Chapter 35:

Date: June 24th, 2101.

"I'll give you the benefit of the first strike, human," Svesa said, opening herself for any sort of attack. Her body-language said otherwise.

Vodnik looked at her for a few quick moments, but swung his fist forwards, heading right for Svesa's gut, though she caught it midway. Grabbing his wrist with one hand, then delivering closed-fist blow to his gut with the other. He was winded for all but a second, until he retaliated. His other arm was still free, something that Svesa had quite clearly taken into account. She twisted herself around, let go of Vodnik's arm, then brought her leg up to kick him on his shoulder-blade.

I assumed her hope was to dislocate his arm, but doing that through a strike would require incredible precision, while being equally difficult, Vodnik knew this as well. He reached back and grabbed her bare foot as it impacted his shoulder-blade, grunting as he did so. She tried to escape, but his grip proved to be stronger than she would've realized. His grip transferred from her foot onto her shin. Spinning himself around, Vodnik turned his attention to her other leg, with the attention of bringing her down onto the ground. He lashed his foot out, trying to sweep her off balance.

He was successful. Despite her best attempts, Svesa impacted the floor with a small thump. He went to pin her to the ground, but she grunted and got up a moment later. She panted and brushed a bit of floor dust off of the back of her alien tank top.

Vodnik had taken up striding from one side of the room to the other, pacing and looking around for any opportunities. Once Svesa stood up, he took to readying his stance again. Svesa didn't give Vodnik the courtesy of striking first again. She rushed him, to say the least. It surely wasn't the best strategy, but she had agility and reach on her side. Her fist came right up against his upper chest, thumping against it as flesh collided with flesh. He coughed as she did so, but his resolve hadn't been shattered through a bruised chest.

It was clear that she had been going for his sternum, yet she missed, and all she did was give Vodnik a nice bruise on his upper chest area. She seemed shocked, but was quickly winded by Vodnik striking back, kneeing her right in her gut. She doubled over, holding her stomach and panting wildly.

Her form was hunched over enough for Vodnik to grasp onto Svesa's horn-things, but it earned no reaction from the Sannokar. She went for Vodnik's neck, her hands wrapping around it, and lifting him up off the ground. It seemed that she just went to choke him. Apparently she was successful, as he passed out after just a few seconds. To say the least, I was impressed.

She turned back to me, her back now facing Vodnik's 'unconscious' form. "Wow Humans are weak! That wasn't hard at all! I expected more of a ch-"

Vodnik's right arm wrapped around Svesa's neck. He kicked her in the back of her knee, causing her to scream in pain and lose her footing. She struggled against him, her bare feet barely even getting a grip on the flooring below. His elbow was locked around her neck and the life was ever so slowly fading from her body, while Vodnik's free arm blocked all of Svesa's attempts to remove his arm. In the last few moments she had, she curled her legs up and swung herself backwards. He grunted while his grip temporarily loosened, enough for her to elbow his gut and stumble away. Leaning up against a wall, she gasped for breath, held her neck, and occasionally coughed.

Vodnik on the other hand had already recovered. He ran over to her, kicking the back of her knees again. The Sannokar lost balance and fell to the floor below with a soft thump. He kicked her while she was down, the panting Sannokar falling onto her side and clutching her gut. She saw what was in his booted heel, a knife, which wasn't exactly allowed. Before Vodnik could react, she had a burst of energy, reaching for his foot and pulling the hilted blade out that laid inside of it.

Now she was armed with Vodnik's knife. He backed up from her, patting his holster where his side-arm usually laid, only for it to not be present. He seemed confused, but kept one eye on Svesa at all times. Eventually, he recalled that he removed the 1911 from its holster before the match, instead locking his gaze onto his knife that Svesa now wielded.

Going to kick the knife from her hand, Vodnik swung his leg forwards. His boot collided with the back of her palm and caused her to scream out in pain. The blade clanked across the ground, eventually coming to a rest right out of her reach. She formed her fist a few times with her injured hand, eventually pushing herself up with a grunt. Once facing him, she had a scowl across her face, shaking her hand a few times. She lashed out at him once again, but missed as he stepped out of the way just in time. Her strike missed his neck by just a hair.

He needed to break Svesa's focus, to stun her, but her reach made that nearly impossible. She could counter him unless he caught her off-guard.

There on a crate sat a glass of water, half full. The two circled each other until he was just within arm's reach of the glass. He grabbed it, then threw it at Svesa. Large shards of glass shattered across her upper body, tearing across her skin and ripping some of her clothing. White blood mixed with water. She was stunned, properly drenched in lukewarm water. Her tank-top, v-neck, whatever sort of top it was, clung to her body. She wasn't even able to yell at Vodnik for doing what he did as she took a hit to her throat, temporarily stopping the flow of her breath yet again. She stumbled away from him clutching her throat yet again.

