Of course Nallia was using every vision mode in her mask at once, and smoke had no effect on her ability to see her surroundings. But as Rahs smashed a part of the wall, simply ignoring the spikes and the potent neurotoxin that coated them Nallia's visor showed the toxin entering his blood streams before being broken down into its components by his immune system, much like her own body would. As his hand gripped the lance Nallia silently cursed her own sloppiness, her own overconfidence. She had assumed they would never get into a fight, and although she had discovered the lance thanks to her visor she had done nothing to it.

That mistake had cost her the reach advantage, and she knew now more then ever that she had lost. Even with the traps still left undeployed the best she could hope for was a mutual death, and she almost considered saying the word that would cause the various plasma explosives she had carried to detonate, rupturing the hull and exposing them all to the very hostile environment they were currently in. Since the ship was currently using FTL drives there was no way any of them would survive. But she glanced at the winged female and knew that she couldn't do that. Nallia would freely sacrifice her own life for a mutual death, but to cause the death of an innocent, or a civilian, in a hunt was against every creed she knew. Even if it meant she had to give up her last chance of salvaging some victory.

But just because Nallia knew she was going to lose did not mean she would suddenly give up. As unlikely as it was Rahs might make a mistake, might slip up, might give her a chance to finish this. She knew a couple of locations not currently covered with armour that would cause a lethal blow, and if her gave her the chance she would strike them.

And she still had one last trick, one last chance to turn the tables. As the lance came towards her she took on a stance as if to try and block or parry it, her visors enhanced vision arc carefully watching the approaching tentacles as they tried to surround her and cut off her movements. She had to time this carefully.

At the last second she darted to the side, and one of her hands darted to her chest and grabbed a flash bang grenade. Pressing the arming trigger she saw the bright flash of light, the wave of sound, and more crucially the flare of heat as it detonated. Her katana cut the tentacles in her path, and as soon as she was free from the trap her suit suddenly cooled down, masking her heat and hiding her in the smoke. But she knew that now the mercenary was alert she couldn't get to close to him without him hearing her, and eventually the air filters would clear this smoke away. The moment it did she would lose her last protection, her concealment, he would simply overwhelm her.

She whispered, but the microphone built into her visor picked up her voice and it echoed from various points of the cockpit. We both know what the outcome of this is going to be. The only question is what happens when I lose.

Her mistake of not recovering the lance before he returned from capturing Lira sealed her fate when he took it, and both warriors knew it. Even from the moment they were trained, the fate of any battle between was known. For Nallia to have been trained to hunt she had the advantage thanks to her skills and and technology, but Rahs had been trained to fight against anything that he would face, and have been doing so for all his life. He had the experience and the battle-hardened skills he's been honing since a kid.

Rahs was ready to overcome traps like this one, but knew that Nallia was now fighting for her own life too, even if she had accepted the idea of sacrificing herself if she could take the mercenary down with her. It was then that he realized that when faced with a situation like this, any warrior would try to last out as much as possible, and would try to make the most damaging shots. Even with the lance, her reaction speed could also help her evade the lance's thrusts or swings especially now that her armor cloaked her body heat.

The flash bang grenade detonated right in front of Rahs as his body landed on the floor once again. Since his vision was more focused on heat, the large bang of red disappeared quickly with the light and only managed to make him even more alert of the equipment she had. His helmet, though damaged, still protected from the loud sound which would startle the heron girl.

He could hear her voice around him, the ship's loudspeakers repeating what she said. She didn't want to reveal her position, which would be revealed in only a few seconds as the smoke was starting to clear. "Let's find out," he replied simply, loud enough for his voice to be heard around the cockpit as well. It didn't take long for the smoke to dissipate, and the broken panels did not make good cover. As soon as he caught the glimpse of her armor through the thin smoke, he leaped forward again.

It was time to end this. But his movement did not seem so relentless anymore. Nallia could see as his body came down from above, that even when his lance was meant for her heart, that he wasn't so relentless. She knew that she would be able to dodge the lance's tip, and he knew this as well. In fact, as he would land, missing the attack again, he would be wide open for an attack as he moved to take a stance. It was his intention, to taunt the agent to attack. As soon as she would make an arc to make a finishing blow, Rahs would step back slightly, and use his longer reach to finally attack Nallia, possibly aiming for her arms or midsection, hoping to have the lance stuck to the armor to pull her closer to him.

