“I promised the boy he will be safe and I want to see that through.”
Har-Hi piloted the landing tank with Narth sitting behind the mission control station checking sensors.
The Ithe woman held her infant and was very quiet. The boy, however, had lost some of his fear and shyness and first looked at Narth, then Har-Hi, before he focused both his stalk eyes on me. He said to me, “Will you find my daddy?”
I didn’t want to lie to the child but I also did not want him to lose hope so I said, “If we find him, we will bring him to you.”
The woman turned her eyes to me and said, “They will drop us off at Nunu and Taru and then we will never see them again.” There was bitterness in her voice.
What could I say? She was right, but I wished she had not said it that way before the little boy.
He clutched his animal close and his stalk eyes sank in a heartbreaking sad manner.
Har-Hi said, “We are almost there, I am taking us down.”
Narth checked his scanners and said, “There are no significant energy sources nearby.”
We debarked and stood before a steep mountain path. I could smell the smoke of a distant fire. It was just before dawn and the local sun was about to come over the horizon. The wind was very cold and dry, and it tugged on the simple dress of the woman.
She pointed up the path and said, “Up there is the village of my grandparents. I haven’t been here since I was a little girl; ever since they restricted travel, coming here is impossible.”
I shouldered the food pack our cook had given us and said to her, “Lead the way then, I am going to accompany you to the edge of the village so I can make sure the village and your grandparents are still there and you’ll find shelter.”
For the first time, she smiled and said to me, “Underneath all that black leather and those weapons you do have a good heart, Captain Velvet.”
Har-Hi grunted something, sealed the tank, activated the cloak and then followed us, too, as I began to walk behind the woman. The path was steep and the gravel crunched under our boots. He, too, had a soft heart as he scooped the boy off his feet and put him on his shoulders.
We had walked about a mile. Narth, who floated effortlessly next to me, said, “We are not alone!”
The next thing I heard was a sharp whistling sound and a ragged rock hit my friend with force against his hooded head; a second rock hit Har-Hi almost the very same time. A third rock grazed my temple and made me see stars. I saw both of my friends falling to the ground, just as I went to my knees myself!
The boy cried and the woman screamed. “Stop, don’t hurt them!”
Out from behind boulders and rocks appeared Ithe men wearing furs and swinging some sort of loop-like slings. Out of the painful daze, I counted seven of them. I recognized the weapons they used as sling shots, very primitive missile weapons our instructor at the Academy had shown us once. Through all that, I wondered why Narth had not detected them earlier.
The woman was almost hit by a rock as well and again she yelled something in a language I did not understand.
The men were armed with big sword-like weapons and those slingshots and they scrambled down the ravine and came closer with caution.
The woman spoke again, this time she used Squawk. “I am Narmoa, granddaughter of Nunuat and Tarnua. The Drak-Ithe have killed many and we had to flee. These are strangers of other worlds who helped us.”
One of them said. “Tarnua and Nunuat are dead for seven wind times already, but we remember them.”
Another said, “The Drak-Ithe has patrols in the mountain paths and we thought you were of the Drak.”
The tallest of them said, “We must hurry; a Shogotrz is on the hunt in this valley. Only Fire Beamers can kill a Shogotrz and if one is used, the Drak can find us. Let us take them all to the village and our leader Claramoa will decide what to do with them.”
I stumbled back on my feet, blood blinding my right eye, my hand on the blaster. The men drew their swords; from somewhere behind, another rock was hurled, hitting me on the elbow and I dropped the weapon.
Three trained Union officers, outclassed and outfought by a bunch of primitives with slingshots, and we were in this situation because I wanted to help. The seven were not alone; there were more!
One of them came closer and kicked my blaster out of reach while holding his sword to my throat while others were whirling their sling shots. I was certain their swords could not cut through the micromesh of my suit, but the blunt force trauma was just as effective as a cut.
While I was sure Narth was not dead, I could not reach his mind. I hoped, for their sake, Har-Hi was alive.
