Titan Stand

by Max Jager

  "Look over here!" exclaimed Ifwol. Two or three of the lights had quit working making one end of the room quite dark. As Matt and Ifwol looked closer, they could see a stone wall divider with more cages on the opposite side. Both directed their lights over the cages.

  "Oh fuck! Jezang, look at this," he exclaimed. Aiming his light on two of the cages everyone could clearly see the remains of what were once Gw'oth's. With Matt and Ifwol holding lights into the cages Jezang looked at them carefully recording every detail in her memory.

  "They just left these creatures to starve to death," gasped Matt, "That's just wrong."

  As they were about to leave, Matt trained his light over the wall in one of the cages.

  "Hey Jezang, open this cage, there's something on that back wall," said Matt.

  Using her lock pick once more Matt cautiously avoided the skeleton as he bent closer to the back wall.

  "These creatures could write, look at this Jezang." On the wall were several markings barely legible. Looking down at the floor, he picked up a tiny piece of rusty metal. Both Jezang and Ifwol examined the writing as she exclaimed.

  "It's writing, but I don't recognize it, how about you Ifwol?" He looked closely but shook his head,

  "Nothing I've ever seen before, but it's clearly writing, better get a good record of it." They ended up finding writing in two more cells one being rather lengthy along with another piece of rusty metal.

  "This will have to be reported," said Jezang, "And I guarantee it will not go well for the Khufrian's, say all you want about the trading company, but when it comes to things like this they move fast and give no quarter." They inspected the room but found nothing. There was another entrance with a short flight of stone stairs leading to a very heavy and wide door. As they were about to find out where it led Jezang held up her hand,

  "Hold on, Brand is calling me." She remained motionless for a moment, but he knew she was speaking to Brand "internally.

  "Brand's coming, and Alejac is with him I don't understand what's going on but he's ordered us to stand down." Moments later the first door opened with Brand, Rekton, Alejac and two raiders stepping through. Before anyone could say anything, Brand held up his hand.

  "Things have changed."

  "Are we prisoners or something?" Asked Matt. At that Alejac and his friends laughed

  "No," replied Brand, as you can see, we're armed. Slyr's got something in mind but he won't tell me."

  "You need to see this," said Jezang pointing towards the cages. After they brought Brand up to speed on what they had stumbled into. The newcomers were visibly shaken by what they saw but none more than Alejac when Matt showed him the scratching's on the stone wall. As he studied the first set Alejac's anger grew,

  "Monsters!" was his only remark. The raider remained stone faced as Matt showed him the third and longest set of writing. To everyone's astonishment, Alejac actually broke down and wept as his two friends read the scratching's for themselves.

  Clearly the raider was extremely upset he then grabbed Matt's flashlight to make sure he had read it right the first time.

  "What's wrong commander?" Asked one of his crew, "What does it say?" Alejac said nothing for a moment then almost as a whisper he said.

  "We of the Horchalk died here at the hand of the cursed Diyari. I die cursing their name Jek."

  "You understand this language?" Asked Jezang, Alejac looked at her his face a mask of sadness, replying,

  "It's known as "Chaake" some of the older Diyari still speak it but only a very bastardized form of it. From time to time we use it as a form of code which is why I know what that writing means. Look Brand, originally I had planned to relieve you of those Malhazar's however I can't ignore this, I only wish I had paid more attention to that genetics' scandal several Yeans ago. Something is definitely not right here."

  "Well I'm pretty familiar with it," said Jezang, but I simply don't recall the Diyari being mentioned. Could it be that they were working with the Khufrian's in secrecy?" Alejac shook his head,

  "All I know is that they do a fair amount of trading and that we never touch a Khufrian craft of any kind. At any rate this must be investigated at once. Brand I must ask you not to speak a word of this to anyone. I know your feelings towards us, but you've always been honest in our mutual dealings. You don't mistreat your prisoners which is a rarity. We simply have to keep this quiet until I can make some discreet inquires and talk to some people, Do I have your word?" Brand studied him for a moment, then offered his hand.

  "Provided you let us find these people and leave this sector unhindered." Alejac took his hand and shook it,

  "Deal," he replied.

  "Besides," added Brand, "You didn't really want Malhazar assassin's stalking you the rest of your life which is what would have happened if you had taken them from me."

  "What! Me?" exclaimed Alejac.

  "Yeah, you." Replied Brand. Then Alejac said,

  "If you don't mind, I'd like to continue on with you."

  "That might be rather hazardous to your health," said Rekton, "If we find those Malhazars they just might try to kill you." Alejac merely grinned at him.

  "I'll take that chance, but actually my reasons for coming with you are more long term than that. Should this situation with the Diyarian's and the Khufrian's play out as I suspect it might we might be able to "aquire" this planet for next to nothing, we may even be looking at our new home world."

  "Even with all these genetic mutants running around?" said Jezang.

