"How long will he be under?" Nayla inquired.
After the battle, the five combatants had rushed to the medical bays and stripped off their armor. Yan was there, with severe bruises and some internal bleeding, listed as stable but still unconscious. The bay itself was a trauma room with a large capacity; it was stark white and brightly lit, almost blindingly so.
When a surgeon told them, "We need to keep him sedated for a while to undergo regeneration treatment," When they arrived, his light blue scrubs were smeared with blood from the operation he had just finished.
"How long?" Nayla pushed.
"Two to three days."
Nayla nodded slightly, staring at Yan's motionless figure through the glass partition. They were joined by Amelina, who now stood silently behind Nayla and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Kieran, nearby, appeared intent on ruining the solemn atmosphere, sprawled in a chair far from the others, feet resting on a coffee table, cleaning his organic hand's fingernails with meticulous care.
"He'll live," whispered Amelina.
Nayla gave another nod. "I know, but I still hate seeing him like this."
"Me too."
The five fighters who were still conscious returned to the top box of the arena at 1600, seven hours later. Cyran Lek stood below, speaking again to the crowd. He praised the day's winners profusely throughout his fifteen-minute speech, which ended with an invitation to a private reception at his home at 2200 hours. Even though his speeches were rarely engaging, they were unquestionably effective, regardless of what else could be said about the dishonest politician.
Lek finished, and Amelina went into the box with the fighters. They went back to planning, protected from possible listeners by the clamor of the rushing crowd below.
With a tone of relief in his voice, Kieran stated, "We need four more fights in this hole before we can make our move and get the hell out of here." The lavish surroundings and unrelenting nightlife were beginning to get to him. He almost wished, for once, that he had Yan's more flexible disposition.
Luna agreed, her tolerance for Solyn hardly greater than Kieran's. "The longer we stay, the more dangerous it becomes," she said.
"How much chance is there of Lek discovering what we're really planning?" Nayla asked Amelina the question.
Amelina shrugged, which she somehow made look sophisticated. It's difficult to say. I don't know if any of his sources would be aware of what happened on Syltran 4, or how connected he is."
"If he can siphon hard cash from the Peace Fund without anyone noticing, he can probably get his hands on top-secret intel," said Nora. Legs over one armrest, back against the other, she was draped over her chair in her usual unorthodox fashion. It seemed against her values to use furniture properly.
"He let the Rim government know about the funds," Nayla said.
"All right, so he may or may not know. With frustration, Nora remarked, "We're back where we started."
Luna reminded them, "Even if he knew about Syltran, he can't know we were involved."
"We might be able to get around the next fights if Yan's still recovering," Nayla thought.
Amelina retorted, "You'll need more than that to satisfy the officials," as she was practically an expert on the tournament's rules. "A team cannot legally withdraw from the matches unless they retain at least half the number of fighters they started with."
"So, two more of us need to meet the Great Chicken in the Sky, or we need another excuse," Nora said with a grin.
"Is there any honorable excuse for withdrawing from a fight?" Nayla asked out loud.
There was silence among the group.
"Well, we have tonight to think of something, and in the meantime…" Kieran trailed off when he saw Cyran Lek himself, with his massive Crejak bodyguard at his sides, standing right behind Luna's chair. Kieran bounced back immediately, getting up with ease and walking toward the politician with a falsely amicable look. In a matter of seconds, the others realized and stood up to follow his example.
"Senator! "How nice to see you," Kieran said in a tone that was almost mocking, but Lek didn't seem to notice.
"Mr. Ravy. I've been trying to find you. Behind Kieran, Nayla cleared her throat, and Lek's eyes changed. "And your friends, of course. Mister Okani, Miss Trevyn, Miss Zantara, and Miss...
"Nora's fine," she said.
Yes, without a doubt. Could I please take a seat?" Lek inquired.
"Certainly," Okani replied, pointing to the chair he had freed up.
"Thank you," Lek said sweetly as he moved to the available seat. He sat down slowly, smoothing his sequined robe with care. Behind him, his guard assumed a watchful stance. Luna took the chance to evaluate the bodyguard, noting its powerful, thick limbs and chest, which appeared capable of stopping a high-velocity round. Slow, probably, she thought, but certainly dangerous up close and very intimidating.
"First, allow me to congratulate you on your victory earlier," Lek said. "Your strategies were excellent. You are honorable fighters.
No matter how disgusting the compliment was, they had to return it out of courtesy. "Your own dealings in the Senate have been equally honorable, from what I hear," Okani said with a smooth lie.
Lek folded his hands in his lap and nodded. "I live to serve, my friend."
Nayla resisted the impulse to jump up and yell, "Bullshit!" but refrained from speaking.
"So," Lek went on, pointing widely around them, "what do you think of all this?"
"The new rules are… interesting," Nora said in an overly pretentious direction. "They add a whole new dimension to the fights."
Lek grinned. Excellent. No one has responded negatively to me yet, even though you're not the first group I've spoken to," he said with pride. "The day after tomorrow at 0900, I would like to extend an invitation to everyone to attend a reception here. There will be an awards ceremony, which will give us a chance to get to know one another better.
"Thank you very much. "We will be there," Kieran said aloud. "You arrogant son of a bitch," he added without saying.
Lek grinned once more and stood up to shake hands with the five people who would soon be responsible for his demise. Nora looked down at her hand and rubbed it briskly against her pant leg after waiting until Lek and his guard were well out of earshot.
Muted, "Eww," she said. The others couldn't resist grinning.
All five returned to the Kyara after ninety minutes. Shortly after their run-in with Lek, they had left the arena. They had decided to call it a night and get back to their regular routines after a short, fruitless brainstorming session in the simulator produced no convincing reasons for missing the next match. Amelina went to her own quarters, Kieran went back to tinkering, Luna went to meditation, Nayla looked through BattleWeb, and Nora tried to work on her book. Okani went to the guest room.
Nayla was browsing the BattleWeb homepage's update section thirty minutes after she had returned to the ship when she abruptly stopped. Her eyes grew a little wider. She stumbled out of bed and ran to the bridge, where she saw Kieran working beneath a console, tripping over his outstretched feet. She rolled smoothly into a crouch five meters away as her hands automatically shot out, breaking her fall.
"In a hurry, are we?" Before he could resume his work, Kieran's voice came from beneath the console. Around him, circuit boards and wires were strewn; a soldering gun was in his mechanical hand.
Nayla got up and picked up the data pad she had dropped. She raised it. Then she declared, "Found an excuse,"
"And?" Kieran asked, still out of sight.
"Resonance blades."
The noises of labor suddenly stopped. Kieran moved from beneath the console. "Resonance blades?"
Nayla gave a nod.
"It's about time!" Kieran cried out. He swiftly read the update after accepting the provided data pad. Nearly every fighter pushed for the approval of resonance blades. For the previous five years, the Nine, who controlled the use of technology during the matches, had prohibited it. The technology significantly increased the cutting power of the blade it was installed in by causing it to vibrate at very high frequencies using piezoelectric motors and advanced nanocircuitry. Without the extremely high velocity, the idea was comparable to that of a hypersonic bullet. They significantly increased the effectiveness of edged weapons, potentially slicing through most armor with a few well-aimed blows, which is why fighters sought them out.
As Nayla swiftly informed Luna, Nora, and Okani of the situation, Kieran hurried to his quarters to get his weapons. After that, she sent a message to the tournament organizers formally removing their team from the upcoming match for "equipment reasons." As it happened, almost all of the other fighters who were registered were following suit.