• • The Royal Bastards of Galagan
• January 18, 2026

The Royal Bastards of Galagan (Chapter 9)

The Royal Challenge

“Make no mistake, fear is not respect.”

Lady Zohra Sha 

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Calcutta Sha

“Enough.”

After the pipsqueak finally squealed in frustration, I lifted my hand from the charred doll and saw not a spot on it. I really was enjoying this new way to set people on fire. What was this about healing people again?

“What are you going to do when Poppy gets thrown in a hole, Ms. Sha?” the little bastard asked.

“What did you say?” I didn’t know what pissed me off more. The fact that he was putting such a sour image in my head, or that he called me Ms. Sha.

“What are you going to do when they jump Lemon in an alley, Ms. Sha?” he asked me again.

My fist grew with my cakra before I was on my feet. It was another bullshit hypothetical. No one left had the strength to put my sister in a hole or to jump my brother and live to tell about it. I knew that, I knew it in my bones. 

I still shouted, “I’ll pulverize the lowly scum like I always have.”

No matter how I tried, Koki never appeared intimidated by my size. It would take seconds to blow up the planet, and from experience, I knew that Poppy and Lemon would survive it fine enough. 

He knew that too, and yet he still goaded me.

“And how will that help your brother and sister as they lay in pain? How will you save them when they’re dying in your arms?”

“They never would be,” I declared, “I would never let someone get close to hurting them.”

He pointed his little thin finger at me and said, “That’s a crutch. I don’t know which is worse, that you believe you can protect them from anyone, or you’re inability to empathize with anyone else. How much pain your siblings must be in as you miss your chances to help them.

That’s when I slammed down my fist.

Bam!

He moved out of the way, of course, but I was so damn close.

“Clearly, you need a break, if you’re losing all reason,” he said as he floated behind me.

“I’ve been stuck in this fucking heat box all day, what did you expect to happen?” I smashed my knuckles against together other and gave him a little remember of what I am with a flex of the muscles. “I spend most of my days training or fighting, burning energy, and I haven’t done any of that since I got here. I’m amped up, and your training isn’t doing a thing.”

“And here I thought the consistent failures would tire you out,” Koki muttered. From below, I was looking up at him, with his face in shadow, and only his eyes and mouth lit by the dying flames around us.

He waved me off. “Hit the gym, tire yourself out, do something that isn’t wasting my time, I value it more than you do.”

It was easy to miss what he was doing. I just scoffed and walked to the door. I didn’t just open it, I broke the lock. 

With a quacking gesture of my hand, I bid him goodbye. “Later.”

I didn’t know how I knew where the gym was. It wouldn’t have occurred to me that the gym was a direction Koki was putting me on until I got there, after a cafeteria visit anyway. 

As far as I knew, most other species needed to control their diet more, as well as consume far more protein and what not to put on the muscle Galagans do. Most Galagans don’t even bother with the protein shakes and the diets to get as strong as possible, but Mother said, “If you won’t have faith in our way, you will train our way.” 

I won’t lie, the training of a Sha was something I couldn’t snort at. I was a living weapon, proof of the results. 

When I walked into that gym, everyone knew it too.

Species from across the galaxy and maybe even beyond were there, some bigger than me in size, but not where it mattered. Some looked meaner than they were, but none were able to hold everyone’s attention like me.

I could go back and forth on how much attention I liked. It depended on the kind. Kybi used to look at me a certain way when I was younger, the way he looked at Poppy until he sent us off-world. That infuriated me, and made me feel helpless in body and soul because ole’ Kita Khan made sure I couldn’t do anything about it.

But the attention I got walking through a gym, as everyone admired the dedication I put into myself, the admiration… it just did something different to the way I walked.

I changed into some gym shorts and a tank top they had given me in the locker room. Had a lot of other aliens avoid me like the plague, which was nice. They didn’t want to touch me so I could assume my day clothes would be safe. Not sure how the Pyrie knew my size, but it was one of those things you could think about until the day ended or let it go. It was comfortable enough so that’s what I did.

