All That Glitters Ch. 23

The gurneys only got as far as the main reception area where a mini infirmary was set up, Ayesha recognizing the secondary equipment from the infirmary. Sgt. Wiccans had everything ready to help as best he could.

The first person Ayesha had to tend to was Analisa Talbot, who had take a shrapnel under her arm. It was the worst injury from the lot and Ayesha had spent the last five minutes performing CPR on her to no avail.

Ayesha had opened the full length of the PSS 'zipper' in order to perform CPR. Wiccans opened her personal body armour, which had taken serious damage. Those impacts to her body might not have been fatale, but they certainly did not help her in her incapacitated state. He then cut open her working underwear

As soon as the underwear was removed, it was evident what had happened, but Wiccans placed contacts on her skin at various points and started the machines up. A portable medical scanner was produced and run down the length of her body, proving the evidence their eyes had already noted.

It was, however, the EEG and ECG that confirmed things. The ECG was flat zero even with the ongoing compressions from the CPR being administered. The EEG only confirmed the reality for it too was flat. The scanner showed that Analisa Talbot had bled internally until she had no blood flowing through her vascular systems. She had died on route, but Ayesha knew she could have been saved if they had gotten her to the ship on time. The twenty minute delay had been fatale.

Ayesha had only been on the ship for a couple of months, but she had become close to many of the people on board, including Analisa. Over the years as a nurse, she had seen death, but this was the first time death had come to a close friend. It was also the first time that Ayesha had to make the call on her own. She shook her head to Wiccans who found a sheet to cover Analisa, leaving her head exposed.

The Boatswain was suddenly there, taking the gurney away, in the company of an honour guard of Marines.

Ayesha had no time to mourn, she had others that needed her immediate attention, including her fiancé, Sean.

The pair picked up the tools they had gathered at Liramor-23 for cracking damaged EVA suits open and, using the skills they learned in the platform's hospital, broke open the severely damaged breast plate of Sean's suit.

Ayesha immediately got to work closing the wounds on his body, while Wiccan set up a two units of blood to cover what had been lost. While Ayesha worked on Sean, Wiccan set about cracking open the other EVA suits and applying bandages to the more serious wounds. Ayesha wasn't long working on Sean, turning her attention to the more serious wounds on the other two.

She would save the three of them, but it would be a long night for her as the remaining ten Marines had all taken shrapnel injuries, though none potentially fatal.

Handren Villa, New Carthage, New Hadria, Frogus System

The Jean Jacques Aucoin left the forward shuttle bay not long after the combat shuttle left for the station. Raymond had misgivings about the situation, as he did not want Noor off the ship in this system while both he and Liea were off the ship as well.

The shuttle played nice and kept its speed to reasonable levels as they approached the station, which meant that the Aucoin was deep in the atmosphere when the shuttle arrived at its destination. Raymond could spare no further time for the shuttle, he had to focus on what was going on with him and the Aucoin.

As they approached their destination, imagery of the 'villa' came up. It looked more like a medieval fortress than a villa. The villa sported eight twin-gun Mk-48 pulse cannon turrets at various locations on the high points of the fortress. Raymond could see them following his ship's movement down to the landing pad in front of the villa. He gave a grim smile to Liea and Kim.

The ship touched down and Raymond, Liea, and Kim stepped out of the vessel which immediately sealed itself as guards came up to the hatch.

"Why is your ship sealed?" asked a surprise guard of Raymond.

"They have their orders while we are here," Raymond told him. "We are guests of Mr. Handren. I wasn't aware that he would need to place guards on board."

"Your ship is under the watch of our weapons," the guard snarled, pointing to the top of the villa.

"So noted," Raymond returned, calmly, and simply walked away in the direction of the villa, causing the guard to curse them as he ran to catch up.

The villa lived up to his first impression as a large drawbridge spanned the space over what was probably once a water filled moat but was now just a large ditch. Large wooden doors sat closed at the far side of the bridge.

