Annals of the Keepers - Rage

by Christiaan Hile

  ANNALS

  OF THE

  KEEPERS

  CHRISTIAAN C. HILE

  &

  BENJAMIN J. HALKETT

  Book Three

  Rage

  Prologue

  Following the surprising return of a long-forgotten captain and his ship, Shenta Parejas and the Ordinance are confronted with a daunting and uncertain turn in a dangerous prophecy of a malicious alien race.

  Across the galaxy, Rels Sentel and Mistuuk find themselves in a deepening mystery to discover the whereabouts of the Gashnee Ancients. They are no longer alone on their clandestine mission to unlock the connection between Humanity and their enigmatic saviors from centuries past.

  Lintorth Sol – now the dishonored Lintorth Sar, the cold and calculating Kryth Mahr general responsible for the invasion of Earth – will not let the Humans make stride in their new position within the Galactic Conference. He still has the Reaver called Jens Dryden and will use everything in his influential power to stop the Humans…unless those from within his own ranks do otherwise.

  The Annals continue…

  Data Cell 1

  Dark gray clouds moved over the harsh stony landscape as rain set in.

  Each drop of water, along with the winds, played a battle cadence of howls and drums as the rain thundered upon the assorted, round river rocks that occupied the terrain.

  A boot sloshed in a puddle as an armored being stumbled forward.

  The Reaver staggered behind a large boulder, clutching its damaged leg.

  Its protective exoskeleton was streaked with blackened charred plasma residue that ran across the upper torso of its suit.

  Slumping against a rock, the Reaver began to inspect itself.

  This wasn’t the only damaged item the injured Reaver had.

  Embedded in the left eye socket of the helmet was a metal object that stuck out about eight centimeters. There were similar metallic slugs implanted across the chest.

  As the Reaver looked on at its sheathed leg, a tremendous thumping sounded between deluges of rain.

  The Reaver froze.

  The rain quickly washed over the pounding footsteps in the distance.

  A hiss of air escaped as the insulating seal of the helmet released and the visor plate rose.

  The Reaver reached up and took the helmet off, dropping it to the ground.

  Sweat ran down the clean ebony face of Kercy as she looked up, letting the rain splash on her skin.

  Her labored breathing slowed a little as she finally had time to think.

  She began to inspect her weapons as the downpour continued to barrage her. Still, at least she could see better than her helmet’s current condition would allow.

  The plasma rifle was empty; she tossed that aside.

  She grabbed her two slotted thigh pistols. One was crushed, the other was empty as well. She re-holstered them.

  Next, she inspected her forearm micro-launcher.

  One round left.

  Only two of her suit’s bladed extraction points were functioning, her right elbow and left knee spike extended. The shoulder and other limb armor blades were inoperative, either broken off or blocked by crushed armor.

  She also checked her micro-wire in her right gauntlet.

  It whipped out to one meter, seven meters shorter than its usual reach.

  She chuckled, looking around at her surroundings, and sighed. “I guess I can throw rocks at it.”

  She leaned back against the boulder, then she remembered.

  Jens’ kodachi blades.

  Ramek had given the blades to her after the regimental swearing-in by Kason.

  She activated them.

  Handles of each blade popped up above her shoulders on the back of her armor.

  She reached over and pulled them out of their inner sheaths.

  These were Jens’ prized weapons.

  She knew how important they were to Ramek. The blades were a sign of the two Reavers’ bond; a bonding of brothers.

  They were given to Jens by the great swordmaster and Keeper himself, Rontishen Sorash.

  Jens was Rontishen’s favorite student. Kercy was his last before the master had passed.

  Ramek thought it was a fitting gesture, and one Jens would have wanted, that the last blue Khromotite-fused blades ever bestowed by Sorash be wielded by his last student.

  These are all she needed.

  Along with my wits, she thought.

  Surveying the landscape, Kercy sized up her options.

  She began to untuck her long black hair from under her armor. Pulling some bands loose, she shook her hair out, grabbing it and wrapping it up into a pony tail.

  Hands holding her hair above her head, she paused and listened.

  The wind blew across the hills of grass and boulders before her, picking up speed.

  The rain plummeted at an angle and stung her face.

  To the Reaver’s front, several meters away, was a vast hundred-meter cliff.

  She could climb down, but she would be at a disadvantage from the creature hunting her.

  Not an option.

  Resting against the boulder, she surveyed each side.

  Putting a hand in front of her to hold the rain from her eyes, she saw a cave atop a small plateau. It was too high for her to grapple up. She’d make an even better target climbing up with no cover.

  Also not an option.

  Her alternatives were bleak, and she knew it.

  She heard the heavy footfalls spash again, even over the rain.

  It was closer. Much closer.

  Her eyes turned to the knoll from which she had come, trying to see through the rain.

  She grabbed the round from her micro-launcher.

  Activating a slider on the back of the round, she dug a small hole in the ground at her feet and buried it.

  Just as she was finishing, she looked up.

  She froze.