  The raider shrugged,

  "Meh, I'm not worried about them."

  After recording every aspect of the room as well as detailed close-up's of the wall writings Alejac knelt down and touched Jek's writing.

  "Jek, you are not forgotten…You will be avenged." With the three raiders now in tow, they moved down the short flight of stone steps to the large door which was also locked. Instead of using a lock pick Alejac pulled out a very large and unusual pistol and blasted out the lock as well as a six inch hole all around it.

  "That's a rather interesting pistol you've got there?" Observed Matt. Alejac looked at him as if he just realized he was there.

  "It's custom made, by the way, who are you?" Matt suddenly realized he had screwed up and had appeared on Alejac's scanner screen. With no way out, he simply manned up and replied.

  "My name's Matt Grainger, I'm from earth. Alejac then studied him closer,

  "I had heard there were a couple "Breshi" running around the galaxy, where's the other one?" Not wishing to draw unwanted attention to Kaitlyn, he replied.

  "She didn't like it here and as far as I know went back to earth." Alejac nodded,

  "Probably the smart thing to do, you might want to consider the same thing."

  The large door opened out onto a small stone patio littered with dead vines and broken off tree limbs, enclosed by a chest high stone wall. At the opposite side was a decrepit stone bridge crossing the swollen river below. The thick canopy from all the nearby trees made the whole area dark and foreboding even though there was a large light mounted on a slim metal post giving off a feeble glow.

  Looking up at it Matt commented.

  "I wonder how long that's been on?"

  One of Alejac's buddies shrugged,

  "Those things never go out, it will still be glowing a hundred yeans from now."

  Everybody examined the bridge along with the raging river roughly twelve feet below, finally Rekton said,

  "I'll rig up a safety line across the bridge, but I would suggest we cross one at a time." Tying one end of his flex cable around the light pole, he cautiously stepped across the bridge fixing the cable to another light post on the other side. Everyone crossed one at a time hooking up a safety shackle to the cable before crossing. All except Alejac and his buddies who rushed across in a group. As he was crossing, he heard Alejac shout,

  "We can't go any farther, there's some sort of wall over here with a large stone blocking the door!"

&n
bsp; Sure enough, after hiking a short overgrown trail they came on the end of the line. Several very large flat rocks ranging from fifteen to twenty feet high prevented further travel. However there was a large round stone standing against one of the flat rocks. While everyone was examining the round stone, something about a long growth of vines and jungle creeper descended down over another one of the rocks.

  Closer inspection quickly revealed that the new growth was hiding a crude ladder made from twisted vines and thick sticks.

  "Hey check this out everybody!" He called out. At first they thought someone had used the ladder to get out but seeing how it came over the top, someone had used it to get in. One of Alejac's shorter buddies then scaled the ladder to see what was on the other side. Hanging on the top of the rock wall he exclaimed.

  "There seems to be another structure down the trail." His words were then cut off by the sound of shrieks and other animal noises coming from the opposite side of the wall. Working his way back down, he shook his head.

  "Place is crawling with all manor of beast. I saw several that were walking on two legs as we do, plus some resembling "Scota's."

  "What do we do now?" Asked Jezang,

  "Let me try something," replied Alejac, who then began to call out in a strange language. Suddenly the cacophony from the opposite stopped. The raider continued to call out until a single response came back. Alejac then dropped all his gear and crawled up the old ladder until he could perch on the rock. He then began to speak again with whoever was on the other side. At times he seemed to shout, at other times he spoke in a normal tone. Matt looked at his crew who merely shrugged,

  "That's why he's our leader," one of them said. The conversation went on for close to an hour, and just when it seemed over Alejac and the stranger began again. Finally he inched his way back down the ladder and announced.

  "I think I've convinced them we aren't Diyari, and certainly aren't Khufrian but honestly I have no idea what will happen once we move that stone. Apparently there is another structure about one kult down the trail which is where the Malhazar sloags are holed up."

  "Do you think they would attack us then," asked Brand.

  Alejac grimaced, then shrugged,

  "I have absolutely no idea, I only know their language, I do not know what is in their minds. I'm also pretty sure we are vastly outnumbered should we make an attempt."

  "How about a little scorched earth?" Said Matt, "You know, blast that whole area with plasma cannons and plaser fire?" Brand, Rekton, and even Alejac looked at him like he had lobsters coming out of his ears. Alejac turned to Brand asking,

  "Is he for real?" Brand shrugged,

  "Apparently that's the way they fight on his planet." Shaking his head, Alejac replied,

  "If we ever want to live here we simply can't be doing things like that. The creature I spoke to called himself Mesmek. I also detected a lot of pain in his voice. Whatever was done to them…Well, I certainly wouldn't want to be a Khufrian, or a Diyari. But then again, these creatures may be so eaten up with hate all outsiders might be considered enemies." Brand frowned,

  "I don't know, don't forget, all those creatures we killed earlier. I'm sure the word has gotten out."

