“We better get going then. Leave him, G.” Braden kicked the spear away and with his blaster dialed to its narrowest beam, he fired twice, cutting the weapon into three pieces.
“What about these?” Micah asked while holding up the spears she’d recovered from the dead.
“Stuff them on the other side of the door. I hope I didn’t waste power that I’ll want later.”
“I hope not, too,” Micah muttered as she ran up the stairs, opened the door to the tram platform, and tossed the spears inside.
When she returned, Braden was already moving. He had Aadi in two hands, held tightly over his head as he jogged through the mud and roots of the rainforest. G-War and Fea had gone high and were running along the lowest branches. “Keep your eyes out, Aadi. I don’t want any unpleasant surprises.”
Braden had gotten good at identifying Lizard Men in hiding. It was a lesson learned the hard way in the war with the Amazon. They’d lost a lot of good people because of the Amazonian ability to blend in with their surroundings.
With the ‘cats, the Tortoid, and the Hawkoids, Braden hoped they could reach the ramp before any more Lizard Men appeared. He didn’t know how many were on the Rainforest Level. He hoped the numbers were lower than he feared. With Aadi injured, he wasn’t able to quickly reach his blasters. He grew more concerned with every step.
Micah appeared beside him. Her blaster was in one hand and the Old Tech sword in the other. The look on her face told him that their enemies were the ones to be afraid.
The Battle for Primacy
‘The Prince and his people are on their way to the central ramp. That is where we will find the clones,’ Treetis told the companions.
The humidity and the intense effort of running through the tangle of roots was wearing Jocelyn down. She gasped and panted with the effort to draw each tortured breath. The Wolfoids looked unfazed. Pik looked awkward moving in the open, but in this environment, he was sure footed and moved quickly. The ‘cats raced overhead as if it were a game.
She missed her daughter. Leah stood out in her mind as she fought for focus. The more tired she became, the harder it was to see where next to step. She started to stumble.
‘Pik Ha’ar, it is time to take a short break,’ Treetis said.
‘No,’ the Tup interjected. ‘We must keep going.’
Treetis launched himself from the branch and landed in front of the Lizard Man. The ‘cat hissed and showed his claws. ‘I said stop.’
‘And I said we keep going.’ The Lizard Man lowered his spear and lunged forward, but Pik was faster. He grabbed the shaft of the weapon and redirected it into a root, where it stuck.
Treetis had had enough. He knew where they needed to go and this Lizard Man wasn’t taking them there. The ‘cat attacked, latching onto the Lizard Man’s head with his claws. The rest of the Hillcats heard the call to action. Galvanized, they descended en masse.
The Wolfoids had lowered their spears, ready to fire, but the writhing mass of furry bodies needed no help. Bounder and Strider looked to the trees, watching for reinforcements.
“Stop!” Jocelyn cried. Treetis was first to extricate himself. He hissed at the others and swatted them away from the Lizard Man’s body. Blooded, they moved slowly away and circled the corpse.
‘Come. I know the way,’ Pik Ha’ar said matter-of-factly.
“But we just killed that Lizard Man.” Jocelyn pointed back and forth between Pik and the Tup.
‘No matter. I suspected he was leading us into a trap. I would have stopped him before the trap sprung and with our superior firepower, he and all his comrades would have died. They don’t remember the power you have or worse, they are ignoring it. In any case, they will fail, either now or later. They will have to be beaten as they will not surrender.’
“When were you going to enlighten us?” Jocelyn said in her governor’s voice. She put her hands on her hips and glared at Pik Ha’ar.
‘Now was the right time. You are enlightened. We must go before the rest of this Tup’s unit arrives.’
Pik turned and headed deeper into the heavy woods. A light rain continued to fall. The ‘cats climbed the tree and raced along the branches. None were missing. They were together, blooded as one, with a new confidence.
Bounder waved for Jocelyn to follow. “Are we going to leave him there?”