The woman screamed and then the men looked at something behind me and yelled, “The Shogotrz!”
I managed to turn and saw a big, scaled monstrosity that somewhat reminded me of the snapper crabs of Nilfeheim. It stalked on eight spidery legs and had four long appendages armed with sharp-looking claws. I estimated it to be at least seven meters wide and three meters tall.
The locals pelted the thing with their rocks, but they bounced off the tough, shell-like armor of the beast.
I could see the power of the claws as it grabbed and crushed a man like a weightless doll into a bloody gore.
The alien creature made a metallic hissing sound and I could see it, too, had stalk eyes, six of them, and a mass of whip-like tentacles around a small mouth. It blocked the way down the hill, and my chances to reach the landing tank were nil. As I turned, I saw the locals had already scrambled a good distance away; one of them had dropped his sword. I cursed them and promised myself if I would somehow survive this, I would kill each and every one of those cowards.
I took the sword and backed further away from that monster, while I drew the .45 and fired. My aim was good and three slugs found their mark right into that open maw and a fourth shattered one of the stalk eyes; the last three bullets careened off the armor of the beast.
None of my shots had done anything to slow down the beast, or hurt it in a significant way.
After getting the empty .45 back in its holster, I grabbed the alien blade that was somewhere between a broadsword and a scimitar with both fists and jumped out of the way of a snapping claw arm.
The blade was heavy and looked sharp and it rang with a bright note as I hammered it against the other claw that was about to decapitate me.
The arms and legs of that monster were covered with the same tough armor as its upper body. But then the sword bit deep into a leg joint, there, where the arms and legs were articulated, was a small area without armor.
While my head was still ringing like the brass bells of the Thingstead Round House from the rock that had grazed my temple, I danced and jumped between the legs and claws of the monster, knowing even the slightest oversight would be my end.
Another sword blow against the joint right behind the claw showered me with a spray of dark-green ichor and rewarded me with the painful, high-pitched scream of the monster.
That claw dangled useless from its arm and this success made me careless and another claw almost caught my left leg, its saw-like edges scraped painfully across my shin bone.
I clenched my teeth, ignored the pain, and cut off two of the mouth tentacles.
The fight went on and, while I had no way of telling how long I was hacking and jumping, I noticed my own energies fading. I would not last much longer.
My monstrous opponent was no longer as fresh as it was before, missing two of its claw arms, two legs, and most of its mouth tentacles, but so far, I had hit nothing vital and I had not seen any place or mark where I could sink the blade and end the bout.
I wished I had an arsenal like Har-Hi; one of his anti-matter pellet grenades would do the trick.
Here I was, fighting for my life and that of my two best friends, against the toughest life form I had faced so far, and I was in this situation not because of the Kermac or someone else’s fault but because of my own doing.
Yet I could n
ot, I must not fail. My own life was not important but both Har-Hi and Narth lay on the ground not far behind me and for their sake I had to prevail. In all this, I tried to keep a cool head, to keep my anger down. I knew my rage was a gateway for whatever was inside me and I’d told Narth the truth; I feared that even more than the Shogotrz before me.
Then I slipped on a smooth rock, stumbled, and as I tried to regain my footing, one of the remaining claws of the beast snapped around my left ankle.
It felt as if the beast had clipped my foot right off as it pulled me with irresistible force toward the remaining tentacles.
I successfully cut one more of these arm-thick leathery tentacles before the last one sneaked around my neck. I could see the small feeler-like things inside the creature’s maw reaching out like a hand.
I would not fail!
I choked as I had hard time getting air. As I was struggling, I could feel something growing inside myself. I knew it was my true self, but it was dark and felt so utterly cold. In all this, I tried to prevent its rise. My own voice seemed to have changed. “Nay, I say! I shall not be slain by a mindless foul creature! What Gods and the Elders of the Universe could not accomplish shall not be thy triumph.”
