The Battle for the Ringed Planet (8 page)

“What are you doing?” Siiri shot him an annoyed glare.

“Just … well, before space flight there were these guys, cowboys, or something …”

“Have you ever faced 40 armed men before?”

“Of course!” Torian turned the handles of each pistol out and folded his arms placing his hands on the grips, “In simulation ...”

“Simulation? You mean like a game?”

“And that, too.”

Siiri quickly gazed back at the entrance to the tunnel leading up the falls, maybe if she ran fast … but Lexor, the lead villager, interrupted her desperate thoughts, shouting, “Sky Demon!” Loud murmuring and suspicious glances directed at Siiri followed.

“Specialist First Class Torian McCallum, pleasure to meet you.”

“We’re going to pepper you with bolts, Sky Demon …”

“I wouldn’t do that …” He drew the pistols slowly, “I can kill all of you at once.”

Lexor leveled the shotgun, but hesitated, studying the two pistols meters away, while Torian continued, “And that Remington double barreled pump action shotgun won’t even scratch me.”

“We can test your claim …”

“Then you’ll all die. Maybe you can take me, but I promise you’ll all go down.”

The girl stepped forward and aimed her crossbow, “And no matter what, Lexor, I’ll get you right between the legs!”

Torian glimpsed over at Siiri with a puzzled expression.

“Demon Spawn!” Lexor hissed, “You brought the Sky Demon, just as the old warnings foretold!”

“I did nothing to this village, yet you did things to me when I was chained! Who’s the Demon Spawn?”

A few of the men gave him a curious look as Lexor growled, “I had to search you …”

“… By putting your hand between my legs and taking your thing out! And when you were done, you pissed all over me!”

Lexor stepped forward, “You little …”

“Stop right there!” Torian stormed forward and aimed his pistol right at the Lexor’s head, “I didn’t come here to kill you all, so don’t make me!” The leader shrunk back surprised by Torian’s ferocity.

“He did that to you?” The tall off-worlder glanced her way.

Defiantly, she raised her head, “Not just to me.”

Then Torian flicked the targeting on his right pistol off, pressing the barrel against the leader’s temple, “He’s so dead …”

The others backed up a little, until everyone was distracted by a slight commotion from the rear of the group nearest the river. Murmuring increased as a figure appeared, striding purposefully at the head of another crowd. Too late, Torian realized the folly of sheathing his Con and relying on the two pistols; if he hadn’t he would have been able to detect the newcomer and his followers.  

“Father Jarlan …” Siiri whispered close, keeping her eye and crossbow on Lexor, who had grown a little pale.

The new man was tall, close to Torian’s height, dressed in a brown robe with a wooden cross hanging from his neck, wielding a thick crooked staff. A wrinkled face framed by wisps of long grey hair and a clean shaven chin was dominated by a pair of striking blue eyes. Torian swallowed as he stepped back, they were the same eyes as Siiri!

Striding evenly, accompanied with a throng of villagers, including women and children, the man gave Lexor a scowl before turning his gaze on Torian. “A live one!” he exclaimed in a surprised tone. Then he barked at Lexor, “Put that gun away fool!”

The priest calmly stood before Torian and Siiri and spoke boldly, “Well, you brought her back.” He studied the off-worlder from head to toe, “Uniforms haven’t changed much, and judging by those two chevrons you’re no starship captain.”

Furrowing his brows, Torian tried to make sense of the man before him. Archaic and simple, not what he expected, “You’re a Holy Man?”

Planting his staff firmly in the ground, deftly the old man reached into a wide robed sleeve and pulled out a small silver pistol and shoved it up under Torian’s chin, taking the military man completely by surprise, “So, before I cut open your head, tell me why you came here and brought those star cruisers in orbit?”

The pistol was a simple laser, an old but popular design. It had a charge pack in the handle and when the trigger was depressed an invisible beam emitted. If the beam was continual it would last under ten seconds. Though the laser made only a micrometer hole, the lethality was in the cutting: a slight twitch in the wrist could result in disembowelments, decapitations, and traumatic amputations. Torian was about to lose his head and his proximity shield offered no protection against a laser.     

Siiri stepped back alarmed, but grasping her crossbow aiming at the priest, and then back at Lexor who grinned from ear to ear at the sudden change of events.

