Storm' Fury: The Shenkar War (56 page)

Orbital Station 1, Lykaan space

              Evan was thrown to the floor as a section of bulkhead exploded behind him from the assault of a Shenkar’s heavy energy cannon. Quickly he reached up and depressed his comm unit.

              “I said, we are under heavy assault from Shenkar forces and we are holding the reactors at the moment but my group has taken heavy casualties.”

              The assault had come on quickly. One moment he and his team had secured the reactor chambers and were policing the dead and wounded and the next the Shenkar poured in from several different directions.

              “I thought you had cleared the area?” questioned the voice on the other line.

              “Well, obviously I was wrong, either that or the Shenkar are pouring everything they have left on the station into getting these reactors back. Whatever the case is, I need support immediately!” Evan commanded.

              To punctuate his last remark a soldier who had been standing next to him fell to the floor dead, a hole burned through his armor and into his chest from a Shenkar assault rifle. So far they had managed to hold the Shenkar off but through sheer numbers the Shenkar were closing in around them, their semi-circle of defense quickly shrinking. Quickly he looked up over the barricade and spotted a Shenkar attempting to flank them. Leveling his energy rifle he shot twice in quick succession and was rewarded to see the both shots hit the Shenkar, one in the shoulder and the other in the throat. The shoulder was not fatal but the shot to the throat burned clean through, quickly killing the Shenkar warrior. All around him the remainder of his team fought with energy rifles, attempting to fight with their plasma swords would be idiotic. Early on in the battle, some of the Templars had tried but it had only resulted in getting shot or stabbed through the back by another Shenkar as you fought. Attempting to deflect the energy blasts back or even aside proved fruitless as well due to the sheer number of shots coming their way.

              He surveyed the battlefield for a moment which almost cost him, ducking behind cover just in time as an assault of energy came his way from Shenkar warriors who had spotted him when he had taken his shot. After what seemed an eternity a new voice came over the comm unit.

              “Lieutenant Commander Brennan, this is General Leonid, I am diverting all the forces I can spare to your location. I have just taken their CIC and it seems whoever had been in charge had only left a token defense and has infact diverted all remaining Shenkar warriors to your location.”

              “Do you have an ETA on the reinforcements?” Evan asked as he shot another Shenkar warrior before ducking back behind cover.

              “No, seems the Shenkar in your area also set proximity mines behind them as they left. I would imagine they have also erected several defensive positions to prevent us from getting to you while they attempt to root you out.”

              “Understood sir, please do what you can, I have already lost half my team and cannot say how much longer we can hold out,” Evan explained, not bothering to hide the disappointment in his voice.

              Evan closed the open link and once again returned to the fight. Most of the dead were Praetorian Guard but some were Templars. Even super soldiers could die if their injuries were too severe. That made Evan think of Liam which caused him to smile to himself. If Liam was here then they would probably have all the reinforcements they would need, all Liam would have to do is get really REALLY angry and then all hell would break loose. But would he want to see his friend lose control? Probably not as this was something many worried would result in devastating results. War and killing will always weigh heavy upon a soldiers mind. Many questioned whether Liam’s sanity could survive if he were to unleash another assault like he had on the
Tryliene
.

              Evan’s thoughts were jogged as an energy blast impacted the bulkhead a few inches from his head. Putting Liam out of his mind he returned his full attention back to the fight at hand. He needed to survive this campaign and the war if he wanted to get back to his wife and their unborn child.

January 31
st
, 2014 4:01pm EST

Lykaa

              Liam looked about as they entered the village and was surprised to find the village larger than he would have expected. All the dwellings were built up against a rockface and very much reminded Liam of the dwellings built on earth in Mesa Verde, Colorado by the Anasazi people. He also became aware that the village was well lit by fires and torches yet all the smoke seemed to rise high leaving the air relatively smoke free.

              Young Lykaan children ran to meet the returning group while older Lykaans went about their work. But when Liam came into view many of the older Lykaans stopped what they were doing to also move closer to surround the returning group. As the crowd grew, it soon became impossible to move further into the village. Most of the young surrounded the hunters and their cargo of Korgo beasts but a couple were fascinated by the group of humans and drew closer. A particularly small Lykaan who walked with a limp slowly approached Liam and tentatively reached out and touched the armor of Liam’s battlesuit.  Not wanting to frighten the young one, Liam only stood silently but smiled down at the Lykaan. Upon seeing Liam’s smile the young Lykaans courage grew and he stepped closer to lift Liam’s armored hand and studied it closer then looked up at Liams face.

              “Your skin is not the same,” the young Lykaan said.

              Liam lifted his hand slightly as he spoke.

“This is not skin but my armored clothing, much like the cloth you wear,” Liam explained as he indicated the small clothing that the child wore around his waist.

The child looked down as his waist then back at Liams gloved hand again, a curious expression upon his face. Understanding the look Liam unfastened the seals to his glove and pulled the glove free to reveal his hand beneath. The child’s brow rose in surprise a moment before he leaned forward, his snout feeling cool against Liam’s skin and sniffed Liam’s palm. Pulling his snout back he seemed to smile and placed a small clawed hand to Liam’s palm. It was only then did Liam become aware of the silence that had descended around them. Looking up he saw that every Lykaan and human had watched the exchange in silence. From the expressions upon most of the Lykaans around him he judged them to be either awed or surprised by the exchange. It was Granshianka who broke the silence as he stepped closer and ruffled the fur on the Lykaan child’s head.

