Hammer's Commandos (Hammer's War Book 4)

by James McEwan

  “They are still off line, I need some new components to repair them. The problem remaining is that with the fabrication shop still off line I can’t make the parts I need.” Eve answered over the comm.

  “Tor Tran-kor may be retreating for now, but he will be back with a lot more Ralnai. We need to get off this shit hole and out of Ralnai space as soon as we can,” St. Claire pointed out what Thad already knew.

  “How are we going get the parts we need?” Kára asked.

  “I think I know a guy that can help,” Thad said with a hint of a smile.

  “Oh?” Kára said.

  “Yeah, you will like him,” Thad said as he patted her shoulder. Kára gave him a concerned look, “He's an Eli.” Kára just rolled her eyes. It turned out that Kára was not a big fan of the Eli of this time, as most of them had been devolving over the years they were nothing like her or the people that the Eli once were.

  “Alright I’m game. What do you have in mind?” St. Claire asked.

  Thad pointed to Horota’s ship, “We are going to steal that little bastard’s ship. He was the Nekton who shot me.”

  “Just how many people have shot you today?” St. Claire asked, giving him a hard time.

  “I don’t know. I lost count. But you are the only one left still drawing a breath,” Thad fired back at his friend.

  “Whatever. Shit, shoot a friend once and they will never let you forget. Okay. Now about that ship,” St. Claire said as he charged off in the direction of Horota’s ship.

  Chapter 38

  Lars was sitting behind the counter of his little shop. A mug of beer in one hand and a dark-haired tan desert girl in his other. She was sitting on his knee feeding him small chucks of cheese and meat off a nearby tray. He looked up when the door of his shop opened and closed. Funny though, there was no one there. He looked around, “That was strange,” he said to the girl on his knee.

  “Hello Lars,” the disembodied voice said. Lars jumped up so fast that he knocked the girl to the ground as she was reaching for the tray. She and the tray crashed down with meat and cheese being launched into the air as if they were fired from an ancient catapult. Lars was stunned when a few pieces of cheese stopped in midair before dropping to the ground.

  “Nice optical camo whoever you are. Lars doesn’t think he has ever seen anything close to its quality,” Lars stated, recovering quickly once he realized what he was seeing.

  Thad shut off the camo and seemed to appear out of thin air. He was followed by St. Claire and Kára. “Remember me, Lars?”

  “Lars remembers. And if Lars remembers correctly, after you left here you blew up the slave market and half of that side of town. So, what can old Lars do for you now?”

  “We need some parts for our ship,” Thad handed him a list of what they needed. “I figured if anyone could get or fabricate the parts it would be Lars.”

  Lars looked over the list then he looked up at Thad, “You figured right, but what is in it for old Lars? These will not be cheap. You have gold?”

  “We don’t have anything on us at the moment, we will have to owe you,” Thad answered his question.

  “Sorry guys. Lars runs a cash or trade business only, no credit,” Lars said pointing to a sign over the counter that said as much.

  “Cut the shit Lars, what do you want in trade?” St. Claire asked bluntly trying to cut through the bullshit.

  “Oh, Lars thinks one of your active camo generators would do nicely,” he answered.

  Kára, who until now, had been standing quietly behind the two men. But she had enough. She pushed Thad and St. Claire aside and charged up to Lars. She grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground. She cursed at him in Eli. She spoke a delict of Eli that was so old Lars had never heard it before and didn’t understand a word of it.

  “Look sister. Lars doesn’t know where you are from and he’s not following you. If you want to threaten Lars please do so in a language Lars can understand,” Lars said, as he at least understood that she was threatening him.

  Kára switched to English, “You are a poor excuse for an Eli. You will help us for free or I will personally remove whatever you are trying to pass off as your man hood and force feed it to you. Do you understand now?” She asked as she grabbed his testacies and squeezed.

  Lars didn’t take too kindly to that and he tried to fight back. He head-butted her in the face. Kára reared back and then she returned the head-butt, but only much harder. She then tossed him across the room. He slammed into a shelf full of goods which toppled over and him with it. Kára she started to pull a charge from the air as her armor was fully repaired now.

