by Ken Wolfson
"Your orders were to patrol Volantis for survivors, weren't they? You came here on your own accord, broke rank and the chain of command. So you’ve come here illegally for one reason.” He smiled at Autumn’s sudden discomfort. “Our crews didn't start this fight. You and I did, ten years ago. We don't need involve anyone else in our personal dispute."
"Yes, we did, on that rainy day on the rooftops of Farrigan." She cast a furtive look towards the portal, where her crew was probably waiting with ears pressed to the bulkhead. "My father wished to use me as a marriage piece. I proved my worth by building a career while my brothers partied away their fortune and committed incestuous acts with their family. It was a surprise to us all when he made me heir, made me realize he was far wiser than the haughty man that’d raised me. Did your father inspire you?”
“Only through his failure,” Adrian said.
“A shame, failure is great learning but it lacks warmth. My father inspired me. I built my future as the great lady, and you snatched it away from me on the rooftops of Farrigan, with a flick of your sword." She scratched at the scar running under her left eye, slicing deep into her cheek bone. With her money she could have gotten it regenerated without a mark, but that wasn’t Tarly.
"I know; anyone else, you would've won. My defensive style countered your aggression; defense wins championships, after all," Adrian said.
"I've learned from that. And I learned from every battle you won. You're tough; I must thank you for inspiring me. I’ve gotten tougher than I could ever imagine trying to compete with you." She had an angry smile on, one Adrian found very familiar. "How do you do it? Make it this far?"
"House Tarly lives in orbit. The rooftops of Farrigan were a step down for you," Adrian explained. He remembered waking up in his cot every morning, one glow-lamp overhead. "I was raised under those rooftops where we fought. I had to climb a mountain to reach there." He slipped off his gloves to show her the scars and tatoos.
"Was Vindication the summit?"
"I think so," Adrian said.
"It's a hell of a job, commanding one of these things," she said. "You hurt Righteous bad, killed a lot of my crew, and my swords. They had families to rescue from poverty, injustices to be fixed. They're soldiers; they had good reasons to take the blue," Tarly said. There was anger, and pain in her voice.
"My crew want the same," Adrian said.
"Yes, I know. They're humans too."
"I always thought commanding a ship was an extension of parenting," Adrian said. "Parenting with nukes and railguns, but parenting nonetheless."
"And then you worry about going into combat because you don't know who won't be coming back," Tarly said. She sighed and shook her head. "And here we are, with a few thousand dead each and the rest on the line—responsibility at its finest."
"Here we are," Adrian said. "We aren't the best parents."
"No, we aren't. Do you understand the agony when your father's love and wisdom to not be enough? To learn the person you though invincible was human, only when the darkness tears him away and destroys your future?" she said.
"You know, we were both called wasted potential behind our backs. Me—if only I'd been born into a noble house, where I would've been discovered sooner. You—if only you'd beat me."
"I heard it all," Tarly said with a scowl. "What about your bastard, Alyssa? I heard she’s gone."
"She is," Adrian said. He bit down on his lip before he could draw his sword.
“I’m sorry.” Adrian’s anger caught in his chest.
“You people killed her.”
“I didn’t personally. I’d fight just as hard to protect everyone I loved.”
When the fire passed he said, “Mine was the cutest.”
“I’m sure she was. I’m sorry for threatening her. She was just a child.”
“I accept your apology.” He opened his mouth again to give his proposal, but Tarly jumped in first.
"I joined to take my lands back. And Emoche has delivered by the might of his god. I am the new Lady Artreyas. And I gave him a gift in turn, one that gave him victory today." Adrian recalled Nordhammer's description of her library, of all the relic books forged from sheets of an alloy thin and flexible as silk.
"You gave him the relic dreadnought?" he said.
"Exactly. I'd been hunting an ancient base for years before I lost the House Artreyas library to my aunt. Call it a pet project with a massive windfall, and I was so close before she took it from me. With the library returned to me, I reached back 2,000 years and plucked her from the darkness." Adrian held his posture, though fear swept through him at the thought of the terrors Tarly could unlock. Bioweapons, advanced weapons, more dreadnoughts, and terrifying cybernetic augmentations. "He'll be even more thrilled when I bring him you. Perhaps I'll make Admiral."
