Carbon Life

by HR Ringer

  After conferring together, the referee stood and moved to stand in front of Xiùlán. "Your opponent is too injured to continue, Serviceman." Glancing back at F'lar'Jid, he continued, "It would seem you already have a great deal of knowledge regarding unarmed combat."

  "Her over-confidence and lack of respect for human females defeated her before we even began," Xiùlán replied quietly. "My own skills were hardly a factor."

  "Be that as it may, F'lar'Jid is unable to continue, Serviceman. We will have to find another sparring partner for you… someone that will present, ummm, more of a challenge. You are dismissed."

  * * *

  *** 2179/04/13 ***

  It had been eight weeks since Xiùlán had stopped a female turian hand-to-hand specialist cold in her tracks in an unarmed sparring exercise. Xiùlán had been retested six times in the intervening weeks, all with the same result. The trainers, even knowing ahead of time that Xiùlán had thoroughly handed all of her previous opponents their asses, walked onto the bamboo mat with a great deal of superiority, an attitude of 'this female… a human!… can't possibly be better than me'… each had been injured seriously enough that continuing was out of the question. Her last exercise yesterday had been against two people simultaneously… a young human from Japan that was a champion fighter, and an asari commando that fought with blocked biotics so there'd be no accidents.

  Xiùlán had tossed the asari out of the boundary delineated by the bamboo mat. Sam had been in attendance for this and the previous two exercises; she couldn't get over how powerful Xiùlán's legs were. Yuán had rapidly worked the asari around the mat while keeping her between the Japanese master and herself. Once she had the asari where she wanted her on the mat, she grabbed both forearms above the wrists, pulled them to her as she tipped backwards and landed on her butt. She continued moving, rolling backwards as she brought her bare feet up to place them on each of the asari's hip bones; swiftly straightening her legs like a pair of catapults, she forcefully propelled her hapless victim violently, backside first and head down, into the wall adjacent to the door, where she struck with a sickening 'thud' before falling unconscious to the wooden floor. Xiùlán was on her feet before her victim hit the wall, turning to meet the threat from the Japanese master.

  He had literally flown at her feet first… she grabbed both his feet and twisted them violently, aiming to fracture his ankles. He fell heavily to the mat, then immediately bounced up to confront Xiùlán with a flurry of thrown punches aimed at her face and torso, all of which she expertly deflected with her hands. He abruptly stopped in the middle of this to attempt a 'round house' kick to her face; this too failed to connect, as Xiùlán swiftly kicked him in his unguarded gonads while he was spinning to bring his leg around.

  This appeared not to faze him in the least, but his next move was his undoing; he made the mistake of reaching in to grab her by the throat. Ducking under his outstretched arm, she whirled around, grabbed his arm from the 'outside' and applied pressure with her own forearm and body weight while hanging on to his wrist with a viselike grip; this tore the tendons and ligaments at the shoulder joint in an extremely painful fashion, dislocating the upper arm with a sickening crunch, rendering his arm useless. Seeing the groggy asari attempting to return to the match, Xiùlán ignored the man's scream of pain as she used his arm and body as a pivot point to lift her hips and viciously kick the commando in the face, smashing her nose and splitting her lips.

  The referee was frantically sounding the signal for all action to stop; Xiùlán released the injured man's arm and walked to her corner of the bamboo mat, where she stood, impassively watching the frantic first-aid efforts of the two instructors and referee. The asari was on her hands and knees, blue blood streaming from her nose and mouth… she spat out two bloody white chunks, most likely her front teeth; the Japanese master was holding his injured arm as tightly to his side as possible in an attempt to immobilize the shoulder joint… it was quite possible he would never regain full use of his right arm. Both would need the assistance of medics and liberal quantities of medi-gel.

  The referee came up to Xiùlán as the pair were being removed on stretchers. "Serviceman, I don't think I've ever witnessed an attack by two people repulsed with such precision. Unfortunately, you've been accused of having a vicious attitude by the trainers of every person with which you've been paired." He had his hands on his hips as he now walked around a bit on the mat. "What the hell am I going to do with you, Serviceman? No one in the facility wants to be on the mat opposing you."

  "I'm sorry, Sir. I was only defending myself… didn't realize that wasn't allowed."

