by James McEwan
After that day, Thad and the girls became closer to the Untor people. They lived, hunted, fished, and laughed with the people. After a month of learning their ways, they were made a part of the tribe. Eve started a school and taught the people English, math and other subjects. Thad taught the people medicine and other practical knowledge. The twins spent much of their time teaching the females how to do makeup and hair. They even started to work with the clothing makers to design new clothing.
The Untor people chose to integrate many of the things Thad was offering into their culture without losing any of their ways in the process. Two more months passed by and Thad almost wanted to give up their quest to stop Thorne and his organization, but something deep inside of him would not let him quit. He could not live out his life knowing the cost in lives and knowing, if not stopped, Thorne would do the same to many more people. As tempting as it was to stay here and live with these wonderful people, he knew they needed a way to get off this world.
Meanwhile, in his newly remodeled office, Thorne sat reading over field reports when the com beeped. “Yes,” he said without looking up from his reading.
A female voice came over the speaker, “Sorry to bother you Sir, but you have a call.”
“It’s okay. I have been expecting it. Put her through,” he grunted.
A hologram of the Council Woman flashed to life, “George.”
“Helen,” he replied, still not looking up from his reading.
“Status report please,” she looked annoyed.
He sat down the tablet he was reading, “Let’s see. Our asset has been in place for a few months now, and has complete trust of the target. She is ready anytime, just waiting for orders. The other operations are progressing as planned.”
“And what of your little rogue asset problem?” She asked.
“No activity in months, it seems he has fallen completely off the grid. So, he either thinks he got us and is not worrying about us anymore, or he has thought better of it and gone into hiding again. Either way it seems he is no longer a threat to our operations.”
Helen placed her holo-hands on her holo-hips, “Hope so. I would hate to think what could happen to us all if anything goes wrong.”
“Not to worry, Helen, nothing will go wrong. We have done hundreds of these kinds of operations before,” Thorne tried to reassure her.
“Yes, but when was the last time that you assassinated the Emperor of one the largest governments in the galaxy?” She asked.
“Touché,” he said.
“Just make sure it happens without any complications,” the hologram blinked out.
“Well goodbye to you too, bitch!”
Helen Sexton stood in her office, satisfied for the moment things were on track. She walked to the window to look out over the city. It was late at night on Earth, where she was, as she watched the lights from hundreds, if not thousands of vehicles flying around the busy streets. It may be late but New York was still New York, and it never sleeps.
“I hope everything is ready,” said a voice from somewhere behind her.
Not expecting anyone else in her office this late, she let out a short high-pitched squeal when she heard the voice. She spun around to see a hooded figure behind her. He stood almost ten feet tall and had to bend over to keep from hitting his head on the vaulted ceiling. “My God, I hate it when you do that,” she said.
“I don’t care whether you care for it or not, I just need to know that the plan goes forward.” The mystery giant said in a very deep voice.
“Yes my Lord, all is prepared and ready for the return of your people. We await your command,” Helen said as humbly as she could.
“Good, the time draws near, but not yet. I will consult the others. When you see me again you will know it is time,” he said.
The strange hooded giant faded away into the darkness as Helen bowed, “Yes my Lord.”
Thad was hiking with two of the younger Untor’s when Fiona came running up to them. Out of breath she said, “A…,” she placed her hands on her knees to catch her breath. “A ship has passed over. It appears to have landed near the edge of the forest. Un-Tark sent out scouts, but they have not come back. He is worried something may have happened to them. He sent me to find you and tell you to meet him near the site.”
“Okay, you two,” he pointed to the Untor’s with him, “Get back to the village.” The Untor’s nodded then took off at a run. Fiona and Thad took off with Fiona leading the way to the meeting spot.
A few minutes later, they were up in a tree next to Un-Tark. Looking down at a clearing on the edge of the forest, Thad used the zoom function on his eye implant, and what he saw made his blood run cold. Of all the off worlders who could come to this world, the ones he was looking at were the worst. If not dealt with they could undo all the work they had done in the last few months, changing the attitudes of the Untors.
