He was dressed in full battle armour. Like Sarah, he was equipped with two swords, while an aid carried his spare. She noted that Hawthan’s weapons resembled her katana in size and shape. Their edges looked to be as sharp as well. He was also carrying a shield. Hawthan was brought to stand next to Sarah.
The last to arrive was the judge. He entered as he had before with great ceremony and fanfare. Lord Lentc made a great show of mounting the stairs to his seat. During the time Hawthan had a brief moment to speak with Sarah.
“I am sorry ma’am. I am dishonoured once again. They are forcing me to wear this armour. It is bad enough that I am forced to kill you, but to do so this way…” his voice trailed off to a whisper. “…but the armourer is my friend.”
“I, too, am sorry my honourable friend,” Sarah answered. “You are the last person that I wish to kill, but only by victory can I save my people.”
The judge was just mounting the dais leaving Hawthan only another second. “To that end, I wish you success even at the expense of my life. Know that as we speak your Mr. Preston is being removed to the kitchen. He walks as you do, my lady, with dignity and courage. No matter what they do, he has great honour!”
As Lord Lentc took his seat on the bench, Hawthan straightened up to stand at attention. Sarah purposefully remained standing at ease. Lentc looked down at them both. His face suggested that he had no respect for either combatant.
“When I strike the kephal (the Galoran gavel) battle will commence until one of you is dead.” He looked at Sarah he added, “…and before you object, our champion’s armour is allowed because you do not know the rules for this combat and so cannot be expected to restrict yourself to legal forms of attack. Of course, this means that you are free to use any form of combat that you wish.” He sat back smiling. Then he struck a plate on the floor with his kephal. The hollow tube made a surprisingly melodious, resounding tone.
Sarah and Hawthan stepped back from each other. Both assumed a fighting stance. Then to Sarah’s surprise, for the briefest second while altering his stance the Zaran turned his back on her. It was then that Sarah understood what Hawthan had meant when he said that the armourer was his friend. She saw that the clasp on the armour’s neck protector was broken. One good strike at that clasp and a crucial piece of Hawthan’s armour would fall to the ground. Sarah altered her plan of attack.
For her opening move, she advanced with a thin blade in her right hand and the greatly flawed broad blade in her left. Hawthan’s first attack was genuine. As much as he didn’t want to kill Sarah for his masters, his honour forced him to attack in earnest.
With one sword still slung over his shoulder Hawthan led with his shield, attacking with his sword at the last minute. Sarah countered with her thin sword following the path of his blow to minimize its striking force. She knew how much each of her swords could take before they broke. That knowledge was a part of her strategy.
Sarah countered Hawthan’s move by attempting to slip the tip of her sword between the hilt of Hawthan’s sword and his glove. She was almost successful in prying the weapon from his hand when the tip of her sword broke off. The move did surprise Hawthan for a moment, allowing Sarah to dodge beneath his sword arm, coming up behind his back.
That move caught the Zaran off-guard. He swung his sword to catch where she wasn’t, while Sarah took a deep breath to summon all her Qi, as her sensei had taught her. She cast aside the broken sword and as Hawthan swung, she leapt as high as she could against the heavy gravity of Galor Prime. Summoning all her strength, Sarah struck the faulty catch on his neck protector.
Two things happened – both Sarah expected. The neck armour fell away exposing Hawtan’s throat, and the broad blade shattered into ten or more pieces. Also, as calculated, Sarah’s vault took her over her opponent’s head to land on his right side. What she didn’t expect was that he would counter her move with his shield. As Sarah passed over his right shoulder Hawthan brought his shield up to meet her as she landed.
The move caught Sarah in the abdomen, winding her momentarily. She was slow to dodge as the Zaran warrior swung his blade again. Hawthan managed to catch her with a glancing blow to her side, as she jumped away from his sword. He opened a wound like the one she suffered as a child-ninja in Brooklyn. Sarah knew that she could still fight with such a wound, but it would tear open further the longer the battle continued.