Nallia watched with despair as the smoke cleared up and the two combatants could see each other. As soon as he noticed her he charged, and yet something seemed off about his movements. He was nowhere near as fast as he had been up until now. Not that it mattered. The moment the smoke had cleared Nallia knew the environment no longer had anything in her favour. The last traps she had left undeployed could not be used without risking the winged female slave cowering in her cage. Nallia glanced towards the female once and spoke a single word. Lisbola., I'm sorry.

instead of dodging the oncoming blow she faced it. Her Katana was suddenly slipped back into its sheathe and she touched the strap holding the sheathe in place and it fell to the ground. She held her position as Rahs came in, an unchangeable arc through the air, and when the lance impacted her chest she was slammed against the floor.

As she hit the floor the breathe was smashed out of her lungs, but fortunately her head had not been jarred by the impact, her sense of smell was still not picking up anything. Her armour was cracked, but the lance had not fully penetrated. Rahs had not been moving at his full speed, and as such her Kaji designed and built armour had survived the impact. Not that it mattered. This fight ended the moment the environment turned against me. The moment the smoke cleared. I will not struggle like some pathetic shuro to cling to life. I lost the hunt, which means I am yours to do what you will with. As Rahs watched the cracks on her armour slowly started to fade as the nanites making it up fixed the damage that had been caused at a rapid rate.

Rahs was a bit surprised when his plan was shattered as he saw Nallia sheathing her sword. She's admitting defeat honorably... he thought, as his weight and strength did not face direction or slowed down, instead completely impacting the lance against her chest and slamming her against the floor. His hands did not move however, keeping the lance on the place it had struck as his eyes looked straight at the visor.

The katana laid by her side and there was probably a very confused heron girl at the other side of the cockpit, but still for a few seconds, there was no sound whatsoever until Nallia spoke again. The mercenary listened carefully, noting how the huntress had admitted her defeat when the smoke had cleared, and offered herself to be the reward for the syrictae as he had beaten her in combat. Two tentacles sprouted from his skin they gripped Nallia's shoulders, lifting her upper body until she was sitting on the floor. They withdrew, going back whence they came from as Rahs kept staring at her.

If she had looked up at him, it was possible that she wouldn't see the foot coming at her. His foot was quickly placed on her chest, around the part that was recovering itself from the lance's impact, and then slammed her forcefully on the floor, as if the mercenary was showing his own victory over her. The lance was swung and the blunt end hit the visor she was wearing, only to make her pay attention carefully to what he was going to say, "What exactly was your mission here, huntress?"

Nallia continued to watch him, her eyes glaring behind the visor. She felt herself being raised off the ground and the side vision her visor allowed confirmed that it was being done by two tentacles. However the moment she was sitting up they released her.

As Nallia continued to look up at him the wide vision arc of her visor allowed her to see the foot inbound, but she did not move from her position. The foot smashed into her chest, slamming her against the ground and starting a coughing fit as the air was pushed out of her lungs. Before Nallia recovered from the hit the hilt of the lance smashed into her visor. The impact jarred her head, and filled with fear Nallia sniffed, and felt relief flooding through her as she smelt nothing. That impact hadn't knocked her nose plugs free, thankfully.

As soon as Nallia recovered from being winded she replied to his question. Is it really that hard to work out? I had been told you considered yourself smart but if you need something that simple spelled out for you ... My mission was to claim your skull as a trophy for my wall, shuro.When she says the word shuro it is laced with hatred and disgust.

"You are from the ADD then. I guess your mission could benefit everyone, excluding me. I thought they sent you to eliminate me like they've done in the past, or maybe Oliver could have sent you to backstab me..." Rahs replied. Obviously she was there to kill him, there was no other reason, but in reality he just wanted to find the source of her hunt.

Hunt... Trophy? Surrendered after losing? Where have I heard that before? In his many trips and great experience, the mercenary have heard about a very enigmatic race, that held the practice of hunting very high and even had a code of honor to do it. Was this woman one of them?

"You're a Kaji, then," he concluded, withdrawing the lance from her visor and stepping back. Didn't expect one of them to be with the ADD... Rahs thought, as he checked the whole cockpit to assimilate the damage. The whole main console was pretty wrecked, and some other panels around the chair were going to be changed completely for new ones. He groaned at the amount of damage she had to do to lose at the end. It was very annoying for him. "What's your name then?" Rahs asked to Nallia, even though he didn't turn to see her.

He turned around, going to a corner in the cockpit, just next to Lira's cage. The syrictae didn't even glance at Lira as he passed by the cage and to a weird kind of box in the corner, that after opening it, revealed an emergency control panel. The box would be able to withstand even a big explosion, but he knew that there was at least one trap there, but probably wouldn't be activated now that the huntress surrendered. "You okay there?" He kicked Lira's cage lightly, trying to get an answer for her. After some many stuff that happened in so little time, and being her first time outside the forest she lived, he was actually worried if she had any kind of shock.

