“I demand satisfaction!” he declared with a wild look in his eyes.
“What?” Mike replied feigning surprise.
The young Templar looked to Sir James and the Knight of St. Michael.
“He has insulted me, laid hands on me and said that the Templars are cowards! I have the right to ask for satisfaction.”
“Dueling is illegal during wartime,” Hutton stated, knowing that even as far back as the American Revolution that General Washington had made dueling forbidden for his army. He didn’t want to lose any of his officers at a time when he could ill afford to lose even one. The Confederation Emperor had, as in many other things followed the old general’s example and made dueling during wartime forbidden.
“Now who are the cowards?” Sir Matthew taunted.
“What about a blood duel?” One of the other Templar knights suggested.
“A what?” Mike inquired not familiar with niceties of dueling. Most of his training had been for war or for survival on the street.
“Whoever draws first blood wins, the duel ends and the argument is settled,” Sir Alfred informed being familiar with dueling and even had experienced a few when he was at college at Heidelberg. The school had a long history of dueling for blood, they especially like face cuts to cause scars to the face. Of note: Hutton had no facial scars.
“I’m game,” Collins announced defiantly.
Sir James let out a sigh, “We have an old training hall just down the corridor.”
“Are you both sure you want to go through with this?” Commander Hutton asked. He was torn because as a Confederation officer he didn’t want anything to happen to his subordinate but as a Knight of the Order of St. Michael he knew that the Templar Knight had the right to issue his challenge.
“Yes!” they both said almost simultaneously.
Sir James nodded and led them out of the secretary’s office. Once in the corridor he turned left and headed straight. Behind him followed the Confederation officers with the three young Templar knights trailing behind their group.
The senior knight then made a turn and stopped at a doorway. Here their quickly party gathered waiting for Sir James to activate the door. Along the wall down from the door was a rectangular observation window used for people to watch the training without interrupting or distracting the combatants.
Sir James surveyed their group, nodded once and stepped closer to the door. The door slid open with a whooshing sound as the lights of the training hall automatically came on.
The hall was long and rectangular. It had hardwood floors and plain off white colored walls. Along the far wall was a two tier weapons rack. Dozens of hand held weapons fill the racks. Wooden practice swords, plastec staffs and padded weapons were among some of the training tools housed on the racks.
Along the edges of the wall were circular silver disks which Mike recognized as holo emitters. They could project a holo graphic opponent, fight scenario or training instructor. Beings holographic images were just light anyone training with them would need a holo vest and a holo sword to register hits.
The hall looked clean but didn’t seem to be in use.
“Sir Brian and Sir Philip, I want both of you to wait outside as this is just for the principals and their seconds,” the senior Templar ordered.
Both young knights looked disappointed but nodded and left. They knew that they would still be able to watch through the observation window.
“Sir Alfred, may I suggest Imperial Dueling Society rules,” Sir James proposed.
Commander Hutton nodded, “I think a Level Two Blood Match would suffice.”
This meant that the fight would end after blood was drawn from the torso of the body from a cut with a sword.
“Please strip to the torso and take a few minutes to prepare yourselves,” Sir James instructed.
Moving to his side of the room, Collins prepared himself for combat as he removed his combat space suit. Nearby, Commander Hutton and the senior Knight Templar worked out the details of the fight. His opponent moved down the hall from them and did likewise removing his white surcoat with its blood red cross, his armor and his upper garments. He then preceded to stretch and make heavy breathing noises.
Mike turned his back and ignored him as he thought about the rules to this fight and what he knew about the Imperial Dueling Society.
The Imperial Dueling Society had been established after the Apocalypse Wars. The excuse was that it was to train the upper class for combat and leadership. It also allowed in those times of chaos for its members to settle quarrels by trial by combat. Heck, every military officer knew about them as it was one way to climb the social ladder. The society was also depicted in numerous popular vids over the last twenty years or so.
Many of the richest men and noble families in Confederation belong to the Society and hence they protect it from every threat. It was famous for having some of the finest training facilities and instructors in known space with many members competing in the Inter-Galactic Olympics. The Society had not only traditional instruction but it also had all of the latest holographic training halls and cyber neural interface training available to its members.
Mike’s father actively discouraged him from having anything to do with the Imperial Dueling Society, telling him it was tempting death to be with such people. His father who was currently a navy Commander and first officer of a Battle Carrier believed his son should be well trained but that such training was for survival in on the battlefield and to serve the Confederation, not to risk his life in petty games of honor. “Shaun Collins didn’t raise any fools!” his father would say when his Irish was up.
Mike knew his father wouldn’t be happy at this duel but he knew that it was all part of a greater plan.
“Both combatants please come to the center of the room,” Sir James instructed while pointing to the floor with his extension sword.
Commander Hutton also had his extension sword out with its poly-carbon blade fully extended.
Leaving his gear behind he moved back to the center of the room with just his extension sword in hand. Sir Matthew did likewise and they all met facing one another.
