Hunter, Warrior, Commander
Andrew Maclure
Copyright ©Andrew Maclure 2018
All rights reserved.
Contact andrew@andrewmaclure.com
www.andrewmaclure.com
First Edition, November 2018
Contents
Chapter One
First Hunt
Chapter Two
Leaving Home
Chapter Three
The Station
Chapter Four
The Train
Chapter Five
Aa Ellett
Chapter Six
Field Trip
Chapter Seven
The Journey Out
Chapter Eight
Signs in The Sky
Chapter Nine
The Remains Of The Day
Chapter Ten
Surveying The Ruins
Chapter Eleven
Sor Tan Returns
Chapter Twelve
Return To The City
Chapter Thirteen
City Camp
Chapter Fourteen
Reunited
Chapter Fifteen
Demons
Chapter Sixteen
The Village
Chapter Seventeen
Demon Hunt
Chapter Eighteen
Escape
Chapter Nineteen
Dust
Chapter Twenty
The Abomination
Chapter Twenty One
Awakening
Chapter Twenty Two
The Remnant
Chapter Twenty Three
The Past Is Gone
Chapter Twenty Four
Primer
Chapter Twenty Five
Sor Tan
Chapter Twenty Six
Meeting
Chapter Twenty Seven
Ker Din Ser Forn
Chapter Twenty Eight
Life With An AI
Chapter Twenty Nine
Change Of Plan
Chapter Thirty
Starting The Training
Chapter Thirty One
Preparation
Chapter Thirty Two
Reunited With Traf Dek
Chapter Thirty Three
Return
Chapter Thirty Four
Unasked For Help
Chapter Thirty Five
The Galactic Savior Army
Chapter Thirty Six
Check In
Chapter Thirty Seven
Sergeant Si’ir Monnen Dak
Chapter Thirty Eight
The Hospital
Chapter Thirty Nine
The Evils Of Alcohol
Chapter Forty
Encounter with Ranesh Ett
Chapter Forty One
Making Friends In A Bar
Forty Two
The Krendor
Chapter Forty Three
Weapons Training
Chapter Forty Four
Betzel
Chapter Forty Five
Colonel B’Erren Tek
Chapter Forty Six
Departure
Chapter Forty Seven
Arrival on Orn
Chapter Forty Eight
Peace Keeping
Chapter Forty Nine
Contact With The Separatists
Chapter Fifty
Ren Deel
Chapter Fifty One
Sergeant Dorsh
Chapter Fifty Two
Hostile Friendlies
Chapter Fifty Three
Night Out With Seltet
Chapter Fifty Four
Catattack
Chapter Fifty Five
The Separatists
Chapter Fifty Six
Unfolding Events
Chapter Fifty Seven
Verdict And Sentence
Chapter Fifty Eight
Leaving Orn
Chapter Fifty Nine
The Cell
Chapter Sixty
Four Days
Chapter Sixty One
“Training”
Chapter Sixty Two
The Krendor And the Rinquit
Chapter Sixty Three
The Advantage Of Agility
Chapter Sixty Four
Back In The Medical Center
Chapter Sixty Five
New Training Regime
Chapter Sixty Six
Remorseless Training
Chapter Sixty Seven
Return of a Friend
Chapter Sixty Eight
A Quiet Night Out
Chapter Sixty Nine
No More Accidents
Chapter Seventy
Shooting Pains
Chapter Seventy One
A Team Game
Chapter Seventy Two
The Exercise
Chapter Seventy Three
Good News, Bad News
Chapter Seventy Four
Return To Quarters
Chapter Seventy Five
Early Call
Chapter Seventy Six
Barden Three Four
Chapter Seventy Seven
An Open Door
Chapter Seventy Eight
Combined Units
Chapter Seventy Nine
A Word From The Major
Chapter Eighty
Reconnoiter
Chapter Eighty One
Executing The Plan
Chapter Eighty Two
Gratitude of the Rescued
Chapter Eighty Three
The new Colonel
Chapter Eighty Four
New Mission Orders
Chapter Eighty Five
Celestial Heaven
Chapter Eighty Six
The Savage Attacks
Chapter Eighty Seven
Heavenly Hospital
Chapter Eighty Eight
The Core
Chapter Eight Nine
Battle Of The Freight Dock
Chapter Ninety
Medivac
Chapter Ninety One
Forness Two
Chapter Ninety Two
Return To Betzel Base
Chapter Ninety Three
Major Change
Ninety Four
Battle Orders
Chapter Ninety Five
Encounter With An Ant
Chapter Ninety Six
Preparations
Chapter Ninety Seven
Logistics
Chapter Ninety Eight
Landfall On Forness Two
Chapter Ninety Nine
Assault On The Buildings
Chapter One Hundred
Mixing It With The Ants
Chapter One Hundred And One
Final Push
Chapter One Hundred And Two
Showdown
Chapter One Hundred And Three
Aftermath
Chapter One Hundred And Four
The Generals
Chapter One Hundred And Five
New Beginning
Chapter One
First Hunt
Sah Lee was now twelve, just old enough for her first real hunt. Tef Dor, the hunt leader, led the pack forwards in the dusk, through the thick clumps of sharp-bladed grass. The dry sandy soil beneath their bare feet was still warm from the blazing midday sun. The cool dry breeze brought the musky scent of their prey toward them. Sah Lee edged forward through the pack with an impetuousness that had often got her into trouble as a cub. “Get back!” hissed Sah Lek, her mother’s sister, but Sah Lee pretended not to hear her.
