Chapter 3

The whistle blows

Garrus was in his quarters. The fight between him and Aelia was scheduled for 10 that evening, only 90 minutes away. He was uneasy; he usually never held back, not even in sparring sessions; many of his opponents had called his fighting style brutal, fierce and unrelenting. He wasn't sure he could be that violent with Aelia, or with any female sparring partner, but he didn't know that because he'd never fought a female before.

He'd not actually settled anything in the ring before either. He considered himself a reasonable guy; he didn't need to fight to get what he wanted. Either it was his diplomacy or it was that others on the ship knew that he was a good fighter and didn't want to get pummelled.

What little appetite he'd had before was now completely absent but he thought he would wander down to the mess anyway. When he got there, a few of the junior officers made whooping noises as he passed. He saw the other three scouts were there and grabbed a drink before heading over to their table.

Again Flavian was the first to speak, "Vakarian, I told you to talk to her not fight her in the ring."

Garrus scratched his head. "I know, I know, but she ambushed me down in the training room and I lashed out. I would have refused, but Camillius was there and she all but virtually ordered me into the fight."

Terentius started laughing "That's one woman you can't say no to."

Pen was looking incredulously at Garrus "I can't believe you're going to do it, honestly can't you solve something like this some other way?"

Flavian slapped Pen on the back, "Sometimes no Saies, you just have to fight." He turned back to Garrus "Is it true you've never fought a female before?"

Garrus nodded his head, "Opportunity has never arisen. Have any of you?"

Pen shook his head. Terentius replied, "I've mock sparred, in the bedroom of course," and he winked at Garrus.

"I have, several in fact." Flavian said. "Believe me Garrus, when I say that, yes, they are often smaller and physically weaker than us, but that makes them more cunning with their fighting style. You think you might have the upper hand, but even thinking that going into the ring is going to be your downfall. Mind you, I once fought a woman who was bigger than me, her style was more…um…masculine and that ended up exactly as you'd expect, with my face ground into the mat," he continued "I've seen Goran fight once. Another female though. Her style is clever and classy. She's small but the girls got guts."

"Well, I'm not going to take it easy on her, I know that much." Garrus said.

This time Flavian slapped Garrus on the back. "Good for you, Vakarian, you keep telling yourself that and you might start believing it, you have a reputation to uphold." All but Garrus started laughing.

Garrus returned to his quarters, not to rest, just to try and mentally psych himself for what was to come. After a while of lying down staring at the ceiling, he took a deep breath, "Okay let's go Vakarian." and headed toward the training room.

As he entered he could see more than half the crew were squashed in around the ring. Ring not being a technically accurate description - actually a large 12x12ft mat.

A fight between two of the engineering crew was in progress, people were yelling and screaming. "Holy hell" he said aloud. The majority of people were his comrade junior officers and a few enlisted recruits; he could see Wate and Wen's faces tucked up at the back of the crowd. The XO was there and several other senior officers too. Shit, the Captain's here too. Fuck, fuck shit, he thought. He waded through the crowd to where the scouts had placed themselves close to the edge of the ring. Bets were being waged, a few people were calling out to him, but he ignored them.

"What are my odds?" he said to Terentius.

"Apparently if it goes to five or more rounds, you're the favourite, but a few are speculating that Goran might fell you at three. Apparently round three is when she brings out her special moves – most of her opponents have gone down in that round, so watch you don't lose the second round, Vakarian."

"Special moves?" He looked to Flavian.

"Don't look at me, I don't know what they are, I've only seen her once and to tell the truth I wasn't really there to see the fighting." He shrugged.

Terentius snorted a laugh, "I wouldn't be there for the fighting either."

Garrus looked around; he couldn't see Aelia in the crowd.

The fight amongst the engineers was coming to a finish; one was slumped partially on the ground and clinched from behind by the other. The referee, Seb Aulus, one of the senior officers in charge of the enlisted recruits, glanced towards his score keepers – two other enlisted recruits sitting at the sidelines– they nodded towards him and Aulus blew his whistle and grabbed the hand of the engineer in control of the clinch and hauled it into the air. A shout went up from the crowd.

Garrus was getting nervous – he still couldn't see Aelia, maybe she was backing out, deciding that it was a bad idea, or she just got scared; he would be relieved if any of those were true.

As the two engineers from the ring left – or in one case were carried, he saw her push her way to the front and on to the mats.

There was no escaping it now; he took a deep breath and moved to join her. She was wearing a different training outfit than the one she had had on earlier, this one was a tight one-piece covering her in a singlet-type top half and legging-like bottoms which went down as far as her spurs. He removed his loose top as any material easily gripped was a hand hold, so he stood bare chested in front of her; although this was a normal sparring outfit for him, this time he actually felt a little too naked. He looked her in the eyes and she spoke first.