Sir James started to speak and it was at that moment that he saw that both the Knight Templar and Commander Hutton were wearing almost identical rings.
These rings’ broad bands were made of silver, platinum or maybe even white gold. Looking to the face of the rings, he could see a shield signet with a raised medieval styled sword of silver. Around the sides of the sword symbol were small blood red rubies. These were Imperial Dueling Society rings that were worn only by active members of the society.
Mike was a little shocked as he didn’t know that his former teacher was member of the Society. He did know that the wearing of an Imperial Dueling Society ring was against Navy Regs and was probably one reason he had never seen the commander’s ring before.
Commander Hutton’s ring had ten red rubies whereas Sir James had five. Each red ruby indicated one blood duel. If their had been any black stones they would have indicated ten duels for each chip.
Collins was so caught up in these thoughts that he barely heard Sir James’ instructions.
“Do you both understand the rules?” he asked.
Mike nodded though he was a bit lost.
Commander Hutton could see from the look on his face something was wrong.
“One question please,” Hutton said receiving a nod from Sir James.
“Sir Matthew, how many people have you killed with a sword?”
“What?” he replied in surprise.
“Have you ever killed anyone with a sword?” Sir Alfred repeated.
“No, I haven’t killed anyone,” the young Templar revealed.
“Lt. Collins, how many people have you killed with a sword?” he asked looking to the young officer’s face.
Mike took a moment before he replied.
“Four maybe five,” he answered a little unsure as he didn’t keep track.
&nbs
p; “Were all of them armed?” Hutton inquired.
“Yes,” Mike said swallowing hard at the memory of those he had killed. He had no regrets it was just something he had to live with.
Hutton turned back to the Templar, “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”
Sir Matthew looked to Sir James and then to the long observation window where his friends watched from.
“Yes, I want to go through with this,” the young Templar answered.
“Very well,” Hutton said and looked to Sir James. “May we have a moment for prayer before the match?”
“Of course,” the senior Templar said wishing he had thought of that.
Leading Mike to the far end of the hall they knelt down to pray as the two Templar also knelt in prayer at the other end of the hall.
“Are you all right?” Hutton asked having noticed his former student’s confusion when asked if he understood the rules.
“I’m fine, I just was lost in thought and didn’t hear the rules,” he said.
Hutton let out a sigh, “Good, you had me worried there for a minute. Blood drawn by the sword from any part of the torso. No intentional death strikes but if someone is killed it will be considered an accident.”
“So basically no rules,” Mike translated.
“Right and if an eye is dislodged try not to step on it,” Hutton said with a smile.
“Happy thoughts,” Mike replied with a forced smile.
“Hey, this was your plan,” Hutton reminded and then added, “Remember you are the winner of the Sword of Mars for Harpers Academy, my former student and you have actual combat experience so go kick his ass!”
“Amen,” Mike said extra loud as they stood up.
Walking back Hutton quickly gave him more advice.
“Templars are strong and fast with no discernable augmentation. He is young and he may still be use to a fencing mindset rather than a dueling or combat mentality. Get off the strip and circle. Any questions?”
“Yeah, that’s a really nice ring,” Mike commented.
“Not now and stay focus, I messed with him by telling him of your experience but that could backfire and make him even more aggressive.”
“Yes sir,” Collins replied as they reached the center and the two Templars.
“Sir Alfred and I will act as judges. Any order to separate or stand down will be followed immediately,” Sir James informed as he extended his sword’s blade.
“Any questions?” Hutton asked extending his blade.
“No,” Mike and Sir Matthew said at the same time.
“Very well, activate your extension swords, salute and wait for the command to begin,” Sir James instructed stepping back.
Mike thumbed the shield signet sensor and his poly-carbon blade shot from its housing. Bringing the thin blade up so that the pommel was level with his eyes he quickly brought the blade down to his right in a classical salute. Sir Matthew mirrored his actions. They both then stepped one step back and brought their swords up to a guard position.
Collins watched as he noticed his opponent stance, the grip of his sword and the bend of his knees. He had many sword teachers in his life covering kendo, iaido and classical European fencing. One of his teachers he had while his family was stationed on Earth had even fought and survived in the Vorooshin death games. That was almost unheard of and the old fellow knew their sword system. He had eve taught Mike the niceties of real combat with the sword something that a fencing club could never do. Looking at the young Templar he could see that he seemed to be taking a classic European fencing stance and grip.
Bending his knees, he waited for the command to start.
“Sir Matthew are you ready?”
“Yes!”
“Lt. Collins are you ready?”
“Yes!”
Just before Sir James could say “begin” a loud buzzing went through Mike’s head as he realized that someone was trying to activate his subdermal transponder.
“Mike, can you hear me?” a voice said and then repeated “Mike can you hear me?” To him it sounded like his friend Alistair Dover.
Unfortunately, this unexpected call distracted him right at the wrong moment.
“Begin!” Sir James said with a wave of his sword as he stepped back and out of range of the combatants.