Grimacing as the barrel of the pistol pressed against his chin, Torian clenched his teeth, “I can still take out 25 …”

“I’m willing to risk a few deaths to save the entire village from a Sky Demon.”

Sweat from frustration and fear formed in beads along his hair line, “I didn’t come to kill anyone, just deliver you a warning!”

“I’m listening.”

Swallowing hard, “More of us, fleets in fact, are coming. You need to hide your people ...”

“That’s your fiery mess up near the city?”

“They tried to evade by burning through the atmosphere … stronger armour than the rebel cruisers.”

“How did you get out?” Father Jarlan pressed the pistol further into his neck. Siiri looked on, stepping back as Lexor and another man began to advance on her.

“I was in a scout vessel. We crash landed in the city.”

“We?”

“My pilot died …”

“In the city? But you lived?”

Chestnut eyes locked on the priest’s gun hand, “Yeah, I don’t know why.”

“No Sky Demon has ever survived the ward placed over the city.”

Out of the corner of his eye Torian spied Lexor and a few others moving to surround Siiri, “Tell them to stop!” He hissed.

“You like this girl?” the priest glanced at the others.

“She’s a victim of your draconian tyranny.”

“She’s evil; the voices will over power her.”

Angry now, Torian shouted, “Listen! There are going to be thousands of marines landing! And if they’re not mine, they’ll commit horrible atrocities on you all! And if they are mine and you kill me, I swear they’ll take their revenge!”

The cold blue eyes of the priest bore on him hard, and then he spoke calmly, “You knew we would try and kill you if you came here, Sky Demon?”

“Siiri warned me.”

“I begged him not to come,” the blonde girl pointed her cross bow menacingly at Lexor’s crotch while he raised his shotgun at her head and the others completely surrounded her, with more moving in to create a larger circle around Torian and the priest.

“Yet you came to warn us to hide?”

“Yes. I thought at least I could warn the children about the danger, but in retrospect I hope the Imperium marines tear you out a new asshole.”

Father Jarlan focused on Torian with his Azurite eyes, and then he lowered the silver pistol and cachinnated loudly, slapping Torian’s shoulder, “You’ll have to tell more about these Imperium fellows. I appreciate that your intentions were for good. Welcome to Grondalle, Sky Demon. We have already prepared for invasion. You may stay here for the night under one condition, you tell no one we are here. Then you must leave.”

“And her?” Torian pointed with his pistol back at Lexor who was inches from the girl.

“She must be burned to death. Seize her!”

Siiri turned white and Torian swallowed while Lexor and other men moved up to secure the girl, but the flight specialist acted quickly, stepping between the villagers and the girl, “Don’t you touch her!” Quickly he holstered a pistol and drew out his Con and brought up a holo, “There is at least one Imperium cruiser up there, maybe more, I’ll send a beacon with the Callisto’s signature and they’ll light up this whole damn valley with plasma! Then they will land their freaked out marines and become your worst terror!” He held his thumb on the track ball.

Now it was Lexor and his men who turned pale while Father Jarlan narrowed his eyes, “You would kill the women and children behind me?” The crowd began to back off slowly.

Siiri inched closer to Torian, anxiously watching the Con, “Not the children, I’ll go …” she whispered.   

“It’s your call, priest. They’re already scouting the crash sight with fighters. Call your off your thugs or die.”

“Very well, she can stay the night, but you must take her with you or we will kill her in the morning. I cannot promise her protection and you don’t know the full extent of her abilities. Guard her constantly. I suppose her family will be glad to have her back, even if it is just for a short while.” A movement from the crowd caught Torian’s eye and he spied an older man step forward and Siiri watch the figure.

The man in robes continued, “You may soon regret having sympathy for the witch.”

Growling out the words, Torian aimed his pistol at Lexor, “If she is harmed, I will hunt you down and kill you.” Lexor lowered his shotgun and slowly backed off to stand with the others while the off-worlder held his Con up higher, “Any threat, and I’ll send out a signal.”

Narrowing his eyes, the old priest put away his silver laser pistol, “We will talk again in the morning, Sky Demon.”

“I’m sure it will be pleasant.” He watched the old man turn to leave.

