Jickaza escorted me from the decon through the inside docking area where three Razzan were overseeing the bots unloading the transport that had taken us here. Leaving them behind, we walked through a short but busy corridor to an elevator. The other Razzan greeted Jickaza but did not pay me much heed. He swiped two of his fingers in an arc over the interface panel and then chose a floor. The elevator halted after a short fast ride in silence. The corridor was dimly lit at first but as soon as we stepped out, the section surrounding us in both directions lit up considerably. The lighted sector moved with us until we had reached our destination a few gentle bends later.
``This is your room. Someone will be with you shortly to give you instructions on how to proceed.''
The shallow elegant bow he executed was in perfect keeping with his sudden formal distance. Frowning, I watched him retreat before I swiped my hand in a copy of Jickaza's gesture over the access panel.
The door to my room swished open and a man was waiting inside. Teraz. I stopped dead in my tracks and took in my opponent. He had exchanged clothes as well and now wore a tunic of the same cut as Jickaza's, but his was the vibrant green of new leaves and practically shone against his dark brown skin. Interestingly, he did not seem to have the pronounced green tint like most Razzan I'd seen so far. Or maybe it was just his clothes that made him look so brown. I studied his impassive face with a ritualistic tattoo I could not read and jet black eyes. Standing, I was slightly surprised to be able to look him straight into the eyes. His hair was black as well. My eyes went to his strong shoulders and wide stance. Well at least it would be over soon.
``Dr. Jemaina.'' His voice was surprisingly pleasant.
``I have come here to prepare you for your fight. Zac is with his wife.'' Wait a minute.
``Don't we get an adjutant or something?''
``That is the reason why I am here. The Exalted Raitel will be your opponent today.'' Precious metals.
My day was finally looking up. I get support hunk in my back against attack bitch in the front. So, I'm married but I am allowed to look.
I smiled broadly at him. He frowned. ``The Exalted Raitel is not to be taken lightly. She might not spend her days sparring but neither do you. She's faster and has been trained in our ways.''' My smile grew wider.
``Besides, she is angry. Her pride has been insulted and now she will have to defend it herself in the circle.'' He slowly walked to one of the sofas and sat down. Judging from his careful movements and the way his face minutely eased when he took the weight off his feet, he was in pain.
``I gathered that was your duty.'' His whole body tensed. I'd hit a sore spot. I sat down across from him, leaned back and crossed my ankles, waiting patiently.
``My injuries have not healed yet. Duelling is beyond me at this point,'' he finally allowed.
``So she decided to risk her manicure?'' I raised a brow.
``You do not understand, human. Once a duel is declared, it will be fought. The Exalted Raitel did not ... consider my injury.'' Teraz unhooked a gun from his belt and offered it to me hilt first. I took it and turned it over in my hands. 'Greyhawk II' was engraved on the side. The name didn't tell me anything, but guns aren't my speciality. It was matte charcoal grey and thankfully didn't have many fancy pieces. Running my fingertips over it, I could feel a shallow dent and a few scratches. A used but well kept weapon.
``You do know how to shoot?''
Was he actually concerned about me? I looked up at him but could not read his expression. Well, a bit of advice never hurt.
``Yes, I do. But I've never used one like this, could you explain it to me?''
He leaned forward and pointed at a slider.
``Here you switch from stun to injure. Wrap your hand around the hilt. Yes, like this. Now you can switch it with your thumb. It's set to stun as standard procedure on a space ship.''
The weight of the gun was unfamiliar but it was comfortable to hold. Still-
``Do I get a secondary weapon?''
``Yes, but only non-automatic.''
``Knife?''
He produced a blade from somewhere. Should have been a stage magician, this guy. Teraz offered the knife to me hilt first, same as the gun. The blade was as long as my hand. I tested the edge and promptly cut myself. Grumbling at my own clumsiness, I sucked the blood from my thumb.
``Thanks, does it come with a sheath?''
He nodded and pulled up his trouser leg to remove it.
``That's your own weapon? Wasn't I supposed to get something from the armoury?''
``Yes,'' he answered, while opening the second clasp and giving the sheath to me. It was well used and had a very smooth inner surface where it lay against the leg. I ran a finger along the flat side of the knife enjoying the feel of smooth metal then sheathed it and strapped the sheath on.
``I am honoured,'' I told him. What else should I say? If he volunteered his personal weapons, I was not one to refuse him.
Teraz nodded and rose stiffly.
``There is time before the duel is called. I will come back to escort you.'' With that he retreated to the door and left.
I picked up the gun again and turned it slowly over in my hands. It likely contained a pulse laser and an electric shocker. At least that's what I had read about this kind of gun. However, neither the article nor Teraz had explained how they were reloaded. The duel would hopefully not last long enough for the charge to run out. Unable to sit still, I put the gun down on the table and began pacing. The fifth time I passed by the window, Dura slowly rotated into view. So we were still in orbit. Maybe they'd decided to delay the onward journey until after the duel. My stomach took a downward plunge at the reminder of what lay before me. That was certainly not the attitude to go into a duel with. Raitel might have the advantage of speed and really good training but she didn't strike me as a warrior. Not like Zac or Teraz did. What had Teraz said - she did not spar regularly? He was her man for dirty things like fighting. Whatever her title as Exalted meant, I doubted her position included much physical exercise. She looked too small and delicate for that. I was definitely stronger and taller. My bigger reach would not make any difference with the guns but certainly if it came to the knife. And knife fighting I knew. I opened the palm of my left and looked at the scars. Remembered the day I got them, the day I'd lost a bit of my humanity. Forcefully, I jerked myself back to the present. There was no reason the duel would go that far. One of us would render the other unable to walk with a shot from the stun gun, and that would be it. Somehow I felt a little calmer now, gazing at the planet. I could do this.