‘Of course. It’s the law of the rainforest,’ Bounder replied. Strider hopped over a heavy root as she fell in behind Pik before he disappeared. ‘We are following a trail. I think Pik Ha’ar is on familiar ground. We are in good hands.’
“This is a trail?” Jocelyn asked, rejuvenated even though she hadn’t rested. She found walking to be good therapy following what she had just witnessed. “We are in good hands.”
***
‘Stop and get down,’ Skirill ordered.
Braden and Micah dove for cover, hitting softly and easing into the water. G-War and Fea dropped to their bellies on the branch where they were. Aadi remained where he was until Braden stood and pulled him down. His back leg had stiffened and he couldn’t swim through the air.
‘This remind you of anything?’ Micah asked over the mindlink.
‘I will never forget the terror of the Amazon. The never-ending rain. The incessant ambushes. The not knowing. I trusted that Holly was guiding us well, but still. I didn’t know anything for sure.’
‘I like this just as much as I liked that. These Lizard Men look like the Overlords, and that gives me the creeps.’
‘Pik looks like the Overlords.’
‘But we know him. All these others? Not so much.’
Braden accessed his neural implant and brought up the map showing their position.
‘Clear,’ Skirill reported.
“We should see the village any moment now. We’re almost on top of it.”
‘It is up ahead,’ G-War told them. ‘I can see Lizard Men. I can’t tell if they are clones or not.’
“How will we know?”
“Pik Ha’ar will know.”
‘We are here,’ Micah said over the mindlink. ‘How far are you?’
‘We are here,’ Pik replied.
‘What do you say we introduce ourselves. You cover that half and we’ll cover this side. Have your weapons ready to fire. The first sign this is going bad and we light them up. No one can escape. We’ll lose them in the rainforest and the Lizard Men of this level are no help.’ Braden pushed Aadi behind him.
“Hang on, Aadi. I need both my hands for this.” Braden pulled his blasters and checked them. The power hadn’t changed.
Micah slid her sword free. She held her blaster in her other hand.
‘It is time,’ Pik said and walked into the open. The Lizard Men in the small village looked at him, but didn’t see the threat until the Wolfoids and ‘cats appeared. Some moved to run, but Braden and Micah spread out with G-War and Fea filling the gap between. Aadi struggled at Braden’s side.
‘We only want to talk,’ Pik said as he walked forward, his trident held in both hands. The other Lizard Men did not respond.
‘Close the distance,’ Braden said. ‘Reduce the spacing in between. Bounder, you hold that flank. I’ll keep them from getting past on this side. Watch your lines of fire.’
Jocelyn nodded to Micah, but the president wasn’t watching. The look on her face said all that needed to be said. She was focused on what she determined was the enemy. Jocelyn checked her blaster and took better care at watching the Lizard Men. Pik Ha’ar was easy to tell from the others as he wore the armor that Holly had made for him.
The ‘cats spread out and filled the area between the Lizard Men and the companions.
“No!” Braden shouted. “Get out of there.”
‘They say that they can tell their tank brothers from the others. There are eight clones here,’ Treetis stated.
“Point them out,” Braden said with a hard edge to his voice.
Treetis walked toward the village and tipped his head eight times. Fou
r other Lizard Men stood to the side.
“Pik, tell those four they need to go into their homes and stay there.”
Pik relayed the message, speaking with authority as a Lizard Man commander. The four started to move, but one of the clones stopped them.
‘Let them go,’ Pik said, working his way until he was between the two groups. ‘What did the Androids ask you to do for them?’
Two Hawkoids circled overhead.
‘We don’t understand,’ one of them answered.
‘The ones who brought you here. The ones in your minds before you knew your own thoughts.’
‘We know only Lizard Men. We have found our people and our home.’
‘You’re going to have company pretty soon,’ Skirill told them.
‘How many?’ Micah asked, letting Braden focus on the clones.
‘It looks like all of them.’
G-War ran forward and found a Lizard Man who would look at him. He stared him down. ‘It’s a ruse. They are holding us to allow us to be crushed by the wave of inbound Lizard Men. Kill them all.’
