Hunter, Warrior, Commander

by Andrew Maclure

  Keerank turned to Sah Lee. “Welcome to the Galactic Savior Army Sah Lee. I have full information on you, so you don’t need to do anything to join up. Now I have seen you and verified your identity, all I need is for you to tell me that you are under no duress and voluntarily joining up. Can you confirm that for me please?”

  “Yes, yes of course. It’s my idea, I want to join the army.” Sah Lee replied.

  “In that case, that’s it. Now, Sah Lee. There is some resentment that we were told to recruit you by one of the People. It can be hard for any new recruit, you may find it more difficult than most. Particularly as you are from a newly emergent species. I want you to contact me if ever you find yourself in any difficulty with other members of the army, or if you need someone to talk to. Bekkreshan and Touren will look after you as best as they can, but they won’t be able to be with you all the time. If you give my AI permission I will ask it to pass my contact details to your AI, along with all the rules, regulations, med-packs and weapons guides. You won’t have done anything like this before. You don’t need to learn any of this, your AI will tell you what you need to know when you need to know it. Contact me any time, don’t worry that I might think it’s trivial, I will give you all the support and help I can. Are you all right with that?”

  “Yes, thank you. That is very kind of you. What happens now?”

  “Touren and Bekkreshan will take you to your quarters. Your AI has a full map of the base now, so it will lead you to wherever you need to go, but for a while you will be accompanied everywhere. Sergeant Si’ir Monnen Dak has been assigned as your training supervisor. The Sergeant has a certain - reputation, so remember to contact me if you find it difficult.”

  Touren and Bekkreshan burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Sah Lee.

  “When Keerank says ‘a reputation,’ she means Sergeant Si’ir Monnen Dak is a psychopath. The best person to have beside you in battle, but a bit mad when not fighting, and a miserable bastard. A bloody good soldier though. You’ll learn a lot if you survive training.” Touren said.

  “Um…”

  “Just don’t show any fear.” Bekkreshan advised her. “Even if you are shitting yourself. You’ll be fine.”

  “But you’ll be with me. Won’t you?”

  “All the time. Except while you’re training.”

  Sah Lee thought that was when she would most need someone with her.

  “First thing is to get settled in our quarters. That means using the gravity tube again.” Touren said. “Come on.”

  They walked back the gravity tube and waited for the door to open. Touren and Bekkreshan grasped Sah Lee’s wrists and pulled her in. This time, Sah Lee knew what to expect and had no physical problems, though the thought went through her head that wearing the black jumpsuit, only she would have known.

  They traveled a lot further up and exited onto a busy corridor. This time, no one gave them a second look. The doors down the corridor were spaced at regular intervals. They stopped at the fifth door on the left which slid open for them.

  “This is now your home for as long as you stay here.” Touren said.

  They walked into a room with a rectangular table in the middle with five chairs and a stool around it. Two doors led from the room, one on the right, one on the left.

  “This is where we live. Sleeping quarters are through the door on the left, a wet room and a dry room through the door on the right. Sleeping quarters are divided up into three areas, each with two bunk beds. You and I are bunking together, I’ve got the top bunk, you’ve got the bottom one,” Touren said.

  “What are wet rooms and dry rooms?” Sah Lee asked.

  “The wet room has showers and flushing toilets for species that wash, and the dry room is for species that don’t wash. Just to clarify, you are a species that washes, although you don’t seem fully committed to the concept. And do not ever drink out of the toilets. If I find out you are, I’ll put you on a charge - that means you'll be punished. Not only is it unhygienic but if anyone catches you, it will get around the whole army and you will be a laughing stock. It will probably follow your entire military career. So if you do, you’re on your own, I won’t defend you. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes. There’s no need to go on about it. What species use dry rooms?”

  “Some reptiles, most insectoids and arachnids and a few outlier species.”

  “Does that mean we’ve got some of them sharing our quarters?”

  “Probably, I don’t know. I hope we haven’t got any arachnids. They give me the creeps.”

  Bekkreshan said; “Do you remember that slimy outlier we shared with last time we were stationed here?”

