"Battles, wars, in-fighting, and conflict in general, regardless of their form and manner, has been an omnipresent reality of life since times immemorial.

Even the simplest of life forms engage in conflicts, and even the most complex ones get drawn into them.

It's the source of destruction, and that of disturbance, forcing those of still minds to rethink their ways, and those of open minds to still some of their ways.

Any such disturbance is a great opportunity for improvement in all areas of life, and yet it is most often an even greater setback.

To take that opportunity, or to accept said setback, is a choice."

(Professor Zhaernon En'Kalhurn-University of Delta Draconis year 452)

Fenicia

Aboard the Warsong, Engineering deck

Nice digs if you like glowing consoles, machineries and really dark places. I know it’s not like this normally, I’ve been to engineering decks on freighters and everything is illuminated for safety reasons. I couldn’t see the engineers; my LiDAR wasn’t active with the limited HUD my nanites gave me access to. I really missed my helmet, but it did its job by protecting my head. I wish I had infrared or a night vision mod to see in the dark, I bet its part of the hidden non-available mods in the omega centurion package. All that technology made me dependant I think, or else I would have used my senses to feel the obvious threat which struck me in the side with the force of a maglev. Pain engulfed my left arm and the base of my shoulder. That’s when the Medical health system mod of the centurion Omega pack activated, it cut my pain receptors and flooded the fractured bones of my left arm with medical nanites and immobilized it in barely one second.

I used the momentum of the hit to roll on the steel-plated ground and right myself in a standup position pistol in hand.

“Aren’t you quick on your feet, bitch,” Hissed a mechanical voice.

The voice sounded electronic.

“Come to face me, pussy,” I answered.

I have no desire to fight a foe in the dark, so I did the only smart thing since entering a dark place with a prepared enemy in it. I called mom.

“Idunn, could you put on the light in the engineering deck.” I subvocalized on the Q-uplink.

“Of course my dear, hold on for thirty seconds. Oh and this man called you a slut, destroy him.”

“What? And how do you know that?!” And I stopped, thinking. Oh, right. “Psionic, I forgot.”

“Yes, Fenicia dear. You are one too, I remind you.” And she cut the communication on that reminder. If that wasn’t a hint… I don’t know what it could be.

I sent my awareness outside of my body and felt everything around me, platforms, consoles, huge pieces of machinery, EPS conduits, huge humanoid metallic form… Ah!

“Found ye, Tramp head*(Irish phrase, about someone who feels the urge to be a complete Arse Weed in their everyday life...)!” I yelled in its direction.

“Ha ha! And what can you do about it, slut?”I sensed a bit of smugness in that sentence.

“I have an idea of how to open that feckin’ armor ye got like a can of spinach. Then I’m going to take possession of this ship as my personal cruise. It needs a major overhaul, ye know. Too much blood covering the corridors and walls, plus the furniture suck.”

“You bitch! That ship is mine!” A huge shadow charged toward me.

I strapped my Peace pistol in its holster and took out my Pacifier while jumping to the side and hitting a wall. Fucking light needs to be on already. The Pac energy pistol can be used to stun and kill but its main use is also to fight warbots or people in mech armors. I fired my weapon and a coherent ray of energy struck the relative position of the armored man.

“What was that? It didn’t even scratch my mech!”

“Ye speak too much.” I closed my eyes and decided to rely on my Saryan training. I forgot in my panic that I have already been in a situation like this. There was a gigantic labyrinth of tunnels in a cave system bordering my hometown on Saryna where the youngs must be tested to cull their fears. This test shows what your place will be in the Saryan clan, either a warrior or a helper (servant).

*Master your will, master your demons and see!*

And I saw the punch coming toward me, I didn’t panic and stepped in and fired my Pac again in the head of the mecha and disengaged. I hid behind one of the big machines with glowing light screens on it.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?! I CAN’T SEE!!!” The man screamed.

“You got the colonel good!” I heard Ell say on the Q-uplink.

“Oh, it’s the colonel,” I said not even really surprised.

“Yep totally him, he… is a fucking rapist asshole. Be careful.” I heard the catch in Ell’s voice. Oh, I hope for that asshole he didn’t touch her.

“Don’t worry, I will finish him.” Walking toward the mech armor, I took out my monomolecular blade from behind my back.

“I was raised to be a warrior, colonel. Trained my entire life to master my senses. Where did ye train? ON A FARM?”

