The Lord of the Plains

by Sarah Chapman

Chapter 17

  When Restday came around Riley was still piqued she wasn’t allowed to practice her sword fighting. Aerlid had refused to budge. Her technique improved markedly during sparring sessions with Fergus, to the point that if Aerlid had been there he wouldn’t have had anything to complain about. It made the sessions even more tediously boring for her, and she was reduced to giving tips to the unfortunate gemeng who was her opponent (humans didn’t get tips). Her tips, which made perfect sense to her (’stop doing it wrong’), were not very helpful to the recipient.

  She was thinking she’d have to ask Aerlid for advice on tip giving if things continued the way they were.

  But it was Restday, and she could forget about that for now. She had something to do that would require the use of all the skills she’d learnt since coming to Astar.

  It was with some trepidation that she walked alone through the city towards Razra’s house. She was allowed to walk to certain places alone now; school, military school, the dormitories and Razra’s home. Not the park though. Riley had determined that this restriction was not because the walk was much more difficult than any other walk, but that she wasn’t allowed in the park alone.

  She didn’t know where Razra studied or worked, but she knew where he lived. And they were friends, weren’t they? He’d said they would see each other. So this was the appropriate response, wasn’t it, to go see him?

  But she didn’t think about all that very much. She was just vaguely nervous.

  Razra lived in a similar apartment to her. It was on the third floor of his building, was bigger and had more homey touches to it, as well as being further towards the centre of Astar, but it was more or less the same.

  She climbed the stairs to his door and without any hesitation, though her stomach had knotted itself up, she knocked on his door.

  It was a good knock. Firm, loud.

  She waited. She’d never knocked on the door of someone who wasn’t expecting her. She waited, wondering whether they were home, whether she should knock again or whether she should leave.

  The seconds ticked by slowly. What if Razra wasn’t happy to see her?

  Before she could make any decision the door opened.

  Fanie (or Fann, more formally), Razra’s older brother, peered out at her.

  Riley looked at him.

  Fanie looked at her.

  ‘Hello. Is Razra here?’ she asked.

  He disappeared from the door without a word. Riley managed to maintain her balance in the face of such inexplicable behaviour. She had been exposed to Fanie before. He did these sorts of things and it was nothing to get alarmed about.

  She didn’t have to wait too long however for the door to open again, and it couldn’t have been more different.

  ‘Riley!’ Razra greeted her with a grin, flinging the door wide open.

  She barely managed to say hello before he dragged her inside.

  ‘What have you been learning? I haven’t seen any gemengs in my classes. We’ve been doing really hard stuff, I don’t think I want to be a researcher or go into medicine, they have to do even harder stuff. You know there’s this library and we have to go and read all this stuff? But it’s so small and they don’t have many copies so we have to sign up with a schedule and we can’t take things out of the library and…’

  Riley was instantly put at ease as Razra chattered on and on, and her fears he wouldn’t want to be her friend anymore vanished.

  The next six months progressed smoothly. She saw Razra often on Restdays, sometimes they even met near the military complex. Razra always asked lots of questions about the military, though he rarely received any answers as he had a tendency to ask his next question while Riley was still trying to his answer his first question. Although Jillia was in the military too, she was more difficult to stay in touch with. Riley was maybe a little hurt by this, but then, it wasn’t unexpected. She didn’t think it was because of a lack of time or difficulty scheduling, but because most gemengs did not feel comfortable around her, and Jillia’s family and friends were of course, all gemengs. Riley hadn’t really thought much about this, the thought had just bubbled up from somewhere, was noted, and then stored again.

  Aerlid eventually restarted her sword training. With Aerlid’s help, her tips to her fellow gemengs improved somewhat from ‘don’t do it wrong’ but they still weren’t crystal clear either.

  She found the theory interesting, though she broke out in a cold sweat and had trouble focussing whenever Major Berdis demonstrated any of the energy weapons.

  Halfway through the year the theory section was reduced by an hour and a half each day, during which time they began using some of the weapons they had learnt about.

  Today was the first day.

  The class was split into exercise groups, with one instructor per ten students, and sent to different rooms. They were gathered in a room in a different part of the building to where they learnt theory. The room was empty except for cupboards and a stand. The stand had a large metal cube set up on it. The cupboards were made of strong steel and were locked securely. There were scorch marks on the walls.

  Another fiery military man was waiting for them. ‘I am Major Malais. I will be teaching you to use the weapons you have been learning about for the past six months. You do exactly as I say here. No warnings. You disobey, you’re out. Any questions?’

  ‘No, sir!’

  ‘Good. You’re all familiar with the Order-1?’

  ‘Yes, sir!’

  ‘Today we’ll start with loading, unloading and basic maintenance. We won’t be firing any weapons today.’

  ‘Yes, sir!’

  Malais walked through their small group and unlocked one of the cupboards. ‘These weapons are unloaded. Everyone, take one. There are drained charge canisters in the box in the bottom of the cupboard, again, everybody take one.’

  Everyone obeyed in an orderly manner. Riley’s hands were shaking. Her shoulder ached. There was nothing wrong with her shoulder but it ached all the same.

