Hammer's War 1: Forging the Hammer (26 page)

They could hear the Ralnai jet belts roaring over the ground long before they saw them.  There were six of the misbegotten lizards moving in a leapfrog fashion.  The first three would fly forward, land and then cover the other three.  The Ralnai were being sloppy, they must have based their tactics on their contact with the Untor scouts.  They were not expecting to meet anything worse than bow and arrow armed savages.  Boy, were they wrong!

Thad waited
, barely moving, as though he had become one with the tree, only moving enough to match the very gentle swaying of the tree in the wind.  He watched as the first group landed, took up the defensive positions, and before the second group moved, he let the air out of his lungs and slowly pulled back on the trigger.  The bark of the big rifle tore through the silence as its half-inch diameter solid slug blasted through the air.  The lead Ralnai’s head exploded. His headless body hung in the air for the fraction of a second it took for the body to figure out it had no more head.  It dropped to the ground, and then all Hell broke loose.  Fiona made her shot and her targeted Ralnai joined his companion on the ground, without a head.

Freya’s shot missed as the Ralnai reacted fast and jumped out of the way.
Now the four that were left became more professional in a heartbeat.  The advantages they held over the Ralnai had disappeared.  One of the Ralnai had a Death Wind in his hands.  The six shot sonic grenade launcher lept to life, as he dumped the whole magazine.  He shot wildly in the direction where the shooting had come.  Thuds were going off all around Thad and the Twins when one grenade landed close to a tree, next to Freya's hiding place.  The sonic energy of the exploding grenade tore the tree apart and pushed her out of her hiding place.  A foot long splinter of exploding tree sliced through her leg.  She screamed out in pain, as she lay half-buried in the rubble of the tree house.

Things were happ
ening so fast Thad did not realize Freya had been wounded.  He acquired the Ralnai Grenadier and fired. His shot was a little off, the Ralnai had moved at the last second.  It hit the Ralnai in the arm, which disappeared in a spray of blood, leaving him a shredded stump in its place.  The Ralnai growled in pain, and dropped his weapon. 

Fiona targeted the Ralnai, which Freya missed with her first round.  Th
e Ralnai was fast, but not fast enough. As he jetted for the sky, the round from her weapon took him square in the chest tearing a hole all the way to his back.  The massive bullet penetrated his Jet belt, the fuel cell located in the center of the jet belt exploded like a firework, sending brightly burning sparks out in every direction.  Fiery chucks went in all directions, leaving nothing, but two disembodied lizard feet that fell to the ground, landing in standing position.  

The last two Ralnai jumped high, reaching for the village platform.  Two bad for them, they jumped right into Eve’s gun sights.  She lit them up like decorations on Christmas Eve.  One of them was torn to shreds and died in mid-jump.  The other Ralnai tried to twist out of the way of the rain of
Hell.  A round hit one of his thrust pods.  He spun through the air and slammed into a tree where he lay unmoving.

It looked as if they had won
, and the Untor poked their heads out of hiding to cheer.  Thad, on the other hand, was not so sure and would not be sure until all of the lizards were confirmed dead.  He was looking for the one-armed Ralnai, but could not find him.  He heard Freya scream, he wheeled around to see the Ralnai, who was behind him, advancing towards Freya.  She was propped up against a tree, holding her leg, trying to slow the blood loss.  Thad had no shot, not without hitting Freya, so he dropped the rifle and ran to her.

Two of the Untor warriors must have seen the Ralnai approach Freya as well,
as they got there first.  Both of them stabbed the Ralnai with their spears.  The spearheads disappeared into his green scaly flesh.  This didn’t stop or even slow him down.  In fact, it seemed to anger him more.  From the utility belt at his waist, he pulled out a black handled weapon and pushed a button on the side.  Energy crackled around the head of the weapon; it was a neurotic whip.  He flicked the handle with his remaining claw like hand and a brilliant blue light jumped from the tip of the weapon, writhing like an angry snake.  The energy cut right though the spear handles, as if they were nothing.

