by Ryan Kirk
Although he had hoped for a warm welcome, he had not expected one. Change was difficult, and much had been asked of the clans in the past few months and years. He understood that it was the change the clans hated, not him, but change was hard to focus your anger on. The person who brought that change was a worthy substitute.
While he didn’t fret about the reaction of his clan, he desired a warmer reception from Shet. He needn’t have worried. The old man stood up and embraced Tev, tears glistening in his eyes. For a moment, they stood together near the fire, and Tev looked over his elder. The strength in Shet’s arms was still apparent, and the spirit in his eyes hadn’t dimmed, but even from a glance Tev could see the old man’s health was failing.
The realization was saddening, but not unexpected. Shet was old, even for an elder, and none of them were getting any younger. His continued life was a blessing from Lys.
Shet led them away from the fire, and Tev was reminded of the last time he and Shet had spoken, before Kindra’s people had arrived. The night had been much like this, a clear night as the campfire burned behind them. It was hard to believe that night had been years ago.
Tev spoke before Shet could say anything. “It’s good to see you again, Shet.”
“And you, Tev. You have been in my thoughts daily since you left.”
The elder’s response was everything Tev wanted to hear. He could feel a small amount of tension melt from his body, pleased that he hadn’t been forgotten by his clan.
Tev told the story of his past few years, all the things he had seen and done. Shet listened with rapt attention, his eyes wandering far away, his imagination trying to picture the wonders Tev described.
Tev kept his summary as short as he could. Otherwise he would risk going on for days. Before long, Tev was caught up with the current situation, and he warned Shet about what was coming.
Shet took the news in stride, almost as though he had been expecting it. Tev supposed that wasn’t really a surprise. The entire reason they had recruited exosuit pilots from the clans was because they expected a day like this to come. Just because it had happened sooner than expected didn’t change much.
Shet, as was his way, dove straight to the heart of the matter. “You care for the girl, don’t you?”
“Is it obvious?”
Tev could hear the mirth in Shet’s voice. “I’ve known you since you were a babe, Tev. The only woman you’ve ever spoken of that way is Neera.”
Silence grew between them, Tev unable to ask the question that was bothering him the most.
Shet prodded him. “So, what troubles you?”
Tev took a moment to search for the words that described best what he wanted to say. “Everything that’s happened, I’ve come to believe, is right. I can’t find a better word. True, perhaps?”
“But you don’t trust yourself?”
Tev shook his head. He’d never framed the question that way, but the summary was accurate. “I still struggle to understand who I am and what I’m meant to do. There are still times I feel torn between two worlds. Am I a hunter or a pilot?”
Shet chuckled. “These outsiders have become a bad influence on you, Tev.”
Tev fought the small surge of anger that welled up in him. He’d given Shet no reason to laugh. “What do you mean?”
“When you track an animal, do you doubt your senses or your instinct?”
“No.”
“Then stop doubting yourself now. Trust yourself, and stop thinking so small.”
Tev’s confusion must have been evident even in the dark.
Shet continued. “This is something I’ve been thinking on ever since you left. Our way of life hasn’t changed much in years, and I’m not sure it should. I will have to think on what you’ve learned, but it sounds as though I would still prefer our way of life over another. But we do need to change the way we think. We’re not just clans anymore. There are others out there, and if we want to live in peace, we need to think of ourselves differently.
“What I’m trying to say, Tev, is that you aren’t just a hunter or a pilot. You’re both, and I suspect that will someday be true of more and more of us. Stop thinking with such small categories. If what you say is true, you’re human, just like me, and just like the girl.”
“She once told me almost exactly the same thing,” Tev said.
“Then she’s a very wise woman.”
They both laughed at that, and a warm silence descended on the two men. Shet, surprisingly, was the one who broke it.
“There’s something else?”
Tev nodded. “Are we doing the right thing? Is bringing these weapons to our planet and forcing the clans into a new way of life correct?”
Shet was silent as he thought. “That is a hard question, and one that I’m not sure has an answer. Who knows how our actions today will affect our children and our grandchildren? I only know two things. First, if you are doing the best you can, you should not worry about the consequences. If you are doing all you can, there is nothing more to be done.”
Tev waited for the thought to finish. He was about to prod the old man when he spoke again.
“Second, you cannot take the weight of this entirely on your shoulders. We have decided to follow this path you have set us on, but you did not force us. The weight of the future is on all of us. When you went on your boar hunt, right before the aliens came, do you remember what I said?”
“You said I needed to trust the clan.”
“This is still true. We have decided to follow your lead, so it is our decision as much as yours.”
“Would you have done the same?”
Shet let out a short smile. “You are asking an old man if he has the courage of youth. No, I wouldn’t have done the same.”
Tev’s heart sank, but then was buoyed moments later.
“But I would have been wrong, Tev. I wish there was another, better path into the future. But if it exists, I do not see it. You’ve done well, Tev.”
Tev took a deep breath and released the last of his tension. Shet’s words were exactly what he had needed to hear. Together, they slowly made their way back to the camp, both to give Tev time to catch up and to warn the clan of what was coming.
