Taking On the World

Enterprise1701_d

 

Interlude

 

 

Arianne sighed, and pushed a stray strand of raven hair away from her field of vision. Tucking it beneath a pencil clamped behind her right ear, she bent over her book once more. She detested noon. As usual, she was sitting by herself, in some far away corner, reading a book. Some people ignored her. Most loved making fun of her.

Arianne flipped a page. A comparative analysis of crop circles in Britain, the U.S., and South America, Arianne read. Could be interesting, she thought.

During this study it has come to the author’s attention that some circles are, indeed, false, and have as such not been included in this study. Furthermore, the similarities between the circles that have not been determined hoaxes are numerous, and shall be explained in order.

Let us start with similarities in diameter…

Arianne smiled to herself. This one is at least smart enough to see the difference between hoaxes and the real thing.

“Hey, alien!” Paul Argen, quarterback at the school team, yelled. Arianne ignored him. “Give it up, brainiac! They would never take you anyway!” he taunted.

Arianne sighed. This was why she hated noon. Calmly, she took the pencil, and made some notes on the note bloc on her right. Not taking her eyes off the pages, she jotted down some figures in her own, unique short-hand.

His friends called him, and Paul shrugged in Arianne’s direction. He didn’t want to waste more time with her. Not when the rest of the team was calling. Arianne jammed the rest of her sandwich in her mouth, swallowed, nearly choked on its size, and cleared her throat by gulping down her coke. She slammed the book close, and departed from the cafeteria. She didn’t want to remain a tempting target, and made her hurried exit.

She walked outside, and made her way to the bench she knew would be deserted. It always was, being out of the way as it was. Most students at the High School didn’t like walking, only to arrive at a spot that was of no particular interest. Sometimes, people came there to make out, being out of the way as it was, but that was after school, never during lunch break. Arianne didn’t know why. She didn’t care.

Arianne walked, skipped over a pool of rainwater. For a moment, she looked down at her reflection. A pair of gray eyes, paler-than-usual skin and black hair looked back at her. The hair reached halfway down to her shoulders, and was the only part of her body she actually spent time on. She never used make-up. She didn’t need it. Who would she need to impress? She was a seventeen-year-old girl in a continuous isolation cell.

Arianne shook her head, snapped out of the eye-lock she held with herself, and hurriedly made her way to her small spot. Prepping her back against the wall, she put her legs up on the bench. Resting her book on her legs, Arianne took her notepad and pencil.

 

2 years later…

 

Arianne sat in the comfortable self-molding chair, her legs prepped up on the edge of the rectangular window. With her hands tucked behind her head, she looked lazily at the sun rising behind the Earth. For the one tenth of a second it took the window to adjust to the brisk influx of light, Arianne squinted her eyes. She sighed, dropping her feet to the floor.

“Another Kral’Naroch,” she whispered, walking to the synthesizer-slot. “Time moves too damn fast.” Arianne sighed. “Coffee. Grunt’chak-brand. Scalding,” she snapped at the machine. It beeped, and Arianne squinted her eyes against the light-show she had grown used to. A beam of lighting-like energy lashed out from the top of the slot. It lasted barely fifteen seconds, the time it needed to reorganize the quark-particles to create the required beverage.

She took the square cup with the boiling liquid, and walked back to the window. Leaning against the edge, she looked down at Earth. Her planet. Her home. Arianne snorted. This wasn’t her home. Never had been. That’s why she was perfectly happy to let the Trelawni use humanity for slaves, strip-mining the planet. She had used her status as Kral’Naroch to make sure that no irreparable damage was being done to the nature of the planet. Nature was important. People weren’t.

She sipped the Grunt’chak. Its alien taste prickled her taste-buds, and it tingled all the way down her esophagus down to her stomach, where it settled in a pleasantly warm feeling. Arianne knew from experience that the warmth would remain for quite a while. Most humans couldn’t handle the alien foodstuffs. Arianne enjoyed them, from time to time.

Throwing down the last bottom of Trelawni coffee, Arianne grunted at the realization she was now holding an empty cup. She grunted, threw the cup to pieces against the floor. Within seconds, a hatch slid open, just above the ground, and a small robot shot out, collected the pieces, and left. The hatch slid shut. Arianne watched the small bot do its job with a smile. I like the little fellow… always happy to do its job, never complains, never argues, never asks for anything.