Frozen with fear
, the two Untors were powerless against this kind of weaponry. The first of the two died in a flash of blue light, as the Ralnai used the whip to cut him in half, from the top of his head to the bottom of his body.  With a flick of the Ralnai’s hand, the other Untor fell headless.  The Ralnai was now within range to deliver the killing blow to Freya.  He lifted his whip high above his head, energy cracking, and blue fire flying down the force field, shaping it into a whip.

The Ralnai who had smashed into the tree was still lying there not moving, so the Untor’s approached it spears out.  They poked at it a few times then moved in closer to get a better look.  The Ralnai moved, but it was too late for the Untor
who was in the lead.  The Ralnai had a plasma pistol in his hand, and as he rolled over to his side, he pulled the trigger.

Bright
multicolored plasma erupted from the barrel of the pistol.  It hit the Untor just above his waist.  His lower body and lower arms were completely burned away.  He stayed alive long enough to look down at the hole, which was once his lower body.  The other two Untor’s died as plasma shot from the pistol again and again.

Freya looked up at this monster
who was about to end her life. The only thought going through her mind was how much she was going to miss Thad and Fiona.  Ready to die, she accepted she was not going to make it out of this one when something she did not expect happened.  The whip landed two inches to her side missing her completely.  At first, she thought the Ralnai chose to spare her, but then she saw the real reason for her survival.  Thad was sitting on top of the Ralnai.  He had tackled the one-armed lizard, knocking off his aim and saving her life.  She was starting to feel cold and it was getting harder to think clearly as she went into shock.  Her beloved husband, with force blade in hand, was carving the Ralnai like a Thanksgiving turkey, literally hacking great chunks from its thrashing body.  The knife rose and fell, over and over, spraying blood everywhere.

Meanwhile
, Eve set about to finish what she started. She whipped the guns around in time to watch the Untors die in a hail of plasma.  With nothing between her and the remaining Ralnai, she squeezed the trigger.  The massive guns roared with a deafening sound that could be heard for miles.  The rounds from the twin heavy cone rifles chewed through the Ralnai and blasted a good chuck of the tree away.  What was left of the Ralnai became imbedded in the tree.

It was finally over, all the Ralnai were dead.
Thad had sliced up the Ralnai so badly that they would have to carry its corpse away in pieces.  He looked over toward Freya and she returned his look, “Cutting it a little close on the saving of the damsel in distress weren’t we?”

Thad rolled his eyes, women, “I just wanted to make a dramatic entrance for you.”

She laughed, “Any more dramatic and it would have been a tragedy for the universe to lose all this.”  She waved her hand down her body, then she winced from the pain, “Oh, don’t make me laugh it hurts worse.”

Thad was about to say something then his heart skipped a beat, Fiona, where is Fiona?  He had not seen or heard from her since the first shot.  He looked around for her, his breath held.  He could finally breathe.  She was running up with a med kit in hand, “Sorry it took so long to get this here, but
the wounded Ralnai was shooting plasma everywhere.  He was kind of between you and me.  I had to wait for Eve to make lizard pate out of him before it was safe to cross,” Fiona kneeled next to Freya as she tore into the medical kit.

Freya wanted to say something pithy in response, but all she could manage was, “Drugs, give me drugs damn it!”  Thad inserted an I.V. and started pushing fluids and painkillers.  She was out cold in a matter of seconds.

With both Fiona and Thad working on her it didn’t take long to remove the large splinter and patch up the wound.  Tenderly, Thad picked up the unconscious Freya and moved her to a hut where they could lay her down.  After seeing that Freya was taken care of, Thad went looking for Un-Tark.

He found him standing in the middle of the carnage, watching the mothers, sisters, and lovers of the dead wailing for them.  Thad stood next to him in silence as he watched.  After some time Thad
spoke, “I’m really sorry, I really liked Un-Plork. He was a good warrior and funny too, he always made me laugh.”

Un-Tark placed one of his hands on Thad’s shoulder, “I too am sorry, but their sacrifice will be spoken in the tales and sung in the songs of our people.  They shall not be forgotten.  This will always be known as the day that we stood with sky walkers to battle sky walkers.”

