Suddenly, he noticed there was a Krahn poised to shoot Golena from a few feet behind. He quickly dispatched the Krahn with a shot to the head and looked around, aware that all of their enemy now littered the ground. The Sekani looked up at him, all hooting now. Gianni smiled back, even though he knew they probably couldn’t see his expression through the power field that surrounded him.
“Sedan’ka!” Botran yelled. The other Sekani followed suit, yelling out the word. Gianni wasn’t sure what the word meant, but he followed suit. All of the Sekani were laughing, collecting the Krahn’s weapons and making sure they were all dead. Gianni was surprised to find that he was happy. He was part of the team.
Suddenly, Mandan called out. He was bent over the form of one of the Krahn warriors. The Krahn was moving its arms, slowly. Mandan stood up straight and raised his club over his head, ready to deliver the killing blow.
Gianni sighed, knowing what he had to do. “Wait!” he called out. “Stop,” he said in Sekani, for good measure. Mandan stopped and looked at him quizzically. He walked over and looked at the Krahn, noticing a large cut on its forehead that was bleeding profusely, but that was the only noticeable wound.
“James said he wanted prisoners,” he said, knowing that the Sekani probably didn’t understand what he was saying. “You know, James,” he said, pointing at the Krahn. “For James.” Mandan growled, but lowered his club. “Good. Now, who wants to carry him back?” Gianni asked, trying to make motions like he was picking up the Krahn.
The Sekani just stood and looked at him. They either didn’t understand, or refused to touch the scaly creature. Either way, it looked like he would be carrying the unconscious Krahn. “Fine,” he said, bending to grasp the Krahn’s arm. He hoisted him over his shoulder and got it settled before turning to the Sekani. “Let’s get out of here.”
#
James was in his room when the Rajani guard came to inform him that Gianni was waiting outside the building with a Krahn prisoner. He thanked the guard and quickly made his way to where he’d been told Gianni was waiting. He went through the doorway to find Gianni and a few Sekani males standing outside, guarding an unconscious Krahn warrior, who had been unceremoniously dumped on the ground.
“He’s all yours,” Gianni said, pointing at the Krahn. He began to walk away.
“Wait,” James said. “Where did it come from?”
Gianni turned back to look at him. “Over by the Sekani compound. We killed the others. Thought we’d killed this one too. I think it’s just unconscious, though. You said you wanted prisoners to interrogate, so here’s one.”
“Thanks,” James said, surprised that Gianni had actually thought about what he’d told him. “I’ll make sure there’s a bonus in your paycheck this month.”
“Ha-ha,” Gianni said, but he smiled. “I’ll tell Kieren you said hello.”
As Gianni walked away, James powered up and easily picked up the body of the Krahn and slung it over his shoulder. He had to figure out a secure location where he could ask it questions. Just then, Kedar and a few other Rajani walked by. Kedar stopped and looked at the unlikely sight of James carrying a Krahn over his shoulder.
“I have an explanation,” James said in his best Talondarian Standard.
“I’m sure that you do,” Kedar said. “Do you need assistance?”
“Yes,” James answered truthfully. “I need to find some place that is private.”
Kedar turned to his companions. “I’ll meet up with you later,” he said. He turned back to James. “Follow me.”
James did as he was bid and followed the Rajani through a circuit of alleyways, to a building that still had three stories above ground. Kedar didn’t speak the entire route, so James kept silent as well. He didn’t know the former Rajani Elder that well, so he wasn’t sure what to expect when he walked through the front door of the building. He was surprised to find that the interior of the building had been cleaned up and was free of debris. There were a few chairs in what looked to be a reception area. He couldn’t see more, though there was a hallway that led deeper into the structure.
Kedar turned to look at him. “As you know, there is a difference in opinions among the Rajani as to the best way to proceed in this fight.”
James nodded, doing his best to follow the other’s words. He had been around the Rajani long enough that he could have a conversation, but he still didn’t feel confident speaking Talondarian Standard.
