“Are you sure you’re ok? You’ve been far too quiet these past few days,” came Aleena’s voice from behind her.

Sarhea had barely touched her earlier lunch. She just could not clear her mind of Finny’s pleading eyes or the memory of Raith’s frantic face that night he’d almost been crushed by the drone that killed Lyle. She had made a promise to a child, a promise that every fiber of her being, everything that she stood for, bound her for life to uphold. This reality was why she rarely made promises. Now she was stuck in a situation she didn’t know how she was to fulfill.

“Sarhea?”

She sighed quietly. “Don’t worry-it’s nothing. Just have a lot on my mind,” she finally replied.

Aleena quickly came in beside her as they made their way toward the training center.

“Sarhea, it is never nothing with you. Please, tell me. Whatever’s on your mind is eating at you something fierce. Perhaps you need to hit yourself with one of those peace balls.”

Sarhea shot Aleena a toothy grin at the remark. After that encounter with Raith, she had sought out Aleena to test if the manifestation was repeatable. Aleena had been skeptical, but soon got a firsthand taste of Sarhea’s new talent. After the effects had worn off, Aleena had been quite freaked out.

“Don’t ever do that to me again!” her friend had exclaimed.

Sarhea chuckled lightly as she shook the memory away.

“I’ll be fine once I start working out. I just need to vent some frustrations.”

“I pity the fool who takes on that challenge. Well, I guess I’m heading for the energy vaults. Got a few ideas brewing that I need to test some theories for.”

“Sounds interesting. I’ll be playing with knives. Hopefully Nakyla’s available for sparring.”

“If she’s not, someone else will be. The two of you have been attracting quite the crowd lately. I’ve seen some of those guys itching to take you on,” Aleena replied with a smirk as they neared the guarded entryway.

A tall Malkaian stood on duty today.

“Afternoon, ladies,” he greeted with a smile and stepped aside.

‘Hey Darius, are the energy vaults open today?” Aleena asked.

Darius glanced down at his tablet, and after poking and scrolling around on it, he glanced up with a smile.

“Looks like Room three is open. I’ve put you down for it.”

“Awesome! Thanks!” she replied as they pushed through the door.

“I’ve never seen him before,” Sarhea whispered as they joined the crowds on the other side.

Aleena raised a brow. “Really? He’s been here several times and he’s always around inside. You’ve really got to start paying more attention to those around you, and stop being afraid to meet new people.”

Sarhea scowled as she slowly headed toward the combat platform. She already knew more citizens than she should.

A chorus of shouts arose ahead of them. Sarhea glance over to see a sizable crowd of soldiers gathered around her destination. Somewhere beyond, she could hear Nakyla’s taunting voice, and every so often, caught sight of the Malkaian’s long, dark braid flying up above the heads of the gathered men.

Aleena grinned at her and waved as she turned toward the energy vaults. “Have fun!” she tossed out as she left.

Sarhea smirked as she continued over to the edge of the crowd and began to slowly weave her way through them. She soon spotted Askar leaning on the edge of the raised platform. Nakyla was currently engaging two soldiers in a battle of wooden blades.

“Clay! Behind you!” Askar called out to one of the men, a large Kalatian she knew to be his friend.

He smiled widely at her as she arrived at his side. “Hey Sarhea!” he said but then cringed as Clay took a hard blow to the back and went down.

“Ouch, that had to hurt,” Sarhea said. “What’s going on up there?”

“Nakyla wanted a challenge, and man, it has been brutal! She’s kicked three guys’ asses so far and there’s more lined up waiting!”

Sarhea shot him a sideways smirk as she watched the current battle.

“Oh!”

The exclamation was spouted in unison by several among the group as the last man standing fell for one of Nakyla’s signature moves. The Malkaian ducked under his attempted blow and caught him just below the knees with her thick, powerful tail. He toppled forward and landed face first into the platform’s surface. He remained still for several seconds before groaning and rolling onto his back.

Nakyla’s amber eyes fell to her as a wide smirk played at her lips.