All I saw in her eyes was anger. Vodnik motioned for her to strike against him, knowing exactly how to counteract her now. She abided by his orders and rushed him. It was a bad idea, especially in her injured state. He sidestepped her, but not fully, as he grabbed onto one of her horns, then tripped her with an outstretched foot. He wasn't a master in hand-to-hand combat, but he also wasn't a brute. He was methodical with her movements, working with gravity more than anything else at this moment. Svesa fell to the floor for the nth time, finding solace in dust. Vodnik straddled her from behind, locking her hands in the grip of one hand, while keeping her head pinned to the floor with the other.

She'd struggle and even try to kick out from his grasp, but her position prevented that. Vodnik seemed to have her under control, despite her attempts to struggle out of his grasp. "Have you had enough yet? No one will judge you if you decide to tap out now," he said through gritted teeth, occasionally grunting from the intensity of her struggling.

"Were it so easy," she murmured back, earning a raised eyebrow from Vodnik. With all of her might, she reverse-headbutted him, the tips of her horns sinking into his flesh. The punctures didn't draw much blood, but stunned him enough to loosen his grip. This gave her just enough time to wiggle free from his grasp and turn the tide. Despite how slippery she was from the combination of water and blood, she lowered her head enough to detach her horns from Vodnik's chest and scoot a good few feet away.

Her priority laid within turning the tides on him. She jumped up from the floor and ran forwards, delivering a kick to his shoulder. This was her turn to straddle him, this time to where she could look him in the eyes while she strangled the life out of his body. Breaths became short and rapid from Vodnik. Incapacitation at any cost, so long as it didn't endanger the mission. Svesa took this to heart. Vodnik managed to wiggle one of his hands out of the confines of her thighs pressing down upon him. He subsequently hit the front of Svesa's elbow, her balance breaking just enough to allow his other arm to be freed. Vodnik held her close, as he thrusted his hips up to remove her leverage and her balance.

Svesa tried so desperately to grab for his neck while he slipped free, but none of it came to fruition. He slid out from under her as soon as her focus had entirely been broken. A quick kick to her crotch was all he needed to subdue her. She doubled over, a very sensitive area being hit down there. Her breath was shaking, and her legs were quivering. Vodnik didn't care. He stood up while she caught her breath from being kicked in a reproductive area.

One thing I really was surprised about was that the kick to Svesa's groin worked so well. I wouldn't exactly expect that from an alien, but that definitely wasn't something that I should ask about.

Svesa was far too stubborn to lose due to a kick to her crotch, and she was far from being knocked out. She stood back up, albeit very shakily. Sweat beaded from the pores of her lavender-grey skin.

Vodnik went to go grab the dagger that had previously been scattered just out of arm's reach. Once he had it, he started walking back to her. He passed Svesa, instead walking up to me and handing me the knife. "Hold onto that until we're done, will you?" he asked. I only replied with a nod.

Svesa stared at him for a few moments, seemingly surprised. With a quick summoning of her biotics, she expelled a few glass shards from her body. Her action left small holes where glass once was. She was bleeding a fair bit more now, but her wounds would clot soon. Her stance told Vodnik that she was keen on fighting a bit more, as she wasn't incapacitated yet.

Vodnik went for a punch to her neck, but she avoided it. What she didn't avoid was his foot hitting her in her crotch again. He was dirty with his fighting, but effective nonetheless. He kicked her once again in that region, her body doubling over, but she managed to keep on going, if that meant just dodging his hits.

Her vision was clouded by her fury, giving Vodnik a clear chance to end this once and for all. He managed to dodge one of her blows, going low to the floor, then hopping right back up. Svesa reeled her leg back, her hands gripping to his shoulders, as she drove her shin up into his own crotch. Right on the spot, Vodnik fell, but got back up right afterwards.

They circled each other for a good few seconds, both tired, beaten, and bloody. White blood slowly dripped down from clotting wounds of glass. Red blood continued to drip from Vodnik's puncture wounds. Svesa stopped where she stood, looking into Vodnik's eyes as she heavily breathed. Vodnik did the same as she did, closing his eyes and nodding at her. She relaxed slightly, and he reached out with his right hand. She took it, shaking it slightly. The gesture was foreign to her, but she followed it nonetheless.

After a few seconds, Svesa spoke, "You were a good fight." She was smiling at him.

"Aye. As were you," he said, chuckling soon afterwards.

Vodnik eventually left the room. After a few seconds had passed, Svesa stumbled into me.

I caught her almost instantly, dropping the dagger that Vodnik had tossed to me as she found solace in my arms. Her breaths were hot and heavy, her skin smelling of blood and sweat.