  "Dammit, Yuán, that's not what I'm saying here. I've watched your face in these matches," he said. Pausing to carefully choose his words, he continued, "It's like you go into a trance, as if… as if you're outside your body, directing it from another dimension. Really scary to witness… I don't think you even realize what you're doing when you're doing it."

  "I've been training since I was five, six years old, Sir. When someone comes at me, I react. Don't have to think about it, don't have to analyze it. Reactions all happen automatically… every… reaction… every… time. I don't think about the correct way to counter someone's attack… I… just… do it." Xiùlán shrugged her shoulders as she studied this man closely. "I won't apologize for knowing what I know. I refuse to be the person leaving this room injured."

  "I'm going to have to cancel the remainder of your classes… hell, you've passed this course hands down. Never seen anything like it!"

  "If you're shutting me down, then I need a favor," she said. "I'm training a fellow student, Samantha Traynor. Would it be possible for me to utilize this room during my class time to train her? It would be a real benefit to the program… she's a really talented recruit, but she needs about ten years worth of instruction in an eighteen month timeframe."

  The man looked at her dumbfounded. "Hell, you should be teaching everyone here, but I'll see if I can pull some strings… get you accredited as a student teacher."

  "Thank you, sir."

  Chapter 5: Happy Birthday to Xiùlán

  *** 2179/08/16 ***

  In the four months since Yuán Xiùlán had been prohibited from 'sparring' with other hand-to-hand combat specialists, she had been using the training room to teach her skills to Samantha, who turned out to have a real aptitude for the subtleties of Jing Quan Dao. Traynor had even been paired with two of the opponents Xiùlán had defeated in the two-month period she had been allowed to test her skills, resulting in a draw with the turian F'lar'Jid (who had shown a lot more respect for human females than when she attempted to take down Xiùlán in February) and a decisive win over a male batarian (Samantha had taken offense at some of the illegal 'holds' he had employed on her, so she taught him a lesson he would not soon forget).

  Xiùlán continued to insist Sam should be prepared to defend herself against any and all. "You have to let go of conscious thought, Sammy. Every movement you make must be done automatically, whether for defense or offense. You have to train yourself to maim or kill each time you strike someone. Do not leave your opponent capable of getting up from the floor. If you are attacked by anyone, you can and must defend yourself. Someone puts a hand on you from behind, teach them why that's not a good idea. You have personal space around you… don't let anyone violate that space."

  "What about you, Xiùlán?" Traynor snarked. "You violate my space all the time."

  Xiùlán managed to look hurt. "If I have offended you in any way, Ms. Traynor, please for…"

  "… No! NO!" Traynor took the bait. "I was teasing you… I wasn't serious! Oh, Xiùlán! I am so sorry I said that!" Traynor attempted to wrap her arms around her friend, only to have Xiùlán place her palm on Sam's chest and hold her back.

  "You have to be careful that words don't get to you as well, Ms. Traynor," Xiùlán said somberly. "You just offered yourself up to me… I could just as easily have placed my hand a bit higher and crushed you
r larynx, like this…" Xiùlán swiftly moved her hand up, grabbed Traynor by the bare skin of her throat and gently squeezed as she pulled the unresisting woman to her.

  Traynor was frightened by her friend's demeanor. "Xiùlán," she said in a halting voice, "please, you're hurting me. I'm sorry… please…" Sam had both her hands on Xiùlán's wrist and forearm; feeling the mass of muscles and corded tendons under her skin, she realized her life was quite literally in the palm of this woman's hand. "Xiùlán… you're scaring me. Let me go… I'll leave."

  Xiùlán relaxed her grip ever so slightly as she pulled Sam closer. "Why would I want you to leave, Sammy? I love you," she said as she leaned in and kissed her thoroughly confused student on the mouth. "I needed to teach you a lesson in preparedness." Another kiss. "Never let an opponent get so close Sammy, unless you plan to take them down." Xiùlán was enjoying kissing Sam, so she held this kiss until Sam hesitantly returned her kiss. "I am the only person you can ever allow into your space like this, míngbáile ma?" Xiùlán let go of Sam's throat and hugged her. "Did I really scare you?"

