Hammer's War 1: Forging the Hammer (23 page)

“Yeah, me too, but I think I can now.  I’m beat.”  She took off the torn bra and put on a clean tee shirt.  “Good night” she lay down next to her sister and was
asleep in a manner of minutes. 

What he did not tell her was the reason he
couldn’t sleep.  The nightmares had started again. He was remembering more and more about his past.  The faces of the people he killed were haunting his dreams.

They were awakened to the sound of breaking thruster
s firing and the ship vibrating as it slowed to enter a planetary orbit.  An armed crewman knocked on their door, “Captain says it’s time to go.”  Without protesting, Thad and his group followed him to the shuttle bay.

The
captain was waiting by the shuttle-loading ramp, “The closest planet is Ne Pallas. It has a simple, primitive, none space-faring population.  Therefore, I’m not going to waste a trip down to the surface.  You can ride down in one of the escape pods.  Now get off my ship!”

“Captain, you can’t just maroon us on some backward, hick planet
, which has no space traffic,” Fiona protested.

“Yes, yes I can.  I could have you all shot or thrown out an airlock.  Be thankful I’m a nice guy.”

She wanted to protest more, but Thad pinched her arm and she stopped.

They were loaded into an escape pod and the last thing the
caption said to them was, “I’m going to keep your cargo containers. Call it compensation for my crewman.”

The hatch slammed closed and they were shot into space.  Freya was pissed, “Now what?”

Fiona put her finger right under Thad’s nose, “You should have killed that asshole, and taken his ship.”

Thad took her finger and gently brought it down, “Then we would have been no better than Red and his crew.”  The statement hit hard and deep
, as both twins sat down and were quiet for the rest of the descent.

The
captain and a few of his crew went straight to the cargo bay to open the containers.  They wanted to see what kind of loot they had acquired. “Crack it open!”  The captain said.  A large crewman opened the container and to everyone’s surprise sand poured out.

Angrily the
captain said, “What the Hell is this?”

“Looks like sand
Sir, tons of sand,” replied the crewman.

“I can see that you idiot, that son-of-a-bitch!”

“Captain?” the crewman asked.

“He knew that we don’t carry passengers unless they are escorting cargo.  So he filled two containers with sand so they could ride along
!”  They stood there, looking at the mess they now had to clean up.

Luckily, for Thad and
the girls the pod the captain had chosen to maroon them in was in good condition.  The landing system was online and working like a charm.  The pod set down on the surface with nothing more than a slight bump.  “Well, thank God, for small miracles,” Fiona said.

Eve was not usually quiet so much of the time.  Thad took notice, “Eve is everything ok?”

“No, not really, this place has no communications, no power sources, and no tech of any kind that I can pick up.  But then again, my scanners are limited,’ she said.

“Well so much for our great campaign, finished before it got started and all because my extremely hot sister had to go for a run at two in the morning,” Fiona said with hint of anger in her voice.

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t ask for that gorilla to come after me and I sure as Hell didn’t ask to be stuck on this ass-backwards shit hole of a planet,” she fired back. 

Thad could see tempers were flaring and a catfight was about to ensue. 
He did the only thing a man could do in this kind of a situation, he yelled, “Fire!”

That stopped the
twins cold.  They turned to face him and in unison said, “What?”

Thad pointed over their heads to a plume of white smoke in the distance, “Well
, smoke anyway and where there is smoke there is fire, and where there is fire...,” he did not get to finish.

“There are people,” the twins said.

“Grab the gear and let’s get moving,” Thad picked up his backpack. 

They grabbed their gear and with backpacks strapped to them, they set off to find the source of the smoke.  They walked for a few miles before they came to the edge of a dense forest.
It was Eve who spoke, “I’m not sure I like the look of that,” she pointed to the forest, “Too many places for predators to hide.”

Thad placed his arm around Eve, “Well
, look on the bright side, there are dam few things in the galaxy that are more dangerous than me, and I’m on your side.”

“
This is somehow supposed to make me feel better?”  Eve shot back.

“Come on.  It will be an adventure,” he retorted.

Eve was still reluctant to walk into the forest, but she had little choice, and she did trust that Thad knew what he was doing.  The forest was thick, but they found a path leading them through it.  They had been walking for about an hour when Eve grabbed Thad by the arm, “Thaddeus dear, I hate to say I told you so, but I’m picking up heart-beats in the trees, lots of them.”

Thad placed his hand on hers, “I know
, they have been closing in for a while now.”

Fiona asked, “Okay
lover, what do we do now?”

Before he could answer, an arrow shot out of the tree line and landed at Thad’s feet.  Thad opened his mouth to talk, but at the sight of the emerging natives
, with their bows drawn and spears at the ready, caused him to close his mouth with a snap.  The four of them took positions back to back.  “We do nothing, put your hands up,” Thad ordered.

They raised their hands to show they were empty, as the natives closed in on them.
The natives were not human as such.  They looked oddly human in the face, but they had four arms and their bare feet looked more like hands than feet, and they moved a bit like apes.  In fact, they seemed to move through the trees with great ease.  Their leader waddled up to Thad and placed the tip of his stone spear beneath his chin.  He sniffed at him and eyed him very closely.  Thad said, “Hi there, I am Thad and these are my mates.”  The native looked at him.

Freya said, over her shoulder, “I don’t think they speak our language,
hon.”

Much to their surprise
, the leader spoke, “I do speak your fifthly tongue.”

“Good this makes things a little easier.  Look we mean you no harm,” Thad was saying when he was cut off by the native pushing the spear tip closer to his neck.

“Shut up sky walker!”  The native gestured menacingly.  “Your people bring nothing but death and disease to my people.  You come in your shiny metal flying machines and promise good things for the Untor, but take what you want and leave death and destruction.”

