The Storm Maker

by Sid K

  * * *

  The battle between the Ranx Rangers and the Starfirian Warriors had reached a fever pitch in the middle of the biggest storm any of them ever had been in. Starfirians had pushed the Ranxians almost to the edge of the town of Coldwoods, far back enough that the three Ranxian Ranger teams had linked up under the singular leadership of Corporal Montex, forming a defensive semicircle around their compound. Starfirian divisions, all nine of them, had also linked up with each other under the unified commandership of Capitan Jolvyt, and had formed a larger semicircle surrounding the Ranxians from east to west.

  The Ranxians Rangers were fighting hard and staging a very controlled retreat. They were the best division of Ranx’s best infantry army with battle experience. But they were heavily outnumbered; they could only slow down the onslaught by the Starfirian troops, but could not stop it altogether. The Starfirians kept advancing in the face of fire, their significantly larger numbers allowing them to trade higher causalities for more ground.

  But the Starfirian army was stopped, not by the Rangers, but by the insanely powerful hurricane that had crashed on all of their heads. The wind speed was reaching ninety to hundred miles per hour now. Every step forward was a huge struggle. Ranxians could not retreat anymore, even if they wanted to, and the Starfirian advance was stopped dead. The wind and rain shattering against the faces made it impossible for anyone to see much anything. Soldiers put their hands on their eyes, allowing small gaps in between their fingers to catch a glimpse of their position and of their enemies. Many fired blindly in front of them. Bullets themselves were flying in curved trajectories and hitting soldiers positioned behind the trees. Water gushed down and made it impossible to find a proper step. The clouds had darkened, the sunlight was cut off as if the night had arrived early—a lot early.

  The hurricane increased power once again and reached wind speeds of a hundred-twenty miles per hour. Many soldiers fell on the ground and were rolled down away. Rifles flew out of their hands and smashed into trees; trees were uprooted and twisted and turned in the air, knocking men down and colliding with other trees. The front lines had become mixed chaos of Ranxians and Starfirians, now fighting not against each other, but side by side against the fury of nature generated by the machines of man. The battle was finally stopped by the storm, the descending darkness of growing clouds made it impossible to see much and the rain and the winds knocked men down on the ground and sent them rolling, sliding, twisting—even flying.

  Capitan Jolvyt had no choice but to issue a general retreat order. Many radios had stopped working, with water getting into every last one, and the order was conveyed the old-fashioned way from one soldier to another. But by the time the order was issued, both Starfirians and Ranxians had already started running away from the storm and away from Coldwoods. Corporal Montex had also ordered his men to surrender, but they had already made up their minds and were running away from their own compound—away from the storm.

  Both sides retreated as fast as they could, this time their action helped along with the strong wind and rain at their backs, propelling them faster than they ever had run in their lives. The compound set on high ground, the highest in the nearby region purposefully chosen by the Boss. Water gushed down from it to the low-lying areas, creating an artificial lake that would encircle the town, turning it into an island fortress.

  There was another high ground to the north where both sides’ troops now ran. Beyond the northern ridge lay tall hills, not as high as Coldwoods, but high enough that the rain water there would drain south. A mad dash by all the soldiers towards Colonel Weltar’s position ensued.

  Colonel Weltar, Capitan Aryt and a thousand troops of first division who had been held back in reserve were hit by the rain as well, but much lighter rain and slower winds. To their amazement a great mass of their army came running towards them and took a great sigh of relief upon reaching that high ground. Many returnees fell down on the wet ground and lay there in relief having made it to safety. Amongst them were Ranxians as well, glad to live, even as prisoners. Corporal Montex found Colonel Weltar’s tent by the sight of a congregation of a large number of soldiers standing around as well as walking in and out. Corporal Montex briefly introduced himself to Colonel Weltar, conceded defeat and officially surrendered all the Rangers under his command to the Starfirian Army.