“Hey Sarhea! Get your butt up here!” she called.

Sarhea hesitated but Askar gave her a playful shove.

“Go on-Let’s see us a female fight!”

“Oh no, Askar. Sarhea’s going to fight with me, not against,” Nakyla said as she knelt down to retrieve a water bottle at the platform’s edge.

“What? I am?” Sarhea started.

“There was an old game we used to play on our home world. A team of fighters would be pitted against a ring of challengers. It was a test of skill and cooperation, a test to see who could last the longest-the team or the challengers. It’s been a long time since I’ve played that game and I’m in the mood to give it a try. Care to join me?”

Sarhea scowled up at her. “It doesn’t sound very fair.”

“Fair for us or fair for them,” she countered with a coy grin.

Sarhea felt a morbid sense of excitement as she pulled herself up onto the platform. She had come here needing a distraction and Nakyla was providing one.

“Alright, I’ll play along. What are the rules?”

“The original game had no rules, but for the sake of staying out of trouble, there can be no more than four challengers at a time and no overly critical blows can be thrown. We’re not trying to kill one another here. If you find yourself in a position where the resulting blow would have been fatal under normal circumstances, then you’re out,” she announced to everyone gathered.

“Any of the weapons on the racks are available for use or you can tough it out and use no weapons-it’s your choice,” she added.

Sarhea felt a much welcome air of excitement as she walked over to retrieve her usual daggers. A quick glance over the crowd revealed several men preparing for the challenge. She rejoined Nakyla at the center of the ring.

“Are you ready for this?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Sarhea replied and took her stance.

“Well let’s hope we work together as well as I think we do-this is going to be insane!”

A manic grin spread across Nakyla’s face. “Alright, boys! Let’s see you give it your best shot!” she called out with a taunting smirk.

---

Raith and Bud left the upper room meeting between the high city council and military leaders feeling fairly good. The dreaded monthly chore had gone rather smoothly for once, and as a result, promised that the current month would allow them to breathe a little easier. Raith hated when the meeting went poorly; those months were spent heavily out beyond the city partially in the attempt to avoid the inevitable conflicts within.

“Well that was fairly painless,” Bud muttered as they descended the stairway toward the training center.

Raith released a pent up sigh. What he wouldn’t give for a nice dose of peace about now. He’d kept the encounter with the creature to himself. There was no need to have those such as Nakyla scouring the city searching for it when it had done nothing wrong. It knew where to find him if it ever needed to make contact again. He still was curious what Finny had really been doing. The boy had been acting peculiar, and he was fairly confident the boy had been around the creature. But Finny wasn’t talking if he had.

“I suppose it went smoothly, for once,” he replied idly to Bud’s earlier question.

Raith scowled as a group of Rigons rushed by below them on their way to the training grounds. The sight of them made him bristle in distaste; he’d been trying to keep such emotion contained, but it was proving quite difficult. The Rigons were here to stay this time and he would have to make the best of it.

“I wonder what’s going on down there. You hear that?” Bud asked.

Raith arched a brow as he hesitated. He’d not been paying attention to the sounds beyond the corridor they descended down into, but now that he concentrated, he could hear a stead chorus of shouts and cheers. He shot Bud a questioning glance.

“What the hell is going on?”

The doors leading to the facility opened and two soldiers entered the corridor. One supported another who held a bloody cloth to his snout.

“You down there! What happened to you?” Raith called out as he quickly descended the remaining steps to the ground.

Now that he was closer, he noticed the other sported a nasty black eye. He scowled fiercely at them as they attempted to come to attention.

“Commander…we…um…” the first with the black eye stammered.

The door opened again and a young female Cassarian cadet came strutting in. He quickly recognized her as Lyle’s girl Cadence. It was good to see her smiling again.

“Good afternoon, Commander. I see you’ve finished up your meeting just in time to see that these two fools got their asses handed to them by a pair of girls!” she reported triumphantly.

“What’s this? Just what is going on out there?”

