Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 155 of 365. Sol standard year]
Days after of Crash landing/ 5
Uninhabited Island /Beach near crashed escape Capsule 20045
Galactic Standard Time / 0750
Jess stared to the right the voice had come from. A man seemed to appear from nowhere. The being was wearing a grey cloak that went to his knees. Below that were black pants which ended in simple-looking black leather boots. The man had a black mask on that had five circles in a pentagon formation. His arms were covered by the same black material in gloves and he was holding a blaster rifle that he pointed down.
“Greetings!” The man said as he removed the face of his mask. He was blond and had blue eyes with a scar going diagonally right across his nose.
“My name is Callahin. A pleasure to meet you all!” Callahin said with joy in his voice. “I was sure that I would have to leave the old girl!”
“I’m sorry, who are you?” Sk’p asked with a soft but hard tone.
Callahin only laughed and shook his head, his teeth bared in a wide smile. Jess had to admit that she was starting to get a bit unnerved by the way he was acting. There was something about his eyes and that scar that called out to her ‘sub brain’ that warned her about him.
“Oh, sorry. Haven’t talked with people in a while. Callahin, I was the deckhand aboard my ship before I crashed. I’ve been stuck here for years since I crashed. It’s nice to see other survivors!” Callahin said with a smile.
Jess wasn’t sure what to expect from this person. Something about her was telling her that he was wrong.
“You crashed here?! You’re from the Federation?!” Racha asked, shock in her voice.
All Callahin did was laugh and shake his head. “Yeah. And I didn’t know much about FTL radio tech as a deck boy so I’ve been stuck here. I’ve maintained the place I’m staying as best as I could.”
“And how was the best you could do?” Al asked softly.
Jess knew what he was thinking, at least she thought she did. His job was getting the Yard-Ship back to the best shape he could. If this ‘deck boy’ was right then he might have been learning to fix it by doing it. He might have wrecked the connections that he would need to make it work right. And that meant that they had more trouble than they had expected. What if they couldn’t get the doors to close and it became a killing field for some monster here?
Callahin stopped talking and looked at Al, frowning a bit as he looked at Al’s face. “That mark….. Are you one of the tech worshipers? I tried to treat it right I swear!”
“Are you okay? What are you talking about? What do you mean by ‘Tech worshiper’? Do you mean the Scholar’s way? Why didn’t you just call it that?” Paige asked, worry in her voice.
Jess looked at Paige and almost swallowed when she saw that Paige’s hands were gripping her rifle hard. She let her eye go around the group and saw Jinn look at her and blink once. So Jinn had seen what was wrong with Paige too? Good. If Paige was getting something wrong from this man, then they were all in trouble.
“Scholar’s Way? That’s what they’re called?” Callahin asked, wonder in his voice.
Jess stared, how could he have forgotten the name of a Religion that ruled multiple planets?
“Why didn’t you remember, where were you born?” Sara asked, her voice sounding strange.
“Outer Orbital Nineteen of the planet Balorix 4! A Station boy to the core!” Callahin said with pride in his voice
“Wait, Orbital Nineteen? The Screaming Slammers!? Go down the black hole! I’m from the station of the Fighting Folks!” Sara said with a grin in her voice.
Callahin looked at her and then he started to laugh. “Well now! Never thought I meet someone from a station ten higher than me!”
“Wait, what are you talking about?” Racha asked with confusion in her voice.
“This punk is from one of the stations around the gas giant my station is around! Those are grav-ball teams! But why’d you remember that but not the name of Al’s religion?” Sara asked, worry in her voice.
“No, not really. Got a me bad case of amnesia!” Callahin said as he removed the rest of his helmet and turned his head. There was a bald circle to his ear’s right that was nothing but scar tissue. “Happened when my ship crashed. Don’t you worry, I didn’t forget everything, just some random facts. I mean I knew where I came from and some of other things like what your friend’s religion was. But only fragments.”
“What about your nanites? Don’t have an encyclopedia in there?” Jinn asked and Callahin shrugged.
“Nope! I think the captain had me get rid of it when I signed on. Something about a rite of passage or something, a few runs without them as the ship’s boy. At least I think so,” Callahin as he shrugged.
As much as Jess could understand that kind of thing, something about this wasn’t sounding true.
Callahin looked around and frowned. “Look I’d love to tell you everything, but we should move. I don’t know what happened to cause an explosion, but it was bad here. I’ve already come across the corpses of the three Alpha’s that ruled here. The survivors and outsiders are gonna come. We need to get to safe ground!”
Jess moved her gaze towards Racha and saw her look at Jinn. The two didn’t say anything, they just stared at each other. After a few moments, Jinn gave a tense nod.
“Agreed. But stay in sight,” Racha said to Callahin who nodded.
