Morrigan looked up towards the ceiling of the training area as she bent herself backwards, arcing energy tickling her face as the crackling head of Xol’s mace passed through her vision. She fell back onto her hands and pushed back, throwing her legs over and landing on her feet in a fluid back walkover, raising her fists up defensively as she let out a soft chuckle just barely audible over the sound of Inquisition personnel exercising.

  She shifted back on her feet with a grin as she watched Xol recover from the wild swing, a high pitched hiss of annoyance sliding through his fangs as he readied another attack.

  “Oi, big daddy! Don’t let the lass get ta ya!” Sigurd called out from her right, pushing himself off the floor after being flattened by Morrigan a moment earlier.

  A massive fist appeared in the corner of Morrigan’s vision giving her just enough time to twirl, deftly dodging Aleksei’s fist and bring her left foot up to connect with his ribcage in one motion.

  Aleksei grunted painfully from the blow. “How is girl so small, so strong?” he complained to Morrigan as he grabbed the recent impact that sat right underneath his right armpit. He could feel the rough dent in his armor and shook his head as he staggered.

  Several nearby troops laughed at the question followed by mocking commentary as they watched while performing their own exercises.

  It had been ten days since the vote for piracy had passed and spirits across the ship were relatively high despite their shrinking stock of necessities. To Morrigan’s surprise, roughly five thousand crewmembers voted against it while the rest voted in favor of becoming pirates, demonstrating the Archangel’s desire to survive as well as their love for the ship.

  In the meantime, Morrigan spent most of her days training with Sigurd while they made their way to Gelia, actively scanning for any distress signals or identifiable Federation signals along the way.

  However, after spending over a week fighting Sigurd, Morrigan grew bored and decided to involve Xol into her training regiment, even adding Aleksei into the mix seeing as he had the size and constitution to resist her strength as long as he wore his armor.

  “Sorry, but that’s a family secret,” Morrigan mused as she glanced towards Sigurd to make sure the crafty Berserker was not sneaking up on her.

  Awe how cute, you think we’re family, Apollyon snickered condescendingly in her mind as she watched Sigurd shift on his feet, aiming his body directly at her.

  The moment Sigurd rushed forward to tackle her, Morrigan dropped low and grabbed ahold of one of his arms before rolling forward, using her momentum to launch the dense man over her and colliding into the ground with a resonating thud.

  Morrigan wanted to force the Irishman into an arm lock however, both of his arms were more mechanical than not and in a split-second decision, dropped her heel into the center of his stomach.

  “Of course we are, jackass,” she retorted before rolling away and standing up.

  She turned to see Xol set the head of his mace on the ground, letting it stand on its own as he flexed the corded alien muscles in his arms. She quirked an eyebrow at the unusual display given he always used it during combat training, only for him to flex his eight clawed fingers before letting out a resonating sibilant roar.

  Well, shit, ya gone an pissed off the lizard! Apollyon mused with dissonance.

  Before Morrigan could react, Xol charged her with primal intent as he lowered his head, ramming his thick crest directly into her torso at full force, sending her flying overhead and crashing into a weight rack several crewmates had been standing near, everyone stopping what exercises they were doing to watch the new development.

  Morrigan groaned as she pulled herself off the rack, struggling to breath as she felt several of her ribs snap back into place, realized that Xol had been holding back every time they had sparred together and caused a mix of excitement and anger fueled adrenaline to course through her.

  “I see you've been holding back,” she commented as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, staggering forward as she checked for blood.

  Is that what you call it? Holding back? You’d be slowly suffocating if not for me! Apollyon said angrily.

  Xol lowered himself into wide fighting stance, as if he posed in a Marmuro’k’s version of a martial art, and readied himself, “See how far you have grown, Chieftain.”

  In a burst of speed, Morrigan’s wings apparated in a flourishing thrust that let her close the gap between them, her fist hauled back as she rocketed towards the devoted Kêzi’kan that had apparently decided to up the ante with her.

  In surprising speed, Xol thrust his left arm forward defensively, the energy shield in his gauntlet flaring to life as Morrigan’s fist made contact. All 130 pounds of Morrigan crashed into the shield at speed, though spectators watched as Xol struggled far more against the blow than he should have, as a yelp of surprise escaped Morrigan as she felt Xol’s meaty hand grab the back of her head, using her sudden stop of momentum to drag her head down to his awaiting knee.

  The resulting sound of cracking bone ushered a cringing groan from the room as Morrigan felt a intense pain across the left side of her face followed by a sudden rush of moist heat. She staggered back from the blow as her feet managed to maintain the grip upon the metal floor, raising her hand to cover her face only for Xol to spin away from her, his thick tail swinging around and connecting with the right side of her jaw.