Braden hesitated. No one fired. ‘Clear out, my friends. You will not survive the fires,’ G-War told the other Hillcats. They turned and ran from the village. Pik started to back away, but one clone charged him and they started the deadly dance of spear fighters.
“Keep your eyes on the others. No one can escape.”
The other seven bunched up around the door on the ramp. Bounder took aim with his lightning spear. One clone grabbed the door to open it, but it didn’t budge. The others ran into his back in expectation of making a quick escape.
Bounder unleashed a torrent of lightning into the seven bodies. Their escape became their funeral pyre. Two started crawling away, terrible burns covering their backs. Braden fired two narrow beams, putting the Lizard Men out of their misery.
Pik jabbed and twisted, trying to rip the spear from the other’s hands, but he was too fast. Not a clone, but an improved version. Pik didn’t see it as fear, but a challenge. They jabbed and parried, clubbed and slashed, but neither could get an advantage. The clone’s attacks became more desperate.
Pik gave him an opening and the clone stabbed at Pik Ha’ar’s chest. His armor stopped the spear. The clone had no protection as Pik’s counterattack drove all three points of his trident deep into his enemy’s body.
The clone didn’t make a sound. His eyes rolled back, and he died. Pik stood on the Lizard Man’s chest as he pulled his trident free.
‘They are almost here,’ Skirill warned.
“Time to go! Holly, open the ramp door, please,” Braden yelled as he pushed Aadi toward the village. G-War rallied the Hillcats and furry wet bodies flooded toward the door. Braden waved his bracelet at it and pulled. Nothing happened. “HOLLY!” Braden turned and fired at the feet of the first Lizard Man to run from the rainforest.
Strider fired her lightning spear into the trees. They cracked and burst as the water within superheated instantly.
‘Holly, open this door right now or we are going to see a lot dead bodies, ending in our own,’ Micah pleaded.
‘Working on it,’ Holly replied. ‘There.’
“It’s open,” Micah said and pulled the door open, waving at the others to go through. She fired her blaster repeatedly at the ground in front of the army of Lizard Men. Braden waved the stream from his blaster back and forth to hold the inbound at bay. Two Hawkoids screamed toward the doorway, backwinged to slow down, and then neatly slipped through.
The last charge trickled from his blaster and the fire ended. Micah’s went out at the same time. A Wolfoid jammed a lightning spear out the door and fired in between Braden and Micah.
“Watch out!” Micah yelled at the doorway. When Bounder released the lever, the humans jumped through and slammed the door behind them.
“Holly, seal that door again. We’re going to walk up to the next level.”
“I’ll open a doorway in between decks and if you don’t mind walking, you can go that way to avoid the Garden Level.”
“They are only Rabbits,” Braden said.
“And Bees,” Micah added. “Don’t forget that swarm of Bees.”
A New Day, A New Purpose
“This is a dangerous place,” Jocelyn said softly.
“These corridors?” Micah said as they walked.
“Not here, but the ship as a whole.”
“Did you know that leaving the ship, going outside into space, can kill you almost instantly? It’s safer in here.”
“It’s safer in Jefferson City,” Jocelyn replied.
“Is JC the future?” Braden asked.
Jocelyn looked at the deck before answering. “No.”
Braden had a hand on one side of Aadi’s shell and Micah had the other side. They carried him between them, although he was light as a feather. The Hawkoids that perched on Braden’s shoulders were not so light.
‘I fear that I was no help on this adventure,’ Aadi said.
“More help than you know, old man. I’m glad you came, despite your reservations.”
‘You know why I came,’ Aadi replied.
Micah smiled. “You wanted to make sure that it was safe for your son. What’s the verdict?”
‘Daksha will greatly enjoy being up here and learning about space, being one of the first to return to space as an explorer.’
“He’ll be the first Tortoid explorer, and the first in a new generation of explorers. That means schools with real mathematics, expanded subjects to include Old Tech.”
