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

Qo'nos

I participated in the next nom ma'rIch on Boreth. Nerek had rented an armor, which only purpose was to serve in those runs. That armor was not any good for combat. In preparation for the run, I trained using the armor. It was fucking hard. The armor made every movement more difficult, then came its weight and then while you were running, heat built up inside. It got so hot at times, that I had to remove the helmet and the gauntlets so not to suffer from a heatstroke. The two met'leth I carried, were just a little garnish in comparison. The 20km, more than finished me off, I needed three days to recover after each training run. In the actual competition, I finished as the 267th runner, out of a bit more than 500. I was told, that it was not bad at all for someone with just one heart, but obviously not good enough to use the result for promotion of the school. With that result, Nerek was not interested to spend the money to send me to Hitora. I had to try again in the next one.

In 1953, the 1100h birthday of Kahless the Unforgetable, first emperor of the Klingon Empire, came up. The whole Klingon Empire celebrated, but the celebrations on Qo'nos were intended to top everything and they did. Qo'nos the Klingon home world did dive into 2 weeks of celebration. Gladiators from all over the Empire were brought in for fights. As a super special, slave gladiators were given the opportunity to subscribe for a fight for death or freedom even without their master's consent. Long before the celebrations started, word of it spread around. Even as slaves did not have direct access to the Klingon communication network, we heard about it. Obviously, every gladiator was interested in the mechanics of subscription and the rules involved. So even without direct access, I received all necessary information by word of mouth. At first sight, it sounded like a great opportunity, but after I had gotten the small print, I knew, that the Klingons were not up to provide freedom to too many a gladiators. Their motivation was simply to trigger the most thrilling fights. In order to gain freedom the winner had to take the life of the opponent. Those who granted mercy, would not be given freedom. Then, the opponents were not selected by random means, but selected by a committee according to skills. That one stank the most for me. The likelihood that this fine committee was corrupt, was 100%. Obviously, Nerek had to send gladiators of his school to the celebrations. It was a matter of honor. So he sent his three best gladiators to Qo'nos, Gahris, me and another one. He sent us into normal fights only, nothing out of the ordinary for me anymore. Obviously school owners had little interest sending their valuable gladiators into the death or freedom fights. Nothing they would gain from it.

In those days, Gahris came up to me: "TliSu, I have subscribed for the death or freedom fights."

My jaw dropped open, my eyes filled with horror and my heart was dreading.

As my brain refused to send correct commands to my mouth he continued: "I cannot do this gladiator thing anymore, I need freedom, I need to go back to my parent's farm and raise animals."

Finally, my brain started to rattle and function again: "Gahris, please withdraw. They will not give you freedom."

"Why not?"

"Do you know the small print? They will assign opponents according to skill. If there is no rigging going, then you will for sure be assigned to one of the top twenty. Let's assume, you win this fight. Are you ready to take your opponents life? You have never taken a single life so far. Are you really ready for this? Then let's assume you win and kill your opponent. Chances are high, that you come out of this heavily injured. However, I believe, there will be rigging. I believe, this committee is completely corrupt", I lectured him.

"Why do you believe, they should be corrupt?"

"It is very simple. - Because, they will be offered money to twist matters in favor of some rich and powerful people", I explained.

"Not all people are corrupt in this world and not everybody has enough money to twist everything in their favor."

"Believe me, if there is one single honest member in this committee, that one will get killed. And those who are corrupt, will eventually settle for what they believe the highest amount possible for their verdict", came my answer.

"Who should want me dead? People love me", Gahris tried to reason with me.

"Someone, who will make a canyon full of darseks when the gladiator, he placed his bets on, wins."

"You just would not allow me to be free", he ranted.

That one really hurt. I wanted Gahris to be free more than I wanted freedom for myself: "If I would be sure, you would be granted freedom, no matter the outcome of the fight, I would fight on your behalf."

"TliSu, you don't understand, I cannot do this anymore", he cried out.

"Gahris, please withdraw, I beg you. We will find another way to become free. We will break free."

"Yeah, sure, escaping from the school is easy, we just walk out through the gate, but then we have no money and where do you want to go? Where do you want to hide", was his valid question."

"Yes, that is the problem. I have no idea, how we could get away from Boreth. We would need a space ship and a pilot", I laid out the problem.

"Yes, and you know, that it is impossible."

I opened my mouth to bring my next argument, but he cut me short: "I have made up my mind, don't try to talk me out of it."

"Gahris, foremost I want you to live and thereafter to be free. Please, can we agree, that you will withdraw, when one of the committee members is killed?"

"Yeah, sure", was his not very assuring answer.

Two month, before the celebrations started, the list of gladiators who subscribed for the death or freedom fights and their respective fights were published. There were 17 gladiators which had subscribed. 3 were not even on the champion's league list, 9 were far down in the range of 80-100 and only 5 were from the top 20. Gahris had been assigned to number 20 on the list, which should leave him with a realistic chance. He was currently number 18, but that was not such a significant advantage compared to number 20. The other fight was between number 8 and 12 and then there was number 4 on the list. No. 4 was the first gladiator on the champion's league list which was not free. No. 4 had been assigned to no. 2, who had volunteered. The assignment of opponents seemed to be fair and put me a bit at ease.

When Nerek found out, that Gahris had signed up for the death or freedom fights, he was going nuts. He had Gahris summoned to his office and shouted like only a mad Klingon can shout. I was outside the building and heard every word even through the closed window. Nerek basically said the same thing as I had two months ago. However, he had less of an option to talk Gahris out of it than I had. The assignment to number 20 put him in a realistic position to walk away as a free man.

Nerek, could have cared less. In any case, he would lose his best gladiator, but even though he was very mad at Gahris, he set the two of us up for a pretty extensive and thorough training and preparation for the fight. We had three weeks in the school, then we had to board a ship to Qo'nos. On board the ship, Gahris and I spared for 5 hours a day. Obviously, we were the attraction on the ship. We had so many spectators, that they often enough occupied too much of our training area. Even Gahris was exhausted after each session, much less talking of myself. As his sparring partner, I had a lot more movements to do. Still, each day after the sparring I set down together with Nerek and analyzed the previous fights of no. 20.