  Morrigan tumbled to the ground in a spray of blood, coughing up even more blood as she slowly pushed herself off the ground.

  Fucking hell! Where has this asshole been? Just… give me a second, damn it, Apollyon stated in perceived shock as the deity focus on fusing the bone in her cheek and readjust her broken nose.

  “Wait. I get it,” she responded as she felt the sharp, pulsating pain subside and the flow of blood cease, spitting on the ground and wiping her mouth of the majority that dripped off her chin.

  “I’m beginning to see why you were such a well respected warrior of Clan Tau,” she called out before coughing up residual blood that drained into her throat as she stood up and turned towards her guardian.

  Xol’s shield was deactivated as he wore a savage grin on his face, his row of long, sharp fang-like teeth glistening in the artificial lighting of the deck’s training room as he prepared for her retaliation.

  Ding, ding, time to get angry Rocky! Put that Ruskie in the ground!

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Morrigan furrowed her brow at the reference, not knowing the context the deity knew. Ignore the confusing thought, she calmly stepped closer to Xol, staring down the eight-foot Kêzi’kan as her anger burned underneath the surface.

  “1200 credits on the lass!” Sigurd shouted, having at some point recovered and began cajoling bets from the growing crowd rather than joining in the fight.

  Morrigan couldn’t help but cast a smirk as her eyes landed on the lunatic Berserker, readying herself in a fighting stance her Aunt Jen had taught her as a young girl; taking a wide stance with one arm up defensively while her other arm was tucked underneath her ribs as she put her weight on the leg opposite of her opponent.

  Xol rushed her, completely ignoring the crowd now surrounding them, and brandished his claws in a savage upward strike. Morrigan however, threw her weight forward aiming with her elbow as she pushed past his deadly claws and connected with the soft spot beneath his ribcage.

  Xol staggered back with a hissing wheeze before Morrigan round house kicked him across the jaw, his head snapping to the side with a loud grunt. She gave him a wily smirk as she took a step back, Xol’s eyes piercing through her as he turned to her with a low hiss.

  “Come on, you're not the first Kêzi’kan I've fought,” her tone was amused with a hint of predetermined violence as she steadied herself, letting her anger trickle through her expression as she bore her fangs in a more hostile, predatory grin. Xol returned the gesture in kind before striding towards her with purpose before they fell into a dance of blows; alien claws slicing into flesh and partially empowered blows impacting muscle and bone as they both struck and blocked with primal ferocity until one of them fell.

  Xol slashed across Morrigan’s ribs, blood pouring freely as she winced only for her to kick out the side of Xol’s knee and topple him forward enough to grab ahold of his crest.

  Emily stepped into the ring with a horrified expression on her face before shaking the shock of seeing the bloody pair, “Mori! We need to go over the daily reports!”

  Morrigan paused for a moment to eye Emily as Xol weakly tried to stand, Morrigan’s enhanced strength holding him in place as she replied, “Fine! One second!”

  Returning the favor, she drove her knee into his face twice before he could stagger back and try to right himself. Morrigan however, stepped into him and delivered a powerful uppercut that lifted Xol off the ground by several inches as his head jerked upwards, consciousness leaving Xol as he fell flat on his back with a heavy thud of several hundred pounds landing on the metal floor followed by a mix of groans and cheers from the crowd.

  Morrigan let out a ragged breath as she looked down at her unconscious companion sprawled on the floor, inspecting him for any long-term injuries before sighing in satisfaction.

  “Sigurd? Make sure he gets to med bay,” she called out as the last of her wounds stitched back together, waiting as the crowd parted before exiting the training room with her administrator.

  ◇◇◇

  There was the sound of a massive collision from above that gave pause to the training room below. Taylor shook his head mid-sit up, having purposefully avoided being on the same deck as Morrigan, yet still managed to be bothered by her presence.

  Stephanie didn’t stop shadow boxing by the sound of the crash but instead, dropped the small weights she held in her hands when she spied Taylor’s reaction. For over a week Taylor had been averse of his ex girlfriend, which normally would be a good thing in most cases however, Stephanie saw between the lines of their new found life aboard the Archangel and knew Morrigan would eventually become fed up with the situation. Not only that, but Stephanie grew tired of Taylor’s attitude as well, lashing out in anger and disgust at nearly everyone on board, including herself.

  She stepped over and kicked his leg to gain his attention, earning a glare in return as he stopped and scooted back to sit up. Her eyes pierced his as she made sure she received his attention before signing, “How long are you going to be an asshole?”

