Storm' Fury: The Shenkar War

by Seth Libby

  He surveyed the battlefield for a moment which almost cost him, ducking behind cover just in time as an assault of energy came his way from Shenkar warriors who had spotted him when he had taken his shot. After what seemed an eternity a new voice came over the comm unit.

  “Lieutenant Commander Brennan, this is General Leonid, I am diverting all the forces I can spare to your location. I have just taken their CIC and it seems whoever had been in charge had only left a token defense and has infact diverted all remaining Shenkar warriors to your location.”

  “Do you have an ETA on the reinforcements?” Evan asked as he shot another Shenkar warrior before ducking back behind cover.

  “No, seems the Shenkar in your area also set proximity mines behind them as they left. I would imagine they have also erected several defensive positions to prevent us from getting to you while they attempt to root you out.”

  “Understood sir, please do what you can, I have already lost half my team and cannot say how much longer we can hold out,” Evan explained, not bothering to hide the disappointment in his voice.

  Evan closed the open link and once again returned to the fight. Most of the dead were Praetorian Guard but some were Templars. Even super soldiers could die if their injuries were too severe. That made Evan think of Liam which caused him to smile to himself. If Liam was here then they would probably have all the reinforcements they would need, all Liam would have to do is get really REALLY angry and then all hell would break loose. But would he want to see his friend lose control? Probably not as this was something many worried would result in devastating results. War and killing will always weigh heavy upon a soldiers mind. Many questioned whether Liam’s sanity could survive if he were to unleash another assault like he had on the Tryliene.

  Evan’s thoughts were jogged as an energy blast impacted the bulkhead a few inches from his head. Putting Liam out of his mind he returned his full attention back to the fight at hand. He needed to survive this campaign and the war if he wanted to get back to his wife and their unborn child.

  January 31st, 2014 4:01pm EST

  Lykaa

  Liam looked about as they entered the village and was surprised to find the village larger than he would have expected. All the dwellings were built up against a rockface and very much reminded Liam of the dwellings built on earth in Mesa Verde, Colorado by the Anasazi people. He also became aware that the village was well lit by fires and torches yet all the smoke seemed to rise high leaving the air relatively smoke free.

  Young Lykaan children ran to meet the returning group while older Lykaans went about their work. But when Liam came into view many of the older Lykaans stopped what they were doing to also move closer to surround the returning group. As the crowd grew, it soon became impossible to move further into the village. Most of the young surrounded the hunters and their cargo of Korgo beasts but a couple were fascinated by the group of humans and drew closer. A particularly small Lykaan who walked with a limp slowly approached Liam and tentatively reached out and touched the armor of Liam’s battlesuit. Not wanting to frighten the young one, Liam only stood silently but smiled down at the Lykaan. Upon seeing Liam’s smile the young Lykaans courage grew and he stepped closer to lift Liam’s armored hand and studied it closer then looked up at Liams face.

  “Your skin is not the same,” the young Lykaan said.

  Liam lifted his hand slightly as he spoke.

  “This is not skin but my armored clothing, much like the cloth you wear,” Liam explained as he indicated the small clothing that the child wore around his waist.

  The child looked down as his waist then back at Liams gloved hand again, a curious expression upon his face. Understanding the look Liam unfastened the seals to his glove and pulled the glove free to reveal his hand beneath. The child’s brow rose in surprise a moment before he leaned forward, his snout feeling cool against Liam’s skin and sniffed Liam’s palm. Pulling his snout back he seemed to smile and placed a small clawed hand to Liam’s palm. It was only then did Liam become aware of the silence that had descended around them. Looking up he saw that every Lykaan and human had watched the exchange in silence. From the expressions upon most of the Lykaans around him he judged them to be either awed or surprised by the exchange. It was Granshianka who broke the silence as he stepped closer and ruffled the fur on the Lykaan child’s head.

  “He likes you,” Granshianka said.

  “Thanks, I like him too. Whats his name?”

  At hearing the question the young Lykaan spoke up, his voice higher than that of the Lykaans he had heard spoke.

  “I am Garroon,” he said with pride as he puffed out his tiny chest.

  Many of the surrounding Lykaans laughed in their gruff way at seeing Garroons posture. Garroon shifted his head around to those that laughed and gave them what he must have felt was a menacing stare which only increased the laughter.

  “It is nice to meet you Garroon. My name is Liam,” Liam said, pulling Garroon’s attention back to him.

  “Are you a warrior? You wear the weapon of the Shenkar,” Garroon said, indicating Liam’s plasma swords that hung from his belt.

  The laughing seemed to stop quickly at hearing Garroons question as many looked to Liam’s waist, clearly they had not noticed before. Ignoring them, Liam knelt down so his face was level with Garroon’s.

  “I am a warrior when I have to be but I do not like to harm those unless I absolutely have to,” Liam explained, his voice soft but firm.

  “You are not like the Shenkar, they punish whoever they feel needs to be punished.”

  “Garroon!” a female Lykaan voice said sharply from nearby, “We do not speak so of the revered ones!”

  Looking around, Garroon studied the crowd before he addressed a nearby female which Liam suspected had been the owner of the voice.

