Storm' Fury: The Shenkar War (54 page)

Catching Liam’s glance Callen quickly moved to change the subject.

“What were those creatures that were attacking you anyways? What did you call them? Korgo beasts? Are they common to this area?”

Granshianka hesitated before speaking, clearly he wanted to inquire about what Callen had meant but he evidently had detected this was a sensitive subject and chose to not bring it up. Instead, he turned to look in the direction the rest of his people were gathered in. The group had moved together in a tighter group about halfway between them and the trees from which they had been harvesting the fruit from. Granshianka’s son and his friends had moved to join the group and it looked as if one of the female Lykaans was administering to his wound. The youngest of the Lykaans stood close by but their attention was clearly fixed on the meeting that was taking place between the humans and some of the Lykaan hunters.

“The Korgo beast is very dangerous and very uncommon to see in these parts. Typically, they are found in the dark depths and occasionally one will surface closer to these parts but I do not ever remember hearing of a pack of them ever being spotted. Clearly something has disturbed their area or food has become scarce which has driven them to extend their hunting grounds. This very well may have been an isolated incident but either way this will be something I will need to report to the elders as others may be in danger. Although thanks to you two we do not need to go hunting for one.”

As he finished speaking Granshianka turned to indicate the direction the battle had taken place. Liam looked over at the dead Korgos for the first time since the battle and saw that the remainder of the Lykaan hunters that had not accompanied Granshianka had dressed the beasts, like one would a deer, and were tying them up to posts that would allow them to carry the beasts from the area.

“You normally hunt these creatures?” Callen asked, not bothering to hide the incredulity that shown upon his face.

“Yes, they are a symbol of a hunter’s skill when they can take down a Korgo beast in single combat. Your companion has already gained much respect by the hunters of my group,” indicating Liam, “Although I do not know how he created that blue crackling fire seemingly out of nowhere. This is something I would like to learn if possible,” Granshianka stated as he turned to Liam.

“Sorry, but so far it seems to be a unique skill I possess, no others have been able to duplicate it. Also I would not imagine you would want to go through what I had to to be able to duplicate it.” Liam explained grimly.

Granshianka looked curiously at Liam but didn’t inquire further, instead he returned to the Korgo beast.

“As I was saying before, the Korgo beast is a symbol of hunting prowess but they are also a very good source of meat. They may be unpleasant to look upon but they taste very good. The meat is very tender and juicy when prepared with the juices of the Grooba fruit,” explained Granshianka, indicating the trees the female Lykaans had been harvesting fruit from.

“Sorry to change the subject, but back to the subject of the tribal elders, do you know a sect leader that we could speak with that would sponsor me so I might be able to speak with the elders?”

Granshianka’s furry brow rose slightly in surprise then changed to that of confusion before he spoke.

“I do not understand, are you seeking another sect leader to sponsor you?”

“Another sect leader? What do you mean? I am just seeking one sect leader,” Liam explained, clearly confused.

“Ah, but you have a sect leader that will sponsor you already. Did I not tell you I was sect leader for my tribe?” Granshianka explained, looking quizzically at Liam.

Now it was Liam’s turn to be surprised, he hadn’t expected it to be this easy.

“No, you failed to mention that but it is good to know.”

“Well that turned out easier than I expected,” Callen said from beside him.

Granshianka nodded in confirmation and turned to look back at the main group once more.

“It looks as if my son has been bandaged up and the Korgo beasts are ready for transportation. Will you join us at my village, we have much to discuss before we bring you before the elder council,” Granshianka explained.

“Okay but we left the rest of our group in the tunnel. Could they come with us or should I have them return to our ship? To be honest there is one in my group that you shoud speak with as well. I am just a soldier, this man is one of our military leaders that has accompanied us to negotiate with other races.” asked Liam, indicating the tunneling opening that he and Callen had emerged from.

Granshianka looked over Liam and Callen’s heads to the tunnel opening they had emerged from. Not seeing anyone there he turned his attention back to Liam.

“If they are like you two then I would be honored to share a feast with them. Although I think this military leader would be better suited to speak with the elders than I in regards to negotiating anything between our two races. This cannot happen until you are presented as my sect’s champion.”

“Understood, I will contact the rest of my group and let them know what has transpired. They should be able to join us relatively quickly.”

Granshianka nodded and then moved off towards the rest of the Lykaan group to wait.

Reaching up Liam touched his earpiece to activate his comm unit.

“Admiral Kelvin, this is Commander Brennan, do you copy?”

Frank Kelvin’s voice immediately filled Liam’s ear as he spoke.

“Commander, I was starting to worry you might have found trouble and was about to send a search party for you. What is your status?”

“Admiral, I know it wasn’t the plan but we have made contact with the Lykaans. It is a long story but we have succeeded in our mission to locate a sect leader to sponsor one of us. I will explain later but the sect leader has invited our group to partake in a feast of sorts. Did you want to bring the entire group or would you prefer to send some back to the ship? I do not believe we are in any danger from the Lykaans so it is your call, sir.”

“That is good to know and I definitely would like to hear the details later. As for the group I think we all should remain together, while the Lykaans you have encountered may seem trustworthy I cannot say we will not encounter others that may cause us harm. Also I would rather not split the group as we do not know what they may encounter on the trip back to the
Poseidon
. We should be able to rendezvous with you in about ten minutes.”