“What are these creatures I’m looking at? I’ve seen many aliens, but nothing like these,” Un-Tark was amazed at the aliens who had landed. They were about five feet tall and looked like lizards, but lizards with weapons and armor.
Thad sighed, “They are Ralnai, and they the worst! We have to stop them from reporting back.”
Fiona had heard of them, but never had any dealing with them. She asked Thad what Un-Tark was thinking, “Report back?”
“Yeah, these guys are just scouts. They have no doubt scanned for life forms, and have found the village. They will raid it and take a few slaves back to show to the rest of their tribe. They will then come back in greater numbers to enslave the rest of your people,” Thad said.
“Enslave us? Never again shall my people be slaves! We will rise up in arms against these Ralnai!” Un-Tark said proudly, shaking three of his fists. “We will make goods from their hides!”
Thad took Un-Tark by the arm, “My friend, I know the Untor’s are a great and proud race, but those lizards down there are your worst nightmare. Ralnai are born with extremely bad attitudes. I’m sorry my friend, but the Ralnai are far more than you can handle.”
“So what would you have me do? Run, leave our homes?” He asked.
“No, I want you to go back the village and make sure that all your women and children are well protected. Leave the Ralnai to us,” Thad said.
Not understanding, Un-Tark questioned Thad, “But how my friend, you have no weapons other than the ones we have given you. How are you to beat them if they are as dangerous as you say?”
Thad turned him around and said, “I have few tricks up my sleeve still.”
Now really confused, Un-Tark said, “How can you have tricks up your sleeve when the garment you wear has no sleeves.”
Thad laughed, “Come my friend. Let’s go prepare a surprise they will never forget.” They headed back to the village as fast as their feet would take them.
Once at the village Thad went straight to his backpack, and pulled out a small black tablet about the size of a twentieth century smart phone. After retrieving this, he returned to the common area of the village, where a group of warriors were gathering, weapons in hand, ready to fight. Un-Tark was barking out orders and warriors were running back and forth as fast as they could.
Thad worked out the most likely approach to the village. Luckily they were familiar with the forest, while the Ralnai were ignorant of it. It was, much to the misfortune of the Ralnai, far too thick to allow jet belt use in most places
Ralnai were lazy and that would be their undoing. They wouldn’t walk around to a better approach. They would rather use their jet belts to cruise down the easiest approach, which just happened to be a fatal funnel.
Thad selected a spot carefully, and pushed on the screen of the DDSD. He selected what he wanted, then tapped the screen. A few seconds and one green flash of light later, a brand new twin heavy cone machine gun mounted on a tripod materialized. After that he rendered up a whole lot of ammo for the guns, Thad noticed that it had gone completely quiet. He looked around and saw that ev
eryone was staring at him. “What?” He said as he shrugged his shoulders. He was so caught up in his plan that he forgot what he had just done, conjuring things out of thin air, must have looked like magic to the Untors.
Un-Tark smiled at him, “Ah! I see now how you can have tricks up your sleeves with no sleeves. You are full of strange magic, my friend. Truly you are unlike any sky walker I have ever met.”
Eve strolled up next to Thad and before he could answer, she answered for him, “Yep that is our Thad for you, truly unlike any other sky walker in existence.”
The Untor’s stood mesmerized as Thad continued to make things appear out of thin air with nothing more than his black box and a green light. After Thad had everything he needed he instructed Un-Tark to keep his people back and out of the way. “You will know when the ambush starts because it will get really loud.”
A small Untor girl, no older than seven, came running up, “They come. The strange flying lizards, they are hopping this way.”
“It’s time get everyone to their positions,” Thad said as he picked up his .50 cal sniper rifle. Within seconds, the village was deserted. The only people around were Thad and the girls. “Eve you have the big guns, but don’t use them unless they get past us,” Thad said.
Eve nodded. He turned to the twins, “You two know what to do, and remember if they get past the ambush then you two shoot and move, cover each other, and don’t wait for me, got it.”
