"I don't understand the point of this." Scarrend Scathach completed his three hundredth pushup without effort. Even with Yvian sitting on his back, his breath was slow and even.

"Strengthen the body, strengthen the mind," Yvian repeated the platitude Mims had given her once. The human had put her in charge of Scarrend's fitness training. Mostly, she suspected, to get the Vrrl used to taking orders from people he usually saw as food.

The Vrrl continued his pushups in silence, thinking. Finally he shook his head. "I don't know what that means."

"You complain a lot."

The Vrrl released an annoyed growl. His chest, and by extension Yvian's butt, vibrated. "They're not complaints, pixen. I am asking for more information."

"It is a human expression," Kilroy spoke. The Peacekeeper unit had insisted on being present whenever Yvian and Scarrend were in the same room. She didn't know if the Captain put him up to it, or if the machine had been doing it on his own. She'd decided to take it as a sweet, protective gesture, and not at all as a sign that he didn't trust Yvian to keep herself alive. "It refers to the phenomenon by which humans and other meatbags improve their resistance to physical, mental, and emotional distress by subjecting themselves to intense physical activity. The physical distress such exercise causes forces the nervous, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems to adapt and improve, and forcing themselves to feel discomfort increases pain tolerance, emotional fortitude and self control."

"I smell," said the Vrrl. "Thank you, Peacekeeper unit Kilroy."

"You may call this unit Kilroy," said the unit. "Yvian's teaching abilities are substandard. Assistance was required."

Yvian glared at the Peacekeeper. His eyes gave a brief flash of yellow. She wanted to object further, but she knew he was right. Yvian had never taught anyone anything before. She wasn't comfortable explaining things. The fact that her student was a hundred sixty kilogram killing machine that might eat her didn't help.

Not that Yvian was afraid of the Vrrl. Of course not. She was wearing her armor, now. Scarrend had his own, with retractable claws and a sleek design that made him look even bigger and leaner and more predatory than he'd been before. It was the exact color of freshly spilled blood. The enhancement features in Vrrl armor were similar to hers, meaning their strength would be equal and the claws wouldn't do him much good. Fighting in their armor would be a matter of skill, and she could take him apart. Probably. So she wasn't afraid. Of course not. Her adrenaline didn't spike every time the beast let out a growl. He wasn't intimidating at all, the motherless son.

Kilroy did have a point. Yvian should probably at least try to explain what they were doing. "We've spent the last few days establishing a baseline for your abilities. Strength, speed, endurance, that sort of thing." All of which had been ridiculous. The Vrrl could run seventy kilometers in an hour, and he kept that pace for two hours before he needed to stop. His lower arms could bench press eight hundred kilograms, and his upper set could bench twelve hundred. He had a ten meter vertical jump, and he could sprint across a tight rope without so much as a wobble. The more she saw of what his kind could do, the more she was amazed that humans had managed to beat them without resorting to weapons. Mims had mentioned once that dedicated martial artists were more dangerous than he was. She was beginning to believe him.

"Now that we have that," she continued, "We're going to try to push your limits. We'll have you exercise at maximum intensity to break down your muscles and strain your lungs. Your body should be forced to adapt, rebuilding them stronger and increasing your capabilities."

"Interesting." The Vrrl considered. "Why?"

"Lots of reasons," Yvian told him. "One of the biggest parts of martial arts is just strengthening your own body. You want to be able to hit harder and faster than the other guy, and you don't want to tire out before he does."

"Stress resistance and emotional control allow meatbag fighters to maintain a focused mental state in adverse conditions," Kilroy added. "Combatants who are overwhelmed by emotion make even more mistakes than meatbags who are calm."

"It builds willpower and discipline along with your muscles," Yvian continued. "Makes you tougher in mind and body."

"I smell." Scarrend cocked his head. "This building of willpower and discipline, is that the reason you keep initiating my chase response?"

Chase response? He wanted to chase her? "What do you mean?"

"Maintaining physical proximity," The Vrrl explained. He gestured at her place on his back with one hand, continuing his pushups with the remaining three. "While you reek of fear."

Yvian glowered, but Scarrend continued before she could respond. "And earlier, making me jog slowly behind you. You were forcing me to sublimate my instincts at the sight of running prey." Yvian didn't like her running speed referred to as a slow jog. She'd been running full tilt, using her armor's ENERGIZER function to cover five clicks across the Space Lord's hangar bay in under ten minutes. The Vrrl let out a thoughtful rumble. "Increasing emotional control through discomfort. Making me override my own instincts to avoid killing you. A cunning strategy, and braver than I expected."

She stared at him for a moment. "Yes," she told him flatly. "I did that on purpose. Because I'm cunning and brave." Kilroy's eyes flashed yellow, but he said nothing. Yvian spared him an annoyed glance.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Scarrend either didn't notice Yvian's sarcasm, or chose to ignore it. "You are more than I expected," The Vrrl mused. "I can smell why the Scargiver brought you onto his crew."

"Captain Mims hired her," Kilroy told him, "because he could not read the krog language."

"Yeah," Yvian quipped. "But that's not why he kept me on. Cunning and brave, right?"

"Speaking of cunning," Scarrend finished his pushups and gestured for Yvian to get off him. "I find it odd you have kept access to lucendian technology to yourself. Do you not trust your Captain and your crew?"

"Of course I trust them." Yvian frowned. "I'm just the only one with an implant."

"The implant you received from the Crystal Guardian, yes." Scarrend stood. "Does it not stand to reason that another Guardian could bestow these implants, as well?"

"We don't..." Yvian was about to say they didn't have a Guardian, but that wasn't true. There was one on the Skygem. "I mean we have one, but I can't communicate with it."

