The Refugee (The Korvali Chronicles Book 1) (13 page)

When, they reached the cliff’s peak, they could see the ocean to the west, more steep cliffs to the north, and Ronia to the east. The restaurant host greeted them and took them to a shaded table overlooking the ocean. Tom and Snow drank beer and chatted, but Catherine said little. She was worried about Eshel. When they descended the cliff and made their way to the beach, Catherine led them to the area she and Anka had gone to.

They searched the entire area. Eshel was nowhere to be seen. When they tried to contact him, they got no response.
 

Catherine felt a sense of panic as she looked around for Sunai. Tom cursed.

“Whoa… wait a minute…” Tom said. He studied his contactor. “I’ve got him. The signal’s pretty weak, but he’s out in the water somewhere.”

Relief flooded her. “He’s swimming.” She looked at Tom’s contactor. “He gave you permission to track him?”

Tom grinned. “He didn’t have much of a choice.”

And within minutes, Eshel emerged from the water.
 

Catherine sat down as Tom finished shuffling the cards and dealt the first hand.
 

“So how’d your date with Kate go?” Shanti asked Tom.
 

“We had a good time,” Tom replied.
 

“And?” Shanti pressed.
 

“Does there have to be an ‘and’?” Tom peeked at his cards.
 

“Are you going out with her again?”
 

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it yet.” He leaned back in his chair and took a sip of beer. “I have another date tomorrow.”

“You’re a jerk,” Shanti said, shaking her head.
 

“I’m not a jerk,” Tom argued politely, with a hint of cockiness. “I’m a guy with options. I don’t like to rush into anything.” Zander and Middleton laughed at this.
 

“You’re so full of shit,” Snow said, flinging a poker chip at Tom.

The others tossed down their cards when they realized Shanti had beaten them. After Shanti scooped up her pot, Tom gathered the cards and began shuffling them again.
 

“Where’s Eshel tonight?” Shanti asked.
 

“He didn’t want to play,” Tom said with a shrug.
 

“Still shook up over the Sunai thing?” Snow asked.
 

“Nah. But Ferguson is. Word has it she’s so afraid of the shit she’ll get if something happens to him that she almost banned him from leaving the ship at all. Now one of us has to go with him anytime he leaves.” Tom looked at Shanti with a grin. “Why do you ask about Esh? You interested in gettin’ a little alien love?”

The others laughed while Shanti reached over and smacked Tom. “No!” she cried. “And I don’t date otherworlders!”
 

“Oh come on! It’s not that big a deal,” Tom said, peeking at his cards.
 

“My parents would kill me,” Shanti said, a look of embarrassment on her dark face. “And I have nothing against anyone, but I just can’t imagine… that.”

“Me neither,” Middleton said, shaking his head. “Nasty.”
 

“I can,” Tom said. “Sunai females. Any day, any time.”

“You would?” Zander asked, fascinated. “Isn’t that banned?”

“You would really do that?” Middleton added. “You would do it with an alien?”

“Middleton, unlike yourself, I’ll try anything once.” Tom tossed a stack of chips into the pot. “Yes, Z, it’s banned. And that’s exactly why I want to do it. The more the males try to protect them from us, and the more the Alliance says to leave them alone to avoid pissing off the males, the more I want to do dirty, dirty things with them.”
 

The guys laughed.
 

“Tom!” Shanti cried, smacking him again.
 

Catherine stifled a laugh as she peeked at her cards.
A pair of twos. In bad position
. She folded.
 

“You sure you don’t want me to set you up with Esh?” Tom asked Shanti. “He could use… something.”

“Does Eshel like girls?” Zander asked. “I’ve never seen him even look at one. He barely noticed when Kate dropped by last week. And she is beauuuuuutiful.” He called Tom’s bet.
 

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Tom said. “He goes mute if I bring up that topic. I’ve introduced him to girls, and… nothing. No matter what their looks, personality, rank, or cup size… he doesn’t care.” He looked around at the others. “Zander even showed us an image of this gorgeous woman… human, of course… it showed
everything
. No response. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“He’s probably a fag,” Middleton said with a sly grin.

