LotS/The Story/Tales of The Void 2/The Tyraness

The Tyraness' eyes widened. Then they narrowed into sharp, piercing slits.

"Poet... You're a very, very stupid man."

"No genius do I claim to be,
I'm just a mere man and nothing more,
But a trick that you must see,
Will bring an end to this war."

Chen's hands moved in a dexterous blur. Then they parted, rose, and flashed.

Two throats gurgled. Two weapons clanged on the floor. The Tyraness' head snapped round to the left and right, where her guards clutched at their blood-spurting necks. Blue energy throbbed between their fingers -- around the broken shackles' shards. Her amazonian warriors fell. The poet smiled.

"Surrender, Tyraness; all else is doom,
Or do you take this splendor for your tomb?"

"Why are you still rhyming?"

"Force of habit. What's your answer?"

"This."

Her hand snatched at the folds of her gown. A pistol slipped from the sumptuous fabric.

---

"This is my planet! Mine!" Her gun blazed. "I'm the Tyraness!"

Chen was fast. All men with his training and augmentations were. Perhaps not as fast as a weapon's blast, but he didn't have to be. He only needed to be faster than the woman aiming it.

Two magenta shots flashed past him. Then his hand struck the Tyraness' arm, and the pistol went spinning across the room.

"The Tyraness!" she repeated.

She clawed at his face. He crushed her throat with a single blow.

"Tyran..." The word disintegrated into a splutter.

Zhao Chen crouched down and lifted the gold ornament that served as the woman's communicator. He set it to the prearranged channel.

"This is Culthana. Chen?"

"It's done. Are your warriors ready?"

"Yes. The Tyraness..."

"Disposed of. I'll open the palace's defenses. I trust that when this world is yours you'll honor our agreement."

"Of course. Tell Wu Tenchu the Sian Empire has a new ally."

General Culthana severed the connection.

Zhao Chen sat in the plush crimson chair and glanced down at the Tyraness' body. He pondered the shifting sands men and women called power.