“Sir, Nakyla and her friend have challenged any who dare to try to take them down. Half the scouting force is out there waiting to give it a go.”

Raith furrowed a brow. This sounded like another one of Nakyla’s boredom stunts; the Malkaian was highly unpredictable when she was bored.

“How many are fighting at once?”

Cadence shot the two wounded men a gloating smirk before turning her gaze back to him.

“Sir, it is Nakyla and her friend Sarhea against four at once and continuous. When one challenger falls, another takes his place. It has been fairly brutal and nonstop for nearly twenty minutes now.”

Raith’s gaze hardened as he stared at the doors. More cheers arose from beyond.

“You two get yourselves cleaned up,” he spat and headed toward the doors.

“Yes sir!” they replied in unison and quickly disappeared. Cadence came to attention with a grin before following after them.

“Bud, I think I’m already beginning to regret granting that woman access to our facilities,” he mumbled.

“We’d better get in there before someone gets hurt. You know how Nakyla gets; her skills got her on our team, and it sounds like Sarhea’s got some decent talent as well.”

Raith fought to keep a growl from rumbling in his throat. He’d observed some of Sarhea’s talent one night several weeks back when she’d snuck into his facility. He finally shook his head and headed for the doors.

“Let’s go,” he growled under his breath.

They opened the doors and were instantly greeted by several groups of soldiers nursing various wounds. They eyed him in embarrassment as he passed. A sizable group was gathered around the combat platform. Cheering voices became quiet and worried as they caught sight of his stern gaze. They stepped quickly out of his way, making him an easy path to the edge of platform.

It appeared the party was winding down. Nakyla and Sarhea stood back to back in the center of the platform while only three men circled them; no one else was joining in. Two of the challengers were Rigons and one was Malkaian.

A heavy set Rigon warrior with a large wooden broadsword rushed forward. Raith instantly knew the creature would fail. He was relying on brute strength alone and Nakyla was a master at showing that type what a weakness that could be. He already saw her setting up for one of her trademark counter attacks. The Malkaian, a strong, competent tracker named Dimitri, was preparing to attack Sarhea. The third Rigon was circling them all and appeared to be deciding which battle he wanted to join.

Raith watched with a critical eye as wooden blades clashed, sweat, blood and spit were tossed across the platform, and bloated prides were crushed and trampled. He couldn’t help but be impressed with Sarhea’s skills. She was quick and agile, and her blows landed with precision. Not one of her moves was made without careful thought, even in the heat of the moment. All the training she’d been sneaking in to do seemed to be working for her.

As he predicted, Nakyla easily ducked under the Rigon’s attack. She quickly maneuvered around and behind him, the point of her dagger falling between his shoulder blades.

“Nice try there, big guy, but not good enough,” she growled, a malicious glint in her eyes.

The Rigon’s expression darkened as he threw down his blade and stormed off the platform. His comrades jeered and laughed, several of which got knocked in the teeth as he rejoined them.

“Sarhea, I’ve got your back!” Nakyla called as she ran to her friend’s aid.

The Cassarian was putting up quite the fight and appeared fairly winded as she now faced both remaining opponents. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth and nose, and a few rather nasty bruises were beginning to show on her face, shoulders and back. She was quite the stubborn fool.

Nakyla arrived and in one swift move, locked an arm with Sarhea and spun her aside. Dimitri was momentarily stunned and it gave Nakyla just enough of an advantage to throw off his attack plan. Sarhea now faced the remaining Rigon. This one was tall and impressively built, lacking in the usual flab many of the creatures carried around. He was young and had a calculating look in his eyes that spoke of higher intelligence than his companion had displayed.

Just when Nakyla was about to end her battle with her challenger, she slipped on a puddle of mystery fluids. She soon found a blade at her throat.

“Sorry Nakyla, not this time,” Dimitri sneered.

Her gaze darkened.

“Dammit, Dimitri!” she snapped and tried to get off her knees.

Dimitri pressed the blade harder to her throat, appearing to want to relish in his victory; Nakyla was rarely bested.

“Nakyla! What are you doing?!”

