Rajani Chronicles II

by Brian S. Converse

  “Well, that’s just great, isn’t it?” Rachal said. “Why did I volunteer for this again?” He snorted in disgust.

  “You volunteered,” Fajel said, “because you want the same thing as I and everyone else; to kill the Krahn and free our planet.”

  “Very idealistic, this one,” Rachal said, talking to Belani and pointing a thumb at Fajel.

  “Well,” Belani said, “he’s young. He’ll learn.”

  “Look,” Fajel said, standing up, “if you don’t want me here, I can leave right now.”

  “Sit down, sit down,” Rachal said, smiling. “No need to get angry. We were just having a bit of fun with you. Besides, have you got anything better to do?”

  Fajel sat down again, slightly mollified, but still wary. He had not come to the meeting to be insulted.

  “Good,” Belani said. “The only way we’re going to succeed in this is if we work together. Now, I’ve been a pilot for over three seasons. I have no doubt that I can pilot whatever kind of ship we end up stealing. What useful skills do you two bring to this operation?”

  “I’m not afraid to fight, unlike some of those others,” Rachal said. “It was Kedar and me who came up with the plan to escape from the Krahn prison camp, though Welemaan likes to take credit for it all.” He snorted at this before continuing.

  “Probably why I was never granted the title of Elder—I don’t back down from a confrontation, and the teachings of the Kha never really appealed to me. All that praying and such seemed like an awful way to spend your days. Never seemed natural to me. So I made my way the best I could, taking any odd job they were offering. You learn a lot of different skills that way. Just tell me what you need me to do, and I can do it.”

  “Good,” Belani said, and turned to Fajel. “And you?” he asked.

  Fajel’s mind raced as he tried to think of something that would impress them, but he came up blank. Finally, he muttered “I’m a hard worker,” and sat there dejectedly. Maybe I should go home, he thought.

  “That’s good enough for me,” Rachal said. “Can’t all be in charge. Need someone to do the heavy lifting.” He smiled at Fajel and patted him on his muscular arm.

  Fajel returned the smile, grateful for not being made to feel totally incompetent.

  “I think that’s good enough for tonight,” Belani said. “We’ll meet here again tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll get the full story then.”

  They made their goodbyes and went on their separate ways. Fajel still felt a little discouraged, but was adamant that he would return again the next evening. He wouldn’t give up so easily.

  #

  James had called together a meeting with Tumaani, Zanth, and Mazal, to talk about attacking the Northern Krahn base of operations; what his Krahn prisoner had referred to as Nestbase Two. As he sat in the meeting room waiting for everyone to arrive, he ate a lunch consisting of some type of dried fruit and a protein bar. He would have preferred a cheeseburger, fries, and a cold beer. He found that the longer he was away, the more he missed the food of Earth. He was surprised when the first one to arrive was Kedar. James stood from his feast and nodded to the Rajani as he entered. He reached over and turned on the translating device that had been placed in the middle of the table. “I wasn’t expecting you, Kedar.”

  “Tumaani sends his regrets,” Kedar said, sitting at the table. “He says that he won’t take part in planning for war. I respect his opinion, but I feel there should be a Rajani presence at this meeting.”

  “Yes,” James said, sitting back down. “I should have thought about that when I first invited Tumaani. And I should have invited the Vaderren as well. I apologize for the oversight.” He had learned since last talking to Kedar that the word Vaderren was translated literally as ‘the Fighters.’

  “Don’t worry,” Kedar said. “These are not normal times for anyone. I can sympathize with your situation. I can’t imagine being so far from my home world and trying to plan a war.”

  James smiled. He was beginning to like the big Rajani. He picked up the last bite of protein bar and ate it, washing it down with a sip of water. His water ration for the day was almost half gone. “Did the Krahn prisoner divulge any other interesting details after I left him in your care?” he asked.

  “Unfortunately, no,” Kedar said. “I don’t think they are told much, except to kill anything that’s not them and steal anything that could be valuable.”

  Just then, Zanth, Gianni, and Kieren entered the room. James stood and gave Kieren a hug before sitting back in his chair. “Hey, Kieren.”

