Ronin looked up with anticipation and saw Elyria’s grinning face. It looked like she’d gotten the news as well. Ronin wanted to go right then, but Karr was engaged with more than a dozen ladybugs. Cursing, Ronin shouldered his rifle and focused on the fight. He hadn’t been asked for help yet, but if he was, he needed to act instantly. The request came shortly after.
“Overwatch, take second on the left.” Karr’s calm voice said inside his earpiece. Ronin had been doing his best to guess what the sergeant would want in advance and had already been aiming to the left. Since the ladybugs on that side were undercover from above by twisting branches. Meaning the scouts flying overhead couldn’t get a good bead on them. Moving his aim just a hair, Ronin fired off a round that took the ladybug in the head.
That was the only contribution Ronin made to the battle, but that was fine. He was learning more and more about what to watch out for, and what he should consider next time he led a squad. Karr was an excellent squad leader, and his ability to follow the battle well enough to give individual orders and fight at the same time was beyond impressive.
The battle finally ended, and Ronin waited with Elyria while Karr and K3 dropped the bodies off the branch. Keeping watch just in case they were ambushed. Doing a final sweep to make sure they’d gotten everything, the team headed back to Ronin.
“Karr really is impressive, isn’t he?” Elyria asked, mirroring Ronin’s own thoughts.
“He is,” Ronin replied with a nod. “I wasn’t sure what I’d learn from watching him. Turns out, a lot. But we got the call, time to wrap it up.” They waited in silence after that, until the squad was within easy earshot. Then Ronin called out, to let them know they were leaving. It was a shame, because there was no way to guarantee the branches, they had cleared would still be empty when, or if, they came back. If they did, they’d have to clear the tree all over again.
“We finally got the word huh?” K3 asked, joining Ronin and Elyria, as they climbed down the tree. “About time. Are we heading back to the enclosure first, or going right to the cave?” The kaldarr didn’t have any orange blood on him, ronin noticed. That Indicated just how much more efficient Karr’s tactics were to his own. Since, it meant they hadn’t had to fight in melee at all. He filed that information away for future study, as he spoke about their new mission.
“We are going straight to the caves.” He said, climbing faster in his excitement. “Leo said he knows about another nearby cave, so he’s on his way there now. We don’t have much time left, if we are going to make this work, but I want to save as many people as I can before we go.” K3 only nodded, being well aware of the plan.
They were only sticking around this part of the world, because Ronin wanted to save his old town. Once they were done, they would head off to the mountain where the damaged lizard ship was hangered. They didn’t know how long it would take to get down to the ship, or how long it would take to fix it, or if it was even fixable in the first place. Ronin shook the unnecessary worries about tomorrow away and redoubled his descent speed.
Upon reaching the ground, he saw the remainder of Karr’s team making quick work of the huge pile of dead bugs. Not wanting to waste what they had already killed; Ronin grabbed several aphids and hauled them back to the ship. When the rest of the team arrived, they did the same thing, and before long, Ronin was tossing the last aphid into the woodchipper-like machine.
He watched in fascination, as the body was split open and hoses of all sizes and colors snaked their way inside. Using some method of location that Ronin didn’t understand, they each latched onto whatever parts of the creature they were responsible for. They then either sucked up the fluids or grabbed onto the solids with small claws.
Once the many arms and hoses had drained the body of everything valuable, it was shredded into a paste, that was then pumped out of the ship, through another tube, and emptied into a nasty puddle of multicolored slop. In another time and place, that slurry would have been used as fertilizer for the next generation of plants. Now, it was left to dry in the sun.
Everybody ready then?” Ronin asked, once the last of their equipment had been loaded back into the ship. When Karr nodded, Ronin set the ship on its way. Then, it was time to hurry up and wait, as the cave was several hours away. As impressive as the beetle tech was, it wasn’t fast. Except for the teleportation pads.
