Edward (28 page)

“Yes
sir, but the trees won’t stop those heavies for very long.  I’m not that
good.”

“It
isn’t the trees, little lord, it is the electromagnetic pulse that comes along
with it,” interjected Tazo.

“Whoa! 
He’s big!” marveled Gavin.  “So just throw a Forest Wall?”

“Yes,
please.  I’d rather be fighting in the trees anyway,” grinned Edward.

As
casually as one might walk down a street, Gavin concentrated and then just
touched the ground.  As his hand touched flat, the world around them exploded
with life.  Grass, ferns, bushes and trees sprang out from the ground and
exploded radially outward, a tidal wave of greenery that caught everyone
off-guard.

“I do
love the smell of trees,” offered Tazo as they watched the mechs collapse and
fall to the ground in the new arboreal arena.  “Trees are six to eight
meters tall and the shock wave seems to have gone out over a hundred meters.”

“Sorry
about that,” interjected Gavin with disappointment on his face. 
“Llewellyn can do thirty to fifty meter tall trees and half a kilometer at
least.”

“You
are awesome, Gavin.  Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.  Don’t
compare yourself to my brother Llewellyn.  That was a stupid mistake I
made all my life.  Just be you.  That should be more than enough for
anyone
,”
beamed Edward.

Gavin
shrugged and grinned, “Thank you, sir!”

“I’m
only four years older than you; stop calling me sir!”

“Touching
as this all is, there are still grumpy people out there and we are a long ways
away from the portal.”  Gillian was practical and to the point.  She
was good at that.

“Yes,
Mom
,” replied Edward.  “You heard her, let’s move out.  Gavin
you have point; Tazo and I will bring up the rear.”

Tazo
nodded and fell into line as he fished a copper cylinder out of his
pocket.  He unscrewed the top and dumped out a new comlink in several
parts, each piece was carefully grounded to the shell and it took no small
amount of work to reassemble a functioning comlink. 

“I
guess the Forest Walls are kinda hard on electronics,” mused Edward.

“Exceptionally
aggressive,” agreed Tazo with a toothy grin.  “But with proper, if not
excessive shielding, one can recover from their effects.  Besides, I
prefer trees any day.”

Edward
smiled back at Tazo as their little group started threading their way through
the fresh trees.  The rain added a familiar glow that made Edward even
more comfortable.  Gavin was nimble of foot, but conscientious enough to
stay close to group and choose paths that were easy for everyone.

Tazo’s
comlink chirped and he slapped it, “Tazo speaking, threading our way to an
exit.”

“The
1212
^th
is inbound.  In your LZ in ninety
seconds.  How hot is the landing?”

“Small
Forest Wall neutered part of the problem, unclear of the outer perimeter. 
Heavy assets were spotted earlier, unclear if they were affected by the EMP or
not.”

“Understood. 
How is the group doing?”

“Bruised
but not bloodied.”

“Who
stoked the Forest Wall?”

“Young
lord Gavin.  Lady Dawn has us a wormhole for the exit.  That is our
current goal.  Stand by… we have starburst.  Repeat we have a visual
on the 1212
^th
.”

Edward
and the group looked overhead as fifty streaks far overhead converged on their
area.  The crack of the sonic booms was quickly overwhelmed by the firing
of the retrorockets on the insertion capsules.

“And that,
ladies and gentlemen,” began Edward with no small amount of pride, “is what a
fifteen
g
insertion looks like.  Never could pull that off…”

“It
helps to have two hearts and a cardiovascular system that clamps to prevent
blood loss to the brain,” offered Tazo matter-of-factly.

A
sudden eruption of gunfire in the distance answered the hanging question if
there were any other hostile forces left.  The only remaining question was
if there would be any left by the time they made it to the edge of the woods.   