Sarah dropped into ball and rolled between Hawthan’s legs. She came out of her ball face down in the arena. Raising herself up on her hands Sarah kicked back with her feet against the back of the Zaran’s knees. As she expected, they reacted by locking up, creating a kind of spring-like action that impelled Sarah forward, landing her in the midst of the pieces of her shattered sword. Quickly scanning the shards, she chose one and felt its weight in her hand. As Hawthan turned round to attack again she launched the shard like a throwing star. Her make-shift shuriken caught him in the jugular. Under the exertion of the battle, and the Zaran equivalent of adrenalin, the blood began to gush from around the protruding blade. Hawthan instinctively reacting to the pain, pulled it out. Sarah rushed over, retrieving the sword that he dropped.
As Hawthan lay gasping for breath, she stood over him prepared to strike a final blow, if necessary. Sarah saw him mouth the words “Thank you, I die with honour,” as he died.
In the stars above it looked like the Galorans were about to overrun the small contingent of Corps ships. The Kennedy, the Colford and the London had taken heavy damage. They were attempting to outrun the destroyers on impulse power. The destroyers meanwhile were trying to manoeuvre into position to launch boarding craft. Just when it looked as if they might actually capture the three jump ships almost intact, the League’s second wave arrived. The second and third battle groups dropped out of hyperspace.
In an instant the tide of battle changed. The Galoran fleet still outnumbered the Corps ships, but the arriving battle groups were undamaged and dropped in weapons-hot. The newly arrived ships immediately spread out and began their assault.
In the nebula it was yet a another story. As Mandy had expected, a second wave of Galor Prime’s Home Guard had tried to use the cover of the stellar cloud to attack from the rear. They were not ready to deal with the path back to Galoran space being saturated with negative ionic particles. The whole fleet of cloaked ships lit up like a string of Christmas lights.
The Corps ships opened fire with Annihilators and smart torpedoes. Just as the second wave of Corps ships was arriving to back up the first battle group, the Galorans’ back-up was being decimated in the nebula. It had not, however, been a total route of the Galoran fleet.
When the fourth and fifth battle groups opened fire the Axia ships responded for as long as they could. Many of the Corps ships took damage, some of their jump drives were rendered inoperable. Once they had subdued the Galorns, half of the fleet was unable to join the other battle groups. Also, the damage to the battle groups had allowed a few Axia ships to escape to join the battle at Galor Prime.
As the surviving Axia ships made it to Galor Prime the War Master received an urgent call. He was most annoyed. The battle in the arena was just starting. He was even more distressed to learn how many ships had been destroyed or disabled in the nebula. Was it possible that they could lose this battle? He called his reserve fleet hiding behind Galor Prime’s second moon and ordered them to attack immediately.
Aboard the Pegasus, Mandy was holding her own, directing the battle from her ship’s emergency bridge. The ship had taken too many hits and was badly damaged. It was being protected by the LSS Ottawa. Though the Corps ships had regained the upper hand with the arrival of the reinforcements from the nebula battle, they were fewer than Mandy had counted on, and the Home Guard had been larger than reported. Still the Corps was winning so long as no more Galoran ships showed up.
Then as if thinking it made it so, another half a dozen Axia ships appeared from behind the second moon. Mandy wasn’t sure who to call for help. Her shi
ps were fully engaged. Pegasus’ jump engines were off-line and her battle shields were down to fifty percent. Then, from out of nowhere, came a dozen Annihilators. At the same moment her helm officer reported that another ship had just dropped out of hyperspace.
“Ma’am, its transponder identifies it as the LSS Victory.”
“Can’t be,” Admiral Flyn said, “She’s not supposed to be ready for another six weeks. Half of her weapons systems haven’t been installed yet.”
“I assure you ma’am, it’s the Victory,” the helm officer confirmed. She put the new arrival up on the screen. The new Victory was twice the size of any ship in the Corps fleet. “She’s a Jump-five,” Flyn said to no one in particular. “Her battle shields are the strongest we ever developed. She has four times the fire power, and something new; we call them ‘Star Hawks’.”
