Chapter 27
The spaceport had been rather empty, which was understandable given that someone had recently shot down a shuttle. Turns out blowing up a spaceship was bad for port business.
As a result, there weren’t many other ships present when Lily and Violet stepped out into the cool afternoon. Nor were there many people bustling about.
"What did you want?" Lily asked.
"Over there." Violet nodded toward a high-walled area, secluded enough that no one was likely to bother them. It looked like a small scrap yard that the spaceport kept until it could be reused or shipped to its final destination.
"For what purpose?" Lily tilted her head. There was no reason for them to go digging for parts.
“I want to take some time to teach you a few things. Seeing you fight in the quarry informed me that you have no actual technique,” Violet answered.
Lily scowled. “I need no technique; my instincts are perfect.”
“Perhaps for hunting in a jungle. Not for fighting people,” Violet rebuked, not slowing down in her walk towards the secluded area, and Lily wasn’t the kind of person to back down.
“And we should fight, why?” Lily asked.
"Well, it's always good to understand your limits. And as with anything, combat experience is the best teacher." Violet smirked. "I suspect you haven't had anyone really test you." As they reached the space, she spun around and squared up.
"Why here?" Lily asked, tilting her head. She was not at all worried about fighting the kikai.
"I don't want to damage the ship," Violet explained.
Lily only tilted her head. "My mycelial network runs throughout the ship, but it's unlikely you could do enough damage to pierce through it."
Apparently, those were fighting words.
Violet jumped forward with a punch.
Lily shifted back, taking it on her forearm and feeling the impact rock through her body and crack the bone. She frowned at it for just long enough to watch it heal completely. It was a solid punch to even crack one of her bones.
"I didn't realize your healing was that strong. Why not use your own as a template for the captain?" Violet blinked and rubbed at her knuckles.
Lily shook her head. "Much of my ability requires a large amount of biomass.
Were it not for my ability to adjust and manage it, I would be a large, grotesque creature.
I do not believe such an appearance would be pleasing for the captain to have.
" She shook out her hand and darted in toward Violet, claws growing from her fingernails.
The kikai chopped a hand at her wrist, twisting to throw Lily over her shoulder, only for the powerful divine to get stuck mid-throw. Lily’s feet were completely rooted to the ground by stretches of her mycelial network.
"Huh?" Violet made a noise of confusion.
Lily twisted, lifting the kikai high into the air before slamming her down on the other side. "You will have to do better. Your training is more refined, I'll admit. However, sheer strength will always prevail."
Violet kipped to her feet, her tail helping her land lightly, and dove back in the next second. In the span of a blink, the two of them exchanged a dozen blows. Lily stood like an immovable fortress while Violet darted around her, occasionally being sent flying.
"I assume your durability has to do with said mass manipulation," Violet said.
“Ardwenian Rhinoceros.” Lily bobbed her head.
"Humans named it that when they discovered it for the first time on a superplanet.
Ultra-high-density aggressive herbivore.
Its cells are incredibly efficient at mass-to-energy conversions but costly to maintain.
Most of the time, I keep the majority in suspended animation.
But when I need to demonstrate the errors of a foolish kikai's ways"—she smirked—"I can activate them and draw from them consciously, at an incredibly fast rate. "
Violet squared back up. This time her tail flicked toward Lily, and the helivore was thrown backwards, though she took only a single step, one foot still rooted to the ground.
"Does that mean you'll tire easily?" Violet grinned as though she'd discovered a weakness.
Lily tilted her head. "Yes, if I were on my own, that might be the case."
A black mycelial tendril broke from the ground not far from where their duel had begun. It attached for just a second, then released, and Lily darted for Violet, her fist coming heavy and fast.
The kikai braced herself, tail going rigid with power. Yet Lily's fist was hard enough to send her backwards, though an invisible hand seemed to stop her from flying too far.
Lily understood what was happening. She'd read about such mating rituals on multiple occasions, and that only made it more important that she not lose. She could not afford to let this kikai believe she had any claim on the captain.