  As the blue energy built up around her waist Thad leaned over to St. Claire, “Think we should stop her?”

  “Nope. I ain’t even gonna try.” St. Claire replied, “besides, do you think we could without getting OUR asses kicked?”

  “Nope,” Thad echoed him.

  Lars hands popped up first, “Wait!” he shouted. Kára paused, the blue energy was swirling around her right arm now. “Where did you get that?” He asked as he got up and pointed to her armor.

  “What?” she asked confused.

  “Your armor. That stuff is supposed to be a legend. The stuff of stories Lars’ Nan told him when Lars was a kid. You know, you must of heard them. The stories of the sisters of the light and the great war with the Nephilim and all. It can’t be real,” Lars said as he took a few steps tentative forward.

  “It is real all of it. The war with the Nephilim. ALL the stories,” Kára said.

  “How much do you want for it? Name your price and it is yours.” He took another step closer.

  “It’s not for sale,” Kára stated firmly.

  “Oh, come now sweetheart, everything is for sell for the right price. Lars bets yours is high, but Lars bets it is worth it,” Lars said as he stared at her chest.

  St. Claire had been watching the exchange and when Lars made the “sweetheart” comment St. Claire said quietly, “Big mistake dude.

  Kára let lose a blast that hit Lars in the groin. His whole body went rigid and he made a strange groaning sound as he fell over, straight as a board.

  “Told ya.” St. Claire said as he watched Lars crash down.

  “Did you kill him?” Thad asked.

  “No. I just stunned the jerk. He will be okay, but I bet he can’t get his stuff to work for at least a week,” she laughed. She turned to Lars and asked rhetorically “So how is THAT for sweetheart?”

  Thad bent down next to Lars, “So about those parts?”

  “They’re on the house, Lars pleasure.” he squeaked out.

  An hour later Lars, still walking funny, had put together everything on the list. “Here you go. Now if you would please leave and never come back!” He said as he pushed the hover cart towards Thad.

  “Thank you for your help. Now there is one more thing,” Thad said with a bit of a wicked grin.

  “No, no, no, Lars got what you asked for. No, you don't get to ask for just one more thing for Lars. Lars is done and you can leave now!” Lars begged as he pointed to the door.

  “I’m sorry Lars, but you need to come with us. It is for your own safety,” St. Claire joined the conversation.

  “Lars safety? Lars doesn’t think so. Old Lars can take care of himself,” he said as he took up a defiant posture.

  “Yeah and how long do you think you are going to last when old Tor Tran-kor finds out you are a spy?” St. Claire asked mocking his stance.

  “Who ever said Lars was a spy? Lars is just a humble purveyor of arms, supplies and other black market goods.” Lars said back

  “And just how many arms dealers don’t also trade in information?” Thad shot the question at him.

  “Well, a lot, but what makes you think Lars does? And Lars is not saying that Lars does, but even if Lars was, what makes you think that Tor Tran-kor will ever find out?” Lars asked smugly.

  “Cut the shit Lars. We know you are a spy or do I have t
o remind you who we work for?” St. Claire was losing his patience with him. “And that big dumb lizard isn’t as dumb as you think he is.”

  As if on cue Kára, who had been outside keeping watch, stepped back into the shop, “Ralnai patrol coming this way. They are searching every shop and booth.”

  “Dom, get everyone and the parts back to the ship, I got this,” Thad said as he pulled the slide back on his sidearm to ensure that he had a round in the chamber.

  “You sure? I could stay. It looks like it could be fun,” St. Claire said as he unholstered his own sidearm.

  “Go, I will be right behind you,” Thad said as he walked over to a shelf that held a couple of boxes of live grenades.

  “Hey what about Lars? You can’t just force Lars out of his home and business!” Lars protested.

  Kára charged up her right gauntlet and pointed at Lars’s groin again, “You can come willingly or I could just stun your worthless ass again and carry you to the ship. Your choice, but you better make it quick or I will make it for you!”