“Listen to me.”  Thad tried to push the spearhead down. 
“We don’t want anything.  We did not mean to come here.  We were marooned here by some people who did not like us much.”

The native jabbed
his spear at Thad’s face.  He was not trying to kill him, just cut his cheek to make a point.  “I don’t care why you are here.  You have come to our forest and you must go before the Chahtoka.  He will decide your fate.”  He was about to say more when he noticed that the cut on Thad’s cheek was not bleeding.  His eyes got very wide as he watched the wound heal completely in a matter of seconds. 

The
Untors erupted into chatter in their own native tongue. Thad and the girls watched as the people spoke back and forth, really fast.  Finally, the leader roared, and the rest went quiet, “What kind of demon are you that wounds don’t stay wounds?”

“I am not a demon,” Thad
replied.

That earned him another cut on the face and again they stood and watched as it healed, “See your cut heals itself.  You are not like any other sky walker we have ever seen.  You must be a demon
!”  The leader said with fear in his voice.

“It is true I am unlike any sky walker you have ever seen, but I promise you
, I’m no demon and we do not mean your people any harm.”  Thad urged.

“Chahtoka will understand what you are and what to do with you,” the leader said
, as he pushed Thad forward.  They walked, with their hands in the air and spears in their backs.  Thad, worried about spooking these people any more than they were already were, everyone kept quiet.

After a bit of a walk
they came to a large tree easily forty feet around at the base.  There was what looked like a wooden elevator waiting for them.  They were instructed to step on the platform, which they reluctantly did.  The leader stood with them.  He gave a short whistle and the platform rose into the sky, high into the canopy of the trees.  Thad whispered to the twins, “I think we just found the home of the Wookiees.”

Freya did not look amused, “What?”

“Never mind,” he said.

They reached the top
where they were met by more guards with spears.  From there they were escorted through a village high in the trees, to a large hut where they were forced to their knees.  The leader went inside.  After a few minutes, an elder Untor came out of the hut followed by more guards.  Thad looked around and could see they had drawn quite a crowd.  There were male and female Untor, as well as children, all trying to get a look at the sky walkers.

The older Untor carried a staff with
numerous trinkets hanging from it.  By the look of it, this was their staff of leadership, or symbol of power.  The old Untor was tall and his gray braided hair was hanging about his face.  He stood in front of Thad.  “My name is Un-Tark and I am the Chahtoka for the Tribe of the Tree, Untor, leader of its people and Lord of the forest.”  His English was surprisingly good, for a native.  “I understand you have come to my forest claiming you come in peace and not by your own choice.  I’m also told that you are a demon sky walker, one who cannot stay injured.”

Un-Tark paused, so Thad could answer, “Yes Chahtoka, we did not come to your forest by choice, and we mea
n you no harm.  I’m not a demon.  Just a man with some enhancements,” Thad held his hands up in supplication.

“Oh, how hollow
your words are.  If you only knew how many have come before you and have said the same.  We cannot take chances.  Our law was made to protect us from the sky walkers, so all sky walkers that come to our forest must be put to death!  It is the law.”  Un-Tark said.

“I understand, Great Chahtoka, your law is made to protect you, but to kill all
who enter will do you no good.  It will only bring down the Untor in the end.  I have seen it many times.  The sky walkers are many and very powerful.  If you kill the wrong sky walker they will retaliate and destroy all of your people.”

The Chahtoka did not like this, “How so?  We have killed many of the sky people and yet none
have come to wipe us out.  You lie and use fear to try to change our laws.  This is why you should be put to death.”

Thad put his head down, “I’m sorry it has to come to this,” Thad said.

“Come to what?”  Un-Tark asked.

Thad did not answer
.  He moved with speed they had never seen before.  Thad dropped the first two guards within a second.  The twins followed suit, and Eve moved so fast she was no more than a blur, as they disarmed or disabled all the guards.  In less than a minute, they had turned the tables on the Untor.  Thad produced a knife from his sleeve and had the Chahtoka at its point.  On his tiptoes with the knife under his chin, Un-Tark broke out in a cold sweat.

“Now, Un-Tark I really don’t want to spill your blood or any of your people’s.  But you must understand I will not let any harm come to me or my mates,” he said
.  Thad paused long enough for his words to sink in then he pulled the knife away from Un-Tark’s throat and turned the handle to the Chahtoka, “Here, as a token of my word, you keep the blade. May it serve you well for many years to come,” he said.

Un-Tark took the blade from Thad’s hand, “You spared my life and I thank you, but I cannot disobey the law.  It must be fulfilled.”  Thad rolled his eyes, and thought,
doesn’t this guy get it?  I could kill him anytime.

Un-Tark spoke again, “There is a way, in which the law can be satisfied.  I can evoke an ancient rite that would, if you met it,
set you free, and the law would still be fulfilled.”

“I’m listening,” Thad said.

“It is the ancient rite of single combat.  If anyone from the tribe or outside of the tribe has broken a law, he can plead for the right to challenge the accuser in a fight to the death.  In this case the accuser is the tribal law, so if you wish, you may fight the champion of the people,” Un-Tark intoned.

Thad looked at the Chahtoka and said, “Then I plead for a challenge of single combat,
as the champion for my people against your champion.”

“I Un-Tark, Chahtoka of the forest Untor, Leader of its peoples hear your plea for challenge and I accept.  You will be treated as a guest tonight.  Tomorrow, you will enter the ring of combat when the sun is at its highest.  Let it be told throughout the generations of our tribe,” Un-Tark banged his staff three times on the tree.  The Untor cheered and clapped with all four arms.