  “No hug for me, boss?” Gianni said. “I’m crushed.”

  “Behave, or you will be,” James said, but he smiled as he said it. He’d heard that Gianni had been a great help to the Sekani since arriving. Soon, Mazal arrived and bowed to everyone present before taking a seat at the table. James waited while everyone said their greetings, and then called the meeting to order. “Thank you all for coming. As you know, we are planning to attack the Northern Krahn base as a way to divert their attention away from the strike teams that are being sent out soon.”

  “Do you really think it’s a good idea?” Kieren asked. “There still aren’t a lot of weapons available to use. We’re going to be outgunned, and we could be outnumbered.”

  “Yeah,” Gianni added. “Especially if they call in reinforcements and ships.”

  “I’m aware of our weapon situation,” James said, “but I’m afraid that there’s not much we can do about it at the moment. The time must be now, if we’re going to keep the element of surprise. If we wait too long, the situation is likely to change.”

  “And what is the situation?” Zanth asked.

  “We know from a Krahn prisoner that Gianni was nice enough to catch for us,” James began, nodding toward Gianni, “that the Northern Base, or Nestbase Two as they refer to it, is actually a group of highly guarded buildings that they’ve been using as a staging area since the night of the attack. Their primary base, Nestbase One, is located somewhere farther south, in Melaanse.” He paused a second and took a sip of water, hating the aftertaste from the protein bar. “Our recent raids and ambushes of their patrols have left the Northern base weakened. They have not, as of yet, been resupplied from the colony ship.”

  “But those reinforcements could be coming within a Standard week,” Kedar added. “The prisoner said that a fresh group of Krahn warriors was being trained aboard the ship and would be sent down to the planet soon.”

  “And you believe what the Krahn told you?” Kieren asked.

  “I was being very persuasive,” Kedar replied, without a hint of humor in his voice.

  James saw her wince at the Rajani’s words, but plowed ahead with his assessment. “All of which means that we have to hit them now in conjunction with our strike teams heading south. We don’t want them waylaid by Krahn patrols along the way. We want all of their attention on us.”

  Mazal, who up until that point had sat silently, finally spoke. “Just tell me where you want the Jirina placed, and we’ll be there, James.”

  “Thank you, Mazal,” James said.

  “Unfortunately, many of the Rajani who are willing to fight are going with the strike teams,” Kedar said. “We’re getting new recruits every day, but as of now, there won’t be many Rajani available to fight.”

  “I understand the limitations we’ll be under,” Zanth said. “The Sekani, however, are ready to fight. What’s the strategy of the attack?”

  James pulled out a sheet of parchment. There was a dark red swath along one edge. “The Krahn prisoner was able to draw a layout of the buildings.” Before he could no longer use his fingers, James added in his mind. But he would keep that little detail away from Kieren. “As you can see,” he continued, “there’s a large building surrounded by smaller buildings with a courtyard on one side of the larger building. If we split them up here, and here, we should be able to cut off their forces from making a prolonged defense of the largest building.”

  T
he meeting went on for another hour, while they talked about their strategy and the best way to attack and who should be placed where, and by the end, they had a final plan that everyone could agree on. And the taste of the protein bar was finally gone as well, for which James was thankful.

  #

  Fajel showed up early for his appointment the next day, ready to learn more about the mission. He had returned to his dwelling the night before and had hardly been able to sleep, thinking about the impending operation. This time, he was met at the door of the Rajani Elder house by his Uncle Mazal.

  “Fajel,” Mazal said, smiling. “You’re the first one here. Come in. You can keep James company while Zanth and I set up the room for the meeting.”

  “James?” Fajel asked, walking through the door, his eyes wide. His heart was racing as he walked down the stairs and into the room at the bottom. He was disappointed to find it was empty. He gave a small yelp of fear when James the Human appeared before him, still powered up.

  “Sorry to startle you,” James the Human said through the translating device that sat in the corner of the room. The Human’s energy field disappeared, revealing a large, dark-skinned alien with long, braided hair and a short beard that was speckled black and white.

