Rage (Galactic Cage Fighters) (3 page)

“No problem
, Zara. Just give her a chance. Besides, if she doesn’t pass your test, there’s no harm done, except to the
pure
human,” Lesak joked making the three fighters laugh.

Rachel glared daggers at
Lesak’s back. She was going to kick his chameleon ass all over the galaxy when she completed her assignment. But first, she had to survive the damn tryouts. She rolled her shoulders, trying to remember all the tips that Lesak gave her over the last two weeks.

“Do you want me to
tessst her out?” the scaly woman asked.

“No
, Sersan, I’ll test her myself,” Zara answered with an evil glint in her eye. Lesak had mentioned several times that Zara would be the hardest to impress. She, especially, had an aversion to pure humans.

The scaly woman,
Sersan, looked at Rachel with pity in her eyes. “Good luck, pure human.”

Lesak
moved off of the mat. He winked at Rachel and bared his teeth when he grinned. She wondered if he was setting her up to fail. If he was, then she would take great pleasure in knocking all of those shiny white teeth right out of his no-good mouth.

Rachel watched the tall female fighter warily.
Zara the Amazon
was her fighting name. She was 6’ 2” tall, slim built, but well-muscled. Her build was softened by a nice-sized bust. Not that Rachel paid any attention to other women’s bust sizes, but there was definitely no confusing this woman with a man despite her height or her muscles. Rachel admired her fighting skills. She had to admit to being a fan of the Amazon. Zara was a halfsie: part human, part Sorian, and part Bestial, three alien species that combined to make up one lean, mean fighting machine.

“
Don’t worry, pure human, you only have to last two rounds with me. Two rounds is enough to qualify,” Zara told her as she stretched out her long arms. The other two fighters leaned forward in their seats, excited to watch the spectacle that was about to take place. Rachel felt like a tiny child standing close to the tall Amazon. Rachel was only 5’ 6” tall, nowhere near the size of the other woman.

Two rounds, all she had to do was last
for two rounds. She could do this.
Focus, Rachel … focus
. She circled around the mat. She gave Lesak one last look, promising retribution. She needed to concentrate on her opponent. What did she know about Sorians?

Sorians
were
… She got punched in the face and didn’t even see it coming.
Sorians were fast
. Rachel rubbed her face where she had been hit. She thought she could feel a loose tooth. She kept her eyes on Zara. She had studied her in videos of various matches. She noted that Zara often squinted before she made her move. She would need to keep her eyes on that. It was easier said than done. Rachel did a backflip, twirling out of the way just before Zara hit her again.

“She’s flexible.” The male fighter, Zen, said as he rubbed his chin with his finger.

“But can she hit?” asked the scaly woman, Sersan.

Rachel spr
ang forward, trying to grab hold of the taller woman. Zara spun free and kicked back. Rachel hit the mat, knocking the wind out of her. She had to wait a few seconds before she was able to get back to her feet. That pause was all it took for the other two fighters to call the end of round one.

In round two,
Zara quickly put Rachel back down on the mat by sweeping Rachel’s legs out from under her. When Rachel tried to get back to her feet, Zara lifted her foot to kick at her. Rachel caught her foot and pushed up, making the other woman fall backwards. The Amazon hadn’t expected Rachel to fight back. Rachel wasted no time. She leapt onto Zara’s chest and pummeled her with everything she had. Zara turned to spit blood out of the corner of her mouth.

“She can hit,” Zen
commented excitedly, standing up and moving closer.

The other DNA mixed in Zara was
Bestial. All Rachel knew about the Bestial species was that they hit hard. While Rachel was still straddling Zara, the other woman reached back and delivered one huge punch to Rachel’s face. She flew backwards, hitting the mat again.

She
knew she was still alive because she could feel the pain vibrating throughout her entire body. She managed to push up to a sitting position. Zen and Sersan called the end of round two.

