Chronicles of a Space Mercenary 0: Tanya (29 page)

Chapter 82

“It’s time to prepare.” Tanya said.

“Four months have passed.” Malcomb replied. “I don’t think anyone is coming and if they do we’ll see them long before they arrive. In any case, I think it must have been mutual destruction.”

“No,” Tanya said, this th
e first she had said of this, “t
hat ore freighter was purchased by Lamode Mining over three months ago. The seller was Felone, but first she purchased another armed yacht, the identical model as Adjudicator and then even named it Adjudicator
2
.”

“And you’ve known this how long?” Malcomb asked, shocked.

“All along.”
Tanya said.

“And why aren’t you worried about it?”

“Because Felone wasn’t in a hurry to get here.”

“And you’re worried about it now…. why?” Malcomb asked, although the answer to that was obvious, Felone was on her way, but because the two of them had formed an amazing new friendship in the interim, and banter the way they spent most of their idle time.

An outsider might immediately think they hated one another- if that outsider caught them amidst one of their more heated
debates
- but nothing could have been farther from the truth. They were old school friends and there were none closer.

“Because she’s on her way.”
Tanya stated the obvious. “I think you should set the preparations in motion. If s
he comes straight on through like I believe
she’ll be in orbit tomorrow morning. We want to be ready for her.”

Malcomb departed to begin the preparations they had planned out in great detail and then Tanya also departed, in her land-car headed for the Spaceport
- and not part of the plans she had made with Malcomb
. The commercial shuttle flight Felone had booked, under her own name, would be landing in about fifty minutes and that more than enough time for Tanya to get there.

When she arrived at the port she relinquished her weapons at the front desk and walked th
r
ough the scanner. Tanya was carrying no weapons. She walked on through and soon found herself out on the concourse within the boarding and traveler greeting area. There were several others also waiting who were here to greet their loved ones and family. Although Felone was the closest to Tanya genetically, she was definitely not family, nor a loved one.

Less than five minutes later the telltale sign of a bright little blazing flame in the sky above told of the shuttles approach. Five minutes wasn’t much time for a good stretch, but Tanya stretched out, loosening the kinks of tension from her muscles, drawing odd stares from those around
her.
Tanya wasn’t concerned what these thought of her odd behavior, but only in preparing for a battle she wasn’t sure she could win. A fight she was not sure she would survive.

But she had to fight it this way. Felone was faster. There was no question about that now in Tanya’s mind. The only way she stood any chance at all of defeating Felone was to do it without weapons, using only her fists and elbows, her feet and knees, and her teeth if she got the chance.

Tanya was well aware of what she waited for but she had made her decision and she was going to see it through in this manner- the only
manner
in which she stood any chance at all and the only manner in which she could be certain Malcomb and the children would not be involved. If she fought Felone with a hand-weapon she would be outdrawn. Felone
would
get her weapon out first and she would
not
miss.

Tanya continued her
stretching until the shuttle
landed and then she calmly walked across the tarmac with the rest of those who were waiting to greet the passengers as they debarked from the shuttle. She could hardly believe how calm she felt knowing full well that she was probably walking to her death. Resolutely she forced herself to walk on, determination alone forcing her onward.

The flight of steps was lowered to the tarmac and the passengers began to disembark. Felone was the first one out and her eyes instantly locked on Tanya, drawn to her like a magnet, and a smile of true pleasure immediately stretched her ugly face.

The smile did not brighten Felone’s face, but instead gave a true glimpse into the monster who was Felone. It was horrendous to look upon, but Tanya glared her enmity and returned a smile that was so obviously filled with delight that this was coming to a conclusion without endangering Malcomb or the children- that Felone’s smile actually faltered a moment before she forced it back in place.

A
look of uncertainty flickered across her face for a brief moment, but it was telling; she didn’t really understand what Tanya was smiling about, and it bothered her. So bright and happy was Tanya’s
smile
that a casual observer might think them best friends or family. Felone came on resolutely, finally dismissing her own smile as inferior to Tanya’s and replacing it with a maniacal sneer twisting her face. There was no
uncertainty in her manner at all. It was obvious she was confident she was going to win. She reached the tarmac and charged.

Chapter 83

Tanya did not try to meet her rush but sidestepped and snapped a left jab at Felone as she whirled around on her. Felone stepped under the punch and she came forward with a rising uppercut.

