Rescuing Halin: Hissa Warrior, Book 1

by RK Munin

  She rolls to her feet, pulls the smaller weapons out of her holster, and starts moving to the orange circle again. Its only about ten feet away now, but she has a strong suspicion those ten feet will be the hardest.

  She’s proven correct when a line of spiders emerge right in front of her and she quickly steps back several feet. She puts the dead leg in front again, and starts firing. She picks off three before she runs out of ammunition in the gun. She doesn't have enough time to refill so she discards the weapon and plucks the next weapon from the small of her back. She's managed to create a hole in the line of spiders and is able to gain ground when another drone appears.

  Knowing the drone is a bigger threat, she sights and fires at it, ignoring the spiders for a moment. She misses with the first round. The smaller weapons aren't as accurate as the rifle, but she manages to hit it with the second round. She looks down just in time to see a spider almost at her good leg. She fires and kills it, but her gun registers empty. There's another spider almost on her. Finding her balance on her bad leg, she gives the dead spider at her feet a good kick. Her aim is slightly off, but she still manages to send the dead spider barreling into the moving one, breaking a few of its legs and slowing its progress considerably.

  “Hold weapon,” she orders the suit, slamming the blaster against her chest just above her secured “dead” arm. Thankful that this suit comes with the standard ability to magnetize areas on command, she lets go of the blaster. With the weapon held in place by her armor, she can use her good hand to pull the empty charge cartridge out and discard it on the ground. Without needing to look down, she retrieves a new cartridge from the holster on her thigh and slams it home.

  “Release weapon,” she demands as she wraps her fingers around the blaster grip. It’s a near thing, but she manages to bring the weapon up and pick off three more spiders just before they are within touching distance. This is her last cartridge and her last weapon, and she sees three more drones pop into the sky.

  With a sudden stroke of brilliance, she holsters her blaster and reaches down and grabs one of the dead spiders. She slams it against her chest.

  “Hold unknown object to chest,” she orders the armor, and the spider sticks to her chest. She grabs a second one and slams it to her back. “Hold unknown item to back.” Grabbing a third one she puts it to her head. “Hold unknown object to helmet.” Now she has a spider armor and a spider crown. She’s probably looks awkward as hell, but looks don’t matter if it works.

  Dropping to her knees, she tries to aim at one of the drones, but takes a blast to the chest before she has a chance to fire. It hits her spider armor so no dead spots appear. She sights and aims. This time it takes three rounds to take out just one drone.

  They are moving faster, adapting to her speed and if she takes much longer, she'll be out of rounds. It's time to give up finesse and skill and just move.

  With all the strength she can muster she pushes off, feeling her muscles strain. She ducks her head and rolls, finding she's close enough to end up with half her body in the circle. Suddenly a spider is on her good leg and the entire limb goes dead, from hip to toes. She flips on her back and fires, finding there were two spiders clinging to her dead leg.

  With both legs dead and one arm dead, her movements are beyond clumsy, but the idea of just giving up doesn’t even occur to her. This might be a training exercise, but that doesn’t matter. She will always fight to the bitter end.

  Using her good arm and her abdominal muscles, she claws and rolls the rest of herself into the circle just as a drone fires and hits the spider on her head.

  Once in the circle she stays on her back and tries to catch her breath. That was fun. She wonders if they'll let her have another go. She knows she could do better next time now that she has a good feel for the speed of those spiders.

  “Release unknown from chest and helm,” she orders the suit, and the spiders fall away. “Helm down.” The helmet retracts, and she takes a deep breath of warm air full of the scent of flowers. Her suit legs and arm are still dead, so she waits, panting and grinning.

  Soon her vision is filled with Merin, Povin, Ravin, Dacon, and Veran. “Hey, guys,” she greats them cheerfully. “Mind unfreezing the armor?” Merin hastily touches the armor, and she regains full use of her limbs again.