“There are Rajani who believe in peaceful resistance,” Kedar continued, “and make no mistake, the Elders have a right to their beliefs. There is another group, which I’ve come to call Vaderren. This group believes that if we are to defeat the Krahn, then force must be used, however regrettable that may be.”
“I understand,” James said. He had met briefly with Kedar and Welemaan before, though they hadn’t seemed very organized then. It seemed that things had changed.
“This place is to be the headquarters of the Vaderren,” Kedar said. “I’m entrusting you to keep this a secret for now. We have enough problems without having Rajani fighting each other over our ideological differences. That can come later.”
“I’m honored that you would trust me with this,” James said. “As I’ve told you and Welemaan in the past, the other humans and I are not here to change your society, just to save it. What happens afterward is not up to us.”
Kedar bowed his head briefly. “Thank you. Now, if you’ll follow me again, I know of a place in the building that should be secure enough for anything you would need.”
James nodded, and Kedar turned and led him down the hallway and past a number of doors. One of the doors was open, and James looked in to see a table and chairs set up for meetings. He followed Kedar down to the end of the hallway. Kedar opened the door at the very end and held it open for James to walk through. As soon as he did, James saw that there were stairs leading down to what he assumed was the basement. He walked down the stairs, careful not to trip. A fall wouldn’t harm him in his powered-up form, but it could kill the Krahn before he ever had a chance to talk to it. He reached the end of the staircase and saw that there was a hallway down there as well that led to various rooms. James wondered what they were. Kedar walked past him and then down the hallway to the first door. He pulled a key chain out of his pocket and inserted a key into the lock.
James was surprised to see the Rajani using old-fashioned locks and keys. Every door he’d seen since leaving Earth were meant to be opened by a simple electronic button outside the door. But since they still hadn’t restored power, it was probably a good thing these doors were manually locked. Kedar opened the door and motioned for James to enter the room. James walked through the doorway to see a bare, empty room, about ten feet square. The stone floor was even bare of carpet. There were no decorations on the walls, and a single light in each corner gave off a dull glow, just enough to bathe the entire room.
“These rooms were used for storage, from what we could tell,” Kedar said. “This building housed a few different industries. They made clothing on one floor, and furniture on another. The top floors were dwelling units for the Sekani and Jirina workers.”
James laid the still-unconscious Krahn as gently as he could on the floor, and then powered down. He felt the now-familiar hunger from using his powers for so long. “You wouldn’t happen to have any food or drink around here, would you?”
“For…?” Kedar asked, looking down at the Krahn.
“Me,” James said, smiling. “I haven’t had anything to eat since breakfast, and using my powers really makes me hungry.”
Kedar looked at him with an expression that James couldn’t read very well. It was a cool appraisal, but he wasn’t sure if the Rajani was sizing him up or thinking about the Johar Stone he had been implanted with on the Tukuli. The fact that the Rajani only had one eye made it that much more difficult to read him.
“I’ll go look,” the Rajani finally said.
“And a translating device, if you can find one,” James said
. “I don’t know if this thing understands Talondarian Standard.”
Kedar bowed slightly and left James alone with his prisoner, closing the door behind him.
James looked down at the Krahn and saw that it had stopped bleeding from the cut on its head. There was some discoloration around the wound, but it didn’t look like a life-threatening injury. He bent over to look closer at the creature. He saw that one of the Krahn’s eyes had an old wound over it. One of the bone spurs looked like it had been sheared off sometime earlier. The Krahn was breathing shallowly, but still hard enough for James to recoil slightly at the smell. He didn’t want to think about what the creature had been eating recently. He looked at the Krahn’s hands. Each finger had an inch-long, thick nail at the end that appeared to be razor-sharp. James had seen the damage they could inflict. Once the Krahn woke up, he’d have to stay powered up, just to be safe.