  Lars’s hands instinctively covered his genitals, “And where is this ship?” he asked in a slightly high pitched tone.

  St. Claire clapped his hand on Lars’s shoulder, “Smart choice. The ship is this way.”

  Thad laughed as he slipped the remote detonator off one of the fragmentation grenades and into his hand. He set the grenade back in the middle of the others, while Kára pushed the cart with the parts on it out the back door.

  Thad was standing behind the business counter when the Ralnai patrol entered the shop. The patrol leader wasted no time in confronting Thad, “Human, where is the Eli that runs this establishment?”

  “Do you mean Lars or someone else?” Thad acted stupid.

  “Yeah Lars. Where is he? And just who are you?” The Leader asked.

  “Lars isn’t here, and me I’m nobody,” Thad couldn’t help himself. While they talked the other Ralnai looked around the shop and one of them stood right in front of the shelf with the grenades. Thad hoped he wouldn’t spot the armed one, and he didn’t. Thad wanted to give the others the time they needed to get to the ship and get it ready for what he guessed was going to be a very fast getaway.

  “I can see that, you stupid human, but I want to know where Lars is!” The Ralnai was getting upset and the more Thad could spin up the leader the happier Thad got.

  “I told you where Lars is. I told you he isn’t here. That is where Lars is,” Thad said on the verge of cracking a smile, but his years as a cold-blooded killer had taught him to keep his emotions in check.

  The big lizard slammed his clawed fist down on the counter and roared, “I didn’t ask you to tell me where he isn’t, I wanted to know where he is!”

  “How in the hell should I know?!? I’m here and he isn’t. Now if I was with him I could tell your where he is, but as you can see, and as I have already pointed out, I’m here and not there.” Thad responded.

  This sent the Ralnai into a rage. He roared again and grabbed Thad by the throat and pulled him close. “Last time I’m going to ask you, where is Lars?”

  “And this is the last time I’m going to tell you that you will have to ask Lars that,” Thad said as he pressed the barrel of his pistol to the midsection of the big lizard.

  It was at that moment when one of the other Ralnai recognized Thad and stated, “Hey isn’t that one of the humans we are supposed to be looking for? The Hammer guy!”

  The Ralnai's head jerked back a little and his eyes squinted a little as he took a better look at Thad. “I think you are right,” but he said too distracted to notice the gun pointed at his guts.

  “Guilty as charged!” Thad said with a smile. Then he winked and pulled the trigger several times. The bullets ripped through the big lizard, spraying Ralnai guts everywhere. The Ralnai didn’t die right away. He let go of Thad and crumbled to the floor while the others tried to level their weapons at Thad.

  Thad knew that Lars was no fool and he surmised that Lars had armored the counter and he was sure it would survive just about anything. Thad dropped down behind it and pushed the button.

  Outside of the shop, St. Claire, Kára, and Lars had only gotten a couple of blocks away when the ground rumbled. They turned around to see a cloud of smoke and dust rising into the air from the area where Lars’s shop had been. St. Claire noticed the pained look on Lars’s face, “What’s wrong? It’s not like you were going to get to keep any of it anyway.”

  “I know, but it was just when Lars saw his face Lars somehow knew he was going to blow shit up, again. Lars is just bummed it was Lars’ shit he blew up,” Lars replied.

  “You will be a whole lot more bummed if you don’t get your ass moving and we get caught by another Ralnai patrol.

  “Right,” was all he said and turned his back on what was now the smoking remains of his business.

  Thad was right the armored counter handled the blast nicely, however, it did nothing for his ears. He stood up his ears ringing like a church bell on Sunday morning. He looked around at the carnage. Amongst the smoke and fires there wasn’t a piece big enough left of any of the Ralnai to definitively identify it as belonging to anyone of them. Thad looked at his handy work, but not for long as the fires were starting to set off other things in the shop and Thad knew it was time to leave.

  St. Claire loaded the cart while Kára escorted Lars to one of the holding cells that Horota had built into his ship. “Hey, wait a minute this is Horota’s ship,” Lars said as he recognized it. “What happened to that little shit?”