I assumed at first that people sensed my power level. I wasn’t flaunting it, but in such a small environment for people who can fly, there wasn’t much I could do. You’d have to be a master at cakra control to completely hide your power from someone within arm’s length.

Thought it wouldn’t have been obvious right off the bat that I was a Galagan. As I walked to the wooden dummy, I’m sure they were trying to figure out what I was from the list in their minds. There was a litany of Terran species who all more or less look the same, with some size and power differences. Humans were the ones Galagans are commonly mistaken for until we started flying. I met one once, a twig of a man, his ears weren’t as pointy as a Galagan’s. If thye knew that, that would narrow down the list to two.

As I started beating on the dummy, I realized it was one of those fancy fuckers where the wooden posts would swing around. I always wanted these but the “way” of the Sha did not use them. I spent my time being sure to never let the wooden points hit me, but I couldn’t help but practice the way Mother would tell me too.

“Think about other things while you train, distract yourself, but also don’t. Never let one thing hold so much of your attention that you are not always ready for a surprise attack. There’s rarely ever just the foes you see before you. There can always be one waiting in the shadows.”

I’ve compared notes with others before, and this was not the way most are taught. Most are taught to focus on everything, to be aware. The lessons of the Sha assumed you had some kind of ADD or ADHD, then made you use it as a weapon. Your mind could always latch onto a stray movement when practicing this way, any stray blow of the wind. 

Nothing could have surprised me, especially not the Lupian coming for my back. 

Lupians were hulking canine creatures. Eight feet tall, twice as wide as a Galagan, covered in fur, and were able to build muscle like no tomorrow. On most planets, they immediately became the apex predator, despite their friendlier nature. Without the ability to tap into cakra, it was impossible to overcome their innate strength to tear apart most animals.

But the vast majority of Lupians, like most species, don’t have the control of cakra that Galagans do, so no, the Lupian was no apex predator here.  

When he slashed at my back, he found himself striking an afterimage that twisted on itself for a second before dissipating. With the abilities my cakra gave me, he was an ant. Hell, the Pyrie could have made terrifying creatures like Lupians into mincemeat.

Guess what I did?

No, I didn’t kill him. There was no point, no challenge. But fear, that had a point.

I appeared behind him, made a snide comment about how he was a coward. “Did attacking me with my back turned make you feel smart?” He swung around and found himself slashing another afterimage. He appeared to be just barely able to catch sight of my mangled image before it dissipated. 

I saw it in his bloodshot eyes and the gray fur around them, he was an old one. 

“You’d think an old man like you would know better,” I taunted him again, right in front of his chest when his head was turned.

When he went to hit me, he was moving in slow motion. I gave him a sharp strike to his chest, a spot between his pectorals. It’s hard to see under the fur, but when you hit it hard enough, Lupians lose their breath. Their lungs aren’t where most Terrans are. 

I didn’t want to get in trouble for killing him, would be a hassle, but he needed to be taught his place in some way.

Still, he flew a few feet, thoroughly off the ground, and flew into some weight holders. A few fell on him, but honestly, it was probably more like annoying cardboard to him than anything.

My fist was still raised in his direction, and as I turned full towards him, a few of the others in the room got between us. There was a Dinoran, this huge insectoid that was bigger than the Lupian. She held him down as he growled. The rest were a couple of Terrans in an assortment of colors. I think there was a Tectian, these bird fucks, but I wasn’t really paying attention to them.

I was too busy feeling myself. Like, I wasn’t going to, but if I wanted to, I could rip through them to get to the Lupian. Hell, I could probably move between them, and I would only have to move the Dinoran to touch the guy who jumped me. I’m sure the Lupian appreciated the gesture, but it was comical to me.

Sure, it’s not impossible for any of these species to learn cakra control, but it was unlikely. It’s rare, I usually only meet a handful per species. Most across the galaxies haven’t evolved to use cakra as Galagans have, and even then, it’s not like all Galagans trained to use it. 