  Malais locked the cupboard when they were done and returned to the front of the room. He had an Order-1 in his hands and a drained charge canister. He performed each task first, explaining what he was doing. Then he asked them to do it.

  It wasn’t that hard. But Riley’s hands shook and she was clumsy.

  Malais came over to her. ‘Did you go through testing?’

  She nodded, ‘Yes, sir.’

  He nodded, ‘I see. This is a normal response. You’ll either deal with it or you won’t.’ and without any other encouragement he moved onto the next student. He checked that all the students were loading and unloading the Order-1 properly. Then he told them to do it faster.

  Riley swallowed. It was a weapon. Her sword was a weapon. Her sword hadn’t sliced through her shoulder. She closed her eyes, ignoring the other students. It was a weapon. Aerlid had shown her many weapons. It wasn’t as if she’d never been hurt before. But there’d been something different about the testing. This thing didn’t call to her the way steel did. Still, it was a weapon. She gritted her teeth and looked down at the cold, ugly, blocky thing in her hands.

  She loaded and unloaded. Her teeth clenched. She did it again. Again.

  When Malais called for them to pack away the Order-1 and drained charge canisters Riley’s jaw was aching and she had trouble unclenching her teeth.

  Riley managed to control her shaking during practice but when she arrived home it started again. Aerlid watched in concern and tried to help, but while she continued to use the human weapons there was little he could do.

  And then shooting practice began.

  ‘Today we’ll start shooting practice.’ Major Malais said. ‘You’ll go one at time. Keep your weapon pointed down, only aim at that block over there. We’ll be using the lowest of the low grades. If you do manage to shoot one of your colleagues, you’ll give them a bit of a sting and you won’t be joining us again for a while.’

  First he went through the movemen
t of shooting, with unloaded weapons. Then they put all of the weapons away, except for one. They then took turns trying to shoot the block.

  When it was her turn Riley’s head felt strangely empty. She didn’t know if she was shaking or not. She fired. Missed. Then it was over and that thing was out of her hands. She moved to stand with the others who had already had their turn. The shakes were back- or perhaps they had always been there. She struggled to control them, not able to focus on anything else.

  Major Malais was talking.

  ‘This happens to be one of the more accurate weapons you’ll ever be using.’ Malais said with a rather evil smirk after everyone had tried. ‘Ok, start again from the beginning. Three shots each time this round.’

  As she waited in line she focussed on her breathing. By the time it was her turn again she had control of herself.

  Then it was in her hands again and she was meant to shoot it and her shoulder was burning and her head was empty and she was going to faint… Breathe. Breathe. She focussed on the block. She fired, missed.

  Her stomach knotted up. How long would she have to do this? She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to see one of these things ever again.

  They’ll keep making me do this, a clear voice said in the back of her mind, they’ll keep making me do it. Until I get it right.

  Her mind cleared. A terrible clarity came to her. Different to when she held a sword. So different. There was that block. She had to shoot it for this to end.

  Light arced across the room. It faded. Had she hit? She focussed so hard on that block, but it was so marked already. Had she hit?

  ‘Very good.’ a voice near her elbow said. ‘That’s a hit.’

  Riley looked around. Major Malais was near her, but she had trouble recognizing him.

  ‘I hit it?’

  ‘Yes, you did.’

  But she wasn’t really talking to him. I hit it. That was all she needed. She shoved the Order-1 into the hands of the next person in line and left to stand with those already finished.

  But it wasn’t really over. They went round and round and round. But she hit it first time from then on, every time. So at least her contact with the weapon was minimized.

  The shooting practice continued. Ten stands were set up so all the students could practice at the same time, denying Riley any escape in ability. After Malais was satisfied with the progress of the class, they began shooting moving targets.

  The first time they all practiced at once, Riley was nearly reduced to tears. She hit and hit and hit and it didn’t end. Her shoulder throbbed madly. She thought her arm might fall off.

  Despite this she managed to control herself during those lessons and get through them. The effort drained her though, and every night she returned home too tired to go running in the park.

  Once Malais was satisfied with their use of the Order-1 their lessons changed, and in a way it was easier for her, as the new weapon did not resemble the weapon used on her in the testing centre as much as the Order-1.

  Malais seemed very happy with himself when they all filed into the room that day. He had something in his arms, hidden by heavy cloth.

  ‘Have you children heard of the Breaker?’ Malais asked.

  ‘No, sir.’

  His smile widened. ‘Well, kids, that’s what we’ll be working with for the rest of the year. If you can use the breaker, you can use any handheld weapon we’ve got.’

  He shifted whatever was in his hands into one hand and used the other to pull the cloth off.

  Riley stared at the monstrosity in his arms. It was as long as his arm, and had all the grace and elegance of cave mould.

  ‘Geggis, why don’t you come up here and give it a try, hmm?’

  Jann came forward apprehensively. When Malais handed him the Breaker he struggled to hold it.

  ‘Ok, I want you to load it and fire it as you do with the Order-1. Mind you don’t drop it, the recoil’s vicious.’

  Jann wasn’t as strong as Major Malais and couldn’t hold with one arm. He had to crouch down and struggle with it before he managed to load it. He stood up, dragging the Breaker with him.