Course is maintained... I can still pilot it somewhat through here... Time to see the real damage... Not directing a word to the pair of women in the room, he left the cockpit to his own quarters. They were only able to hear a loud slam after a while, and seconds later Rahs returned to the cockpit. "Come here, you..." He had seen the damage Nallia had done to his helmet. His eyes were filled with anger still, and he put the lance he still held through a hole in a broken panel. When the huntress would comply, he pointed to the floor next to Lira's cage, obviously ordering her to sit there. Rahs would sit on his damaged chair afterwards, looking at the two of them with rage. Even Lira wouldn't be able to escape his own killing glare.

"You got some good powers..." He said all of a sudden, killing the silence, to Lira. "But I'm still not sure if I should help you. What good is there for me to rescue you from Oliver?" He asked, moving his chair a bit, and a finger running through the cut left by Nallia's katana. "Do you know what a mercenary is? When you pay me something I'll consider taking you of there for real," the syrictae added, resting his head on the palm of his hand, the elbow resting on the chair.

Jumping slightly at the kick to her cage, the fight having left her stunned into silence, she was finally brought back to reality and finally said "Uh-huh. I'm fine." With him so close now she could see the cracks spidering along the side of his helmet and looking over to the woman sitting on the floor, seemingly out of breath after the vicious kick to her abdomen.

Her eyes followed her captor as he left leaving the two women alone in the damaged room. Not thinking to say anything to the defeated woman she sat in silence, hearing a loud slam from somewhere and soon after Rahs returned. Obviously still angry he ordered the defeated huntress to sit on the floor next to her cage and watching as she complied her gaze then returned to the damaged chair he sat in, catching his angry glare as he looked at the two of them.

"A mercenary? So you work for whoever pays more?" she asked him, understanding the concept but just wanting to be sure. Quieting for a time to think she finally asked, the cuffs rattling as she adjusted her hands around her chest, "But what could I even give you? I don't have anything, quite literally." The blush that marked her face seemed to be making a permanent home there, as the mercenary's eyes rested on her bare flesh.

When Rahs suggested that she had been working for Oliver a scowl crossed her face and she snapped back. Don't insult me by implying that I would work for filth like that or do anything that would assist him in any way. If it hadn't been for the fact I was already on a hunt that disgusting shuro would be dead by now!

Nallia continued to watch him, and as he concluded that she was a Kaji she was slightly surprised. Not many species even knew of the Kaji's existence, let alone their name. Suddenly her mind did a double take, How could he link her with Kaji? She was the first female Kaji to ever set foot off a Ruiel, if he knew about Kaji than he would have a physical description, they were fairly unique. But she looked nothing like them.

However she dismissed that thought pattern as he reviewed the damage and asked her name. Nallia V'latora.

She watched as he turned to the emergency control panel and started checking their course. If it hadn't been for the fact she had surrendered Nallia would have muddled up his navigation data so that he would be taken straight into the path of her Ruiel, which would trigger the proximity alarm and call in every male hunter in the sector, which would be at least five. Since Nallia had gotten so close to killing him she doubted he would be able to defend against even one. But she had surrendered, and that option was unavailable as a result.

Nallia continued to watch in smug silence as he left the room, probably to see just what her strike had done to his mask. She remained where she was, and a smirk came onto her face at the loud slam. By the time he was back it was gone, but traces reappeared at the anger in his voice. When he ordered her to approach she did, and when he ordered her to sit next to the cage she did. She dropped easily to her knees in what would at first appear to be a gesture of submission, but also allowed her to rise with no wasted movement or time.

Nallia held his glare, and her visor looked back at him. In what would probably annoy him more her visor was completely unmarked from his lance's strike, and her armour had almost fully repaired itself. She waited in silence as Rahs informed the female that he was a mercenary and what he could do. However when the winged female replied that she didn't have anything to offer Nallia realised that their might be a way to ensure the winged female remained free.

Don't bother. If he had honour he could be trusted to uphold a deal, but if he had honour he wouldn't be enslaving someone with no means of defending themselves.

Nallia... He would never forget that name. The name of the first being outside Syrictova that damaged a part of his armor. He had heard her say he shouldn't insult her by considering that she worked with the slaver controlling these three beings' fates. Her disgust to work with Oliver not only made him learn that shuro meant slaver, but also confirmed his suspicion that she was a Kaji. What he heard about their appearances did not match Nallia's, but those were all male, he was told, or at least something like that. He could only deduce that all females were like her, or either she was a very unique case, or the least possible of all, that she was taken in by one of them and trained like one.