“Shut up, Mackey,” Shanti told him.
 

“What?” Middleton cried. “He could be!”
 

Tom shook his head. “I can spot a homo anywhere. He’s not gay.”

“Maybe he’s kind of… asexual,” Zander said.
 

Catherine shook her head. “Impossible. They’re too similar to us to reproduce asexually.”

Zander shook his head. “No, not like that. I mean maybe he’s not into girls like we are. Maybe they just do it to have kids or something.”
 

Catherine wondered what Eshel would think of people speculating about his sexual tendencies. Anthropologists had attempted to observe the Korvali from afar, while hovering just outside the border of Korvali space, but even state-of-the-art instruments lacked adequate power to capture anything useful. Attempts to allow ships to observe at a closer distance were vetoed by the Alliance, despite numerous objections from Sunai and human groups… including the Space Corps.
 

After playing for a couple of hours, Catherine folded her cards and stood up. “I have to go,” Catherine said.
 

“Why?” Tom asked. “Where do you have to be at this hour?”
 

She smiled. “A little side project I’ve been working on.” She said her goodbyes and left.
 

Catherine sat down for second meal. Tom and Snow had half devoured their chicken and dumplings; Eshel’s full plate of ornon indicated that he’d just sat down. She was glad they were all there. She had news.

“What’s up, Finnegan?” Tom asked her, his words muffled from his full mouth.

“I’ll tell you what’s up. I found out that the CCFs will be here—
in Ronia
—in a couple of months.”
 

The three men looked up from their plates, their attention on her.
 

“What?” Tom said. “Are you sure? The Calyyt-Calloq Fights are coming here? Why didn’t I hear about this?”
 

“They haven’t announced it yet. The authorities who handled the assault case told me. I think they assumed I’d be interested,” she added with a smile.
 

“About damn time we get to see the fights live,” Snow said. “Which days? I need to make sure O’Leary will let me off duty.”
 

Catherine checked her contactor. “April sixth through eighth.”
 

“Alright,” Tom announced, rapping his hand on the table. “I’m ordering tickets for all three days, the best seats we can get. Who’s in?”

“I’m in,” Snow said.
 

“I am as well,” Eshel said, “if my CO will allow it.”

Tom grinned. “No need to worry, Esh. I’ll set it up so all the guys get to go. We’ll run a skeleton crew on those days. And Marks loves the CCs too, so he won’t give me any shit about it. Man, how lucky is this? Right here in Ronia!” He looked at Catherine. “Will the old man give you the time off? You never take leave, so you must have some time accrued.”
 

“I do,” she replied. “But I only need a ticket for Day Three.”
 

“Why?” Tom said. “You only want to watch the famous guys? Days One and Two are when you get the otherworlders and the crazy, unexpected stuff.”

“I know, Tom. I’ll be busy the other two days.” She paused. “I’m going to compete.”

The guys looked at Catherine, her news registering on their faces. Tom reacted first. “What do you mean, you’re going to compete?”

“I’m an official competitor. They told me I’ll probably compete on Day Two.”

“I thought you didn’t like competing,” Snow said in disbelief.

“I don’t. But I want to try it.”

“No,” Tom said, shaking his head. “No. The CCFs are dangerous, Finnegan. You could get hurt. You know how the Calyyt fight.”

“I know. But I may never get this opportunity again. And you said yourself I should seek out more adventure,” she added, stirring her food with her fork.
 

“Yeah,” Tom said, “through soldier training.
Soldier training
. Not getting the shit beat out of you by some mute Neuter with a mean streak.”
 

Snow laughed. Catherine, despite herself, chuckled a little at the insult.
 

“I’m serious, Catherine,” Tom said.
 

Catherine stopped laughing. When Tom called her by her given name, she knew he wasn’t kidding around. Eshel and Snow said nothing, waiting to see what Tom would say next.
 

“This isn’t one of your little grappling competitions,” Tom went on. “It’s dangerous. I’ve watched the CCFs for years and they’re insane.”

“Tom, I know what they’re like. I’ve watched them, too.”