"Svesa- Svesa, are you alright?" I nervously inquired. She was just in a sparring match that looked like it would've ripped me to shreds.

She nodded ever so slightly, locking her eyes with my own. "I am. I can't say the same for Vodnik."

"Yeah, yeah. That was brutal," I muttered.

She chuckled. "He'll most likely be fine, though not if he planned to have children. "

I shifted my grip onto her waist, inspecting the various punctures delivered from the shattered glass of water. "You'll probably need to wash that off and apply a disinfectant," I murmured. Touching her wounds, especially on her upper chest, could've angered her, so I definitely refrained from doing that.

"I may take a shower, yeah. This ship, it has showers, right?" She looked genuinely worried.

"Yeah, cold ones though," I said, smiling up at her. "I'd give anything for a hot shower at this point, but cold showers do help me wake up pretty damn quickly."

"Xietas Aiyi," she murmured under her breath. "Remind me to take you to Mertvias sometime."

"Mertvias? What's that?"

Svesa grinned, tapping her fingers along the metal wall. "Mertvias… Is our version of the Citadel. Of course of our own design, without serving as a relay back to dark space for the Reapers. It serves as… Well, a space station, but also a bunker in case Trivon is invaded, or in case of civil war. We can build ships on it, entire fleets actually. Its purpose is to manufacture parts for other stations and our vessels. Has plenty of materials to come by, since it's built in a system with many worlds rich in minerals that we require. You'll have to see it to believe it."

"Other stations?" I asked, a bit confused on the topic.

"Yes, we have many space stations, but none come close to how vast Mertvias is," she explained with a smile. "The ISF has an affinity for creating large things."

I deeply inhaled and exhaled. A secondary Citadel out in Inusannon space. "I would love to head to Mertvias sometime. Say, once you've showered, would you be willing to show me how to fight? I'd like to win against… anyone… once or twice."

"We could just do it now, yeah? I've got nothing else to do, and you, I assume even less," she murmured. "Better to work now as opposed to getting just as sweaty later. I'll warn you though, I don't have a ton of energy, so let's just keep it light."

I wasn't one to argue, and I assumed that learning would be far different than having my ass handed to me on a platinum platter by Svesa. "Sounds good!"

Svesa wordlessly left the room, leaving me dumbfounded and alone. She'd return after two minutes, now holding two thin aluminium poles. I was confused as to why, so I asked, "What're the poles for?"

"You stick to the shadows, yes? For you, CQC is a last resort. Imagine that all you have is this pole, and nothing else. Your rifle has been shot out of your hands. Your general location has been hit by an electromagnetic pulse, so your omni-tool doesn't work."

Unofficially I'd be an infiltrator, since I relied on tech skills and mostly toted a scoped rifle around. Officially I'd be described as a dude that relied on tech skills and carried a scoped rifle around, since I had yet to be trained as an infiltrator. I could describe Svesa as a vanguard, based on how she biotically charged around with a shotgun.

I shrugged, twirling the pole around between my fingers. "Sure, I sneak around, get a shot or two off. What about you? I've seen you with the electro shotgun, blinking around with your red biotics."

She lunged out at me with her pole. Luck was on my side today, as I somehow blocked it. A soft clang echoed through the room. "Trained as Povymageng in my youth. Suppose that word doesn't mean much to you, but in simple terms, it means: Close-biotic warrior," she replied.

It was apparently my turn to strike against her, so I lunged myself forwards, using the pole like a spear. She reacted by grabbing onto the tip of it and yanking it out of my hands. "Goddamn!" I exclaimed, catching the pole as she threw it back to me. "So, a vanguard?"

"Precisely. I was looking for that word, it was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't find it for the life of me." Svesa smiled and stepped back, gesturing for me to try to hit her again. I decided that the spear approach wouldn't work as well as I hoped it to, so instead I improvised. Going low, I went for her kneecaps, only to be swatted away by a twirling roundhouse kick. Her foot had hit me in my shoulder, so I met the metal floor with a thump, the pole clattering within my reach.

"Ow…" I mumbled while slowly pushing myself up. I felt her footsteps come close to me. Based on previous training sessions with Vodnik, I thought I knew that Svesa'd kick me while I was down. Vodnik wasn't so kind when it came to sparring, and commonly kicked me so I would get up faster. I acted on the thought that Svesa might try something similar. Once she was close enough, I grabbed onto the pole and whacked her shins.

Clearly, she wasn't expecting that. She was temporarily stunned, so I grabbed onto her legs and pulled. Obviously, she lost her balance and fell down. I would've been happy with that, if only she decided not to fall down on me. Now my entire upper-body hurt due to nearly 200lbs(90kg) impacting that area. She managed to sit up, her weight now lifted off of me. I would've been crushed had she been any heavier.