  Up on the grassy hill was the mechanical creature that hunted her.

  The low silhouette of the mech crested the hill and began to descend, crawling with its six segmented legs.

  Its main body was elongated and encased in black metal plates with flashes of red, like crimson skin under ebony scales.

  The two slanted optical sensors on the flared, rounded head finished the Creep’s menacing look.

  Kercy knew she had little time left to decide.

  The Creep advanced with its swift crawl over the field towards her.

  The rain turned to hail, now pelting her face painfully.

  Picking up her helmet, Kercy rounded the boulder she’d been resting on.

  She would wait for her pursuer here.

  The sound from the six legs of the Creep clattered upon small stones as it got closer.

  Then, it stopped.

  Kercy held her breath.

  She listened, not knowing which direction it would strike.

  One final metallic footfall and the explosion she knew would come erupted.

  Fire and smoke rose over the boulder as dirt and rocks bombarded the landscape from the buried micro-rocket she had placed.

  The mech was upended and thrown onto its back, a leg missing.

  Now was her moment.

  Kercy made a dash, as much of a dash as her leg allowed, for the cave.

  It was risky, but the Creep would take a while to recover.

  She made the cave, her limping even more pronounced.

  Activating lights on her shoulders, she looked about the cave. It was a small cave. It went back about five meters.

  Some kind of animal shelter, she thought.

  This would have to do.

  This is wh
ere she would make her final stand.

  The metal crawler righted itself and approached the cave entrance, its shields flickering from the small pellet ice shards from above.

  The metal beast walked in about two meters before showering the inside of the cave with a scan shroud.

  A whitish translucent beam spread out, examining the interior of the rocky entrance and going back into the dark recesses of the cavity before it.

  The beam stopped when it came to the slumped armor of the Reaver against the back cave wall.

  Without hesitating, a launcher protruded from the Creep’s back.

  The front of the launcher swiveled open and four electric javelins shot out, streaking through the cave, igniting the air with a crackle.

  Electricity arced all around as they flew, piercing the damp cold cave.

  Each spear found the rock wall around the Reaver’s seated position.

  Energy sparked all about, spitting the hollow in a brilliant light as tendrils of white and blue bolts slashed against the Human’s armor.

  The smoke of scorched plasma from the air mingled in the cave before heading out the entrance and over the mech’s body.

  The metal beast scanned the downed Reaver once again as residual static washed along the ground.

  Nothing.

  No movement.

  At least, not from the Creep’s viewpoint.

  On the cave ceiling above was Kercy, fixed to the rocks, holding on until she needed to no longer.

  She dropped down in her black under-armor.

  Her blades trained down towards the Creep’s back.

  She landed dead center on top of the mech, driving both kodashi blades into the spine with all her weight.

  The creature reared up, throwing her off and out the cave entrance.

  Kercy recovered from being thrown, rolling to a crouch upon impact.

  One of her blades was still stuck in the back of the Creep.

  One will have to do, she thought.

  The metal menace backed out of the cave, turning towards her.

  The overlapping plates slid towards its rear, the middle legs walking back to join the rear extremities.

  The Creep raised its front portion up with its front legs out to either side like a giant, mechanical man with the torso and legs of a metal centipede. Its glowing red eyes glared down at her from the shadows.

  Kercy watched all this as the Creep transformed before her. “Well, that’s…interesting,” she said aloud as she moved around to get into a better attack stance. “Let’s go, Creep. Show me what you’ve got.”

  The metal creature, motionless, emitted what sounded like a laugh. Its deep mechanical tone sounded over the downpour, “You think you can defeat me?”

  Its robotic eyes followed her in the hail, its head turning before its four legs scampered closer towards the female Reaver and attacked. “Flesh is no match against metal. Your suit can no longer protect you.”

  Kercy dodged its barrage of stabs and slashes.

  “This flesh seemed to outwit your metal brain.”

  The two combatants circled one another under the torrent of ice.

  Wind mercilessly whipped across the drenched landscape, forcing its will upon any unbalanced opponent as rocks swam across the green grass sea.

  Lightning flashed in the distance, illuminating the dark clouds and rough landscape.

  Mud and scattered rock became the arena of the combative dance that now unfolded between the two.

  The mech raised its front limbs, the the arms rotating into new weapons as blades were replaced with barrels.

  Blue crackling energy cascaded up and down the creature’s forearms, “Flesh has many weaknesses.”

  The Creep fired off a ball of electricity from one of its arms, right at the feet of the Reaver.

  Kercy somersaulted backwards out of the way as the ball struck the ground, scattering tendrils of energy in the immediate vicinity.

  Kercy smirked. “You missed. Again.”

  It emitted a growl like grinding steel.

  “Having some metal problems?”

  The Creep charged.

  She ran straight towards her oncoming metal menace.

  The Creep swung an arm at her, the blades rotating back into place and adding range to its reach.

  She dove and slid under it.

  Getting up, she ran towards a large boulder.