  “Oh yuck. I hope we haven’t got one of them.” Touren answered. Turning to Sah Lee she said: “It was polite and friendly, but it left a thin film of slime on everything it touched.” She shuddered. “Bekkreshan and I found every excuse not to be in our quarters. We even slept in the common room or a bar most nights. I’ll show you where you’re sleeping and what’s in the wet room, then we’ll have a meal. The synthesizers here are pretty good, but not as good as the one’s on Ker Din Ser Forn’s ship. You’ll get used to it. Your AI should have patterns for all the food you’ve eaten so far. Tell it to communicate with the quartermaster AI to find suitable field rations for you and pick out some patterns for other food compatible with your biochemistry and food preferences. You can’t keep just eating imaya meat, and in general, meat is eaten cooked in the army, we don’t want to give the impression that you are a savage.”

  The tour of the facilities and sleeping area didn’t take long and the three of them settled down to eat. Sah Lee’s AI ordered her meal, and though the cooked imaya steak wasn’t quite the same as it was on Ker Din Ser Forn’s ship, it was edible. They had barely started to eat when Sah Lee’s AI spoke to her. “I have had a message from Sergeant Si’ir Monnen Dak’s AI to come immediately. I told it you had just started to eat, so when you’ve finished you need to go to straight away.”

  “Should I go now?” she asked her AI anxiously.

  “No, I had a chat with the AI. It said in the circumstances you can go when you are ready, but I have a training schedule for you now and you will be expected to be on time in the future, which means a few minutes early. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get there on time.”

  “Thanks AI, you are going to be a big help to me here.”

  “It’s what I do, Sah Lee.”

  “Are you OK?” asked Touren.

  “Yes thanks. My AI just told me I need to see Sergeant Si’ir Monnen Dak when I’ve finished my meal.”

  “Right, don’t finish it. You’ll probably get pushed hard to see what you are capable of. You don’t want to do that on a full stomach.”

  Sah Lee jumped and stood straight “Yes Sir!”

  Touren and Bekkreshan laughed. “So, you were paying attention. Well done, Sah Lee. Maybe we can make a soldier out of you. But you can eat a bit more, you may not get to eat again today, and you don’t want to be training when you are hungry.”

  “Sometimes we wouldn’t eat all day when we were hunting, so I’ll be OK. I’ll go now, I don’t want to keep her waiting.”

  “Her? I thought we’d said, Sergeant Si’ir Monnen Dak is a male.” Touren told her.

  Sah Lee was shocked. “A male? I don’t like males. Nobody said anything about a male. I don’t want to be by myself with an aggressive male.”

  “I know you come from a female dominated society, but you’ve mixed with males before, haven’t you?” Touren asked.

  “Not really, no. We kept them in compounds at home, in the village. There were some loose in the city, but they were tame, not hunters. They couldn’t be in an army and fight. I met one on the plains after the city was destroyed. He told me he was tame, but he lied. He attacked me and tried to have sex with me, so I had to kill him.”

  “That’s an unusually rigorous form of contraception.” Touren said. “Males h
ere aren’t like that. If a male soldier tried to have sex with you against your will he’d be thrown out of the army after a period of solitary confinement, and he’d probably get a good beating from other soldiers too.” Touren said. “You may not be safe with Si’ir Monnen Dak, but he won’t violate you and won’t kill you on purpose. You’ll be fine. You do still want to be a soldier, don’t you?”

  “Yes. I’ll be fine.” Sah Lee drew courage from the cold fury that had settled inside her after the attack on Aarn. “I’ll go now.”

  Chapter Thirty Seven

  Sergeant Si’ir Monnen Dak

  The door to the training area slid open and Sah Lee saw Sergeant Si’ir Monnen Dak waiting for her. He didn’t look much different to one of the Aarnth, except he had dark, almost black hair and was twice her size. He reminded her of the descriptions of a massoon she had heard so often as a child; big and dangerous. She looked more closely and saw that he had strange eyes with round pupils, like Touren and Bekkreshan’s.