As the little group approached, the overly large wooden doors were manually opened by a group of what Raymond thought might be slaves. The door's hinges groaned like an old man forced to move against his wishes. Being an engineer, Raymond recognized the bearing hinges for what they were, specialized hinges used with extremely heavy objects. That they were making such noise meant either they were badly in need of maintenance, or that the doors were exceedingly heavy. He thought the latter, which meant that the wood was a veneer over a metal core, probably twenty centimeter thick armored hull plating. This building was truly meant to be a fortress then. He did not like the fact that he had to enter it to see his host.

They moved into a large open area that might once have housed guards, ground transport, and animals used for riding, but now was nothing more than a rather beautiful garden. Many people with collars were carefully tending the plants and fountains that gave the area an unusual beauty. Raymond wondered who the architect was, certainly not their boorish host.

The boom of the big doors closing came to the little group, sounding rather ominous to their ears. As soon as outer walls doors closed, the main door to the villa opened and their host stepped forward onto a veranda raised above the garden, two exceedingly beautiful women, one on each arm, in rather diaphanous gowns moving with him. Something was odd about the women. It was Liea who spotted it.

"Those women seem to be completely oblivious to everything around them," she whispered to Raymond.

Raymond was reminded of the brief the had received from Philemon Phargas, when he had told them of women being bred to be sexual playthings but with the minds of children. His resolve hardened.

"Welcome to my villa!" Artura Handren exclaimed, unchecked glee on his face. "I am truly pleased to see you here."

Kim didn't like the way he had said that. He seemed like some kind of super villain from one of the entertainment vids she used to watch as a teen. Only this man was real and her little group had just wandered into his lair. She could see from the stance of Liea and Raymond that they felt the same.

"My, such colourful outfits!" he said, looking at the trio in front of him.

They were all in PSS, but each in their own chosen colour, Kim in Plum with her green swords at her side, Liea in a pale green that matched some of her evening gowns, and Raymond in a dark blue business suit colour.

Their host, by contrast, was wearing rust and dark brown colours, while his two women wore scandalously sheer blue and green gowns, their perfect bodies casually on display.

Behind them, Raymond could see some of the people that he had met earlier today, senior members of the Handren Company. They had stayed inside, letting their boss greet the new arrivals.

The trio stepped forward and up the stairs to walk past their host and into the large entry room. Had they looked back, they would have seen the look of pure hatred on Handren's face, not at the trio themselves, but at being snubbed by them.

I'll teach them, he thought to himself, as he roughly pulled his two play toys with him to follow his 'guests'.

The trio was directed into a rather large dining hall, with a table that could probably seat seventy guests, though only thirty were currently in the room. There was plenty of space to move around the table.

Ornate mirrors edged in gold leaf were integrated into the walls around the room, giving it the appearance of being even larger. Ornate chandeliers of real crystal hung from strategic locations on the ceiling, their light reflected off the mirrors, multiplying their effect at illuminating the hall.

Beautiful gold trimmed-porcelain plates, matching tableware and heavy crystal glasses of various kinds sat at each place setting. Slaves in the house livery stood between the mirrors all around the room, ready to serve any of the people at the table.

The trio were directed to three place setting, but Kim declined, explaining she was there as a bodyguard not a guest. Her place setting was swiftly removed at a nod from the host. She stood behind her charges, not much of a threat in the eyes of the other guests, who smiled indulgently at her, though they did take in the ornate oriental style swords at her hip.

The meal began with soup. Raymond and Liea found the soup somewhat inferior to that of their own chef but said nothing to their host. Raymond noted that many of the guests were talking amongst themselves but no one had engaged them in conversation, a telling point as far as he was concerned.

While the first course of soup was taken away and the second course of salad was brought in, Kim noted the entry of obvious guards into the room, who took up station around the room so as not to look out of place. However, they did not help with the serving and they were in much better shape than the slaves stationed around. They also moved rather jerkily, as if they were break-dancers 'popping' their bodies.

Juicers! Kim thought. That's going to make my night a lot more interesting.