Gavin
and Edward peeked their heads out of the foliage at what they hoped would be an
easy fifty meters to the portal.  They saw the portal and saw Llewellyn
standing just outside of it visiting blue death on a series of grav tanks that
had foolishly made their presence known in the distance.  He stopped and
waved at them and beckoned them over as the world around them exploded once
again with greenery and life.  Not the work of a teenager, but rather the
work of a battle-hardened adult who took pride in his work. The new wave of
trees burst high overhead and, at last, silenced the guns in the distance.

Edward
smiled at his older brother as they got close, “You could have launched your
Forest Wall earlier you know.”

Llewellyn
just shook his head and smiled, “Didn’t want to risk damaging the electronics
of the Shukurae landing.  Would have been bad if their
retrorockets had failed to fire because of me.”

“I
hadn’t thought of that.  Yes, yes it was good to wait.”

“I
see you have quite a crew here.  I’d suggest you all cross over on the
portal until they’ve had a chance to mop up.”

“Edward,”
interrupted Zoë.  “I think I’d like to stay, there in the highlands. 
I’ve had enough of this rock and I can always study under Ivy.”

Edward
smiled, “Are you sure?  You can always change your mind, of course.”

“Nope,
I’m staying. And you are too.  Think they can arrange a wedding by
Monday?”

“Friday
next would be lovely,” interjected Llewellyn.  “There is the big fall
dance and people from all around will be coming down to visit.  It would
be a wonderful to have a wedding at such an event.”

Zoë
smiled, “I’ve waited this long, I can wait another week.   What about
you, Tatiana?”

“I’m
going with you two!  The Highlands it is!”

“Well,
the concert hall is trashed and I’m pretty sure the insurance underwriters will
be hiding under their desks if I come by to talk about a new concert venue, so
I think this may be an excellent time for a break,” offered Gillian.  “So
long as you two are sure…”

Tatiana
and Zoë held hands and just smiled, “We’re sure.”

“So,
are you and Trevor going to give them away at the wedding?” asked Llewellyn.

“We’d
be delighted!”

“What
of Ethan!  Can he make it there too?” asked Zoë.

“We
can close this wormhole so people can’t sneak through, but keep it stable. 
That way, a few days from now we should be able to move people back and forth
safely and easily,” replied Llewellyn.  “Call in, tell them you are going,
and let’s get back home.  Trees or no trees, this place is still weird.”

Tazo
nodded and cued his comlink, no response.  He grumbled and discarded it
before producing a second copper cylinder as before and carefully extracted and
assembled a new comlink.  “And I thought Kadu was excessive when she
recommended I carry three of these,” Tazo fired back with a toothy grin before
finally cueing the new device.  No response.  “Wow,” remarked Tazo
with even wider eyes than normal.  “It does appear that Lord Llewellyn’s
Forest Wall was more than even the shielding could deal with.”   Tazo
discarded the fried comlink and instead produced a small signal flare that he
launched high overhead.  “The green flare will signify our safe
egress.  Shall we away then?”

 Llewellyn
grinned and then offered to help the group up through the portal.  It was
floating a meter in the air after all.  After helping the youngsters,
Llewellyn helped Zoë up to the ledge.  “Hey, you smell good!  When is
the child due?”

Zoë
looked at Llewellyn in shock and confusion, “You are weird, you
know that, don’t you?”

Llewellyn
looked confused, “Did I say something I shouldn’t have?”

“Um,
I only found out about her ten minutes ago,” offered Edward. “And yes, you are
weird.  Very.”

Llewellyn
shrugged and smiled, “Eh, social situations were never my strong suit…”
Llewellyn playfully poked Edward in the ribs as he glanced over to Zoë, “You do
know what
causes
that, right?”

“Shut
up, Llewellyn.  Thank you for coming to our aid, but please, just shut
up.”

Llewellyn just grinned, proud of himself, as he helped the
others through the portal and back to the Highlands of Afon.

Edward
sat on a picnic blanket with his back to a long tall birch tree. 
Llewellyn’s family was playing in the distance while Zoë and Tatiana just
reclined on the blanket next to him.  Down by the river, Gillian and
Trevor walked together playfully tossing things at the fish.  On the
opposite side of the river, Edward could easily make out Rebecca and Lucas
playing with the flowers.  It was a cool but still bright Fall day and there seemed to be few cares left in the world.