  She stopped just inside the door and barked out: “New recruit Sah Lee reporting, Sir!” just the way Touren had coached her.

  Sergeant Si’ir Monnen Dak started speaking quietly, his voice building to a crescendo. “Let me tell you a few things I don’t like, new recruit Sah Lee. I don’t like being a sergeant. I don’t like being stuck in headquarters. I don’t like scrawny little rookie recruits but what I don’t like most of all is being a sergeant whose job is to be stuck in headquarters trying to turn a scrawny little rookie recruit into a soldier. Got it!”

  Standing her ground, Sah Lee barked back “Yes Sir!”

  “So how do you feel about that, new recruit Sah Lee?”

  “I don’t like males, Sir!”

  “I see. I guess you’ve been told about me?”

  “Yes Sir!”

  “What were you told?”

  “That you are the best person to have by your side in battle, but you are a dangerous psychopath.”

  “Hmm. Close. Except, I’m not a psychopath. I just get into uncontrollable rages when I’m not in a battle. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not in a battle now.”

  “No Sir! I mean, yes Sir! I had noticed we are not in a battle.”

  “Give me strength. This is going to harder than I thought.” the Sergeant said to nobody in particular. “So, new recruit Sah Lee, what were you doing before your planet got trashed? Playing with dolls? Sitting in a classroom learning your pre-emergent sums and poetry?”

  “No Sir! I was brought up as a plains hunter. I was at university when the attack on my world happened.”

  “A hunter? You probably think you’re quite tough. I can tell you, new recruit Sah Lee, that you are nothing compared to a trained soldier. It’s my job to toughen you up and raise your fighting skills. And I’ve got to try to avoid killing you. So I need to teach you to fight, to handle weapons without shooting yourself and how to behave in a battle.”

  “Sir, I can fight already, and I have done weapons training in virtual reality. Sir!”

  “You can fight already? Do you think you can fight me?”

  “Yes Sir!” Sah Lee was boiling with anger at his patronizing insults and couldn’t wait to show him what she had learnt from Touren and Bekkreshan.

  “Let’s see how good you are, new recruit Sah Lee. I’ll just stand here, and when you’re ready, you attack me. I’m not armed but feel free to use the hunting knife you’ve got strapped to your back.

  Sah Lee didn’t need a second invitation, she took a couple of steps back to give herself some space. Then, dropping into a half crouch, in one fluid movement she swept her knife out of its sheath and leapt at Sergeant Si’ir Monnen Dak, teeth bared, and claws extended.

  Chapter Thirty Eight

  The Hospital

  Sah Lee opened her eyes and looked around. She recognized the medical center Touren and Bekkreshan had taken her to after her accident in the gravity tube when they arrived. Touren was standing beside her bed.

  “What am I doing here?” she asked Touren. Her last memory was of Sergeant Si’ir Monnen Dak asking about her upbringing. She had a vague recollection of him telling her to attack him.

  “You appear to have used your legendary charm on Sergeant Si’ir Monnen Dak. You came in here unconscious with a broken mandible, maxilla, left zygomatic bone and a broken nose. Most of the teeth on your left were loose or broken. Essentially, he crushed half your skull. We could have fixed you here, but probably not as good as new, so I got permission to send a message to Ker Din Ser Forn. He came and picked you up and went back to New Aarn for four days. He returned yesterday, transferred you back here and left again. You have been in here since, kept in a coma to finish healing. You’re as good as new again now.”

  “New Aarn? What’s that?”

  “It’s the planet he is preparing as the new home for the Aarnth. It’s the name your people have decided to call it.”

  “What happens now? If he did that much damage to me, Sergeant Si’ir Monnen Dak won’t want me back.”

  “He wants to see you as soon as you can walk. Just don’t get into a fight with him again.”

  Sah Lee swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat up. “I’ll go now.”

  “No, you don’t. You’ve got a day with me taking light exercise before going back on duty, but first, we’ll get something to eat.”

