The Battle for the Ringed Planet

by Richard Edmond Johnson

  “No!” she grinned and stood on a small ledge above the generator protected by a steel railing. She leaned over and wet her hair and face in the spray, spreading her arms and splashing water on her neck, “Oh that’s so good!”

  “That’s a lot of power!” He studied to holo column of numbers.

  Then Siiri giggled and splashed him. He turned away, slightly annoyed, “Hey!”

  “Oh good, you don’t melt, Sky Demon!”

  The roar was deafening but the water on his face felt refreshing. There were many waterfalls on Kanata, but Torian could not remember ever having been behind one.

  Siiri’s dress was soaked from the waist up revealing her linen slip underneath as she splashed Torian again, “Hey!” she hollered, “Your clothes don’t get wet!”

  “It’s the material, different then yours.”

  “That’s no fun!”

  The tunnel went off in two directions from the falls, stairs down to the valley and a long branch towards Kaarina. He was impressed by the perfectly chiseled flight of steps as they descended to the bottom. The passage turned away from the waterfall and continued straight until they came upon a large room with a double wooden door in the wall full of steel barrels and crates.

  “This leads out to the valley, Torian Sky Demon. Everyone will be inside because of the Sky … I mean your Callisto sky ship that crashed. Sentinels watching in the trees will spot us and give warning with electric signals.”

  “We can detect them.”

  “I’m scared.”

  “Crossbow bolts cannot penetrate a Prox shield.”

  “Father Jarlan has Sky Demon weapons and other equipment he makes the scavengers give him.”

  “I can target anything he has.”

  She stopped him planting her palm on his chest, “Your fancy gadgets and pistol won’t stop a fanatic crowd of hundreds.”

  “Will they listen to reason?”

  “Not from a Sky Demon.”

  “Why?”

  “Because, I told you! The Sky Demons killed all the people in the city! Father Jarlan knows everything; I doubt you can disarm him or that he will listen to you. He’ll just kill us.”

  Torian frowned, “I doubt this priest of yours knows what’s coming, or anything about Imperium Marines. You said they were all inside the tunnels, well, we can just tell a few, and maybe they’ll spread the word.”

  “Oh, they’ll spread the word all right.”

  “They have a communications system?”

  “An intercom system.”

  “Well, you can wait here if you want.”

  The blonde girl gave him a reflective gaze, “Give me a plasma pistol.”

  “No.”

  Audibly sighing, “This is a stupid idea,” Then she gave him a hard stare, “I suppose I have no choice.”

  “That’s the spirit.” Torian pushed open the double wooden doors and sunlight poured into the dimly lit room. The outside was wooded, green and lush. Siiri moved up close to him glancing nervously at a thicket holding her Con.

  “Torian, there is a sentinel in the trees ahead.”

  “I see him,” his Con produced a holo display of a crouching young man in a tree blind holding a crossbow.

  “It’s Alvarr, my sister’s betrothed, the worst shot in the whole village. He’ll probably wet his pants when he sees you.” Torian strode with his pistol drawn under a tall fir tree with a well-camouflaged platform a few feet up and a lone figure watching across the wide green valley.

  Peering up and walking around, the flight specialist called up, “Hey!”

  A man about Torian’s age peered down and gasped dropping his jaw, and as he fumbled with his crossbow, it slipped out of his hands, “A Sky Demon!”

  “Hi Alvarr.” Siiri poked her head out from a tree near Torian.

  “You brought him here? You traitorous demon witch!”

  Then all stared at his crossbow on the ground next to Torian’s feet, “Well, Alvarr, I guess you’re at a disadvantage.”

  “He shot himself in the foot once, so it’s better he’s disarmed.” Siiri folded her arms.

  Alvarr was frantically signaling by pressing a button attached to the trunk of the tree, “You may fray me alive, Sky Demon, but now the whole village is alerted!”

  “That’s if they believe you, Alvarr, the last time you pressed panic button we all enjoyed a fine meal of venison.”

  “Filthy evil Demon Spawn!” He kept pressing.