A split second later Sir Matthew lunged with all of his abnormal speed and strength angling the point of his poly carbon sword right in-line with Mike’s distracted face.
Back at the shuttle bay the security intrusion team had a breakthrough of their own.
“I’ve got it! If we could have one of our people get their palm pad or comm. unit next to a computer interface then I could use it as a bridge to piggy back into their systems,” Martin Daily said with a smile as he worked furiously at his computer station to modify one of his prepared programs.
“How do we do that while the Templars are probably montioring all of our communications?” Specialist Rojas asked having just tried to contact their ship and only getting static in return.
The group all got silent as they pondered this next dilemma to their mission.
Lt. Alistair Dover paced back and forth on the narrow walkway thinking as the other looked off indifferent directions. The Englishman was the senior officer of their group and he knew he had to find a way.
“All of the Werewolf Commandos had subdermal neural interface units implanted prior to the rescue mission at Austro Prime,” Dover said his eyes growing big in revelation.
Rufo nodded, “I have one and all but forgot about it. We haven’t used them since that mission.”
“Yep, I’m on it,” Daily said accessing the codes to bring up Mike’s neural comm. unit’s frequency.
“What will that do?” Rita asked not really following along with their conversation or what they were doing.
“It will allow us to communicate with Lt. Collins without anyone knowing,” Cappillo answered.
“Will it get through the jamming?” she inquired.
“Won’t know until we try,” Rufo said with a big grin.
“Got it!” Martin exclaimed bring up the codes and tying them into their comm. system.
Lt. Dover sat down and took over the comm. station.
“Mike, can you hear me?” he said and then repeated it again.
The lunge was fast, damn fast and would have been deadly if he had been even a faction slower. Despite the distraction of his neural comm. unit he managed to move his head out of the way as the blade slid by. His body quickly followed as he stepped left in a circle evasion. So much for not inflicting mortal wounds he thought.
Sir Matthew quickly followed his lunge by remising and bringing his rear foot forward as he brought his sword down into a half circular cut towards Collin’s right leg.
Mike ignored the voice in his ear and brought his sword down into a low line block. At the same time, he picked up his right leg to remove it from being hit and a half second after his blade stopped the Templar’s sword cut he quickly lashed out with an angle kick to the side of Sir Matthew’s face. The blow was a total surprise and was fast. The edge of Mike’s foot and heel took him across the jaw and hit him so hard that it spun him back and away.
Those watching were shocked at how fast both combatants were moving. The Templars expected this to be over quickly but not in a Templar defeat.
Sir Matthew staggered back several steps and came back to guard at a safe distance. He was bleeding from the mouth and spit out a glob of blood. He looked angry and a bit uncertain of his opponent. He couldn’t help but remember what that Knight of Saint Michael had said about this young Confederation officer having killed several people with a sword in combat.
Mike hurriedly stepped back as well and purposely didn’t stay on his opponent. He quickly reached up and touch the subdermal sensor behind his right ear.
“Not Now!” he said in a forceful sub-vocalized whisper just before he cut off the call. He had to get them out of his head and focus on the
fight. He was lucky he wasn’t dead and this Templar probably wasn’t going to make that mistake again. The young knight wasn’t expecting other non-sword based attacks and was caught off guard.
The two Templars who had been watching outside the hall burst suddenly into the training hall.
“Sir James that was a foul!” one of them cried.
“Get out of here!” he yelled back at them pointing with his sword towards the door.
The two knights quickly turned tail and exited the room.
“In a level two duel, the use of other strikes is allowed,” Sir Alfred announced while watching the two combatants as they each circled their way back into striking distance.
Sir Matthew stepped closer moving his sword back and forth from a high line to a middle line.
“You’ll pay for that,” he swore.
Mike just smiled back at him and then broke his normal silence during a fight.
“You're the one bleeding all over the floor,” he commented calmly and again smiled.
Sir Matthew’s eyes flared in anger an instant before he attacked.
The Templar’s sword beat at Mike’s on its next up swing to a high line. He then thrusted out and as Mike moved to parry it he disengaged and corkscrewed under his sword rolling back into line with his chest.
Collins stepped back following the disengaged and counter disengaged circling after his opponent’s blade following until it stopped and then taking control of it and beating it back out of line.
As the Templar’s sword was sent outward he used the momentum to bring it back up and rolled his wrist into a head cut.
Mike saw this and stepped out to his left as he brought his sword up into a hanging parry. Gliding the cut off of the side of his poly carbon blade he pressed back and stepped forward draw cutting his sword across the Templar’s outer left bicep while moving by him.
Sir Matthew grunted in pain and turned after him making a wild slash.
Retreating back, Mike saw the blade flash by and snapped out a strike to his opponent’s sword. His blade struck Sir Matthew’s and with his added force to the strike he knocked the blade from the knight’s hand sending it flying across the room.
Wolf's Run: The Chase of War (Star Wolf Sqaudron Book 2) Page 26