Once Upon a Saturn Moon

by Edward Antrobus

  Vaamick stared at her, "Well, what information can you give me. What is worth me sparing your life?"

  Marsil hadn't really thought about what she would say. Jeef was supposed to be here already. "We picked up your troop movements and warned the humans."

  "I figured that," Vaamick said. "Only explanation for why the humans withdrew just before the ambush." He inspected her more closely. "Is that all you have? That wouldn't save you from meeting Bara today."

  Marsil bit her lip. "Well." Wait. What was that sound?

  Vaamick started tapping his foot. "I can see from the insignia on your jumpsuit that you are a general for your people, so I know you aren't an idiot. But right now, I'm having trouble believing that. I'll ask one more time." He leaned forwards and stared her in the eye. "What information is worth your life?"

  Marsil heard that sound again. Was it? No, it couldn't be. But it was definitely a hoverbike. She blinked, the first outward sign she'd given of something being up.

  Marsil had never even seen a hoverbike. She didn't think there were any left. Whoever was riding it had to be crazy. Those things weren't the most stable when they were new before the war.

  Vaamick heard it too. He scanned the horizon until it appeared. The hoverbike crested a dune to reveal Jeef. He was alone and heading towards them at full throttle. Seeing the four of them, Jeef pulled a laser rifle from the saddlebag and shot at Vaamick. The shot missed Vaamick but hit Donoon. Marsil and Alvin broke free of their bindings as they scrambled for cover.

  Jeef lined up for another shot but the hoverbike spun out of control sending the monarch tumbling. The angle was wrong for it to be the bike's fault. She looked up and saw a sniper above them. The sniper held his eye up to the scope to aim for another shot against Jeef.

  Marsil ran over to Donoon. She saw his chest rise and fall out of the corner of her eye as she grabbed his weapon.

  The sniper saw her motion and brought the muzzle of his weapon down at her. Without stopping, she raised her gun and shot. The sniper fell to the ground. His name tag caught her eye. Roogar. That was the one that tortured Salaris. He wasn't moving, but she aimed at his head and fired again just to be safe.

  The weapon sparked and crackled. She dropped it as the power cell exploded. She kicked at the torched mess to see if there was anything she could use. Not seeing anything, she rolled Roogar over for his weapon but found that it, too, had been destroyed.

  That left only Jeef's weapon. She canned the ground for it. Jeef was crawling for it. Vaamick also realized that there was only one rifle left and was running for it. The old man scooped it up and fired it right into Jeef's chest. Jeef crumbled.

  "Father," she cried. Vaamick stopped mid motion and stared her, as if studying her. He started to raise the gun at her when she remembered the knife. She was happy she had talked them into letting her keep it. She pulled it from her boot and threw it at him. The knife hit his hand and he dropped the laser riffle. She ran towards him.

  Vaamick wrapped his bloody hand in his robe and went for Jeef's hoverbike. He started it and rode off. Marsil chased him on foot but he lost her. She went back to Jeef's side and checked for a pulse. Jeef, the man who been the ruler of her people for her entire life and the man she had only recently discovered was her father, was dead.

  She slumped to the ground. She barely noticed as Alvin checked on Donoon and helped the recovering man back to his feet. How could this have happened?

  Alvin was at her side before she realized it. He stared at the dead body. "You said he was your father," he asked.

  "Yes," Marsil responded. "And now he's dead."

  "Is there anything I can do? Help you bring his body back for burial?" he asked.

  She shook her head. "We take our dead to the surface and allow the elements to take them."

  Donoon walked over to them, holding the arm Jeef had hit. He reached for the radio on his belt but winced at the motion. After a few tries, he was able to get the radio free and he handed it to Marsil. She took it; it was the human radio the soldier had been so proud of. She pressed the button. "Can anyone hear me?"

  There was a pause and then Lana answered, "Yes we can, Marsil. Did it work?"

  "Negative," she said. "The plan failed. King Jeef is dead and Vaamick is on the loose. You need to prepare for his attack."

