Posted by Lieutenant Faye Calloway (Counter-Intelligence Officer) in Event Horizon - Two Sides To Every Coin

Posted by James Sinclair in Event Horizon - Two Sides To Every Coin

Posted by Lieutenant Faye Calloway (Counter-Intelligence Officer) in Event Horizon - Two Sides To Every Coin

(snip)

Faye’s gaze flicked between him and the bag and back again. “Well, I can’t say all the build up isn’t making me nervous, but I trust you. If I didn’t I wouldn’t have let you give me this,” she said, lifting her left hand and wiggling the ring with her thumb. Faye sighed. “If it’s a lot, I’ve got my pendant vial with the scent with me to ground me. I’ll be okay.” She didn’t say anything like ‘It can’t be worse than…’ or ‘You’re being dramatic’. Not only was she not that way with him, she knew they’d both been through Hell and she would never minimize either of their pain.

“Lead the way, husband-to-be,” she said softly, smiling at how nice that sounded.

~Faye

Daggum ushered her out of the room and they made their way to the holosuite. Daggum opened a small pouch on the side of the bag’s strap and pulled out an optical chip and put it in the slot inside the door. The door slid closed and the black room transformed into a large walled enclosure with a dirt covered stone floor. Risers went up in circles all around the space and above them hovered enclosed viewing boxes.

Daggum set the bag on the ground and opened it as he knelt on the ground next to it. He looked at Faye and said “When I feel too comfortable, my brain tells me that its a trap… that I can’t be comfortable or relaxed. I start to feel like I’m being watched… that something is waiting for me. I learned a long time ago that I can keep that part of my brain quiet if he gets what it is after. It took me a very long time to figure out exactly what that was, though.” He looked around and then looked at Faye.

“This is the Pits of Orion. Main arena… where… well… where I grew up.”

He didn’t have to tell her. She knew about these places, even if she hadn’t visited them herself. She’d lived on Orion , after all. She had felt it inartistically, deep within her bones that these was supposed to be on Orion. This was his Hell, come to life.

From inside Daggum retrieved an assortment of odd weaponry and a tangled mass of leather and metal plates. Laying the weapons on the ground, he placed a short spear with a long, fine chain attached to the hilt… a curved knife made of some kind of stone joined in next in line, and then a wicked looking metal hammer. Lastly, he pulled out a round rock that was discolored in places. Oblong impressions worn into the sphere looked like they would fit a large hand. The stone Daggum set almost reverently last in line. Standing up, he shook out the mass of leather straps and laid them out on the ground. Stripping off his sweats, he looked at Faye… the mass of tattoos, brands, and scars all over his torso and limbs seemed somehow more pronounced… fresher.

Faye watched him, her keen eyes taking in all the details, not just of the body she was becoming very well acquainted with, but in the ritual-like nature of his movements, the kind where you could perform a task blindfolded because you knew it so well.

He lifted the straps over his head and began fastening them in a well-practiced routine. In a matter of moments he was dressed in leather straps with metal plates covering most of his vital areas of his chest, arms and legs. The straps themselves were stained dark and seemed well used. Anyone with a knowledge of the darker side of the cultures of the Alpha quadrant would recognize gladiatorial gear; designed to keep the wearer alive (if they were good), but allowing for blood to flow. Lastly, he retrieved a silvery-gray metal helmet with a full face plate. He set it under his arm, fastened all the weapons to various hooks and ties on the armor, hefted the stone in one hand, and looked at Faye.

“You are going to see me fight, Faye. A real fight of mine. I don’t know which, that’s random… one of a few dozen I was able to get vid footage of over the years. I do this here so I don’t lose controlout there. It used to be I had to do this a few times a week. Now, its a few times a month. Sometimes I get lucky and its not once, but that’s not often.” He stepped close to her and his face was a combination of fear, worry, and determination.

“If you don’t want to see this, you don’t have to. But if you do… want or need to… then I’ll put you in one of the boxes up there. Its safer, the Pit audience sometimes… helped.”