A 'Juicer' was a person who used steroids to quickly gain strength and speed. The downside was they tended to burn out rather quickly, their bodies destroyed by the steroids. When they reached a certain point, where their dependency on the steroids was evident, they tended to move in a somewhat stinted and jerky manner, identifying them to the careful observer.

Juicers were virtually unstoppable once they began their attack, being almost impervious to pain. They could take injuries that would drop most people instantly in their tracks, and still keep fighting even as their bodies were dying. The only way to stop them efficiently was to decapitate them. Fortunately, she had the tools necessary to do just that.

It was really no surprise that Handren employed juicers, though Kim had originally thought that he would be more likely to use people trained in the Death Games as guards. Juicers were often unstable and sometimes turned on their employers. Kim was sure that Handren would dispose of those reaching the point where they could no longer be effectively controlled. In her eyes, that made him a very calculating and dangerous man.

As the dinner progressed, their host had a small stage set up where a half dozen beautiful women, including the two he had greeted the trio with, danced for the pleasure of the men in the room. The dancers were not very polished in their forms, dancing in a very child-like manner, despite their rather adult bodies. They did seem to take great pleasure in 'innocently' exposing parts of their body, lifting their gowns to do so.

Kim thought that the dance would have been something pleasurable to watch if it had been performed by trained, mentally adult women. As it was, the dance parody was a tragedy that only showed what these woman had truly lost.

Mid-way through the meal, Kim noted Handren making a subtle sign to one side. One of the juicers stepped away from the wall and approached Kim.

"You should have taken up my Lord's offer to sit at the table. Now you have insulted him. I think you need to be taught a lesson and I challenge you to a duel for my Lord's honour.

"You speak of honour and name your Lord all in the same sentence?" Kim's snarl was loud enough to be heard over the din of the meal. A gasp rippled through the room at the impudence of this little person.

"I would caution you not to anger my bodyguard," Liea interjected into the sudden silence. "You might not like the results."

"Challenge accepted," Artura Handren spoke. "But since you have included me in the challenge, I will chose your opponent."

Handren signaled again and the guard stepped back. The door opened and a man wearing very little, but a leather jock strap, leather bandoliers with edged weapons on them, and knee high boots with steel heels and toes stepped into the room. The ladies who had been dancing quickly shied away from the beast of a man who was covered in angry looking scars.

"Meet Hamden Colden the division champion of the Death Games, and the person I chose as my personal champion in this duel," Handren boasted with a cruel smile on his lips.

"Are you sure you wish to lose such a valuable resource, Artura?" Raymond asked. "Training such a man to reach this level in the Death Games must have cost a small fortune. Why risk him in a duel?"

"What risk?" Handren gloated. "He has served as my duelling champion on many occasions and has never lost."

"So be it," Kim said, stepping away from where she had been standing behind the table to an area of the dinning hall that had been left clear, probably for just this occasion.

The champion looked at his boss with surprise. Most people feared him and always entered their battle in trepidation. His reputation was such that some duels ended before they even started, the losers capitulating as soon as they found out who their opponent was. That this tiny women was not afraid of him caused him to wonder why that should be so.

Handren waived him on, so Colden walked into the challenge area, a large ring permanently drawn on the floor.

Kim stepped across the threshold of the ring, bowed and knelt, her back straight, and her hand pushing the hilt of her Katana down to keep it off the floor. Once again, the champion was caught in surprise. People did not kneel at the start of a duel. He looked to his boss, who just gave him the signal to take the woman down, but not kill her. Colden nodded to his boss, and swiftly stepped across the ring.

Handren pressed a button, and the challenge ring went live. Now, if anyone stepped out of the ring, they would receive a rather nasty shock for doing so. The combatants were locked in the ring until a winner was decided. Kim noted peripherally the change to the ring but kept her eyes on her advancing opponent.

She had been doing it all her life, fighting gracefully and swiftly from the seiza or kneeling position. The first move was to bring the right foot forward and raise up on the left knee, while simultaneously drawing the Katana. Since the blade was normally facing up while held at the hip, pulling the hilt forward and bringing the blade downward swung the tip of the blade through an arc that could slice through a person from his neck to his groin, if the proper technique and force were applied.