Ronin would need to ask about that. They had always been a part of life back in the caves. Though they were rarely used. Perhaps once a year someone would come through, wanting to trade. It was only recently that Ronin started to wonder about them. After all, they didn’t function anything like the rest of the beetle made, and living, pieces of equipment.
“My lord,” Karr said, distracting Ronin from his thoughts. "Do you have a moment to speak with me?” The nondescript man asked, chewing on leaves that stained his teeth red. Ronin had let his team look over the options for what the ship’s fabrication unit could produce, for something they might want to add to their kits. Out of all the options available, the popular vote had been for the stimulating leaves.
“Of course, sergeant.” Ronin said, indicating the overturned barrel next to the one he was sitting on. He’d known this talk was coming since he stepped on Karr’s toes. So, he figured he might as well get it out of the way while he was stuck waiting.
“My lord,” Karr said, jamming another wad of leaves into his mouth nervously. “I wanted to apologize for Jack, and let you know that none of us, not even him, have any qualms about you leading the charges. It’s so incredibly rare to find a leader who’s willing to risk himself for his men. I just wanted to let you know we appreciate…” Ronin held his hand up for Karr to stop. The clearly anxious man shut his mouth mid-sentence, swallowing a mouthful of leaf juice.
“Relax, sergeant,” Ronin said, passing the man a cup to spit in. “I also wanted to talk, but not because I was angry at Jack, or you for that matter.” Ronin ran his fingers through his short brown hair, looking for the right words. “I was impressed as hell at your leadership skills.” He said at last, looking the sergeant in the eyes. “I know I’m inexperienced. Back in the valley, I led the teams because I felt that I had to. Out here, I guess it just became a habit. But, thanks to you, I got a chance to see what real leadership looked like.” Ronin looked at an uncomfortably squirming Karr with respect as he continued.
“I learned so much in that one run, that I now realize I’ve had no business leading at all up to this point…”
“My lord, I never…” Karr started, panic clearly evident on his face.
“Again, I’m not angry, nor am I planning to stop leading. But what I am going to do is stop winging it at every turn and start to learn from the people around me. People like you, sergeant… Now, I already recognized several of my mistakes, but I’d like you to tell me more about what I’ve been doing right, and what I need to work on. I want to know how to become a better leader. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen, unless I stop walking into every situation blindly, and start listening to those people around me, who know more about what I’m doing than I do.”
It took some more prodding, but eventually, Karr caved. The pair spent the rest of the trip talking about what Ronin was doing right, and the much longer list of what he was doing wrong. Also, several things he could work on, in order to fix his deficiencies. When the musical chime echoed throughout the ship to indicate they’d landed, Ronin felt much better about the future.
“Get anything useful out of that?” Elyria asked, plopping down beside him on the small bench, and resting her shoulder against him for support. “It was amusing, listening to just how much you’re screwing up.” She added with a chuckle, looking after the sergeant as he prepared his people. Then grabbed the hoses they’d be using to fill the glass enclosure with air from the caves. Ronin looked over at the large glass box, with its double door airlock.
“Actually, I did.” He said, nodding his head. “I got a much-needed wakeup call from you earlier. You reminded me I really didn’t know anything, but I was surrounded by people who did. Going forward, I’m going to take advantage of those resources, to learn everything I can. So eventually, I’ll be worthy of the trust so many people have placed in me.” Ronin felt filled with confidence at that moment. Once again, having to remind himself to be vigilant, in case the other shoe decided to drop.
“Huh,” Elyria said, turning her head to look at Ronin’s face, from inches away. “You know what? With an attitude like that, I think it’s possible you just might succeed one day.” She hopped up from the bench, pushing Ronin, and knocking him to the floor. He grumbled as she laughed and turned away, adding over her shoulder. “If you live long enough, that is.” With those parting words, she strolled away, rolling her hips in an obnoxious manner as she smirked back at him.
“That woman is definitely trouble,” K3 said, offering Ronin a hand up.
“Right?” Ronin replied, excepting the hand. “Every time I start to think she’s coming around… she does something like this. I thought we were over her wanting to kill me.”