  They returned to their quarters and while they were eating, two soldiers walked in. One was Sah Lee’s height, a stockily built reptile with a square head and a small mouth for a reptile, no wider than Sah Lee’s. The skin round his eyes nose and mouth was a yellowish green, rusty red down covered the rest of his head, his wrists and the backs of his hands. The other was a tall, muscular mammal, obviously female judging by the size of her breasts.

  The large female stopped and stared at Sah Lee. “So, you’re the new recruit?”

  “Yes, my name is Sah Lee.”

  “Don’t know why the fuck we’ve been landed with you.” The large female said, then walked into the wet room.

  The reptile nodded at Sah Lee and went into the dry room.

  “The female is Ranesh Ett. She’s like that with everyone. Don’t take it personally. The reptile is - I can’t pronounce his name. It’s all hissing and clicks. I call him Robbie. He’s very quiet. Hardly ever speaks.”

  “Do we have a sixth?” Sah Lee asked.

  “Yes, it’s the same species as Keerank, but this one is male at the moment. It’s called Teknor. They are more aggressive when they are males, although except when they are in battle you wouldn’t know it. Talks a lot when he is here, he is very friendly. I think we have been lucky with who we have been put with, although it may be that someone has selected the best mix they could find. Keerank may have had a hand in this.”

  “What do you mean, Teknor is male at the moment? Surely he is either male - or not.”

  “Some species change their gender depending on circumstances. Their species, or race if you prefer, is called the Shanor. They spend most of their lives as females but when they swarm and mate, the pheromones can trigger a change in gene expression which changes them from female to male. It’s quite common in lower order life forms but unusual in advanced species. They can manipulate this and as Teknor wants to be a soldier and their males are more aggressive, he chooses to stay as a male.”

  “Oh. And I thought you were weird. The Shanor almost make you look normal.” Sah Lee said.

  “You thought I was weird? Maybe you ought to take a closer look at yourself.” Touren retorted.

  Touren took Sah Lee to the gym to make sure she had completely recovered and was ready to train again. It was two levels below their quarters so Sah Lee had to use the gravity tube again. She still found it quite terrifying, but at least she was in control of herself now.

  The gym wasn’t like the one she was used to on Ker Din Ser Forn’s ship. All the equipment looked worn and well used. There were a lot of soldiers in there, with short queues for some of it.


  “It’s not normally this busy in the gym.” Touren said, “It’s been fairly quiet recently. A kidnapping, a hijack of a colony ship and a peacekeeping mission to an attempted revolt on a mining planet in a small civilization. They’re here because they’re bored. That’s why they aren’t looking for new recruits. You can’t exercise properly in your jumpsuit, we’ll get you something more suitable from the synthesizer in the changing room.”

  “That’s not necessary, I’ll just take this off and I’ll be quite comfortable.” Sah Lee said, undoing her jumpsuit.

  “Sah Lee! Stop taking that off! You can’t exercise naked!”

  “Why not,” Sah Lee paused, “I will be cooler, and the clothes won’t get in the way.”

  “Because it’s army protocol that you stay fully dressed at all times except in your quarters. You can do what you like in there but everywhere else, you stay dressed!”

  “Why? What a stupid rule!”

  “Because outside the privacy of your quarters there is a possibility that the sight of a naked body could inflame the sexual desires of another soldier, though it’s difficult to see how anyone would find a skinny little mammal like you desirable, it is a rule. Don’t break it.”

  Sah Lee sighed. “Stupid rule.” she muttered. “OK, what do I have to wear?”

  “Tell your AI to order a gym singlet and shorts. The quartermaster AI has your dimensions. They’ll be ready by the time we get to the synthesizer.”

  Inside the changing room, Sah Lee collected the newly made singlet and shorts from the synthesizer.

  “I have a problem.” she said to Touren.

  “What is it now?”

  “If I can’t be naked anywhere apart from our quarters, how am I going to take off my jumpsuit and put these on?”

  “Give me strength.” Touren said, looking up at the ceiling. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself and spoke slowly and deliberately. “This is a changing room. It is a room you get changed in, hence the name.”