“Damn it,” I heard the Lupian mutter. I first I thought it was a whine of pain or a growl, but as the Lupian kept muttering, “Damn it, damn it, damn it,” he sounded more like he was… sobbing.

“It’s her, I know it’s her, she’s right here and I can’t do a thing!” he screamed. The people had turned to see him, giving me a good look just before he slammed his hand on one of the weights in his rage. 

“Haskel, you must get a hold of yourself,” the Dinoran told him as she took him by the wrists with two of her four arms. I forgot they could have multiple arms. I think the women had more? The horns they had were always the most memorable feature to me. 

“Don’t let her see you like this.”

So, this Haskel didn’t just realize I was a Galagan, he recognized me personally. I’ve had to tangle with Lupians a few times, him knowing me doesn’t narrow much down. Then again, he might have just seen my face on the galactic internet or something.

“Just leave me alone,” I told them, turning my back and waving them off, “I’m just here for a workout, not to beat to shit out of you.”

“You destroyed his planet, monster!” some girl yelled at my back. It was this green-skinned kid, couldn’t be older than Poppy, fists clenched and ready to fight me. “You owe him your life!”

But back to the whole, ‘I destroyed his planet’ thing. Galagan hasn’t attacked the Lupian homeworld, so it would have been one of the colonies.

Assuming he’s not mistaking me for Poppy, that means… 

  “Oh, I know where he’s from, Haskel,” I said, letting each word roll off the tongue, save for his name. “You must be from Trask, I remember blowing up that planet.”

There was this second where everyone was quick of breath, heart beating in their chest. 

Then there was the moment when it all stilled.

I started rubbing my chin, as it all came back to me. It was a long time ago now. “Yeah, yeah, it didn’t explode like I thought it would,” I mocked how I aimed my hand, open palm straight towards the ground, “when I was aiming for the core, I was hoping for a slow countdown, but it’s hard to hit your mark a moon away. Instead, it just went….” 

I made an explosion gesture with my hands, as my eyes met Haskel’s unblinking gaze.

“Boooowww!”

They stood quietly, frozen still. I was waiting to see who threw the first punch, but they were cowards.

“You, you monster…” the blue-skinned girl muttered as if I had personally tortured them. I made it quick, it would have been painless. I doubt they even knew.

Still, I could tell in this girl’s eyes, and those of the people surrounding her that they expected me to feel differently, as if I should, or really, as if I would.

“What do you want me to feel?” I asked them, my eyes on Haskel but the blue girl stepped in my way. What a good friend. I held her gaze as I admitted, in a bit of a taunt, I won’t lie, “I couldn’t name a person on there, just the orders of a few old men screaming in my ear.”

I shrugged my arms, waiting for it then. I could see the fists clenched in their hands all around me. They wanted to fight, everything in them made them want that fight. In their hearts, it must have felt like destiny, but their heads knew exactly what would happen.

“Carsis, Ioni, Sarac, Patty…”

Suddenly, a voice was saying names, and the Lupian stood up behind the girl, and she stepped out of his way. He just kept saying names.

“Are you just…” I tried to ask, but he just spoke louder, as if I should know them as if I should feel bad. He would say them as my mouth opened, as I tried to form a thought. He was naming people he knew who died, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that.

“Harris, Godfric-”

“Kellis, Karn, Harness,” I said, naming names, the only thing that made him hesitate, a moment where he considered something he had before.

“Who the hell are they?” the blue girl asked again, a bit less anger in her voice, and a bit more boiling rage. You can hear in the way a person’s voice trembles on the odd consonant.

But I didn’t leave her wanting. I answered her question. “People who died under my command, because the United Pack Of Lupis refused to swear fealty to the Galagan Empire.” Haskel had this look of realization, this thing in his eye that I didn’t recognize, something I hadn’t experienced in my life. Or at least, I didn’t think I had.