“You still got a lot to learn, boss.” K3 said with a chuckle, looking in Elyria’s direction. The elf was talking to Whisper and Stone. Facing mostly away from them, her foot rested on a box. Leaning down to talk to the goblins in a way that showed off her profile.
“I know,” Ronin said, scratching his head. “I’ve been talking to Karr about it. I really have been clueless. But don’t worry, I’m going to work on fixing my ignorance…” Ronin trailed off as K3 laughed. He laughed so hard that tears rolled down his bristly cheeks, and his lips bounced against his tusks. The kaldarr bent over, clutching his belly in his mirth. Ronin didn’t think it was that funny. He really had been working on it. He glanced at Elyria, who’d turned in their direction at K3’s outburst.
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Ronin noted the confused expression, and the smile that tugged at the corners of her lips, as she watched K3 laughing. He took in her profile, and realized in that moment, that when she wasn’t scowling at him… No. He shook the thought away. She hated him, always had, for whatever reason. Seeing her as anything other than an adviser was unwise. Especially when his heart was still reeling with confused pain over the loss of Brie, and ten years without Lily and Vasylia. He couldn’t explain why, but he knew in his heart, those years apart had ended any chance of love he might have had with his political wives.
“Are you done yet?” He asked, turning back to K3. His mood had soured considerably, and he just wanted to get on with the mission. The kaldarr, likely sensing his mood shift, stopped laughing almost instantly.
“Sorry boss,” he said, with a dip of his head. “I’m just excited you’re growing again. Watching you overcome every obstacle before you, never ceases to amaze me.” That mollified Ronin somewhat, and he nodded in understanding.
“Ok then, let’s do this.” With that, they moved out of the ship and set to work. Ronin, Elyria, Karr, and the same three soldiers who’d made up the team before, went down into the caves. While K3 led the remaining units back to the tree. They weren’t all needed to transport the cave people, so they’d decided to harvest what more they could from the tree while they were here.
Affixing the breathing mask to his face, Ronin looked at his cloak. Last time he’d swum in here it had gotten soaked, and he thought about taking it off. The fact it was currently a crusted, matted mass of dried orange blood made him decide to just keep it on. He really should have washed it on the ship ride over, but he’d been too distracted talking to Karr.
Diving into the water, he swam the short tunnel in a matter of seconds and came up inside his old home. Not wasting time on nostalgia, Ronin just pulled himself out of the water and moved aside to let the others in. Elyria came next, followed by Karr, who held the hose and pump system.
Following behind him came Jack, Jaya, and Zak. Each carrying a waterproof bag filled with preserved food they’d gathered from the enclosure. Mostly glass jars filled with vegetables that had been home canned. The people at the enclosure had all died, and since no one had looted it, all their food was still in place. They didn’t bring much, and the cave people were going to be crystalized soon, so they could likely live without it, but they were starving. Ronin couldn’t bring himself to let anyone suffer unnecessarily.
“Penny,” he called out once they’d entered the communal area. There were fewer people gathered now. Ronin hoped dearly that they had gone back to their private areas, and not succumbed to hunger and cold. “We’ve come back, and we have some food.” The talk of food did more to perk up those gathered around than anything else Ronin could have said, and he didn’t mention anything else until everyone had been fed.
“Thank you, Robert.” Penny said, after she’d eaten an entire jar of something Ronin didn’t recognize. “I’d pretty much given up hope of eating again before I died. I know it just prolongs the inevitable, but I haven’t eaten real vegetables in so very long. I just wish I could have shared them with Markus… Oh well, knowing he will outlive me is enough. Be sure to visit him for me, won’t you?” As they were talking, Karr came up and whispered into Ronin’s ear. He nodded at his sergeant and turned back to his conversation.
“Of course, I will, Penny.” Ronin said with a smile. “But I will have to visit you together, because I’ve found a way to get you all crystallized. That’s why I’m here. We are going to take you to a crystallization pad. Sorry to say I couldn’t get you all your own worlds. You will have to make do living in mine I’m afraid.” He smiled at her, as her face went through all the expressions he had ever seen. Disbelief, shock, joy, worry, and everything in between.
