The Suite of the Stargazer
Eva sat cross legged in the center of the bed in the suite which Shuuz had arranged for her. The room was typical of most mid-tier casinos in the Hospitality Zone, lots of pseudo platinum filigree and carvings of creatures either fighting or copulating, it was impossible to tell which if you weren't a member of their species. Outside the room's large window cybertaxi's, hoverbuses and various winged creatures flitted past the window as she sat, practicing a breathing technique to calm and focus herself. She could feel her nerves singing with anticipation, every muscle in her body tensing and releasing slowly. Eva always got like this before a fight, and she knew that the only way that she and Steve were getting off this world was if she won tonight.
Shuuz wasn't entirely wrong when he said that pit fighting was all Eva was good for, she had other skills but there were very few things in the universe that she loved as much as fighting. The simple beautiful art of battle had always given her a serenity and a sense of wholeness. The feeling that she assumed monks and holy men spent lifetimes seeking in reflection and study, she had found the first time she buried a hatchet deep in the spiny head of a Vernalian warrior and heard the roar of the crowd. That overwhelming surge of power, relief and victory washed over her and she was reborn in mud and blood to her true life. She was baptized into the faith of the fighters and she thought she would never need anything else in her life. Long before she met Steve, before they began adventuring across the cosmos, before she understood the meaning of friendship, Eva spent nearly two decades in pits across half the galaxy. She had fought in massive war pits with armies and she had fought with smaller teams but her favorite had always been solo combat. She had bathed in the blood of a hundred different species, both sentient and otherwise, and she had won and lost her freedom dozens of times in the pits. She had been a slave fighting for her masters' glory and the promise of food scraps, and she had also emancipated herself and fought for wealth, glory and all of the trappings of fame. She had battled spider-like Shukuthn hordes in zero gravity fighting cages, wrestled the amphibious Yantali in water filled pits and once she had even fought a fire breathing Mondrian war steed to a stand still, losing most of the skin from both of her arms in the process. There was a time in her life when she could not imagine anything other than fighting until she was finally torn apart by a howling pack of N'katihs or vivisected by a lazer sword wielding Star Knight. That was the old Eva, battle scared and inured to emotional attachment, the woman who had never known friendship. In fact, Eva was in transit between systems, heading towards another fight, when the commercial star liner carrying her experienced a navigational error and drifted too near the black hole which had trapped Steve. Since that day she had not entered into a blood sport for any reason, this woman who had lived only to fight and bleed and kill had found a new reason for her existence. Eva, who had never known real affection in the arms of dozens of lovers and hundreds of whores, had found a kindred spirit tottering on the brink of annihilation in the maw of a black hole. A sentient ship, seventy tons of ceramic, metal and plastic, had given Eva more than millions of cheering blood-thirsty fans ever could had she fought for a hundred years. With Steve, Eva had found Friendship, and if she failed in her battle today he would be trapped on Corgol. With his current energy reserves Steve would not be able to reach another planet, and he would either be sold or more likely stripped for scrap by the hordes of starving Bokars who lived in shacks around the space port. Steve had given Eva a reason to leave the pits behind her for a life of adventure and intrigue amongst the stars, and it was for Steve that she returned to the pit today. She would fight for Steve, for all of the worlds that they had promised to explore together, for every species they had yet to meet, and most of all today, in the squalid pit soaked with the blood of a thousand species underneath the Wayward Stargazer, Eva would fight for friendship.
Shuuz wasn't entirely wrong when he said that pit fighting was all Eva was good for, she had other skills but there were very few things in the universe that she loved as much as fighting. The simple beautiful art of battle had always given her a serenity and a sense of wholeness. The feeling that she assumed monks and holy men spent lifetimes seeking in reflection and study, she had found the first time she buried a hatchet deep in the spiny head of a Vernalian warrior and heard the roar of the crowd. That overwhelming surge of power, relief and victory washed over her and she was reborn in mud and blood to her true life. She was baptized into the faith of the fighters and she thought she would never need anything else in her life. Long before she met Steve, before they began adventuring across the cosmos, before she understood the meaning of friendship, Eva spent nearly two decades in pits across half the galaxy. She had fought in massive war pits with armies and she had fought with smaller teams but her favorite had always been solo combat. She had bathed in the blood of a hundred different species, both sentient and otherwise, and she had won and lost her freedom dozens of times in the pits. She had been a slave fighting for her masters' glory and the promise of food scraps, and she had also emancipated herself and fought for wealth, glory and all of the trappings of fame. She had battled spider-like Shukuthn hordes in zero gravity fighting cages, wrestled the amphibious Yantali in water filled pits and once she had even fought a fire breathing Mondrian war steed to a stand still, losing most of the skin from both of her arms in the process. There was a time in her life when she could not imagine anything other than fighting until she was finally torn apart by a howling pack of N'katihs or vivisected by a lazer sword wielding Star Knight. That was the old Eva, battle scared and inured to emotional attachment, the woman who had never known friendship. In fact, Eva was in transit between systems, heading towards another fight, when the commercial star liner carrying her experienced a navigational error and drifted too near the black hole which had trapped Steve. Since that day she had not entered into a blood sport for any reason, this woman who had lived only to fight and bleed and kill had found a new reason for her existence. Eva, who had never known real affection in the arms of dozens of lovers and hundreds of whores, had found a kindred spirit tottering on the brink of annihilation in the maw of a black hole. A sentient ship, seventy tons of ceramic, metal and plastic, had given Eva more than millions of cheering blood-thirsty fans ever could had she fought for a hundred years. With Steve, Eva had found Friendship, and if she failed in her battle today he would be trapped on Corgol. With his current energy reserves Steve would not be able to reach another planet, and he would either be sold or more likely stripped for scrap by the hordes of starving Bokars who lived in shacks around the space port. Steve had given Eva a reason to leave the pits behind her for a life of adventure and intrigue amongst the stars, and it was for Steve that she returned to the pit today. She would fight for Steve, for all of the worlds that they had promised to explore together, for every species they had yet to meet, and most of all today, in the squalid pit soaked with the blood of a thousand species underneath the Wayward Stargazer, Eva would fight for friendship.
posted by futron3049 at 2:24 AM
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