  “The Shenkar killed my parents and hurt me. How am I incorrect in what I said?”

  The Lykaan female remained silent, seemingly at a loss for words for the question but a fearful look upon her face as she looked at Garroon then to Liam. Liam understood the fear; she did not know if Liam would report to the Shenkar of Garroon’s view on them. Liam stood but it was Admiral Kelvin who came forward to address directly the female that had spoken.

  “You have nothing to fear from me or my companions. We are no friend of the Shenkar, we are in fact at war with them. This is why we are here on your planet; we come to find those that tired of the Shenkar rule. We mean to take the fight to the Shenkar and help liberate those that suffer from the darkness the Shenkar imbue upon others.”

  Many of Lykaans look surprised at Kelvin’s statement, others looked about quickly and fearfully as if they expected Shenkar to suddenly appear out of thin air. This surprised Liam as Shizta had said the Lykaans did not see the Shenkar as something to fear but more to respect from strength. Could things have changed that Shizta was not aware of? By the looks of it, Liam would guess they had. Seeing the looks of the Lykaans, Kelvin continued on speaking.

  “We are not here to place anyone in harm’s way if they do not wish it. We only seek to remove the Shenkar presence from your world. You do not have to help us do this although we would really appreciate any help in doing so. I can promise that if you do join us we will supply you with what help we can, including soldiers of our own to fight beside you.”

  “How are you any different from the Shenkar? We do not know you are of your word or if you truly care for our welfare. For all we know you might only wish to use us as fodder in battle,” stated a grizzled old looking Lykaan from nearby.

  “You did not see that one fight,” one of the males of the hunting party stated as he pointed at Liam, “They are more than capable of fighting the Shenkar! The Korgo beasts had attacked and would have killed many of our young ones if not for his intervention.”

  But the old Lykaan would not be so easily persuaded, as well as several others, as he spoke up again.

  “So you say, but the Korgo beast has rarely been seen
so close to the Grooba trees before and never in numbers, so how do we not know these humans were not responsible for their presence. I do not like the Shenkar any more than you do, young one, but I have seen what they are capable of and as long as we do as they say we do not need worry of repercussion.”

  Many of the male Lykaans spoke amongst themselves, clearly interested in what was transpiring but it was Granshianka who spoke next.

  “This is something my people will discuss in depth later but for now we shall have a feast for our guests.”

  With this said, the subject was put to rest for the moment as the group broke up to go about their previous tasks. The hunting party took the carcasses of the Korgo beasts off in one direction to be prepared while the Granshianka lead the human delegation towards a large dwelling a small distance away. As they walked Liam felt a tiny clawed hand grasp his hand. Looking down he saw that Garroon had taken ahold of his hand and was limping along beside him. Liam smiled down at him but otherwise said nothing, instead turning his attention back to their destination. Once they reached their destination, two Lykaan guards opened two large doors to allow the party to enter. At this point Garroon hesitantly let go of Liam’s hand and stepped back from the entrance. Looking up at Liam he nodded before turning away and limping away.

  “I have never seen that young one take to anyone as he has you. He is a very suspicious one and does not trust others. He must see something in you that purged away the doubts he has for others. I have a feeling you humans will still surprise me yet,” explained Granshianka before leading the group inside.

  The inside of the dwelling revealed a large open area with cathedral ceilings. The room was well lit by dozens of small lanterns that hung from pegs throughout the room but none contained fire. Instead the lanterns contained small amounts of the lichen that Liam had seen before on the ceiling of the caverns. Throughout the room was row upon row of long rectangular tables with benches.

  Granshianka led the group to a door on the far side of the room and indicated for them to enter. The adjacent room was much smaller and the air was humid. On the far side of the room was the source of the humidity, a large steaming pool of water. From what Liam could tell he would guess this was some sort of hot spring.

  “I have many things I must attend to before the feast and I ask that you remain here. I personally feel that you can be trusted but my people do not know you. Take this time to bath within the hot springs and relax. I will arrange to have some light refreshments brought. If you need anything simply ask one of the guards at the front of the feast hall. Please do not attempt to leave the building or go off on your own.”

  “We will remain here until you come or send for us and will respect your wishes,” explained Kelvin.

  Granshianka nodded and then withdrew from the room. Not knowing how long they would be here, Liam moved over to a nearby bench, removed his pack and sat down. Following his example the rest of the group moved to various parts of the room and sat down. Admiral Kelvin took a seat next to Liam and took a long drink from his canteen.

  “What do you make of them?” he asked as he screwed the cap back onto the canteen.

  “I think we can trust them, I get the feeling Granshianka would jump at the chance to remove the Shenkar from his world.”

  “Speaking of Granshianka, you want to tell me what happened back in the cavern that made you break cover to reveal yourself?” asked Kelvin, a look on his face that clearly said he wanted to know.

  Liam let out a long sigh and then delved into the events that had led them here.

  January 31st, 2014 4:34pm EST

  Lykaa

  “Get into cover!” commanded Steve in a whisper.