The pack slowed as they approached their prey. They needed to get as close as possible before the Imaya they were h
unting noticed them. Sah Lee dropped to a crouch as they inched their way forward. The scent of the prey was now heavy in the air, bringing back her earliest memory of her mother, Sah Krin, returning with a fresh kill to their village.
Just a few meters away the Imaya stood grazing, with a calf at its side. They were lucky to have found them separated from the herd. The pack paused, then, as one, they exploded forward and pounced. The Imaya cow and her calf went down immediately, not standing a chance of escape from the tearing and slashing of teeth and claws.
Sah Lee was the first of the youngsters to reach the calf. She sank her pin-sharp teeth through the thick fur of the calf’s throat and tasted the sweet metallic tang of its young blood. The calf fell, its lifeblood pumping through the great gash that Sah Lee had torn through its neck.
The prey were dead. The pack lifted the two carcasses aboard sledges. Eager hands grasped the poles to drag the sleds back while Sah Lee danced at the front to crow about her part in bringing down the calf. They would soon be back at the settlement and eating fresh meat; no need to chew on roots to keep away the hunger pangs tonight.
The sun had left the sky now, but the light of the moons was enough for them to see their way. The rings of icy particles they called the Necklet that circled their planet were sparkling high above as the sun shone on them from below the horizon.
This was a joyous day for Sah Lee. Her first kill on her first hunt. The taste of the calf’s blood was still on her lips; the blood covered her from chin to feet. These memories would stay with her for the rest of her life.
It was fully dark when they arrived back in the village. By the light of the dim lamps that lit the open area in the center of the village, the carcasses were quickly skinned, and the hides stretched across frames ready for scraping and salting before being made into leather.
The fire in the shallow pit in the middle of the village was already burning, casting a flickering light across the gathered villagers. The children helped the adults butcher the carcasses into joints ready for the night's feast. As Sah Lee was now a fully blooded hunter, they excused her from the preparation work and she sat with the other hunters, swapping exaggerated stories of their part in the hunt.
When the fresh meat was laid out on tables, the four youngsters on the hunt were each given a quarter of the calf’s heart to mark their participation in their first successful hunt and proudly ate their share with the still warm blood dripping down their chins. The elders presented the cow's heart to Tef Dor to mark the honor of leading another successful hunt. Then, the whole village took their turn cutting lumps of flesh from the joints laid out and sat around the fire to eat them. The elders collected slices of liver and portions of the best parts of the Imaya cow and took them to the enclosure where the males were kept. Sah Lee didn’t know why they bothered to feed the males. They did nothing useful for the village, but whenever she questioned why they were given precious meat from the hunts, her mother and aunt dismissed her complaints, saying that the males were ‘necessary’ but never explaining why.
At the end of the feast, they packed away the remaining meat. In times past the remains would have been wrapped in leaves and buried at the base of rocks in the shade, but now they stored the meat in plastic boxes in the community refrigerator. They wouldn’t eat this raw, but they would cook it over the communal fire and eat it with leaves, fruits and tubers.
Sah Lee laid back with her belly full of meat and looked up at the sparkling rings that shone in the clear night sky.
She knew she wouldn’t have many more feast nights like this. She would soon make the long walk to the station and take the train to the city. In just two years she would leave her home and family to spend the next six years at the University in Aa Ellet, which meant Sun City, where she would learn about the technology that underpinned the economy of Aarn. She knew that more than half of those that went to the University chose to stay in the city and feared that she may make that same decision to abandon the traditional plains hunting life of the Aarnth, and part with her mother, sister and aunt forever.