“Shut up you…!” I sliced the right arm of the mech while he was mid-sentence.

I fired another shot of my Pac in one of the mech’s leg and went over my limit with the strength augment given by my nanites and kicked it in the torso. I still took a glancing blow and got clocked to the side of the head. It fucking hurt! I felt blood dripping down on the right side of my face. I saw double for a while but stayed on my feet.

“That farm quips hit a nerve, ain’t it farmboy? Are ye embarrassed by yer origins?” I said.

The light went On, I could see the mecha trying to get on its feet but not succeeding.

“Finally! You took your time, Idunn!” I said in Saryan on the Q-uplink.

“Not at all. It’s been thirty seconds since you asked me for help, dear.” I felt the smile in that argument; Idunn has a weird sense of humor.

I guess time is longer when you fight for your life, seconds are minutes, and minutes are hours.

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“We are coming, don’t kill him yet Feni,” Ell said with urgency. And since when did she give me a nickname?

“No promises.” I advanced toward the still struggling mech.

It is an old model but still seemed to have current upgrades. I could see this on the power packs on the back of the armor, they were downsized. It was big, black and cumbersome and looked more like a big medieval armor from the Terran medieval era. I felt insulted, this man came at me with a big armor, relying on sheer strength and had no weapon.

“You made three mistakes, colonel.” Stepping before the downed mecha I stabbed my blade in its torso and forcefully sliced it to its crotch.

“Number one, you didn’t surrender when asked.”

Using my will, I opened the mecha with my telekinesis, the creaks and screams from the metal of the armor were music to my ears and seconds after the armor parted and peeled off the man inside the machine. A bald man with a hateful glare and a mean demeanor peered at me. He wore a ship suit showing a body once upon a time athletic but that wasn’t getting any sporting activity anymore. He looked flabby.

“Number two…” The man stood up, I let him.

He charged me and attempted to punch me; I caught his fist and tightened my grip.

“Ow, ow!!” He screamed like a bitch when I tightened my hand on his fist.

I let go of his fist and slapped his face, one time, a second time, a third time. It was fascinating to see the shockwave of my hand slapping his face with my accelerated awareness. “You called me a slut.”

The man stood on his feet at least, not falling down or swooning, I took my Pac and fired on him.

“The third mistake was getting into a fight with no weapon, damn amateur.” I watched the man fall on his back on the steel platform, stunned.

It’s almost done this fight. Maybe I won’t have to kill everyone on this ship. I am sure there are people left on the bridge and the engineers must be hiding somewhere.

“We are onboard, Fenicia.” Said Idunn on the the Q-uplink.

“Join me on the engineering deck; I hope you brought something to take every memory of that creepy bastard. I hitch to kill him.”

“I have a free data cube when his memory is uploaded, you can do whatever you want to him.” She answered as if to sooth me.

“Music to my ears,” I said, waiting.

***

Colonel David O’lleary

“Wakey, wakey.” I heard a familiar voice.

“Ell, is that you?” Opening my eyes blearily, a face that I thought I would never see again appeared.

“Yes, Colonel. You look quite beat up.” She quipped, smiling mockingly at me.

“Of course he looks like shit, I bitch slapped his feckin’ face into a coma.” That accent and that harsh voice…

“Wake up, farm boy. I am not done with you; I want you to tell me where you stashed those engineers.”

“You…” I looked in horror at Ell Evan. That bitch betrayed us! Betrayed me! No. I won’t let it go like this, she must die!

“78-89-15-L-B!!!” I yelled rapidly.

“Oh, I think it was the code for the bomb inside your skull Ell, my dear.” Another female voice sounded in my vicinity.

Ell suddenly punched me. I felt bones breaking… the bitch broke my nose!

“I wanted to do that since a longtime, creep.” She said while cracking her knuckles with her other hand.

“What a dumb bastard, we should just space him. M-Idunn, did you get the location of where the rest of the crew is hidden?”

“Yes, there is a hidden room in the engineering deck, near the Ion drive. We don’t have to kill those ones, Fenicia.”

“So that means, I can kill him?” She asked hopefully, I felt cold when I saw her golden eyes peering at me with a maniacal glee.

“Yes, my dear. But before that, let me get violent too for once.” The woman I spoke with on the bridge appeared in my field of vision. She looks like an Angel, it’s unfortunate that a devil inhabits this body. I would have gladly given it a go. But some women aren’t worth mounting…

CRACK.