‘As long as we are around, there is no danger,’ G-War added. The cloned Hillcats formed a circle around him. Treetis walked on the outside snickering. Fea glared at the young orange ‘cat.
“Are we better than them, better than the ancients?” Braden wondered aloud. “We just killed a bunch of Lizard Men.”
“Maybe it’s our reasoning that makes us better. They tried to hurt us first. They refused to talk, preferring violence, and most importantly, the ‘cats deemed them incompatible with the civilized world,” Micah answered.
“I’ll accept that, but I don’t like it. I’m not a fan of wanton killing. Maybe when we return to Vii, I hang up the blasters for good.”
“If you do, I will too, but I can’t give up the sword. This thing is like magic in my hand.”
“Of course it is.” Braden shook his head. His thoughts remained troubled. The deaths of the Lizard Men weighed on him.
‘If not us, then who?’ Bounder asked. Braden shook his head. He didn’t understand. ‘The Androids would take over if we let them, turning this ship into a death trap and denying humanity’s return to space. Humanity—Wolfoids, Tortoids, Hawkoids, Hillcats, Lizard Men, Rabbits, and humans will not be denied. It is our shared destiny. The Age of the Androids has come and gone. Maybe you don’t think we were fighting a war, but we were and will until the last renegade Android is deposited on the trash heap of history.’
“Whenever that may be. Holly?”
“Yes, Master Braden,” the AI replied from speakers somewhere in the passageway.
“Can you lock out the hostile levels, make them escort only or something, and then start planning to move humanity back up here? We’re moving in, we’re going to train, and then we’re going back into space. What we don’t have is a governor, one to oversee the logistics of such a massive endeavor.”
Jocelyn looked at him out the corner of her eye. “I don’t even feel the spin anymore. My body adjusts, depending on where the rotation is. I don’t have to think about it.”
Braden and Micah waited.
Jocelyn shook her head. “No. I can’t leave Leah alone. I have to go back to her.”
“Bring her up here,” Micah said nonchalantly.
“Easy as that?”
“Holly, can you send a hovercar for Jocelyn’s daughter?”
“It was dispatched two minutes ago,” Holly replied.
“Find a replacement as governor and start beating the bushes for candid
ates for Space School,” Braden suggested.
“What about your kids?”
“We’re going home to them. They like having their feet on the ground. They have a special way with the creatures of Vii. We can’t take them away from that, plus their two ‘cats would completely destroy this ship in their first week up here.”
‘That’s being a bit harsh, don’t you think?’ G-War asked. ‘Those are my children you’re talking about. It would take them two weeks. Sometimes, you’re such an ass.’
Braden smiled when he thought of that fateful day in Warren’s Deep, a lifetime ago or maybe only seven years. “Ass.”
This is the end of Free Trader 9 – Return to the Traveler
If you liked it, please leave a review – buyers look at books with a single digit number of reviews with skepticism, so please, drop a few kind words for the Free Trader:). This is also the end of the Free Trader series, but the world that the Free Trader and his mate have created lives on in the Cygnus Space Opera – humanity searches for a way home, and they’re bringing the sentient species with them.
Cygnus Rising
Bonus Content (First Chapter)
Cygnus Space Opera – Book 1
A Tale from the Free Trader Universe
takes place over 100 years after Braden & Micah’s adventures
Sample Chapter of Cygnus Rising
Chapter 1 - Fire!
Flames shot through the open hatch. Cain yelled, “Engineering’s on fire!” as the klaxons continued to scream, echoing down the corridor away from him. He sensed, more than heard the anguished cry.
The hatch was open. The automated fire suppression system had failed.
He ripped open the damage control panel and pulled the tank out. He threw it hastily over his shoulder, reached behind him with a well-practiced maneuver to start the flow of air, and wrapped the dangling mask across his face. He draped the fire hood over his head as he ran. He didn’t have time to put on the whole outfit. People he knew were dying.
Return to the Traveler (Free Trader Series Book 9) Page 13