Violet shot back as though whatever invisible hand had caught her had become a slingshot, firing her forward with as much force as it had absorbed. She came soaring in fist-first.
Lily let the mycelial network of her suit balloon outward, drawing the fluid forward and dissipating the full force of Violet's attack. "You will not win," Lily asserted.
"I always find that when someone tries to intimidate their opponent, it's a sign of weakness." Violet shot back faster than Lily was prepared to handle.
As much as Lily disliked Violet at present, she had to admit the woman was more capable than anyone else on the ship when it came to combat.
"It seems you still fail to understand that you are outmatched," Lily said, spreading her stance wider as her suit deflated a tendril of her greater network absorbing much of the water. "I will be less delicate."
Violet rolled her eyes, then ducked inside Lily's guard, stepping backwards just long enough to launch herself into the air, feet moving a mile a minute, each kick snapping Lily's head back and forth.
Lily twisted and reached out to snag the troublesome kikai's ankle.
Even with her healing factor, there were only so many times she could sustain damage in a row before it began to accumulate.
Her eyes were already swollen shut from the repeated strikes.
Yet her hand didn't find an ankle where she expected one. The angle of the attack had shifted.
“You can fly?” Lily growled, throwing her forearm up and expanding it into a small shield of bone before driving it into Violet and stopping the facial assault.
"More like an airborne nudge," Violet said. "Flight requires a tremendous amount of energy. People really underestimate the total requirement to keep something aloft for a sustained period."
"It sounds like you'll never fly." Lily grinned before squaring up, and this time, she was going to make the little kikai pay.
"My master could fly," Violet said. "It's possible. I assume I'll just need more tails."
Lily grinned and stepped in, her arm elongating even as Violet took a predictable step back. Lily got her hands on the lapel of Violet's suit, her claws quickly reshaping into hooks to keep her in place.
Violet grabbed Lily's arm and tried to twist free, but Lily pivoted her hips and drove her full strength through to her arm before slamming Violet's face into the concrete wall and dragging it through, cracking the surface and scoring far more damage than the captain was likely to be happy about.
But this kikai needed a lesson. Her request for combat to show Lily that she was the weaker potential mate was unacceptable.
Lily finally stopped being gentle, and it showed. When she pulled Violet's head out of the concrete, the woman was missing an ear. She spat out teeth as new ones regenerated in her mouth, and the torn ear regrew before Lily's eyes.
Yet, there was still fight in her eyes.
"Just imagine what he'd say if he saw you do that." Violet grinned and grabbed Lily's wrist. Her tail came around, a small shimmer of force rippling along its length as it sliced clean through Lily's wrist. Violet jumped back.
The severed hand, still hooked at her throat, pinched tight enough that blood began to squeeze between the fingers.
"Interesting trick," Lily said. "Don't mind if I show a few of my own." Though if she was honest, she said it mainly because she knew Violet couldn't respond. She was curious to see how long a divine kikai could survive without air.
Violet recovered quickly, grabbing Lily's hand and ripping it from her throat before ducking low and driving a fist hard into Lily's chest, forcing a noticeable amount of air from even her specialized lungs.
"Not bad." Lily chuckled before her knee came up and smashed into Violet's ribs hard enough to break them. She stamped her foot back down and went for a second strike, hoping to puncture a lung and at least slow her down.
Violet twisted in the air, swinging up and over Lily with a hand on her shoulder and applying a startling amount of leverage as she tried to peel Lily from the ground.
She failed but had been dangerously close, in Lily's opinion.
Close enough that Lily grabbed Violet by the knee and squeezed hard enough to crush it.
And yet, by the time she'd done it, every injury she'd previously inflicted was already gone.
She noted that fact with a frustrated grunt before deciding the best way to end this was with her mycelial network.
Violet came in again, a ripple of force on her fingers as she tore through Lily’s suit and left deep gashes on the helivore’s arms.
