Chapter 10
Hathra walked confidently to the edge of the crowd, waiting at the other end of the arena. Tria stepped out slowly, trying desperately to read the warrior woman. The Matron's face was fierce and coldblooded, but gave no sign of any weaknesses. Tria breathed slowly, trying to calm the charge of energy caused by the adrenaline pulsing through her veins. The crowd began chanting with encouragement, the women eager for them to engage. They approached each other cautiously, circling as they moved, waiting to see who would make the first move.
It was Hathra who struck first. She made a step to her right, as to continue her circle, but instead lunged at Tria in an attempt to push her to the ground. Tria barely remained on her feet, but managed to return enough force to push back at the larger woman. The two grappled at the other's arms, pushing and twisting. Hathra, tried of the struggle, pulled and thrust a knee into Tria's stomach. The wind knocked out of her, she doubled over long enough for Hathra to follow up with a kick to the chin. The crowed cheered in approval as truly the fight had begun.
Hathra moved to stomp on Tria's legs, but the other was too quick. Tria rolled onto her knees and leapt to her feet. Hathra came at her with powerful blows. The first punch landed on Tria's side, the second blocked by an up thrown arm. Even the parry was painful, the Matron was as strong as she looked. Hathra attempted to land a blow in the face, but Tria ducked. She brought her elbow down on the Matron's chest hard. Hathra grunted and retaliated with a thrust upward on Tria's head.
The jolt sent her reeling back. Tria stumbled back away from the woman, trying to regain her focus. She had little chance to take a breath before Hathra was on her again, landing blow after blow on Tria's face. The seventh punch brought Tria to the ground, the cold stone feeling soothing against her face. A spray of green blood splattered the floor as she coughed from the impact. She sensed her opponent backing off, the feeling of triumph potent in the air.
The young Vulcan woman took a deep breath, lifting herself up enough to see Spock's face in the crowd. Behind him McCoy was shouting something inaudible in the roar of the crowd, but the First Officer was not listening. He was focused on her intently, as if expecting something. Tria saw his eyes flicker up above her.
In an instant she threw a leg upward, catching Hathra in the stomach. The woman was barely affected. She struck Tria across the face with the back of her hand, rotating to hit her again with the other. Where she lie on the ground, Tria had little advantage. As Hathra turned to hit her again, she reached out, stopping the blow by grabbing her left wrist. This surprised the Matron, her eyes wide. She went to hit Tria with her other hand, but screamed as Tria twisted her arm as hard as she could. It could not be heard, but Tria felt the faint cracking as the bones in the other's arm splintered.
The pain did not stop Hathra. She again tried to punch Tria with her good hand, but Tria only twisted her arm more. The Matron pulled back, stumbling away from her grip. She regained her footing, as did Tria. Hathra charged at Tria, ready with her right hand. She kicked, punched, and bull rushed her way through Tria's defenses until she was able to get a few blows into her midsection. The gut-punches left Tria breathless, her head and jaw already aching.
Even though Tria felt the pain it caused the other woman, Hatra grappled at Tria's neck with both hands, squeezing. The crowd cheered in approval and the Matron choked her harder. Searing pain filled her lungs as they cried out for air. She gripped Hathra's arms trying to pull her off. She was too determined. Desperately, Tria clawed at the other woman's face, she arced her head back, out of reach. When she looked down again, their eyes met; and Tria remembered something. All the fighting and adrenaline had made her forget. Briefly her conscience told her it was dangerous, but she only argued that there was nothing left to try.
She grabbed the woman's arms again, but not to pull them off. Using what clumsy knowledge she had of her empathic senses, she pushed outward with her mind and forced Hathra to experience the pain of suffocation with her. At first, the Matron did not know what had happened. She stopped breathing, but continued to strangle her opponent. Withing seconds, her senses realized that she was unable to take a breath, and her grip relaxed. Tria almost lost the mental link when she inhaled deeply, but regained control before Hathra could follow suit. The Matron, in a panic, let go of Tria's throat, flailing to get away. However the awkward angle Tria had on her arms prevented her from pushing Tria away.
She was loosing sense of what suffocation felt like, and could feel the compulsion to hold her breath fading from Hathra. Tria exhaled sharply, holding her own breath in kind, the tightness at her throat bringing the sensation back to her. At the same time she shared the searing pain with Hathra as she remained breathless, she could feel the Matron's mind slipping. It was like sleep wanted to take her, so Tria let it. Hathra faded into unconsciousness, but her brain continued to disallow her to breath. Tria inhaled slowly and Hathra did the same. She lowered the Matron to the ground, gently, to not wake her.
Tria stepped back from the unconscious woman, waiting to see if she jolted awake after regaining the autonomic dictate to breathe. But she did not wake, she just lay there, as if asleep.
Taiyah came out of the crowd, beckoning the guards in white. One of the women bent over Hathra, turning her face to see if she were dead. "Still alive," the guard reported.
Taiyah looked at the winner suspiciously, "How is it you can make a woman pass out without strangling her?"