  "Damn right you scared me. Damn near broke my heart, too! You are a frightening woman, Yuán Xiùlán," Samantha huffed.

  "Remember what you've learned today, Sam. It could save your life. None of us are born capable of killing others. We have to be trained in that art, and we have to choose to use that knowledge to kill. Now, let's continue on…"

  Today Sam was being taught how to use her fists to take down her opponents permanently. "Key to this is moving your arms fast, getting your fists in someone's face 1-2-1, but in slightly different locations each time," Xiùlán said, as she demonstrated on the heavy bag. She had dusted her sparring gloves so each would leave a trace on whatever it hit. On the heavy bag, she left three distinct impressions, all so close together they were almost one. "What you're after is precision and speed in placement." She moved around the bag slightly and attacked it again, the 'Whump whump whump' sound of her fists smacking the surface of the bag coming so close together as to be virtually indistinguishable as separate sounds. "As you may have noticed, I didn't move the bag. That's the advantage of using 'snap' punches."

  "I have a feeling I'm going to need to practice this a lot," Sam observed, trying to keep the discouragement she felt from coloring her voice. "And just what the 'ell are 'snap' punches? A punch is a punch, right?"

  "Answer to your first statement? Damn right you are," Xiùlán replied. "Sam, you need to be able to pull this combo out whether you're fresh in the first minute or your arms are heavier than lead in the final minute of a match or in combat. What I'm teaching you could very well save your life someday." Xiùlán placed her gloved hands on Sam's shoulders. "As for your question, we're women. Neither of us will ever have the bulk of a man… it's not in our hormones. We can build up our muscles, bulk up our bodies, especially our legs, to a certain degree, but the upper body strength advantage will always belong to the males… it's a matter of testosterone… they have it, we don't. So, we have to fight smart. What I'm going to teach you, the 'snap punch', is a quickly thrown punch in which you strike the target and your arm quickly snaps back after the punch. You want contact time with your target to be minimal."

  Xiùlán turned and fired a triple combination at the bag, then said, "Think of your fists as weights connected to your waist rather than the end of your arms. Your arms and hands will drop relaxed to your waist as you move around the heavy bag. When you're ready, quickly ground your feet to anchor your hips and imagine your hands suddenly picking up weight and firing with power from your hips. The muscle that starts relaxed has more potential to burst with more speed and power than a stiff muscle. Your focus should be on explosive power, so you can maximize damage to your opponent. Treat the punching arm as a rubber band accelerating to maximum velocity, striking the target, and then bouncing off relaxed immediately afterwards."

  Samantha's expression betrayed her uncertainty. "Everything you're saying seems to contradict a lot of what I've seen."

  Xiùlán smiled and motioned towards the heavy bag. "Start practicing, Sammy. Don't worry about punching with power… keep your arms and body relaxed and loose. Don't try to punch hard or fast. Loosen up. You're going for proper technique. Now begin…"

  Traynor stepped up to the bag, took her stance and let fly, causing the bag to react from each strike.

  "Relax, Sammy. Do it again."

  Sam could tell this was going to be a long morning as she attacked the bag again and again. Each time she struck, she increased the speed of her punches as she decreased the apparent power applied. She relaxed, allowing her arms to become extensions of her muscular hips.

  Xiùlán said, "Let your fists bounce off the bag, Sammy. It'll help build your timing. Keep after it, you're doing great."

  Sam continued to hit the bag, concentrating on her technique. She could feel her muscles complaining, knew she'd be sore as hell tonight, but visualizing the bag as each of the people that had abused her in college kept her going. She took a break after thirty sweat soaked minutes, barely able to raise her arms. "Jeez, Xiùlán, what a workout. Need some water."

  Xiùlán gave her some water, then sat her down on a bench and began gently massaging her shoulders and upper back. "Nǐ zuò de hěn hǎo, sà mǐ." [你做的很好，薩米。- You do well, Sami.] Xiùlán said softly in her ear. "You get really good at this and Jing Quan Dao, you'll never have to worry about having your ass handed to you, ever."