Freya said, “But honey we can take these walking hand bags. I don’t see why we need to pull back if one or two get through.”
Thad kissed her on the forehead, “Oh my silly little wife, I love your confidence, but one really pissed off Ralnai could tear through this whole village bare handed. So when I say pull back, you pull back, okay?”
She grabbed him, pulled him tightly to her, and kissed him deeply on the lips, “Okay.” Fiona said nothing, just took her turn to kiss him before they ran for their positions amid the tree houses in the village. Thad smiled as they disappeared into the canopy of the trees. He too would now take up his sniper hide.
He no longer had a personal cloaking device so today he would rely on the ancient practice of camouflage. He slipped on a ghillie suit over his black body armor. The last few minutes before the Ralnai came into sight he spent covering himself in the local foliage. Once he was in place, you couldn’t tell what was tree and what Thad was. He blended in perfectly.
The thing about Jet belts is, if you use them right, the enemy never hears or sees you coming until it is too late, but in the case of these Ralnai, they were using the jet belts to glide over the ground a few feet then to bounce high and come down on you. This was a mistake that made it easier for Thad to deal with them.
They could hear the Ralnai jet belts roaring over the ground long before they saw them. There were six of the misbegotten lizards moving in a leapfrog fashion. The first three would fly forward, land and then cover the other three. The Ralnai were being sloppy, they must have based their tactics on their contact with the Untor scouts. They were not expecting to meet anything worse than bow and arrow armed savages. Boy, were they wrong!
Thad waited, barely moving, as though he had become one with the tree, only moving enough to match the very gentle swaying of the tree in the wind. He watched as the first group landed, took up the defensive positions, and before the second group moved, he let the air out of his lungs and slowly pulled back on the trigger. The bark of the big rifle tore through the silence as its half-inch diameter solid slug blasted through the air. The lead Ralnai’s head exploded. His headless body hung in the air for the fraction of a second it took for the body to figure out it had no more head. It dropped to the ground, and then all Hell broke loose. Fiona made her shot and her targeted Ralnai joined his companion on the ground, without a head.
Freya’s shot missed as the Ralnai reacted fast and jumped out of the way. Now the four that were left became more professional in a heartbeat. The advantages they held over the Ralnai had disappeared. One of the Ralnai had a Death Wind in his hands. The six shot sonic grenade launcher lept to life, as he dumped the whole magazine. He shot wildly in the direction where the shooting had come. Thuds were going off all around Thad and the Twins when one grenade landed close to a tree, next to Freya's hiding place. The sonic energy of the exploding grenade tore the tree apart and pushed her out of her hiding place. A foot long splinter of exploding tree sliced through her leg. She screamed out in pain, as she lay half-buried in the rubble of the tree house.
Things were happening so fast Thad did not realize Freya had been wounded. He acquired the Ralnai Grenadier and fired. His shot was a little off, the Ralnai had moved at the last second. It hit the Ralnai in the arm, which disappeared in a spray of blood, leaving him a shredded stump in its place. The Ralnai growled in pain, and dropped his weapon.
Fiona targeted the Ralnai, which Freya missed with her first round. The Ralnai was fast, but not fast enough. As he jetted for the sky, the round from her weapon took him square in the chest tearing a hole all the way to his back. The massive bullet penetrated his Jet belt, the fuel cell located in the center of the jet belt exploded like a firework, sending brightly burning sparks out in every direction. Fiery chucks went in all directions, leaving nothing, but two disembodied lizard feet that fell to the ground, landing in standing position.
The last two Ralnai jumped high, reaching for the village platform. Two bad for them, they jumped right into Eve’s gun sights. She lit them up like decorations on Christmas Eve. One of them was torn to shreds and died in mid-jump. The other Ralnai tried to twist out of the way of the rain of Hell. A round hit one of his thrust pods. He spun through the air and slammed into a tree where he lay unmoving.