“Of course! I’ll keep my gear off. Not the voice throw and the camo will do good here! Come on, I welcome you to the factory ship!” Callahin said as he put his helmet back on. Without another word he started to walk on, leading them towards the team’s goal.
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Jess looked at Callahin, her mind going many different places. The conversation with this Callahin just raised more questions than answers. He had called the Yard-Ship a factory ship. That might just be more of his amnesia talking, but there was something about him. Something that told Jess to keep an eye on him no matter what.
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As he followed after c, Jinn kept his eyes and face free of anything that might show his thoughts. He had seen people who spoke like Callahin before when he was growing up, and most of them had been problems. The explanation that he gave might have been true, but there was something that nagged at him. Maybe it was because of how he had been raised, but there was something here, something in what he had and hadn’t said.
A strange thought went through him and he grabbed Al’s forearm.
Al was about to say something when Jinn started to grip his arm in a pattern. Al went still and then grabbed Jinn’s arm and squeezed in another pattern.
Jinn looked at the text that appeared in his vision and nodded. He squeezed Al’s arm again and Al’s eyes went wide. After a few moments, Al nodded a dark look in his eyes.
Jinn gritted his teeth and looked at Callahin, dark thoughts going through his mind. He forced himself to calm down and then nodded at Al who nodded back.
Jinn walked a bit faster and then moved towards Callahin who was talking to the others.
……now don’t get me wrong! You just needed to be smart around here! The boss whose pack I hunted the most were these large boars with chitin claws. Tasty, a kind of fusion of pork and fish. I usually threw my voice and they just charged into my traps!” Callahin said as he laughed. “You people are lucky that they’re off this path!”
“So, we’ve heard a few things about your home. Something about pirates attacking it,” Jinn said cutting in.
As everyone looked at him, Callahin only looked up.
“Pirates? Oh, you mean the race that attacks my place every so often. The reptiles. But why did you call them Pirates or even know about them?” Callahin asked.
“Form me. My people crashed here generations ago! The pirate's quest to conquer your home is something of a story around the other people out there!” Burt said with a bold tone.
Callahin stopped and removed his mask’s faceplate and looked at Burt for a solid minute. “You’re a native!? Why haven’t I seen the ships!?”
“The paths out there change. No one knows how!” Burt said cheerfully.
“So why do they keep attacking?” Callahin asked and Burt laughed.
“No clue friend! The source I learned about this never finished. He was drunk,” Burt said, shrugging.
Jinn kept his eyes on Callahin’s eyes and saw when his eyes gained a spark of hunger. But when Burt admitted he had no idea why they were attacking here, his eyes flashed with anger and rage. But as soon as that happened, a second later the smile was back.
“No Nova then? Just need to keep fighting them off then. And by fighting I mean hide and hope for the best behind the ship’s armor. The only way I know how really,” Callahin admitted.
“But your gear, it’s not normal. Where did you find it?” Jinn asked.
Callahin laughed and pulled some of the material of his right sleeve free, grinning as he did so. “This? When I made my way into the ship I found a few dead people, then a few suits of this. Took a bit of trial and error but I figured out how to work this stuff. Helped me stay alive.”
Callahin looked back at Al and then he looked away. “Look. I still don’t remember your people’s funeral rites. All I could do was burn them and ask Creation to welcome them to wherever they were going. Sorry.”
“If any of my people were there, they could have wanted anything. The Way doesn’t have a unified funeral practice you see. But thank you,” Al said.
Callahin looked away and kept walking. “Just being respectful.”
Jinn looked at Callahin, trying to find anything that might give Callahin away. But the man was strange and constant. But there was something about him on how he moved that bothered Jinn a lot. There was something there, every instinct he had told him that.
Looking ahead of them, Jinn saw a sloping mountain. Looking up, he saw that this part of the ‘beach’ still had trees. There was a forest that climbed up the mountain, hiding what was in it. This had to be the land bridge that his team had been sent out for. That meant that they were almost there, but Callahin was a wild card that he didn’t predict.
“That must be the way up to the ship then, right?” Jinn asked as they looked towards the sea. The mountain went up a good fifty feet and went out along the land bridge. The island was a good three hundred feet away, and they could see the mountain. Their goal was finally in sight, and they had made it!
“Yeah, we’re almost there, just need to go up the mountain. That was used to be a place the packs knew to stay away from. But now, with the newbies? We gotta be quiet and fast,” Callahin cautioned as he looked at the others.
“Know that! Have I got stories where those traits were the only way to survive!” Burt said, chuckling.
Jinn looked at Callahin the man started to chuckle as well.
“My friend you have to share your stories with me! They must be quiet something!” Callahin said as he and Burt shared a smile.
Jinn wanted to scowl but forced it down. Something about Callahin made him feel worried, something that was almost beyond thought.