I raised my free arm. “BEREAVER, TO ME!”
Chapter 22: Ambush
I could not tell or recall what had happened as I found myself standing between the rubble and the smoking ruins of what once had to be some sort of mountain village. Most of the houses were utterly destroyed, nothing left but the foundation walls. The debris of heavy rocks, busted wood and household implements were strewn over the steep mountain meadows behind, as if a wind of tremendous gale force had blown the sturdy stone houses apart. It was eerily quiet, except for the crackling of a fire nearby consuming wooden beams. There were dead Ithe everywhere. Horribly dismembered, hacked, and torn to pieces. The fine Ultronit mesh of my suit was torn to shreds, yet I felt no pain or injury, even though I remembered the monster grabbing my leg.
My wrist comm was gone and so were the mono-whip and the belt I had worn. One boot was completely gone and from the other only the shaft remained. The only things that survived whatever ordeal I went through were my trusty old fighting knife, the empty .45, and a mini first aid kid in my left leg pocket. The right side of the leg cover was completely gone.
Before I could really collect my thoughts and search for Har-Hi and Narth, a singing hot thermo blast peppered the ground before my feet and a dark-green open-top flyer came into view. I counted six Drak soldiers all aiming their weapons at me. An amplified voice echoed over the destroyed village. “No sudden moves, alien, and drop that ax.”
Only now I noticed that I was holding that ancient battle-ax that I had last seen hanging on the wall in my private quarters. I had no choice but to obey. They were too far away and too many. I had an obligation to stay alive and find my friends.
Two of them jumped over the sides and stomped toward me, while the other held some sort of scanning device and said, “I cannot detect any radiation or residual energies, yet this is the epicenter of the tremors we detected.”
The other kept his gun trained at me and said, “You, alien Human female, don’t try anything or we shoot you on the spot. Now tell us what happened!”
I heard the soldier but I did not care what he said. I felt as if I’d had a terrible nightmare. All this destruction, the torn bodies all around, my right arm was encrusted with purplish blood and so was the ax. I noticed the shape of a child half buried beneath heavy rocks from a collapsed house wall and my throat went dry.
Was this the little Ithe boy? The last thing I could recall was my fight against the monster and I clearly remembered that I was about to lose the fight. I could remember my anger at the cowardly village men. Then there was nothing, just hazy, out-of-focus images and yet somehow, I knew whatever happened to this village had somehow happened because of me.
Yet the carnage and destruction around me could not have been done by a Human being armed with an ax. What force could shatter solid stone houses like that?
The soldier spoke louder and this time he did not speak Squawk but addressed me in Standard Union; his accent was heavy. “You, alien woman, drop that ax. We are taking you in for questioning.”
I turned and looked at him. “Do you know what happened here?”
He looked around. “Probably a blast from the ancient Karthanian Orbital Punishers; it is a miracle you are still alive. Now I won’t say it again, woman, drop that weapon.”
Something heavy rushed through the air, a gray tank-sized boulder dropped on the soldier’s flyer and crushed it like a nutshell, and both soldiers were pelted by a hail of sling shot rocks.
Ithe suddenly appeared from behind the boulders and rocks. To my surprise, they were led by a huge brown-furred Togar and a Dai warrior!
The soldier with the handheld scanner went down with a smashed-in face. The other managed to activate his suit’s shields. From the shimmering whitish color and the crackling energies, I deducted it was a crude and quite primitive three-dimensional force field. Still, more than enough to deflect rocks. He fired his blaster and vaporized two of the mountain men.
The Togar cat yelled, “Alien woman, run and follow us, if you do not want to go to the Smelter Moons.”
More out of instinct than anything else, I threw my ax and it whirled through the air, slicing through the force field as if it wasn’t there and split the soldier’s head, helmet and all, down to its shoulders. The energy field collapsed with a loud crackle.