“I’m glad to hear that.  I was a little worried this would change your people’s mind, to go back to your old ways of killing anyone that comes here,” Thad said.

“Well I’m sure some of the elders will feel that way, but if we had killed you and yours, it would not have stopped these Ralnai from coming, and without you we would be slaves again.  No, I think I can make a good enough argument to keep the changes to the law and besides what good
is it to be Chief if I can’t make a few changes now and then?”  Un-Tark chuckled.

“Good to be
Chief I guess,”  Thad said, “But Un-Tark, this is not completely over, there should be at least one more, the pilot.  He would have stayed with the ship.  I still need to deal with him to insure you are truly safe for now.”

Un-Tark nodded in understanding, Thad left him to deal with his people and their dead.  Thad went to the lift and headed down to the forest floor.  He was going to take care of this Ralnai pilot himself so no one else was put in danger.  He took off at a good run, but what he did not see was Fiona hot on his trail.  She was not sure what he was up to, but she was not about to let him deal with any more of these overgrown lizards by himself.

Thad made good time getting back to the ship.  He stopped just short of the edge of the forest to take a look.  Thad was in luck, the pilot was outside the ship with his back turned towards him.  In as much as Thad was not sure this was truly the last Ralnai, he opted to do a silent take down instead of risking noise from a gun.

He crept up on the Ralnai moving from cover to cover until he was just
a few feet away.  Thad was almost in position to kill the pilot, force blade in hand, with his finger ready to flick on the force field.  As he got closer, he could see what the pilot was doing, and he could smell it long before he could see the long foul smelling stream of green urine flowing freely.

Thad was one-step from the kill when he stepped on a small twig that snapped.  The small sound was enough to get the Ralnai’s attention.  He wheeled around to come face to face with Thad.  The Ralnai was not wearing a translator box
around his neck so when he spoke it was in his native guttural grunts and clicks.  “Shit,” Thad cursed as the foul fluid splashed on his boots.

Thad wasted no time
. He flicked on the force field, the green light flooded across the blade’s edge.  He thrust the blade at the Ralnai, who for being such a big creature was uncannily fast and nimble.  He sidestepped Thad’s blade then backhanded him in the face.

Thad took the blo
w well, but it still rattled his brain around inside his skull.  Thad blocked the next shot that was coming from the Ralnai’s other hand, but he didn’t see the tail as it whipped around and knocked him off his feet.  His body flew a few feet before hitting the ground.  He bounced and rolled a half a dozen times, losing the grip on his force blade, sending it sailing off and burying it in a tree.

Trying to sha
ke off the pain, Thad rolled onto his back and tried to regain his breath, which had been knocked out of him when he hit the ground.  The Ralnai had no weapon on him, so he grabbed a large branch lying on the ground.  He charged Thad like a mad bull, holding the branch high above his head.

Thad looked up to see the Ralnai bearing down on him like a freight train.  All he could do was roll to his side as the branch smashed into the ground, where he had just been. 
The Ralnai swung the branch again as Thad rolled to safety.  Thad was running out of options and sooner or later, the Ralnai was going to land a hit, and then what?
  I guess I will find out just how good the doc’s bones really are,
Thad thought.

Sure enough, Thad could not get out of the way this time and the end of the branch hit him in the forehead.  If any other human being had taken
a hit to the skull like that, their head would have popped like a grape under a sludge hammer. 

Much to his surprise the Ralnai did not see his prey’s head spatter, but instead he saw the branch bounce back at him
right before the branch smacked him in his own head.  The Ralnai’s skull being thick, and almost as tough as Thad’s, took the blow without shattering, but it did send the Ralnai into a daze.  He dropped the branch and staggered around punch drunk. 

Thad was still lying on his back
.  The blow had split his skin open to the bone and blood was flowing down onto his face.  The blow had nearly knocked him out, and the force of it reset his eye implant.  While it was rebooting he could not see out of that eye, as for his other eye, it was a blurry red mess.  The Ralnai pilot had shaken off the hit to his head and now was looking around for something that would be a better weapon.  He chose a small boulder that must have weighed about four hundred pounds.