  “Release arm from chest,” she orders and once her arm is free, she sits up and grins at them. “That was fun!” she declares, then frowns at the faces staring down at her.

  They are all regarding her with the same shocked expression. It’s not flattering.

  “What? Did I do it wrong? Merin told me I just had to make it to the orange circle. Was there something I missed?” She holds up a hand. “And how about helping a girl up?”

  Merin recovers first and hastily reaches down to help haul her to her feet. “No one makes it to the circle on their first try,” he explains. “I grew up training, and I didn't even make it the first time. I didn't make it until my third attempt.”

  “Oh” she says with a shrug. “I guess there's no training like actually fighting for your life in the corridors of a ship when raiders are doing their best to kill you. This was easy compared to that.”

  Dacon makes a strangled sound. “Easy?”

  She gives him a grin and nods. “Sure, easy. No pain and I knew I wasn't going to die. That makes it easy. And fun. Did I mention I'd like to do it again?”

  “No one has ever thought to use the spiders as shields,” Merin mutters, shaking his head. “Why didn't I think to do that?”

  “I got trapped in an engine room once,” Mian explains. “I used an ambulatory stand with an engine on it as a walking shield. I had it walk forward, and I crouched behind it and fired. It worked great and saved my life. It's not the first time I've had to be creative in combat.” She notes several of the men’s blue scale patterns pale at her words, but they keep their mouths shut.

  “You're a brilliant warrior,” Veran tells her, his face full of awe. “When your leg was disabled, I was sure you would be taken down quickly. But you didn't falter. Merin almost called a halt to the exercise. He was worried you'd fall and hurt yourself.”

  Sending Merin a thankful look, Mian rolls her shoulders “Thanks for not stopping. That was the most fun I've had in a while.”

  “I know you want to do it again, but would you consent to speaking to the trainees who just watched you?” Merin requests. “You can come back any time, and I will gladly let you run the course as many times as you like, but I think your input to the students might have real value.”

  Feeling flattered, Mian nods. “I'd love to talk, but I'm not sure how useful it would be. I'm not formally trained. I've just had a lot of real-life experience.”

  “I’m positive you have more to contribute than you think,” Merin tells her confidently. They troop back to the staging area to find the dozen trainees in armor have been joined by another dozen trainees in sweat soaked, dull brown shirt and pants from the training field.

  Feeling a little uncomfortable at all the attention, Mian concentrates on putting the weapons away.

  “You didn't run,” the trainee that had gone before her states boldly. She looks up at him to see he's genuinely confused. “Why didn't you run? You would've gotten to the circle faster.”

  “No,” she counters easily. “I would have gotten dead faster. I saw you run and get taken out despite your speed. I'm sure I'm only half as fast as you. My legs are shorter, and I've never been a great runner. If I ran it would've been harder for me to sight and fire effectively. By walking I could defend better.”

  “You decided to sacrifice speed for accuracy,” another trainee speaks up. She looks over to him and nods.

  “Yes, exactly.”

  “Is that always your strategy?” another one asks.

  “No. I've sprinted sometimes,” she tells him. “It depends on the circumstances. But generally, if I don't know the terrain or where the bad guys are, I'm safer if I take it slow and steady.”


  “Can you tell us about a situation were you ran instead of going slow and steady?” a voice in the back asks.

  “Sure,” she says and starts telling them about the time she had to check a station taken over by raiders. She's not sure how long the impromptu interview lasts, but her voice starts to get tired, and she's feeling the effects of the exercise after a week of being held almost immobile by Halin.

  “I believe Mian might be fatigued,” Revin says, cutting off yet another question from a trainee. Merin steps forward with a small frown.

  “Revin is correct,” he announces. “Training is concluded for the day. I'll make the recording of Mian's run available. Study it, and we will discuss it more tomorrow. Dismissed.” There is some grumbling, but everyone except for Merin and her guards starts filing out.

