The tour of the Spear of Destiny that Zayd received was illuminating if only minimally useful at the moment. He knew that the Fae ship had been attacked by the Beithioch but it was only when he got a tour of the ship that he realized why the mighty ship had become crippled.
“It’s difficult without the use of heavy weapons to disable a starship from the outside while it’s on a planet’s surface,” Eion explained. He’d brought Zayd to an engineering compartment that housed a considerable amount of precision equipment used to manage the ship’s transition between real-space and hyper-space. While technicians were carefully reassembling one of the large pieces of equipment, the scorch marks from a multitude of small explosions could still be seen across much of the compartment. “The Beithioch managed to breach our small craft bays and once their soldiers were inside the ship they caused tremendous amounts of damage like this,” the Acolyte continued. “We barely limped back into hyper-space in our escape.”
“You came here because some of the minerals here are used in the damaged systems?” Zayd guessed, watching the skilled technicians install freshly fabricated parts into the complex device.
“Exactly,” Eion acknowledged. “Our survey data was out of date though. We didn’t know that anyone had come to this world. We expected to be able to spend months extracting the minerals we needed and making repairs. Now, since your people have already done the work of extracting and refining many of the minerals we need, it’s much simpler to take what we need and make replacement parts. Speaking of your people,” the Fae acolyte said. “We have some captives from the assault and the mining camp you resided at. Do you wish to meet with them?”
Zayd stared at the polite seeming acolyte and tried to decide if there was an ulterior motive in the question he asked. Was this a test of loyalty or something? Was he being probed to see if he would demand the release of his former coworkers? Whatever he said, he was sure they would read more into his answer than he meant and the translation software didn’t help. He was certain that there was nuance getting lost in this conversation but it would be months before he could hold more than a simple conversation with the Fae in their native tongue.
“Don’t call them my people,” Zayd finally said a bit more sharply than he intended. In the end, he didn’t care what they thought of his answer as long as it was true, they could read into it whatever they liked. “I might have been born into the Braxis-Quan Holding Company, but I was never anything more than a number to them. Those ‘coworkers’ I had at the mining camp, even if they weren’t supervisors skimming off the top of my work, were still just a bunch of scum doing whatever it took to pay their own debts, even if it meant sabotaging their coworkers. I’ve got nothing to say to them,” he said definitively.
“So I see,” Eion said, his expression bland and unreadable. “We’re different here. Many of our missing crew members laid down their lives to protect those of us who escaped. They did so willingly because it was their duty and calling. They were not just our comrades but our friends and even our family. I hope, in time, you might be able to think the same of us,” he said, placing extra emphasis on the words ‘in time.’ It was clear from their previous conversation that Eion wasn’t extending a hand in friendship, at least not yet.
“In time,” Zayd agreed. As much as he craved genuine friendship, he was starting to believe that the Fae wouldn’t extend that kind of friendship until he’d shed blood with them, or at least risked his life together with them for their common interests. “You said that you were going to show me where I’d be training tomorrow?” Zayd asked, forcefully changing the topic.
“Of course, this way Champion,” Eion replied, leading Zayd to a spacious room shaped like a hexagon that measured ten meters on each side. The ship’s omnipresent holographic projectors created the feeling that the training room was a broad clearing in a lush tropical jungle and the climate controls had been set to keep the space not only several degrees warmer than the remainder of the vessel but considerably more humid as well.
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“Is this what the weather in your world is like?” Zayd asked, taking in the racks of gleaming weapons, shields, and other high-tech training equipment that felt incongruous with the natural scenery.
“Only in the tropical regions,” Eion answered blandly. “Our soldiers believe in pushing themselves in all ways. This room can replicate even hotter environments, freezing cold conditions, rain or ice storms, and we can even flood the space to train on floating platforms. An evolved being must be able to thrive in every environment, not just the one it originally adapted to. We must transcend the biomes which birthed us and become an Apex Existence on all worlds,” he explained, for the first time showing a bit of genuine emotion as the topic shifted to the core tenets of his faith.
“So, this is our new Champion,” a musical voice said from the opposite side of the room. The Wing Leader turned out to be a delicate white-haired man with piercing turquoise eyes who, unlike most of the Fae he’d encountered so far, kept his long hair in a tight braid. Interwoven with that braid, a strand of crystals glittered beneath the intense lights of the training room, though Zayd wasn’t certain if the crystals had some cultural significance or if they were purely ornamental. “I’m told that Priestess Eirian and her team did quite a bit of work just to give you the ability to barely use the weapons in this room,” he said while he walked over to one of the nearby racks that held sophisticated-looking swords, shields, axes and several other high tech versions of ancient weapons. “You understand the ways of close combat?” Tael asked, selecting a long and slender sword for himself before directing his icy turquoise gaze at Zayd.
“I do,” Zayd said, a predatory smile forming on his lips. It had been far too long since he’d gotten to spar with an actual opponent as opposed to an AI-powered target dummy and his new heart beat rapidly with his increasing excitement. “You want to give it a go?”
Seeing Zayd’s grin, Tael returned it with one of his own. “Choose your blade, Champion,” he challenged. “Since I’m told you only just learned about Dark Energy and have no training in harnessing it, we’ll keep our weapons cold today. I hope you can forgive the insult of not meeting you in my best state,” he said.
“Blade eh?” Looking at the rack of swords, Zayd found many that were familiar as well as several that weren’t. The disturbing part, to him, was that even the largest of the swords available lacked more than a trivial hand guard. While it wouldn’t leave his hand unprotected, none of the techniques he’d learned for fighting with a cross-guard would be viable with the small little ring guard that barely covered his hand. “I guess we have different ideas about what makes for a good sword,” he muttered.
“Not to your liking,” the white-haired man asked when he saw Zayd puzzling over the selection of swords. “Would you prefer something different? Maybe something a bit more primitive is your preference?” Tael teased. Even though the words sounded mocking, his tone sounded light and friendly. “Perhaps a spear? Or, I’m sure we can fashion a club for you if you’d like.”
Putting down the two-handed long sword he’d been examining, Zayd moved over to another rack of weapons. “Not a club,” he said, passing over the light and heavy maces along with the flails for something that he was pleasantly surprised to find. The haft of the heavy maul was shorter than he would have liked, and the weight was a bit lighter than he was accustomed to training with but the hammerhead of the maul had been shaped to a blunted point that would doubtless crumple armor and crush bones. Most importantly, the head of the maul was long enough and broad enough to afford him some additional opportunities when fighting with the high-tech weapon.
Zayd didn’t yet know what the gleaming symbols along the haft meant, nor could he identify the polished coppery alloy that the head of the maul had been made from, but right now, it didn’t matter to him at all. Bouncing the maul in his palm a few times, his grin grew even wider.
Finally, after all this time, he’d be swinging his hammer at someone who would swing back! Looking at the eager expression on Tael’s face, Zayd’s pulse quickened as he realized that he hadn’t just found someone to practice with, he’d found someone who came alive with a weapon the same way he did. Until this moment, he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed this part of being a member of the Zed-Alpha program. Not the pressure and the harsh demands, but the feeling of taking control of a moment in time with nothing more than his strength and skill while someone else tried to do the same for him. All of the rest of his worries evaporated like smoke when he picked up a weapon and lifted it in challenge to the Fae leader.
“Watch yourself Wing Leader Tael,” Zayd told the smiling Fae. “I wouldn’t want to break you!”