He gave her a disapproving look. “I’ve seen countless men a lot bigger than you sustain serious head injuries. What about that guy last year? Same training as you… in the martial arts… it took two days of surgery to repair the damage. Two days!”

“I’m doing it,” she said, her tone resolute.
 

Tom shook his head. “Stubborn as a mule.” He paused. “What’s Jimmy going to say? He won’t want his only daughter fighting in the CCFs.”

“I’m not telling him until afterward. And you better not say anything to him,” she warned.
 

Out of arguments, Tom waved his hand at her as if done trying to talk sense into her.
 

Then it was Snow’s turn. “Don’t get mad, alright? But I think I’ve seen two, maybe three females fight in the CCFs. It wasn’t pretty. They don’t have the strength to keep up with those guys.”

She took a forkful of food. “Strength helps. But skill determines who’s victorious, Snow. Why do you think the Calyyt can beat the Sunai, who are so much larger? And the reason there are so few females in the CCFs is because most of them can’t pass the assessments.”

Eshel chose that moment to speak. “Assessments?”

“If you’ve never competed in the CCs, they have to evaluate your skills before they’ll allow you to get in the ring.”

“You have passed them?”
 

She nodded.
 

“What did Commander Yamamoto say about your decision?” Eshel asked.
 

“I haven’t told him either,” she admitted with some chagrin. “He won’t approve. He hates the CCFs.”
 

Tom sighed. “Alright, alright.” He held up his cup. “Here’s to the CCs.”
 

The others raised their cups and clinked them with Tom’s.
 

Eshel turned to Tom. “What is the meaning of ‘Neuter’?”

Tom grimaced slightly. “Ah, it’s just a joke. You know… because the Calyyt don’t have male and female.”

“Do you also have disparaging names for Derovians and Sunai?”

“Absolutely,” Tom said. “Derovians are Smileys… that one’s obvious. To me, that’s the least insulting of the bunch, but they detest it… they’ll turn as blue as the ocean if you even come close to saying it. As for the Sunai…”

“Don’t say it, man,” Snow warned.
 

Catherine shook her head as well.
 

“What is the purpose of such names?” Eshel asked.

“What,” Tom said, “the Korvali don’t have insulting ways of labeling us?”

Eshel remained silent.

If you want to start a fight, bring in a Sunai.
 

If you want to break up a fight, bring in a Derovian.
 

If you want to win a fight, bring in a Calyyt.
 

– author unknown
 

Once committed to compete, Catherine spent much of her spare time training for the event. She asked Holloway to practice Calyyt-style grappling with her; he was her best option on the ship. Holloway’s thick build and greater strength were good practice for her, and solid grappling skills were key to fighting the Calyyt. Eshel, whose interest in self-defense had continued to increase, asked if he could observe her and Holloway as they trained. He even offered up their Sunday morning training time, where Catherine would practice with Holloway and then use some of their training as a way to show Eshel new techniques.

Calyyt fighters were famous… and feared. Nearly everyone remotely skilled in boxing, wrestling, or the martial arts hoped for the opportunity to fight them. However, those opportunities were rare, as the CCFs only took place on Calyyt-Calloq, Suna, and Derovia, and most humans couldn’t afford to travel that far to compete. As such, the CCFs didn’t see many humans. Earth had its own version of the fights; but much of the enjoyment of watching the CCFs came from the unusual pairings of otherworld fighters.
 

Despite being slightly smaller than humans, the Calyyt were like bundles of unpredictable and highly skilled power, often beating opponents larger than themselves, including the Sunai. Legend had it that the Calyyt learned their skills wrestling a dangerous predator on their planet: the moyyt-toq, large reptile-like creatures that resided in the rocky outcrops of the planet’s arid regions. Most notably, when a Calyyt fighter got in the ring with an otherworlder, the Calyyt usually won.
 

To match up fighters for competition, the Calyyt organizers utilized algorithms that they’d refined over centuries, based on information they gleaned during the assessments. After assessing her skills, Catherine had stood in puzzlement as two silent Calyyt poked, sniffed, scanned, and measured her, their pungent but not unpleasant bodily odor wafting up to her.