"Glad to see that you're not afraid to face me, Vakarian."

"Being afraid was never the reason for not fighting you, Goran. I can't promise this will be painless for you, you can back out if you want."

She gave a contemptuous snort, "Not likely, as the XO said, I'm one of the top ranked fighters on this ship."

He laughed, "You must have forgotten Goran, she said I'm one too."

"All right, then let's start." She turned to the ref, "We're ready, Aulus".

Seb Aulus shouted for the crowd to be quiet. His voice, often heard booming through the corridors of the Nimines, was loud and resonant but it could hardly be heard above the din of the surrounding group.

"We have two new fighters here in the ring and I've got to say I'm looking forward to this. Garrus Vakarian and Aelia Goran, both are specialist hand to hand fighters. Our special scorers for this match will be…." and he moved his arm in the direction of the Captain, "Our very own Captain Mikras and XO Camillius." Aulus made a mocking bow towards them and the crowd began hooting and yelling, Aulus continued, "To the competitors I'll say – no holds below the waist, leg on leg tackling and leg on torso tackling is allowed, the rest of the rules you know so I'll not bother repeating it here, we have three two-minute periods for wrestling, at the end if it's a tie, we'll move to five and so on and so on…okay, enough of this shit, let's start" and he rubbed his talons together in glee. Aulus had a small whistle and as he blew into it, it could barely be heard above the crowd's roar.

Garrus and Aelia both stood in the neutral position sizing each other up slowly. Garrus had at least a foot and half on her in height, and at least 35 pounds in weight. She looked smaller with fewer and tighter clothes and without her boots and armour.

He lunged at her, and she toppled backwards to avoid his reach but he had grabbed her arm and yanked her onto her knees. Before she had a chance to react, he was behind her, pushing her forward with his head and with the vice-like grip still on her arm, to the ground. She was now on her stomach with only one arm free and his weight grinding into her back; the only place for her to move was to roll out from under him using his weight as momentum, which she did; he effectively moved from atop her on to his side, loosening his grip on her arm in the process; she took the opportunity to do a backwards somersault moving deftly to her feet and back to a standing neutral position.

Garrus lay on his side but rolled quickly onto his front bringing himself into a kneeling stance. He wasn't quick enough to stand though before Aelia had twisted her right leg up to give a glancing blow to his side and he once again was lying on his side on the mat. She jumped towards him and he put his arm up to ward off the assault. This time she fell flat on her back and he jumped up to a standing position before she could as well.

The whistle blew, score: 5:2.

"You sound a little out of breath Goran." Garrus was smirking.

"A little, yes, but that's just a warm up round, I'm getting into a rhythm."

The ref's whistle blew for Round Two. This time it was Aelia who lunged but her arms weren't long enough and Garrus easily dodged her grasp. He sidestepped bringing his leg up and knocking her to the side, still on her feet but stumbling, she leaned down and ran at him butting him with her shoulder but didn't have enough force for it to push him over. Having stepped back with one leg giving him a good support, his arm shot out pushing into her other shoulder and this time she didn't stumble, she fell backward landing on her behind; before he could get close though she had moved quickly back to standing and was jostling in one position with her arms out to ward off any attack.

They circled each other. She lashed out with her left leg this time kicking him in the knee; he buckled and went down on both.

The whistle blew: score 3:2

Garrus was up, he was confident he could win the next round; she was no match for his size and strength, it would all be over shortly.

Standing neutral again, Garrus spoke "C'mon, Goran, you know you're going down, I told you it would be painful, I promise not to make it humiliating for you."

"Vakarian," She shook her head, "You have no idea what I'm capable of, do you?"

"Well, you seem to be dancing around the mat, are you a good dancer, Goran, because so far I can't really say I'm in awe of your fighting skills."

Her tan face seemed to darken under her white tattoo markings. Garrus was pleased he got that reaction.

The whistle blew for Round Three before she could reply.

Garrus reached out, grabbing her by her wrist and forcing her to her knees again, and again she had no time to react before he was behind her, but this time, instead of pushing her forward, he moved his other hand around her neck placing her in a loose chokehold; he could smell her now and it was a sweaty but clean scent.

With a great deal of force she managed to move one knee forward so he couldn't push her onto her front again, using this to leverage herself to a standing position, again taking a stance that would make it difficult for him to push her to the ground.

A loud voice came from the audience that they could both hear, "Enough with the foreplay, show her the moves, Vakarian!"

She could feel Garrus's hand loosen its grip slightly at the jibe, and she took the opportunity to bend forward gripping his arm tightly and flipping him over on to his back. His legs flailed in the air as he came crashing down and she immediately jumped on top of him pinning his arms underneath her thighs and pressing down on his shoulders with all her weight.

A huge roar went up from the crowd; people previously crouched down were now standing and yelling. He was momentarily stunned by the move then began to squirm under her, but he couldn't get loose.