  "Understood," Lana replied. "Get back here as soon as you can, we are going to need all the help we can get."

  They walked back to the human habitat in silence. Donoon grimaced every few steps. They reached the habitat and Clarke looked him over. Alvin recounted the attack to the humans while Marsil sat by herself.

  Lana sat down beside her. "I'm sorry about your father. Alvin told me."

  Marsil just nodded. Lana continued, "I'm also dealing with loss in this. If you ever want to talk about it, let me know." She stood and left.

  Marsil thought about her options. With Jeef gone, there was no way to confirm her parentage. She was stuck as a Lun forever now.

  One of the human soldiers burst into the room. She looked up as he shouted, "Aliens." Marsil had heard the human word often enough in the past two days that she knew what he was referring too. The Barakaaks had been sighted. The fight was on.

  The soldiers rushed to the cargo air lock. They had been wearing their outdoor gear waiting for this moment. They assembled and fell into formation as the big doors opened. The fighters marched outside and took positions. Cynthia turned on the intercom radio to be able to hear their progress.

  "Wait until they fire first, and then give them everything we've got," their leader said.

  They didn't have long to wait. Marsil had just made it outside when the air sizzled as a laser pulse flew over her head and hit a support beam behind her.

  In unison, ninety-seven marines fired at the advancing Barakaaks. A couple went down, but only wounded. The A shot hit a Barakaak in the chest. The reflective armor was designed for laser weapons, but the atmosphere seemed to be wreaking havoc on the humans' ammunition. The bullet hit the armor and shattered. The Barakaak aimed at the shooter and a hole formed in the Marine's chest.

  The battle went on like this. The humans were talking heavy losses and the Barakaaks barely any. The humans and Marsil with them were heading for defeat unless something happened.

  Marsil considered her options. Maybe she could sneak away, but Graaf would never agree to that... Besides, she wasn't welcome with her people and the Barakaaks would just kill her. She just had to throw her lot with the humans and pray to Bara for a miracle.

  She fired at another Barakaak. With the only remaining laser riffle, she was making more progress than all of the humans combined. "There are more approaching to the south," one of the humans said.

  Donoon translated it for her and Graaf. Then he looked in the direction indicated. "Those are allies. Don't shoot them," he said in both languages. In Baran, he added, "Not that it would do any good with these weapons."

  Marsil looked herself. The Saarkaak army had already arranged itself on a ridge overlooking the battlefield and was picking off any Barakaaks that left themselves unprotected.

  Jeef had honored their agreement. The fallen Barakaaks moved on the ground, only stunned. If they won, that would help reconciliation. But unless the humans got some weapons that could stop the Barakaaks, they would simply turn their attention to the Saarkaaks and ignore the humans to save them for later.

  Marsil looked over the plain, trying to find a path that would protect her from enemy fire until she could reach her comrades. There was one path, but it would take a while to get that far out of the way. She considered handing her weapon over to somebody, but that would leave her defenseless and if she didn't get some Saarkaak weapons, her one rifle wouldn't do anyone any good.

  She shouldered the weapon and took off. One of the enemy saw her and fired. She ducked behind a rock just as chips sprayed above her. She peaked around and saw the man approaching. She shot. He fell.

  Her rifle wasn't a stunner; he
wouldn't get back up. She felt conflicted. She had spent her entire life killing Barakaaks and wanted to celebrate another death. But she knew that everybody left on the surface after this would be another that didn't resisted reunification.

  But she couldn't stay behind her rock. She ran up the hill. A soldier Saarkaak aimed at her but lifted his rifle when he saw the colors she was wearing. He put down his weapon and held out his hand to help her the last few feet up the slope.

  Marsil paused to catch her breath and asked who was in charge. The private pointed at a man standing at a field table with a few others, head down. She thanked Bara. Jeef had put Keen in charge and she knew he would be sympathetic.

  She trotted up to the table. Keen spotted her and waved. Two pages made room at the table.

