The energy blade hummed faintly from Kai’s left wrist as the two combatants stood at opposite ends of the arena. The sword was a good meter long; oddly enough, it was actually a quarter shorter than normally crafted energy swords. That thought did not make Viper any more at ease, as he unsheathed his pair of energy blades. They hissed to life as their user steadied himself.
Evening had fallen onto the whispering field, blanketing it with a soft, calming blue-black shade. The only thing that punctuated that peace was the bright emanations of the plasma weapons. The other four soldiers had gathered to the front of the outpost, eager to watch their leader duke it out with their defeater. The sniper had gone back into the makeshift garage to retrieve some gear, and when he returned, he had gathered up a few meals-ready-to-eat, or MREs. Eagle, Bertha, Crackshot and Aura essentially had front-row seats to a show, and dinner to boot.
Viper decided to take a stab at it, immediately lunging at Kai with his right sword. Kai deflected the attack with his own blade, pushing Viper off to the Admiral’s right. Viper swung back with his other sword, which Kai retaliated with a direct clash of his own blade, lighting the night with harsh arcs of freed energy. Both combatants bounced away from each other as the energies pushed them apart.
Kai then lunged at Viper, a straight stabbing attack. Viper swiped the sword away with his left, and was in the fluid motion of cutting Kai down with his right sword when he suddenly met resistance: Kai’s blade. The admiral had used the momentum of the parry to pivot into the attack to block it, before retreating a few steps back.
Eagle had taken off his ODST helmet to enjoy his chicken noodle MRE. His hair was brown in color, shorn long so that it flowed over his eyebrows. His skin was pale, a light ecru of sorts. His eyes were warm, almost careless, a blue that had mixed with his blood to form a deep violet, and a slight scar ran across his right cheek. A slight shadow indicated a lack of recent shaving. He shuffled around for a pair of chopsticks to dine. “Yo,” he exclaimed, “how much you bettin’ on the chief?”
Bertha removed her grenadier helmet to respond, “Do we seriously have to answer that question?” Her hair was cropped short, though still had some significant length as a woman would have kept. Her irises were dark, a hazel that was borderline brown, with a constant calculated determination that sparkled from her pupils as she viewed the fight below. Her skin was dark, but plasma radiation had pockmarked some light tones here and there.
“Yea,” exclaimed Eagle, with a big smirk on his face. “I say 500 credits on the Admiral.” He took a loud slurp from his noodles as he motioned to the other two people.
Crackshot turned to Eagle, depolarizing the faceplate of her recon helmet to reveal an irritated face. Her eyes had a venomous sting to them, only amplified by the dark rings that circled her pupils. A light tan revealed that Crackshot did not remove her armor often, probably only to cut her properly trimmed hair. She stared silently at Eagle for a second, a toxic look that unsettled Eagle, before turning back to the fight. “I’ll take that bet,” she murmured.
Aura had long unfastened her EVA helmet as it rested gently on the platform. She reached for a spoon to sup on her MRE, a decidedly spicy vindaloo, as she diverted her attention away from the fiery clashes below, not the slightest bit interested in Eagle’s wager. Her eyes were light with sapphire irises, glowed as the emitted lights reflected off of them. Her skin was a tad darker than that of Crackshot, though a long scar biased across her forehead ruined the complexion. She patted her somewhat unkempt hair before scooping up a spoonful of her meal, before returning her eyes to the melee.
The hiss and swish of energy swords filled the night sky, as Viper danced to gain a foothold, both figuratively and literally, as Kai and he were forced to constantly jump to avoid each other. After one final parry from Kai’s precise strike, Viper managed to get far enough to signal a cease in the elegantly violent combat. A nearby phantom dropship, green in hue, patrolling the area picked up the disturbances, circling the area once before silently floating away.
Viper was panting slightly, a subtle twitch in his stance. ‘Damn it,’ he thought. ‘He’s certainly hasn’t been working a desk job as an Admiral.’ Kai stood not far from where he dropped his brute shot, the menacing weapon still firmly stuck into the ground. He did not seemed the least fatigued, a slightly increased breathing could be heard from him, but nothing in his position betrayed any trace of tiredness. Viper glanced at the energy sword of his opponent. ‘Why does he use an energy gauntlet?’ he thought. ‘No one uses one of those… no one… except…’
Kai plucked up the discarded weapon, and inserted his arm into a pair of straps installed into the side of the brute shot, and presented the weapon’s flat side to his opponent. “Carbon fibers and kevlar make a brute shot a formidable and versatile tool, wouldn’t you agree?” Kai quipped. From the center of the flat surface emerged a circular plasma shield, one similar to that of jackal gauntlets.
“Oh crap.” Eagle muttered, a string of noodle hanging from his mouth. The other three gazed in amazement at the Admiral’s unusual choice of gear.
Viper widened his eyes in alarm, as Kai charged with the improvised shield directly at him. Viper sidestepped, bringing his own sword to bear. His sword met Kai’s blade, and his second swing collided with the brute shot, bringing the two combatants to a stalemate. The harsh collisions of energies sparkled with the stars, with the elegance of a welder’s torch. Each soldier grunted as they exerted their weight onto their opponent, attempting to overcome the other’s strength. Back and forth they went as their muscular forces ebbed and flowed, a chess match with the human body as the pieces.
Suddenly, Kai lashed out with a kick, separating the two from each other. Viper fell off balance, struggling to regain his stance, but Kai quickly recovered and lunged. Viper avoided a wide slap from the brute shot, but succumbed to a low sweep of Kai’s leg, which sent him tumbling to the floor. When Viper tried to get up, he was met with the endpoint of Kai’s energy sword.
A grave silence loomed over the field. Nobody spoke a word, nor made a sound. Not Viper, who laid defeated on the facility floor, nor Kai, who stood triumphantly above him, nor Aura, Bertha nor Crackshot, who looked on, mouths agape at the sudden defeat of their leader, nor Eagle, whose last strand of noodle dropped effortlessly from his mouth.
Kai deactivated his weapons, their plasma emanations fading away. He also picked up Viper’s dropped swords, sheathing them as well. He threw them back at Viper, who, from his fallen position, stared back at the Admiral. Kai offered a hand of assistance, of which Viper hesitantly accepted. As Kai picked him up off the ground, Viper told him, “I almost had you.”
Kai replied, “Perhaps in your dreams, but not today.”
He motioned to the other four, still fazed by the melee. “Go on and get some rest. The inspection had gone on longer than I anticipated.” He looked toward Viper, stating, “you too.”
Viper stood there for a moment, then turned for the garage, as had the soldiers in the outpost, out of their stupor. Before Viper entered, he muttered, “yes sir, Chaos.”
Kai’s helmet contorted into a sort of smirk, overhearing the murmured statement. Corey blinked on from the holopad on his hand.
“So, sir,” Corey asked, “are they up to your standards?”
“Actually,” Kai rejoined, “I’m a tad disappointed. I was certain that they were trained much better by him. I guess I miscalculated.”