  His face twisted in disgust as if offended, as if how he had been acting was acceptable despite how it made her feel. “I'm not,” he growled before laying back down to continue his work out.

  Stephanie kicked his foot towards her, messing up his support to keep his attention, “You have been since the mission. Have you ever tried speaking to her?” She signed.

  Taylor scoffed as he stared up at her, “Why should I bother? She's a completely different person than the girl I knew.”

  “The girl you dated,” she interjected silently, “And she is the same and you would know that if you just talked to her. You think I wasn’t listening as you spoke of her for over a year but I did. She is the girl you spoke of; angry and filled with love, especially for the Eskarii.”

  “What the hell is with you defending her?” he asked, dismissing what she said as he stood up and crossed his arms, “Of all people I figured you would hate her the most; between threatening her and knowing she’s fucking the woman who did that,” he said with condemnation as he pointed to her throat.

  Stephanie rolled her eyes with a harsh scoff as she shook her head, “Is that what this is about?” Her lips pursed in anger as she signed, “You still love her and you’re mad that she’s with my sister?”

  “What? No!” Taylor exclaimed with disbelieving confusion before he sighed in overwhelming defeat, looking around for the closest spot to sit down, walking over to a bench and sitting down.

  Stephanie stalked behind him but kept standing with her arms crossed as he hung his head. “Stephanie, I love you. You were the only one who managed to keep me going all this time… for that I’ll be honest with you,” he sighed and rubbed his face before looking up at her, “Yes, I do still care about the Mori I knew, but she isn’t her, and as I said, I love you. I could care less that she’s seeing someone else.”

  Stephanie’s face softened as her arms fell, scrutinizing him before sitting next to him. “Then what is it? She leads this ship, Taylor… you can’t keep being so rude,” she signed with concern on her face.

  Taylor sighed as he looked at her, running his hand through his hair in an attempt to de-stress, “Ebony has a point, as much as I hate to say it, but she tried telling us how dangerous she is and after seeing that look in Mori’s eyes… what she did, I’m beginning to believe her…”

  Stephanie shook her head, “I saw that same look.”

  Taylor furrowed his brow in confusion, “What do you mean? When?”

  She snorted as she smiled in amusement before signing, “When she threatened to strangle me with my own tendons,” her smile was bright which confused Taylor even more as she nudged him with her elbow, “The look in her eyes spoke of her pain seeing something she loves is hurt… From what you said, she cares about the Eskarii a lot, and found many hurt by pirates. Similar to when I tried to kill Emilia, which is why I agreed to back down.”

  The depth of Taylor’s confusion continued to spiral, “Emilia?”

  Stephanie snorted and nodded, “My sister’s name. Emilia Eleanor Flannigan, but she always went by Nora, I was the only one who could call her by her real name… but I could see how much she loved Nora and the length she would go to protect her. I respect her for that.”

  “I-I don't get it? I thought you hated your sister?” He asked.

  Stephanie took her time thinking of how to explain it, letting out a heavy breath through her nose before signing, “I hate her for many reasons but, she's still my sister. Part of me will always love her and seeing her in… such a better environment than the last time I saw her? Part of me can't help but feel happy for her even if I want to stab her in the throat,” she looked Taylor in the eyes before continuing, “The point is, when I watched her descend those stairs, I could see how broken her heart was. Maybe it was a bit much but it made sense for her to be that violent and we should make peace with our grievances, about everything. We work for her now and it’s not a bad gig in comparison to working with Rosa.”

  Stephanie slapped his knee, “Besides, you're mine anyways. I'm okay with her unless she tries taking you back; then we'll have a violent talk.”

  Taylor chuckled and nodded as he gently leaned into her, “That’s fair…” he sighed considering her words as he watched the crew of the ship exercise around them, finally understanding that they weren't some outlier team anymore but that they were part of the crew as well. “Maybe you're right but I can't help think she is keeping something from us, I mean, we spent a lot of time talking during my interrogation, but her mage abilities and change in attitude or what happened when I tried getting her attention…”

  Stephanie slowly nodded, knowing exactly what he was talking since she went through it herself for a long time, “She’ll tell you in time, but you have to give her time.”

  “You know? Did she tell you?’ he asked incredulously.

  She shook her head with a sly smirk, “No but you can call it woman’s intuition.”

  Taylor hummed as he watched from across the room as Ebony sparred with a random crew member while Henry lounged around having a conversation with various crew members exercising around him, “Yeah, maybe you’re right, I’ll give it a few more days before I try talking to her.”

  With barely a moments notice, the entire ship rocked violently as an alarm blared and red warning lights flashed, the universal naval sign of coming combat.