  "General, I'm so happy you're alive. We all got worried when you disappeared. If you had marched on Jeef, the army would have stayed behind you. We didn't believe what he said about you."

  "Don't," she warned. "I did do what he said. But Jeef is dead. Vaamick killed him."

  Keen dropped his gaze and was silent. After a moment, he looked at her. "The civilians can figure out succession later. You are our leader. What are your orders?"

  "The humans need stun rifles," she told him. "Only way we are going to win this battle is if the Barakaaks have to worry about two fronts."

  "Niman." He turned and called across the table to the quartermaster. "Gather together all the weapons we can spare and take them to the humans."

  The woman nodded and started to leave. "Gather them and bring them to me." Marsil stopped her. The humans won't be able to tell you from the enemy. At close range, their weapons might actually do some damage."

  "Yes, ma'am." Niman smiled. "Good to have you back."

  Marsil and Keen discussed the situation while they waited for the quartermaster to return. Keen's war council was larger than she would have liked, but Keen and even Jeef had been after her for years to increase the size of hers to include more positions.

  The thought of Jeef made her tear up a little. She wiped her eyes while trying not to bring attention to herself. She breathed a sigh of relief when Niman returned and caught their attention.

  Marsil hadn't thought about how much space enough weapons for the humans would take. Niman directed a handful of the people under her to stack five large crates by the table.

  Niman saw the look on her face. "Don't worry. We are scrounging up a cart for you to take." A sixth soldier then appeared pushing a buggy. "We took the motor out of one of the wheels in a superbus so you will be able to move the thing. We also got you a radio so you can communicate with us while you are with the humans."

  Marsil thanked her, as the boxes were stacked in the buggy. The controls looked similar to Jeef's hoverbike. She wondered if that was form following function or if the quartermaster's tech had ever seen one of those contraptions. She made it back to the human camp without incident and found their ambassador and their military leader talking in English by the ship.

  "Weapons," she said, taking care to speak as simply as possible. Marsil wasn't sure how much Baran Johns knew. "No kill. Stun. Your weapons not working."

  "We noticed. We were just discussing that," the Major spoke in much better Baran than Cynthia. "Thank you." He barked an order in English over the radio. One by one, the marines left their positions and swapped their guns for the stunners.

  Marsil used her Saarkaak radio to reach Keen. "We need a distraction so the Barakaaks don't realize something is up until the humans learn how to use our guns."

  "Gotcha," came the response. "We will put on a show." A moment later, a rocket streaked through the air. It landed wide of the battlefield, more for show than anything else. The launcher was moved up to the front lines and the Barakaaks predictably started firing on it before it could be loaded again.

  Alvin came and got his new gun. Marsil grabbed him and asked him to translate something for him. He nodded and they went inside.

  She told him what she wanted to say and practiced the words he gave her until he was satisfied. Marsil had been in hundreds of battles and faced death more times than she could count. But what she needed to do now was the scariest thing she had ever faced.

  They went back outside to the center of the where the Marines were assembled. She flicked on her human radio and addressed the crowd.

  "I know you want your revenge for the attack that happened. I want my revenge for a lifetime of attacks. But today we do not kill. These weapons will only stun. Today, we disable and tomorrow, the people shooting you will no longer be your enemy. But only if we don't kill today. They are only following the twisted lies of their leader. Him we kill. The others we just remove from the battle."

  The Marines looked to Johns. He was silent and looked Marsil in the eyes. She stared back, not willing to back down. "Do what she said. Only kill if you must."

  "Ooh Rah," Dozens of men shouted in unison. She turned to Alvin and asked, "What does that word mean?"

  Alvin just chuckled and shook his head. He took his weapon and went back to his position in the line.

  With the Saarkaak weapons, the humans finally were able to make some progress. The Barakaaks had ceased removing the bodies from the battlefield and the stunned soldiers were taking longer to return than before.

  Marsil picked off those who tried to get close. If she had a particularly clear shot, she used her normal weapon to shoot their gun out of their hands. It wouldn't kill them but it would sure hurt and that was one less gun firing at them.