  Kercy could hear and feel the furious drums of metal footfalls behind her.

  It was catching up.

  Fast.

  Just as she reached the boulder, she jumped up and pushed herself off the rock. Turning back around, she dove at the Creep’s head.

  The Creep swung again, clipping the boulder, sending streaking sparks and stone chips showering about.

  The mech ducked its head, just missing the incoming kodachi blade.

  She tucked and rolled along the back end of the creature before landing on the ground.

  The Creep snapped around. “You missed, fleshling.”

  “Did I?” Kercy asked, holding up the second blade she had drawn from the back of the armored creature.

  The enraged Creep lunged at her.

  She blocked its swiping attacks, one after the other, with her own blades.

  Sparks spat forth as metal struck metal.

  Kercy was backing up, blocking each attacking arm that came her way.

  She glanced behind and her eyes widened.

  The cliff.

  It was driving her back for a reason.

  She focused on timing the Creep’s attacks and recognizing its pattern then, tucking both blades along her forearms in a defensive position, lunged at the Creep as its left swinging arm came towards her.

  While blocking with one blade, she swung with everything she had with the other and uppercut at the upper arm.

  The sheering of metal screeched as her blade severed the Creep’s arm.

  She dove and rolled out of the way from the other incoming bladed appendage.

  The mech reared back out of range and switched back to its plasma weapon.

  It fired an electrical bolt at Kercy, striking her in the chest.

  The Reaver was knocked back, hitting the ground hard.

  The Creep wasted no time, scampering up to her as she fell.

  Trying to shake off the impact and static, the Creep loomed above her. “That’s the weakness of flesh, meatbag. I win.”

  The mech raised its one good arm.

  Energy entangled around it before the Creep drove its metal spear down towards its prey.

  Kercy rolled out of the way at the last moment.

  The speared arm slammed down, piercing the ground, driving deep into the saturated soil.

  She rolled onto her feet and leapt onto the Creep’s hindsection, standing behind its torso and head, and wrapped one blade under its neck.

  “Looks like metal has a weakness of its own, eh, Creep?”

  “Metal is superior, fleshling,” the Creep hissed.

  Kercy twirled her other blade in her hand, bringing the point to the back of the Creep’s head.

  “Oh, I agree. Especially my metal.”

  She drove her Khromotite blade into the head of the Creep, the blue metal protruding from a red eye as it flickered.

  The Creep’s body went shook as its circuitry fried before it went rigid, then collapsed.

  Kercy pulled at the blades, wrenching them out of her downed assailant.

  She climbed down and fell to her knees in the soaking mud.

  She let out a tired sigh.

  It was over.

  “Well, that was fun.”

  The hail turned to rain as she waited.

  That was a welcome change.

  She was going to need a new helmet.

  Scratch that, a whole new suit.

  She groaned, sheathed her kodachi blades, and lay down on the grass.

  A roaring sound pierced the rain and wind above her.

  She sat up and turned at the
loud hum.

  There, cresting a bluff, was the white engine glow of an assault craft.

  She pushed her aching body up.

  About time, boys, she thought.

  Kercy stood there, her soaked black hair streaking about her as the craft landed.

  Her under-armor was torn and covered with blood and mud from her battle with the Creep.

  The vehicle above swooped in, its engine slats rotating, bringing the craft to a soft landing in front of her.

  The assault vehicle’s doors whined opened.

  Kercy saw Ramek and Kason exit the craft, dressed in their black dress uniforms.

  Kercy smiled, strolled up the boarding ramp, and asked cheerfully, “So how’d I do?”

  “You did well, Kercy,” Kason replied.

  “I was hoping to beat Ramek’s time.”

  The big Reaver chuckled, “Right. Beat my time?”

  “Ramek,” Kason said, looking at his holo-tab. “It looks as though she did.”

  Ramek’s usual smile fell.

  “It looks like she finished her regimental challenge in three days, eight hours, and sixteen minutes,” Kason said and turned to his friend. “She beat you by about thirty minutes, big guy.”

  Ramek didn’t speak.

  “Like I said. I was hoping to beat Ramek’s time. Mission accomplished.”

  She beamed at Ramek, who grumbled.

  “Before you get too excited, Kercy. While you did beat Ramek’s time, Ramek took down the Creep with a rock.”

  Kercy traded facial expressions with Ramek as his usual grin broke back out across his face.

  “I see.”

  “There’ll be plenty of time for you two to debate the results. Let’s get back to base.”

  All three entered the assault ship.

  “So…whose idea was it to give the Creep a voice?” Kercy inquired.

  Ramek beamed. “That was my idea. What’d you think?”

  “Nice touch,” Kercy responded. “A little unnerving, but still didn’t slow me down.”

  “Yeah? I still beat mine with a rock.”

  “Shut up, Ramek.”

  The engines glowed and the craft lifted off, heading up into the darkened sky.

  Data Cell 2

  The swirling gusts sent small igneous pieces of rock across the dry, barren landscape in multiple concentric patterns.