She turned back to the Blue Planet. Why can’t everybody be like that? she wondered. The gong the Trelawni used as doorbell rang.

“Enter if you dare,” Arianne shouted in her best ‘evil warrior’. She knew that the Trelawni respected nothing but sheer strength. That’s why she had entered the Kral’Naroch contest. She had been appalled at the Trelawni invasion. First, they had made her Vorash, an Ambassador. She had been given biogenetic implants, linked to a biological computer in her brain. She had been enhanced. Better than her peers.

The door slid open, and her servant entered.

“It is time, Kral’Naroch,” the Trelawni male said, bowing his head so he wouldn’t look at her.

“Very well, Rash,” Arianne replied, throwing off the simple white garment she wore. Standing naked before him, she lifted her arms, so she stood at a T-shape. Rash hurriedly ran a small device over her now-beautiful body, removing all her hair.

“You are ready, Kral’Naroch,” Rash answered, standing back to allow Arianne to pass. Taking a deep breath, she nodded curtly, and marched out the room.

Kral’Naroch. The Glorious Fight. Arianne steeled herself. She had won five battles to the death before. Held once every Shukar, a time period equivalent to a human trimester, the Kral’Naroch was a fight to the death for control over the Trelawni empire.

The Trelawni had made her an ambassador. Naïve as she had been, she had believed her benefactors. She had told humanity not to fight the Trelawni, that they came in peace. Humanity had believed her, and had welcomed the Trelawni with open arms. As added rewards for her well-done work, Arianne was given a beautiful stateroom on board the Trelawni ship, and she was treated like a princess.

All the while, on Earth, her ‘benefactors’ had enslaved humanity, and they were forcing their slaves to strip-mine their own planet. Disobedience was ill-advised. The Trelawni were masters as encouragement.

Once she knew what was going on, Arianne was appalled. She had entered Kral’Narul, the Glorious Skirmish, to try and change things. A Trelawni’s position was dictated by his or her Kral-standing. The higher one got, the more power one received. No-one would have dared think about the lowly Vorash entering the Kral-competition. It had been a proven tactic by the Trelawni… they gave a Vorash added power, but not enough to challenge the Trelawni superiority.

But, Arianne was different. Humanity was different. No Vorash had ever exceeded the sum of his parts… until Arianne. She had that unbreakable will that said ‘you may beat me, kick me, hurt me, and break my bones… but you will never break my will.’ Much to the astonishment of the Trelawni, Arianne had risen through the ranks of Kral’Narul.

And she had won it all.

Only then had she heard of the Kral’Naroch. The Glorious Fight. The name said it all. Kral’Naroch was a fight to the death, a sort of tournament. The last Trelawni standing would fight the Kral’Naroch… the Glorious Fighter. The Kral’Naroch wielded unlimited power within Trelawni society. His will was law.

And Arianne had risen. She had beaten the competition. Arianne shuddered at the memory of her first Trelawni kill. By now, she had killed so many it barely even registered. That first kill had been the worst.

So here she was… Arianne, lowly human Vorash, Kral’Naroch of the Trelawni Empire. She controlled dozens of worlds. She could wipe out entire civilizations with a motion of her hand. But, Arianne wasn’t interested in the other races. She wasn’t even interested in her own. Happy to let the higher ranks of the Kral’Narul lead the Empire, Arianne only butted in when the nature of her world was at stake.

Arianne entered the octangular arena, completely naked, as the rules demanded. The last Kral’Naroch fight, the one against the raining champion, was always fought completely nude. For the Trelawni, who always had a thin coat of fur, this meant a complete shave. Arianne just had to remove what little hair human women had. The first time had been bad. She had wanted to cover herself t ever turn, until she realized that the Trelawni were there for the fight, not to ogle a naked female… certainly not a naked female from another species.

Arianne looked around. The walls were made of space-grade bio-matter, and rose about three meters above the ground. Above that, a transparent dome had been erected, allowing those Trelawni high enough in position to watch the fight personally. The lesser Trelawni had to content themselves with remote-viewers.

The gray walls were lined with weapons, ranging from swords to clubs, hammers, axes, and even an energy cutter. Arianne just took it all in. she had been here before, and knew the drill.

Bio-comp active, her ocular read-outs told her. The overlay was showing green, indicating normal status. Heartbeat: 57 beats per minute. Respiration: normal.