  He then looked at Alejac,

  "Tell them we're only here to rescue the people that crashed and are inside the other structure then we will leave."

  "It's worth a try I suppose," replied Alejac. So once again he climbed to the top of the wall and talked. It went on for another hour however this time voices were even tempered. When he came back down it was past dark but the jungle was strangely quiet, a fact not lost on anyone.

  "I'm talked out bounty hunter," sighed Alejac, "Mesmek will give us till the sun comes up to rescue them, then he will take a vote with his people and depending on their mood at the moment will attack us or…Not. So what's it going to be? Oh, one thing, the three of us are going to sit this one out if you don't mind, we're heading back to our ship, but we will stick around if you need us."

  "I understand Alejac, and honestly I don't blame you, besides, you've done enough. If you want to leave go ahead but please tell my wife to meet us at the landing pad." Without another word, the three raiders turned and left.

  Chapter 83

  Titan Stand Chapter 83

  As he watched the raiders walk away, the realization that he might die on a backwater alien planet light years from home hit him like a punch in the gut.

  "Fuck! He thought, Kaitlyn doesn't even know I'm here." Brand along with the others had made the decision to go and all he could do was go along with it. With Jezang's help they rolled the stone away. Things were still quiet and nobody could be seen. Jezang had night vision capabilities along with being able to detect thermal images.

  "Nobody out there," she said, "But that could quickly change, we'd better get going right now!" Everybody took off at a fast trot Jezang leading the way with Matt bringing up the rear. His AR was locked and loaded safety off. As he trotted down the narrow trail behind Ifwol, Matt gave out with a nervous chuckle, how many times had he been in this same situation in some first person shooter ready to fight off zombies or some other menace?

  Even though he considered himself more than fit the jog was making him winded, but nobody was stopping so he pushed himself onward.

  "Maybe it's all the gear I'm carrying," he thought, "Or maybe it's the planet's gravity, it did seem a little different. Suddenly the sounds of howling accompanied by the beating of drums reached their ears,

  "This is it! We're fucked now," he thought. However the sound seemed stationary almost to their front, after a brief pause everyone pushed on. The trail was taking them into the jungle where the thick canopy blotted out the stars, and made the night even darker. The place was giving Matt the creeps as the howls and drum beating sounded closer along with the fact that this would be a perfect ambush sight. Suddenly out of nowhere they came to another high wall built from large slabs of stone. The door was missing having been blasted away, however a silvery shimmer indicated that some sort of force field was sealing the opening. While Brand called out to whoever was inside, Matt and Ifwol immediately took up defensive positions focusing their attention towards the trail.

  Brand and Rekton began to call out for someone to shut off the field when a ragged looking figure approached.

  "Shut off your force field!" demanded Brand, "We're here to rescue you."

  "We thought nobody was coming at all!" Came the reply. "Hold on…It's off, get in here!" As soon as everyone was inside the small courtyard, the force field came back on.

  "Welcome to Fort Drenoc, my name is Mangon, the ship's engineer. Forgive my appearance, we've had a rough go of it, and quite frankly, we couldn't have held out much longer. You'll want to speak with Lieutenant Sanroc, she's…"

  "Is that her?" said Brand, pointing to a woman coming out the door of a large stone tower.

  "No, that's Holliqua, come, follow me."

  "Everyone stay here!" Announced Brand, "We'll be moving out very shortly."

  Following the engineer Brand passed Holliqua who stopped him, tears in her eyes.

  "Thank you so very much for coming for us, We're all but done."

  Brand then pointed to Matt and Ifwol who were watching the outside through the force field.

  "Don't thank me, thank that young fellow out there by the force field."

  Matt and Ifwol were so intent on watching for enemies that he didn't hear her come up behind him until he caught Ifwol turn and look at something behind him. The expression on Ifwol's face told him all he needed to know, as he turned to see her standing there tears rolling down her dirty cheeks.

  "I prayed to Deeta every day that you would come, even after everyone else had given up hope, and here you are!" They embraced as he kissed her as hard as he had ever kissed anyone before. Stepping back, he took the little pouch from his cargo pocket and held it out to her.

  "I…I think this is your's." This only brought him another hug and a kiss.
Stepping back he looked her over. Her uniform was torn and dirty along with her hair and face. She carried a battered Gauss rifle, along with various pieces of equipment attached to her belt.

  "We stayed in the ship until the power was completely gone then we just started hiking until we found this place." Something didn't sound right, to Matt.

  "Wait a minute Holliqua," he exclaimed, "You hiked here…From the ship?" Not understanding his alarm she tried to smile.

  "Of course, then later we found that place down the trail but couldn't get in, Mangon managed to get over the wall with a ladder we made but he said the door was locked and we simply couldn't move that stone."