“I’ve got a whole crew’s worth of debt on my head. If I want a breath of freedom for the rest of my life,” Deidra paused to strafe back from a kick that almost cracked a rib, “I have to do this.”
“That’s why you entered the Olympia. That’s not enough reason to hit someone, not like you mean it. Why are you trying to hit me?” countered Galia. She jabbed the side of Deidra’s face.
“Because you said to!”
“Not good enough!” Galia shouted. She dodged to the side of Deidra’s frustrated fist.
“Because I need practice!” she tried.
“No, that’s not it! Switch!” Galia cried out. She fell back a few steps, but left Deidra with, “Think about it, while I’m gone.” Galia bounded for Rey. Kostic came at Deidra.
“Hey there, newbie,” she greeted with a heel driven for Deidra’s face. A pulse of instinct made her bash the shoe away with her invisible gauntlet. When her conscious mind caught up, Deidra’s first thought was how did I do that? It was a sentiment shared by Kostic, who stared with wide eyes. Deidra seized the opportunity to strike.
She got to know each member of the Dreamweaver’s crew a little more intimately in the game of fists that followed. Each strike taken and received told her something about them, before the call of their captain to face another. The tightness and power of each punch despite her petite size told Deidra Kostic was a hard and frequent trainer. Switch! Demitri was lighter on his feet for such a large man than Deidra would ever have guessed. He also winced each time he threw a punch, betraying his large heart. Switch! Fogan was an artist in every sense of the word. He moved like fluid. He struck like a viper. He was the only one of the Dreamweaver’s crew that never smiled when he fought. Switch! Rey, the wildcard. His every strike was as brutal as Galia’s, as any other opponent Deidra might face in the Olympia. It was a hard lesson everyone had to learn, to live, but no one wanted to teach. His blows came often with advice.
“Don’t duck so low that you get lost.” “If you kick, you’re sacrificing half your balance. Remember that.” “Never put more than half your strength behind a punch you’re not more than half sure will connect.” Were some of the pieces that stuck in Deidra’s mind. Switch! The captain, again.
“Well, do you have your answer?” said Galia.
“I don’t know what you want to hear,” Deidra shrugged her bruised, battered shoulders.
“I want to hear what’s in your head, when you’re in the thick of the fight. What makes you angry. What’s going to keep you alive through these next challenges because, to be honest, it’s been pretty close!” Galia roared at first, but lowered to a rumble. A thought began to tumble through her mind. “What about Devin?”
“What about him?” A hint of annoyance poked through Deidra’s voice instantly.
“How did you feel about him?” Galia prodded. The last thing she wanted was to dredge this up, but if it was the anchor that would keep Deidra grounded in the fray…
“I love him,” Deidra confessed. Her eye twitched. “He’s my oldest friend. My brother. The only person who knows exactly what I go through because he’s up to his waist in it with me.” Galia’s face showed none of the hesitation that bubbled through her innards.
“Loved him. He’s gone now, Deidra,” she said, indifferent enough to make Deidra’s skin crawl. She gritted her teeth.
“Rex killed him, I killed Rex, his crew tried to kill me. The wheel of revenge keeps spinning,” said Deidra, more hurt than angry.
“But who’s fault is it really? Who is it that put you in this situation, really, Deidra?” Galia dug in, “Who forced you into a situation where you had to kill for a gasp of freedom? Who keeps you a servant with insane interest rates on loans they probably tricked you into taking out?” Deidra’s lips tensed with the grind of teeth behind them. “Who have you always been too afraid to stand up to?”
“The Gold Standard! AAARGH!” Deidra’s fist pounded firmly in Galia’s grasp. Her fingers trembled against the stockpiled fury of twenty years in servitude. Twenty years of abuse. Galia hardly believed it, but she couldn’t hold the blow. She had to step aside, lest Deidra overcome her. Silence fell across the rest of the crew as they watched, paralyzed, their captain step aside.
“Alright,” Galia smirked. She shook out her tired hand. “Remember that feeling. Keep it close. Switch!”
The crew of the Dreamweaver had one more day to train, then rest, before the Thruway. They had every intention of sparring through the morning. With most of the hard-fought lessons taught in pain the day before, Galia planned to take things easier. She’d even give them breaks this time, while she disappeared behind a hill to pee, and pop a handful of taxotrol. That was before the remnants of the Hammer arrived, with the crest of the sun.
“We heard there was some sparring going on in the hills outside the Forge,” said one of them. Galia recognized her by the long scar down the side of her face as Corelia.
“That’s right,” Galia challenged, “For combatants that didn’t withdraw from the Olympia.” She knew on sight of them, though, that they hadn’t come to spar. Phase-blasters weren’t permitted in the Thruway, yet Corelia and the rest of the Hammer had their fingers inches from belts full of them.
“Yeah, well… since you guys seem to be getting along so well, I figured we’d come give you some more advanced practice,” said Corelia. She drew her phase-blaster, but not before a shimmering blue ring of energy kicked her chest straight back. The crew of the Hammer tensed up around her. They searched the Dreamweaver contingent below, but none of them had a controlled thermal weapon, like the one that had thrown that first-degree ring. The burn was etched into Corelia’s collarbone, right through her clothes.
“You heard the captain. Sparring’s for active combatants only,” announced a half-digitized voice. Galia, Deidra and the rest of their crew spun to find the speaker behind them. The voice had come through a jet black helmet with a bright yellow line across it. “Save it for the Reverie. You withdrew, so withdraw,” commanded the Terra Eagle. She pulled back the action of her thermal pistol, the same sleek shade as her helmet and exosuit. She was sure to flick up the heat to the third degree. “Unless you want something a little more permanent.” Corelia took the offered arm of a crewmate to climb to her feet.
“See you at the Reverie,” she grimaced. The Hammer’s crew vanished one begrudging member at a time. Galia turned to face the Eagle instantly, while Deidra lingered with her eyes on the hill Corelia had been on. She wasn’t quite ready to face her masked savior, three times over.
“Thanks,” Galia said, cautiously. She kept the cylinders that projected her invisible gauntlets tucked under her thumbs, hidden.
“I despise cheaters,” explained the Terra Eagle.
“You sure… it has nothing to do with your friend Deidra?” Galia dared. Deidra turned to a human statue behind her. The Terra Eagle’s scanner line turned to a dot, which shot to Deidra, then back to Galia.
“Friend? I’m here for the practice,” said the Terra Eagle. She holstered her thermal pistol. The jet-disks in her exosuit boots shot her forward. Galia and Rey deployed their gauntlets instantly.