Daggum

Stepping right up to him, her stormy grey-green eyes were soft in their affection but firm in her resolution. Stepping up on her tip-toes and bracing her hand on his shoulder, Faye placed a tender kiss on his lips. “I can’t pretend to say I know what this is like for you, or that I completely understand, but I can bear witness, Dag. Even if it’s hard, it’s important for me to see I think. I want to understand better, so I can understand you better. Whatever you need of me here, just ask. though I definitely agree one of the boxes is a good idea. Bearing witness didn’t mean participating. They both knew that was not going to be okay to ask. Not with her own issues.

~Faye

Daggum nodded and soon Faye was looking down at the arena pit from about sixty feet up. Viewscreens in the box showed every angle of the arena, right now housing only Daggum. “You’ll be able to hear me but I can’t hear you.” and suddenly the bleachers were full of screaming and yelling Orions with a few scattered races looking on as well. Daggum put the helmet on his head and rolled his shoulders, the muscles rippling under the emerald green skin.

An announcer began to broadcast “Friends and enemies, slaves and nobels… Welcome to the Pits!!!’ and the crowd went crazy. Daggumn simply stood like a green statue in the middle of the arena. “As you can see, we have the Bastion of Broken Bones… the Disciple of Dismemberment… the one and only EMERALD. TITAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!” and the crowd erupted in applause. “But what is it we have here, ladies and gents, eh? What monstrous beast or skilled assassin will the Titan face today? Why, none other than the Beast Tamer!” The crowd ooohed and ahhed for a moment before a gate near the side of the arean opened and another Orion male, maybe half the size of Hammor came walking out. It was obvious that new arrival was nowhere near as powerful as Hammor, but the figure walked out to the middle of the arena and raised their fist high.

Hammor stood frozen, like he was carved from stone rather than a living being. The smaller figure said something to Dag, and Dag looked crestfallen for a moment. The two figures separated and went to opposite sides of the ring. A horn blared…

And nothing happened. For a long moment the two stood motionless. Then the smaller one gestured at Dag and the crowd laughed. Then the figure yelled someting in a guttural and chaotic form of Orion and the crowd erupted in laughter. Finally the figure reached to their belt an drew out a wicked looking dagger, one identical to one of the one’s from Daggum’s bag, and they raised the blade above their head and screamed and ran charging at Hammor. The crowd erupted again and cheered…

The end was very quick.

Daggum flicked his wrist, and the blade on the end of the chain released and fell to the ground, on hand on the end of the chain. Daggum’s arm snapped back, and as the blade popped up in the air, Daggum whipped his arm forward, sending the chin and blade flying directly at the figure running at him. The blade flew like a arrow, sticking in the figure’s throat. Daggum took a few steps to the now stopped and surprised figure clutching at their throat, and he shook the chain, sending a wave along the length and then around the neck of the figure. A mighty jerk backwards by Daggum and the figure fell to their knees, clutching at their throat, their eyes fixed on Daggum. Another flick of the wrist, and a bone-crunching sound from the other figure and their eyes rolled back in their head and they fell to the ground. The scene froze. Daggum looked up and said something, and then Faye was in the arena. Daggum removed the helmet and looked at the fallen figure. He then looked at Faye.

“That is Nox… my best friend. We grew up together. He had a knack with animals. Could tame almost anything… it was really something to see. Today, this day anyway, he had made the Pit Master angry. Nox was told to put his pet into the arena against me. Lyrexian tiger, Nox raised it from a cub. Nox refused. Said he had other animals that were a better match… and he was right. I came out expecting an animal fight, it was just a matinee. They saved the sentient fights for the marquee times. This was just a lunch time show, barely anyone here.” He looked at Nox’s form on the dirt floor.

“I was shocked when Nox came out. He wasn’t a fighter… at all. Just a slave. He was worth much more alive than in the fights. But they sent him in anyway. Something about sending a lesson to the other slaves, make sure they didn’t get any ideas about standing up against orders. I tried to not fight, but Nox told me they’d kill both of us… and they probably would have killed him. Me, they have just beat. But Nox… Nox told me before we walked to the side he’d rather have me kill him than the bosses.” He looked up at Faye, his green eyes red and a single gold tear falling down.

“All I could do was make sure he didn’t suffer.”

Daggum