Southern Discontent

by Craig Martelle

  A group of ten humans (southerners) attack in broad daylight, using bows & arrows along with spears with rough stone tips. It’s too much for those left behind. The men grab the lightning spears (about 20) and disappear to the south.

  Some Wolfoids get hurt. Can't kill anyone up front. How do our friendly Wolfoids respond? They are furious and want to hunt down the purveyors of interspecies war! The Wolfoids Bounder & Strider know that a war won’t be good. They race to New Sanctuary to find Braden & Micah

  Braden and Micah are furious, too, but insist on leading the effort to go after the raiders. They run back to Livestel with Bounder & Strider to calm the Wolfoids. With them are the three Hillcats, G-War, Fea, & Treetis and the Hawkoids, Skirill & Zyena. Aadi comes later hanging onto Brandt as the great king runs through the plains after his friends.

  They know they have to go after the raiders and build their recovery party (Braden refuses to call it a war party, which is what the Wolfoids will keep referring to it as).

  They decide to leave immediately because if they don’t, they know the Wolfoids will go alone. The second Brandt arrives, they turn him around and race back to pick up an Old Tech wagon, the twins – Ax & ‘Tesh, their ‘cats, Klytus and Shauna. They even convince Heloysius and Luciana, the Rabbits from New Sanctuary to join them.

  They fill the wagon and race off, intercepting the Wolfoids who are already running south tracking as dogs do, running after the men who headed west on the ancients’ road.

  Chapter 2

  The group heads south – work on the dynamics between the characters. Reiterate some training as they learn to work together, especially the new members – the four young Wolfoids who are all fired up to participate. Bounder and Strider will have some work to do with the youngsters.

  Braden and Micah continue to train. The twins are now five years old and their antics give everyone pause (insert humorous stuff here as Klytus and Shauna get into as much trouble as the kids).

  Run and encounter between the kids and a mutant crawler (big rattlesnake). Good fight scene with the ‘cats and the kids. By the time the adults, Fea leading the way, get there, all is back to normal.

  Take the group to the coast.

  Holly offers to bring the Warden to pick them up. Brandt gets bent out of shape. He’s not good with going to sea.

  We’ll end this chapter with the Warden appearing, but the group is undecided if they are going to take it or not.

  Chapter 3

  Holly convinces them that if they could get in front of the southerners, then they could cut them off. Braden decides to split his force, sending a stronger group ahead on the Warden and landing far to the south. With the mountains to their east, they believe the raiders will remain close to the coast.

  The group splits in half. Micah takes the kids and the ‘cats (all except G-War) on the Warden, along with Gray Strider and two other Wolfoids. The Rabbits go aboard, too, along with Aadi.

  That leaves Braden, G-War, Treetis, Brandt, the wagon, Bounder, two young Wolfoids. There’s a bit of a teary goodbye as the ship heads to sea with the crowd.

  Now we will start two POVs and sub-arcs. Micah’s group at sea and Braden’s group ashore. G-War is a royal pain because he misses his woman, but he won’t admit it and Braden keeps teasing him.

  Chapter 4

  Micah at sea. Rexalita joins the ship and soon Chlora and Rhodi joint, too. The new Wolfoids get horribly seasick. Klytus falls overboard and they have to rescue him. He scratches one Chlora and she lets him have it, dumping him back in the ocean and using her tail to launch him like from a catapult. He lands on the deck and everyone is unhappy until he apologizes. The twins can talk with the Dolphins & Whale.

  Braden on shore, have some adventures as they trail the men south. Holly keeps everyone informed through Braden and Micah’s neural implants. Bounder unerringly tracks the men.

  You’ll see from the map that the southern terrain is undefined. That means it can be whatever we need it to be. Holly can look at the whole world because of the orbiting satellites. He and Braden can get in a long conversation about the southern terrain – collect the intel as it may be. Holly can let him know that there could be a thousand people in the south.