You don’t recognize fundamental emotions after you see them in two people. You recognize in your chest when you’ve come to know it across many, again and again, sometimes a little different, but always with that same core rawness to them.

But his look didn’t stop me from taunting him about the fate his dead loved ones could have had. “Your life would have been basically the same, you’d just be trading with Galagans and honoraries, but rather than take the easy route, you idiots blasted my fucking flagship. I didn’t care for them, the troopers were a dime a dozen…”

And then her face came back to me. That horrified, gawking stare as everything around her was death. I had never seen her shake, nor had she ever ignored my voice like that. I… I truly believe she thought she was dead, or that I was, or that we both were and my face was nothing but an echo.

“But, that was the first time my little sister saw someone die. We survived unscathed, we’re royals, born that way… but most didn’t. She repeated their names in her sleep for a while. Still does sometimes. She had nightmares for weeks, and for what you did to her, I didn’t hesitate to turn Trask to ash and dust.”

That unrecognizable feeling didn’t leave Haskel’s eye, it just shared space with whatever was hot boiling in him. I could hear the two strongest emotions fighting over each other in his voice. 

“You want forgiveness?” It was like he wanted to sound soft and scream at the same time. “You want to feel justified?”

I almost laughed at that, I chuckled even. Only Haskel didn’t twitch a bit at that. “Forgiveness? I don’t give a shit about forgiveness, or feeling justified. It was war,” I gestured to him, “you would have done the same… if given the opportunity, that’s justification enough. 

“No, I want you to know, that despite what you dirty fucking dogs did to my sister, I still made it quick for Trask. I could have set the atmosphere on fire, made everyone you just named die choking on carbon monoxide and sulfur ash. 

“Instead, I sent a blast straight through the planet. That was a mercy I gave your friends when everyone talking in my ear wanted to hear your people scream for daring to attack us.”

Haskel tilted his head, suddenly it occurred to me that he might have stopped listening to my taunts. Everyone else was upset and angry, trying to think of reasons to risk their lives trying in vain to take mine.

But not Haskel, not after that. He just… his brow smoldered into a fine line, and he didn’t bare his teeth anymore.

“You don’t make many choices, do you?” he asked me.

I… I immediately thought, Who the fuck was he to ask that? 

I ignored him, acted as if he hadn’t said a thing. I shrug my shoulders, wore my best smirk, and taunted them all by closing my eyes. As if I wouldn’t know if they were going to attack me.

“Then again, that might just make it more terrifying. You got to live and watch didn’t you? You must have gotten out on the first few shuttles we let by. Who died, family, friends? It’s difficult to think about all the people you must have known who are gone now, and I did it all with just…” 

Then I did the most asinine thing I could have done. I charged my cakra the same way I always did for a blast. White light glowed from my hand and electricity pulsed for my Platinum Blast.

“… a flex of the muscle.”

Haskel had definitely watched. Even from miles away, he must have seen the flash on the wide-open scale over the atmosphere. The way the planet crackled, the sound it made, and the ear-numbing pitch of the cakra searing out of my hand. His eyes nearly went white.

In fact, his claws seemed to extend, and his veins clenched in his neck, visible even through his thick fur.

He was ready to go into a blind rage, but fear and the thoughts he was having about me, held him back. 

The Dinoran stepped toward him, but even with her massive size, she didn’t seem particularly fond of the idea of stopping him. 

Instead, she turned her eyes to me. “Do you enjoy torturing him?”

I still had on that smirk as I twiddled my fingers and made crackling sounds with my cakra. 

“A little bit,” I admitted, “he did try to kill me, you know. Usually, I would kill him and everyone he knew just for that.”

Everyone tensed up. Instead of getting ready to attack me, they finally considered the option I would attack first.

I let them rest when I let my cakra fade away. As the static electricity dispersed, I could see the color come back to Haskel’s eye.

“But then I’m not sure if the Pyrie would teach me anything, so I’ll give him and all of you fair warning.”

The Dinoran’s hand nearly raised up, before pointing at me. “They… they wouldn’t teach someone like you.”