  Fajel had heard about the Humans—everyone had, by now—but to see one up close was still interesting. Especially when it was James the Human himself. For a moment, all he could do was stand and stare. Then he prostrated himself before the hero of Rajan.

  “Oh no,” James said, smiling. “Not another one.”

  “Stand up, Fajel,” Mazal said, coming into the room. “He really doesn’t like that.” Mazal hurried off to do some other errand, and Fajel was left alone with the Human once again.

  Fajel was rising, but then dropped back down. “I’m sorry if I offended you,” he said.

  “It’s okay,” James said. “Just don’t do it again. Come on, stand up. It’s okay. I’m not here to be worshiped. I’m here to help you.”

  Fajel stood up and noticed that the others were arriving for the meeting, all of them watching him make a fool of himself. He quickly walked over to a spot on the floor and sat down, embarrassed.

  Finally, all of the strike teams were assembled, and the room quieted down to hear Zanth speak. Fajel noticed that there were more occupants to the room than there had been the night before. They must have met separately with the others before bringing everyone together. He even saw a few familiar faces this time, though he didn’t dare try to talk to anyone while Zanth spoke.

  “Thank you all for returning tonight,” Zanth said, standing at the front of the room. “I know how inconvenient it was for some of you. This will be the last time that we’ll all be in the same room together. For security purposes, from now on, your strike team leaders will receive orders, and it will be their task to relay that information to their teams.” Zanth looked over at James, who stood quietly in a corner of the room, next to where the translating device had been set up. “Before we begin, I want to welcome a very special guest. If you haven’t heard of or met them already, James and four other Humans were recruited by the Rajani Elder Rauphangelaa to assist us in our fight for independence from the Krahn. I’ve asked James to come tonight to speak to you all. James?”

  Fajel had thought the room was silent before, but when the Human stepped forward, there was not just silence, but a silent reverence and feeling of awe as James the Human began to speak. Fajel noticed that, while not as tall as most of the Rajani, James the Human was almost as broad. He wore a strange red shirt with a white symbol on the front, a circular object with a wing growing from it. Maybe it was the sign of his clan or species, but Fajel didn’t know what it meant.

  “Thank you, Zanth,” James the Human said. “I haven’t had a chance to meet you all, but I know that you are all as dedicated as I am to one purpose, which is defeating the Krahn. If you agree to take part in this mission, your actions will go a long way toward that goal. I don’t want to take up a lot of your time here tonight, so I’ll be brief and just say thank you, and good luck.”

  There was much stamping of feet from the Jirina, banging of arms on chests from the Rajani, and hooting from the Sekani when James the Human had finished speaking. Rachal even stood and banged both of his forearms on his chest loudly before sitting back down.

  Zanth finally restored order, and everyone was seated again. “Thank you, James,” he said. “Now, to follow up on our meeting from last night, I would direct you to the screen set up on the far wall. Mazal?”

  Fajel saw Mazal push a few buttons on an interface device, and the oversized screen flickered to life. There was a large map of Melaanse on it, with certain areas marked in various colors and notes, and arrows taking up much of the screen.

  “As you can see,” Zanth continued, “we know that the main Krahn stronghold is located in lower Melaanse, here.” He pointed to a portion of the map with a long staff before continuing. “From intelligence gathered from various captured Krahn, we knew that the main stronghold was somewhere south of our location. Our spies have seen a great deal of activity in and around what was once the House of the Rajani Elder Delataan, who was killed in the first night of the attack. The Krahn have set up barracks in the dwellings of Delataan’s servants.” He dropped the staff back to his side and paced in front of the group.