He’d waited to tell them until he had confirmation the chamber was holding oxygen. Not wanting to get their hopes up, if they needed to do any repairs that would extend the wait. Now though, it was time to get them moving. They took them out, one at a time. Starting with those who didn’t have any family because they could be ready the fastest. Before long, half of the cave folk were safely inside the container. That’s when Stone sounded the alarm.
“My lord, Sergeant,” Stone said, clearly talking to both men over the coms. “I’ve got another ship up here. It came right out of the sun, so I couldn’t see it right away. It’s going to be on the ground in less than a minute.”
“Not now,” Ronin muttered. Half their number was in the tree, setting up the sap collectors. The remainder were spread out between the ship and the cave. Helping cave people into the sealed container. If this was a hostile group, with any training, they’d never survive the encounter.
“Sergeant Karr,” Ronin said, closing the gap with the man. “I would like your suggestion, on how to proceed.” Karr just looked at him in confusion, red juice dribbling down his face. “Sergeant Karr?” Ronin asked, concerned.
“Give it up, White flame.” Elyria said, joining them. “Karr is a sergeant, excellent in small group tactics and carrying out the missions he is assigned. It isn’t his job to make the battle plans. So, suck it up and quit trying to pass the responsibility. What do you want him to do?”
Ronin just stared at them, for a moment looking as bewildered as Karr. Then he took a deep breath and sighed. It would have been too easy if he could have just given all his duty to Karr. Besides, as competent as the man was, if he’d been able to lead on a larger scale, there was no way Benjamin would have left him as a sergeant.
“Ok,” Ronin said, taking stock of their assets. “It’s the three of us and Jaya down here. Jack and Zak are both out in the ship, Stone and Whisper are on overwatch. K3 and the rest of the squad are up in the tree. So, we won’t count them. Karr, have Jack and Zak get back into the ship and close the hatch. We need to protect the container. One crack and everyone inside dies.” Next, he touched his earpiece. “Stone, Whisper, keep an eye on them from the air. We are closing the ship and making our way to the tunnel. Let me know what they do once they land.” He waited for Karr to get off the comms before continuing.
“The four of us are going to swim, slowly, to just below the surface of the pond. Have your rifles ready, if it comes to a fight, when we break the surface I want you all firing, got it?” After everyone nodded in agreement, Ronin moved to the underwater tunnel and gently swam out into the pool. He swam slowly, doing his best not to make ripples. He held onto the rock that made up the side wall of the pond, thankful for once that there was no algae growing in the water, to make his grip slippery. Then, he waited while the other three swam into place.
The masks they wore to breathe inside the caves also did an excellent job of letting them breathe underwater. He’d have to remember to thank Owl Two for that, since he didn’t think gas masks and scuba gear were normally interchangeable like that. He just hoped that whoever was on that ship wasn’t very observant because the bubbles their breathing was making would be visible to anyone who cared to look.
“My lord,” Whisper said, coming in slightly muffled through the water, but still understandable. “They’ve landed and come out. There are six of them, humans, dressed in fancy clothes. One of them is calling for Alexander Dawson. What do you want us to do?”
“Stay put, I’ll go out,” Ronin said. He wasn’t sure how understandable he was, but he thought it had gotten across because Elyria clamped her free hand onto his shoulder and shook her head. He smiled at her through his clear face mask, before gently removing her fingers and slipping from the pond.
He could hear the voices shouting his name, or the name he’d gone by in the ship anyway. As soon as he broke the surface. Moving slowly, and as quietly as he could, Ronin slipped off his mask and moved behind a boulder near the pond to get a better look at the new arrivals. He started, nearly yelping, when Elyria crouched down beside him. She was dripping wet and clearly ticked off. Ronin only put a finger to his lips, while he tried to listen.