  * * *

  Suka Manx examined the situation as another Ranger with him took a shot and collapsed on the ground. Now they had lost four Rangers and there were only three of them remaining, facing at least fifteen riflemen on the other side. He did not think that they were paratroopers, but they were definitely army or ex-army, based on the accuracy of their shots and the deftness of their maneuvers. They were as good as the Rangers he had with him and that was the scary part. He could not stop them for good with just two Rangers, not even if he radioed the Boss to send six more from his room, which the Boss was unlikely to do anyhow. Most of the Rangers had gone out with Montex and it was unlikely that they would return in the midst of the storm that raged outside the compound.

  Suka looked up at the tower as the firefight between the two remaining Rangers and the advancing Starfirians continued. He realized he had to stop them from the tower. There was considerable open ground between the maze and the tower. If he and the Rangers were on the balcony, they could pick off anyone who tried to storm the tower. Suka did not want to abandon the two Rangers, but he had no choice. He would very likely get hit with a hail of bullets if he had no cover. He had to secure the tower now or the entire plan would fail.

  “Cover me,” Suka said and then added hesitatingly. “I will get reinforcements.” That was a lie and Suka felt guilty for lying to and abandoning his own soldiers. As the two Rangers provided cover fire, Suka darted from behind the maze bush, sprinted down the road and rushed into the tower gate. He had not locked it on his way out, but now he locked it from inside. He had sealed the fate of his two Rangers, but that was unavoidable as he had to lock out the Starfirians. The gate was made of solid wood supported by thick metal cover; it could not be broken down with bullets or muscles. Suka paused for a few moments to catch his breath and to attach a new, fully loaded magazine to his rifle. Then he ran to the stairs on the right.

  * * *

  “Boss we have a problem,” a technician said to Hantex.

  “What is it?” Hantex asked, “Is the hurricane not holding?”

  “Holding beautifully at over one hundred and forty miles per hour wind speed now,” the technician replied, “Trees must be flying.” Most everyone guffawed. Sayett and Slyntya stayed quiet and Hantex looked annoyed.

  “Then what is the problem?” Hantex asked.

  “Erratic signals from the machines on the roof to the instruments here,” the technician said. “Some kind of interference as if somebody is moving the wires around. It can’t be the wind or the rain since we had specifically accounted for it in the construction.”

  “Paratroopers!” the Boss shouted. “I told Suka Manx it was them damn paratroopers. One or two must have landed on my roof.” the Boss turned to the two Rangers standing near to the stairs. “You two go to the roof and see what it is?”

  Rangers nodded and started up the stairs to the door leading to the roof just when the Boss yelled after them, “Do not shoot my machines! You are elite rangers so I expect accurate shooting from you.”

  Sayett was puzzled as well. He knew that Capitan Suka Manx was right; there was no way any paratroopers could be dropped in the middle of such a storm. It was most likely birds or loose screws. Sayett would have hoped it was the paratroopers, but he knew better than that and thus did not feel any better.

  The Rangers opened the door slowly, making as little noise as possible. But Sthykar was alert on the roof. He was setting up the explosives, but thought he heard something from the stairs to the left. He left the explosives there, moved to take cover behind a machine and aimed his pistol in that direction. The two Rangers slowly came onto the roof a
nd turned around rapidly with their rifles when they saw Sthykar from the corners of their eyes. But it was too late because Sthykar had already aimed and fired two shots, and dropped both of them dead. Their bodies tumbled down the stairs, hit the door open and further fell to the third floor.

  “I said Paratroopers!” the Boss yelled when he saw the bodies tumble down. “Hold both sides!” he shouted at the remaining four Rangers who drew their rifles and positioned themselves in front of the stairs leading to the doors to the roof

  Sayett was delighted and stood up, but did not change his facial expression. This was a miracle he thought to himself. He had a great admiration for the Starfirian Elite Army, but if this were really the paratroopers, then they had outdone themselves. He mentally prepared himself for action, but did not physically give any indication. As soon as the paratroopers came storming down, he would charge the Boss and take him down to the ground. Part of this was out of his desire to hit back at the man that had caused so much trouble to him and was responsible for the death of many of his guards in the two ambushes. However part of it was also his detective character that wanted to capture the Boss alive and get all the information out of him. The army would come in guns blazing, they would not necessarily care about taking the chief villain alive; but he was a detective and would try to do his job.

