It only took me a moment to get over my surprise. Then I turned a glare on Varis, and she took a step back. Probably because she could feel the annoyance pulsing through the link.

No, this went beyond annoyance. This was just straight up anger.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said.

She was talking in a calm voice, but I could sense the worry coming through the link. Worry that I maybe was the crazy Terran I'd been pretending to be.

"Why do you keep these things from me?" I finally said. "I've told you everything I'm up to."

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Everything you're up to."

I paused. I looked at everybody in the room around us, then I looked back at her.

"I thought you trusted me. I thought I could trust you."

"You can," she said.

"Then why do you keep hiding things from me?" I asked. "The empress has been taking shots at us for the past couple of weeks now. My people are still trapped in that reclamation mine because we can't even leave the tower without the empress sending a fighter wing after us for stepping outside, let alone going off in one of your fighters or transports or whatever."

"I had to make sure you were capable. If we're going to stand up to what the empress is going to send at us, then nothing short of a fully bonded battle pair will be sufficient."

"You won't even tell me what a battle pair is."

I blinked. My voice echoed off the walls. I didn't think I'd been yelling, but the echo definitely told a different story.

Meanwhile, Varis firmed up. She stood a little straighter.

"I trust you," she said. "You should trust me."

"You have a funny way of showing that you trust me," I growled. "You should be telling me these things. Maybe I'd learn a little more about how things work on this planet if you'd actually tell me I'm in danger. If you would tell me the empress is coming for us instead of making me feel like you were taking out the bad day you had on me in the sparring chamber."

"Is that what you thought this was all about?" she asked.

"Why would I think it was anything else?" I said. "You never told me what was going on. You never so much as gave me an inkling that the empress was coming after us. You just brought me in here and started trying to beat the crap out of me. I mean, sure, we managed to use the whole link thing to keep from actually hurting each other, but still. It would've been nice to get a heads-up as to why we were sparring like that all the time."

She stared at me.

"I had to make sure you were strong enough. You're a Terran"

"Yeah, "I'm a Terran, I said. "I've gone toe-to-toe with a few livisk since we got here. I've gone toe-to-toe with you and I don't seem to be having any trouble. I've kicked your ass several times when I was in my command chair, and I destroyed every fighter the empress sent after us when I was in the cockpit of your fighter."

"But you usually require that damned power armor your people are always wearing when they fight us," she said.

"Well I'm not in any power armor now," I said, holding my arms out to my sides and doing a quick rotation. I took in all of livisk all around us. Everyone we'd fought to a standstill. Everyone we'd killed in the training sense of the word by making them go numb.

"Are you not entertained?"

One of the gentlemen raised his hand just a little. Varis turned and looked at him.

"What?"

"I… um… I just wanted to say that I'm entertained?" he said.

Varis turned and glared at me.

"I had no way of knowing how you would react to this. I had no way of knowing how you would react to knowing the most powerful woman on the planet was trying to kill you."

"I think I have a pretty good idea that the most powerful woman on the planet has been trying to kill me," I said, chuckling without any actual amusement and gesturing vaguely out the windows. "You should have told me. You need to tell me everything. That's how this is supposed to work. I can't help you if you don't let me know about these things. I can't do what I'm doing if you don't tell me about these things."

Was it fair that I was getting upset at her for keeping secrets when I was keeping secrets? Maybe not. But the secrets I was keeping were deliberate secrets she knew I was keeping. I told her I was keeping them. It was all part of the plan. Sort of.

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The secrets she was keeping were just stupid bullshit.

"You can't do what you're doing," she said, letting out a snort. "Well, you're going to find out the hard way. The empress is going to figure out a way to get to us and…"

I let out a roar. All the frustration at being kept in the dark, all the frustration of a couple of weeks of having the empress of the Livisk motherfucking Ascendancy trying to kill me, finally came bubbling over. I wasn't sure where it came from. Just that it was there, and I needed to let it out.

And I felt like it was totally justified. I'd been kidnapped and taken to this world. I'd had my crew taken from me and I had no way of making that situation better. Sure I'd been having a good time with Varis. I felt like we had a good rapport. But now I'd had even that rug pulled out from under me.

And I didn't like it.

So with a roar, I threw myself at her. I raised my practice sword and brought it down in a swipe. She had a moment to blink, her eyes going wide in surprise, and then she was bringing her own practice sword up to block it.

A few of the warriors all around the edge made a move like they were going to step in and try and save her, but with a barked command from her they all stayed back.

Good.

"What are you doing, Bill?"