"If you bring me. I have terms," Adrian said. Tarly as Admiral was a terrifying thought for the war.
A bloodthirsty smile crossed Tarly's face. "Go on."
"We settle this by blood duel, same terms as our original fight. Once and for all."
Tarly patted her sword’s black scabbard.
"Why should I, when the best you can do is mutual destruction? Emoche's armada will overtake us in 11 hours and you'll be outgunned by a thousand to one."
"We don’t want to kill our crews, break our responsibility for a petty grudge. I’m willing to, are you?” The smile dropped off her face. "More important, you want to duel. You want that second chance you've been playing out over and over in your head for ten years." He added some sweetener. "I'm old now, and I've been out of practice since the only swords Emoche throws at me are mediocre soldiers with pretty weapons. I think I’ve still got it."
Her smile returned, and his nearly did too. "I accept your offer, on my word as Lady of House Artreyas and Commander of the crusade carrier Righteous."
"And you have mine, as Commander Adrian Huxton of the United Systems Armada."
They shook hands. There was no silly crushing. Physical dominance would be established in the arena.
#
Chapter Forty-Nine: Once and For All
Officers filled the bridge and enlisted took every spot they could like water flowing through and. Murmured prayers filled the air, along with Emoche's name and titles. TACNET was powered off and barriers established, forming a ring 8 meters on a side at the center of the bridge. Adrian took up one end, alone. Tarly and Bast took the other.
“This is a horrible idea,” Bast said. “There is no need to risk your life in meaningless combat, we have him.”
“You won’t say that when Vindication launches nukes,” Tarly said. “With experience comes patience and I’ve plenty of experience with Adrian. I’ll finish him here, and we win and go home.” Bast glared at Adrian and patted her sidearm. When he didn’t respond she retreated to her COS’ side.
Adrian stripped off his jacket and dress shirt, leaving only his sheet armor and pants. He emptied his pockets of excess weight and unbelted his old leather scabbard. Then he drew his sword, to fearful murmurs. It glinted black in the spotlight so he could study every blemish from the past decades of killing. Good old blade. He settled into a proper fighting stance and ran through his warm-up forms. A few moves in and aches had sprung in his knees.
Tarly stripped down to armored shirt and trousers like him. She was a decade younger and still on the edge of her prime. She'd be less athletic than her first sword, but would compensate with more combat experience and training. She drew her broadsword. Heat rippled in the air, the blade glowed silver.
Adrian nearly dropped his sword at the sight of the relic blade. Where'd she get it? Had Emoche had one stashed somewhere, waiting silently for a competent sword to pick it up and kill once more? Had Umbar Combine bought it to give legitimacy to their chosen emissary? Had it come with the relic dreadnought? Had it lain in House Artreyas' vaults, prized and mistreated by her gluttonous siblings as a collector's item until she liberated it into a soldier's hands? Her acquisi
tion didn't matter in the immediate; he had to counter it. Somehow.
There was no somehow; either he did, or everyone died. The broadsword was heavy and long. It'd be slow to handle even when made from the ultralight superconductor alloy used by pre-dark age humanity. Adrian's gladius was quicker and shorter. He'd have to get under her range. The relic sword would slice through his armor, cauterizing his flesh and soaking him in molten carbon. His sword would hold up to a few blows before being cleaved in two, so he had a finite limit to the fight. He'd have to go against all training and block with the sharp end to give him the most time before it severed.
"Ready?" Bast said.
Or he could flow-block, difficult as that was.
"Ready," Adrian lied, with a stern concentration on his face. He marched to the center of the room. Tarly met him; Bast played the ref. She cut her palm on the gladius and dripped blood on the relic blade. It sizzled to steam.