Suddenly
Edward noticed Llewellyn was standing behind him, “Do you always sneak up on
people?”

Llewellyn
seemed taken aback, “I’m sorry, I thought I made enough noise approaching so as
not to be considered malicious.”

“You
probably did make enough noise, I just get kinda extra mellow here,” replied
Edward.  “Sorry about that, what’s up?”

“Have
you heard about the guys back in the unit?”

Edward
nodded, “Jake is alive.  I heard that.  Going to be
in the hospital for a while.  Alex and Meeka both came out
okay.  Trevor mentioned all that type stuff.  Anything
new?”

“Well,
the Shukurae officially closed book on your last assignment.  Lost a fortune on that one!”

“All the damage to the ships?”

“The
ships and a whole lot of other things,” he laughed.  “At least their side
bet came out even.”

“A
bet?” frowned Edward.

 “Yep,
Takru bet that you would fall for Tatiana.  Toch bet that you’d fall for
Zoë.  They both won.”

Zoë
rolled over and grinned at Llewellyn, “So, while the whole assignment was going
to hell, they set up a side bet over
us
?”

“Exactly. 
There were two young, unattached, and talented girls.  Tatiana was the
over the top singer that soaked up the limelight.  While Zoë was the
university bound reserved one; she had already made herself known as she
delayed her full scholarship so she could help her little brother.  Two
extremes in personality, surely at least one of the two would click.”

Edward
looked sternly at Llewellyn, “Was this was just part of your evil plot to get me
to settle down?”

“Eh,
no… it was Kadu’s ‘evil plot.’  Penn and I just thought it was good
fun!  Speaking of which, Kadu and her daughter should be here in about ten
minutes.  Would you like to go complain to her in person?”

Edward
laughed, “No, I’m looking forward to meeting her daughter…  Kadu must have
been the best big sister ever!  After all, look at who I ended up with!”

There are four major races in this
family of stories: Human, Taik, Shukurae and Gelkin.

Human:
 It
is assumed the reader is well familiar with the human race. Their home world is
located in the
Orion-Cygnus
minor arm of the Milky Way and has
subsequently spread far and wide, often managing to colonize worlds others had
left as “too harsh.”  The rapid expansion of human planets and colonies
has helped accelerate the decline of the Gelkin Empire.  Humans are
universally revered for their creativity and tenacity alike.  The human
realms are politically fractured and home to thousands of languages and
cultures.

Taik:
Taiks are a felinoid race who have spread across thousands of planets
and colonies with the planet “Afon” being their home world. Physically, they
walk upright and average a height of 1.80m (5’11”) and 80kg (176lbs) for the
males, while the females average quite close at 1.75m (5’9”) and 70kg
(154lbs).  They have tails ranging from 80cm to 110cm (31-43”). 
There are four major super-political units: Kulpgurie Republic, Altshea
Confederation, Draeka Empire, and a fourth, fairly small group, commonly just
called the Highlanders.

Kulpgurie Republic:
this
realm is a large expansive culture with a strong central government.  They
are socially progressive and tend to have more joint colonies with other races
than the other Taik governments.  They are a driven, active, motivated
people who are always eager to expand their knowledge and understanding. 
Historically they consider themselves the protectors of the Highlands, a
thought that amuses most Highlanders.

Altshea Confederation:
this
realm consists of thousands of different cantons and colonies.  Each one
operating independent of the rest, but sharing a common base set of laws, open
trade and free movement amongst all the constituents.  Local realms may be
democratic, theocratic, feudal, socialist, free market,
or any possible combination so long as the basic laws are honored.  Some
are male dominated societies, others are dominated by females.  Others yet
are gender neutral in governance.  The cultural identity of the various
inhabitants is that of “Altshea” first, and local
secondary.  As a result, it is quite normal for people to be born in one
canton, but choose to live and work in another realm.