"But you can communicate with the Skygem," said the Vrrl, "and the Guardian serves the ship."

Yvian blinked. Could it really be that simple? It could. Maybe. Probably. "Huh." Yvian scratched her head. "I feel like we should have thought of that."

"Do not worry, Yvian," Kilroy reassured her. "You do not have to be cunning." His eyes flashed yellow again. "This unit finds you sufficient just the way you are."

Yvian glared. "You didn't think of it either, Kilroy."

The Peacekeeper said nothing, eyes flashing in silent amusement.

"Anyway, I think we're done with the warmup." Yvian took a good look around the Hangar bay. The Space Lord was a Mongol class carrier of human design. The Peacekeeper unit serving as Captain had helped Yvian and Kilroy set up an extensive obstacle course throughout the hangar bay. She donned her helmet and activated her comm. "Captain Montage, this is Yvian. Can we turn up the gravity?"

"Affirmative," the Peacekeeper acknowledged. This was the main reason Yvian had moved their fitness training to the Space Lord. Captain Mims had refused to let anyone mess with the artificial gravity on the Encounter. "Increasing gravity to one point five times galactic standard in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."

Yvian didn't feel the change directly. Her HUD lit up with emergency notifications, but the voidarmor did its job. Kilroy had explained the process, but she hadn't understood most of it. Basically, the gravity within her suit stayed the same, and the armor's strength enhancement feature compensated for the increased difficulty of moving the suit itself. She waved her hand around. Did it feel harder to move, or was it just her imagination? She couldn't tell.

Scarrend let out a thoughtful rumble. "I was wondering how you would push my body's limits with such weak gravitational force." He gave a hop. A small one, propelling himself a mere three meters into the air. He came down fast, with a loud thump when his boots slammed back down to the deck. "Hmm. Similar to my homeworld. Perhaps we should increase it a little more.

"We're starting small," Yvian told him. "Pushing too hard and fast leads to injury and ruins progress." She pointed at a nearby pullup bar set five meters above the deck. The Vrrl nodded and leapt, grasping the bar. He started doing one-handed pullups. Yvian watched the bar, concerned about the increased weight, but the Peacekeepers had set things up with increased gravity in mind. Everything was reinforced and ready to use at up to five times standard gravity, which was also the maximum her voidarmor could withstand.

Yvian watched the Vrrl work. He knocked out twenty pullups with ease, then switched hands. No grunts of effort, and his breath was steady and even. Maybe next session she'd bring the gravity up to double the norm.

The Vrrl switched hands again. His lower arms were not as strong as his upper pair, and Scarrend finally looked like he was exerting himself a little. Yvian was starting to feel awkward just watching the guy. "So..." She rubbed the back of her helmet. "How's the rest of your training going?"

"It is..." The Vrrl let out an annoyed huff. "Tedious. And frustrating."

"Yeah?" Yvian prodded.

"Only two hours a day are allotted to hand to hand combat," Scarrend elaborated, "and most of that time is spent repeating the same motions. Basic things, like how to stand, or move, or dodge." He snorted. "Building blocks, the Scargiver calls them. Today was the first day I threw a punch. The same punch. Over and over. For an hour."

Yvian nodded sagely. "Sounds about right."

"It's unnecessary," Scarrand grouched. "I performed the punch perfectly the first time."

"Being able to do a move isn't enough," Yvian told him. "You need to make it so ingrained you can do it without thinking. Make it part of your instincts. Repetition is how we do that."

Scarrend grunted. "Still tedious." He switched hands. "Human Weapon training is much the same. Building blocks and repetition. But the simulated combat..." He snarled. "The human is terrifying."

Yvian tried to keep her amusement out of her voice. "Yeah?"

The Vrrl growled. "I was a fool to worry about being killed in my sleep. The Scargiver has no need for such treachery. He can kill me at any time." Scarrend released the pullup bar, thudding back down to the deck. "He's the most lethal thing I've ever seen. I'm not sure the Warmaster himself could match him."

"Ah." Yvian nodded again. "He had you doing firefights."

"Dueling with energy weapons, yes." The Vrrl agreed shook his head. "Fighting without risk, without killing... it's... it feels alien to me. But I know now why they do it. If the fights had been real, I would be dead." He grimaced. "Pilot training was even worse. I was a blooded pilot before I joined the Priderender. Forty three vessels captured or destroyed. Today I barely brought the Scargiver's shields down to ninety three percent before he killed me." He ran a hand through his mane, staring at the deck. "It's the best I've done so far."

Yvian remembered her first few months training with the Captain. She'd felt weak, clumsy. Woefully inadequate against the unstoppable force that was Mims. He'd gone out of his way to be encouraging, to point out when she improved. She'd felt useless anyway. The human would be less supportive of the Vrrl. Captain Mims had only agreed to train Scarrend to keep the Empire from going to war with humanity. The soldier of the Empire kept his back straight, but Yvian knew he was hurting. Scarrend was every bit as prideful as Yvian had been. Maybe more so. Feeling so inferior to a human must be devastating, and unlike Yvian, he had no one to turn to. No one he knew to be on his side. She had a brief, mad urge to give the man-eating monster a hug.

She refrained, of course. The Vrrl already wanted to eat her. It would be like getting a hug from a strip of bacon. Maybe she could give him a comforting shoulder pat? Say something nice? He was staring at her now, trying not to look lost. Crunch. She wasn't good at this.

Before she could come up with something to say, Yvian's comm chirped. "Yvian, it's Mims."

Yvian answered. "Go ahead."

"Gonna have to cut training short," the Captain spoke with the professional calm Yvian had learned to associate with trouble. "I just got a comm from Fightsmart. The Vore are about to hit Brilend prime."