  They trail the men until they turn east and into the mountains. Micah is still at sea. Their plan to cut the men off failed. Bounder wanted to track the men before he lost their scent. Rain was coming. They head inland. Micah and the others are trapped at sea, fretting.

  Chapter 5

  Micah looks for a place to land but has to continue south where she finds a series of fishing villages. They are able to find a natural harbor large enough for the Warden. They find nice people and a great range beyond of grazing land and farm land. They need fertilizer and some help covering the large area. The farmers do everything by hand.

  Micah calls Bronwyn to see if she can recruit a group of go-getter Aurochs to come south and establish a new herd.

  Bronwyn agrees and she and Zeeka find volunteers, along with Zeller, the Aurochs with her (forget his name), and they take the new mini-herd (20 head) head west to the west coast and then south to where Micah is. Bronwyn gets the most from the herd and they make the trip in five days. Zeller and Neeson split off to go to New Sanctuary so Tom & Neeson can journey to the RV Traveler where the big Treecat Neeson can get his leg fixed.

  During Bronwyn’s transit, Micah and the others get to know the townspeople, who are skeptical of the talking animals, but get over it quickly when Micah has a powwow with the town elders where the intelligent creatures all get involved.

  Micah doubts that these villagers had anything to do with the raid on Livestel. Some dialogue and feelings here along with some insight from Fealona and Aadi’s wisdom will always prevail when the humans have questions.

  Braden and his small group have to shelter in place during a couple days of torrential rains. They try to look, have some minor adventures in the rain, maybe a young Wolfoid falls from a cliff. A daring mid-storm rescue of the scraped and bruised young fella, but he is okay. When the sky clears, the trail is gone. They can’t decide what to do – go on and search (much slower) or head to the coast and meet up with Micah.

  They decide to continue searching on their own but the wagon is stymied and they leave it behind. Braden is confident since he has his two blasters and Bounder has his lightning spear.

  Chapter 6

  Tom, Zeller, and Neeson go to space (Doctor Johns gives them a comm device so Holly can follow their progress while on the ship and & talk with him since he doesn’t have a neural implant) – recycle the language and arrival from FT3, describe the beds and the process, send them and the ‘cat to the Traveler, but he only needs to go to the aft section (where they do the neural implants as described in Cygnus Expanding). Note the issues they have with walking because of the ship’s spin. It’s weird but they figure it, still bounce off bulkheads throughout. But they need to climb the stairs as the elevator doesn’t work. They go through to the Livestock Level and climb upward until Holly directs them through a door where they find an access shaft. They climb and climb, Young Tom carrying the ‘cat most of the time.

  It’ll be an epic journey and struggle through the ship to get where Neeson can get repaired.

  Braden and his group search – Skirill takes to the sky and becomes their eyes and ears forward.

  Don’t forget to let G-War and Bounder hunt deer for the group. Brandt will shred whole bushes as he powers up on their journey through the hills. Good thing as the grass in the valley beyond is just like Toromont’s weed. He can’t eat it or he goes wonky. This creates a race as they have to cover a great deal of ground to get to a village to the south of the long valley that runs between the hills. Brandt runs out of gas and has to eat some of the grass so he doesn’t keel over. Which makes him stoned and he keels over.

  Micah talks to the town about free trade (regurgitate one of Braden’s speeches from Free Trader 2 or so where he makes a pitch to one of the vi
llages on the north side of the Amazon).

  They contemplate that while she takes her crew up the coast to hunt and bring game back as a friendship offering.

  A couple villagers get on board the Warden and Holly stuns them with an electric shock. When Micah returns and finds this, she is livid, but exercises restraint and doesn’t beat the crap out of the people. Holly explains to her the role of ambassador.

  Chapter 7

  The epic journey aboard the RV Traveler continues. Vines and electrically charged creatures are in their way when they are on the home stretch. The three of them have an incredible battle using stuff lying around (a fire extinguisher, cabling, etc that Holly can describe how to use, like the extinguisher). And finally clear the way, but Tom is injured. Zeller carries him to the med lab while Neeson limps along behind. Scene ends with them getting worked on by the med bots, side by side, before the ‘cat gets dumped in the tank to get fixed.

