by Guerin Zand
As we were finishing our meal, Jrenila entered the hut. He had news for me from the Maricindi.
“Zrill has communicated with the leader of the Bayru, a being called Kgratzo. He explained that you would like to meet with him. He has agreed to meet with you at their home later this morning.”
“Fine. I’ll get ready and we can leave in a little bit.”
“I will not be joining you, Guerin. The Bayru have caused many deaths to members of our family. I will send a young family member with you to guide you close to the Bayru home. He will show you the way from there and wait for your return.”
“That’s good enough, Jrenila.”
“The Guides spoke to me last night. They wanted me to warn you that the Bayru intend you harm. Perhaps going there to talk to the Bayru is not safe for you?”
I put my hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring look. “I’ll be fine, Jrenila.”
Once I had all my gear on, I headed outside to find a young man waiting. Jrenila introduced him as Sgerka, my guide. I motioned Sgerka to lead on and I followed him out of the village. We trekked through the forest for around two hours until we came to the summit of a small rise in the terrain. He pointed down to a clearing and told me that was the Bayru home. I measured the distance with my binoculars to be approximately five miles away, I thanked Sgerka for his help and told him to return to his village. I would find my own way back. He seemed happy that I didn’t want him to stay.
I made my way down the hill towards the Bayru outpost. From what Senri had told me the Bayru only numbered 59 on the planet. They were a bit behind the Maricindi in this “cold war”. Senri speculated that was the reason the Bayru had enslaved a small number of Taesrins to supplement their workforce. Their encampment had no visible fence surrounding it like I had seen at the Maricindi camp. I assumed that they had at least some sort of sensor coverage to warn them of anyone approaching their outpost.
I was about halfway to the Bayru base when I started to notice movement around me in the woods. They were several hundred yards away on both sides of me.
“Senri, do you see I have a little company out here?”
“Yes, I count four Bayru. Two on each side. They appear to be following you at a distance.”
“Have you analyzed their weapons?”
“Yes. They appear to be a sort of electronic rail gun capable of firing a small caliber projectile.”
“Can you disable them?”
“Yes.”
“Well, would you mind doing that?”
“Sure thing, Captain.”
“If they get too close, would you please incapacitate them?”
“I got you covered.”
Right! Senri was like a lot of the other super-smart aliens I’d dealt with. Sure, she was a bit of a rebel and had a wicked sense of humor, but she still enjoyed fucking with this monkey. If I hadn’t explicitly asked her to incapacitate them if they got to close, she would have probably let them give me a serious ass-kicking before stepping in.
As I entered the clearing around the Bayru outpost, a small group started to head towards me. The ones who had been following me also entered the clearing behind me. It was a small display of force obviously meant to intimidate. The man in front of the small group heading towards me appeared to be the leader based on the amount of military flair on his vest.
As I mentioned, the Bayru’s homeworld was more than a bit on the cold side. They were all dressed simply in a vest, armored I assumed, and a short skirt of sorts. They were all heavily armed and a bit menacing looking. With their black, white, and grey mottled fur they appeared to be wearing war paint and I couldn’t help thinking of the movie Braveheart.
“Senri?”
“Yes, Captain?”
“Have you disabled the weapons of the group approaching me?”
“No. Do you want me to do that?”
“No, Senri. I’m just thinking out loud!”
“Ok.”
“SENRI!”
“Calm down. I told you I got you covered. Really, Captain, you’re being a bit of a pussy.”
I didn’t even bother to respond. Hopefully, there was an adult present on the bridge making sure I didn’t get killed in the next few minutes.
“Be ready to drop every Bayru in the area with an immobilization field on my word. Except for the big guy in the lead.”
The group of Bayru stopped when I came within a few feet of them. The ones behind me came in closer as well. I stood there staring at the leader for a few seconds and decided I should probably speak first.
“You must be Kgratzo. I’m Guerin…”
“We know who you are. The Maricindi have told us about you. You are the one the Guides have sent.”
“Nobody sent me here. I’m here because I choose to be.”
“You wish to talk, so talk. I have important duties to attend to and I do not have time for this nonsense.”
“Ok. You will release the Taesrin you have abducted. You and your team will pack up and prepare to leave Taes.” I wasn’t getting a warm and fuzzy from this guy, so I didn’t see any point in being too nice.
“And why would we do that?”
“Because I asked, and if you don’t do so willingly, you will do it unwillingly.”
Kgratzo and his men appeared to find that last statement funny, or something. I could only assume the annoying sound they were making was laughter. Why was everyone’s first response to laugh at me? It was sort of ticking me off a bit.
“I see one little man talking big. If that is all you have to say, then leave now before I kill you for wasting my time.”
“Now Senri, and send the Ranger squad down behind me.”
Every Bayru in the area dropped to the ground except for Kgratzo. He tried to not look intimidated until he saw the squad of 13 Rangers, in full battle gear, emerge from a portal behind me. He immediately aimed his weapon at me and tried to fire. Realizing his weapon was of no use he reached for a large blade he had sheathed in the waistband of his skirt. I quickly seized his hand before he could draw the blade clear.