“He likes you,” Granshianka said.

“Thanks, I like him too. Whats his name?”

At hearing the question the young Lykaan spoke up, his voice higher than that of the Lykaans he had heard spoke.

“I am Garroon,” he said with pride as he puffed out his tiny chest.

Many of the surrounding Lykaans laughed in their gruff way at seeing Garroons posture. Garroon shifted his head around to those that laughed and gave them what he must have felt was a menacing stare which only increased the laughter.

“It is nice to meet you Garroon. My name is Liam,” Liam said, pulling Garroon’s attention back to him.

“Are you a warrior? You wear the weapon of the Shenkar,” Garroon said, indicating Liam’s plasma swords that hung from his belt.

The laughing seemed to stop quickly at hearing Garroons question as many looked to Liam’s waist, clearly they had not noticed before. Ignoring them, Liam knelt down so his face was level with Garroon’s.

“I am a warrior when I have to be but I do not like to harm those unless I absolutely have to,” Liam explained, his voice soft but firm.

“You are not like the Shenkar, they punish whoever they feel needs to be punished.”

“Garroon!” a female Lykaan voice said sharply from nearby, “We do not speak so of the revered ones!”

Looking around, Garroon studied the crowd before he addressed a nearby female which Liam suspected had been the owner of the voice.

“The Shenkar killed my parents and hurt me. How am I incorrect in what I said?”

The Lykaan female remained silent, seemingly at a loss for words for the question but a fearful look upon her face as she looked at Garroon then to Liam. Liam understood the fear; she did not know if Liam would report to the Shenkar of Garroon’s view on them. Liam stood but it was Admiral Kelvin who came forward to address directly the female that had spoken.

“You have nothing to fear from me or my companions. We are no friend of the Shenkar, we are in fact at war with them. This is why we are here on your planet; we come to find those that tired of the Shenkar rule. We mean to take the fight to the Shenkar and help liberate those that suffer from the darkness the Shenkar imbue upon others.”

Many of Lykaans look surprised at Kelvin’s statement, others looked about quickly and fearfully as if they expected Shenkar to suddenly appear out of thin air. This surprised Liam as Shizta had said the Lykaans did not see the Shenkar as something to fear but more to respect from strength. Could things have changed that Shizta was not aware of? By the looks of it, Liam would guess they had. Seeing the looks of the Lykaans, Kelvin continued on speaking.

“We are not here to place anyone in harm’s way if they do not wish it. We only seek to remove the Shenkar presence from your world. You do not have to help us do this although we would really appreciate any help in doing so. I can promise that if you do join us we will supply you with what help we can, including soldiers of our own to fight beside you.”

“How are you any different from the Shenkar? We do not know you are of your word or if you truly care for our welfare. For all we know you might only wish to use us as fodder in battle,” stated a grizzled old looking Lykaan from nearby.

“You did not see that one fight,” one of the males of the hunting party stated as he pointed at Liam, “They are more than capable of fighting the Shenkar! The Korgo beasts had attacked and would have killed many of our young ones if not for his intervention.”

But the old Lykaan would not be so easily persuaded, as well as several others, as he spoke up again.

“So you say, but the Korgo beast has rarely been seen so close to the Grooba trees before and never in numbers, so how do we not know these humans were not responsible for their presence. I do not like the Shenkar any more than you do, young one, but I have seen what they are capable of and as long as we do as they say we do not need worry of repercussion.”

Many of the male Lykaans spoke amongst themselves, clearly interested in what was transpiring but it was Granshianka who spoke next.

“This is something my people will discuss in depth later but for now we shall have a feast for our guests.”

With this said, the subject was put to rest for the moment as the group broke up to go about their previous tasks. The hunting party took the carcasses of the Korgo beasts off in one direction to be prepared while the Granshianka lead the human delegation towards a large dwelling a small distance away. As they walked Liam felt a tiny clawed hand grasp his hand. Looking down he saw that Garroon had taken ahold of his hand and was limping along beside him. Liam smiled down at him but otherwise said nothing, instead turning his attention back to their destination. Once they reached their destination, two Lykaan guards opened two large doors to allow the party to enter. At this point Garroon hesitantly let go of Liam’s hand and stepped back from the entrance. Looking up at Liam he nodded before turning away and limping away.

“I have never seen that young one take to anyone as he has you. He is a very suspicious one and does not trust others. He must see something in you that purged away the doubts he has for others. I have a feeling you humans will still surprise me yet,” explained Granshianka before leading the group inside.

The inside of the dwelling revealed a large open area with cathedral ceilings. The room was well lit by dozens of small lanterns that hung from pegs throughout the room but none contained fire. Instead the lanterns contained small amounts of the lichen that Liam had seen before on the ceiling of the caverns. Throughout the room was row upon row of long rectangular tables with benches.

Granshianka led the group to a door on the far side of the room and indicated for them to enter. The adjacent room was much smaller and the air was humid. On the far side of the room was the source of the humidity, a large steaming pool of water. From what Liam could tell he would guess this was some sort of hot spring.

“I have many things I must attend to before the feast and I ask that you remain here. I personally feel that you can be trusted but my people do not know you. Take this time to bath within the hot springs and relax. I will arrange to have some light refreshments brought. If you need anything simply ask one of the guards at the front of the feast hall. Please do not attempt to leave the building or go off on your own.”
              “We will remain here until you come or send for us and will respect your wishes,” explained Kelvin.