Azan clapped the female on the shoulder. “Excellent! We shall go there!”
Terri’s lips curved as she allowed her arm to be taken by her friend.
“This day is suddenly becoming a lot more interesting. I will have much to regale Wendy with this evening.”
Terri arched an eyebrow at the female’s sudden exuberance.
“Speaking of Wendy… does she mind you being gone guarding me like this?”
The Blaithari chuckled. “I will have to tell her that you asked that. According to my dearest human, I need to find a hobby so that I am not forever plaguing her while she tries to work on our accounts and logs. It is a bit of a mess she inherited, and she is still trying to put it right. She is likely thanking you for every hour of peace she gets on the occasional shifts I take to relieve Navesha,” she grumbled.
Terri had to agree that it was odd how frequently Navesha needed to tend to some matter or another. While Dreth took a secondary guard position, following at a greater distance, he was always present. Navesha was the only one among them who regularly disappeared. It was difficult to wholly trust the female to be reliable. She had suspected her briefly after her attack until she learned that Navesha had been visibly recorded on all monitoring systems attending to her tasks. But the female’s absences—who had sworn to protect her—were almost as strange as Veral’s. Argurmas took oaths very seriously as far as she understood...yet lately she was starting to feel like she never understood anything about the species at all with the strange behavior being displayed.
Blowing out a deep breath, Terri followed Malraha’s lead along unfamiliar corridors as Azan fell into step behind her. Many Argurma paused in surprise as they passed by, but none so much as those who halted in their sparring as she entered the large, padded training room.
Terri slowed, aware of their eyes upon her as they watched her cross the floor. They stopped when they finally came to a series of target droids that Malraha decided to select from. As the female leaned forward to peer over at them, Azan craned her neck to watch.
“Do not go easy,” she advised as she wrinkled her nose at a sleek droid.
Malraha gave the Blaithari a doubtful look, but at Terri’s nod, she returned the droid and went down to another section, earning a grunt of approval from the pirate. Even as the female’s eyes scanned them, fingers deftly selecting one droid after another of various shapes and thickness, most of them larger than a human, Terri couldn’t help but to fidget under the weight of attention.
A male nearby chuffed to the female at his side as they watched the droids trail behind them.
“It is Veral’s shame that he mates with a weak offworlder—we have all seen how he distances himself from her, as she must also—but now she thinks she will impress us with this display? For what purpose?”
“Perhaps to win her mate’s affection back?” the female murmured. “It is admirable to attempt to return honor to her mate, but those droids will injure her, and it will just make her situation worse, especially for a gravid female. A foolish endeavor. Should we stop her?”
The male’s lip curled ever so slightly at the corner in a smug smile.
“Allow her to humiliate herself. Perhaps then she will creep back to her quarters where she belongs rather than force her presence among us.”
Terri’s back stiffened with indignation, but she was gratified all the same to hear the female hiss angrily at her companion.
“There is nothing objectionable about her presence here. She is his mate. I would prefer any offworlder to being alone if I failed to bond.”
The male grunted, unmoved by her anger. “Be pleased that you bonded with me rather than a lesser being. Veral had found in his mate a being of nothing but soft, weak flesh. A female who is easily broken. I share no concern for her. The droids will not harm a gravid female. If she suffers a bruised or broken limb, it is something easily repaired by the medic. What is not so easy to repair will be her humiliation. She will learn that she is not fit mate to an Argurma.”
A low growl escaped from between Terri’s teeth.Weak, my ass!Sure, she was pregnant, but she had been training throughout, not sitting on her ass eating candies. She was accustomed to activity and sparring. Gritting her teeth, she strode over to her guard and pointed to a boxy droid with enormous metal hands. She had practiced with target droids before onThe Wanderer. All it took was enough critical successful strikes for it to register her victory. This model was one she had recently graduated to.
“Malraha, this one first.”
The female nodded and activated the droid’s programming. A bright strip of light that ran down the side of its head flashed, and it turned and approached Terri with aggressive strides. As expected, it moved easily on its feet, making it an effective target, its huge hands grasping for her. Terri ducked out of the range of its hands, her arm lifting as she summoned her blunted whips. It moved quick, lunging at her in progressively faster strikes, but Terri managed to stay just barely ahead of her as she snapped her whips out, catching it time and again with loud, cracking blows. Though sweat noticeably slickened the back of her robe from exertion, she didn’t hold back her triumphant grin when the droid flashed red and dropped away.
A laugh escaped her amid the approving murmur of her gathered audience. A second and a third droid followed, each of them dispatched after a grueling battle, and each bolstering her confidence a little more as her symbiont responded with deadly accuracy. She was actually having fun!
It seemed to be catching, because even Malraha appeared to be affected by it. Her vibrissae were twitching with obvious excitement as she readied the fourth target droid.
Loud growls and hisses, however, had her turning her head to meet Azan’s grin from where she was propped against the nearest wall. Terri bit back another laugh at the female’s satisfied smile among the glowering males surrounding her. She had known what she was doing when she told Malraha to not go easy and now was reaping the profit. She had clearly been engaged in taking bets with the Argurmas near her.
Shaking her head with amusement, Terri turned to face her newest target. The droid was considerably larger than the others had been, but it was a natural progression as far as Terri could tell. Unlike the others, however, it was studded with spikes, including two club-like appendages extending from its arms. She whistled low as she looked it over. Definitely going to be more of a challenge. She didn’t relish the thought of being whacked with those mallets, no matter how it was programmed. It was sure to leave bruises on her arms and legs despite the fact that it wouldn’t be more than a sharp sting to an Argurma. It was nothing that would kill her, however, and the droids didn’t target the torso so she had little to worry about with her baby outside of being a bit more winded and weighed down. At worst, she would be sore and humiliated.
She braced as the droid immediately spun in her direction, far quicker than she expected. She jerked in surprise when it rushed her, the club-like extensions of its arms lifting as it swung at her in deadly earnest. It moved so fast that Terri barely managed to hop out of the way, her eyes widening with worry as she felt the sharp breeze fan her face from its swing. That would have done more than bruise if it had connected… It would have taken her head off!
Was that supposed to happen?
An alarmed growl sounded behind her, indicating that it sure as hell wasn’t.
“Comm Veral. The droid is malfunctioning,” Malraha barked in panic to Azan. “It is somehow set on combat settings. That should not be possible! All the droids for target training are supposed to have locked programming. Its programming must be corroded. Clear the room!”