“That would be a mistake.”
He still resisted. I increased the pressure on his wrist until his weapon fell to the ground. I pushed him back a bit and put my foot on the blade that had fallen.
“Perhaps now you will take me seriously when I say you will leave Taes.”
“I will not be intimidated by your tricks.”
“Kelly.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Take the team to the Bayru camp. Release all the Taesrin slaves and send them back to their village. Search their camp, gather up all the Bayru weapons, and destroy them. Destroy any weapons stores you find as well.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Kelly and the squad of Rangers took off in a slow jog towards the camp, Kgratzo and I stood there silently staring into each other’s eyes. Kelly split the squad into four groups to go through the camp. Moments later a group of a little over 20 Taesrins sprinted out of the camp and into the woods. Still, the two of us just stood there staring at each other. As the Ranger teams collected the weapons from all the downed Bayru in the camp, Kelly came back over with a small container in her hand.
“We found it, sir.” She said as she handed me the container.
“A nano-weapon, Kgratzo? We should kill every last one of you for bringing such a weapon to this world.”
He remained silent as Kelly had Senri open a portal. The other end of the portal was close enough to the local star that its gravity well would pull in any object exiting the portal. She tossed the container, and the weapons of the Bayru on the ground around me through the portal.
“If you wouldn’t mind relieving our friend here of his weapons, Kelly?”
Kelly moved towards Kgratzo and as she reached for his long weapon he made his move. Kelly was expecting it and she countered his move before he could even react. She had him laid out flat, his stomach to the ground. Her foot was on his back as she put the barrel of
her rifle to his head.
Kelly was smiling as she looked over at me. “Sir, if you wouldn’t mind?”
I bent over and relieved Kgratzo of his weapons. I gave him a quick frisk to see if he had any weapons hidden and found none. I removed the sheath for his blade from his waistband, picked up his blade and sheathed that as well. I inspected the weapon’s design.
“I think I’ll keep these for our trophy case, Kelly. What do you think?”
“We don’t have a trophy case, sir.”
“Well, maybe we should?” Kelly just shrugged her shoulders in response. “You can let him up now.”
Kelly slowly removed her foot from the small of Kgratzo’s back and took a few steps back, her rifle still pointing in his direction. Kgratzo stood back up, still with a look of defiance in his eyes as he brushed himself off.
I handed him his communications device. “Call in your men still out in the woods. There are six of them if I counted correctly.”
“Why should I?”
“Listen, Kgratzo, I am growing tired of your attitude. If I have not yet demonstrated that I don’t need to ask nicely, then your people will suffer more than is necessary. Whether your people return to Bayr alive or dead is entirely up to you. Either way, you will be leaving Taes.”
“But you have already killed most of my people here.”
“We have not killed any of your people. They are simply unconscious. Check if you don’t believe me.”
He bent over and checked a few of his men on the ground for life signs. In the background, we could hear several small explosions as the Rangers destroyed the Bayru weapons in the camp. Kgratzo looked back at the camp as he stood back up. He could see the smoke from the explosions and the Ranger teams heading back our way. He called out over his communications device for his remaining men to return to camp.
“Good. Now, when your men return, we will revive the rest of your people. You will gather them together and you will return to Bayr.”
“But you must know we don’t have the means to return home, at least not all of us.”
“That won’t be an issue. We will provide the method of transport.”
“How?”
“You will travel in the same way my team arrived here. A doorway of sorts will be opened, and you will pass through it to Bayr. We will return you to the spaceport from which you departed.”
“When you return home, you will tell your superiors that no Bayru will be allowed to return to Taes. Any attempt to do so will fail. If you try to deploy your nano-weapon, there will be an accident with that weapon on Bayr. You know what the results of that would be. From now on, Taes is off limits to the Bayru, and the Maricindi.”
“What gives you the authority to tell us what we can, or cannot do?”
“The same thing that gave you the authority to do what you’ve done on Taes. We can. It would be best for you, and your people, to not test us again.”
“How can I be sure that this doorway you speak of will not simply lead us to our deaths?”
“You have to trust me.”
“Why would I trust you?”
“Are your people still alive?” Kgratzo nodded. “If I wanted you all dead I would not have bothered to come to talk. You would all be dead. Trust me, it would take a lot less effort on my part.”
“Then why not simply kill us?”
“Perhaps one day you’ll figure that out.” And maybe I would too, I thought to myself.
The rest of the Rangers gathered up the six men returning from the woods. They were disarmed after Kgratzo gave them the order to relinquish their weapons and were brought over to join us. We all backed away while Senri revived the Bayru in our area.
“Take your men back to the camp. There you will gather up the rest of your people when they are revived. My team will perform a count to make sure they are all present and then we will open the doorway. You will march your people through the doorway and back to Bayr. Your people may find this method of transport a little disorienting, but the effects will pass quickly.”