  He turned to Slyntya and whispered in her ear, “As soon as they come down from the roof, hit the ground face down. Bullets will be flying everywhere. Nod and whisper back to me what I said.”

  “Hit the ground face down,” Slyntya nodded, whispered and then added. “Sthykar has told me this before. I was just thinking about that.”

  “Be ready; it will happen quickly,” Sayett added, then stayed silent while the tension built up in the room. The Rangers closely watched the doors, the technicians furiously worked the panels and the Boss examined the whole room in anticipation.

  Meanwhile Sthykar did not know whether the Rangers that had come up to the roof were on a routine patrol or they had heard noise on the roof. That was unlikely, as he had taken great care to move as silently as possible and the roof was solid concrete. Even if he had stomped on it with his combat boots the sound would not have carried downstairs. He also didn’t know if there was anybody currently present in the room just below. Maybe there was nobody to see the dead bodies stumble down, or maybe they were rounding up more Rangers to storm the roof. He picked up his rifle while considering his future course of action. He could radio Pelyett to come down and fly him away to Jontvyk, Relkyett and the rest with his work being done here. Now he only had to light the fuse for the explosives and the storm machine would be destroyed. Second option was to take the risk and move down to look for Slyntya. There were only three floors but he did not know how many Rangers there were inside. He hoped most would have been sent out to stop his friends.

  Whatever decision he made, he had to make it fast. He could have held off any incoming Rangers from one side with his rifle. But holding off two points of entry, on opposite side of each other, was significantly harder task for just one person. Sthykar carefully walked the edge to of the roof and looked over the concrete parapet. The third floor had large windows. This gave him an idea. Sthykar tied the rope to his chest and the other end to a strong machine that was bolted to the ground and was welded to other heavy pieces of metal. Sthykar stepped over the parapet, clutched his rifle with his right hand, the rope with his left, pressed both feet against the wall and started lowering himself slowly.

  As his feet reached the top edge of the window he stopped for a moment. He had to act fast now, get a view of the room and then rapidly pull himself up if anybody was in there. Sthykar let himself drop a few feet and then stopped with his feet positioned against the large window and he stared inside the central control room. Sthykar was shocked to see the whole operation before his eyes. He saw that Slyntya and Sayett were there, too, with a suited man standing near to them, two armed Rangers on the two doors and a multitude of operations staff working at the machines. He grasped all of this in less than five seconds when a technician spotted him and yelled.

  He was close to the left staircase where two Rangers were standing. When they heard the scream they turned around to look at the window. Sthykar fired his rifle with one hand shattering the glass and dropping both of the rangers dead before they could aim and fire. The next moment he let his rifle hang by its sling, clutched the rope with both hands and rapidly climbed back up to the roof. The two Rangers on the other side came running towards the window.

  Sthykar had seen the room and he had seen the other two Rangers come running towards him. They would do the obvious and take the left staircase up; if he ran fast he could beat them to the other side. Sthykar got on the roof, untied the knot rapidly, lit the explosive’s fuse and then ran to the opposite stairs.

  “Go get him,” the boss yelled at the two Rangers and as expected they ran up the left staircase to the roof where they saw Sthykar run down from the other end, and ran back down as well. Sthykar and the Rangers both jumped steps to beat each other to the third floor.

  Meanwhile Sayett’s plan had been ruined. He had caught a glimpse of the man outside the window and was almost certain that it was Sthykar and that delighted him, but the Boss had moved away from him and closer to the window. When Sayett took a few steps towards the Boss, he found a pistol pointed his way.

  “Who told you to move around, standstill or I will drop you,” the Boss said and walked back to Slyntya while Sayett stood half a room away.