“…on out, Alex. We know you’re here. Saw you on the satellite feeds a day or so back. Who else would have come back here other than you? Now, get out here. Me and my Chipmunk want to have a few words with you.” The speaker was a woman in her late teens, skinny, and wearing a black dress and a tight hat over blond hair. She was also sporting a sawed-off shotgun.
“That’s right, Alex,” a man only slightly older than the woman said, pushing the brim of a grey fedora back as he looked around. “Listen to my bunny girl. We aren’t gunna kill ya. Just take you to see the boss. Stanly is real interested in having a meeting with you.” This man wore a grey suit like Leo’s and was also armed. Holding a large caliber revolver, which reminded Ronin of the gun his father had left him. The pair kept screaming insults at Ronin’s ship, apparently completely unaware there were people outside it. Ronin took the opportunity to check out the group.
They were all dressed in clothes that were popular in the 1930’s in north America. The two leaders, Bunny, and Chipmunk, apparently, were accompanied by four people, three men and a woman. The woman was wearing dress slacks with suspenders over a dirty white undershirt. Her hands were wrapped in rags, like she was used to fighting with them, and there was a bowie knife at her waist. Her outfit was rounded off with a fedora of her own.
That seemed to be a theme in the group, as the other three men wore them as well. There was a giant, for a human anyway, thickly muscled man in a white suit who looked around thirty. He had brass knuckles on his left hand and carried a 1911 pistol in his right. The next man was barely out of his teens, sharply dressed, and handsome, standing with his hip cocked and a shotgun resting on it. The final figure was older than the rest. His black hair was going grey at the temples, and he wore a black suit with a red scarf. A scar ran down the length of his cheek, and he had a tommy gun resting against his shoulder.
“I’m going out,” Ronin Whispered into his com. Elyria, who was still beside him, shook her head angrily, but Ronin was insistent. “Look at their guns. They are old earth models, outdated even before the fall. They likely can’t even penetrate my armor. Everyone just be ready. If they fire, take them out, but aim low. I’d like them alive if we can manage it.”
Without waiting for a response, Ronin was up and moving before Elyria could stop him. The area around the cave was open, so once he stepped out from the small boulder, he became visible. His body tensed, in anticipation of being shot, but all that flew at him were words.
“We know the Lion is up north brat. So, do us all a favor and come ou… Ah, there you are,” Chipmunk said. “Look lover, he came out all on his own. Not surprising, he thought he was such a tough guy when he killed poor Philip by stabbing him in the back… what? Didn’t think we heard about that? We know all about how you suckered him into that duel. Insulted the boss and said you would come after his family if he didn’t agree to fight. Well, we aren’t going to stand for that, are we babe?”
“Damn right Chippy,” The teenaged girl said, coming over to wrap her arms around the man’s waist. “We are gunna bring you to the boss, so do yourself a favor and come quietly… Take him down, Knuckles.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The hulking bruiser, with the brass knuckles and a 1911 said. Holstering his gun inside his white jacket and cracking his knuckles. “The boss just made you an offer, one you will find difficult to refuse…”
“You know what?” Ronin said, looking at the group of clowns, masquerading as gangsters. “This is actually a complete waste of my time.” Touching his earpiece, he said. “Take em down.” He couldn’t hear the silent rifles firing, but he did hear the screams as all six of his would-be attackers went down. Thick orange blood flowed freely from their knees and ankles. Bunny, who’d raised the sawed-off shotgun towards him, also ended up with a bloody and broken elbow, but they’d live.
“I’ll strip these guys of weaponry, and get them healed up, we’ll lock them down with the color force. I want the evacuation sped up. K3, forget the tree, we’ll just take what these guys have instead. I want to get these people to safety before anyone else shows up.” Orders given; Ronin set about relieving the gangsters of their weapons.
“So glad you started listening to those around you.” Elyria said, laughing behind him. He didn’t want to hear it because he already knew. He knew he should have ordered them shot from the start. Risking himself to engage in useless dialogue, with people who clearly meant him harm, was foolish… He sighed; another lesson learned.