“Acknowledged, we will wait for you here, Brennan out,” Liam said then terminated the connection.

“They should be here in about ten minutes,” Liam said to Callen.

Callen nodded but otherwise said nothing else for several minutes as he and Liam watched the Lykaan group that sat not to far off.

“You know I think Steve and Evan are right about you,” Callen said, offhandedly.

“Right about what exactly?” Liam asked suspiciously.

“You need a theme song.”

“A what?”

“A theme song, they feel you deserve a theme song. I think they came up with a couple ideas but the one Steve has been pushing fits you the best.”

Liam was almost afraid to ask but he couldn’t help but find himself asking.

“And what song would that be?”

“
The Touch
, by Stan Bush.....they said it was from cartoon movie from the eighties, personally I never saw it but sounded interesting. Either way they played me the song and I have to say it fits you. Have you heard it? One line in it sang something like…..
You got the touch, you got the power, when all hells breaking loose you will be riding the eye of the storm
. Quite the catchy song if you ask me and it does reference a storm which it seems the Shenkar have already given you.”

Liam just sighed heavily and shook his head side to side. Trust Steve and Evan to come up with something so silly.

“Do you know it? I think I can access it in my computer,” Callen said as he lifted his right arm to show the small touch screen of his mobile tactical computer, or MTC, that was built into his suit’s arm.

“No, I know the song.” Liam said, as he waved Callen to put his arm down.

“Evan agreed with him but felt it wasn’t heavy enough and said they would need to find a band to cover it. I know you like Powerman 5000 although they could be too heavy for a rock-type song. Guess it depends on how it is remade.”
              “What do you mean how it is remade? They are not seriously asking musicians, are they?” Liam asked, a bit apprehensive that the pair might be doing just that.

Callen looked sidelong at Liam, a small smile forming on his face. Catching the meaning Liam knew that Callen had been joking with him. Callen could not help but laugh at this point as the look of consternation that had been forming on Liam’s face.

“Oh haha smartass, real funny,” Liam said, as he shook his head.

“You should have seen your face when you thought they were contacting bands to get you a theme song,” Callen said as tears formed in his eyes.

“Yeah, you’re a funny man but you do realize I do outrank you right?”

“Yeah mate I do, but you wouldn’t do anything, I know you can appreciate a good joke,” Callen said, as he wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.

“Yeah, what worries me is that would be something those two really would do if they really did think of giving me a theme song.”

At this point Callen looked sharply at Liam.

“Oh I wasn’t kidding about that, they really do think you should have a theme song and they really did come up with that song. But I don’t believe they were serious about getting it remade….at least I don’t think so,” Callen explained, a look forming on his face that clearly said he needed to rethink this.

Liam sighed as he looked to the tunnel entrance, awaiting the rest of their group to join them.

“I think I am going to have to have a nice long talk with Steve and Evan when I see them.”

“Speaking of Steve, shouldn’t he have checked in by now?” Callen asked, a look of concern showing on his face as he studied the screen of his MTC.

Liam noted the time and saw that Callen was correct; they should have received a status report by now. Quickly he keyed in a few commands on his own MTC and noted that he also had not received any reports from the
Poseidon
.

“I’m not getting anything from the Poseidon either which could mean the tunnels could be interfering with our transmission signals. We will have to check with the rest of the team when they get here and see if they have anything,” Liam explained as he once again turned his attention to the tunnel entrance.

Even though he knew they were most likely all right and it was a result of the density of the tunnel walls, Liam could not help but worry. He knew Steve was more than capable of taking care of himself but who knows what else might be down in these tunnels that was dangerous. As for Leah, Liam would always worry about her safety, even though she too was more than capable of taking care of herself. He knew she was his weakness and could not bear to think of how he would react if he were to lose her. Knowing he needed to concentrate upon the mission he pushed the thoughts from his mind. There would be nothing he could do at the moment anyway and worrying would only distract him from the mission at hand.

January 31
st
, 2014 3:15pm EST

Lykaa

              Steve studied his MTC for the seventh time in the last thirty minutes. Something did not seem correct to subterranean maps he was looking at.

              “Hey, mate, that is the seventh time you have looked at your map in the past half hour…..are we lost?” asked Peter Bowmount.

              Looking up he saw that the rest of the group was looking over at him expectantly.

              “Something does not add up, we should be head down in a north easterly direction but this tunnel clearly is headed upwards directly north. I think we might have taken a wrong turn at the last fork in the tunnel.”

              “Why not just contact the
Poseidon
to triangulate our position?” Aldis asked.

              “I thought of that but I can’t get my MTC to link up with the
Poseidon
, it seems our communications are not working correctly.”

              “Maybe I can get some more information of what is up ahead if I configure my MTC to send out a pulse wave kind like a sonar ping,” explained Aldis.

              Aldis, turned, and slowly walked towards a short distance down the tunnel as he held his MTC out in front of him. When he was roughly thirty feet ahead of the rest of the group he stopped and studied his MTC closely. Suddenly he looked up, looking deeper into the tunnel as his hand quickly moved to his plasma sword that was attached to his belt. He had just ignited it and began to move as something flew out of the darkness and bowled him over, sending him crashing into the nearby tunnel walk. Aldis moved to sit up then fell back to the tunnel floor, either unconscious or dead.