Zara walked over to
where Rachel lay prone on the mat. “You’re still moving after two rounds with me. You get the job. Have Lesak fill out the necessary legal forms. We leave for the circuit tour tomorrow morning at 6AM sharp. If you’re late, we leave without you.” Zara walked off, what injuries Rachel had managed to inflict already healing thanks to her alien DNA. Sersan gave Rachel a shy smile before she trailed after Zara.

The male fighter
came to stand over her. “I’m Zen. You did a great job lasting two rounds. I like your flexibility. Maybe we can work together while on the circuit to see just how … flexible you can get.” He winked at her before he turned to leave.

Great, she was bleeding to death and the man was trying to hit on her. She moaned as she tried to sit
up. She knew her healing implants would be making repairs to her internal injuries, but they were doing nothing for the pain.

Lesak
squatted down beside her. “Take it easy, the healers have been called. They’ll give you something for the pain and fix your exterior up. You look a mess.”

“Thanks
for calling the healers,” she croaked out.

“Zara ordered the healers. She says you wo
uldn’t be any good if your pretty face wasn’t pretty anymore.” He poked at her injuries, causing her to moan some more.

“Jerk.”

“I know, I try. Look, I can’t stay with you on board the GCFA circuit ship. I’m not on the roster as a trainer for this circuit. You’ll be completely on your own. Keep your guard up at all times.”

“What does the IDJ have on you to
that made you agree to help?”

Lesak
shook his head. “They have nothing on me, pure human.”

“Then why help with this investigation?” She looked at him out of the one eye that could still open.

“The last woman that was taken, Lindy, she meant everything to Talon. Talon was my best pupil. I practically raised him. Ever since the girl went missing, he has been in a downward spiral of self-destruction. I want the girl found for his sake.” He stood up and waited by her side until the healers arrived. She watched him walk away, leaving her completely on her own.

Pain killers were a thing of beauty. Sh
e didn’t feel anything as repairs were made to her broken jaw. There had been swelling in 90% of her body, but now the bruises were instantly vanishing from her soft skin. She realized that if she hadn’t had the healing implants, she would have bled to death. She hated to admit Lesak was right about anything, but he was about this. Damn him!

She reported in one last time to Chief Officer Marks. She would have very limited communications with him while on circuit.
She would contact them and they her only when necessary and in code.

She wasn’t worried about working alone.
She had been on her own since she was thirteen. Her parents had been killed in a bombing. Her Uncle Ted took her in, but he was in the Galactic Police Department so he was gone a lot, leaving Rachel had to fend for herself most of the time. She cooked for herself, kept their little apartment clean, paid the bills, saw herself to school.

The only thing she gave her uncle credit for was teaching her how to fight. One day she had come home from school with a black eye and bruised ribs
during one of the few occasions he was home. When he found out that the kids from school had been picking on her and beaten the crap out of her, he took it upon himself to see to her training. He also had some of his buddies from the force help. She had really appreciated it.

He died a few years after she wa
s accepted into the academy for law enforcement. When she had gone to see him at the hospital that last time, he had told her that he was proud of her. Then he was gone. Out of her life forever, out of this plane of existence and into the next. She was left alone again.

She reported in at 5:30AM
the next morning with the GCFA coordinators. They assigned her to a suite on board the GCFA circuit ship, bunking with another woman fighter. Her roommate was a halfsie, part human and part Reptan.

The GCFA had rented use of a large spacecraft to take them from Region to Region on their circuit. The ship was big enough to accommodate up to eighteen fighters on board. There were currently seven male fi
ghters and six female fighters signed for the circuit. The ship had a large open training facility that included three floor mats and their own training cage, as well as a dining facility with enough tables to seat the fighters and the crewmembers.

“I am
Ssssersssan,” her roommate introduced herself. Rachel recognized Sersan as being the other female fighter at the tryouts. Her face looked humanoid, but the top of her head was slightly pointed and covered in scales. She had no hair anywhere on her body. She reached out to shake hands.