  The group ducked in several directions as they took cover behind anything nearby that was large enough to hide them. The group had been walking through tunnel after tunnel for the just over an hour when they came upon their first Shenkar patrol. They had just managed to hide themselves from view before the patrol passed by. The patrol had not been very large, ten warriors, and Steve’s group could have eliminated them but he did not wish to get into any unnecessary fire fights. They had just managed to get themselves hidden, which was no easy accomplishment for Sergeant Robinson, when the Shenkar patrol rounded the corner.

  This group was much larger than the previous patrol they had seen and Steve got the feeling that they might not be your standard patrol. There were roughly twenty in size and were more heavily armed than Steve would expect for a standard patrol. The group was led by an especially large and cruel looking Shenkar warrior whose face bore several scars. But it was not the Shenkar leader that made Steve pause but the Shenkar’s companion that walked hunched over beside him. The creature was canine in nature and if Steve were forced to place a name to the creature he would say it was a werewolf. At least that is what it mostly resembled, however this one seemed almost sickly in nature. It did not possess a well muscled frame but was thin and its grey fur was ragged. This must be one of the Lykaans that lived upon the planet which made Steve realize by looking at it that the Meshtrell must have brought some of these creatures to Earth long ago. This would explain why Steve would recognize it as a werewolf and why the name was so similar to creatures of Earth folklore, Lykaan versus Lycan. He wondered if this was normal for the Lykaans or was this one more of the runt of the litter. Something told Steve that the latter was truer as the descriptions they had received of the Lykaans from Shizta did not match up completely to this creature.

  As they grew near he could hear the Lykaan and the Shenkar leader speaking.

  “If this turns out to be false information I will punish you most severely, I do not take kindly to having to travel far from the compound. The stench of your villages sickens me and I prefer to have as little interaction as necessary.”

  “Do not worry, Captain Grie, I swear the information is good, you will see,” the Lykaan said in a gravely low voice.

  The Shenkar captain looked down his nose to the Lykaan before he looked back up the tunnel.

  “You are just fortunate Overlord Viero finds you useful. Otherwise I would not bother with this. I have been on your world for far too long and find what you told Overlord Viero very hard to believe.”

  “I assure you captain, what I say is true. Also do not forget they have Korgo beast meat. I know how you and the overlord like it.”

  The Shenkar captain thought this over for a few moments before speaking.

  “This is true, we shall see if you speak the truth especially about….”

  At this point the patrol passed too far out of earshot for Steve to hear the rest of the conversation. As he watched the patrol something that had been bothering Steve since he had seen the first patrol finally dawned on him, all the Shenkar he had seen were not cloned warriors. Why were the Shenkar not using cloned warriors on Lykaa? The patrol slowly moved past them heading off down a side tunnel which thankfully would not bring them past Steve’s group. Steve was tempted to follow them as he was highly curious as to where they were headed. He was also disturbed by the Lykaan support for the Shenkar. While he had only seen one so far helping the Shenkar, he imagined there could be more which could be a problem for Liam and his group if they wished to establish an alliance with the Lykaans.

  Deciding there was nothing he could do about it now, he signaled the rest of the group to move out. They still had their mission to complete, which involved finding the manufacturing plants for the clone warrior compound and getting intel on the area. Priority one for this whole mission was permanently shutting down those manufacturing plants. Steve wondered if there would be an easy way to do it…somehow he doubted there would be. In the end if all else failed then there was the thermobaric solution that was currently sitting on the Poseidon. He hoped it would not come to this of course as the destruction it would cause would be far greater than the plan called for especially if the manufacturing plants were near any Lykaan villages. Until he found the plants there was no way Steve would be a
ble to say which way this would go.

  January 31st, 2014 5:30pm EST

  Lykaa

  Tired of waiting, Liam had just walked up to the main entrance doors to see if Granshianka was available when the doors opened and Granshianka quickly entered. As he entered he turned and closed the doors behind him before turning to Liam and speaking quickly.

  “A Shenkar patrol has been spotted heading this way, I ask that you and your people remain hidden here while I speak with them.”

  “A Shenkar patrol? How often do they come to the villages?”

  “Very rarely, usually only when they need something,” stated Granshianka, clearly troubled by the patrol.

  “Do they look as if coming here specifically or could they just be passing through the area?” Liam asked as Admiral Kelvin came over to listen.

  “It is possible they are just passing through but I do not believe this to be the case. A typical patrol is smaller in size, this one is twice the size of that and is being led by an especially cruel Shenkar captain named Grie. This Captain Grie is known for taking delight in combat with Lykaan’s. He had killed many, including Garroon’s mother and father. Also, they are being led in this direction by one that used to be of this village until he was cast out when he conspired to have me killed so he might take my place as sect leader.”

  With that said, Granshianka turned and left the hall, the doors closing behind him.

  “Do you think they know of our presence within the village?” Liam asked of Kelvin.

  “It is possible, although it stands to reason if they knew of humans on Lykaa then they would bring more than twenty warriors. I think that our presence may be known but they do not know we are humans, only an unknown race. Either way we better get everyone ready in case we need to retreat or worse,” Kelvin explained as he turned to go inform the rest of the party of what was transpiring.