Tev glanced down at the abrupt drop below him. He was at least a hundred meters in the air, and he was only halfway to their destination. He wasn’t wearing any armor, but even if he had been, he wasn’t sure it would have protected him.
Perhaps volunteering for this mission hadn’t been the smartest idea. He was a hunter of the forests, and although he considered himself a fair climber, he never scaled faces like the one in front of him. The climbing wasn’t hard, exactly. The plateau wasn’t a sheer cliff, and in many places he could crawl up without a problem. There were always good handholds and footholds.
But that didn’t make the effort any less intense. Overconfidence would easily get him killed here. The holds were large, but if he missed one and fell, odds were he wasn’t coming back. The other three hunters that had come with were all native to this area, and glided across the rock face as though they didn’t have a care in the world. Tev both hated and envied them.
Tev had wanted to be a part of the scouting party, because … why? He was having trouble remembering how he had justified it to himself. Wanting to make sure they were careful? Whatever his reasons had been, he felt foolish about them now. There were other mountain clan hunters who had volunteered, but he had overruled them.
Unfortunately, the time had come and gone for him to change his mind, so here he was, stuck climbing a mountain as best as he was able.
Their decision to hide had influenced many of their other choices in the past week. Hellbringer didn’t know there were any dropships planetside, and Derreck wanted to maintain that advantage for as long as he could. Fortunately, Nicks seemed content to let that happen. The Hellbringer had set itself up in a very high orbit. They couldn’t be sure, but Derreck was relatively confident they hadn’t been spotted, not yet.
Nicks’ caution was working against him again.
Hunters spotted at least one dropship that had landed, and when the news trickled back to the camp Derreck had urged them to scout out the advance party. The captain saw an opportunity to ambush a small group of pilots, and several days later, Tev found himself panting for breath in the thin air.
Abandoning the suits for this mission had been a controversial decision. Derreck had fought hard against some of the lance commanders to convince them. He had two thoughts: the first was that he had fought against hunters before, his first time on the planet. A hunter, by himself, could evade detection from a suit. If they took the suits, it would only be a matter of time before whatever sensors were on top of the plateau would pick up their approach. The advance party would notify Hellbringer, and the surprise would be spoiled. Derreck’s other point was even less popular. The suits were valuable, and Derreck argued they shouldn’t be used until needed. There were hundreds upon hundreds of hunters on the planet, but less than two dozen suits. The hunters wanted to use the suits because of the additional power and protection they provided, but eventually they capitulated.
No one was sure what they were going to find on the top of the plateau. They assumed there would be at least a few suits, but their rewards might be even much richer than that. If they were truly fortunate, they could take a vulnerable dropship. Their only report had been about the landing, and that had been several days ago.
The only way to find out was to keep climbing, so they did. Tev picked his way up the rocks behind everyone else, painfully aware he was holding up the rest of the party. He was the only one even breathing hard.
Not only did they need to climb the rock face, they needed to do so while remaining out of sight of the top. Silence was crucial. If they accidentally knocked a rock down the face, there was a chance the pilots on top of the plateau might notice it. Everything came together to produce a slow and torturous climb for Tev.
The sun was beating down mercilessly by the time they approached the top. Although he was certain the sensation was mostly in his head, Tev felt as though he had climbed much closer to the sun. He was positive that his skin was burning, but there was little to do about it now.
Moving a centimeter at a time, Tev and his companions slid their heads above the line of the plateau, seeing for the first time what Nicks and his crew were working on. From his vantage point, Tev saw one exosuit working on a machine. Although Tev couldn’t identify the device, he suspected it was some sort of sensor to scan this area of the planet. Derreck had told him the practice was common when his people explored a new place.
Using hand signals, the other hunters told Tev to remain where he was. The rest of them were going to climb farther around the plateau, scouting for other suits or ships. Tev nodded his agreement. A part of him felt upset at being left behind, but he saw the route they were planning on taking, and he knew that even if he could follow, he would be a much greater risk. The hunter swallowed his pride and remained in place, occasionally rising slowly to see if the scene had changed. He fought the urge to check more often. The exosuits were wired to notice movement, and each time he brought his head up, he risked alerting the pilot if he moved too quickly.
The sun crawled against the sky, and Tev wished there was more vegetation up here. His skin was on fire, and there was no shade to be found. One time, when Tev poked his head over the edge of the plateau, he saw a second exosuit near the first. From their stance, it was obvious they were conversing, but both pilots wore their helmets, and Tev couldn’t hear their radio transmissions.
The plateau wasn’t too wide. Tev assumed it was maybe about a hundred meters across at most, and it stood as one of the highest points in the area. The plateau wasn’t perfectly flat. One large fissure ran through the middle of it, and the ground on top was rolling enough to provide a fair amount of cover. If they decided to attack, stealth would be possible, if difficult.
Finally, the other hunters returned, so silent Tev almost didn’t notice them approaching. Together they retreated a few dozen paces and conferred in soft whispers.