Tanya dropped into a leg sweep to avoid the punch and Felone stepped right over it, snapping a heel kick at Tanya’s face as she did so. Tanya came out of the sweep rolling backwards to avoid the kick and rose as Felone rushed again, stabbing at Tanya with her open hands, fingers as hard as compressed carbon, one touch capable of sending a shockwave tearing through Tanya’s flesh, blowing her apart from the inside out.

The style was Fu Jow Pai, and a familiar one to Tanya- an ancient Chinese martial art known as Tiger Claw, and for long minutes they tested one another, neither finding weakness in the other, their flurries of blows so fast and furious- and impossible for normal eyes to follow- that most of the crowd of onlookers who
had gathered around them had
either fled in terror or stood frozen with openmouthed looks of
astonishment
.

Tanya could hardly believe Felone’s strength and speed, the only thing saving her now was the fact that she trained every single day of her life and she
was
the superior fighter, but Felone was both faster and
stronger, every contact battering Tanya’s arms, sapping the strength from them one blow at a time.

Tanya changed tactics, launching a front snap-kick towards Felone’s jaw. Felone easily spun around the kick and came about with a
straight right
that would have ended the fight instantly had it connected. Tanya stepped under it and snapped another jab at Felone’s face
that was little more than a blur and right on target
. Felone could not avoid it.

It wasn’t a hard punch, only a jab, but it staggered Felone back, off balance and the fight came to a momentary halt while Felone wiped the back of her hand across her lips and licked the blood off that was there.

“I love it.” Felone said.

“You really have no choice in the matter.” Tanya replied to the ugly look instantly filling Felone’s face. Felone charged and leaped into the air in a swan dive straight at Tanya. Tanya landed a left-right combination into her face that broke bones, having deciding instantly
not to move out of Felone’s
way for the opportunity to break her face
and end the fight
.

Felone landed on her and it was then that Tanya realized what she had done. Tanya was a master of Judo, but Felone landed straight on her and drove her to the tarmac, the blows beginning to land before they hit the ground. Tanya tried to fight but Felone was battering her unmercifully. Tanya’s consciousn
ess screamed, dimming, and
suddenly was leaving. As her last shred of knowing fled, Tanya had a moment to realize utter defeat, and then she was gone.

Chapter 83

Tanya began to swim back to consciousness with the odd sensation that she was being dragged up the shuttle’s flight of steps and opened her eyes just in time to see Malcomb running up the steps behind them.

“No!” Tanya croaked, but if Malcomb heard her he didn’t acknowledge it. Felone suddenly
let go of
her and turned to meet Malcomb. She didn’t know him, but there
was
no question what he was there for.

Malcomb ran right into a front jumping snap-kick that launched him through the air and sent him crashing to land in a heap at the foot of the flight of stairs. Tanya thought him dead for sure but then he stirred and began to attempt to rise.

Felone launched herself down the flight of stairs and began to kick Malcomb along the ground, every blow breaking bones and raising gasps from the onlookers. Security either hadn’t arrived or was wisely remaining absent on purpose, and now Malcomb was going to die a horrible death because of her.

Somehow Tanya found the willpower to rise, dragging herself up with the railing and finally reaching her feet, not at all sure she was going to be able to regain them, but miraculously she found the strength to leap down from the stairs, her landing instantly drawing Felone’s attention.

“Really?”
Felone said, her original sick smile again stretching her face.

“I’m going to kill you, now.” Tanya said to raucous laughter. Then Felone charged.

The Tiger Claw system of fighting requires the practitioner to practice finger board exercises every day, and Tanya never missed a day. When Felone charged Tanya let her come until it was too late, and then she stuck her fingers directly into Felone’s solar plexus- a kill blow- even as Felone delivered a finger strike to the side of Tanya’s temple, crushing the artery there which would fatally flood Tanya’s brain with the gushing flow of her own blood.

With the last of her quickly fading strength, Tanya twisted her hand inside Felone’s gut, and ripped her enemy’s heart out of her chest.

It fell from nerveless fingers.

Epilogue

“How am I alive?” Tanya asked.

“Do you really want to know how much it cost to bribe an auto
-
doc past gate security?” Malcomb said with a grin.

“
That’s what took you so long to get there.” Tanya said with a weak smile. “
How long have I been out?”

“You’ve been in a coma for nineteen months Tanya. Welcome home old friend.”

….................

The book '
Tanya'
is a detached prequel to
‘Chronicles of a Space Mercenary’
, so if you liked Tanya you can find more of her in the aforementioned novel.

Thanks.

Ronald Wintrick