
“Good then,” a voice called as a figure walked out from the side door of the council bench. Short black hair, shaved even closer on the sides, with squinting brown eyes, Adleon recognized the young man in an instant and came to conclude a number of things that had been accomplished in this time of recess. “I will face the Gallant!” Racidio Glory declared as he walked up to the side of the bench, his back even with the front of the structure.
“You know this warrior, Adleon?” Homvrin asked.
“Racidio and I attended the academy together, Master. You look well, Racidio,” Adleon said with a slight bow.
“Chevalier Glory to you, Gallant!” the young man spat back. “Someone provide this soon-to-be corpse with a weapon!”
“Chevalier Glory!” Councilman Homvrin called out.
“A true Chevalier is a weapon, Racidio,” Adleon asserted. “From the perception I make of you, I will need no other device than what I wear to answer the summons of trial. Name the boundary.”
“You may have the entire chamber if you have need to stretch your legs,” Racidio spat as he removed his cape. “What say you?”
Adleon suppressed a smile as he turned to the bench and bowed with his head down. “By the leave of my masters and mistresses.” Homvrin received the bow, and the entire bench, including their attendants, returned the gesture, bowing deeply to Adleon, demonstrating the pageantry of the Chevalier community.
“You have leave to engage, Gallant,” Homvrin declared. “The challenge, and thereby your trial, will begin upon your word. Skill and strength, young warrior.”
“Honor and grace,” Adleon returned before standing up straight. The space between the audience and the bench was ample and Adleon walked into that area, gesturing for his opponent to take the opposite side. When the two young men faced each other, with ten meters between them, Adleon bowed to Racidio. A slight head nod was all he received in return.
Adleon closed his eyes and slowly lifted his arms to begin the stretching exercises. Racidio huffed in impatience, but started stretching when he felt the stern eyes of the councilmen upon him. It was clear that Racidio was a capable combatant, and soon both his mind and body were ready to fight. Adleon came out of his stretches relaxed and steady. He bowed once more to Racidio and took a sideways stance toward him.
“To the victor’s demands,” Adleon declared and Racidio smiled coldly as he nodded in agreement. “Then let it begin!”
Racidio lunged forward one stride, thrusting both of his hands forward as he engaged his telekinesis. Adleon leaned toward the attack, extending his left hand forward and then down. The floor cracked as the telekinetic force was redirected into it, pushing Adleon back. He slid to a stop, still leaning toward his opponent. Murmurs about control and grace came from the audience as Adleon looked at Racidio.
“You have to silence them,” Adleon thought, projecting anxiety into Racidio’s mind. It was not difficult, given the amount that was there already. For his first attempt at Telempathic Control, Adleon would have to consider it a success. He ran forward when Racidio yelled and started a charge. The En-Blade fired to life and swung just past Adleon’s side-stepping body as the two ran past each other. Adleon put full effort into a jumping back flip and he could hear the En-Blade swing under him. He landed behind Racidio who had lost him for a moment. Adleon stepped forward and ducked under a wild swing. He engaged his telekinesis and guided Racidio’s follow-up uppercut swing to where it carried wide of its target. When Racidio finished his swing, Adleon had spun by him and both of his hands were waiting to take hold of the man’s wrist, quickly twisting and locking the arm, removing the En-Blade from Racidio’s grasp. An elbow strike to the jaw staggered Racidio, and Adleon stepped away from him, looking at the pommel, fixing his concentration on it. Adleon yelled, dropping to one knee. The floor cracked in a one-meter circle around where his knee touched down, and fragments of the once-whole En-Blade fell from the young Gallant’s slowly opening hands. He looked up at Racidio and slowly stood, recovering from the effort of shattering the weapon housing.
“I don’t need that to finish you!” Racidio yelled, taking a battle stance.
“Then why did you draw it?” Adleon questioned in a whispering voice.
“No, it is not fatigue that makes him move slowly,” Homvrin thought, standing up from his chair. “He is engaged in containing his anger!