  Once the place is empty Merin turns to her. “You've impressed us all, Mian,” he says and taps his finger between his eyes and then taps his chest over his heart. She taps between her eyes and then at the base of her throat. Emotions well up inside of her. Merin just acknowledged her as a fellow warrior. She gets the feeling tapping two places isn’t something that’s usually done, but it appears these Hissa are creating a new custom just for her.

  “Thank you for the experience,” she counters.

  “I know from the information set out by the council that you might leave us if Halin doesn't get better and no one else catches your attention,” Merin says and ignores the other men when they give him warning growls.

  “That's true,” she answers honestly.

  “I would beg you to consider staying,” he starts, and Dacon steps forward, trying to push Merin away from her.

  “She's still wears Halin's mating marks,” Dacon states, his voice deep with anger. “Don't act dishonorably.”

  Merin steps away shaking his head violently. “No, that's not what I meant,” he tells Dacon. He turns his gaze back to Mian. “I'd like you to become an instructor here. Your skills are exemplary and although it's hard to admit, better than mine. It would be of great benefit to all Hissa if you would stay and teach.”

  Pleasure uncurls in her chest at Merin's praise. All the other men's faces light up at his words as they nod in agreement.

  “Yes, that's an excellent idea,” Revin concedes. “There is much practical knowledge you can share.”

  “I concur,” Dacon tells her. “I’d like to take a course instructed by you. I'm impressed at your quick thinking and would like to learn to think like that on the battlefield.”

  “Honestly, guys,” she says quickly feeling both flattered and uncomfortable. “This is a great training environment, but my speed and skills came from real battle. Short of leading your men against raiders I'm not sure how good a teacher I'd be.”

  “Raiders,” Merin says thoughtfully, he gazes down range as he thinks.

  “Consider it at least,” Dacon urges, his words bringing Merin's focus back to her.

  “Yes, you should consider it,” Merin pushes but still seems distracted. “I must go and do some research. It's been a pleasure to meet and learn from you.” Merin taps his chest once again and turns to stride off without a backward glance.

  “Well, that guy’s all business,” she mutters.

  “Merin is very focused,” Revin agrees with a last look at the retreating man. He turns his gaze back to Mian. “Are you hungry? It's well past the mid-day meal, and I know my belly is too empty for comfort.” The other men rumble in agreement, and Mian realizes she's starving

  “Food sounds like a great idea,” she says and strips out of her armor. The moment the armors off, all the men sniff and take several steps back. “But I guess I should go home and a shower first,” she says with a sigh.

  “That would be advisable,” Dacon agrees and turns to lead the group out of the range. Mian notices all the men are keeping their distance now that her scent is back. It’s annoying but doesn’t remove the smile from her face

  “We could take you on one of the foot paths into the jungle after our meal. You might enjoy the scenery,” Revin suggests as they walk.

  “Excellent idea,” Dacon agrees.

  “A hike sounds fine,” Mian murmurs. She’ll bug the guys to take her back to the range tomorrow.

  Guns, food, and friends. It’s more than she expected to find when Halin dragged her chained and unwilling to Hissa. Perhaps hanging out on this planet won’t be as horrible as she feared.

  CHAPTER 16

  Standing at the open window, Mian scans the dark ground outside for Halin. Diminish, the smaller of Hissa's two moons, casts a weak light on the landscape and helps her search. She's not sure how long she stands there, but the second moon, Brimming, is just starting to edge over the horizon when she grows too concerned to remain inside. She can’t imagine Halin wouldn’t show up if he promised he would. Something must have happened. She needs to slip out of the house and start looking for him.

  She's debating using the cleansing unit one more time to kill her scent, but before she can decide, a loud knock at the front door interrupts her internal debate. Hurrying down the stairs she feels anxiety knot her stomach. There aren’t many reasons the Hissa might disturb her at this time of night, and none of them are good.

  She swings open the large round door to see Revin and a man she doesn't know standing there with strained expressions. Before Revin can say a word, the stranger grabs her and starts dragging her behind him.

