Laila, Spock's Granny (Book 1: Vulcan Gladiatoress and Klingon Slave)

The Piratess and I

In the Factory

One and a half hours later, I was back in the factory. Mirih wanted to see Batleth fights and I had to give her credit, because analyzing the fighting style with this weapon was the most important now. On the computer in the factory I started to watch recordings of Batleth fights in order to analyze the various moves and their effectiveness. The Batleth in essence has three blades. Two top blades on either end, the yor 'ethl or short yore and the center blade, the bothl 'ethl or short bothle . All three are curved single edged blades with sharp, spiky tips. The Batleth can be from 1-1,5m long and the hilt is on the backside of the center blade. Different versions do exist, hilts which stretch alongside the whole center blade and others, which have 1-3 interconnects to the blade in between. So there is a curved center blade, bothle and two sharp top blades, the yore. The yore are hell sharp, made from very hard carbon steel. The tips of the yore are made a bit softer though, in order not to break so easily. The center blade, the bothle is only sharp at its ends and blunt in the middle. In contrast to the yore, the bothle is from softer steel in the blunt middle and from harder steel at the ends. The bothle is used to block attacks and foremost has to be rigid. Blades from pure carbon steel can be sharpened so they cut like glass. That however is not desirable, because micro pieces will easily break off the cutting edge and as such, the steel is annealed after hardening again. Pure carbon steel has a dull grey color. The best and most expensive blades are the damascene blades, different steel types have been welded together by the weapons smith so to have very hard steel on the outside of the cutting edges, medium hard steel in the core and soft steel on the back side and the hilt. Holes will get drilled into the back side and the hilt to make the weapon lighter. In recent years, the blades of these Batleths get coated with Tungsten-Carbide on customers request. Supposedly, it makes the cutting edge even sharper and protects the blade from corrosion. It's said to be the pinnacle in melee weapon technology. Such Batleths can easily cost as much as a small aircraft. The shiny stainless-steel blades are not as good for real combat, they are rather used for fully blunt practice weapons or non-combat versions. Gladiators for most part use these type of Batleths. As Klingons are not going into battle with Batleths anymore, but with modern arms, there are only three very old weapons smiths left, who can make fine combat Batleths, Mek'leths and swords. It's a dying profession. Historic combat Batleths are sought after by collectors and are the holy relic of a family who's ancestors had used them. The Batleth is rather a medium to close mensur weapon, wielding it like a sword is the wrong approach. The masters block attacks, then close the distance to their opponents with another step or turn. Usually, the next move of the wielder is trying to ram one of the yore tips into their opponent or use their sharp edges to inflict cuts, mostly to the legs, head, shoulders and upper arms. While the center blade, the bothle still blocks the opponent's weapon, the top blades, the yore are moved forward to pierce or cut into flesh. When the opponent pulls his weapon back to get ready for the next strike, the Batleth wielder follows suit and goes into a counter attack. When retracting the Batleth the wielder tries to slice along the flesh of the opponent and cut deeply into it. he Batleth is so dangerous, because it can harm when the wielder is attacking, blocking, pulling back or even retreating. A normal sized shield, does not help so much against a Batleth, because the tips can easily be moved over or under the shield and due to its curved shape still hit and injure. Therefore it is so feared and famous. The Batleth is a relatively heavy weapon, it is about double the weight of a bi-hander, and therefore it requires body strengths and the longer the arms of the wielder, the further it can reach. That's why the top wielders are all above 2m in height and have muscles like a gorilla. The master wielders don't move much, unless the opponent retreats. Unlike the usual sword wielder who is constantly on the move, either trying to find an opening in the cover of the opponent or moving away from the enemy's weapon, the Batleth wielder rather stays calm and reacts to the moves of the opponent. Hectic movements do cost a lot of energy with this heavy weapon. A clear sign of a novice is that he moves around a lot. The sword is lighter and thus much faster than the Batleth. As such, the sword can hardly block the heavy Batleth when it is stricken, but an experienced sword wielder will simply get out of the way when the slower Batleth strikes, and strike in return once the Batleth has overshot. Thus, a Batleth wielder mainly tries to cut with the yore. As said, the Batleth is heavy, thus slow, however, it is also balanced and can be turned very quickly. That is why the yore are constantly moved around in order to hit the opponent. So, as said, the Batleth wielder should rather stay comparatively calm, but the Batleth is whirled and turned quickly. When one blocks with a sword, energy and power have to be behind it, lest it is stroke out of the way. In contrary, the Batleth, due to its weight, just has to be somewhere on the trajectory of the opponents weapon in order to block it. Starting from the horizontal position, a small move of the Batleth can block about any attack, due to its lengths. One standard move against a sword is, when the sword wielder strikes and his sword gets blocked with the bothle (center blade), the Batleth wielder just moves one of the yore (top blades) forward and tries to cut deeply into the forward shoulder of the sword wielder. Again, the top Batleth fighters foremost turn the weapon, but don't move it very much. They use the yore (top blades) to cut their opponent to pieces. Whatever part of his body the attacker moves forward, the master wielder will try to hit with the yore (top blades). Analyzing the fighting style Mirih realized, that straight forward trusts from an opponent, require the Batleth wielder to move the most. He then has to move the Batleth upward or downward and get out of the way at the same time. Straight forward trusts against the head or feet seemed to be most effective against the Batleth, hardest to block. This said, a gladiator with a single sword is at a disadvantage against an experienced Batleth wielder. Two swords in the hands of a pro however, can bring a Batleth wielder into trouble. So maybe, I had to use two sabers against Kretorg?

Next I watched Gahris fight with Kretorg again and it got obvious to me now, that Gahris had developed his own fighting style against the Batleth. He targeted both yore with his two sabers at the same time. This inhibited the Batleth from getting turned. Then Gahris trusted forward simultaneously with both sabers. Or, he blocked the more forward yore, moved to that side, and stroke with the other saber. Then the part came, where he got wounded and I had to cry. After all that time, it still hurt me so much.

Mirih never had a friendship with Gahris, so she was not affected by his death, and kept her semblance. At that point, she regarded his fighting style as the optimum for me.