With a single thought form Arianne, two read-out bars showed on her right. One was labeled ‘A’, the other ‘E’. both showed ‘0%’.

The crowd cheered when the challenger entered, growling ferociously, hitting his chest, and showing off his bulging muscles to the crowd. Show-off, Arianne thought. her bio-computer scanned the Trelawni. Fighting potential… 257?!  SHIT!

Outwardly, Arianne remained impassive. Accelerate and Enhance, the told her bio-computer. The two bars slid to fifty percent, and colored yellow. Arianne could feel her body’s speed, accuracy, and strength increase.

The Trelawni in front of her seemed to calm down, and watched her keenly. Arianne knew the fight was on now. There was no turning back. There never was.

Faster than she had expected, the Trelawni raced towards her, intent on maiming her with his bare hands. With all her experience behind her, Arianne ducked under his grasp, and rolled to her right. She grabbed a sword off the wall, and charged.

The Trelawni, meanwhile, hadn’t remained still. He had raced to his right, grabbed a huge maul, and stormed at her. Arianne’s read-outs turned red, and showed 75%. She dunked under his swing, and took a slash with her sword. He darted back. The two combatants circled each other for a few seconds, before the bulky Trelawni howled, and charged. Arianne barely managed to duck, and slashed at his wrist with her sword. Her aim was far from perfect in such a dangerous position, and it barely grazed his skin.

Swinging the maul like a tornado on PMS, the Trelawni tried to hit her as fast and as ferociously as possible. His swings were far from accurate, but then again, they didn’t need to be. One hit, and the fight would be tremendously in Arianne’s disadvantage.

Rolling low, she tried to slash at his feet, knowing that he probably wasn’t paying attention to his lower parts. Unfortunately, she underestimated her opponent, and he kicked her square in the face. Arianne lost her sword as the world turned a bloody shade of red, and her readouts indicated 100%. Full power. Her bio-comp was giving her everything it had.

She blinked and shook her head while trying to stay away from her opponent. She found herself hitting a wall, and grabbed for the nearest weapon. Any weapon. It was an axe. Not very heavy, and almost as agile as her sword had been. Screamed, she threw the razor-sharp weapon at the Trelawni, who blocked the advancing weapon with his maul.

Arianne’s aim had been perfected through experience. The axe cut through the maul’s handle. The Trelawni, outraged at the loss of what appeared to be his favorite weapon, charged her. Arianne ducked, and rolled away, causing the bulky alien to smash into the wall.

Arianne took the pause to ease her burning lungs, starving for oxygen. She had grabbed the energy-cutter. It’s range had been limited to one meter. When activated, it emitted a thin beam of energy of one meter in length. Using the cutter like an energy-blade, Arianne now took the offensive.

The alien dashed away from the dangerous weapon, dropped flat to the floor, and kicked at her hands. She raised the machine out of his reach, and tried to slash at his feet. His nimble actions kept his mobility intact, and Arianne bit off a curse. She bit off a second curse when the machine in her hand spluttered, its energy cells almost depleted. That half-second of diversion was all her opponent needed.

Arianne found herself thrown against the wall, starts of pain crossing her vision. The next moment, her opponent was in her view, his bulky fist landing on her softer stomach. Arianne gurgled in pain as she felt her intestines, along with the rest of the virtually un-protected organs, being crushed.

She howled, both in pain and rage, when the alien slammed his fist in her face next. She could feel her jaw-bone break, and her eye swell shut. The display in her ocular implants turned black. 150%, her bio-comp noted.

Ariana screamed and erected herself, not feeling the pain in her back, jaw, or body in general. She was still howling as she took the Trelawni, grabbed him around the waist, and smashed him into the wall. She grabbed his head, and tore at it. She could feel his fists smash into her breasts, trying to dislodge her grip on his head. She screamed still, the power in her grip increasing even more. His head crunched, before giving out completely.

Ariana sunk to her legs, and took a very deep breath through her broken jaw. “Kral’Naroch!!!!” she shouted.

“Kral’Naroch! Kral’Naroch! Kral’Naroch!” the crowd chorused.

Arianne smiled, then sunk over, unconscious. The medics would fix her. They always fixed her. As war-like as the Trelawni were, they had honor to those they considered equals. As long as she wasn’t defeated in Kral’Naroch, she was their equal, and she would be helped, and listened to. If she lost… she wouldn’t have to worry about a thing anymore.