All possibilities led to the same fact, anyway, so it didn't matter at all to Rahs. Not even the fact that her visor and armor were still like new mattered to him. He knew her armor was better and his own was actually a very old version he had brought since he left his home planet. But what bothered him was the fact that of the two of them, he felt he was the only one that came out wounded, obviously worrying about the cut in his helmet.

"Yes, that's what mercenaries do, usually." He confirmed Lira's concept about mercenaries, and saying nothing in the silence afterwards, only drawing the lance to his other hand magnetically and twirling it in his grasp, as if bored in the situation they were in. His eyes, however, were on the heron, watching her carefully. It would probably embarrass her, but he was actually trying to think whether to help her or not. But he felt a punch to his guts when Nallia spoke after Lira, saying he had no honor.

If it's gonna be fine after all, why not? Rahs thought, referring to the action he did next. The blunt part of the lance went straight for the huntress' face again, annoyed by her comment. He had a code of honor too. Sure, his was more based on battle, but it was at least the most evident form of honor he could protect. Even as a mercenary, he had always considered to never abort a mission, and he had never done such a thing. "I don't work for the one who pays the most. I work for the one that comes first. I will definitely take you with Oltrize, but if you offer any kind of payment, and help with beating those guards of his, I'll try to get you out of there. If you rather, I can wait for a time until you somehow have something to pay with, or I can also extract my payment."

"Really?" Lira asked Nallia, thinking that it sounded reasonable but she wasn't sure of the woman's motivations let alone the mercenary's. Not putting too much thought into it she returned her gaze back to the mercenary, starting to squirm under his constant gaze on her bare flesh.

After he explained his work further he could easily tell that it wasn't the anwser she was hoping for. But in trying to keep some shred of hope she said "I told you I would help you fight them. But I don't see how I could ever have anything to offer you." As she sat there she thought over what he said to her, something catching her attention as she repeated it in her mind and finally she asked "Wait...What do you mean by extracting payment?"

As the butt of the lance smashed into her face again Nallia was sprawled backwards, and she caught the faintest trace of a smell as she moved back. SHIT! As the thought raced through her mind she let the impact spin her around and slammed her nose against the floor. She clutched at her nose, and as her fingers checked it was still intact and unmarked she slipped two fingers into her nostrils which quickly repositioned the nose plugs. Considering she was needling Rahs, and would probably do so again, what she was about to do was probably a bad idea, although she doubted the same trick would work twice. Her back had been completely to Rahs, and she had been positioned as such that he would have been unable to see her fingers enter her nostrils. As she turned her hands reached up to the visor and pulled it off, revealing her yellow eyes. The skin on either side of her eyes had a thin coating of blood, but she simply wiped it off with the back of her hand.

By the time she recovered and returned to her position, her yellow eyes glaring at Rahs as they constantly darted around the room, Lira had asked what he meant by payment. Lira sighed, and as she did so her head subtly shifted to increase her field of view. Rahs would probably notice the way her eyes darted around, the way those eyes instantly settled on anything that moved, and the way her head rotated a few degrees every second, ensuring that she missed nothing of the environment around her. He means to fuck you. At least have the decency to come straight out to her and speak in words she will understand. The first part was directed at the caged female, the second at Rahs.

The mercenary sat silently, watching how Lira started to talk to Nallia, who was obviously trying to do her best to ruin anything that had to do with Rahs. The heron girl reassured him of her intention to help him, though he wasn't so sure of her usefulness. She obviously had nothing else on her to offer, but it was her body that he would use, some way or another.

He was just going to answer to Lira as suddenly Nalia started to say Rahs was meaning to have sex with Lira. His eyes darted to the huntress, who had removed her visor and he could finally see those yellow eyes that kept looking around the cockpit to be aware of everything around her. She had a small trail of blood on the back of her hand and kept looking around. Just to prove to himself she was watching everything, his foot lightly tapped the floor. In reality, this also expressed his anger at the huntress.

"Stop talking," Rahs said to Nallia, switching his gaze over the two females. "I was actually planning to employ her to help repair my helmet, but your idea does not seem so bad..." He added, just in time for the Sky Breaker's computer voice echo through the cockpit 10 MINUTES LEFT TO ARRIVE AT OLTRIZE IVETIU RETOC'S STATION. Maybe the battle had lasted longer than expected. Rahs looked behind him, through the cockpit's windows and to the space outside. A small orange point seemed to shine in the distance. "Okay... I'll help you out... It looks like it will be a fun battle anyway. Afterwards, I'll be sure to think of a reward for this," the mercenary told Lira as he stood up. He left the cockpit carrying the lance and went towards his quarters, where he would start to wear the rest of his full armor.