I sank to my knees. What was I doing here; what had happened? Did I do all this? My friends were gone! Har-Hi and Narth had been here with me.
As formidable as Narth was, he could be hurt. He had been hurt before and almost died. Har-Hi was a Dai, a fighter to the last fiber of his body, but he, too, could be overwhelmed. They both followed me into this trap; they both were hurt or worse because of me. Yet there was still a mission and still my ship, but without Narth and without my equipment, the ship was unreachable.
The landing tank was cloaked and it was Har-Hi who cloaked the machine. Even if I could find it, it would not open or uncloak for me without my comm unit. The tank was not SHIP, who would recognize me.
Kneeling there in the middle of the destroyed village, I felt helpless and frightened, not because of my situation but because there was the possibility my friends both were dead.
I pulled myself together and got up. I was still the captain and my responsibility was to the ship and the rest of my crew.
The Togar warrior flanked by the Dai came closer with the mountain folks a few steps behind. The Togar said, “Female, I am Ninety. We must leave this place before the Drak coats come with more men.”
I said to him, “I can’t leave. I must look for my friends.”
“The Dai and the hooded Human?”
I whirled around and almost yelled, “Yes, where are they?”
“I am sure they are at the District Command Center by now. They will be interrogated and most likely sent to the capital after that, and then by the next transport to the Smelter Moons.”
“They are alive?”
“We saw them move on their own as the Drak arrested them.”
A rock as big as Nilfeheim rolled off my heart. I gathered the ax from the grizzly wound.
The Dai warrior wore bits and pieces of various armor suits, but nothing was Dai. He did, however, wear an obviously handmade circular brass chest piece with a clan glyph. I looked at it and said, “You are a warrior of the For-Ka-Ti Clan. Is it not a clan that took the long way?”
He spoke to me in Squawk. “I do not speak the language of my kind very well. You are the first who knows things about my clan.”
The Togar gestured with urgency. “We must go fast! If they think we are too strong here, they’ll loose another sky bolt from the Orbital Punishers. There is no escaping them if the sky eye can see you.”
As I followed them around the house-sized rugged boulders, I
noticed a primitive contraption made of what looked like aluminum girders. It was carried by four men, and I identified the thing as a trebuchet. It was this ancient siege machine they had used to defeat the modern flyer. I remembered our class on pre-industrial siege machines during my first Academy year. I could almost hear Cadet Applegate’s voice complaining why we would need to know about such primitive things, and I saw the face of Lieutenant Aurelius before my inner eyes, patiently explaining why the Fleet found it necessary to teach these things. In situations like this, I realized how well the Academy prepared cadets.
I followed the men down the mountain path, and we passed the carcass of the Shogotrz. The beast was hacked to pieces. The Togar was running next to me and said, “Naroma told us you attacked and killed the Shogotrz with nothing but a Mountain sword.”
“I don’t remember killing it!”
While I found the boots of my costume somewhat impractical at times, running barefoot over a rugged mountain path was even worse.
How did I always end up in situations like this? I doubted Captain Harris ever had to run around barefoot on an away mission. I was certain Admiral Stahl would have sorted it all out by now, found the secret Seenian base and been on his way to the next problem.
Maybe I had chosen the wrong path, after all. If I had stayed on Nilfeheim to become a clan leader, I certainly would not be in this mess. Only now, as the mountain men turned to the left, I noticed a barely visible path that forked off the main route, snaking between boulders. I had completely overlooked it coming up.
“Where are we going? All I need is some sort of communication device to access my landing craft.”
“We are taking the high pass, where we have left the Grythers behind. Whatever craft you have, it will be useless and destroyed by the sky bolts. I am sure the Drak Sky Lords are watching this area very closely right now.”
I didn’t want to argue with him, that there wasn’t anything the Karthanians could build to stop a Union Landing Tank under full shields or find it if it was cloaked. However, without a signal device to uncloak, unshield, and access it, the tank might as well be on the other side of the world.
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 7 Page 137
