Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Turmoil (30 page)

She was on Starr
before the Priman woman could spin around completely, for she'd been firing up
the stairwell in response to Merritt's own fusillade of energy blasts.  Starr
leapt forward to meet the challenge, leaving Velk a few steps behind and
forgotten for a brief instant.

Halley wanted to
question Starr and bring her in, so she had no intention of going for a killing
shot.  A good blast to the leg, though, was perfectly acceptable.  She lowered
her SSK to take the shot but Starr dodged, closed, and kicked the gun from
Halley's hand.

As it clattered off
towards the stairs, the two women squared off.  Halley was expertly trained and
had some augmentation from her nanites, but Starr was slightly larger and
seemed just as confident of her own abilities.  Starr took quick shuffling
steps forward so as not to over-reach, and launched a series of strikes at
Halley.  It was all jabs, feints, and quick shots, never extending too far and
never staying still.  Her strikes flowed from one into the other; she never
waited to see if she'd struck a telling blow because she was already halfway
into her next attack.  Halley, in response, was on the defense against the
relentless assault.  She blocked with her forearms, slapped blows away with her
palms, shifting to take a few blows on the shoulder or upper arm instead of a
more critical area, circling out into the loft as she tried to create some
separation to launch her own attack.  The Priman was relentless.

Merritt had noticed
the shots were no longer coming up from the hallway and jumped down the stairs
in two leaps, ending up on his knees but otherwise in control.  Loren and Web
had raced up the stairs from the ground floor as well, and all three watched
the duel helplessly along with Velk.  None of the men dared move, because Halley
and Tana were dancing all over the loft, launching strikes and throwing
anything at each other that came to hand.  Merritt did manage to get Velk's
attention, however, and the Priman Representative realized he was not going to
get past Merritt at the stairs.

Both women finally
disengaged, sweating and taking in gulps of air.

"You primitive
savage," Starr taunted Halley.  "You fight for a misguided cause. 
Surrender now and you will be spared for the skilled fighter you are."

"We might be a
tad primitive," Halley said cautiously, fully aware that Tana might get
the urge to charge while she was talking, "but until you stop trying to
kill us all, you don't get to call
me
a savage."

"Then we'll end
this," said Tana, and she shufffled in again.

Again, Starr lead
with open palm strikes and elbows, even throwing in an upper jab to the chest
with her knee when she and Halley were tangled up.  Halley realized in a split
second between blocking a strike to her neck and making an elbow strike at
Starr's face that the woman heavily favored close-in fighting techniques.  She
might not even know anything different.  A detached part of her brain said it
made sense- cooped up in those ships for all those generations, fighting styles
would have trended to close quarters techniques instead of the open ranging
kicking and acrobatic styles favored by some disciplines.

Another series of
attacks.  Both women were at the top of their game; neither could land any
serious, game-changing blows.  Halley briefly had Tana's hand in a submission
hold, fingers hyperextending back towards her forearm.  Tana used that momentum
and leaned in, using her free hand to try a closed-fist hammer blow right to
Halley's collarbone.  Her taller height and momentum gave her a ton of kinetic
energy; it was the sort of strike that would fracture or break the bone, and
Halley had no choice but to duck down and spin away, taking a jab at Tana's
kidneys on the way.  Tana rolled with the blow, taking a lot of the energy out
of it.  Unexpectedly, Tana charged Halley and hit her with a flying tackle,
spearing her and sending the both of them into the small table and chairs Velk
had been reading at a few minutes earlier. 

Table and chairs
crunched, splintered and broke, old and brittle wood splitting and turning the
former furniture into kindling.  Tana was up first, leaving Halley with her
back against the wall where she sat on the ground.  The Priman lashed out with
a kick at Halley's head.  Halley ducked away at the last second, then leaned
back in with her fist and punched Tana in the inner thigh as hard as she could,
sending the Priman woman buckling to the floor with her. 

Halley rolled away
as Tana hit the floor face down, but the Priman was rolling an instant later, a
thin piece of splintered decorative chair spindle held in her hand like a
dagger with the blade held downwards.  Tana rolled blindly towards Halley, her arm
extending and snapping towards the Confed officer, and managed to connect,
stabbing Halley through her upper leg with the sharp piece of wood. 