Pyrite glint - snippet 8 by Kat is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported Licence.
``This is your room. Someone will be with you shortly to give you instructions on how to proceed.''
The shallow elegant bow he executed was in perfect keeping with his sudden formal distance. Frowning, I watched him retreat before I swiped my hand in a copy of Jickaza's gesture over the access panel.
The door to my room swished open and a man was waiting inside. Teraz. I stopped dead in my tracks and took in my opponent. He had exchanged clothes as well and now wore a tunic of the same cut as Jickaza's, but his was the vibrant green of new leaves and practically shone against his dark brown skin. Interestingly, he did not seem to have the pronounced green tint like most Razzan I'd seen so far. Or maybe it was just his clothes that made him look so brown. I studied his impassive face with a ritualistic tattoo I could not read and jet black eyes. Standing, I was slightly surprised to be able to look him straight into the eyes. His hair was black as well. My eyes went to his strong shoulders and wide stance. Well at least it would be over soon.
``Dr. Jemaina.'' His voice was surprisingly pleasant.
``I have come here to prepare you for your fight. Zac is with his wife.'' Wait a minute.
``Don't we get an adjutant or something?''
``That is the reason why I am here. The Exalted Raitel will be your opponent today.'' Precious metals.
My day was finally looking up. I get support hunk in my back against attack bitch in the front. So, I'm married but I am allowed to look.
I smiled broadly at him. He frowned. ``The Exalted Raitel is not to be taken lightly. She might not spend her days sparring but neither do you. She's faster and has been trained in our ways.''' My smile grew wider.
``Besides, she is angry. Her pride has been insulted and now she will have to defend it herself in the circle.'' He slowly walked to one of the sofas and sat down. Judging from his careful movements and the way his face minutely eased when he took the weight off his feet, he was in pain.
``I gathered that was your duty.'' His whole body tensed. I'd hit a sore spot. I sat down across from him, leaned back and crossed my ankles, waiting patiently.
``My injuries have not healed yet. Duelling is beyond me at this point,'' he finally allowed.
``So she decided to risk her manicure?'' I raised a brow.
``You do not understand, human. Once a duel is declared, it will be fought. The Exalted Raitel did not ... consider my injury.'' Teraz unhooked a gun from his belt and offered it to me hilt first. I took it and turned it over in my hands. 'Greyhawk II' was engraved on the side. The name didn't tell me anything, but guns aren't my speciality. It was matte charcoal grey and thankfully didn't have many fancy pieces. Running my fingertips over it, I could feel a shallow dent and a few scratches. A used but well kept weapon.
``You do know how to shoot?''
Was he actually concerned about me? I looked up at him but could not read his expression. Well, a bit of advice never hurt.
``Yes, I do. But I've never used one like this, could you explain it to me?''
He leaned forward and pointed at a slider.
``Here you switch from stun to injure. Wrap your hand around the hilt. Yes, like this. Now you can switch it with your thumb. It's set to stun as standard procedure on a space ship.''
The weight of the gun was unfamiliar but it was comfortable to hold. Still-
``Do I get a secondary weapon?''
``Yes, but only non-automatic.''
``Knife?''
He produced a blade from somewhere. Should have been a stage magician, this guy. Teraz offered the knife to me hilt first, same as the gun. The blade was as long as my hand. I tested the edge and promptly cut myself. Grumbling at my own clumsiness, I sucked the blood from my thumb.
``Thanks, does it come with a sheath?''
He nodded and pulled up his trouser leg to remove it.
``That's your own weapon? Wasn't I supposed to get something from the armoury?''
``Yes,'' he answered, while opening the second clasp and giving the sheath to me. It was well used and had a very smooth inner surface where it lay against the leg. I ran a finger along the flat side of the knife enjoying the feel of smooth metal then sheathed it and strapped the sheath on.
``I am honoured,'' I told him. What else should I say? If he volunteered his personal weapons, I was not one to refuse him.
Teraz nodded and rose stiffly.
``There is time before the duel is called. I will come back to escort you.'' With that he retreated to the door and left.
I picked up the gun again and turned it slowly over in my hands. It likely contained a pulse laser and an electric shocker. At least that's what I had read about this kind of gun. However, neither the article nor Teraz had explained how they were reloaded. The duel would hopefully not last long enough for the charge to run out. Unable to sit still, I put the gun down on the table and began pacing. The fifth time I passed by the window, Dura slowly rotated into view. So we were still in orbit. Maybe they'd decided to delay the onward journey until after the duel. My stomach took a downward plunge at the reminder of what lay before me. That was certainly not the attitude to go into a duel with. Raitel might have the advantage of speed and really good training but she didn't strike me as a warrior. Not like Zac or Teraz did. What had Teraz said - she did not spar regularly? He was her man for dirty things like fighting. Whatever her title as Exalted meant, I doubted her position included much physical exercise. She looked too small and delicate for that. I was definitely stronger and taller. My bigger reach would not make any difference with the guns but certainly if it came to the knife. And knife fighting I knew. I opened the palm of my left and looked at the scars. Remembered the day I got them, the day I'd lost a bit of my humanity. Forcefully, I jerked myself back to the present. There was no reason the duel would go that far. One of us would render the other unable to walk with a shot from the stun gun, and that would be it. Somehow I felt a little calmer now, gazing at the planet. I could do this.
Pyrite glint - snippet 8 by Kat is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported Licence.
Oooo she has scars... and the plot thickens ;P
ReplyDelete