He stood back up, wondering what was taking Kedar so long, when the Krahn began to stir. He quickly powered up again. The Krahn moaned and slowly opened its eyes. Then it did something that James wasn’t expecting: its eyes grew wide when it saw him standing over it. It quickly sat up, and while keeping both eyes on James, scooted itself as far away from James as it could, into the corner of the room.
James was surprised at the fear he saw in the Krahn’s eyes. It was unmistakable as it clung to the far wall, as if attempting to become part of it. He wished that Kedar would return with the translating device. From what he’d seen, the Krahn were unable to speak Talondarian Standard due to the mechanics of their mouths. Their tongues were ill-equipped to pronounce the language. He stood and waited for Kedar to return, wary that the Krahn would try to escape, or lash out at him in fear. Finally, Kedar returned with a steaming bowl of what looked like oatmeal but smelled different; more like cooked rice. He also carried a translating device, which James was thankful for.
“I’m sorry I took so long,” Kedar said. “It took me a while to find the device, and all we had for food was zephan, so I had to wait for it to cook.”
“I’m sorry I put you through such trouble,” James said, taking the bowl from Kedar. “Thank you for sharing your food with me.” He looked down at the still-steaming bowl of what he assumed was some type of cooked grain, wondering how it would taste. Even more worrisome was how he was going to eat it with his power field still up. His stomach gurgled, telling him that he had better make a choice soon. He sighed and dropped his field, keeping his eyes on the Krahn as he did so. Wary of any sudden moves, he picked up the spoon-like utensil in the bowl and took a small bite of zephan. He was pleasantly surprised to find that it tasted like puffed rice cereal. He had grown up eating the sugary cereal, and it tasted very close to what he remembered, though it was warm and somewhat softer.
“It’s good,” James said, still keeping his eyes on the Krahn. “Do you want to stay here and help me question it? I don’t want to keep you away from any important business you may have.”
“I’ll stay,” Kedar said, looking at the Krahn. “There are some questions I would like the answers to as well.”
James could see the hatred on the Rajani’s face. There was no mistaking that emotion.
Chapter 12
Fajel was still a young Jirina when the Krahn attacked. His horns had only just begun to come in, a development that had caused much excitement when he’d first discovered the lumps forming under the skin of his forehead. His older brother, Tenel, had given him a hard time about them, of course, telling him that his horns were going to grow crooked. He and his brother had always been close, but Tenel sometimes had a cruel sense of humor. That had all changed the day his brother had been killed in the first wave of attacks by the Krahn. His parents were devastated, and his mother still cried at least once a day. Unfortunately, he didn’t get to see his parents as much as he would have liked to since joining the fight against the Krahn, although most of what he’d done to that point was menial work, carrying supplies and cleaning up debris.
He could have stayed in hiding, like many of the other Jirina in his social group, but he just had to fight. He fought for his brother, and more importantly, to help his species to not be afraid of the monsters who had invaded their planet anymore. It didn’t feel right to hide in the shadows. So when his Uncle Mazal had come around searching for volunteers for a special mission, of course he had stepped up and said yes. Maybe he would actually get a chance to meet their savior, James the Human.
He was told to meet in an abandoned Rajani residence on the north side of Melaanse. He was nervous and excited, and maybe a little scared, but he was determined to help out the resistance if he could. He arrived alone, the night dark around him, and no stars visible in the sky above. It would be another hour or so before Rajan’s sole, small moon made its way into the night sky. He knocked tentatively at the back door, as he had been instructed to do by Mazal. The door opened, and a very large Rajani with a patch over his left eye stood blocking a set of stairs that disappeared into the darkness below the house.
“What’s your name, young one?” the Rajani asked, not unkindly.
“Fajel,” he answered, a lump forming in his throat.
“Proceed down the stairs and to the right, Fajel. Go to the door and knock three times,” the Rajani doorkeeper told him.
Fajel did what he was told and soon found himself knocking on the door to a large underground room that looked like it had once been an office and library. The house must have belonged to a Rajani Elder. No one else would have been able to afford it.