“Wouldn’t they though?” I asked her, sowing the doubts in her mind that had to be there. I mean, I was there, couldn’t get more proof than that. “They seem rather… ambivalent, don’t ya think, about all the political stuff? They may make you think they actually care about you as an individual, and maybe they do, but they clearly don’t care for each of your peoples as a whole. Why would they? It’s not like half of your kinds haven’t engaged in genocide. Galagan’s weapons of mass destruction just happen to be… biological… and more effective than yours.”

“Is that how you sleep at night?” Haskel muttered, but I heard him crystal clear. “Knowing you’ve killed so many people?”

“People?” I mocked. “When you destroy planets, you’re not killing people, you’re racking up numbers.”

This was going nowhere. I wasn’t going to agitate them into striking first, and a threat wasn’t going to make them act either. It was time for an ultimatum, a rather simple and childish one, but people act simply and like children when they’re upset.

I waved them off, as I turned my back to them, back to the wooden dummy, or what was left of it. “You’re all clearly getging upset just being around me. Maybe you should leave… or I can just beat you all up.” That wasn’t an enticing offer so I did fib a bit to butter them up. “I’m powered down. I already said I can’t kill you, and I want what I want more than I want to kill you. Hell, I don’t care enough about you to kill you.

“But you all care more about killing me, I bet. I bet Haskel here isn’t the only who’s lost someone to me. Maybe not a planet full of your loved ones, but brothers and sisters in the wars I’ve started and ended in mere days, partners slain by Galagan troopers under my command…

“Maybe you just want to deal Galagan a deadly blow. Right now, I’m the most powerful warrior alive with the Khan, his Khatun, and the Prince dead. You may never get another chance. Only one of you has to get… lucky…

“So… are we going to do this? Are you going to show me what you got?”

I looked over my shoulder at them, waiting for one to make the first move. When I turn my back like this, the first one always came from the so-called blind spot. That day, I was proven wrong.

The blue-girl came at first, straight on, leaping to hit me in the back of my neck. She was really banking on luck, wasn’t she? 

Too bad she didn’t have any.

Ufft!

The swift kick to the gut should have emptied her of air, and if she hadn’t been sent right into someone else, the impact against the wall could have broken a few bones. It seems all her luck appeared in the form of Haskel, catching her unconscious form.

He was the only one who stayed where he was. Everyone else made a play for me, one by one.

There were a few multicolored Terrans who came at me one after the other. Well, to me it felt like one after the other. I’m sure they thought they were attacking me at once.

Kicked one across the jaw, reloaded my leg, then kicked the next in the collarbone sending him over the head of the third. This is where I showed off a bit. 

I was faster than could see, flying up and hooking my shin on the girl’s neck. I slammed right down on her chin. She lost a few teeth.

I didn’t get much time to enjoy the crunch as more came behind me. I didn’t pay much attention to what they were, I just kept kicking. One in the knee, shattering it; the next in the stomach, hard enough to make him throw up; the last went flying into the glass mirror, getting a few shards in him.

I think I had only used my one leg at that point. In all seriousness, being the Fist of the Khan had sucked a lot of the fun out of fighting. I always had to be fast about getting the job done. Now I was taking my time, toying with them, seeing how much they could take without dying. 

Also, when you’re not killing people everything stays a lot cleaner. There wasn’t any blood on me. Sure, as I kept smacking people around with my foot, gut kick here, throat kick there, a bit of blood would have given me a rush, but sometimes it’s not worth the extra time in the shower. Dried blood took time to scrub off. Blood frozen onto you because of the vacuum of space had to peeled off like tape.

After over a dozen saw themselves one-punched — or really one-kicked — I really tried to show off with this last one. I kicked him in the gut, then as he keeled over, I reloaded my leg, lifted it over his head, and went to bring a heel kick right on his shoulder.

Pfft!

The Dinoran caught it.

