Two blades faced two blades now. Steel rang on steel, striking sparks as the fighters came together, struck, and danced apart. Both men were breathing hard but Salvadore was smiling as he sensed fear in his opponent. ‘Mercenary dog!’ Garreth screamed. ‘Mercenary bastard! You're Ricol's dog...nothing more!’
‘I have my release,’ Salvadore retorted as they parted once more. ‘For now, I am my own dog!’
‘Bah! Legalities! You do hiswork!’
Salvadore parried with his right blade, locking both of Garreth's blades for one instant. His left hand made a slashing cut that brought a spreading red stain to Garreth's long-sleeved tunic. They sprang apart, blades at the ready. Salvadore grinned and raised his right hand, holding his blade with his thumb as he wagged his fingers inan insulting ‘come here' gesture. ‘His Grace's work,’ he said, ‘is mine now, my Lord.’
Garreth lunged again, all caution lost, his blades swinging wildly. Salvadore stepped in, feeling the hot slice of pain as Garreth's left-hand blade sliced down across his shoulder, laying the flesh open to the bone.
Salvadore's right blade was already coming up, however, sacrificing the parry to Garreth's swing in order to win one, brief chance at a thrust of his own.
Garreth's face twisted in an almost comical look of utter surprise as he stood there, Salvadore's blade extending ten centimeters out from between his shoulder blades, the hilt already covered by a fountain of blood running down the weapon's shaft. There was a clatter as his two blades fell to the marble floor. Then he heaved a sigh, his knees folded, and Victor Garreth died.
Salvadore stood for a small eternity, looking at the crumpled, bloody form at his feet. He scarcely heard the shout from the nobles gathered around him. scarcely felt his own pain, or noticed the warm trickle of blood down his right arm. The emotion he had expected to feel continued to elude him. Victory was...exhausting.
But there was peace now, too. and a sense of completion. His father was avenged. And Salvadore was his own man once more.
Somehow, he found the presence and strength to turn and bow to Ukita Hideie in approved fashion, then to face the Red Duke. Dropping to one knee, he extended the borrowed wakizashihilt first.
‘Your blade, your Grace. Thank you.’
‘That is your blade, Captain. Mine is still in Garreth's chest.’
‘If you'll have it, your Grace...this is your blade as well.’
Smiling, the Red Duke took Safvadore's weapon. ‘I accept it, with thanks.’
AND THEN THERE WAS THE TIME…
-Mark O'Green
I was in my Slayeron patrol in the Galedon district—
Not another story...
‘Yeah, we'd just chased off a few of those 'Mech drivers—’
Should have taken Su-Un up on her offer...
‘They call themselves pilots—’
She said her 'Mech pilot had a friend coming...
‘But all of us real pilots think 'driver' is more appropriate—’
Just wish I'd understood sooner...
‘So there I was. cruising machity-mach across the deck—that's fast and low—’
But when she said I'd get theHunchback and she'd get theGoliath...
‘When I see this Stukain a pull-up strafing run—’
Oh, there go his hands again. Waving around. Looks like Su-Lin doing her Lovers' Goldfish story...
‘He finally spotted me, but I had his three-nine line. That's when you're behind him—’
Wonder how she's doing tonight...
‘He flipped inverted, faking that he was going back down so I'd go down and he could reverse on me. Like this—’
Oh, this is the part of the story where the goldfish start the Mating Dance...
‘But I was ready. Old Dugie told me all about Stukas.You know Ooogan? James Doogan? Wolfs Dragoons? Has his own black Stuka?’
Wolfster Goons?
‘Anyway, I kept pulling up. so when the Stukareversed, I was right there with it—’
And you opened your window, waved your hands at him, and talked at him till he fell to the ground from boredom...
‘So we got into this vertical scissors. That's where you kind of go back and forth with your canopies facing each other—’
Hands again. Let me guess, this must be Goldfish Twining in Sparkling Water...
‘I got so close to the Stukathat I could read the name stenciled on the canopy rail. Captain Karl Stephens—’
You 're not studying to be a Geisha in your off hours, are you?
‘Karl Stephens! Karl's Krusher! You believe it?—’
No, actually. Now ask me if I care...
‘So by now we're going real slow—’
So why did I think a fighter pilot would make his moves fast?
‘But I see he's just about to give up and try to escape—’
Escape. That would be nice...
‘Usually, you can't see something like that coming, but I'm pretty observant—’
Observant? You probably don't even realize this is my real hair.
‘Comes from all the preparation time—’
You want to talk preparation! Guess how long it took to get my hair to match my dress?
‘So anyway. I pull behind him. ready to shoot him down—’
Twenty more seconds and you'll see 'shot down!’
‘And Uff da!His wingman sneaks In from the side and hits me with a lucky burst—’
Utf da! That's cute. First interesting thing you've said in—what is it—two hours?
‘Dinged my engine and I start smoking pretty bad—’
Like your cigar...
‘Yeah. I still could've had Stephens, but I decided to save my Slayerinstead—’
Uh-oh, he's going to look this way. Better smile...
‘That would've been something, huh?—’
Not a bad face. Kind of like a big puppy...
‘You could be sitting here with the man who shot down Karl Stephens, ya know?-’
Maybe he'd stop talking if I did something with his hands...
‘So. Waddya think?—’
Well, something to do on a Saturday night...
-Elizabeth T. Danforth & Michael A. Stackpole
DISPATCH
Elizabeth T. Danforth & Michael A. Stackpole
TO: Colonel Josiah Kimbolton, Commander. Second Free Worlds Guards
FROM: Force Commander Simon X. Beckner, Third Battalion, Second Free Worlds Guards
SOURCE: McAffe, 13 October 3020
We're ready, sir. The Lyran mole gets word out to Snord starting tomorrow, focusing on Bright Thomlinson's missing art pieces. She’ll include some other things taken from Snord's museum in the misinformation.
Is Snord really expected to come after this rubbish Kincaid pulled together? Some of this junk has caught my eye. but a toy dog? I don t care who it used to belong to.
TO: Force Commander Simon X. Beckner, Third Battalion, Second Free Worlds Guards