“Sure! But still, I’ve only been here a short while. You’ve been here for years? Do you often go out hunting like today? Or were you out there for something else?” Burt asked as they moved along the path.
“Well, truth be told I woke up the blast that destroyed the trees. Shook my home a lot! Anyway, I went out to see what I could find. I needed to know, had to survive after all. Still didn’t find out what caused it!” Callahin said, shrugging.
Jinn looked at Racha and the others. They all nodded and Jinn sighed.
“Callahin, we caused the explosion. It was a trap for things from the sea that wanted to eat us,” Jinn explained slowly.
Callahin just looked at Jinn, his mouth dropping open, his eyes wide. But before he could say anything they all heard a howl from behind them.
Jinn turned to see five of the large wolves running towards them. They had to be over a hundred feet away but they were closing fast.
“Do we fight or run!?” Burt called as he aimed his rifle towards the wolves.
“Run! There’s a rock chock point ahead in the forest! We just need to make it there!” Callahin called out as he ran off.
Jinn looked at him as he ran and made a judgment call. Whatever his problem with Callahin was, now was the time to give him some trust. He needed them to get his home in order, so Jinnn could trust him that much. “GO! Al, Sk’p, with me! We’re the rearguard!”
As the group ran up the mountain, Jinn and the other two stayed back. Jinn would fire as Al and Sk’p ran head. Then when Sk’p fired, Jinn would catch up to Al who would fire in turn. They did this thrice until they reached a large rock wall. There was a small path through it, four feet wide. Jinn could see Racha farther in, waving at them.
“You two first!” Jinn barked as he turned and looked into the forest. He could hear the echoes of five more howls, and one that was louder than the others.
“But Jinn!” Sk’p began only for Al to pull him along.
“Jinn will know when to run, move it!” Al barked.
Jinn brought out his blade and transformed it into its sword form. He backed up slowly as two of the large wolves appeared, growling at him.
“Want a meal!? Well too bad! This prey has claws of its own! Want to try me!?” Jinn snarled as he pointed his blade at the lead wolf. Around it, more of its pack appeared until there were ten of them, all of them growling. Jinn moved slowly backwards until he was five feet down the path. The wolf moved forward and Jinn fired his pistol. The blast hit just before the wolf and sprayed rock shards that hit it. The wolf moved back, its ears down as it looked around. Then the beast looked at Jinn who grinned. “Yeah, nothing for you here! Go!”
Jinn looked at the wolf for another few minutes, locking eyes with it.
The wolf was the first one to blink. It turned and howled, and within an instant, the other wolves bounded away into the forest. The leader looked back at Jinn and after locking eyes with each other the wolf nodded.
Jinn watched it go and then turned his blade back into knife mode. He turned and met the gazes of Racha who had stayed back.
Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she shook her head. “That was the most stupid and amazing thing I had ever seen! How did you know that would work?”
“Predators like that? They need to reason. I just showed it that this path wouldn’t work. It might now work long, so we need to move.”
“Follow me!” Racha said as she moved to the left.
Jinn followed her and saw her walking down a path that was three feet wide through the rocks. He looked to the right and nodded when he saw the rock wall. So it seemed that this was the only pathway that was open to them. As he moved, he looked up, his gaze tracking the wall up forty feet. “So the only problem here is the space above? Good to know.”
After a few moments, Racha led Jinn into a large open chamber twenty feet wide and long. The others were waiting for him, and they all looked up, grinning as they saw him.
“What took you so long?” Jess asked as she from where she was talking with Paige and Sara.
“You all should have seen it! He just stared down one of them and forced it to run away after shooting the ground! One of the bravest things I have ever seen!” Racha said with a grin as the others moved towards them.
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Callahin looked at the group as they converged around Jinn. He couldn’t believe that happened just now. He knew that the Old Wolf would make a move, but this? To send in a pack led by her direct spawn, was something he hadn’t expected. The path he had taken the castaways through wasn’t alone. There was a larger one on the other side of the mountain, but it was longer and twisted through the rocks. He had spent days blocking it, and not even the Old one would know the paths were crossable.
If he wanted to lead a few of them into danger to cut down their number, they would have to move now. If he was lucky, then maybe he could feed some of them to the wolves. If the Old Wolf was making a play to be the most powerful Alpha around here, some goodwill would be useful.
But the Scholar’s Way punk, that one would have to be his meal. If he wanted to control the factory ship more than just turning on its weapons, then he needed to feed on him. But how could he get them to move, while leading a few to their deaths? A simple way that would work suddenly appeared in his mind. He smiled at the simplicity of his new plan, and he barely kept from chuckling in glee.
“Okay people, time to go! We need to move, we can’t wait here too long. With the packs nearby dead, some new flyers might make hunting runs!” Callahin said, trying to sound worried.