Seeker of Moons (Cassidy's Command Book 1)

by Geoff Workman

  Here lies a noble friend.

  Who fought well but met his end.

  A hero of the Lillindian race.

  Here in his final resting place.

  For Peter Torfe a final cheer.

  Forward Lillindians we have no fear.”

  Then with a signal from Gumm they all raised their rifles towards the heavens and fired three volleys of silver plasma into the night sky. As the silvery entrails drifted back down to earth, the group turned and walked back on-board ship. Outside the Spotted Canary, Gumm remained to hammer Torfe’s rifle into the ground as a headstone.

  ****************************

  Boots and Sunshine followed Trilby’s directions and headed away from her ruined village towards a group of settlements nestling around the base of an extinct volcano. Jubilation was at the centre of these settlements and was the second largest village on Edenfall. Boots took his disc lower to search out a suitable landing area and was surprised when a volley of rat gun pellets bounced off the metallic underside. It looked like the locals had given up on peaceful co-existence, though with the antique weapons they had they were probably a greater danger to themselves than anyone else he thought.

  The pilots of the two discs used their helmet comms to co-ordinate a landing about half a mile from Jubilation. Boots and Trilby went ahead to test the lie of the land and Boots left his Castorian armour back at the disc to avoid spooking the villagers at first sight, so he ‘borrowed’ a mixture of civilian clothes from the captives.

  It did not take the two envoys long to find the main track into the village, with Boots setting the pace as they headed towards the group of houses. Approaching the village along the pitted cart track they tried to make out the shape of houses, which were of a rustic colonial style and seemed to be made of wood from the mock cedar, which proliferated in this world.

  A felled tree across the track stopped them at the village boundary. Hiding behind the tree were half a dozen locals armed with rat guns and catapults, Boot’s thought that this group of young boys and old men would not have lasted two minutes against the pirates.

  Trilby, signalled the unarmed Boots to hang back, she approached the barricade on her own, waving to those behind the barricades.

  “Good Evening brothers may we enter, we must speak to Pastor Green urgently.”

  “Hold on young lady, there is evil about today and we are not just going to let you walk in without knowing who you are.”

  “I’m Pastor Shelman’s daughter Trilby and I have visited here many times with my father, please let us in, Pastor Green will vouch for me.”

  One of the older men rose, he had a broad brimmed hat and a long grey beard.

  “There is no need Trilby, I recognise you, but who is that with you? He does not look like an Edenfall man.”

  “Oh, it is you Pastor Green, I am sorry I didn’t recognise you. The man with me, I don’t know his real name but his friends call him Boots. He and his friends rescued me after the pirates attacked our village.”

  “Pirates, we knew there must be something terrible happening with all the fires, but none of our scouts have come back. How are your father and the others?”

  “My father and mother are dead as are all the men, older women and young boys, all the younger women have been taken away.”

  “I am sorry young lady, we all share your loss. Do you know where the pirates are now, are they coming this way?”

  “You are probably safe for the moment but we have captured quite a number of the villains and they are being held down the lane under guard.”

  “Why have you bought them here, we are not jailers, we cannot possibly...”

  Boots stepped forward, “Begging your pardon sir but we were travelling through the fringe worlds on a mission of high importance when we picked up a distress message, we only have a small craft and could not take the scum with us even if we wanted to. I am sure that you don’t want us to turn them loose but as you appear to be the nearest thing to government on Edenfall, the decision on what to do with them is yours.”

  The Pastor was plainly disturbed by the prospect, but he knew he had to do something about his uninvited guests.

  “Very well, bring them into the village and keep them in the meeting hall, the large building at the end of the street. I need to speak to the village council and to God for guidance.”

  The sentries by the barricade parted to let the sneering procession of manacled pirates pass through, flanked by the Lillindian guards. As the group entered the main street they had to pass through a throng of inquisitive villagers, who were as interested in the guards as they were in the prisoners.

  Boots and Trilby returned to the disc and came back with knapsacks full of the captured weapons, these were delivered to the McKenzie Barn where the village council had assembled. One of the older men approached them with his hand raised to stop them. “Why have you brought these tools of destruction to our village, we have enough problems with the cut throats and villains you have inflicted on us already. We are peaceful people and we just want to be left alone.”“I am afraid you are in a war, like it or not,” stammered Boots, who was struggling with his temper, as the elders on the council seemed to be unaware that they could all be dead at the hands of the raiders.

  There was a commotion by the barn door as a press of young men and women forced their way into the large farm building.

  “We want to be heard,” shouted a woman, who must have been in her early twenties. “We have heard about the massacres of our people across Edenfall and we don’t want to just let these dust worlders stroll in here to kill us all off. Give us the guns these outsiders brought and let’s show them a taste of their own medicine.” This was added to by shouts of, “We want to fight,” by the growing numbers assembling outside the barn.

  The old man who had tried to stop the weapons being brought in tried to make the crowd listen but proclaiming their age old stance on pacifism, was not going to work with the young people.