Tria took a deep breath, the air welcome in her lungs. "How is it you can force men to do your will?"
The High Matron understood what she meant; different, but the same. "Congratulations," she said. "The challenger is triumphant!" Women wearing the colors of Katre and Taiyah's clans cheered, few in the Hath-Menda court joined in.
"Now," said Taiyah, "We have bounty to claim for our city! Prepare the invasion force! We shall enact our plan within two hours!" The women began to disperse and Taiyah pulled Tria aside quickly. "I cannot guarantee your safety within the Hath-Menda spire," she said quietly. "I will send my most trusted guards with you to aide you as the army prepares. Hathra already did all your work for you, all you have to do for now, is stay alive." She grinned as if it were a challenge. "Lucky for you, most of her clan did not like her; though I doubt they will have much love for you."
"The men?" she said, ignoring her briefing.
"Ah yes, they are yours. Although, I think you can understand if Katre and I cannot allow you to take Kirk..."
Tria swallowed, "Of course," she said. "But you will need him on the ship when you are first aboard."
"That is our intention," Taiyah said. "The others are yours. Go to the Hath-Menda spire. Clean yourself up. I will send Iyl along shortly. She will join you in the ground car before you leave."
Tria nodded, the urgency and excitement in Taiyah's voice making her feel the adrenaline seep back into her system. The central spire guards brought Spock and McCoy over to her, one of them passing her a small device. "It will keep them under control, Matron," she said. "They tried to escape when we brought them here."
"Thank you," she said, hardly looking at the woman. She was so intent on not letting Spock out of her sight, she barely caught another group of women in white picking up Hathra and dragging her off. She frowned, uncertain of the woman's fate.
A Hath-Menda guard approached her, bowing her head respectfully. "Matron," she said. "If you will come this way, we will take you home."
McCoy looked ready to say something in response, but thought better of it. Tria nodded and followed the Hath-Menda envoy through the central spire to the front courtyard where ground cars were waiting. As they approached the car, two women in black stepped seemingly out of nowhere. The Hath-Menda guards put their hands on their weapons, glaring.
"Matron Tria," said one, "High Matron Taiyah has sent us to serve you. We shall accompany you to the clan's spire." Her phrasing was not that of a request, it was an order. Tria was aware that even if these women could protect her, it would not be long before she Hath-Menda would realized she was a puppet ruler.
"If you would ride in the front, with my guards," she said. The women looked at each other, then nodded. They followed the Hath-Menda guards to the front of the cab.
Tria ducked into the back of the car, where it was partitioned off from the front. Spock, McCoy, and Sulu followed her in. One of the Hath-Menda guards asked if she wanted one of them to sit in the back, to watch the willful males. She declined.
She sighed when the door shut, glad to have the eyes of every resident in this alien city off of her.
"Well now what?" said McCoy, who shuffled, crouched, over to kneel in front of her. He took her face and started examining her bruises. "You're lucky you don't have a concussion," he remarked.
"The nature of a Vulcan brain makes it much more difficult to damage due to head trauma, Doctor," said Spock. McCoy glared at him, but didn't respond.
"I'm okay," Tria said. "You can check for sure when we get back to the Enterprise."
"Hold on a minute," said McCoy, "how exactly do you plan on doing that? And what's all this about an invasion?"
She held up a hand, settling back in the cushions. "I'm hoping that once we get back to the spire, we will be able to find a way to contact them." She looked at Sulu, the officers following suit.
"I was able to contact the ship with their communications systems. I've sent up two messages to the Enterprise," said Sulu. "I'm certain the last one got to them. The problem is getting Captain Kirk back..."
"Tria," said Spock, "if you are taking the former Matron's place, why is it that the Captain is not with us?"
"Taiyah wouldn't let him come with us. He's too valuable. Hathra used whatever it is they can do to men on him, he's told them everything about us. They know about the ship and they want to use it to conquer all of the other clans on the planet."
Spock thought a moment. "It is doubtful that Hathra's previous influence on the Captain will last long now that she is separated from him. However that does not mean one of the other Matrons will not take her place."
"Look," Tria said, "in two hours they are amassing a force outside the central spire to beam up to the Enterprise. The women will use their pheromones against the men and if the women don't surrender or join them, they'll be killed." She looked to Spock, worried, waiting for him to come up with a plan.
"I am assuming that they will bring the Captain up with their first group?" the Vulcan asked.
"I suggested it," she said.
"Then that is when we will have to attempt to rescue the Captain," he said. "Lieutenant, will you be able to contact the Enterprise again if given access to a communication terminal again?"
"I've gotten pretty familiar with their wiring, sir," said Sulu. "It should be easy."
"Good. Our success is dependent on getting you and the doctor back to the ship."
"Excuse me?" said McCoy.
"Doctor," Spock said, "I believe that a sweat stain will be sufficient for developing an inoculation?"
The doctor's eyes lit up. "Certainly."
Tria looked at the two, confused. "What do you have in mind?"
McCoy grinned "We need to get a hold of some dirty laundry."