Kim struck so swiftly that most in the hall did not see her move. But Colden was trained for the Death Games and had unnatural reflexes, which likely saved his life. He stepped back just out of the range of most of her weapon, though the tip did cut the skin over his chest and stomach, leaving a long, thin cut that slowly oozed blood.

Kim flicked her wrist, the blood on her sword flung away and off the blade. She performed a deliberate Noto, slowly placing the blade back into the Saya, the distinctive click as it sealed heard by all in the now silent room.

"I believe that is first blood and the duel to me," Kim stated casually. There was silence for a moment before Handren spoke.

"If first blood was indeed the end of this duel that would be true, however, you have personally insulted me, so I am seeking your death for that insult. Continue the duel," he snapped, eyes blazing in anger.

Once again Kim struck first, her sword cutting the air three times just out of reach of the retreating champion who stepped back to avoid the deadly blade. His movements brought him into contact with the electronic wall of the ring and he jumped away from it as the powerful sting of the wall hit his arm. Kim noted her opponent's reaction to the touch and told herself not to get too close to that damned energy wall.

Colden armed himself, pulling forth a longer, curved sword with a hook at the end. His intent was to grab Kim's sword with the hook pulling her into him to be gutted by one of his knives. But Kim didn't give him the chance to use the hook, striking at him almost non-stop causing him to use his sword more to deflect her attack than to try to trap her. She was just too damn proficient with her weapon, and she only had one of them in her hand!

Kim came in close and Colden had to push her away with some force as she was on his sword hand side. Kim gave a little kick with the push, allowing herself to be propelled almost totally across the large ring.

Colden pulled a throwing knife and launched it at Kim, who caught it and hurled it back at him. He was forced to deflect it with his sword and lost sight of what she was doing while his attention was on the swiftly approaching throwing knife.

No sooner had Colden deflected the blade than he felt the bite of a blade in his hand and he dropped his sword. A swift glance down showed an odd looking multi-point weapon embedded in his hand.

Colden mentally blocked the pain in his hand as he had been taught, pulled the strange weapon out, and threw it back at Kim. He had never trained with throwing stars so the weapon sailed harmlessly by Kim, who know had two swords in her hands.

Colden pulled another sword, this one wider than the first he had used, and pulled a large knife to use with his injured hand, the hilt being thicker than those of most of his weapons and easier for the injured hand to grip.

Colden started moving in a whirling circle, his arms extended, the deadly blades spinning through large arcs at the ends of his arms. The move was calculated to eat up large distances quickly and give his opponent little time to block more than one weapon before the other swung into use.

Kim didn't bother. She let him approach and simply slipped under his extended arm. She quickly turned to her right and struck with her Wakizashi, severing the hand with the knife in it from his arm.

She ducked down again, this time trailing her Katana as his sword swept over her head. The hand holding the sword met the Katana and was severed by the force of his own strike.

Kim stood and placed the blades of her weapons together near their Habaki and swung both blades outwards simultaneously, severing Colden's head in a scissor cut.

Colden's head rolled to the floor winding up sitting on his severed neck, his eyes looking accusingly at his boss, pure terror on his face as the life slowly ebbed from his eyes.

"I believe Kim has won," Raymond stated matter-of-factly. "Her point has been made."

"If you think I am going to release her from the ring you are wrong," Handren yelled, signalling his guards to take Raymond and Kim.

Klaxons began to blare and the sound of heavy gunfire could be heard. Suddenly, the doors in the entryway blew inwards and men in Combat EVA suits entered the villa.

"Time to leave," Raymond yelled.

Kim pulled a throwing star with long points on it and threw it at the small box that she thought controlled the ring. Her aim was perfect, of course, and the box shorted, the electronic wall failing. She casually stepped over the wall, activating her PSS while picking up the curved, hooked sword that Colden had initially used against her.

The trio moved to their Marines and quickly exited the villa and entered the Aucoin.