With both women on
the floor but separated, Loren and Web raised their SSKs and pointed them
towards Tana, something Velk saw and reacted to. 

Velk assumed that if
they'd gone to this much trouble to capture him, they weren't going to kill him
unless there was no other choice, so he did the only thing that came to mind;
he threw himself at the two Confed soldiers, sending all three to the floor in
a heap but denying them the chance to shoot Tana Starr.

Halley and Tana both
got up again, slowly, wearily.  Tana quickly moved to put Halley between
herself and Merritt, who was still stuck in the hallway.  They ignored the
scuffle between Loren, Web, and Velk in the background.  It was just noise to
them, it didn't matter; their whole world was a ten by ten foot space, just the
two of them, and they both knew that they probably had one more good duel in
them before one got too fatigued and messed up.  That was the one that would
die.       

Halley split blood
on the floor, the result of a split upper lip, while Tana used the back of her
hand to try to wipe blood off her brow that threatened to drip into her eyes
and blind her.

"Couldn't
interest you in surrendering, could I?" Halley said slowly.

"You're the one
with a stab wound and losing blood," Tana countered.

Halley finally knew
what she needed to do.  If Tana Starr was best at close-in street fighting,
Halley needed to alter her own style.  It was time to try something different,
something she'd never try with a normal opponent because it would open her up
to attack.  But it was all she could try; either it would work and Tana would
go down, or the Priman would defeat her and she'd go down, in which case
Merritt would probably have to shoot her.  She didn't want to lose this chance.

"Alright
bitch," Halley sighed, "let's go."

She charged, taking
the offensive a bit recklessly but catching Tana off-guard.  The Priman blocked
Halley's open palm jab at her nose, deflecting it away and wrapping her arm
around, pinning Halley's arm under her shoulder.  Halley then had to block
Tana's strike at her own stomach, leaving each one with a grip on one of the
other's hands and almost face to face.  Halley snapped her head forward as hard
as she could, head-butting Tana in the nose and breaking it convincingly.  The
Priman woman's eyes teared up uncontrollably and she tried to back up to
separate herself so she could recover from her body's involuntary reaction.   

Halley hit her with
a roundhouse kick to the chest with her right leg- the one with the chair
spindle speared right through it.  It was excruciating, and she commanded her
nanites to do the best they could to block the pain so she could continue. 

Starr bounced off
the wall and back to Halley, still not going down but disoriented and on the
ropes. 

Halley spun
clockwise in place on her left leg and landed a spinning back kick to the
Priman woman.  Her leg extended perfectly, torso angling down and her foot
ending up higher than her head.  She caught Starr on the chin with her heel and
she felt the crunch of contact.

Tana Starr flew back
against the wall, eyes glazed over and shattered teeth dribbling out of her
mouth.  The Priman woman sank to the floor, lights out.

Halley turned a bit
to face the woman directly, then dropped to the floor and leaned back on her
hands.  She paused to gather herself, then looked at her leg, still bleeding
freely from her wound.  "Owww!" she finally yelled.

Merritt rushed to
her and put his hand on her shoulder. 

"You ok?"
he asked.

"Do I look
ok?"

"Never
better," he replied.  "I'm going to go help Loren and Web."

Merritt got up and
took a step to the pile of bodies that was Loren, Web, and Velk.  After Velk
tacked them, at least one was always on the ground.  Velk kept grabbing and
holding them, determined to keep them wrapped up and out of Starr's fight. 
Now, it was just a mess, as neither of the three could disengage.  Fists flew,
elbows snapped, and curses were uttered.

"Hey!"
Merritt yelled at them to no effect.

"Stop it!"
he yelled again.  There was no change.  Velk wasn't going to stop, and Loren
and Web couldn't get away.

Merritt looked at
Halley, who sat wearily on the floor, simply unable to do anything about the
last fight going.

"Nothing says I
can't shoot him, right?" he asked her.