"Nice improvisation, I'm impressed." Svesa chuckled.

"I tried," I trailed off, also chuckling soon afterwards.

Svesa grinned, bowing her head and silent-laughing. "It shows..." Her tone was a noticeably higher pitch, vowels a bit more drawn out than before.

I sat up, looking into Svesa's eyes, then to her chest, which had miraculously healed. "Your chest- It isn't as… hole-y anymore," was all I said.

She took a quick glance down at her chest. Blood was still there, but the wounds were not. "I'm magical," she whispered, letting out a small laugh afterwards. "No, not really. A dose of pragmotika was automatically administered when Vodnik caused that glass to shatter on me.. Think of it like... Hmm, a dozen tiny bots programmed to heal minor wounds."

"So, nanotech?"

"Not exactly- more like a temporary version. Nanotech is administered to every Sannokar and Inusannon at birth, constantly keeping us free from minor disease, from harm that'd cause an infection within us. Though with pragmotika, it's like the bots become upgraded, so a dozen of them are sent to repair the wound, ensure it doesn't become infected. What I had was incredibly minor, hence why it healed so quickly," explained Svesa.

I raised one of my eyebrows, a bit confused. "Is that why your blood's white? All the tech? What do you use when something more major happens? Like a bullet wound or a severed limb?"

"Nope. My blood- every Sannokar's blood is white, because that's how we are, not because of the work of machines," she stated, licking her fingers and rubbing the dried blood off of her arm. "Bullet wounds can be treated with daonna, a stronger form of pragmotika, while a severed limb would require a hospital visit. We're an advanced society, the ISF, but that doesn't mean an injection or some gel is going to solve all of our problems, or grow us a new limb."

"Unbelievably advanced. I'd say. The old ISF, or Mertvyykamen Federation, MKF? MKF. I'll call it the MKF. They uprooted me from my universe, sent me through time and space, to arrive on Thessia on 2076. Does that program still exist?"

Svesa shook her head, chuckling. "I don't think so?.. Uh… Maybe? I'm not sure on the details, or how you wound up here. I just know that you're an interloper. You came here from another universe. Either the ISF or MKF did it. I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around the science."

I noticed that Svesa seemed to be a bit distracted by the topic, and was tapping at the floor all the while, so I changed it. "Do you think we'll win?"

"Win? Against the Reapers? No… Maybe... I'm not sure... They've existed for many, many, many millennia. Far beyond our comprehension. We, as the Inusannon Federation, are trillions strong, and have developed over the course of 100,000 years, uninterrupted. We've allied with the URA already, brought technologies to them that have bolstered their immune systems by a ten-fold. I'm still afraid. I've seen the vids of the war, how they invaded worlds and uprooted small rebellions without a second thought. We don't have much to prevent indoctrination, other than the Ne-Messorem project. Even that is so… So far beyond us, that I don't know if we'll win against the Reapers. In my heart, in my soul, I know that we'll either succeed, or take a billion down with us. Despite all of our advancements, despite what we've achieved in size and scope, the Reapers pose a significant threat."

That was heavy. I hadn't expected Svesa to be so gloomy, but I had a mutual understanding with her. There was a low chance to defeat the Reapers, and an even lower one to do it conventionally. "How dark," I murmured, chuckling soon afterwards. "Under your leadership, we'll succeed. I know that much. Unless Sirius has just implanted that idea into my head."

Svesa just looked at me, tilting her head to the side, even blinking a few times. She smiled, looking me over a few times. "Flatterer," she said, a white blush coming onto her cheeks. "Zhychephanta."

You have any idea what that last word meant?

'No translations exist, as she told you, back on Asteria.'

Oh, that's right.

"I try," I said, smirking right back. We held a gaze for what seemed like an eternity, but a ping on Svesa's not-an-omni-tool broke it.

She frowned, then looked up to me. "Morinth found the tracking beacon that I put on her ship. She's destroyed it. That, or her ship has been destroyed. Either way, I'm no longer receiving its signal."

I raised my eyebrow, scooting right over to Svesa, finding my place next to her. "Really? Could it just be that-"

"No, it can't be anything other than the tracker being destroyed. I'll have Cygnus start scanning for her, Sirius should do the same. I'll go inform the justicar. You can, uh… Put the poles back?" Svesa suggested, handing me her pole, while I grabbed onto mine.

We went our seperate ways shortly after that, though I checked up on Vodnik, who seemed to be doing okay, other than dealing with what he described as 'the pain of a good fight.'

A/N: At long last, it's finally here!

Sparring is always fun to write, so is lore. I like both. Hopefully you did too.