Draeka Empire:
this realm is
a closed militaristic society that has chosen to make themselves equal at all
levels, most of this by genetic engineering of their own people.  There is
very little difference between people’s physical builds and there is also very
little outward difference in their gender.  Their genetic tinkering
combined with the nature of their society make them prone to paranoia and
emotional instability.  It is unclear what their genetic alterations have
done to their lifespan as most people die from “accidents.”  Their Empire
is very small and has been self-limited due to internal conflict and total
suspicion of
all
outsiders.  They are the smallest of the three
colonizing Taik governments, and their total expanse is smaller than some
Altshea cantons.  They have had several border wars on the home world of
Afon with the Highland regions.  Their most recent war
with the Highlands being almost 500 years earlier and resulted in a humiliating
defeat.

The Highlands of Afon:
the
Highlanders are unique compared to most of the rest of the Taik on almost all
levels.  Physically, they are universally shorter: the males
average 1.75m (5’9”) while the females, shorter yet at 1.55m (5’1”).  They
also tend to support longer tails than the other Taik. While most Taik realms
average a near even male-to-female ratio, the Highlanders are once again unique
with an average of only one male to every four females.  As a result, most
families are polygamous with between three and five adult females being the
norm.  Almost all politics are matriarchal with policing and other
functions left to the males.  The Lady Mayor speaks for the town as a
whole and while there do exist “barons,” this is a military title given to the
male leadership of the militia as there is no standing army.  The head of
any family is the First Mother and she is expected to run the family
business.  The Second Mother’s position is almost exclusively to raise and
educate the children of the household.  Third and Fourth Mothers usually
support the First Mother in the family business.  Twins are rare and
always female in the Highlands, and are considered good luck.  It is most
common that both twins would marry into the same house and are afforded the
same position as a pair. Thus one may have two Third Mothers, or even two First
Mothers.  The family name is referred to as the “House” name and comes
from either the First Mother’s line, or a mutually agreed upon name. 
Males tend to have a second name, a “Clan” name, that is used only among themselves. An unmarried, but adult male will usually only
use his Clan name rather than his old House name.  Highlanders tend to a
simple life, low on overt technology, choosing instead to rely on an ancient
system referred to simply as Live Steel for their protection as well as the aid
of the Guardians left by the Ancients.  Much is still not understood about
Live Steel, even less about the Guardians and the Ancients…

Shukurae:
Shukurae
are a mighty people with a confused past.  They stand on average 2.75m
(9’) with 3.00m (9’10”) tall being not too uncommon.  They have tough
leathery skin, pale iridescent eyes, a plethora of narrow triangular shark-like
teeth, minor horns on their heads and great tusks jutting from their
face.  The only overt difference between males and females is the length
of their torso, a feature that is easily lost under clothing.  They speak
in a deep baritone chord, two tones at once being either a major fourth or
fifth apart.  They were a warrior-slave race for over a thousand years to
the Gelkin and have lost most of their cultural identity.  Two hundred
years after the start of their rebellion against the Gelkin, they are mostly a
free race.  A race whose home world and culture is lost to the past, they
have a unique relationship with the Taiks of the Highlands of Afon.  It
was the Highlanders who first helped them in their rebellion, and they still
have a close military bond with their diminutive furry friends.  It is not
uncommon for Highland Taiks, off looking for adventure and to explore the
galaxy, to serve alongside the Shukurae.

Gelkin:
The Gelkin
are a short, squat race who are roughly ursine (bear-like) in appearance. 
Averaging only 1.60m (5’3”), they are shorter than most other races. A point that didn’t use to bother them when they held a tight grip
on long arms of the galaxy.  They are a feudal society with no
appreciable gender bias.  With the major source of muscle, the Shukurae,
now long since gone from their control, their empire is in rapid decline. 
Nowhere is this more true than the edge of the
frontier with the human worlds.