“Sorry, Sarhea. I’m out!”

“What?”

Raith watched in amusement as the Cassarian ducked under a heavy blade with wide eyes to see her partner kneeling with a blade at her throat. Dimitri was taking much too long in his gloating. Sarhea suddenly spun away from the Rigon and at the precise moment, sent one of her daggers flying out across the platform. Dimitri saw the projectile much too late. The butt of the wooden weapon caught him square between the eyes. He was knocked off his feet and straight to his back.

“Ha! Serves you right, you arrogant jerk!” Nakyla spat as she stood. “Thanks for that, Sarhea and good luck!” she called and climbed down off the platform.

Raith felt Nakyla’s gaze settle on him as she slowly made her way over.

“You care to tell me what this is all about?” he whispered as the sounds of wood clashing continued above.

Nakyla grinned as she watched.

“We needed a new challenge. That machine of Talen’s just doesn’t cut it.”

“That does not mean you need to send half the ground troops away licking wounds.”

Nakyla shrugged. “They knew what they were getting into before stepping onto that platform. Watch out, Sarhea! Coming around your right!” she called out to her friend.

Raith scowled as Sarhea dodged another skillfully thrown blow.

“I expect this from you, but that one is not one of us. I did not grant her access for you to use her to make a fool of our troops.”

Nakyla’s eyes widened.

“You’re the one who gave them access?” she started, then raised a brow as a critical glare formed on her face. “If you have such a problem with Sarhea, then why did you do this?”

Raith cast a quick glare at the steady, ongoing battle.

“She was sneaking in anyway. Better to allow her access where she can be watched.”

Raith arched a brow at Nakyla’s now blank expression.

“What, didn’t think I knew about that, did you? Perhaps you are not as crafty as you thought you were and quite honestly, I’m rather disappointed you did not report her so we could figure out how she was doing it.”

Nakyla went silent and he turned to watch the battle. He could tell the remaining two warriors were exhausted. Sarhea panted heavily as she stood poised and ready while the Rigon eyed her cautiously as he did the same.

“You are worthy opponent,” he said between huffing breaths.

“As are you. But there can be only one victor,” Sarhea replied.

“Aye,” the brutish creature said as he charged at her once more.

Raith thought for sure it would soon be over. He could see Sarhea quickly analyzing the Rigon’s moves, but at the last minute, the creature seemed to take her by surprise. He abruptly changed his direction at the last minute. Sarhea fell for the diversion and barely ducked under his heavy wooden sword. Her lone dagger came up and bumped his wrist, causing the Rigon’s weapon to fly from his hand. He was quick enough, however, to use his other arm to snag her across her chest. He pulled her in and pinned her against his chest. His other hand clamped around the wrist that held the remaining dagger and forced her to release the weapon. Sarhea’s teeth were bared as she growled in fury.

“What now, Madrick? With no weapons to finish me off, how are you supposed to win?”

“I’ll crush you to death…or at least until you yield.”

“It won’t happen,” she growled.

“Aye, stronger fighters than you have met this fate,” he challenged back.

“I am not just any fighter!”

Raith could see the Rigon tightening his embrace. This would not end well for the Cassarian. Her hands were already beginning to frantically grasp at the arm across her chest.

“Do you yield?”

“Never!” she gasped.

Madrick’s grip tightened more as Sarhea clawed fruitlessly at his arm and anything within her reach. Her eyes were growing bloodshot and her lips were turning an off color.

“Dammit Sarhea, yield!” Nakyla whispered from beside him.

Raith found himself mentally urging the same. The woman’s stubbornness was bordering on insanity.

Sarhea’s body suddenly went limp. Several gasps could be heard rising from the quiet crowd. Raith’s eyes widened as Madrick tried to see what he’d done. His embrace loosened as he lowered the limp Cassarian toward the floor. Worry quickly replaced the defiant, victorious glint in his eyes. When her feet touched the ground with no resistance, he quickly began to lower her the rest of the way down to the platform surface.

