Tyrathlion Estate, Khanid Prime
The Brutor man rammed hard into Repentence's chest, and she fell, winded. Still, she maintained enough control to kick his leg at the knee, causing him to stumble. Catlike, she rolled aside and sprang to her feet, laying into the man with a series of rapid, disorientating blows.
He stumbled back again, trying to gain ground, then roared and swung for her, trying to use superior strength to overpower her defences. She leapt aside, scythed his legs out, and pounced for a choke hold.
"I submit," he said, the cold, Civire voice jarring coming from the bulky Matari form. She released, turned away and wincing. Careless to get hit like that.
"Again?" The hologram vanished, revealing the soft plastic form of the sparring drone beneath. It had cost a fair amount, but it had proved to be worth it over the long months since she'd imported the machine.
She paused. The voice struck a chord with her, the same chord she'd been trying to forget all day. "Again. Caldari military training. Randomise statistics. Level 4."
There was a soft hum as the drone shrank, adjusting its 'muscles' and 'bones'. Then a suitable hologram, of a wiry Deteis man in an Ishukone paramilitary uniform, layered over the top. "Ready," it grunted, the voice changed to match.
"Begin." She circled the machine, as it watched her, calculating. Then it attacked, lacking the raw brutality of the Brutor but with a lot more skill. They parried, kicked and punched for what felt like a long time, before disengaging, measuring each other up. When they met again, she slammed a foot through a weak spot in his defences, breaking synthetic ribs. As he fell back, she broke his neck.
The hologram vanished, and a soft whirring sounded as it adjusted its mechanisms, repairing the simulated damage. "Again?"
It had been a long time since she'd taken her first, clumsy lessons on Midnight's Embrace. Her instructors and sparring partners, all Caldari ex-military hard cases, had not been gentle, and for weeks every session had ended with enough bruises to her body and pride to make it positively demoralising. But she'd kept at it. Almost every day since. It gave her focus. It let her feel that she wasn't helpless, like she could handle whatever the world threw at her. She certainly wasn't the best, but she was no pushover.
What would Elysa think... and there it was again, the thought she'd been trying to avoid.
The day would come soon when she'd have to face her old friend. She knew it in her gut, that whatever had happened, wherever she went, a meeting would eventually come.
And maybe she'd have to fight.
"You can mimic specific individuals, right?"
"To a varying margin of error," the drone replied.
"Elysa Varbolt."
There was silence as the drone accessed the various memory banks available to it. "70% accuracy on specific identity can be achieved. Remaining factors will be extrapolated. Proceed?"
"Proceed."
The drone reconfigured, and then the hologram flickered on. It was based on old data, clearly. The Civire looked younger, harder, a relentlessness in her eyes, but it was still Elysa. Her friend, her mentor... perhaps now her enemy.
"Begin."
The doppelganger lunged instantly. Repentence staggered back, off guard, and tried to block the attack. Contemptuously she was knocked aside, a vicious kick to her ribs making something break. Pain flooded her system, but she pushed it aside, a retaliatory sweep of her legs clearing space for her to leap to her feet.
She had only a moment's respite, as the drone smacked her face with an open palm, breaking her nose and making her dizzy. The counterattack connected with 'Elysa's shoulder, but it was simply used to provide momentum for another crushing blow. Repentence fell hard, skull ringing, and was repeatedly slammed into the ground, stars flashing across her vision.
A heavy grip took hold of her head, just the right set of positions to get the right leverage to snap the neck, ending the fight right there and -
"You lose." The drone returned to its idle position.
Slowly Reppy crawled into a kneeling position, blood streaming from her nose and forehead, pain screaming in her chest.
"You don't say," she grunted.
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Topic: [Drabble Series]Embers (Read 1865 times)