  Picking up the crossbow Torian handed it to Siiri, “Are you any good with this?”

  “I’m the best girl shot in the village.”

  “Is she, Alvarr?” Torian glanced up at the red haired man still pounding the signal button.

  “Yep, she’s better than most of the boys, too.” He commented honestly.

  “Impressive.” Torian glanced at Siiri who shot him a smirk and then back up at Alvarr, “Why don’t you climb down.”

  “You’ll strip me naked and flay off all my skin, and that would be awfully embarrassing in front of the filthy demon spawn girl.”

  “I’ll look the other way.”

  “And I’ll give you a running start.”

  “Really?”

  “But you have to tell everyone I just want to give them a message, and not kill them all.”

  “I promise!”

  “Tell them I mean no harm.”

  “Sure sure!”

  “I’ll count to five, now come on down.”

  “Don’t flay me!”

  “One …”

  Alvarr clambered down the tree and sprinted towards the river, turning sharply, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Help! Help! A Sky Demon is here and he’s going to flay us all!”

  Torian glanced at his Con, “And he’s going to marry your sister?”

  “There is a shortage of eligible bachelors in the village.”

  “Well that sounds promising.”

  “I wouldn’t get your hopes up. They’d line up in droves to marry Alvarr before consorting with a Sky Demon.”

  “Their loss.”

  “Right. You would love them and leave them anyway, just like in the holos.”

  “And die in some far away space battle?”

  “Yes.”

  “Like here?”

  “I’ll bet you’ve left a few girls at far away space ports.”

  The tall military man examined the crossbow in Siiri’s hand, “No, too many cynical girls watched the same holo as you did. Five bolts in the box, pretty smart.”

  “Father Jarlan invented it, he said that way Sky Demon’s couldn’t detect plasma bolts from more modern weapons.”

  “I have a feeling I’m not going to like this Father Jarlan.” Walking cautiously with Siiri trailing close, Torian scanned the area towards the fast moving waters of the Norstrom River. A green meadow of clover preceded fields of barley and wheat that flowed in the breeze like waves in a golden ocean. The grains, loosely segregated from the other crops, gave the appearance from afar that they were growing wild.

  “How do you know what field belongs to each farmer?”

  Siiri responded with clear worry in her voice, “There are small stone markers with names and measurements.”

  “Measurements … you must have had a lot of disputes.” As he examined his holo data she remained quiet while he added, “You didn’t fool me. I live on a barley farm and the lack of undergrowth on the fallow fields gave you away.”

  “Who knew Sky Demons were farmers? I guess Father Jarlan missed that.”

  “People coming, in a loose arrowhead formation...” Torian announced glancing at his Con as he walked over to a large Oak tree on a small hill near the river that spread its shadow over a large field of clover. He motioned for the blonde haired girl to follow him under the tree.

  “Hunters.” She grimly sighed, “We can still make it back if we run.”

  “Aye.” He gazed across the fields, “About 40, I can target only 25 at a time …” Torian dropped the navy
blue back pack and pulled out Chang’s pistol and holster, fastening it to his utility belt so that he had a gun on each side. Then he manipulated the floating screens on his Con, “But with both pistols I can get them all.”

  “You can shoot that many?”

  “Yeah, a pistol can target 25 targets maximum. An assault rifle can target 50.”

  “The leader is Lexor, the one in front with the long brown hair. He has a scavenged city weapon.”

  Glancing at the Con holo, “A shotgun, old style projectile weapon, with only 6 shells, I’m going to target all the weapons, but I can’t guarantee that the plasma bolts won’t injure or kill.”

  “Will the … um shield thing stop the weapon Lexor has?”

  “A military prox shield is designed to stop low velocity projectiles, so yes.”

  The group of armed villagers came into view through the tall grass beyond the clover field. They were clad for the most part in the same leather camouflaged shirts and assorted helmets that Torian and Siiri had seen on the first group at the Callisto wreckage. Almost all carried crossbows, though a few had normal bows and the leader, Lexor, a tall stocky balding man with long hair in the back, wielded the heavy shotgun.