It looked as if they had won, and the Untor poked their heads out of hiding to cheer. Thad, on the other hand, was not so sure and would not be sure until all of the lizards were confirmed dead. He was looking for the one-armed Ralnai, but could not find him. He heard Freya scream, he wheeled around to see the Ralnai, who was behind him, advancing towards Freya. She was propped up against a tree, holding her leg, trying to slow the blood loss. Thad had no shot, not without hitting Freya, so he dropped the rifle and ran to her.
Two of the Untor warriors must have seen the Ralnai approach Freya as well, as they got there first. Both of them stabbed the Ralnai with their spears. The spearheads disappeared into his green scaly flesh. This didn’t stop or even slow him down. In fact, it seemed to anger him more. From the utility belt at his waist, he pulled out a black handled weapon and pushed a button on the side. Energy crackled around the head of the weapon; it was a neurotic whip. He flicked the handle with his remaining claw like hand and a brilliant blue light jumped from the tip of the weapon, writhing like an angry snake. The energy cut right though the spear handles, as if they were nothing.
Frozen with fear, the two Untors were powerless against this kind of weaponry. The first of the two died in a flash of blue light, as the Ralnai used the whip to cut him in half, from the top of his head to the bottom of his body. With a flick of the Ralnai’s hand, the other Untor fell headless. The Ralnai was now within range to deliver the killing blow to Freya. He lifted his whip high above his head, energy cracking, and blue fire flying down the force field, shaping it into a whip.
The Ralnai who had smashed into the tree was still lying there not moving, so the Untor’s approached it spears out. They poked at it a few times then moved in closer to get a better look. The Ralnai moved, but it was too late for the Untor who was in the lead. The Ralnai had a plasma pistol in his hand, and as he rolled over to his side, he pulled the trigger.
Bright multicolored plasma erupted from the barrel of the pistol. It hit the Untor just above his waist. His lower body and lower arms were completely burned away. He stayed alive long enough to look down at the hole, which was once his lower body. The other two Untor’s died as plasma shot from the pistol again and again.
Freya looked up at this monster who was ab
out to end her life. The only thought going through her mind was how much she was going to miss Thad and Fiona. Ready to die, she accepted she was not going to make it out of this one when something she did not expect happened. The whip landed two inches to her side missing her completely. At first, she thought the Ralnai chose to spare her, but then she saw the real reason for her survival. Thad was sitting on top of the Ralnai. He had tackled the one-armed lizard, knocking off his aim and saving her life. She was starting to feel cold and it was getting harder to think clearly as she went into shock. Her beloved husband, with force blade in hand, was carving the Ralnai like a Thanksgiving turkey, literally hacking great chunks from its thrashing body. The knife rose and fell, over and over, spraying blood everywhere.
Meanwhile, Eve set about to finish what she started. She whipped the guns around in time to watch the Untors die in a hail of plasma. With nothing between her and the remaining Ralnai, she squeezed the trigger. The massive guns roared with a deafening sound that could be heard for miles. The rounds from the twin heavy cone rifles chewed through the Ralnai and blasted a good chuck of the tree away. What was left of the Ralnai became imbedded in the tree.
It was finally over, all the Ralnai were dead. Thad had sliced up the Ralnai so badly that they would have to carry its corpse away in pieces. He looked over toward Freya and she returned his look, “Cutting it a little close on the saving of the damsel in distress weren’t we?”
Thad rolled his eyes, women, “I just wanted to make a dramatic entrance for you.”
She laughed, “Any more dramatic and it would have been a tragedy for the universe to lose all this.” She waved her hand down her body, then she winced from the pain, “Oh, don’t make me laugh it hurts worse.”
Thad was about to say something then his heart skipped a beat, Fiona, where is Fiona? He had not seen or heard from her since the first shot. He looked around for her, his breath held. He could finally breathe. She was running up with a med kit in hand, “Sorry it took so long to get this here, but the wounded Ralnai was shooting plasma everywhere. He was kind of between you and me. I had to wait for Eve to make lizard pate out of him before it was safe to cross,” Fiona kneeled next to Freya as she tore into the medical kit.