He did as I instructed. We revived his people and they gathered in front of the camp. The squad performed a count, and when we confirmed we had accounted for them all, Senri opened a portal to Bayru. Kelly instructed Kgratzo to march his people in the indicated direction. After the first few disappeared, the rest hesitated for a moment. Kelly motioned Kgratzo to continue and he reassured his people that it was safe. Senri programmed the portal on Bayru to slowly move in the opposite direction that the Bayru marched. This was to prevent them from falling over each other as the transit lag hit them upon exiting the portal.
I instructed the squad to destroy the entire camp. I didn’t want to leave any of the Bayru technology behind, no matter how insignificant we might find it. Senri opened a portal to take me back to the village. I wasn’t going to make that hike again. Saving the world takes a lot out of a guy after all.
As I approached the village, Jrenila exited his home with Scirla to greet me. Normally, in any good space flick I’d ever seen, the beautiful woman would run up, hug the hero, and plant a big juicy kiss on his lips. That didn’t happen. Reality truly sucked.
“The Bayru are no longer on Taes. Your people that were in their custody are on their way home and should be arriving shortly.”
“Thank you, Guerin. What of the Maricindi?”
“As we discussed, they will be leaving in a few days. We will monitor them to make sure they keep their word.”
“Very well. What will you do now? Will you stay here with us?”
“No. I have to return to my people. We will be watching, and we’ll make sure that neither return to Taes in the future. We probably won’t meet again, Jrenila. Thank you for your hospitality.”
I began to turn around and head for the waiting portal when Jrenila spoke. “But what about Scirla?”
“I don’t understand, Jrenila?”
“You will take her with you?”
“No. Her life is here on Taes.”
“But you have joined with her. She is part of your family now.”
“I’m sorry, Jrenila, I still don’t understand.”
“The Guides sent her to you. She has joined your family and she no longer belongs to ours. If she does not go with you she will be without family. She will be alone. Has she done something to displease you?”
“No. She has not done anything to displease me.”
“Then I am the one that does not understand.”
“Senri? Somebody? Can anybody tell me what this is all about?”
“Hey, Dad. Well, we're not sure. You didn’t sleep with her, did you?”
“NO. I mean, we slept in the same bed and she spooned me a bit, but we didn’t do the deed.”
“The DEED, Dad? What are you, in high school again?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Well, we’re not sure exactly what’s going on. We think it’s best you bring her back to the Ryvius with you. We’ll sort it out here. You don’t want to offend the Taesrins on top of everything else.”
I wasn’t quite sure what my daughter meant by the little “On top of everything else” comment. I thought I’d done a pretty good job down on Taes. I didn’t kill anyone, did I?
“I’m sorry for the confusion, Jrenila. Scirla is welcome to come with me if that is what she wants.” I hoped my daughter had at least a clue of what she was doing. I sure as hell didn’t.
The look on Scirla’s face was not one of joy at my last statement. She still had the look of a deer in the headlights. Dragging her through a portal wasn’t going to fix that. She said her goodbyes to Jrenila and her other friends there. She grabbed a small sack, I guess her Taesrin go bag, and I took her hand as we left Taes.
Sure enough, Scirla was totally out of it when we arrived in the transport room on the Ryvius. Maria and I helped Scirla to a seat. We had a little couch in the room just for first-timers. It took her a few minutes before she said anything understandable. Meanwhile, Senri enter
ed the room with a bottle of Pappy’s and a glass. She poured a drink and handed it to me. I shot it back in one quick gulp.
“It was for her, you idiot!”
“Trust me, Senri, I think I’m going to need it.”
She poured another glass and as I reached for it, Senri yanked the glass away from me. She gave me one of her looks and I returned it in kind.
“Here you go, child. Drink this. It will help.”
Scirla didn’t hesitate. She actually seemed to enjoy the drink. That probably shouldn’t have surprised me when comparing it to the hooch they drank on Taes.
“Where am I? Is this the other world?”
“The other world?” I asked.
“I think she means heaven, Dad.”
“Well, it’s definitely not heaven, not with me here. This is my ship, the Ryvius.”
And, as if on cue, running into the transport room came my little daughter Gamma. Prima wasn’t far behind her looking a bit winded. She just threw up her arms in defeat.
Gamma jumped up into my waiting arms and gave me a big old hug. I put her back down and she walked over to Scirla and said, “Hi! I’m Gamma.”
This just confused Scirla even more. Gamma wasn’t old enough for us to download a lot of info into her little mind, like alien languages. She spoke in her native mix of Mandarin Chinese and English, a hybrid language common on Ganymede. She used the comm bud to translate other languages, so she could understand others, but she could not speak their languages.
“That is my youngest daughter, Gamma. She said hello in her language. The one behind me, with the disapproving look, is my eldest daughter, Maria.”
“Hello, Scirla. It’s very nice to meet you.”
Scirla was looking even more confused, so Senri poured her another drink. I was pretty sure that wasn’t going to help.
“And that is Prima.” I pointed. “My wife.”