"You are here to settle a matter of blood, and I'm here to ensure you settle it honestly," Bast said. "You will utilize the weapons displayed in advance. You will not be augmented biologically or mechanically. There will be no concealed weapons or throwing of your blades. This is a non-fatal duel. The rules stipulate that when one opponent can no longer stand, the fight is over. When quarter is asked for, it will be given. Are both sides clear?"
"Clear," they said.
She raised her hand and backed to the wall. "Engage!"
Adrian lunged, swinging for Tarly's belly. She batted him aside with a shower of sparks and counter-cut for his neck, aiming to end the fight with a clean decapitation. He ducked as that damn relic blade sizzled overhead. The stench of burnt hair filled his nostrils. He pressed with a jab, and all she had to do was swing her blade before her and he had to withdraw.
Tarly pressed the assault, alternating quick slices at his extremities with two-handed killing blows. Sparks flashed through the air. It was an aggressive strategy to throw him off balance. Her blade left grooves on the floor as she swung. Adrian withdrew, dodging side to side to make her move and only blocking when he was forced to. Sparks flew, and they danced around the room.
Adrian saw an opening and struck. Tarly blocked his jab at her shoulder, but before she could return her guard he kicked her knees. Then he stabbed at her hips as she stumbled. His old gladius tasted armor, then flesh, then bone. Tarly cried out in pain. Her crew groaned. Adrian pressed the assault, driving her back until she countered.
He withdrew to catch his breath and size up his weapon in a blink. His sword showed half a dozen fresh scores up and down the blade, one cutting a third of the way through. His knees throbbed.
Tarly probed her wound with a finger. Suddenly she tensed, and pressed the superheated relic bade to her side. Flesh sizzled and she growled with a primal fury Adrian had never heard before. His stomach curdled. She removed the blade and returned to her fighting stance.
Cheers poured from the crowd. Adrian nodded in begrudging respect. They reset their guards, and attacked.
Sword hammered sword and sparks flew. Adrian struck hard and fast circling about force her to swing wildly and make a mistake. Tarly didn't commit to the kill; all her strikes were short cuts meant to harass. Until he over extended, and she countered overhand. He realized fast and withdrew. His knees folded and he collapsed to his back, the deck knocked the wind from him.
Tarly folded her arms and let him recover. Then she struck with renewed fury.
Adrian gave ground across the room, barely keeping ahead of that glowing broadsword. He countered, and Tarly parried, nicking his right arm with burning pain. While he stumbled she wound up and swung for the fences. Adrian threw up his sword to block it. Thunder cracked in the bridge, and his right knee caught fire, burning magma poured down his leg.
For a moment he remained upright, staring at the broken end of his old friend while molten bone ran down his shin into his boots. Then the pain reached his brain, and coherent thought became a coherent mess. He couldn't see, could only feel himself hit he deck and howl as his flesh bubbled and melted. Tarly’s titanium-soled boot stomped down on his chest. His ribcage cracked, and he couldn't breathe.
Cheering crashed over him.
"I win," Tarly said, and pressed her sword to his throat. His collar smoldered against him. "Now, do you surrender?"
Snow fell around them. Adrian was lying on his back on Volantis. The Hallard Needle rose in the distance. There was an orgy rolling in the streets, Wendago singing songs as they violated men, women, and children. Their dragoons circled down to carry off the catatonic survivors. Somewhere on one of their motherships, a hunched old woman with brown skin and icy blue eyes watched the latest batch arrive.
He saw Alyssa, stripped of her expensive attire and shoveled into a recycler so she’s cease to exist. A duty he’d failed, and a lifetime of memories snuffed out because he couldn’t get that fucking bulkhead open.
And he was eight again, helpless as the Wendago burst in and tore his family away from him.
Except he was no longer helpless; he'd joined the fleet and worked every damn day to stop being helpless. And now he saw Tarly, Molitor, and Emoche's cloaked visage waving the Wendago on. And he was sitting here, helpless, unable to avenge the dead. Or was he? He'd been helpless before. Fire rose inside him. Physical possibility had never stopped him before; why should it now?
"No."