She was breathing heavily over him and said, "What was that you said about my fighting skills?"

The whistle blew: score 1:5

They both stood up Garrus wiped his face with the back of his hand, he was sweating profusely now as was Aelia. Towels were thrown to them. After three rounds the score was tallied at an even 9:9. There would be another two rounds.

Aulus was grinning wildly, and the crowd was still yelling, occasional whooping noises and loud whistling.

Garrus's mind was racing; how the hell did she do that? Round Three, Terentius had said she pull out her special moves in Round Three. That was it, if he was unintentionally holding back he was going to let loose now, no mercy, none at all.

They faced each other again, no trash talk this time, just vicious glaring and lots of mandible flaring. Aelia had a huge grin on her face like she'd been handed some huge prize.

The whistle blew for Round Four.

Garrus ran at her, this time bending down, ramming his shoulder into her chest and sending her sprawling onto her back; he was immediately on top of her, grinding his hips between her legs in a very intimate position, although for Garrus, sex and lovemaking were far from his mind. She responded equally forcefully, wrapping her thighs around him and rolling him onto his back, this time though his arms were not pinned and he roughly pushed her from on top of him so that they were no longer in contact. She somersaulted back to standing and he bounced up from his position. They circled each other again, his talons flexing at his sides, hers assuming a defensive stance. Time seemed to be moving quicker, either that or they were tiring.

The whistle blew: score 3:2

Fifth round – I've got to get her on this round, Garrus thought. They faced each other, and again no words passed between them.

The whistle blew for Round Five.

Garrus came at her from the right, intending to knock her down again but now she had her arm up and it glanced off the side of his head and along his mandible fleetingly. The pain shot up his temple and he moved back quickly so that she couldn't get behind him. They both stood back in a neutral position, he rubbed his mandible, and she laughed. As she did so she also moved forward, head held high, and moved her right leg up kicking him in the side like she had in an earlier round. He lurched to the side again – she had hit another sensitive spot – he made a mental note: prefers kicking with right leg, the left she uses for close contact kicks. He could hear her breath was ragged and she was panting, she was tiring, but then he realised when he unintentionally began to rub his side where she had kicked him that so was he.

The whistle blew: score 1:2

Aulus' grin was from ear to ear, and the crowd went berserk when the score was read as 13 apiece.

Aulus grabbed Garrus and Aelia by the shoulders "You know what that means - two more rounds, folks. Are either of you injured?"

Garrus looked at Aelia and although his jaw throbbed and his side ached, he shook his head no; he was sure her right leg was probably bothering her; she was rubbing it vigorously although she responded with a husky "no".

"Alright then; let's continue!"

The whistle blew for Round Six.

"You know, Goran, if you're hurting we can stop," he said it with a hint of sarcasm.

"Obviously that little drumming of your jaw hasn't stopped you talking shit, Vakarian."

Garrus was taken by surprise as she made a loud grunting noise as she ran towards him, this time moving to almost hug him with her left arm out wide, instead using it to grab hold of his left shoulder then his collar and swinging her body around his till she was on his back then bringing her feet down firmly on the back of his knees. Although she was light he buckled under the pressure and fell hard and face first into the mat.

Garrus could hear the yelling and shouting of the crowd, his head was buzzing and his face was stinging from the slapping of the mat against his cheek but he could see from the side people had stood again, punching their arms in the air this time.

Aelia was still on his back but his hands were free and he used them to push his whole body up to standing, she was still gripping his shoulders but he reached around with one hand grabbing at one of her wrists, peeling her off till she slipped off his back. He could feel his collar had been scratched by her talons. He quickly lashed out with his left leg and she fell over on her side.

The whistle blew: score 3:5.

Aulus threw Garrus a towel, and he gave him a puzzled look "You're bleeding Vakarian."

That's when Garrus realised the face first into the mat had given him a bloody nose.

Aelia's breathless voice yelled, "Ready to throw in the towel Vakarian?"

"Not likely Goran." and he rubbed the towel over his face; he'd had bloody noses before so he knew he wouldn't bleed too much and he threw the towel behind him. He gave Aulus a serious look "I'm ready."

The whistle blew for Round Seven.

This time, Garrus thought, this time, little Aelia Goran, your ass is mine. She stood breathlessly in front of him, he could see her tiring, definitely doesn't have the stamina.

He moved forward one small step, his reach was long enough to bring his right leg around, hitting her in the side; she staggered but didn't fall and moved forward, this time bringing her right leg up to do the same. However, Garrus was ready and he withstood the blow, barely swaying as it made contact; he then caught her leg in mid air before she could bring it back down and used the momentum she created to twist her in mid-air till she crashed down on her stomach, she didn't appear to have landed as hard as Garrus had previously, but he moved quickly on top of her, grinding his hip into her torso, pushing her legs off to the side, and pinning her underneath him.