  As the mood of the crowd was now becoming openly rebellious Boots strode into their midst and fired an acoustic round into the air from his dominator. This loud crack had an instant impact in getting everyone’s attention.

  “Good people of Jubilation and of all Edenfall, you must stop arguing amongst yourselves. There are strange things happening in and around the fringe worlds and you must keep your unity whatever is about to happen. Your elders are faced with problems that they could never have imagined and they like you need some time to take in the events of today. Go to your homes, give your council an hour and then return to see what has been decided.

  Ladies and Gentlemen of the council please be ready to speak to your people by the end of an hour, they need some direction and time is of the essence.”

  The speech from the tall foreigner had evidently done the trick as both groups wheeled away as bid.

  Boots walked down to the temporary prison, he sought out corporal Willox who was in charge of the guard.

  “How are things in here, are the prisoners behaving?”

  “We can manage Sir but I am sorry that we have had to shoot two of the swine who were trying to escape.”

  “That may make them think twice, compliments to your men and we should get some direction from the council very soon.”

  Boots was getting quite hungry, he saw the café sign illuminated at the end of the block so headed off in that direction. Inside was Trilby, who was staring into a cup of de-energised Kaffoo.

  “Hello Miss Trilby can I join you?”

  “Yes of course, I haven’t exactly got anybody else.”

  “What do you think the council will decide?” Boots enquired but also trying to make conversation with the newly orphaned teen.

  “It’s hard to say, things have been done the same way on Edenfall since the first settlers arrived, we shun war and a material existence, but it now looks like war and modern ways have arrived whether we want them or not. The young people as you have already seen wan
t to fight back and if they do I will join them as I only have vengeance to live for now.”

  Boots ordered bacon and eggs and a jug of Kaffoo but Trilby refused all offers of food and reverted to staring into the bottom of her now cold drink. The food arrived quickly and was scoffed back even quicker then washed down without delay. Still wearing his civilian clothes, he had to resort to a wrist communicator to keep in touch with Seeker of Moons, but one benefit was that it also had a time display and a quick check told him that he only had a few minutes to get back to the barn.

  “Are you coming?” he asked Trilby, in a tone which suggested that she did not really have an option, as they got up to leave Boots remembered that he did know what the currency was on Edenfall. Luckily they used universal open credits, he found a five credit digi-coin in his borrowed waist coat and told the waitress to keep the change. They needed to hurry and like many others heading towards the barn broke into a run to arrive in time.

  The crowd had filled the barn and a good deal of the area outside but Boots pushed his way through dragging Trilby behind him. A stage had been erected inside with a number of chairs for the council members and in the make shift auditorium bales of straw had been set out for the spectators, but due to the number of people it was case of standing room only with people now standing on the bales.

  A little late, a group of a dozen men and women mostly elderly, walked purposely onto the stage and sat at their allotted chairs. Nodding to the other council members Pastor Green rose from his seat and walked slowly to the front of the stage. As an experienced orator he brought the crowd to silence, then cleared his throat for an announcement that he felt uncomfortable with.

  “Brothers and Sisters, today has been an evil day for us on Edenfall and our desire for peace and to live according to our holy books has been attacked. Many of our kin lie dead in their fields and homes and many of our sisters have been abducted for who knows what purpose. If we fight back we go against our ancient teachings, if we don’t fight back we could all be killed. In the time you have given us outsider, (he looked at Boots) we have been searching the most ancient of our lore’s and there is clear reference to a duty to defend our faith. In consequence dear Brother’s and Sister’s we have decided to fight the ungodly with whatever means we can appropriate, may God have mercy on us all.”

  The hall erupted in cheers coming mainly from the younger contingent, the Pastor quietened the hall again before leading prayers for the dead and those who might soon be joining them.

  Boots went back to the sack of weapons and looked at the mass of people clamouring for them. “We don’t have enough arms for everyone, so it’s important that what we’ve got go to people who can use them. Anybody here ever had military training?” Three of the middle aged men raised their hands and after explaining that they came to Edenfall after military careers were issued with plasma rifles, as were the score or so people who said they were proficient with rat guns. There were a few photonic pistols remaining and Trilby took one without waiting for invitation. Although the rest were disappointed they were promised that more arms would be found and allocated when the pirates were located.

  There was no time to deal with the captured pirates now, so it was decided that a number of those armed with rifles and pistols would remain as jailers and that as many people as possible would be set to building a secure prison, where the captives could be separated.

  Boots and Sunshine now both in their armour, together with Trilby and Corporal Willox met with the Village Council back in the barn and Boots presented the current situation after calling Bambi for an update.

  “As it stands, Lt Cassidy and his group are staking out a combined pirate and alien camp by the lake. Many of your women are contained there still alive.

  Our second objective was to secure the pirates own ship, Shiner with Bambi and their group have done that within the last 5 minutes.

  A further pirate raiding party is returning on foot to the lake area with a group of prisoners and they are following the track from Faithville.

  My proposal is that we head off the pirate group on the road from Faithville, deal with the pirates and rescue those women before joining the lake attack.”