The man Siiri had been watching stepped forward and she ran toward him and exclaiming, “Pa!”

Chapter 6: Nightmare

As father and daughter embraced, Torian waved his pistol threateningly at a few others who lingered motioning for them to move off. Siiri’s father was a stoic proud man, wiry with graying hair on the sides and dark brown roof. He brandished a dark thick moustache and limped using a cane, giving Torian a wary glance.

“Thank you for saving my daughter, I’m Davin Lauronen.” He half mouthed while she turned him around to face the tall young man wearing a navy blue flight suit.

“Anyone would have done the same.” Torian replied casually.

“But not a Sky Demon.”

“Sky Demons are not all what you think they are.”

“It’s getting late, Pa, can we go home?”

“Certainly, Siiri.” Then he extended his hand to shake Torian’s, “My home is yours, of course.”

Word spread about the Sky Demon that was not going to fry them all and that he had returned Siiri, not entirely welcomed in the village. The homes were tunnels or natural caves built into the sloping walls of the wide rolling valley, with entrances concealed by screens of thick brush and trees. The path to Siiri’s home wound through pines and deciduous oak and birch trees to a vertical log door with an iron ring pull handle.

Inside Torian stood back while her tearful mother and younger brother embraced the blonde girl, though her sister was hesitant. Glancing around it was hard for Torian to believe that the home was a tunnel. It had wooden panel walls, excellent lighting from stylish lamps, and comfortable manufactured furniture, obviously salvaged from the city.

Then Siiri took his hand, “Torian McCallum, sky warrior, this is my family … my mother Krystin, younger sister Serina and my brother Daniel.” Siiri’s mother held her age well, with youthful eyes and smooth skin and only a few stands of grey in her white blonde hair. Serina was a younger slightly prettier version of Siiri, though it was hard to compare the two when the older girl had lived through Hell for the past few days. Her curly blond-haired brother stared with his bright blue eyes at the soldier, in either awe or fear; Torian was not sure. In fact, there was an awkward silence over the family; they were meeting their first Sky Demon while still in their flesh.

Finally, Torian’s rumbling stomach broke the uncomfortable quiet and Siiri spoke up, “Sky Demon’s need to eat like everyone else!”    

Lowering his backpack, he frowned, “What happened to sky warrior? I kinda liked that one.”

The tunnel home resembled more of an apartment than a house and had two large stone fireplaces, one in the living room and another in the kitchen. Torian had a hundred questions for Davin as the man limped along explaining how the smoke was first filtered, then dispersed in small ducts that cancelled out the heat signature. Pipes with hand pumps brought water from the river into the home, filtered for drinking or bathing, and for human waste disposal. Torian knew that the power generator under the waterfall they had seen earlier supplied the electricity. Every few months, teams of salvagers would venture into the city for supplies they could not manufacture on their own, but generally, the village was self-sufficient. Travelling into the city was sometimes dangerous and Davin received an injury years earlier when a building wall fell and crushed his leg.

Grondalle, designed to be invisible from Sky Demons, boasting an advanced network of tunnels that ran in every direction underneath the valley and the Norstrom River connecting both sides of the village. Siiri’s home had a door to the outside and another door to enter the vast underground tunnels. There were large meeting rooms underneath built for wood shops, metal smiths, food processing, and the typical tasks found in any farming village. Each tunnel apartment had skylights; round perforated transteel plates on the surface with trapdoor shutters that opened and closed, and allowed the sunlight and fresh air inside. Children regularly cleared them of brush and debris as they ran up and played in the valley hills.

Siiri excused herself to wash up and change while Davin invited Torian to sit in their main family room. The newcomer noted pictures of family on the wall, older flat screen versions, and a large gold crucifix as the centerpiece above the mantle of the fireplace. The room had a warm, lived-in feel with carved reddish rosewood furniture and padded leather coverings.

“Daniel, bring the Sky … Torian a tankard of beer from the keg.”

Torian sat up, “Beer? You have beer? Real beer?”

Davin grinned, “Of course. You don’t have beer in the Sky ships?” Torian glanced at the elder, then at his daughter Serina who sat across from him quietly observing him with what he perceived as angry green eyes.

“We’re dry in fleet, because conscripts like me would get drunk every night.”