He could hear loud hooting noises from the audience but he didn't look up. He was gripping her left hand but her right was flailing wildly trying to get a grip on some part of him but couldn't because he was dripping with sweat.

The whistle blew: score 4:2

The score was now 20 all.

On the other side of the mat, Aelia's hands were on her knees, her head was bowed down.

"Yes!" Garrus yelled and he punched his arms forward, the adrenaline now having a real impact on him.

She looked up at him and she was grinning. Her chest was heaving and he could see that she was rubbing her right leg again. More people were now crammed into the space than before. Garrus looked around: there were maybe 70 people, he couldn't believe it.

Aulus moved forward "If either of you want to stop…."

A unanimous "NO!" came from both of them.

The whistle blew for Round Eight.

With the adrenaline came more trash talk.

Aelia barked out "Vakarian, we'd make a dangerous couple, if only you were dangerous!"

"That's sweet coming from someone who still looks like they're dancing not fighting, what was that last move you made? Isn't that what humans call 'ballet' Goran?"

With that last insult she charged at him, moving quickly despite her tiredness. Garrus's own stamina was slowing and he wasn't fast enough to dodge her this time, as she opened her arms to him and then gripped him in a bear-like hug, with his arms pinned to his side. He had an advantage as it was his momentum playing a role and deciding which direction they would topple onto the mat. He moved such that they would land on her right leg. As soon as they hit they began rolling, each one trying to gain a dominant position but neither seeming able to establish total control. They rolled around for a full minute before Garrus managed to free one of his arms, but by this time Aelia had entwined her left leg with his, thus he gained nothing from freeing his arm.

The whistle blew: score 2:2.

The crowd was full of high-pitched shrieking now and Garrus was blinking wildly, the sweat dripping into his eyes making everything blurry; he grabbed another towel, wiping over his face and torso. He could see Aelia doing the same.

Aulus rasped "Spirits be damned, will one of you make it count."

The whistle blew for Round Nine.

"Are you even in the same fight I'm in Vakarian?" Aelia's voice shouted across at him.

"More than you are, sweetheart, last chance to withdraw without humiliation Goran."

"No chance," she viciously spat back at him. Garrus' smirk was a mile wide, he was getting under her skin, and he could see it in her eyes.

This time Garrus moved quickly, and now it was he who moved to put Aelia in a bear hug; despite her wriggling she couldn't free herself and he lifted her clear off the ground, her legs dangling, trying to get a foothold on his knees but she couldn't. He swirled her round and it did almost look like they were dancing cheek to cheek, the sweat of their faces mingling, but his intention was to drop her on the ground and drill her into the mat. Before he could do this, she turned her head into his jaw line and ran her tongue along the edge of his face.

He dropped her immediately in shock of the sensation and she brought her left leg up to kick his right making a swift and painful connection, "Don't call me fucking sweetheart." She whispered hoarsely. He stepped back into to a neutral standing position, she stared at him with a fierce boldness, and he in turn stared at her with disbelief.

The whistle blew.

The noise coming from the crowd now was thunderous. The Captain and XO pushed their way forward and down to the mat where Garrus and Aelia were standing. The Captain motioned to Aulus and spoke directly into his ear. Neither could hear what he was saying though.

Aulus calmly walked over between the both of them, looked each in the eye and grabbed their arms and held them in the air.

The crowd by this time was in frenzy, screaming and yelling. The Captain and XO in turn were bellowing for everyone to shut up. Aulus began blowing his whistle as loud as he could. It took a full five minutes for the crowd to quieten. Finally, after the last voice had died down, the Captain spoke.

"I call that match a draw today for several reasons," he paused, "Although they had different skills they were equally matched. What I saw between these two opponents was something I want to see in all of you," He pointed his finger around the crowd. "If you can show half the brutality, half the ferocity, half the tenacity," and he stopped to look particularly at Goran with that last comment. "That these two soldiers have shown here in this ring, we've already won the battle against these pirates and slavers and our colonists will be safe." A shout came up from the crowd.

"We have a battle to prepare for, you're all dismissed." There was a muttering from the crowd but most started to reluctantly move away.

The Captain turned to Garrus and Aelia "You two: I never want to see you fighting each other in the ring again." He turned on his heel and left; the XO followed the Captain out yet kept turning back to look at them while finally winking at Aelia and grinning broadly.

Garrus and Aelia were left facing each other. Aelia stuck her hand out, "Vakarian."

He responded, gripping her talons tightly in his own, "Goran."

As they moved with the crowd out of the training room, several people began slapping them on the shoulder and back and jostling to shake their hands. Aelia was in front of the crowd. Garrus had moved out separately but he wasn't far behind. If she had turned to look back, she would have seen his eyes watching her with a burning intensity.