As soon as she was down, her blue eyes flew open. A malicious grin spread across her face as she shoved herself between his legs on her back and retrieved the dagger she’d been forced to drop. She scrambled to her feet and sprang to his back before he’d even had a chance to process what had just happened. Her blade came up under his throat.

“Do you yield, Madrick?”

Madrick’s stubby ears drooped as his hands came up before him in surrender. Sarhea released her blade and dropped off his back. She sank to her knees behind him and coughed. Excited cheers arose from the gathered soldiers.

“How’d you do that? I thought I crushed you!” he exclaimed.

“You are not the first who’s tried that, though I admit it was a clever move. You nearly had me-you just let go too soon.”

Madrick grinned. “Next time I won’t make that mistake”

“Next time you’ll never catch me like that.”

He reached out a hand which she took gratefully. He pulled her to her feet.

“You fight well, are very clever for a woman. You were a worthy adversary, Sarhea. I look forward to rematch!”

“Same to you,” she replied wearily.

Madrick released her hand and turned to join his group. Sarhea sank back to the floor, this time going all the way down on her back. Raith watched as Nakyla pulled herself back up and rushed to Sarhea’s side with water.

“That was awesome! I’ll have to remember that little trick. I really thought he’d done you in,” he heard her say.

Raith saw Askar move in beside him. The Cassarian sported a nice puffy black eye.

“How long did you last?” he asked with a raised brow.

Askar grinned.

“Not very long at all, sir.”

“That’s what I figured,” he muttered.

“When you going to give it a try? I’ve seen you fight, sir. You could beat her for sure.”

Raith hesitated and cast a sideways glance over to the exhausted women on the platform. Sarhea’s head had raised and she glared at him with wide eyes that begged for reprieve.

“Maybe another time. Enough sport has been had here today. It’s time to get back to your real training-all of you,” he called out a little louder.

Mumbles were heard across the group as it began to disperse. Raith saw Sarhea’s head drop back to the platform before he turned to see Bud waiting at the edge of the group. Raith shook his head as he glanced around at the grinning, bruised and bleeding men. It was actually rather embarrassing.

Bud arched a brow as he approached. “Those two make quite the team,” he mused almost absently.

Raith could only shake his head in frustration as he continued back toward his office. Bud simply grinned as he followed beside him.

Half way to his office, Raith heard the familiar crude voices of Rigons. He carefully glanced up to see a sizable group of them standing on an upper level. General Tsa was among them, as was the one called Madrick. They seemed to be in serious discussions, most likely about the younger man’s failure.

Raith picked up his pace. As long as there was appreciable distance between him and the Rigon general, things would remain calm. Sarsan had worked endlessly to assure the man that his species was safe, but that did not stop the general from making threats or taking any opportunity to throw insults at him. He tried to divert his gaze and get away from the area.

“Ha! A pathetic excuse of an army you have here, Leonian! They cannot even defeat women!” Tsa snorted just as Raith thought he’d gone ignored.

He felt Bud’s hand fall to his shoulder as he bristled. He struggled to contain his desire to verbally lash back at the man. He took a deep breath as he glanced up.

“Your men failed as well,” he replied as calmly as possible.

“Aye, but Taga is a fool. My son-he was beaten by trickery, typical of women. But the Cassarian beat your men with simple daggers and fists-a worthy warrior. Too bad she is not Rigon; she would make a fine mate for my son.”

Raith’s eyes narrowed at the veiled insult.

“Come on, Raith. It’s not worth letting him get under your skin,” Bud whispered quietly beside him.

Raith quickly turned and tried to ignore the guttural laughter behind him.

“That man got under my skin the minute he stepped off his ship,” Raith growled quietly.

He stormed the rest of the way to his office in silence. Before entering the solitude beyond, he cast one last glance back to where he could barely see that Sarhea was finally standing again. Yes, she was stronger and more skilled than he’d originally thought. She definitely had potential in many areas, but there was still something hidden below the surface that just would not allow him to fully trust her.

He turned and entered his office, closing out the world beyond.