The Sac'a'rith Read Online Free

either,” Narcion retorted.
    “I will find out what happened and deal with it, and you will receive your payment as agreed,” he said.
    “See that I do,” Narcion said as he cut the line.
    “Won’t they just put a contract out on your head?” I asked.
    “Unlikely, but if they do they will just have to get in line, and it’s a long line,” he said. “Most likely some heads will roll inside their organization, possibly even that of my contact, and we will not hear from them again. At least, not till they want to hire me for another job.”
    “What do we do now, then?” I asked.
    “The payment for that contract should be enough to cover us for a while. I think that it is time to start your training,” he said.
    “Training?” I asked.
    “Yes. Come to the cargo area with me,” he said, activating the ship’s autopilot. I wondered at the wisdom of leaving the bridge unattended out here, but he seemed unconcerned.
    I followed him through the ship to the rear area, where the cruiser had a small cargo section packed with many containers of various sizes and colors. He headed straight for the most inconspicuous-looking one and opened it. From it he pulled out a flexible suit of battle armor, which he threw to me. “Wear that at all times from now on. You will need it.”
    I was surprised to see that the battle suit was designed for a Zalionian, and appeared to be about my size. It was not a cheap model either but of good quality, like everything else of his that I had seen so far. It was a top-of-the-line unit and looked brand new, as if he had bought it knowing in advance for whom and when he would need it.
    Narcion dug deeper into the container and pulled out several weapons. He turned and handed me two blasters and a pair of combat knives. “Carry these on you at all times. Your life will depend on that.” He paused a moment and added, “I assume you know how to work a blaster?”
    “Yes,” I said, checking them over. They were fully charged and seemed to be weapons of much higher quality than I had seen before. “I’m not familiar with this model, though. Some time on a range might be helpful, but I don’t have much use for the knives.”
    “Take them; they are made of much harder material than your claws. I can teach you to use them effectively in support of your natural weapons.” He then did something that struck me to the core. I was holding in my hands a pair of blasters, fully charged and ready to deal deadly force at the speed of light. Not even his reflexes could save him from that. I stood amazed as I watched him turn his back on me and repack the container. In all my life, no one had ever trusted me enough to do that.
    I quietly put down my new weapons and donned the armor. I was not sure what to make of Narcion. He had been completely emotionless so far in all his dealings, even the killing of an entire fleet. After serving under a man with the extreme emotions of Donovan, I found myself at a loss to understand or interpret him. When I was dressed in the armor I holstered all the weapons and asked, “You said something about training?”
    He turned back to me and replied, “Yes. I need to teach you to fight.”
    I was a bit offended by that statement. “I seem to do quite well in that area already.”
    “Yes, but not facing the kind of enemies I deal with. I will have to teach you how to fight and kill things of which as yet you know nothing.”
    “What kind of things?” I asked.
    “Dead things,” he said.

Chapter Three
    It had been three long, hard and grueling years of training under Narcion. A dozen times over I thought of walking away from him, but I could not deny the fact that the instruction I was getting was top-notch. He was teaching me everything he could, including very advanced forms of hand-to-hand combat, weapons, stealth, and starship combat. The mental and physical stress of the work far exceeded anything I had previously experienced, but it was yielding results.