“
Nice to meet you Sersan. I’m Rachel … Starr,” she responded trying not to cringe when she felt the scales on the outside of other woman’s hand. She couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to be the human that mated a full Reptan. It gave her the shivers just thinking about it.

“
Isss thisss your firssst cccircuit?” Sersan asked.

“Yeah.
How about you?”

“
Thisss isss my sssecond with GCFA. I toured with preliminary cccircuitsss for two yearsss.” She rubbed her hairless, scaly head as she continued, “You ssshould eat breakfassst. Meal times are at 06:30, 12:30, and 18:30. We train three times a day at 09:30, 15:30, and 21:30.”

“Okay
. Are you coming to eat too?” Rachel asked.

“
Yesss. I am ssstarving.”

Chapter 4

Rachel noticed right away that none of the male fighters were at breakfast. One of the female fighters complained to her that the males each had a private suite with room service, but the female fighters had to share suites. Well, all the female fighters except Zara, who also had her own private suite. The only other exception was the married couple, Tipin and Resa, both Rasilian. Sersan told Rachel that Zara would meet them after breakfast and introduced her to some of the other female fighters.

There were many different mixed species
on the circuit. Lesak had explained that the GCFA required most of the fighters have some amount of human DNA since the physical traits were more appealing to the majority of the fan base.

Resa
was a 5’5” beautiful brown-haired Rasilian, able to shape shift like Lesak. Alana, as an Arian, was smaller in bone structure and height, reaching only 5’3”, with spiky blond hair, dark brown eyes, and very pale skin. Gana was with a human and Priman mix. She was as tall as Zara, reaching 6’. She had gorgeous mixed red and brown hair and green eyes. And then of course Zara, missing from the dining hall, was a mix of human, Sorian, and Bestial.

Rachel was the only pure human fighter there. She felt so ordinary compared these exotic beauties. She had let her hair grow to just past her shoulders. Her bright blue eyes were her best feature
, at least in her opinion.

She definitely felt out of place. Everyone stared at her
with a mixture of curiosity and mistrust. Why did they seem to hate humans so much? Everyone in the room had human DNA. It was like they hated that part of themselves, too. The only ones friendly enough to talk to her were Sersan and Alana.

After they finished their buffet style breakfast,
Sersan took her on a short tour of the ship. Then they went back to their suite to change into their sparring clothes. Rachel wore her usual stretch pants and sports bra with a baggy t-shirt over it. She pulled her shoulder length blond hair back into a ponytail. Lesak suggested she shave her head, but she had refused. Her hair was the one thing that made her feel feminine.

She needed to earn these fighters’ trust to get the answers she needed to solve this investigation. The only way to do that was to pay her dues and to prove
to them that she could fight. Lesak told her to stare her opponents down and never let them sense her fear. She looked at her appearance one last time in the mirror to get herself into her persona. Her sky blue eyes shone sharp. “I am Rachel Starr, new Galactic Cage Fighter for the GCFA.”

She
had thought that the female fighters were hard to warm up to, but the male fighters were even more intimidating. The moment she walked into the training facility, all motion and sound ceased. She couldn’t even hear the sound of anyone breathing. She felt over a dozen pairs of eyes watching her. She looked around the facility, marking the exit points and the location of each fighter.

Three male fighters were standing to the side watching as she passed. From her reports, she knew that the tallest one with the tightly shaved head was Hammer. They called him
the Sledge Hammer and rightly so. The man was 7’ 2” tall, almost 260 pounds. He towered over the other two men. The one on his right was Zen, half human, half Felon, whom she had met at tryouts. His fighting name was Zen the Sin. The other was Taurus, a half-human half-Priman. He was called Taurus the Ape Man. She spotted a man and woman kissing on the other side of the room. That would be the married Rasilians, Resa the Reed and Tipin the Tail. The two male fighters inside the cage had to be Rage the Animal and Talon the Fallen Angel. Only one male fighter wasn’t there yet, Sersan’s brother, Esan.