Lily stomped a heel down onto Violet's foot, driving it like a nail into a board to keep her from running as black tendrils erupted from the ground and stabbed into the difficult kikai, beginning to consume her from the inside out.
"You are welcome to surrender," Lily said, grabbing on with her newly regenerated hand and holding her in place.
"No thanks." Violet flashed a wide grin. "I'm curious to see how you explain this to the captain. And if you're bringing your mycelial network into it, I might as well bring out a beam saber." Her hand flicked up the saber that burned so hot it gave off ozone.
"I would advise both of you against either of those actions." Melgara's voice broke the tension that was building.
Both women froze, half-poised to kill the other, as the fight teetered on the edge of escalation and turned to find the stellari doctor holding up a tablet, recording them.
Lily blinked and shook her head. She had failed to pay enough attention to her surroundings. This stellari should not have been able to sneak up on her.
"This is none of your business," Lily and Violet said together. At least they agreed on something.
"It is very much my business," Melgara replied evenly.
"As chief medical officer, I'll have to document these injuries and then, of course, report them to the captain.
He will be incredibly curious to find beam saber injuries on his girlfriend as well as damage from a mycelial incursion on another member of his crew. "
Melgara didn't back down, watching both of them with a casual hand on her hip and pursed lips.
Lily glanced at Violet, who in turn looked back at her, and slowly, the mycelial network withdrew from the kikai.
"I suppose for the moment I can find something else to do," Violet said, pulling at her clothes to straighten them.
“I demonstrated my superiority already,” Lily said, brushing at her suit as it repaired itself.
"Wonderful," Melgara said. "That does solve the problem of me having to report this.
Now, if only you two could get along just a little better.
" She pinched her fingers together. "And while I understand you're against it, Lily, perhaps you should consider letting Violet—" Melgara didn't even get a chance to finish before Lily barked.
"No! Now, if that's all," she said sharply.
The last of the mycelial network withdrew, and Lily pivoted, stabbing the heel of her shoe into the concrete hard enough to drill a small hole before marching away.
"That woman," Violet growled, turning to Melgara. "If you hadn't interrupted, I could have dealt with that. I had her by the tail. The only thing she understands is strength."
"Sure," Melgara said. "Though if I'm honest, from my perspective it looked very much like you were both well on your way to killing each other. And that would infuriate the captain well enough that the two of you might lose any chance you have with him."
The pointed look from Melgara was enough for Violet to hold her tongue.
"Then what do you recommend?" Violet asked.
"Simple." Melgara had a dangerous smile on her face. "The easiest way to change Lily's mind is actually to change the captain's."
Violet tilted her head, her ears flopping with the motion. She considered Melgara's words for just a moment before a small light of understanding dawned in her eyes, and her lips parted. "Oh. That makes perfect sense."
"Indeed. Now, you just need Lily to let you." Melgara said it with a smirk. "That might be harder."
"No." Violet waved a hand. "I think I understand what you're suggesting. Lily will listen to the captain if he wants another partner. I just need to get him to shift his perspective."
“Yes.” Melgara smiled. “It would solve your desires, hopefully restore harmony to the ship, and then we can all work together on solving the captain’s unfortunate lack of durability. Perhaps we could get something in there to make sure he can keep multiple women happy?”
Violet didn’t miss that phrasing. “Not just two, but multiple?”
Melgara shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind enjoying the youthful spring of love myself. But I’m not going to be able to wedge myself in with Lily’s current territorial… aggression.” Her eyes shifted over to the blood spilled in the scrap yard, a dismembered hand, and a dozen teeth.
“Point taken.” Violet smirked. “Entice the captain,” she murmured to herself as she spun back towards the ship, and her tail waved behind her.
Melgara waited for a moment before pulling out a bag and quickly picking up several samples from the battle before sealing the bag and putting it in her lab coat.
“Those two,” she said and shook her head. “To be young and in love again.”