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Prologue
Somewhere in a place only tenuously connected to this universe an entity contemplated its options as it admired the beauty of the gravitational waves produced by the multitude of collapsed stars.. Once more the insects were attempting to interfere with the great work. This could not be tolerated. It would deal with them as it had done countless times before in the preceding eons whenever their presence hindered it's work . And when it was through it would incorporate their suns into its art. But some of the insects would flee and resume their meaningless actions. It was an almost endless cycle one that would continue until the insects all became part of the great work. It might take eons more but eventually it would succeed. It had all eternity at its disposal.
Alternity 2 - Chapter 1
Date: CY 10091 - AD Mar 5168 Day 1
Location: Andromeda Ascendant forward exercise room. In orbit over
the planet Doheny
"Is that the best you can do, kludge?" said the Nietzschean to the blonde haired man lying at his feet. As he spoke he placed his right foot on the man's throat and began to slowly press down. The man began to gasp for breath and paw futilely at the foot that was slowly cutting off his air supply.
"Tyr, stop! You're hurting him!" exclaimed the purple skinned young woman sitting beside the mat in the starship's gymnasium.
"If I wanted to hurt your husband girl, he would already be dead."
"Trance is right though," said the blonde haired woman sitting beside the younger woman. You're supposed to be training us in hand to hand combat. Harper isn't going to be learning much if you choke him unconscious."
Tyr removed his foot from the prostrate man's throat. "Get up kludge," he sneered.
"Don't call me that!" shouted Harper as he scrambled to his feet and began to attack his opponent. His swings were wild, fueled by an irrational anger. Tyr blocked them with contemptuous ease then knocked Harper to the mat again with a blow to the lower ribs.
"Focus little man," ordered Tyr as he looked down at the man once more lying at his feet and gasping for breath. "You're letting your anger use you. Anger is a weapon your enemies will use against you. Now get up and try again."
Harper got to his feet once more and began another attack. His strikes were still filled with anger but this time they were controlled.
"Better, kludge."
At the word kludge, the younger man's face once more twisted in fury. The Nietzschean used the momentary loss of focus to knock him to the mat once more. This time rather than following up with his feet he offered the younger man a hand. As he helped Harper up to his feet he spoke to him in a tone of voice low enough that only Harper could hear. "They're words boy, nothing more. They can only hurt you if you are fool enough to let them." Then in a louder tone of voice he added "Enough, we will continue training tomorrow."
The combatants left to go their quarters, Harper and his wife, her tail wrapped protectively around him, headed down one corridor towards their quarters while Tyr and Beka went down another one.
"Weren't you kind of hard on him?" she asked. "You know how much he hates to be called kludge."
"Not nearly as hard as one of my kind would be in a real fight. He had better learn not to let insults effect him. Combat isn't only physical, it's mental as well, and if he doesn't master the mental portion he'll die, and maybe take me with him. I have no intention of dying because of his weakness, so I will be calling him kludge and worse until he learns."
"Give him a break, Tyr. You know his history. How he was treated by the Dragans on Earth."
The Nietzschean gave Beka a sharp look. "What makes you think only humans have been harmed by the Drago-Kazov's?"
"I'm not sure I understand. They're just about everyone's enemy"
"What do you know about the remains of Drago Museveni?"
"Uh, some sort of Nietzschean holy relics?"
"Drago Museveni's remains are the one thing that any Nietzschean would die for. The one thing we value above our own lives. They were the sacred trust of the my pride, the Kodiak, to protect and defend. When I was eleven, the Drago-Kazov Pride attacked the Kodiak, our allies who had pledged to assist us should the remains be endangered abandoned us. The remains were taken by the Drago-Kazov's, and the few of us who survived the attack were taken as slaves
"When I was sixteen I was sold to the diamond mines on Xochitil. One day while working in the mines, I noticed that the main support for my section had rotted through. I pointed it out to the overseers, but instead of fixing the problem, they cut my rations and doubled my work shifts. A week later, the ceiling collapsed, burying me alive two hundred meters under ground. I clawed my way out over the bodies of the dead. I escaped into the desert. I lived on seep-water and sand rats for an entire season. And then, one night after I'd healed, I visited the overseers and thanked them for their conscientious attention to worker safety. Later I stowed away on a freighter and escaped the planet. When I arrived at a place of relative safety I , Tyr Anazazi out of Victoria by Barbarosa, vowed that some day I would do to the Drago Kazov's and those who abandoned us what the Drago-Kazov's did to the Kodiak."
"I'm sorry, Tyr." There was a gentleness in Beka's voice that hadn't been there before. " I didn't know. I guess you're right, Harper isn't the only one who has reason to hate the Dragans."
Tyr's voice softened a bit as well. "There was no reason you should have known Beka." Then a bit more brusquely, "We have a staff meeting in one hour and I suggest that you take a shower before the conference with our captain. I would hate to offend Dylan's delicate olfactory senses with the smell of our sweat. "
As he spoke he place his hand on her shoulder and pushed her gently in the direction of her quarters. It seemed to Beka that his hand lingered a shade longer than was truly necessary
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