As the Admiral spoke, a phalanx of two-person fighter craft burst forth from Victory’s rear hangar. The small ships began to swarm over the remaining Galoran destroyers, making short work of them. As each destroyer went dark the swarm moved onto the next one. “The beauty is that they can get so close and move so fast that the destroyers can’t bring their weapons to bear, and the other Galoran ships don’t dare try targeting them for fear of hitting their own.”
“In-coming transmission from the Victory, Battle Commander,” the communications officer said, and immediately Captain Grissom’s face appeared on the view screen.
“LSS Victory reporting for duty, Battle Commander;” Grissom began, “…though it seems that you have done most of the hard work. I have several reinforcements from other League worlds just moments behind me. Battle Commander, your ship appears to be severely damaged; I suggest that you transfer your flag to the Victory.”
“That is an excellent idea, Captain, but I am transferring battle command to Admiral Flyn. Most of our fleet is damaged, but all our landing boats are in order. If we move now we can take the Imperial Palace, and the Emperor – …and save Sassy…” Mandy added to herself.
Turning to the Admiral she said, “I have specially trained and equipped landing forces spread throughout our fleet ready to go, ma’am. I taught them at the Academy. They are all skilled in the ancient weapons of our peoples. The Galorans will be expecting us to attack with energy weapons. Their personal defense screens are first-rate against our PPCs, but they will have no defense against our weapons. Mandy looked at the admiral earnestly, “We may never get a better chance. The Emperor is still in his box in the arena. He may still believe that we are outmatched. We can win this war right now.”
“Very well, Captain, accepting transfer of command. Good hunting.”
Mandy keyed her “all ships” communication button. “All landing groups to your ships; we will drop together.”
A second later the image of Séamus O’Gill appeared on the screen, “I hope that includes me and mine,” he said.
Mandy grinned at him, “As long as you’re planning to bring your shillelaghs,” she answered.
O’Gill brandished his cudgel, as did all those behind him in the background. “Of that you can be sure!”
“Then we drop immediately.” Mandy closed the channel. She left the auxiliary bridge, running. Stopping briefly at her quarters she emerged with her bow and a full quiver. Stuffed into her belt was a tomahawk. On the other side, a traditional dagger hung behind her standard sidearm. When she arrived at the hanger deck Lieutenant Hawk informed that all crews were ready. “We’re the last to board, ma’am.”
“Then let’s go.”
On boarding the landing craft, Mandy signalled their departure and several vessels began dropping from all ships.
Aboard the Victory, Admiral Flyn ordered the Star Hawks to follow the landing craft down, and take out any ground-based guns in their path. Once they were down, the Star Hawk squadrons were to fly cover over the region to take out any Galoran reinforcements that may be called in.
Sarah watched the light go out in Hawthan’s eyes. She placed his hands on his chest, clasping his sword. She closed his eyes, and then standing over him she cried out at the top of her voice, “THIS WARRIOR HAS DIED AN HONOURABLE DEATH.” It was the Zaran ritual when one of their warriors died in single combat.
Moments earlier Melgr watched in horror as Sarah’s makeshift shurikan pierced the Zaran’s neck. As the blood gushed out of the wound, he grabbed the energy blade that he had intended to use in Sarah’s execution, and dashed out of the Imperial box charging down the Emperor’s private corridor. Just as Sarah proclaimed the death of Hawthan, Meglr, his energy blade in hand and active, burst into the arena.
“You-will-not-escape-me!” he cried. Spitting out each word as he ran, he ran forward, closing the space between them in a few steps. Sarah didn’t stand still for his attack. Seeing his energy blade she rushed the champion’s aid and relieved him of the Zaran’s spare sword. Meglr adjusted his course to intercept Sarah just as she wrested the blade from the hands of the aid.
In his fury Meglr swung wide. Sarah was precise in her counter. The War Master’s hand lay on the ground. Meglr screamed in agony and retreated, running back to the private passage, clutching his bleeding wrist. Sarah turned to follow only to find her path blocked by the loyal Galoran aid. He had recovered Meglr’s weapon and attempted to stop her pursuit. Sarah blocked his swing with the side of her blade, and then flattened him with an open hand blow to the jaw.