  Pastor Green added “To a large extent we are in your hands but we have the same objectives as you outsiders in clearing out this evil, tell us what we need to do.”

  Your main help will be knowledge of the terrain, our starship Seeker of Moons is tracking the path of the brigands and we can get in front of them using the flying discs but we need local knowledge to pick the best place to attack, to limit casualties to your women and to stop the raiders getting away.

  Boots produced from his rucksack a terrain viewer, a box a foot square and half an inch deep in a jungle camouflage case. When it was switched on it produced a 3D map which scrolled on its own to focus on the barn in Jubilation. He set his wrist communicator to dialogue with the viewer allowing data from Seeker of Moons to be streamed into the device. The picture scrolled again to focus on an area which Pastor Green said was Parsons Plain, an arid featureless space between the verdant farmland and the woodland bordering the southern edge of the lake. A string of tiny black dots very slowly trickled across the screen following the trail of the raiders.

  One of the Council Members leaned over the Pastors shoulder and pointed to a dark area on the screen. ”That’s the place ‘Bluestone Bottoms’, it’s a depression on the track and it’s about 400 yards long, once they have entered we can seal both ends and at least they won’t get away.” There were general nods of agreement from the others present and the decision was made to fly both discs to the target area, taking 8 of the armed locals along including the 3 veterans.

  Keeping out of sight of the returning pirates, the two discs flew in an arc to reach the far end of the depression and the occupants camouflaged the vehicles as best they could before hiding themselves behind boulders, bushes and in ditches. They did not have to wait too long before the lead pirate came into view looking from side to side, as if sniffing out danger. There were a couple of other pirates following on each holding plasma rifles and pointing them at imaginary targets as they went along then behind came the straggle of wretched women herded at points by the other pirates. The group followed the track into the depression as it was easier going than walking through the rocky ground on either side of the rift. As the rear guards of the caravan entered the depression, the attackers raced into their positions covering both ends and along the rim. Boots took his position around halfway from where he hoped to co-ordinate the attack. As the leading group of 3 pirates drew level, Boots could hear that they were having a conversation.

  “Hey Chilmni, how much longer have we got to walk?”

  “Shut up fool, keep your eyes open and keep walking, I’ve no idea where Pinky is with the discs but you can bet I’ll kick his sorry butt when I see him.”

  “Yeh but are you sure we are going in the right direction?”

  “We are going in the right direction! I reckon we will be in sight of Benji’s camp and the Boneheads ship in less than an hour.”

  It was the last thing that Chilmni said before a Lillindian plasma round burst through his unguarded head, causing the top half of his body to erupt in blood tinged foam. Chilmni’s two flanking guards looked around for something to shoot, but it was too late for them as both went down in pillars of flame, victims of the Lillindians marksmanship. The remaining pirates panicked and bolted back down the track the way they had come. As a disorganised rabble the fleeing raiders ran, stumbled and jostled with each other to get away. Sunshine and the Jubilation men had crept into position, surrounding the entrance to the depression but far enough back from the lip not to be seen. The pirates careered up the track and out of the hollow, they were met with a fusillade of plasma sprayed towards them at waist height, which brought down the escapees on the outside of the group. Then like a shoal of fish the group darted out of the way to be met with another volley, creating more smoking co
rpses.

  A reduced number of pirates turned again and ran straight into the main body of Lillindian marines, whose accurate single shots caused more casualties. Soon they were down to their last five survivors who made a desperate charge towards the Jubilation men, firing as they ran. Two of the locals were killed and three of the fleeing pirates had been hit, two fatally. The two survivors had broken through the cordon and they raced across the open ground towards an area of scrub, where they must have thought they would find cover. They didn’t make it, Trilby’s slight frame stepped from behind a bush and her raised pistol fired point blank into the chest of the leading pirate, he hit the ground moments after the first red drops of his life blood had stained the sandy soil. In blind fury the last pirate raised the butt of his gun to smash down on Trilby’s head, but it didn’t connect as an armoured fist smashed into the side of his head. Boots straddled the slumped body of the senseless pirate and turned to look at the shaking Trilby, “Never do that again young lady, you damned near got yourself killed,” but seeing that she was upset he softened his tone, “I nearly bust a lung trying to get here, so spare a thought for my age next time” and he placed his powered and powerful arm around her slim shoulders to give what he thought was a fatherly cuddle.

  There was a lull whilst the Edenfall rescuers ran to the stunned women who had been abandoned in the depression, most were slumped on the ground and in a bad physical and mental state. Light was fading fast so Boots decided to keep himself, Sunshine and the Lillindians back, as sight of the armoured men and the pint size marines would not do anything for the women’s peace of mind.

  Trilby too had run to the women to see if she could help, whilst the rest of the rescuers busied themselves collecting the bodies. A pit was dug for the pirate corpses which were thrown in, after being stripped of weapons and anything useful. There were some money readers in the pile of belongings, it was decided between the Lillindians and Boots that the locals should have these and if they could unlock the security use any credits towards reparations.