  “Come with me,” Boss Hantex said to Slyntya. He motioned for her with his pistol to follow him to the stairs at the back of the room, which led down to the second floor. Slyntya was scared of the pistol pointed at her and followed the Boss just when Sthykar burst onto the third floor.

  “Sthykar!” Slyntya screamed.

  Hantex quickly stepped behind her, put his left arm around her neck and pointed his pistol with his right hand to her forehead.

  Sthykar looked at her, but he had no clear shot at the man who was hiding behind her. Rangers would be in the room in no time. He ducked behind a desk and aimed his rifle at the stairs on the opposite side of the room. Sayett and everyone else in the room hit the floor in anticipation of bullets flying. The very next second the Rangers ran down onto the third floor. Sthykar opened fire on them and the Rangers were hit, but they had pulled their triggers as well and their bullets flew all over the room. The next moment a massive explosion rocked the roof and the whole tower, shaking the walls and the floors, shattering some windows, short-circuiting the wires in the instrument panels.

  During all this, Hantex had dragged Slyntya down the stairs to the second floor.

  Sthykar rushed to examine the fallen Rangers. They were dead. Sayett stood up from the floor and Sthykar tossed him his pistol.

  “Sayett, take care of this staff,” Sthykar said. “I am going to rescue Slyntya.”

  Sthykar ran towards the stairs where the Boss had taken Slyntya, slowed down, held up his rifle and slowly descended one step at a time.

  Sayett rounded up the dozen or so technicians and herded them into a side room and locked the door from outside. Then he started down the other stairs to the second floor, slowly taking each step, his pistol aimed forward. He knew there were half a dozen Rangers in the underground dorms holding his guards and policemen as prisoners. They had to get the Boss before he alerted them.

  Suka Manx came running up to the second floor at the same time as the Boss had reached there with Slyntya.

  “What’s going on?” Suka asked. “I heard gunshots and a big explosion.”

  “There is a paratrooper up there. I had told you but you didn’t believe me,” Boss Hantex said while still holding Slyntya in the hostage position with his pistol pointed to her head.

  “How many paratroopers?” Suka was bewildered that any paratroopers could land right on the top of the tower.

  “One,” Hantex said.

  “One paratrooper a
gainst six Rangers. Why did you run here?”

  “Because, you fool, he shot all of them,” Hantex said.

  “I don’t believe that,” Suka replied.

  “Believe and what’s more, she seems to know him.” Hantex said.

  “No,” Slyntya replied, afraid that he would hurt her in retaliation.

  “How can she know a random soldier?” Suka asked.

  “She yelled Sthykar—that’s a Starfirian name,” Hantex said.

  “Sthykar!” Suka almost jumped. “The Colonel Sthykar?” He looked at Slyntya.

  “I saw him in an army parade once,” Slyntya lied. If they found out that she was his wife, they would have a great leverage over him. Sthykar had taught her to falsify her identity in situations like this, better to avoid giving any information that your enemy could use against you.

  “Why, of course,” Suka Manx said. He seemed to believe her. “A great many Starfirians would know Colonel Sthykar, just like a great many Ranxians know Capitan Suka Manx.”

  Boss laughed. “Well then go stop him, great Capitan Suka Manx; prove yourself.”

  Suka was annoyed by the sarcasm, but he clutched his Ranx rifle and slowly approached the stairs leading to the third floor. For the first time in his life he was going against a man that was a bigger war hero than himself. Capitan Suka Manx and two thousand of his Ranx Rangers had been parachuted behind enemy lines and they had destroyed a force twice that size and secured a key bridge that allowed the main part of their army to cross the river into the enemy territory and seize it. That is what had made his name and reputation in the Ranx Nation. But Colonel Sthykar’s had invaded the mighty Narducat Empire itself and forced it into negotiation with his singular action.

  Suka walked up the curved staircase as Sthykar quietly walked down: the capitan against the colonel, a ranger against an elite warrior, a daredevil against a legend.

  They met halfway.