“Hold!” the Northern Grandmaster called out. “Unless I have a colleague who still holds this Gallant in question, this contest is ended.”
“So sayeth us all!” Heth bellowed. “… and Veej is the clear victor!”
“No!” Racidio protested.
Adleon stepped toward the bench and bowed. “Imperfection is where we start, and oft times return. In the struggles of his station, my master, Falco Sylgarr, stumbled into that shadow. But he saw to it that I was trained as a true Gallant of the Northern Order, and that is what has triumphed here today. I would not be what I am without him. If this Council finds me worthy of remaining on the path toward perfection, let the record reflect this homage to Chevalier Falco Sylgarr.”
“The final station and standing of Falco Sylgarr is not for this body to judge,” Homvrin declared. “But your request will be added to the record… unless there is an objection.” The elder councilman did not look away from the young man as he waited for one of his colleagues to speak. “So stands the record, Gallant Veej. True skill and strength.”
“By our honor and grace, my masters and mistresses,” Adleon said as he bowed. In formal marching fashion he turned on his heels, without acknowledging anyone in the audience or his opponent, and started for the door. Using the least of his ability, he closed the swinging doors behind him.
“Forgive me, Z,” the young man thought as he walked, reflecting over the engagement and how he had performed. “… you told me to stay in the shadows, but that’s not what I did.
“But how do I argue your wisdom, having seen it succeed time after time? What fate have I committed myself to? Regardless, I must take steps to insure that the treasure you have given me is not lost, should I fall. But what should I do with it?”
A loud booming noise caught Adleon’s attention and he looked up to see the first of many races that would be run today. It was one of the efforts the Three Temples made to build strong bonds between the differing opinions; the Field Skills Races. The event would begin with Gallant challenges and finish with hopefuls showing how well they could pilot or fight, only to have the various Temples bid for that hopeful to join their way.
“Foolish man that I am,” Adleon said as he chuckled. “What else would one do with valuable knowledge? Give it to those who wish to study it!”
What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.
Albert Pike
(Rims Time: XII-4203.04)
The bay doors closed and Persephone took quick inventory of her people. Eve
ry member of the Ground Team was present and accounted for. As Annsura approached, Persephone looked her in the eye and nodded. “Ground Team’s good,” she stated.
“Then we’re fine as wine,” Annsura returned. “This rental was a little late, but it seems Thom is just as fast with aircraft as she is with ground vehicles.”
“Good to hear,” Persephone said before opening a channel to Thomasine with her brace-com. “Thom, we’re all aboard. Kick this pig and get us the hell out of here!”
“Aye-aye, Captain,” Thomasine replied and the shuttle’s engines revved up for more thrust.
“You did it again, Captain,” Agatha smiled and Persephone quickly waved her off.
“We relax only when we get back to our–”
“I have to say, JoJo, I did not see you coming,” Talthwynn said over the speakers.
“King of nipple-twisters!” Persephone whispered before drawing her blaster. “Kill the surveillance!” Persephone had fired twice, destroying two optics housings, before Annsura, the first of the crew to react, could draw and fire, destroying the third and final sensor in the chamber.
“Now see, that wasn’t very nice,” Talthwynn commented.
Persephone moved for the wall of the room and lifted her brace-com. “Thom, get us as much altitude as you can! Now!” Without letting up on the throttle, the nose of the shuttle came up quickly and everyone could feel the aircraft climbing. There was a loud popping noise that shook the entire ship, and Persephone could feel the shuttle beginning to lose speed.
“That was one engine, JoJo,” Vidé pointed out. “You’ve only got two more.”
“Whose ass do I have to kiss to get a clean shot at this asshole?!” Persephone said through gritted teeth.
“You left me alive back there, Captain. I would prefer to be able to return the favor. Trying to save one crew member, you’ve risked at least half a dozen! All you have to do is open a channel to the Xara-Mansura and tell them to allow me to copy the Artificial-Intel there. You’ve got fifteen seconds to open that channel.”