Chapter Two
Leaving Home
Now fourteen, Sah Lee had reached the age to leave the village for university. She was the only one from her village going this year. Her three closest friends were all older than her and had left last year.
Ten days before she was due to start the long walk to the station, where she would board the train for the city, her mother, Sah Krin, took her for long walks, each day visiting one of her favorite places on the surrounding plains.
She took Sah Lee to the water holes she had splashed and played in when she was a child; where she had swum on the hot summer days when the sun beat down from the cobalt blue sky and when the air was still, the sound of chirring insects came from nowhere and everywhere. She took her to the small stands of trees where she had climbed with her friends and made small shelters from the withered branches that had fallen on the ground. To the rocky plateaus where they had taken food and drink, with her aunt, Sah Lek, and sometimes with her friends, and where they often stayed in the warm evenings until it was almost dark. She took her to all the other places which held special memories for Sah Lee when she was growing up.
While they walked, they talked. Sah Lee asked her mother: “What is the university? You’ve always told me it’s where I’ll go when I am fourteen to learn things, but what is it? A village? A camp?”
Sah Krin smiled at her. “The University is in the city of Aa Ellet. It takes up a lot of the city. It is many buildings made of stone and each of the buildings has many rooms. The rooms are stacked one on top of the other, two or three high and connected by stairs. Look,” she said pointing to an old outcrop where the stone was weathered and broken, “see how those rocks are piled up so you can walk up them, a step at a time? The stairs in the buildings are like that.”
Sah Lee stopped to look at the pile of broken rocks and tried to imagine what it would look like. Rooms like their tent, but made of stone, all put together and piled up on top of each other, with broken slabs of rough rock that had to be climbed to reach the rooms piled up on the top. She shook her head, half wondering if her mother was teasing her, but she looked serious as she spoke. She decided not to question her mother any more on this, and instead asked, “What will I learn there? I know a lot about hunting already. I know how to find my way in the day by the position of the sun and the length of shadows, and at night by the Necklet and the position of the stars. I can find water by its scent and I know what plants are poisonous and which can be used to heal. I know I don’t know everything yet, but how can it take six years to learn everything else?”
“You have much to learn Sah Lee. For instance, do you know where we live?”
“Of course I do! We live in the village!”
Sah Krin laughed. “Yes, we do. But do you know where the village is? Do you know what lies beyond the plains? What happens if you keep walking north or south? Do you know of the sea and ships? Do you know of the other people of Aarn, who do not live on the plains? Do you know where the knives and plastics that we trade for skins come from?”
“No, but that’s not important, is it?”
Sah Krin laughed again. “All knowledge is important Sah Lee. It may not be useful today, but only the Makers know what will happen in the future. We live simple lives now. We didn’t always. Thousands of years ago, we chose the life we live now, to abandon all but the most basic technology, and to keep the males separate. We gave up all technology then and lived the life as our ancient ancestors did. We are changing again now. Only a little, and slowly, but we are rediscovering our technology, being careful to not let it change our lives, but just to make it a little better. Now we are on this path, we do not know where it may lead.”
“That sounds boring. I don’t care about that. But where is the village? Isn’t it on the plains?”
“Of course it is, but the plains aren’t the entire world. Our world is called Aarn, daughter of Aa, the sun. Y
ou have heard the histories, told by the Elders when we sit around the village fire, in the evenings. The histories speak of The Four Makers, who made Aa, the sun, and gave her the gift of life. They made Maaren, the small innermost planet, and made it the home of the demons, who they imprisoned there. They placed it close to Aa, so she could guard it. Maaren is so hot that the rocks melt. Then they made beautiful Aarn, Daughter of The Sun. They were so pleased with the beauty of what they had made that they gave Aarn a shiny necklet, a ring of ice that circles the world to show they loved her. They then each made another, lesser planet, Tair, Fairn, Lar and Mehen, to keep Aarn company in the vastness of the void. Aa looked upon Aarn, and so loved her daughter that she blessed her with the gift of all the living things in our world. The Aarnth then, were primitive hunting animals, not much better than vulpen, but Aa saw the Aarnth and made us stand upright on two legs. She gave us the gift of speech and intelligence. We loved Aa for what she had given us, and we always will. The Makers saw that Aa had made us, then they each made a moon, to watch over us and protect us.