  “He was invited to lunch,” Kára said.

  “What?” Lars asked not understanding.

  “Oh, I mean he was lunch.” Kára answered correcting herself.

  “Wait, are you telling Lars someone ate him?” Lars asked even more confused.

  “Yep, he pissed off the wrong Bastep Nefamii,” Kára answered his question.

  “Really? Well it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy if you ask Lars,” he said before he realized where Kára intended to put him. “Wait you aren’t going to put Lars in a cell, are you?”

  “Yes, at least for now. I don’t trust you not to run off while we get the ship ready to lift off,” Kára said as she closed the door behind him.

  He looked out through the bars and with a pained look on his face, “Really where would Lars go?”

  St. Claire had just finished loading the parts when he noticed Thad running towards them fast. St. Claire raised his hand and waved at Thad as if St. Claire was just being friendly to a neighbor. But Thad was not alone. Behind him was another patrol of Ralnai and they didn’t look to happy with him.

  “Start the damn engines!” Thad was yelling as he ducked yet another shot from a Ralnai weapon.

  “Kára! Please get this heap of shit running. I think it’s time to go sweetheart,” St. Claire said calmly over his com before taking up his laser rifle. He picked his target, aimed and squeezed the trigger. The laser bolt found its mark and a Ralnai trooper dropped to the ground, his head now had one more hole then it did a second ago. St. Claire provided cover fire for Thad who covered the distance surprisingly fast.

  Thad joined St. Claire and turned to join in the shooting. They needed to hold off the Ralnai long enough for Kára to get the engines hot so they could lift off. “That didn’t take long, was that Ralnai not a big talker?”

  “Ah, it was a boring conversation anyway. I thought this would be more fun.” Thad said as he dropped another Ralnai sending him to his fate. “And what was that little wave when I was running towards you all about?” Thad asked.

  “I was just trying to be friendly. I thought the gesture might calm the Ralnai down a little.” St. Claire answered.

  Thad looked sideways at St. Claire and shook his head in amazement and wonder at his best friend. Thad was also wondering if St. Claire was being serious or just fucking with him once again. Thad was never quite sure.

  A blast from a Ralnai sonic rifle struck St. Claire in the left arm
, the one that was already damaged. However, it had no effect on his armor other than making his arm inside tingle a bit. “We really need to discuss your idea of fun.” St. Claire said.

  Thad dropped two more with the last two shots from his pistol’s magazine, “Hey, weren’t you just telling me back at the shop you wanted this kind of fun?” He dropped the empty mag on the ground and shoved another one in its place.

  “I was kidding!” St. Claire yelled as another blast of a Ralnai weapon just barely missed his head.

  “You were?” Thad acted shocked as he raised his pistol and killed another Ralnai who was dumb enough to try to rush them.

  “Oh, just shut up and shoot asshole,” St. Claire barked as he returned fire dropping yet another in what seemed like a never-ending supply of Ralnai troopers.

  Thad laughed and kept on firing. It was not often that Thad got one in on St. Claire and he was going to enjoy this moment to its fullest.

  Inside Kára ran to the bridge and dropped into the pilot’s chair. Her fingers worked the engine start up procedures as fast as the ships computer would let her. She got the engines on line but it would take them at least a good minute to a minute and half before they were ready for lift off.

  Kára looked over the scanner data and she saw that the Ralnai had one of their medium tanks coming towards their position. This tank was the one the humans had nicked-named the Slinking Killer. It was a low profile tracked vehicle jointed in the middle and could be armed with a number of different armaments depending on the need. This one was armed with a tri-barreled power gun. The tri-barrel was a nasty weapon that would easily tear the ship apart, especially on the ground where they couldn’t use their screens.

  “Boy’s if you are done having your fun, I suggest you get on board as things are about to get a little hot out there,” Kára advised St. Claire and Thad as she locked one of the ships missiles on the tank. The two men didn’t need a second warning they beat feet up the ramp as the Ralnai started to close the distance now that no one was shooting at them.