He buried his broken friend in Tarly's heel. The jagged nanosteel cut through tendon and bone to lodge deep in her foot. She howled in shock and stumbled back. He yanked the weapon free with tearing flesh and she collapsed, rolling away to get some space.
Adrian got his feet beneath him. Pain blinded him as he rose. His bad knee wasn’t responding and his better knee wobbled, but it might as well have been iron beneath him.
"Why won't you stay down?" Tarly gasped as she scrabbled upright to continue the fight.
“Get up My Lady!” someone howled.
Adrian grabbed the end of his blade in one hand, and the hilt in the other. With a growl he hobbled forwards.
Tarly stabbed at his heart to end the fight. Adrian deflected with his hilt, and stabbed with the broken tip. Her broadsword stuck through his right shoulder and ignited the old wound, but it didn't kill him.
The broken tip of his gladius punched through her chest armor and buried in her lungs. The relic blade clattered from Tarly's fingertips
She opened her mouth to speak, and vomited up blood. Adrian threw a left hook. Teeth broke beneath his knuckles and she collapsed.
"Do you yield?” He dropped to his knee and pressed the broken blade to her throat. Blood truckled from her lips and over its end.
"Damn you, I..." She coughed up more blood. "Yield."
"Good. I take my leave." He stood, and limped away. Tarly was swarmed by medics and both her squires, the boy sobbing as he squeezed her hand. One medic grimaced and went over to help Adrian.
"How do you keep doing this?" Tarly cried over their shoulders. “How the fuck do you just not die?”
Adrian stopped at the bridge portal. “I’m just doing my duty.”
The shuttle thumped onto Vindication's number one flight bay. Magnetic locks sealed it in place. Adrian's vision flickered, and wind rushed through his ears. The adrenaline was wearing off. Despite this, he tried to clamber down the shuttle's stairs on his own. "I can make it on my own," he growled.
"Yes, sir," Alenkot said, and slid under his arm. Adrian grumbled as he was lowered down the stairs into the number one flight bay. He looked out, and his jaw dropped. Standing to attention was what looked like Vindication's entire crew, at least everyone that could fit on the corrugated flight deck. Some were even sitting atop the fighter-bombers, much to the consternation of the deck crewers who maintained them. Vendetta helped him straighten up. He swept his eyes over the deck, taking them in. Hundreds of his men and women's grizzled faces stared back at him.
"Long live the Commander!" someone in the crowd yelled. A cheer rose up from a
ll of them, so great that Adrian had to clap his hands over his eardrums. They stomped their boots, and he felt like an earthquake had struck Vindication. He saluted, what else could he do?
Then the medics were putting him in a stretcher. One raised an IV full of gods knew what. Adrian shoved off and got his one leg beneath him. "Just put a brace on it and get me to the bridge, and that's a fucking order."
They still had to carry him to the bridge.
"Adrian, you alright?" Johnathan said, jaw slack for the first time probably ever.
"How's the ship?" Adrian said. He dragged himself into his seat, and pushed the nurse away. Once comfy, he loosened his trench coat so he could breathe.
“Are you alright?” Johnathan said. Adrian wiped the blood from his brow.
“Should I not be?” I won.”
“You were just beat half to death.” Johnathan’s jaw was slack for the first time ever.
Adrian grinned through the pain. “And I won. I saved us all, mission accomplished.”
"We're doing fine. Engineering's coaxed some recharge from our barrier emitters and DC's plugged the holes. Life support is at 50%, so we’ve stabilized." Cage moved back to the XO's station. Adrian slumped in his chair.
"And Righteous?"
"Her barriers are still down. She's limping on maneuvering thrusters with intermittent plasma drive bursts. Ravin thinks her engineering is a total loss," Winchester said.
Adrian stared across the point blank gap at the other supercarrier. Onboard, Tarly would be strewn in a hospital bed with tubes running through her lacerated lung, brooding over losing to him again. She'd come back for him. And his crew. And whatever planet he was defending. He should have killed her the first time ten years ago.
And somewhere in Vervunder, Alyssa’s component elements were being made into nutrient paste and furniture.
"Cage, do you need a target lock to hit at this range?"