Pausing only to pick up Meglr’s severed hand; Sarah chased the War Master to the door of the passage. She had learned one thing about Garolan biometrics back on Earth. Even a dead hand will open a lock. As the doors slid open she heard Meglr as he ran whimpering along the passage.
At the other end of the tunnel she pressed the hand to the plate, but as the doors slid open she ducked to one side. As she had anticipated, the Imperial Guard was firing madly through the open door. Sarah was ready. As she was pursuing Melgr she had paused to pick up the remaining shards of her shattered sword. Though they were uneven and unbalanced, her skill with the throwing star was unmatched.
As soon as the guards’ first volley subsided she pressed forward, throwing her makeshift shuriken as she went. Galoran blood was spurting all around the Imperial Box from severed arteries. Only two guards now stood between her and Ettac IV. Sarah could see the fear in their eyes. It took little persuasion to elicit their surrender. Melgr was evidence enough of the danger of her blade.
Sarah relieved them of their weapons and forced them to lie down on the floor. The War Master was cowering in the seat beside his brother. The Imperial Physician was, of course, present, and was seeing to Melgr.
Ettac IV put on a brave face as Sarah approached him. She brought her blade to his throat. She was about to demand the release of the Intrepid’s crew when Ettac IV spoke first.
“You can’t escape,” he told her. “Your puny fleet was in trouble before we sent in our reserve. They will surrender very soon…” At that moment the communication console by his seat bleeped. “That is probably our commander informing us of our great victory.” His voice was triumphant, but Sarah saw the fear in his eyes.
“Then answer it,” Sarah commanded. “We’ll see whether you survive the day.”
Ettac IV pressed the button, but before the person on the other end could speak he cried out, “We are in danger. The War Master is injured. Send the Palace Guard.”
The person responding sounded desperate. “They are already on their way, Emperor. The League is attacking the Palace and the Arena.”
Right on cue the sound of Corps landing craft was heard above. The Star Hawks were already firing on the Palace Guard’s fixed gun emplacements. Moments later large numbers of Palace Guards burst into the bowl of the Arena. Others were rappelling down from skimmers above.
“You are dead, human!” Melgr said. Your troops will never save you. You’re my dinner.”
Sarah didn’t respond, she just looked up, directing the Emperor’s gaze skyward, as the landing craft began shooting the skimmer
s out of the sky before the troops rappelling down had reached the ground. Many jumped, even though they were still too high to escape injury. They probably reasoned that it was better that than have the skimmer crash land on top of them.
Then she directed Ettac IV’s gaze to the bowl where the first landing craft were touching down. They were barely on the ground when the troops were bursting out of the doors.
Despite the loss of the would-be rescuers from the skimmers Ettac IV still relied on his bravado. “They’ll never get past my guards,” he announced defiantly. “We have the strongest body-screens anywhere in the Galaxy.”
“Oh?” was all Sarah said.
Ettac IV gasped. The advancing forces were not firing energy weapons. Some League troops were attacking with ancient bows and arrows. Others were throwing bolos. Another group attacked using firearms manufactured from 20th Century plans for M-16s, M-20s and M40A5s. As that last group deployed they yelled: “Ooh Rah!” Sarah smiled broadly at Ettac IV. He still snarled his defiance.
Below, the Galoran forces were falling left and right. The Palace Guard was taken totally by surprise and were thrown into disarray by the ancient weapons. They had been prepared to face energy weapons. As the Emperor had said, their shielding against modern weapons was the best. Against ancient projectile weapons they had no defense. Then the landing boat from the Dublin dropped behind the attacking guards. O’Gill and his crew burst forth, pummelling the rear guard with their shillelaghs. From his box Ettac IV watched in horror.
Sarah saw the look on his face change. She pressed her blade into his throat just hard enough to draw a little blood. “If you surrender now, maybe we’ll let you keep Galor Prime, while we welcome its colonies into the League as protectorates until they can function independently again; if you don’t the House of Hmlar ends with your death.”
A look of horror again passed over the Emperor’s face. “You wouldn’t! You’re an officer in the Stellar Corps –”
Chronicles of the Stellar Corps: Sassy Page 22