"Isn't this what we're supposed to do?" I said. "Isn't this how livisk handle all their arguments? All your petty squabbles? You just fight each other and might makes right. Isn't that how things are supposed to work on this dirtball of a planet?"

That earned me some glares from the livisk assembled around us, but I ignored them. I didn't give a damn if I was insulting their planet. All I cared about was the rage burning inside me. It was all-consuming. It seemed to overwhelm even the link.

I threw myself at Varis. I brought my practice sword down and around again, and again. I tried to hit her, and I was surprised to realize I was trying for real. Like part of me had been holding back when the two of us were sparring before, but there was no holding back now.

"Bill, what are you…"

"I'm just doing things how the livisk do them," I said in a mocking tone.

She tried to bring her sword up and around. She tried to hold me off, but I smashed mine down again and again. With a cry, I brought it up and as she was pushed down to her knees. I brought it down, and her own practice sword shattered with a crackle of that same energy I'd seen when we were practicing together time and again in here.

I brought up my practice sword one final time as she looked up at me, and I was surprised to see she was smiling.

I stopped and held myself there for a long moment, staring down at her. I had her at a total disadvantage. Somehow, she hadn't been able to feel what I was about to do through the link, and she hadn't been able to counter it like she normally did.

I could bring my practice sword down in one swoop. I had this weird strength going for me. I wasn't sure where it came from, even though I was pretty sure it had something to do with the link and becoming a battle pair. Yet another of many things she never told me.

My hand twitched again. I almost brought the practice sword down. It didn't matter that it was a practice sword. I could split her head.

But I wasn't going to do that. I think she could sense that I wasn't going to do that. As my rage subsided, I let the practice sword drop to the ground as she smiled up at me, totally secure in the knowledge I would never do anything to hurt her.

Because I wouldn't do anything to hurt her. There'd been a time when I might've, but I hadn't hurt her even then. I was so glad I hadn't.

It was a moment that seemed to hover in the air between us, and so of course, the universe decided to take that moment and ruin it by having the tip of my practice sword land against my ankle, which had my body suddenly giving way out from under me as I crumpled down to the ground. Thankfully, that antigrav cushioning was still there along with the mat.

A moment later Varis was over me, staring down into my eyes, her green eyes staring into my own. I could get lost in those green eyes for an eternity. One of her hands moved up to brush my cheek.

"I understand you're upset. I understand there are things I haven't told you. But there are things that you haven't told me."

"Because I'm supposed to not tell you," I said. "You told me not to tell you."

She frowned, her eyes darting to the livisk around the edge of the room. Clearly she didn't want them overhearing this. She didn't want them to know I was her loose cannon Terran slave she was using to get her way.

"I know," she finally said. "And I should tell you these things. Tell you about what's going on with the empress. I suppose I was wrong to hold that from you. But with the way you were oddly reacting to her trying to kill us when we were safely behind shielding… Well, I worried maybe you wouldn't be able to handle it."

I took a deep breath. It was perfectly reasonable for her to feel that way. She'd totally been able to feel the emotions running through my head every time a bomber or a fighter came screaming at us, and I didn't have the comfortable cocoon of a fighter or a bomber of my own to protect me.

"I get it," I said. "I guess I'm just a pilot and a starship captain who's trying to get used to the idea of being a little more exposed down on the surface."

"You'll get used to it in time," she said, leaning down and pressing her lips against my own.

My toes curled. The whole world seemed to go bright all around as she kissed me. I didn't care that there were other livisk standing around watching everything we were doing.

No, all I cared about was that toe-curler of a kiss as she pressed her lips against my own. As she pulled herself slightly on top of me, though not entirely.

It might offend some sense of livisk propriety for her to pull herself on top of me and the two of us to start going at it right here on the mat.

Finally, I pulled away and blinked, because her skin was sparkling more than usual, reflecting a bright and blinding white light. A light that persisted even after the kiss was over.

What the… I frowned, and then an alarm klaxon sounded all around us.

"An attack," one of our sparring partners said.

I turned and looked all around, and then I saw it. A bright mushroom cloud rising at the edge of Varis's territory. The shields were already actively sparkling, though it'd only been a few seconds. The blast wave hadn't reached us yet, but it wouldn't be long.

"There's something you don't see every day," I said, surprised to realize my little fight with Varis had completely removed my fear of terrestrial-based attacks. Which was odd now that the empress had apparently decided to get our attention with what looked like a tactical nuke going off right next to the tower.

At least it was right next to the tower when you were talking about setting off a nuke.

Just as that thought hit my head, the building started to shudder like the end of the world, and I wondered if this was finally it.

Probably not, considering my dumb luck over the past year when it came to livisk trying to kill me.

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