  “We must hurry,” he growls out. Mian is about to launch a fist at him when the man abruptly stops and turns to face her. He leans over, takes a deep breath and growls low in his throat. His scale pattern flashes purple, and his expression turns lustful.

  Then Revin is there, shoving the man away from her. Revin’s movements mean her knee hits air instead of the stranger’s groin. The move is violent enough to throw her off balance, and she almost ends up on her ass. Another set of hands grab her and steady her, and she turns to see Dacon. He lets go and quickly steps back, hugging his arms around his chest as if he's in pain.

  She curses herself for deliberating too long. She should have used the cleansing unit instead of staring out the damn window like a princess in all the fairytales her parents use to tell her. She’s acting like some adle-brained idiot from an old Earth romance vid.

  “Why does she smell so good?” the stranger demands. His scale pattern isn’t purple, but it didn’t go back to blue either. Now it’s hovering around a dark brown. He’s irritated.

  Well, welcome to the club, Mian thinks.

  “I don't know, Sarin,” Revin tells him. “But you need to keep your distance. I know you’re concerned for Halin, but you need to calm down and keep away from her.”

  Revin looks at her and jerks his head back to inside. “Go wash and change clothes. We’ll wait out here for you.”

  Mian ignores his order and addresses Sarin. “What's wrong with Halin?”

  “He's acting feral, insane!” Sarin barks out, making Mian flinch back. “He roars and yells, and he's hurting himself trying to get out of medical. He screams for you. I demand you go to him and see if you can calm him down. You caused this. You need to fix it.”

  A jolt of fear goes through her. “I thought Halin was doing better.” She looks to Revin, questioning. His expression is grim.

  “What Sarin is saying is the truth,” he confirms. “Halin become progressively worse throughout the day.”

  Her mouth twists into a frown. Halin’s been suffering while she blithely hiked around the Hissa jungle? That explains why all her guards started acting distracted after the mid-day meal. It also explains why Revin kept disappearing to talk to people on his data bracelet.

  How could they let her traipse around, unaware of Halin’s pain when they could easily have informed her? Taken her to him. Let her try and help.

  Rage deepens her voice when she addresses Revin. “Why didn't you tell me this?”

  “I tried to get permission to tell you, but many on the Council are against it.
Some worry your presence would make it worse or he might hurt you. It took hours of arguing to get the Council’s approval to simply ask you if you would visit him.” Revin casts his eyes to the stranger who grabbed her. “This is Sarin, Halin's brother. He’s the reason the Council relented and agreed to let us tell you about Halin.”

  She looks at Sarin. “Give me a few minutes to wash. It’ll make it easier for everyone to be around me.” The tense man nods, and she rushes back into the house. She's washed and changed in record time. Hurrying back down stairs she finds her escort’s grown by two more men she doesn't recognize. Without another word they hustle her into a small private transport vehicle that looks a lot like one of the tram cars but with larger wheels. Before long they are pulling in front of a large building, and they rush her inside.

  The moment she walks through the door she can hear Halin roaring and she breaks into a run. The men don't try to stop her. They just keep up.

  She skids to a halt when she gets to Halin's room. There are six men trying to subdue him. A ruined medical bed is on its side, twisted and broken. Torn restraints on his arms tell the rest of the story. He fighting to get to her.

  “Halin!” she calls out to get his attention, and his eyes lock on her. Sarin wasn't exaggerating when he said Halin was becoming feral. The expression on his face looks like it belongs to an animal too long denied something it desperately needs.

  She gives a little start of fear and takes a step back. He froze when she called out, but her small movement galvanizes him back into action. Roaring load enough to hurt her ears, he throws his body against the men trying to subdue him. Because they don't want to hurt him, she can see the men are losing ground. Tamping down on her fear, she moves forward until she can just touch his face over the shoulder of one of the straining men.