  He hefted it, aimed. A bright beam shot from the nozzle. But that wasn’t what anyone was paying attention to. Jann swore as he nearly dropped it. The light arced towards the ceiling, leaving scorch marks. Riley noticed those weren’t the only scorch marks up there. Jann caught it and then fell to the ground, just stopping it from crashing.

  ‘We have to use this thing?!’ Jann said, horrified, as he rubbed his arm.

  ‘I thought heavier energy weapons generally had less recoil.’ One of the human girls, Leili Fleras, said.

  Malais was momentarily disconcerted. ‘Who told you that?’ He asked.

  ‘Major Berdis.’

  ‘Well, someone’s been paying attention.’ And he left it at that. ‘We’ll be using this weapon for the next few weeks, or until you are all proficient with it.’

  By the end of the day everyone was aching and burnt from struggling with the Breaker. Not only was it heavy and lively, it became uncomfortably hot when used. They were advised not to touch the loading mechanism or barrel until a few hours after they were done. Even so, some people ended up with burnt fingers. Even if you managed not to bump the burning hot metal, just standing near it was torture. By the end of the day, the room was as hot as an oven.

  Holding it did not have the same effect on Riley as holding the Order-1. It was when it fired and that oh so familiar beam of light appeared that she had a problem and nearly dropped the thing. Still, as far as Riley was concerned it was a vast improvement over the Order-1.

  She was perhaps the only person in that class pleased with the day’s work.

  The next few weeks were hellish for most of the students in the class while for Riley they were like a pleasant holiday.

  The other students were determined to master the monstrosity and then never use it again. Riley would have been happy to keep using it forever.

  Two weeks later, Malais, looking a little bit put out, announced that they would no longer be using the Breaker. There was a round of cheering. Riley felt her stomach drop. Would it be the Order-1 again? She didn’t want to go back to that. She didn’t think she could.

  ‘We will begin work with the weapon used by most patrols, the Standard Issue High-Grade Personal Energy Weapon, the SIGPEW. I assume you are all familiar with this weapon?’

  There was a round of ‘yes sir’s. This had been covered extensively in theory some time ago.

  The SIGPEW was like a dream. It had a cooling system, so you couldn’t accidently burn yourself while handling it, and it was

  light as a feather compared to the Breaker (though much heavier than the Order-1). But most importantly for Riley it was a large weapon that was closer to the Breaker in appearance than the Order-1, so she was able to use it with far more ease than the Order-1.

  ‘Now, some of you have been asking some questions about the Breaker.’ Major Malais said to the gathered group after all the weapons were packed away. He smiled. ‘The Breaker is the original SIGPEW. It was taken out of active use around…’ he frowned, ‘three hundred years ago… It has… also been modified for training purposes.’ he grinned evilly. ‘I imagine the original Astar Home Defence Patrol didn’t have as much trouble with this beast as you children did.’

  ‘So it’s not actually used?’ Jann asked, ‘ever?’

  ‘Never ever. Just to break in new students.’ he smirked. ‘Don’t go telling any new students that though.’

  Over the next few weeks they worked with the SIGPEW. As it took high-grade charge, they also learnt how to set their weapons. The settings on the SIGPEW were located on the side of the weapon under a protective cover. There was a switch to change from low to medium response and a dial to change the settings within the response. However due to the possibility of accidentally using the wrong settings, the SIGPEWs they used had been modified, so the combat settings couldn’t be used. Aft
er Malais was satisfied with their performance however, they began using the SIGPEWs with full capabilities. Having to reload an energy weapon wasn’t likely to be a problem in combat very often, as the charges could last over two hours if used carefully. There hadn’t been a drawn out battle with gemengs near Astar in a long time. Some of the students decided to test just how long the high-grade charge could last by setting the SIGPEW to max and letting out a continuous stream of raw power at the practice room wall. After draining the SIGPEW in less than ten minutes and burning a hole most of the way through the very thick, heavily reinforced wall, those students were banned from practicing for a month. Despite the low likelihood of getting into a drawn out battle with gemengs, Malais had his students learn to reload and fire in under three seconds and they learnt to change the settings with their eyes closed.

  Despite the SIGPEW being easier for Riley to use than the Order-1, she still returned home tired. It was a struggle at first but she did start her park runs again, which improved her mood markedly. Eventually, it got easier. Her shoulder still throbbed whenever she saw or touched a personal energy weapon, known as PEWs. They made her uneasy and she was never comfortable around them, but she no longer had to struggle to control her shaking.

  Moving on to MEWs-mounted energy weapons and RAWs- remotely activated weapons, was not any easier than using the PEWs. They bore no resemblance to the weapon used in the testing centre, but the light was the same. And that was enough.

  In fact, the MEWs terrified her. They did not use them, just saw demonstrations of them being handled by teams of three or more people. They saw weapons with barrels as wide as her forearm was long, that shot a beam of what looked like a river of molten gold. It terrified her to think of what that thing could do, knowing what a weapon she could hold in one hand could do to her.

  The RAWs had heavy wheels and treads. They moved by themselves and had energy weapons as large as the MEWs fixed to them.