She almost felt bad as the entered range for the first man, who hesitated at the sight of a young girl on the battlefield – and died an instant later, her off-hand blade tracing a neat line across his throat.

She danced past, neatly deflecting a half-hearted overhand chop by a man to her left and rolling over a low swipe from the man in front. A strong upward thrust on the recovery from the roll dispatched him, and an elegant twirl caught a follow-up blow from the left side.

She ducked instinctively when the crack of a passing bullet felled the second man and spotted her guardian angel saluting her from the deck-side bridge door. Smiling, she turned back.

A slash from a cutlass nearly decapitated her. Only a last-second drop saved her – from the answering sweep and crackle of a lightning-saber passing over her, batting the blade aside.

Captain Jerem leaned in close as momentum sent him over her.
“Mademoiselle, you are full of surprises.”