  * * *

  *** 2179/08/19, 2045 Hours ***

  Samantha Traynor began Xiùlán's five-minute countdown as the woman began hacking her way into a computer deliberately rigged to douse her with water if it detected an intrusion. For her part, the top of Xiùlán's head was wet from several previous unsuccessful attempts, and her frustration was showing as she gave vent to her feelings by cursing under her breath in Mandarin. "Dài hóuzi jiānguǒ! Gāisǐ de chóng chūmò cáng wū nà gòu! Pìyǎn tiǎn, shēngzhū miànlín de húndàn! Pí fèn! Tā mā de GǑU NIÁNG YǍNG DE!" [袋猴子堅果！ 該死的蟲出沒藏污納垢！ 屁眼舔，生豬面臨的混蛋！ 蜱糞！他媽的狗娘養的！- Bag monkey nuts! Damn insect infested filth! Asshole licking, pig faced bastard! Tick dung! Fucking SON OF A BITCH! ] The last became a shout as the computer beeped and splashed water on her head yet again. Rising from her cramped, kneeling position, she had pulled back an arm and was ready to let her fist fly when Traynor grabbed her.

  "No no no no no NO NO NO, Xiùlán! Come on, take a break." Traynor hugged her friend and kissed her cheek as she handed her a towel. "Do you want to stop for the evening? I think you're getting too wound up. You tell me not to lose my temper, no matter how badly I'm goaded by whatever miserable bastard I'm fighting. You, my dear, have lost control of your temper. Can't do that on a mission, 'specially if I'm not alongside to talk you down. You almost had it, too. You were doing so bloody good!

  Xiùlán's expression softened as she returned Sam's hug. "Dammit, Sammy! I don't think I have the touch. I can't seem to get past that last, little bit of encrypted code. Frustrating as all hell!" She hugged Sam tight, enjoying the feel of her body held tight to her own. 'I know what's really frustrating me, but I'm not going to tell her,' she thought.

  "You'll get there, Luv. Just give it a rest tonight. We'll tackle it in the morning before class after you've had a good night's sleep. Come on. Showers and bed time…"

  * * *

  *** 2179/08/19, 2205 Hours ***

  "You going to stay with me tonight?" Normally, it would have been Traynor asking that question, mostly in jest, but the pair were in Yuán Xiùlán's quarters, and Sam was surprised to hear the question from her friend. Xiùlán had scared the hell out of Sam on Monday, and wanted to make sure things really were okay between them. "Just had my birthday, Sam… I'm 22 years old. Should be out celebrating with friends, except…" here she trailed off into an awkward silence.

  "Happy Birthday, Xiùlán! You should have told me! I would have baked… well,
bought… a cake for you!" Sam kissed her friend. "I suppose I can stay, as long as invading your personal space is on the agenda. Don't have anything to wear, and I'd bet all your stuff is too large for me."

  Xiùlán stood, went to her small closet, rummaged about for a few seconds and produced a short sleep shirt, which she tossed to Samantha. Moving towards her sleeping area, she began removing her own clothes, hanging her shirt and pants over the desk chair; she sat on the edge of the bed to remove her socks, then said to Sam, "How's it fit?"

  Sam strolled into the room wearing just her bra and panties, outer clothes draped over an arm and the sleep shirt in her hand. "It's a bit baggy." She set her clothes down with Xiùlán's, then tossed the sleep shirt at her before joining her on the edge of the bed, knees together, just her toes touching the floor. Xiùlán moved closer to her and asked, "Sure you don't want to wear something? Get's pretty cool in here at night."

  "If you're in bed with me, it really won't matter, will it?" Sam replied. She brought her arm up around Xiùlán's back and tentatively drew her closer as she looked into her eyes, searching for any sign of rejection.

  Xiùlán allowed Sam to pull her close, until she could reach in and plant a kiss on her cheek. Reaching around in front of Samantha, Xiùlán placed her hand under Sam's left arm, making sure her wrist and forearm were pressed firmly against Sam's breasts. "Do we really want to do this, Sēn měi? Are you sure?"

  Traynor's twisted herself to face Xiùlán by bringing her right leg up on the bed, placing the sole of her foot high against the inside of her left thigh. "I love you, Yuán Xiùlán. Other than being…" she couldn't quite keep her voice from hitching, "…raped, as you say… in college, I've never had a sexual experience with anyone. I want you to be my first true lover, Xiùlán… if you'll have me."