Interstellar Age
Chapter 208 Mala Ironhand



The Vigilance sped across the stars, jumping through what the Light Elves referred to as the warp, before nearly instantaneously appearing at a system which appeared to be under siege by a large, and crudely manufactured fleet of warships. 

The world was lit ablaze, and no doubt the inhabitants were fighting for their lives against an army of alien marauders. Due to a complete and utter lack of technological capability, the Orcish clans not considered a threat to sub-galactic powers and above and thus, they usually picked their targets wisely.

The moment the Vigilance jumped out of the warp, Erich opened up a channel to communicate with the Orcs, and targeted the largest of their crudely built warships. Who shockingly enough responded. Luckily for him, they were in the middle of the planetary bombardment phase, and thus the War Chief personally responded to Erich's message. 

"Who the fuck are you? Do you want to die?"

Erich gazed upon the green-skinned woman, and was shocked that she looked even better in person. She had long satin black hair which was tied into a ponytail with her bangs covering one of her blood-red eyes. And though Erich could not see her body, because it was covered in what appeared to be power armor manufactured from scrap, he could tell she had massive breasts. Far bigger than Erikas. Along with the hips to match. 

Though he did not know how old this woman was, she definitely looked older than any of the women he had by his side. Because of this, Erich stood at ease, while wearing his slick black archon uniform. Which contrasted well with his silver hair and eyes. 

Mala was not aware enough of galactic politics to understand the significance of Erich's uniform, but she instantly appeared intrigued by this small silver-haired man who appeared before her. At least enough to not open fire on him. After all, despite having a warship significantly smaller than the majority of her fleet, he did not appear the least bit frightened. 

Erich wore a stoic expression as he opened a challenge to the War Chief, not truly understanding the actual cultural meaning behind his words. 

"I assume you are Mala Ironhand? My name is Erich Jaeger, I am an Archon of the Alfheim Dominion, and have travelled a long way to challenge you to single combat, so that I may secure your loyalty..."

Mirage simply snickered when Erich said these words, knowing full well what they actually meant to the Orc Clans. But Erich was surprised when the Green skinned beauty blushed in response to his words. Before demanding his qualifications as a warrior. 

"And what makes you think you are worthy of such a challenge?" 

Being completely unaware of what he was getting himself into, Erich listed his achievements in battle, and the Empire which he originated from. 

"My qualifications? I will have you know that I am a warrior without equal among the Germanic People. I am a veteran of a over a dozen battles, and have slain nearly a thousand men in single combat. I have even claimed the life of a Naraku Hive Queen. The Elite special forces of both the Alfheim Dominion and Svartalfheim Federation have fallen before my might. The question should not be whether I am qualified to challenge you, but whether you are worthy of my challenge!"

There were a few races outside of themselves which the Orcs had respected. But the Germanic people were among them. Out of all the clashes that the Orcish clans had fought with Germanic Star-Marines, they were perhaps the one race strong enough to stand toe to toe with them. So when Mala heard that Erich was a warrior of the Germanic Race, and one without equal, her respect for him grew a thousandfold. 

So much so that the muscular beauty blushed once more at Erich's words, especially after he questioned whether she was worthy of his challenge. Which again confused the man, but he did not let it show. 

Meanwhile, Mirage was looking incredibly guilty, as she realized she might have gone too far with the prank she was trying to pull on the man. If he did not clarify his intent soon, he might end up with more than he bargained for. And thus, she was about to step forward when Mala boldly accepted Erich's challenge. 

"Vey well... I accept your challenge. I am sure since you are doing such a thing, you are aware of our customs, and how this duel shall be performed?" 

Once more Mirage was about to stop Erich before he made an enormous mistake, but he boldly confirmed that he understood what he was getting himself into before she could do so. 

"Of course, I would not be here if I did not." 

This caused Mala to smile, revealing her tusks as she did so. They were not wild, or hideous like Erich would have thought, but were instead dainty and cute. She then confirmed that she would allow him on board her ship. 

"Very well. I shall permit your ship to dock with my own. Where we will immediately hold the duel. Do not keep me waiting!" 

With this the communication halted, where Erich quickly looked over to Mirage, who was gazing at him with a gaping mouth. It was too late for her to interfere with what was about to happen, and thus, when Erich asked her why she was staring at him like that, she simply deflected.