"I'd prefer you
didn't kill him, but just go for it," she said in a rush, blowing out her
breath as she waved a tired arm and pointed at Velk.

Merritt waited until
there was some separation, and then he had his opportunity.  Velk was kicked
out of the pile as Loren scrambled to his feet, and Merritt fired a single
blast right into Velk's shoulder.  The Priman grimaced and growled but didn't
cry out in pain.  He was, however, unable to keep up the fight.  Loren and Web
both jumped on him and rolled him on his stomach while Merritt tossed them a
pair of stunner cuffs Halley had made each of them bring.

They cuffed his
ankles together, then dragged him to the wall by Tana Starr where Loren used
his own pair of cuffs to bind his hands together in his lap; you wanted to see
the prisoner's bonds to make sure they weren't picking the latching mechanism.

"Can you find
me another chair for her to sit in?" Halley quietly asked Merritt, who
nodded and began searching the bedrooms. 

Web raced to
Halley's side and supported her as she got to her feet.  She was in pain but
seemed to be in good spirits.

"I suppose I
look like hell, eh?" she said with a chuckle that turned into a cough.

"You've never
been sexier," Web replied.

"I've gotta
tell you, I really don't feel like it right now."  Halley stood, unsteadily
at first, but after a minute was able to do well enough while holding onto
Web's shoulder.  "I should have worn the body armor pants like Cory
did."

Merritt brought in
two chairs and he and Loren dragged Tana into one of them, securing her with
the last two pairs of stunner cuffs.  It was metal framed, on castoring wheels
and well cushioned.  An office chair.

Web turned to
Halley.  "Well, think of this then while you get your bearings back; you
had a new experience today.  I'll bet you've never been stabbed by a chair
before."

A pause. 
"Sadly, this is not the first time."

Web only raised an
eyebrow, not sure of how to respond to that.

"Well, I for
one will think of this day fondly."

"Whenever
I
think about this day," Halley replied, "I'm going to go find Loren
and smack him for getting me into this mess.  No matter where he is, there will
be nowhere to hide."

"I think
Senator Dennix and his governing committee already have rights to my bodily
harm," Loren chimed in from where he stood over Starr.  "But you're
welcome to get in line." 

"What do we
want with her, anyway?" Merritt asked, gesturing to Starr.

"You've already
won," Velk said from his spot on the floor.  "Torture and humiliation
won't help your cause."

"No
torture," reassured Halley.  "No humiliation.  Well, not unless she
says something really embarrassing to your cause."

Velk looked at her
quizzically.  The blaster burn was apparently not that much of an issue to him,
for he hadn
’
t even looked
at the wound yet. 

Halley reached into
her back pocket and took out a slim metal case.  It was dented and creased from
the fight, but that didn't seem to worry her.  She opened it up, flipping the
top over and gently removed a small, thin disc, about the size of a grown
human's thumb.

"What is
that?" asked Velk with disdain.

"It's an
interrogation drug," Halley replied easily.  "We finally think we
have your physiology figured out.  I don't mind admitting it took our folks a
long time to do it, too."  She took the disk, peeled off the backing on
the underside, and stuck it on Tana's neck, right on her carotid artery.  There
was a faint hissing noise, and the disc stayed in place when Halley took her
finger off it.  "It's an effective, noninvasive and nondamaging way of
extracting information."  She used Web for support as she took small steps
over to the second office chair Merritt had found.  She eased down into it with
a grimace, but kept talking.

"I'm sure you
know the perils of torture for interrogation purposes.  Sometimes it works, but
permanent damage isn't something to be proud of.  Plus, you have to be careful
with information received under duress; it's probably inaccurate and needs to
be verified.  This, however, is different.  It doesn't technically make you
tell the truth; nobody anywhere in the galaxy had been able to brew up
something infallible that works like that.  What it does is lowers inhibitions,
like you've just had seven or ten drinks.  It also scrambles you, confuses you,
so you can't put together a good lie.  So, you're loose lipped and too addled
to be cagey.  I would think you'd appreciate the idea that we could get
information out of you without harming the subject."