Of course, it took two hands to stop my momentum, and even then, there was a crack in her wrist. The force of my casual kick made her leak a bit of the green ooze that insect race called blood.

That’s when I used something other than my right foot.

I pulled it away, floating into the air. Then I floated at her in a spin, backhanding her with one hand, and then following through with a flying haymaker. The first blow went to her head, snapping off one of her horns, and the second went to her shoulder, putting in a dent. 

She hit the wall and then the floor, out cold.

I admired my work, I won’t lie. I looked around, saw the broken but living bodies around me and I smirked. At least I did until I saw Haskel, still holding that blue girl, still staring at me, unimpressed.

He just knelt and set her down, doing his best to be gentle with her. Then he knelt down in front of her, hands on his thighs, and seemed to… wait.

“Well?” he said, with his eyes closed.

I floated closer to him, squinting at him with one eye. “‘Well’ what?”

“Aren’t you going to hit me too?”

I arched my brow as I floated around, looking down at him with my arms crossed. This man was truly beginning to confound me. 

“You’re not attacking me anymore,” I pointed out, which made him open one eye, pointed right where I was floating.
“Are you sure?” he asked me, and then outstretched his arms as if offering me a free shot at him. “You seem to enjoy hurting people.”

“I’m sorry,” I scoffed, “did you miss the part where you all attacked me first? Actually, in every single instance, you all attacked me first.”

“Not all,” Haskel pointed, nodding to the Dinoran, who only saved another’s shoulder.

Fine, there was one that I didn’t need to hit, one who had thrown a punch at me. “So what? That makes her the moral superior in the room? Considering all I did was defend myself against 99% of the people here, I’d place myself at number 2.”

“Hmph,” he grunted under his breath, his long canines showing a bit, “there’s always a reason, an excuse.”

Oh, did the little doggy have some bite? 

I floated a bit closer to him, leaning forward with my stomach to the ground, and put my hand behind my ear. “Something you wanted to say?”

To his credit, he stayed where he was, hands on his thighs, sitting on his knees, and didn’t move an inch. He didn’t even growl as I floated so close, egging him on to throw the first punch.

Well, he threw a punch. 

“There’s always a reason for you to not feel guilty.”

I turned to him, and there was that empty look again, this… familiar look. There was nothing behind but a bit of pity. He’s been beaten down by me in some way or another, and all he could stare back at me with was pity.

Then I remember, she looked up at me with the same feeling after I had killed her son, and after I had defeated her too.

I floated upright, and back to the ground. I found myself sitting in front of him, the girl between us. 

Didn’t feel that great.

“I killed your friends, or your family or whoever…” I said, starting off real strong, flipping my hand around for emphasis. “I’m not going to pretend like anyone is more responsible than me, but you can’t get your revenge on me.” 

I closed my eyes as I shrugged with my hands over my hand. I was trying to be honest. 

“I’m stronger than you, I’ll live longer than you, and I won’t suffer for what I’ve done to you, but… I don’t know, maybe I got some kind of consolation prize if you’re into that.” 

It took me a moment to remember the names I was looking for, I pressed my finger to my head, and tried to remember. I basically put him on hold until I did. 

“Ah, yeah, I could tell you the names of the generals who suggested to Kita Khan that Trask should be destroyed, who first decided to invade the United Packs, who told me to make your loved ones scream.”

When I opened my eyes and I was looking back at his unwavering gaze, I found myself looking him in the eye for the first time since I sat down.

It would have been better if he hadn’t hesitated — if he had said what he wanted to say without pausing, but he was only mortal. “I… I won’t dedicate my life to killing one of your enemies.”

My lip twisted a bit. That wasn’t my intention but… yeah.

“I can see how it might look that way,” I said as I got back up to my feet, “but if you ever change your mind… I’ll be here a while.”

That’s when the door to the gym swung open, and my little Pyrie teacher walked in and saw the carnage. He looked at all the broken, though breathing bodies across the ground, and looked straight at me with this blank stare. “When I said ‘hit the gym,’ I did not mean it literally.”