The pilot reasoned the big rock should do the trick.  He picked it up easily
, with his great strength, and held it high over his head.  He was walking towards Thad who was sitting up, trying to wipe the blood from his good eye, so he could see.  Thad looked up to see the blurry outline of the Ralnai, with a large rock over his head.  He was still processing what he was seeing and what to do about it when the top quarter of the Ralnai disappeared in a pink mist.  Thad was showered in blood, brain matter, and bits of skull and skin.  The large rock the Ralnai had been holding up dropped straight down on him, making a bit of a Ralnai pancake, and sending out a second wave of blood and other nasty things to cover Thad.

Luckily,
he had his mouth closed at the time, because he took a full pound of Ralnai guts to the face.  The smell was so bad he rolled to his side and hurled.  It was a minute or two before he stopped throwing up.  He wiped his face and eyes clean, and finally his eye implant was working again.  He heard soft footsteps approaching.  Fiona was standing there with the forest to her back.  The large sniper rifle perched on her hip.  Thad was not one to be excited about girls with guns, but never had Fiona looked hotter than she did standing there right then
.  It must have something to do with the human response to surviving death, heightened sexuality
he thought,
yeah that must be it
.  “Well fancy meeting you here,” he said.

“Men
, what is with you running off thinking you can handle everything by yourselves,” Fiona said.

“Well
, hi honey, it’s good to see you too,” he sniped back at her.

“Hey mister
, if I had not chosen to follow you, you’d be a lot wider now, I imagine,” she said, sitting down her rifle and walking up to him.

“Good point,” he replied.  He stood up
and staggered, still dazed from the blow.

“Whoa
, take it easy dear.  That was one Hell of thump to your noggin,” she said as she caught him before he fell on his face.

With her help he sat back down, “I think you may be right
.  In fact, I think I’ll sit right here for a little while, at least till the world stops spinning,” he replied.

“You do that while I check out the ship,” she said. 
Fiona pulled out a pistol and headed for the hatch.  She was gone for only a few minutes before she came out looking very green.  “Oh my God it stinks in there! Those guys really need to learn about personal hygiene.  But I found something,” as if on cue, the missing Untor scouts began exiting the hatch.  “They were in cages in the cargo area.”

Thad was happy to see them alive.  They helped him back to his feet
, and then Thad, Fiona, and the Untors headed back to the village.  Thad’s head had completely healed by the time they reached the village, but the headache he had was still with him.  He went straight to the bath hut to wash the remnants of the pilot off him.  After a half hour in the bath his head still hurt, so he went the hut were Freya was sleeping.  He lied down next to his young wife and fell asleep.

It was dark outside and the torches had been lit when Eve woke Thad, “Thad, dear it is time to wake,”
she gently shook his arm.  He snapped awake in an instant, and without thinking, he attacked Eve who looked disappointed, but easy avoided his punch.

It was Fiona’s voice from behind Eve that first registered with him that he was safe
.  “Now you know why we let Eve wake him.”  He couldn’t tell who she was talking to at first, but the voice he heard next identified who it was.

“I see,” said Un-Tark.  “Come my friend, it is time for the feast.”

“Feast?” Thad asked.

“Yes the
Feast of the Dead,” Eve said.  “The Untor hold a feast to honor those who have fallen, and to announce to the ancestors they have new members to add to their ranks.”

Thad understood now and did not question anything else.  He quickly got dressed in the clothing laid out for him. 
He joined Fiona, Eve, and Un-Tark, who led them to the center of the village where a large circular table was set up with many smaller tables surrounding it.  The whole village was there to honor those who had fallen.  They were seated next to Freya who was already there. 

Speeches were
given about the departed, and even though they were given in the native tongue, the Skywalkers had learned enough of the language to understand. Anything they did not understand Eve would translate for them, as she had mastered the language.  After the feast high, in the tops of the highest trees, funeral piers were lit and the Untors sang the Song of the Dead.

It took two weeks of work
, with Eve working around the clock, to clean and adapt the Ralnai ship for them to use.  Even after Eve’s very thorough cleaning job, it still had the faint smell of Ralnai, but no one complained about it since it was a ship, which meant their ticket off this world and back on their way. 