“AAAAAAHHH!!!!!” The pain made my eyes open wide! The bitch kicked me in the fucking nuts! My breath caught, my eyes moistened. I went into a fetal position because of the pain…

“FUC..KING S..LU..T.”

***

Fenicia

I watched Idunn retreat and Ell watching her with awe and respect. Me too I thought that she’s badass.

“Now it’s time for you to say bye bye, farm boy,” I said, looking at the colonel.

“You… bitch, you killed… my crew!” The colonel wheezed.

“Your soldiers were murderers, and your crew guilty by association,” I said calmly.

I watched him while he was on his back in a fetal position to protect his balls, his nose broken by Ell's tender punch seeping blood and nasal mucus. He looked pathetic.

“And now guess what” I readied my fist, “they won’t be killing anyone else.” My punch sank into his face and I caved his skull in. The blood and grey matters showered me and the steel-plated ground.

“Ah, yuck!”

“That was so dirty! First time I saw so much gore, in a fight.” Ell said. “And your armor is splattered with so much blood, even your face.”

“That’s what happens with executions, they are messy. Fortunately, there are bots for the cleaning.” Walking toward the Ion drive room, I scoped the steel colored walls. And then I began knocking on them for ten seconds or so until I heard a hollow sound. Taking out my monomolecular blade I sank it into the wall. Work of 1 minute or so to carve a door and kick it with my leg. The wall I carved sank inward, and surprise, I found my engineers.

“We surrender!” A man kneeled before me, hands behind his head. The others all did the same.

“Ye’ re all damn lucky, the director of the station doesn’t want me to kill ye all.” I paused for effect. “That’s too bad,” I said in my best Terran language.

I suddenly smelled urine in the room, disgusted I retreated back from the room.

“Ell, take care of them. I must go to the bridge.”

“I always get the dirty work…” She whined.

“Alright everyone, remember me? I was…” Ell’s voice faded while I advanced toward the exit. Idunn followed me.

We walked in silence in the corridor of the ship, exiting the Engineering deck and to take the stairs toward the Command deck. The bridge must still be guarded by a token force.

“I heard that you want to keep the ship, Fenicia. I hope you will stay…” Idunn decided to fill in the silence.

“I don’t plan to leave right now, too much happened. Too many things are not clear, I must be sure that you really are who you say you are. Discover the changes within my body; I observed that I don’t have access to all the mods. And if I leave it will give you problems and I will be hunted down by Vice industries.” I said offhandedly.

“Oh.” I heard her say.

I stopped and turned on my heel. “Let’s take control of this boat, square the prisoner in the brig of the station and take a nap.” I put my working arm around Idunn’s right shoulder.

Not knowing why Idunn eyes misted and she shyly looked at her boots.

“Yes my dear, let’s.” She said with warmness in her voice.

***

???

Ship ?????? en route for PX2458, Year 456 of the unified Alliance

I watched has the ocean of star transformed into a tunnel of blue-white light in which this powerful ship travel in, bringing us ever so close to our destination. So much is still not known about subspace, we know how to protect ourselves from its effects and how short distances are in it but not much more. Sitting in my command chair I was observing the transit in subspace with nostalgia, my bridge officers Kalan and Kisora are piloting the ship toward the system with the Hidden Garden space station. Those two are twins of Asian heritage, small and petite their bodies belie their true power. Seeing them like this, I remember a time where I was myself piloting my own ship, gallivanting in human space, smuggling, bounty hunting.

“Ma’am, we are almost here.” Said the tall and athletic young woman on the Weapon console.

“Thank you, Sharah. We enter in the system weapons hot, as usual.”

Sharah is of Egyptian origin that makes her complexion rather exotic, her skin tone is a light brown, she has long straight black hair, and a heart-shaped face and soft amber eyes. The dark eye of Rah tattoo around her right eye is one of the more distinctive sign that she values her origins; it had a marvelous cosmetic effect on her face.

“Yes, ma’am.” She saluted me with her right hand formed into a fist on her breast. Sharah has always been too formal. I appreciated her tall form; her blue uniform is tight on her body.

“Do you know if the girls are on board? After all, this is their ship, and I had to take the most armed and accompanied.” I said looking at the Q-uplink data on my stargazer glasses. Three other heavy warships and a dozen light ones accompanied us.

“Lady Demetria is in the lab and Lady Faffa is prepping the combat shuttle in the hangar,” Sharah said while consulting the computer on her console.

“Great, I hope we are not too late.”