  “This leads us to believe that they must have access to a landing area somewhere near there,” Zanth continued. “Your mission will be to locate the landing area and transmit its location back to us. Once the location has been relayed, we’ll inform all the teams, and you will all coordinate an attack on the airfield. You’ve been split into strike teams because it will be easier to travel through the city undetected in groups of three. You’ll attack the airfield as one group, but again, your team will be responsible for stealing or destroying one Krahn ship, if possible,” he said, holding up one finger to emphasize his point. “Should the quantity of strike teams outnumber the ships available, your job will be to run interference for those teams that do have a ship. We want you to cause as much damage to the Krahn as possible; there’s no such thing as wanton destruction on this mission. Understand?” He waited a moment until a Rajani, his short hair braided in an approximation of a Ralik, stood up to Fajel’s left.

  “Yes, Welemaan?” Zanth asked.

  Fajel almost laughed, hearing Rachal snorting in his mind at the mention of the Rajani Elder’s name, but caught himself in time. This wasn’t the time for humor, even if the Rajani did look ridiculous with his short, twisted hair.

  “As you may know,” the Rajani began in a deep voice, “Delataan was my Master before I became an Elder. I spent many years of my life near the area you indicated. If it’s true that the Krahn are using his house and grounds for their main base of operations, then there’s only one field large enough near it that they could use.”

  Welamaan practically strutted up to where Zanth stood. “If I may?” he said, reaching his hand out for the staff that Zanth held.

  Zanth gave it to him. “Of course.”

  Welemaan pointed to an area on the map a ways to the south of the location Zanth had pointed out as being the home of Delataan. “The field is here, and borders this inlet. If the landing area is there, then perhaps we could enter the inlet from the ocean and go undetected.” He handed the staff back to Zanth and returned to his seat on the floor.

  “Thank you for your knowledge and your suggestion,” Zanth said. “We have looked into this, but haven’t been able to find any oceangoing vessels that weren’t destroyed by the Krahn. I’m afraid our only alternative in this is traveling through the city. Are there any other questions?” He waited another moment, and Fajel saw that no one else stood or raised a hand. “Good,” Zanth continued. “Strike team leaders, please wait here. The members of your teams can leave. I would ask that you all please wait to be contacted by your team leaders. As James said, good luck to all of you. May you all return to us safely.”

  Faj
el rose with the rest of the Jirina and Rajani and walked toward the exit. He saw that Mazal and James were standing near the doorway, offering encouragement to the departing teams. As he neared them, Mazal smiled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

  “Ah, Fajel,” Mazal said. “James, have you met my sister’s son?”

  James smiled at him. “Yes, when he first arrived for the meeting.”

  “That’s right!” Mazal said, clapping his hand on Fajel’s shoulder. “I had forgotten. Don’t worry, he won’t embarrass himself again if I can help it.”

  Fajel didn’t know what to say, so he just smiled shyly and muttered a goodbye, before catching up with Rachal.

  “Well, aren’t we all important, talking with The Human?” Rachal said outside the house. “Oh, don’t go getting defensive,” he said when he saw the look on Fajel’s face. “C’mon, I have a bottle of fernta I’ve been saving. Figure I should drink it now. I might not get another chance.”

  “Thank you for the offer,” Fajel said. “But I’m not yet old enough to drink fernta. My mother would be very upset with me.”

  “Nonsense,” Rachal said, putting an arm around Fajel’s shoulders. “If you can die with me, then you can at least drink with me first.”

  #

  James sat in his room and ate his breakfast while he waited for word on the troops moving into position for the attack on the Northern Krahn base. He was feeling nervous at their chance of success on this mission. This would be the largest test they had faced so far. Before, it had mainly been hit-and-run tactics and the occasional bombing of a small Krahn outpost, just to keep the Krahn guessing at where they would strike next. Now it would be a coordinated attack on a heavily fortified base with a group mostly made up of Sekani and Jirina, with a sprinkling of Rajani, and not many of them were experienced fighters. Or, at least, they weren’t used to attacking a large target as part of a coordinated effort.

  James, Gianni, and Kieren would be there to help, of course, but this would mainly be the three races from Rajan fighting the Krahn—and for the first time, they would be fighting together as a unified force. It didn’t help his mood that they still hadn’t heard from David or Yvette. It had been almost three months since they had arrived on Rajan. For all he knew, the two humans, along with Rauph and Bhakat, had not even made it off the ship before it crashed into the ocean.