  Slinging his backpack, Torian started forward towards the group of men with Siiri expertly leveling her crossbow. The advancing group was fifty meters away when the off-worlder soldier halted halfway down a small slope. He quickly drew his right pistol and began to twirl it then slip it back into the holster. Then he drew his left the pistol, spinning it expertly and sliding it easily back. With both hands, he pulled out both Glock-Ruger 27 plasma pistols twirling them dexterously and easing them back into their respective holsters.

  “What are you doing?” Siiri shot him an annoyed glare.

  “Just … well, before space flight there were these guys, cowboys, or something …”

  “Have you ever faced 40 armed men before?”

  “Of course!” Torian turned the handles of each pistol out and folded his arms placing his hands on the grips, “In simulation ...”

  “Simulation? You mean like a game?”

  “And that, too.”

  Siiri quickly gazed back at the entrance to the tunnel leading up the falls, maybe if she ran fast … but Lexor, the lead villager, interrupted her desperate thoughts, shouting, “Sky Demon!” Loud murmuring and suspicious glances directed at Siiri followed.

  “Specialist First Class Torian McCallum, pleasure to meet you.”

  “We’re going to pepper you with bolts, Sky Demon …”

  “I wouldn’t do that …” He drew the pistols slowly, “I can kill all of you at once.”

  Lexor leveled the shotgun, but hesitated, studying the two pistols meters away, while Torian continued, “And that Remington double barreled pump action shotgun won’t even scratch me.”

  “We can test your claim …”

  “Then you’ll all die. Maybe you can take me, but I promise you’ll all go down.”

  The girl stepped forward and aimed her crossbow, “And no matter what, Lexor, I’ll get you right between the legs!”

  Torian glimpsed over at Siiri with a puzzled expression.

  “Demon Spawn!” Lexor hissed, “You brought the Sky Demon, just as the old warnings foretold!”

  “I did nothing to this village, yet you did things to me when I was chained! Who’s the Demon Spawn?”

  A few of the men gave him a curious look as Lexor growled, “I had to search you …”

  “… By putting your hand between my legs and taking your thing out! And when you were done, you pissed all over me!”

  Lexor stepped forward, “You little …”

  “Stop right there!” Torian stormed forward and aimed his pistol right at the Lexor’s head, “I didn’t come here to kill you all, so don’t make me!” The leader shrunk back surprised by Torian’s ferocity.

  “He did that to you?” The tall off-worlder glanced her way.

  Defiantly, she raised her head, “Not just to me.”

  Then Torian flicked the targeting on his right pistol off, pressing the barrel against the leader’s temple, “He’s so dead …”

  The others backed up a little, until everyone was distracted by a slight commotion from the rear of the group nearest the river. Murmuring increased as a figure appeared, striding purposefully at the head of another crowd. Too late, Torian realized the folly of sheathing his Con and relying on the two pistols; if he hadn’t he would have been able to detect the newcomer and his followers.

  “Father Jarlan …” Siiri whispered close, keeping her eye and crossbow on Lexor, who had grown a little pale.

  The new man was tall, close to Torian’s height, dressed in a brown robe with a wooden cross hanging from his neck, wielding a thick crooked staff. A wrinkled face framed by wisps of long grey hair and a clean shaven chin was dominated by a pair of striking blue eyes. Torian swallowed as he stepped back, they were the same eyes as Siiri!

  Striding evenly, accompanied with a throng of villagers, including women and children, the man gave Lexor a scowl before turning his gaze on Torian. “A live one!” he exclaimed in a surprised tone. Then he barked at Lexor, “Put that gun away fool!”

  The priest calmly stood before Torian and Siiri and spoke boldly, “Well, you brought her back.” He studied the off-worlder from head to toe, “Uniforms haven’t changed much, and judging by those two chevrons you’re no starship captain.”

  Furrowing his brows, Torian tried to make sense of the man before him. Archaic and simple, not what he expected, “You’re a Holy Man?”

