Fracture - Book One of the Glass Galaxy Trilogy

Chapter 18: Revelations

Reaper glared at me, her efforts to hide her annoyance at my interruption failing, "I understand that you've been formally trained in this style, Kalani, so maybe you like to give us a demonstration?"

I shrugged, rolling my shoulders and stretching my arms, "Sure, it'll be a good morning workout. I'm gonna need a rifle and a partner though."

Reaper looked at someone in the crowd and flicked her head towards me, then Pete stood up and walked over to me. He handed me one of two laser rifles as shoddy looking as the ship, "I'll be your partner."

I nodded to him and we went up to the front of the assembly, standing a few metres apart with our rifles in our hands. "Are we allowed to shoot?" Pete asked Reaper.

She shrugged, "Sure, I don't see any reason not too."

"I think that it will actually showcase the style better if you do genuinely try to shoot me," I said as I wrapped my laser rifle's strap around my torso and braced my feet.

Pete shrugged and leveled his laser rifle at me without hesitation, pulling the trigger at the same moment that I dived forwards. His laser rifle let out a high-pitch whine as its blast narrowly missed my head, and I came up from my roll as swiftly as I could manage, my leg muscles protesting as I flung myself towards Pete. He tried to get his rifle pointed at me but I batted it aside with one hand and slammed my shoulder into him, sending him stumbling back. I grabbed my laser rifle and leveled it at Pete, miming shooting him as he recovered his balance.

Then I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I let go of my laser rifle and spun to face Reaper, deflecting the butt of her shot-lancer and seizing her forearm tightly. I spun away from her and heaved on her arm, twisting my wrist as she was thrown over my back and onto the floor in front of me with a heavy thud, her weight surprising me. As she lay one her back, gasping for breath, I mimicked shooting her too.

The room was silent for a moment, Reaper's labored breathing the only sound as she rolled over, and then the pirates burst into excited cheering. I held out a hand to Reaper and she, after eyeing it for a moment, took it, pulling herself back to her feet. "Why didn't you do that to me the first time we met?" she asked.

"At the time I could barely see you in all the smoke," I lied, "so I didn't know if you had a blade on you. Add to that the risk that your crew starts shooting into the room and the fact that I'm honestly not very confident in my melee skills, and I felt a lot safer just shooting at you from the side of the cockpit."

The corner of her mouth curled up in a smirk, "You know, you could just be honest and admit that you were afraid of me."

I opened my mouth to defend myself out of reflex, but stopped myself when I realized how she'd figured that out, "You've learned how to control your powers."

She nodded, grinning proudly, "I feel a lot better now, too. I've been trying to figure out what I can and can't do, now."

"Well you're definitely capable of reading and projecting thoughts, so it would probably be best for you to just practice that for now," I told her.

Her eyes glittered with mischief and I felt the ephemeral touch of her psychic powers probing my mind, "We both know that I'm not gonna be satisfied with just that."

I started making an effort to block my thoughts from her probing, "Reaper, you need to be careful with your powers. If you lose control of them you could cause a lot of harm to those around you."

She scoffed, looking at Abaddon, "Oh bah, don't be such a downer. You should teach Abaddon how to protect his thoughts like you do."

I shook my head, "I don't really know how I do it. It's a reflex from growing up with a psychic."