  Someone broke off from the main group and started running away from the battle, taking whatever cover he could. Marsil had never met him before that day, but she would never forget those robes.

  "Vaamick is getting away," she shouted and took off for a run. He saw her and took a shot. Marsil was forced to duck behind a rock. She was just about to check to see if was clear when Donoon and Salaris caught up with her. Donoon had a human riffle with him, and Salaris carried a mean looking knife.

  "We aren't letting you have all the fun," Salaris said. "We all have reasons for wanting him dead."

  Marsil nodded and looked around the rock. The coast was clear and they took off again. They fled the battle, alternating taking cover and running. Marsil started getting frustrated. Slowly but as sure as they lived underground, Vaamick was getting away.

  He turned to take another shot at them just as Salaris moved in front. He jerked the weapon and hit her in the arm. Salaris shrieked and fell, clutching the wound.

  Donoon dove to her side. "Are you okay?"

  She gritted her teeth. "A few more inches and I wouldn't have been."

  Marsil tore her eyes from them. They were exposed but Vaamick wasn't shooting. She looked up. Vaamick stood there, blinking.

  Donoon stood. "Get her back to your people. I'm going to finish this." He took off in a sprint.

  Marsil administered some field medicine, wrapping the burn wound and giving her a painkiller. Salaris wouldn't make it back by herself, she would have to carry her.

  "Your liar," Donoon shouted. "I will kill you for what you did to her."

  That got Vaamick's attention. He started to run but Donoon had gotten too close. Donoon tackled him. They tumbled to the rocky soil and started wrestling.

  Vaamick was stronger and faster than Marsil could have believed. He pushed Donoon off and brought his knee up and connected with his nephew's lungs.

  Donoon deflated. That was the best word Marsil could think to describe how he collapsed. Vaamick eyed his riffle but it had snapped in the scuffle. He ran.

  Marsil lowered Salaris back to the ground. Already the younger woman was losing consciousness.

  Marsil brought her weapon up. She inspected it briefly to make sure she still had a laser weapon and not one of the stunners. She took a deep breath and held it. This would be the most important shot of her entire life. This was for a lifetime of war, for a father who for some reason couldn't acknowledge her. For a father that Vaamic
k had killed.

  She aimed and pressed the button to release the laser burst.

  Marsil knew a little known-fact about laser weapons. It burned flesh as its energy pulse penetrated the body. Everybody knew that. But if got somebody's hair, it would ignite.

  Vaamick's hair burst into flames as he fell to the ground. His brain was already a smoldering mush inside his skull.

  Salaris

  Salaris opened her eyes, looking for the strange beeping she heard. She craned her head to look around the strange room. What happened? She remembered getting shot and Marsil giving her something.

  Donoon had been fighting with Vaamick and he had fallen. "Donoon," she shouted as she tried to get up.

  "I'm right here, my love." He gripped her hand. She swiveled her head to find him standing at her right.

  "What happened? You're okay?"

  "I'm fine. You gave us the scare." He squeezed her hand more tightly. "Vaamick is dead, but our army won't surrender. I tried to talk to them. I even showed them the body and said that as his nephew, I was his heir. They called me a traitor and shot at me. Luckily Fiimit is a pretty bad shot." He laughed.

  She laughed with him but then returned to seriousness. "Let me try. Nobody has seen me with the humans yet."

  "No, you are too weak."

  "Please, I have to. The longer this goes on, the harder it will be to settle it."

  "Fine, let me get the doctor." He gave her hand a final squeeze and left the room.

  Salaris did a double take when Donoon returned with the doctor. "Sorry, I was expecting one of Marsil's people."

  "I guess he's busy with his own people," Clarke said in lousy Baran. "Have to settle for me. That is a pretty nasty burn wound on her your arm, but it should heal in a few weeks if your physiology is anything like ours. Take it easy and take whatever pain medication your people take. I don't really have a reason to keep you here."

  She smiled. "Thank you. Now, Donoon, help me up. We have a war to stop."