Now that they had access to a subspace transmitter Eve was able to contact her copy back home and update their storage device with some new templates.  Thad
didn’t want to leave the Untors without any way to defend themselves. He installed a replicator in Un-Tark’s hut, which would let him make arms and ammunition.  He also spent his last two weeks training the Untors how to use and fight with the new weapons.  Much to his pleasure the Untors with their four arms made very efficient soldiers, with their ability to hold, reload, and fire two weapons.

Meanwhile
, when not helping Eve, the twins spent their last two weeks with the Untors working with a second replicator programmed with food, clothing, make up, and other templates that would help them.  By the time the twins were ready to leave the damage was done, the woman of the Untors would never be the same.

When the time came for them to leave the whole of the people turned out to say goodbye.
The twins insisted they dress for the occasion, so he allowed the twins to dress him in a dark purple collar-less shirt and black suit with matching purple trim.  The twin’s themselves were dressed in matching purple and black short skirts and blouses of their own design.  The most interesting thing about their dress was the matching knee high, stiletto-heeled boots.  They caught Thad’s attention because they were made out of Ralnai hide, dyed black.

“Nice boots ladies,” he said
.

They laughed and Freya said, “I’m not normally one for wearing the skins of sentient beings, but these Ralnai assholes deserve to be made into boots, belts, luggage, and anything else that can be thought up
!”

“I couldn’t agree more,” he said
, to make sure he stayed on their good side today.  He did have to admit the Ralnai skin made for some really sexy boots.

Tears were shed and hugs given, arms were shaken
and the whole affair took hours, but finally they had said their goodbyes and entered the ship.  The Untors waved and sang goodbye as the ship rose into the air.  They all stayed and watched until the ship was out of sight.

The next few days were completely boring
, with nothing going wrong for a change. This made everyone happy, as it seemed their luck was changing and they were finally, back on track.  Thad and the twins spent a lot of time in bed, as there was little else to do.  Eve had taken on the job of pilot and captain of the ship.  She spent all of her time on the bridge flying the ship.  She had to make constant course corrections.  Anytime Thad came to the bridge she would complain about how bad the ship was, “It is such a piece of crap, it doesn’t even have automated computer systems,” she complained incessantly.

They were entering Federation space when Eve keyed the ship
’s wide broadcasting system, “Attention ladies and gentlemen this is your captain speaking.  We have crossed into United Terrain Federation space and everything continues to go smoothly. We should arrive at Nova Texas in two more days.  That is all.”

Thad entered the bridge, “Oh Eve, now you have done it!”

Confused, she turned her chair around to face him, “What do you mean?”

“You have just jinxed us by saying the word smoothly.  You should know by now, nothing goes smoothly for us,” he
smirked.

“I’m not sure what that means, but I think things should be okay for us now that we have our own ship,” Eve said.

“Yes, we have our own ship, a Ralnai scout with little in the way of weapons and only light armor.  No, we need to be very careful in Federation space.  This ship is a death trap,” Thad said.

No sooner had he said that a warning light started flashing on the console next to him.  “Eve what is th
at?”  He asked.

She looked over at it, “Oh
, it’s the communication console, and it appears we are being hailed.  Be a dear and push the button.”

Thad pushed the button and over the cabin speakers he heard, “Attention Ralnai vessel this is the UTFS (United Terrain Federation Ship) Damocles.  You have crossed into Federation space illegally.  Turn around or be destroyed.” 

Thad looked at Eve, “The Damocles?  Scan and see what type of ship it is while I try to keep them from turning us into space junk.”

Eve scanned the ship, “It’s a heavy cruiser, and she has the weaponry to do what she says.”

Thad nodded, “UTFS Damocles we are not Ralnai. We are human piloting a captured Ralnai craft- do not shoot.  We request visual contact so you can confirm we are human.”

“Stand by,” the Damocles replied.

The view screen buzzed with snow for a second then a picture appeared of an older man with gray hair, but chiseled features of a well-seasoned ship’s captain.  “Well I can see you are human and I glad I don’t have to blow you out of space, but I still cannot allow that ship to cross into Federation space.”