  Braden and his crew find the villagers with the Wolfoid spears, thanks to Skirill. They come across a hunting party and there’s a battle, Braden withdraws after Brandt takes a lightning bolt in the side. He’s still stoned and couldn’t move quickly enough to cover.

  Braden lights the field on fire with his blaster to cover their retreat. They regroup and head southwest into different hills, but Holly helps them find their way through. Braden needs Micah’s and the others’ help.

  Bronwyn finally arrives at the village with the herd. They have a big powwow, some music, and then they come to an agreement. Big shortcoming, they don’t have anyone who can talk with the Aurochs – no one able to mindlink with the creatures. Bronwyn starts teaching both of them an abbreviated sign language.

  Micah, Fea, the twins and their ‘cats help a core group solidify their moral compass. This group of towns people will be the foundation of an elevated society where the Aurochs Queen would also be one of the elders as they embrace a new way.

  Chapter 8

  The training isn’t yet complete when Braden calls for Micah and the others to meet him. They need an extra day so Braden finds more numbweed to process and they kill some deer to turn into jerky. They decided to take the two days before Micah could arrive to nurse Brandt back to health.

  Micah’s adventures begin when they try to leave the town. A bunch of the towns people try to follow. She tries to talk them out of it. It is their territory after all, not hers. She reluctantly agrees and a mob follows after her, ill prepared for life on the trail. She has to teach them about finding water. They are mostly fisherman, so land survival skills are foreign to them. Good chance for humor here.

  Young Tom wakes up to find that he has been returned to health and that he now has a neural implant. Neeson is healing and Tom is able to talk with him over the mindlink. Neeson feels like a million bucks and wants to get out of the tank now because he hates the feeling of being wet. He starts to panic and the Holly pumps him full of chemicals to put him back to sleep so the bone repair and healing process can complete.

  Zeller explores a little bit. She can find something interesting (doesn’t matter what). She runs into an Android and they fight like demons. She is able to escape from it back to the med lab where she locks herself in. Holly reasserts control and makes the Android go away. When Neeson is cleared to leave the tank, the group leaves the med bay and heads out, skulking past the vines where they get away unscathed. When they head down the shaft, they find the Android waiting for them (end this section with that).

  Chapter 9

  Reunion between Braden, Micah, and the twins, overshadowed by the reunion between G-War and Fea. This was the first time they’d been apart since they bonded. Show G-War to be a down-to-earth decent ‘cat (which will be part of the setup for the next book).

  Aadi provides sage advice throughout, but he’s hanging on for the ride. He is concerned about his offspring, but they are a few years old. He still finally gets Braden and Micah to call through Holly to find them. Daksha and one of the others are at New Sanctuary. They get squeezed into the elevator and delivered to the command center where Daksha can talk with Braden who relays Aadi’s words.

  Daksha’s love of space is born. He wants to work in the command center, but will need a vocalization device, something that had not yet been invented. The interface device that Holly had created early as part of the “true heart” test is how Daksha is able to talk through Holly to Braden & Micah via their neural implant.

  Daksha and Holly come up with the idea for the vocalization device and Holly thinks he can build one. They get to it. Aadi gets very little of the conversation. He’s bummed because Daksha and Holly did most of the talking.

  Braden and Micah aren’t happy with the interior villagers who took the lightning spears and then injure Brandt. As he heals, the large group (remember the towns people) head inland, retracing Braden’s steps through the rugged terrain. The trip takes twice as long because of the towns people. They’re motivated, just have no clue about woodcraft.

  The whole group dynamic changes and there is some friction. Braden wants to go and kick some ass. He doesn’t want to give the villagers the time to establish better defenses. They try to work through their issues, but Braden stews and stews the longer it takes.