"What? What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Mirage tossed her hair to the side and averted her gaze as she answered this question with a non-answer. 

"It's nothing. You will replace out soon enough..." 

Although this made Erich suspicious, he did not have time to interrogate Mirage, and thus he departed towards the airlock while the AI which piloted the ship made sure that the frigate had docked with the Orcish battlecruiser. 

As for Mirage, she stayed behind on the Frigate, where she immediately voiced her thoughts aloud once Erich was out of earshot. 

"Oh shit! He is so fucked!" 

---

Immediately upon stepping foot in the run down battlecruiser, Erich noticed that all the Orcs were glaring at him with hostile intent, or more specifically only the males were doing so. The however, females were whispering among themselves, but in voices so low Erich could not hear them. 

Eventually Erich was led by a small group of Orcish females towards the center of the ship. Which was designed for the purpose of duels. Erich was stripped out of his uniform, so that he was entirely naked, before arriving in a sandpit. Where all the ship's crew had gathered to watch the duel. 

Soon enough, Mala stepped forward and was completely nude as well. Her body was immaculate, truly what Erich would expect from a muscle mommy. She even had a black bush growing around her nether regions, which was perfectly trimmed. Showing that evidently the Orcs practiced some form of hygiene. 

If Erich stood at roughly six feet and six inches. Then Mala stood at seven feet tall. Which was roughly the same height as an average Star Marine. She was quite a bit taller than Erich as the two met in the middle, where an Orcish shaman stood before them, blessing them both with a special green smoke, before commencing the duel. 

Erich did not hesitate, and instead activated his skill, which he referred to as acceleration, where he immediately threw a combination of a jab and cross before shooting for a takedown. However, what Erich was amazed to replace out was that even in a state of acceleration, Mala could match him in terms of speed, strength, reflexes, dexterity, and reaction time. 

She quickly stuffed his takedown and kneed Erich in the head, which dealt more damage to him than he ever thought it would. The woman tried to knee Erich in the head again; but he grabbed hold of legs, to prevent her from doing so as he fought for the ability to get to his feet. 

Erich was stunned as he climbed back to his feet, not because of the knee which connected with his cranium, but because no living thing had ever been able to keep up with him while he was in his accelerated state. Which was the result of both genetic and cybernetic augmentation working together flawlessly. 

Yet this woman was naturally able to do so, without any form of enhancements. He truly understood why Orcs were so feared across the galaxy, despite being technologically inferior to most regional powers. 

Erich didn't even have time to think, he was forced to rely on his acceleration, to compete on an even footing with this woman, as he threw another few strikes. Only one of which landed, and that was his roundhouse kick to her liver. Yet, she seemed just as resilient as Erich himself was, as she ate the shot, before grabbing hold of Erich's head, and throwing a few knees while in the clinch.

Shockingly, to the muscular beauty, she had not in the slightest been able to break Erich's posture, which caused her to look into his eyes, which were filled with defiance. She licked her lips on her before speaking in a sultry voice while continuing to knee Erich in the gut. 

"Perhaps you are worthy? It has been so long since I have fought with someone capable of standing toe to toe with me! Your strength, speed, and endurance are all equal to my own, and your technique is flawless. But you will have to do better than that if you wish to claim my loyalty. " 

Erich, chuckled as he heard this, he did not bother fighting the woman's plum grip, and instead head butted her right in the face, which sent her staggering backward for a second, where he took advantage of the situation, to shoot into a high crotch takedown. Where he lifted the woman in the air before slamming her on the ground. 

She immediately struggled to prevent Erich from passing her guard, while he also threw punches and elbows to halt her defense. But in the end, Erich slipped into side control, where he unleashed his favorite choke. He hipped out, and while wrapping his wrists around Mala's throat, where he constricted it in a modified Ezekiel choke. 

It did not even take the woman a second to realize that the choke was as tight as it could possibly be, and thus she chuckled lightly at her own defeat, despite not being willing to admit it. After only a few seconds of cutting off the circulation of blood to the Orcish Beauty's brain. She went to sleep, where Erich immediately let go of his choke, and declared himself the victory. 

The Orcs gazed upon Erich in utter silence. Their fearless War Chief, who had never been bested in a duel, despite fighting over a thousand of such contests with the galaxy's most fierce warriors, had just been put to sleep by an outsider after a highly competitive fight. It was well and truly unthinkable...