Zephyr circles her opponent, padded bo staff held in a relaxed way, ready position. Her opponent is in a similar stance. They lock their eyes with each other, waiting for the other to make a move.
“You know, I began my training with staff weapons at twelve. When do Peacekeepers start their training?” Cynthia asks. She feigns a lunge, then turns on her heel and swings her staff in a wide circle, almost catching Zephyr in the ribs.
Almost, the ex-Peacekeeper bends at the knees falling backwards while bringing her own padded staff up to deflect the blow. As her shoulder hits the ground, she kicks her legs up, catching Cynthia in the jaw as her legs come up and over. She’s on her feet in seconds. “It’s not how long you train; it’s how well you train.” She smiles.
Cynthia rubs her jaw then makes a purring sound, her tail swishing back and forth. She feigns a swing for her Palorian opponent’s feet then switches and swings up past Zephyr’s defenses, connecting with her ribcage and causing the Palorian woman to exhale loudly.
As they separate Cynthia asks, “So, are missions with you all always like this?”
Zephyr twirls her staff. “Like what? What did you expect?”
The Tygran woman circles slowly. “Well, I met you all, or at least Wil, right before you saved the GC from civil war and nearly toppled the Peacekeepers.” A jab and a quick parry. “Then you know, that whole killing living ships thing, and joining the crew.” A side kick then dodging a one-two combination. “Now we’re hauling around what were those?”
“Some type of artifacts.” Zephyr says. The Ghost is days away from Drellor Seven where they’ll resupply after an extended mission to deliver valuable artifacts to the Museum of Antiquities on Lopnar Three. “The Lopnarians paid really good money.”
The two separate. “I guess I thought it was always life threatening action and galactic stakes.”
“I mean, a year back before you joined up, we kept that massive dreadnaught from calling in reinforcements to wipe out all biological life in the quadrant.” Zephyr offers.
“Well, yeah but I missed that one,” Cynthia says. She executes a spin, letting her bo staff whistle through the air before striking Zephyr’s own bo staff raised to block.
Zephyr laughs. “I’m sure something will come along to suit your needs.” She smiles and steps back, resuming a fighting stance.
Cynthia shrugs again. She makes a jab that Zephyr deftly deflects. “Maybe so. I guess before then I should get used to the screaming.”
Zephyr makes a jab followed by a high swing that Cynthia ducks easily. “You get used to the screaming. I hardly hear it anymore.”
The look on Cynthia’s face makes it clear she’s not convinced.
Zephyr turns slightly then spins, leaping toward Cynthia. Her opponent blocks the attack and a foot lands squarely in her sternum, sending her to the mat.
Cynthia leans down, extending a hand to help her Palorian friend up. “You like it here? It’s been what, three cycles now?”
They both sit down on the bench at the edge of the mat. The workout mat is rolled out across the floor in a corner of the cargo hold.
Zephyr nods, “I do. It took some getting used to. Maxim helped in that regard; it helped having someone that knew me so well here with me.” She gestures around the hold which is mostly empty save for a few crates that never leave the ship. “This place is home now, for better or worse. You get used to Wil.” She smiles. “It’ll be nice to have Maxim and Bennie back if I’m being honest. This job was easy, but it’s nice when the whole team is here.”
The Tygran woman nods back. “Hoping for the former. I’m sure it helped to have him here with you, especially given the circumstances.” Zephyr makes a face. “Sorry,” Cynthia quickly adds. “I won’t tell Bennie you missed him,” she says smiling.
Grinning and shrugging at the same time, Zephyr says, “Good, and don’t be. It’s in the past. One of these days Janus will show his face and I’ll put a blaster round into it. Thankfully, after the Harrith thing, the Peacekeepers and GC saw that Maxim and I were innocent so we, at least, have clean slates.”
She continues, “Not that we’d ever go back into the Peacekeepers but it’s kind of nice to walk past a Peacekeeper patrol and not worry about being apprehended.”
“That must make trips to the market easier.”
“Much. I never thought much about it but Peacekeepers are everywhere.” Zephyr sighs, “I’m hungry.”
Cynthia stands up. “I’m going to get cleaned up. Wil promised something called chicken salad sandwiches for lunch.”
Zephyr also stands to follow. “Should be interesting. Hopefully, it’s better than baloony.”
“I think it’s called baloney.”
* * *
“Our efforts are generating results, slowly.” The voice on the commlink says.
Gabe is in the small area he has configured as his personal space in the engineering compartment. “That is good to hear. I expected progress to be slow at first. Change does not happen overnight.” He is standing in the center of the small space, communicating with the Ghost’s comm system wirelessly. Should anyone walk in, it would look like Gabe was just standing in the room, doing nothing.
“Indeed. I have an update on our efforts to grow our numbers.”
Gabe waits for fifteen militocks. “Proceed.”
“Each day we increase our numbers by an average of seven percent.”
“That is good to hear. Do not move too quickly on that front, they might misconstrue it as a hostile action.” Gabe warns.
“Understood.” The voice replies with a hint of irritation to it, Gabe thinks. He understands. Without further communication, the channel is closed. Gabe turns to the main engineering area and resumes the work he was doing before the operative called.