The others had circled most of the plateau, and had seen the entire top. There were three exosuits in a small camp. There was no dropship, which Tev was glad about. Such a prize would have been beneficial to their cause, but taking one with only four hunters was more of a task than he felt was possible.
Two pilots were focused on studying the machine they had brought with them. The third was the greatest danger, patrolling the top of the plateau at random. The hunters, bold as always, wanted to kill their enemies, even though Tev hesitated. He was the only one present who had ever fought against the exosuits by hand, and his memories of that bloody attempt were still fresh in his mind years later. Their only advantage now was that they knew how the exosuits worked. If Tev could see what models they were fighting against, he might be able to find a weak point. They agreed on a plan and moved immediately to implement it.
First, Tev needed to climb. He followed two of the hunters as they worked their way around the sides of the plateau. The fourth, Tev’s partner, followed. Tev moved with care, making sure each hand and foot was secure before continuing. Better slow and safe than dead. His fingertips, unused to the demands placed on them, were tearing against the rock face, but Tev had to use them anyway. They climbed to where the fissure met the edge of the plateau, and Tev worked his way in. After a few minutes of contortions within the tight space, Tev finally found a position he could work with. He was able to put his full weight on his feet, a relief to his battered hands. His partner settled in next to him.
The two other hunters moved on, finding places on the edge of the plateau closest to the other two exosuits. Then the ambush became a matter of waiting. Tev focused on his breath, a slow intake, a pause, and an even slower exhale. The technique was one he learned as a child, and it calmed his heartbeat as he waited for his enemy to appear. Eventually he did, the pilot looking out over the vista in front of him, his back to Tev and the fissure.
Ever so slowly, Tev stood taller, until he could get a good view of the suit. Once he had a glance he slowly lowered himself, and not a second too soon. The suit turned around and continued its track, not stopping too long at any one place. The good news was, Tev knew what type of suit they were up against, and he knew the places the armor didn’t cover. It would be a difficult angle, but he could hit it. He gave the signal to his partner, and they waited for the suit to show itself again.
This time, they didn’t have long to wait. The pilot was moving around the top of the plateau randomly, and came back to the ambush point soon. Tev heard his partner scramble up the face of the plateau, and he heard the suit try to respond quickly to the new threat.
Their ambush was as simple as they came. The other hunter would approach from the edge of the plateau, drawing the attention of the pilot. While the pilot was distracted, Tev would leap up from the fissure and attack from behind.
Tev leaped and stumbled. His legs were sore from being stuck in one position for too long. Fighting against the pain, he focused on making a clean killing strike. The exosuit warned the pilot he was being attacked from behind, but the pilot couldn’t react quickly enough. The suit was turning around, but Tev’s vision narrowed, and his world became the point of his knife and a small slot on the back of the exosuit’s neck where the helmet met the armor on the shoulders. The slot was moving, but Tev slid his blade within and thrust up. The exosuit collapsed instantly as the pilot inside died.
The top of the plateau became a hive of activity as soon as Tev drove the knife home. The pilot’s companions instantly knew that one of their own was dead, and they seemed none too pleased by it. But their surprise was total. They had been on the plateau for days without incident, and suddenly one of their friends died without warning. Their confusion helped keep Tev and his hunters alive.
Tev sprinted for cover as the exosuits saw him and brought their weapons to bear. He dove as he heard the rifles power u
p, and he landed hard and rolled behind a small rise in the ground. He felt rocky shrapnel tear through the skin of his back as the rifles bore down on him. The spot he had chosen was poor cover, and the exosuits only had to take a few steps forward before they had a clear shot at him.
Fortunately, Tev’s hunters came to his rescue. They pulled themselves up behind the exosuits, and the pilots started to spin to face the new threat.
As soon as he was clear, Tev pushed himself violently back to his feet and sprinted towards the exosuits, bloody knife in hand. The lesson they had been drilling into the hunters from the very first sessions was one of distance to an enemy. Most exosuit pilots were used to fighting at range. Close-quarters combat was often an issue of simply standing your ground and hoping your armor lasted longer than your opponent’s. The hunters could take advantage of that.
The four of them swarmed the two suits, slashing at any joint they could reach while dodging out of the grip and clumsy swings of the pilots.
Tev attracted the attention of one of the rebels, who spun to face the hunter. He brought his rifle up, but Tev moved in close and ducked underneath, his momentum opposite that of the suit’s arm. The pilot fired his rifle, but the shells passed harmlessly over Tev’s head, even if the whine of the rifle did deafen him for a few moments.
Tev sliced at the elbow joint of the suit, his sharp blade cutting through the weak protection with little problem. The pilot overreacted, swinging his arm back, trying to knock Tev sideways. Tev simply ducked down low again, letting the arm pass overhead while he cut down at the exosuit’s knee.
The pilot was getting wise to Tev’s plan, and he kicked out, catching Tev by surprise. Tev fell backwards, the kick passing just in front of his face. Tev scrambled away, but the exosuit pilot was bringing his rifle up, and Tev couldn’t move fast enough to get out of sight. Tev did the only thing he could think of. He rolled on his side as the rifle came to life, shells tracking closer and closer.