"What?!" she asked, quickly looking towards the huntress and her voice sounded as if the prospect of Nallia's idea even being remotely true obviously scared the naive young girl. As she looked as Nallia, Lira finally noticed that she had removed whatever she saw covering her face revealing her yellow eyes and a thin trail of blood on the side of her head next to her eyes.She looked slightly concerned about Nallia as the huntress had wiped off the trail of blood off with her hand.

But her attention quickly returned to her own problems as she looked to both of them quickly and asked, "You aren't serious right? I'm still.... She stopped suddenly looking down as if she was too embarassed to say what would come next. Her tone would have likely given her away to the perceptive fighters but only time would tell.

But before their minds had much time to linger on her words a voice echoed through the room. They were near the destination, and as Rahs said he would help her Lira breathed a sigh of relief although it was obvious that she was still worried about what Nallia said he would want as payment.

When Rahs' foot tapped Nallia's eyes suddenly locked on it, but only for a moment. She knew that she was irritating him, but she had surrendered her body not her mind. Her body would serve him, for a time at least, but her mind remained her own and she would talk as such. Although when Rahs told her to stop talking and started to claim that he just wanted her to help fixing his mask she sneered and prepared to reply to what she thought of that. Her voice was part of her mind, not her body and she would not accept the order to be quiet.

However that changed when the proximity alert went off, informing them all that they were ten minutes away from the station. Nallia watched as Rahs said he would help, and take a reward afterwards. She waited until he had left to fit his armour before she rose and started moving throughout the room to the various consoles she had damaged. Removing the broken and shattered pieces of glass she drew out a thin cylinder and she moved it across the edge of each monitor, and a thin liquid seeps out over the monitors. As it travels across the glass it starts to rebuild the broken displays, and within seconds the monitor is repaired and she moves on to the next.

While she is fixing the monitors her hands also recover the various explosives she had left around the cockpit and other traps. However while she worked she decided to try and draw the winged female out. That was the fate I was trying to save you from. His employer wants you as a sex slave, and whatever he says he wants you as well. I have a couple of surprises scattered around that slaver's compound, and if I will promise to do my best to get you out before he gets the chance. But I doubt I will be able to. Can I ask you something? If I promise to do everything in my power to get you away would you agree to help the organisation I am a part of? The ADD tries to put a stop to the slave trade and I think they would welcome one such as yourself.

The mercenary had just finished putting on a pair of pauldrons as suddenly a small holographic window appeared on the wall before him. His quarters and the cockpit where the only places were the situation in other places inside the ship were shown through video. The voice coming Nallia without Rahs being there activated the window and he let it show.

As he put on the breastplate and real greaves, he could see how Nallia had stood up and started to move around the panels. He watched the video silently, but got a little surprised when the agent started talking. She was actually trying to persuade Lira into joining the ADD. Now, that would normally be okay with Rahs if he hadn't known the heron girl, but it was not okay now that he actually was trying to help her. The syrictae had honestly tried to do his best to help Lira in her current situation since he knew how difficult it was to just jump into the unknown and try to survive. Though it was possible that the ADD would help the winged girl, they would obviously make him her enemy, and possibly even offer her some "revenge" for trying to slave her. In that moment Rahs could practically see into the future and how he would be forced to actually fight her, seemingly destroying the promise he made to himself to at least protect until she could take care of herself or send her in a good direction, very much like what he wished for when leaving Syrictova.

... Huh... But that was Lira's decision as much as he would want to interfere. He probably could only talk her into not joining just like Nallia did, but every decision had its consequences. Rahs closed the holographic display and walked out of the room, taking a pair of handcuffs with him and the lance he used earlier. He walked into the cockpit, looking first at Nallia, not caring about the damaged panels anymore, and then down at Lira. "You're gonna have a cell mate," the mercenary said to the heron, opening the cage and then ordering Nallia to walk to him so he would place the handcuffs. The station was looming ever closer and, the ship giving the 5 minute warning, and they would probably appear on their radar by then. Even as they got warned of their proximity to the station, Rahs kept looking at Lira, not at her bare flesh anymore, but rather straight at her eyes with a solemn worry, knowing exactly of the decision offered to her. But first things first... and he sighed.