  Planting his staff firmly in the ground, deftly the old man reached into a wide robed sleeve and pulled out a small silver pistol and shoved it up under Torian’s chin, taking the military man completely by surprise, “So, before I cut open your head, tell me why you came here and brought those star cruisers in orbit?”

  The pistol was a simple laser, an old but popular design. It had a charge pack in the handle and when the trigger was depressed an invisible beam emitted. If the beam was continual it would last under ten seconds. Though the laser made only a micrometer hole, the lethality was in the cutting: a slight twitch in the wrist could result in disembowelments, decapitations, and traumatic amputations. Torian was about to lose his head and his proximity shield offered no protection against a laser.

  Siiri stepped back alarmed, but grasping her crossbow aiming at the priest, and then back at Lexor who grinned from ear to ear at the sudden change of events.

  Grimacing as the barrel of the pistol pressed against his chin, Torian clenched his teeth, “I can still take out 25 …”

  “I’m willing to risk a few deaths to save the entire village from a Sky Demon.”

  Sweat from frustration and fear formed in beads along his hair line, “I didn’t come to kill anyone, just deliver you a warning!”

  “I’m listening.”

  Swallowing hard, “More of us, fleets in fact, are coming. You need to hide your people ...”

  “That’s your fiery mess up near the city?”

  “They tried to evade by burning through the atmosphere … stronger armour than the rebel cruisers.”

  “How did you get out?” Father Jarlan pressed the pistol further into his neck. Siiri looked on, stepping back as Lexor and another man began to advance on her.

  “I was in a scout vessel. We crash landed in the city.”

  “We?”

  “My pilot died …”

  “In the city? But you lived?”

  Chestnut eyes locked on the priest’s gun hand, “Yeah, I don’t know why.”

  “No Sky Demon has ever survived the ward placed over the city.”

  Out of the corner of his eye Torian spied Lexor and a few others moving to surround Siiri, “Tell them to stop!” He hissed.

  “You like this girl?” the priest glanced at the others.

  “She’s a victim of your draconian tyranny.”

  “She’s evil; the voices will over power her.�
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  Angry now, Torian shouted, “Listen! There are going to be thousands of marines landing! And if they’re not mine, they’ll commit horrible atrocities on you all! And if they are mine and you kill me, I swear they’ll take their revenge!”

  The cold blue eyes of the priest bore on him hard, and then he spoke calmly, “You knew we would try and kill you if you came here, Sky Demon?”

  “Siiri warned me.”

  “I begged him not to come,” the blonde girl pointed her cross bow menacingly at Lexor’s crotch while he raised his shotgun at her head and the others completely surrounded her, with more moving in to create a larger circle around Torian and the priest.

  “Yet you came to warn us to hide?”

  “Yes. I thought at least I could warn the children about the danger, but in retrospect I hope the Imperium marines tear you out a new asshole.”

  Father Jarlan focused on Torian with his Azurite eyes, and then he lowered the silver pistol and cachinnated loudly, slapping Torian’s shoulder, “You’ll have to tell more about these Imperium fellows. I appreciate that your intentions were for good. Welcome to Grondalle, Sky Demon. We have already prepared for invasion. You may stay here for the night under one condition, you tell no one we are here. Then you must leave.”

  “And her?” Torian pointed with his pistol back at Lexor who was inches from the girl.

  “She must be burned to death. Seize her!”

  Siiri turned white and Torian swallowed while Lexor and other men moved up to secure the girl, but the flight specialist acted quickly, stepping between the villagers and the girl, “Don’t you touch her!” Quickly he holstered a pistol and drew out his Con and brought up a holo, “There is at least one Imperium cruiser up there, maybe more, I’ll send a beacon with the Callisto’s signature and they’ll light up this whole damn valley with plasma! Then they will land their freaked out marines and become your worst terror!” He held his thumb on the track ball.

  Now it was Lexor and his men who turned pale while Father Jarlan narrowed his eyes, “You would kill the women and children behind me?” The crowd began to back off slowly.

  Siiri inched closer to Torian, anxiously watching the Con, “Not the children, I’ll go …” she whispered.