  When they finally break into the valley, Skirill delivers the bad news. They have anti-Aurochs defenses (ditches with stakes), built-up firing positions behind which they can fire their spears. Braden has to contemplate what they need to do. The southerners with them offer to try and talk with the other southerners, although they’ve never met them before.

  Some camaraderie and geographical bonds. The spear thieves are total dicks, though and chase off the gentle fishing folk.

  Chapter 10

  Young Tom, Zeller (is she bonded with a ‘cat? I don’t remember, if so, then of course the ‘cat comes along), and Neeson fight off the Android by dropping stuff on it including Neeson. Tom ends up jumping down the shaft into laser fire as the Android flails under the Hillcat attack. Tom lands on it with the full force of his blacksmith strength.

  Turns out the Android was only stunned. They run for it.

  The Android follows down the staircase. They run across a few Wolfoids who remained on the level. As they are running the Wolfoids light up the Android with their spears. The lifeless hulk crashes down the stairs.

  Lots of thanks, a mini celebration. They want to leave, but Zeller and Tom know how it works. Time to slap hand to fur and show how grateful they are for being saved. Tom shows them a little bit about shaping metal in a fire. They end up staying a couple days and Tom fixes some of the huts in their village.

  Tom is learning to use his neural implant during this time. He closes the window often because it gives him a headache. Zeller taught him to read, so he can read the material that Holly shares, but it is too foreign to him.

  Braden rallies the frightened townspeople and comes up with a plant to infiltrate the village using their friends. G-War and Fea would ride Skirill and Zyena on a night infiltration. They’d get dropped off behind the enemy lines, as it may be.

  The Wolfoids would use the darkness to get past as well. Six Wolfoids with the mission to recover the spears. They find where they are stored but can only find twelve of them. That means eight Southerners have spears, but they can only see four. Damn!

  G-War and Bounder pass their information. At dawn, the Hillcats attack and finish off the four men walking the perimeter carrying Wolfoid lightning spears.

  Braden and everyone with him attacks.

  Including Brandt who roars across the field and launches himself over the ditch, easily clearing it. He stampedes into the village and levels two huts before he can get himself back under control.

  He still has a headache from the weed. It has been nearly a week. He can’t wait to get over it.

  The ‘cats and Wolfoids take over the village, rounding up all the people. Sixteen spears have been recovered. They want to know where the other ones war. A couple of the men (none of them di
ed, although the four on guard that came up against the Hillcats are horribly sliced) try to argue and be contentious, but G-War is having none of that. He and Bounder drag the man away, scare the crap out of him, and he who comes clean.

  The townspeople all remain behind to help the villagers get back on their feet. Braden, Micah, and all their people head into the hills to the south to follow the raiding party of ten men, four of whom are carrying lightning spears.

  Chapter 11

  Tom, Zeller, and Neeson take a casual walk back to the transfer room(forgot what it’s called – use the right name) with a couple Wolfoids who decide to change their minds and go to the planet. All of them go back to New Sanctuary without an issue (besides yacking upon arrival, of course). The Wolfoids have a difficult time walking because there’s no spin.

  Tom & Zeller run across Daksha and have an interesting conversation because Neeson links them all together. The Tortoid asks a buttload of questions about space.

  Bounder and Gray Strider pick up the scent of the hunting party. They race after them and the group starts running. Braden and Micah fall back as they are carrying their five-year olds. Bronwyn jumps aboard Brandt and races ahead. The chase is on.

  Braden and Micah are forced to slow down. They are alone. The others have all gone ahead. Even the Rabbits raced ahead to keep pace. G-War, and the other four ‘cats remain with their humans while looking longingly ahead.

  G-War shrugs and they head out, maintaining the best pace they can. Skirill relays pictures of the groups. The men are running, but decide they can’t stay ahead, especially with the Wolfoids bearing down on them. They find a small ditch to dive into and they turn and fire the lightning spears at their pursuers. The Wolfoids light up the area creating a conflagration – six spears, fired simultaneously and held active until they ran out of juice, then they swapped and grabbed six new ones to fire again.