The door was opened by a Sekani, who introduced himself as Belani and told him to take a seat with the others. The room was mostly cleared of furniture, except for a desk and bookcases, so Fajel found a spot among the small group of Sekani, Rajani, and Jirina sitting on the floor. He didn’t know anyone. He waited quietly for a short while, until another Sekani entered, followed by the large Rajani who had been guarding the door above. The room grew quiet as the Sekani began to speak.
“For those of you who don’t know me, I am Zanth,” the Sekani said, and then pointed to his Rajani companion. “This is Kedar. We’re here because we need your help. As you know, the resistance continues to fight the Krahn invaders on a daily basis, and, every day, there are more casualties, due to the Krahns’ ability to attack from the air.” Zanth paused, as there was a murmur of agreement from some in attendance, before continuing. “What we propose now is the formation of a task force. What this force would be expected to do is search out and find where the Krahn are landing and refueling their ships, and then, either take over the ships or destroy them so that they cannot be used against us.”
Zanth paused again, looking at everyone in the room, before continuing. “We believe that if we’re able to attack the Krahn in force, we will be very close to victory. But we will never achieve this victory without the ability to amass in large numbers to attack the Krahns’ stronghold in the north of the city. Are there any questions so far?”
Fajel looked around him at the others, noticing that they had mostly sat with others of their own kind, so that there were really three small groups, not one. No one spoke up. Fajel was just replaying the Sekani’s words over in his mind. Attack the Krahn and steal or destroy their ships. It was a scary proposition.
The Rajani named Kedar spoke up. “I see that you have split up along species lines. This will not do. You all need to be on the same team if this plan is to succeed. So what I’m going to do is assign you to a strike team made up of one Sekani, one Rajani, and one Jirina. Your strike team will be responsible for securing or destroying one Krahn ship. The Sekani will act as the pilot, if you’re able to take the ship. All of the Sekani in this room have been cleared as having experience as pilots. Because of this, they will be the strike team leader.” There was some muttering from the group of Rajani at this proclamation. “If you have a problem with that,” Kedar continued, “you’re free to leave now. We cannot afford your petty species biases on this operation; it’s too vita
l to the future of the resistance.”
Fajel was surprised by the Rajani’s words, and even more surprised that none of the other Rajani left. He supposed that they probably would have if it had been Zanth speaking, but Kedar was a well-known and respected Rajani, who had been fighting the Krahn even before his liberation from the Krahn prison by James the Human. That was more than likely the reason he was present at this meeting.
Zanth pulled out a small tablet computer and read aloud the names of each strike team. Fajel learned that he would be teamed with Belani, the Sekani who had introduced himself at the door earlier, and Rachal, a rather small Rajani with white fur on his ears—a sign of aging among his species. Fajel soon learned that Rachal was as ornery as he was old. After the names had been read, Zanth told them all that the entire group would meet again the next day, but for now, the strike teams needed to meet and get to know one another. Zanth and Kedar said their goodbyes, and then Fajel, Belani, and Rachal walked upstairs in the large house, to separate themselves from the others.
Fajel found himself following his teammates into one of the numerous rooms in the second floor of the house. Belani carried a light, but didn’t turn it on until they had closed the window coverings in what looked like a spare bed chamber. Fajel was in awe that a house could have a room just in case it was needed. In the Jirina dwellings, every room had a purpose, and overcrowding was a problem even for families like his that only had two offspring.
“Can’t see why we had to leave the basement,” Rachal muttered. “Doesn’t feel as safe up here. Can’t say I like being in another Rajani’s bedroom, either.”
“We’re up here,” Belani explained, “because I’m not sure I can trust some of the others.”
“What?” Fajel asked, stunned by this admission.
“Zanth doesn’t like to publicize it,” Belani continued, “but the Sekani movement is as leaky as an old sailing ship. That’s why they didn’t just come out and tell us tonight the plan for this grand idea of theirs.”
Rajani Chronicles II Page 15