David W. Baumgardner
©1997
Introduction
In the year 253, NEC, the Reagency outpost city of Dardennes was attacked without warning by elements of the heretofore unknown Takrotkan Empire. The war that followed lasted thirteen solid years and raged across much of the known frontiers of the Three Quadrants. Vast and powerful, the Takrotkan Empire poured into C.U.P. and Reagency space while the defenders slowly fell back in defeat after bloody defeat. In 254, the Independant Colonies in C.U.P. space fell to the Empire, and remained under Imperial control until liberated by the final offensive of the war in 264.
From their conquest until 262, the occupational forces of the Empire were mainly made of regular army and the fierce, but noble and honourable, reptilian Rash'al. With the beginning of the offensive by the Allied forces of the UHR, Confederacy of United Planets, and the Imperial Reagency, the occupation troops were needed on the front lines and the Colonies were turned over to the brutal mercies of the " Special Forces " of the Empire. The Colonials soon came to call these troops " The Butchers ". And for good reason.
Mans' history is full of such like, and The Butchers' fit that mold perfectly. Suspected resistance was met with unconscionable reprisals. Torture, murder, mysterious and not-so-mysterious disappearances became the order of daily life. And the strong resistance of the Colonies before The Butchers came, became the merciless resolve of the rightious, once they arrived. By 264, at the cost of thousands of Colonial lives, one of every three Butchers to come to the Colonies, never left.
But when they did leave, pulled out just ahead of the Allied invasion forces, they left in a flurry of death and destruction. Cities and towns were obliterated, water supplies and farmlands were contaminated, and individuals vanished with the retreating forces. And they left behind traps and tricks which plagued and poisoned and murdered the Colonials for years afterwards.
Thousands more died of The Butchers' leftovers even after the war was over. As hard-hit and devastated as some of their own worlds, when the war finaly ended and expansion began once again, many Colonials were offered relocation and a new start by the UHR. One of those families to accept was the MacDonald clan, or what little remained of it anyway. And in the planetary fall of 274, Iain MacDonald, his son Gaelen, daughter Cora, and toddler daughter Moira, arrived on the newly opened UHR colony on Sabaatah. They were amoung the very first colonists to step onto the soil of that new world.
His name was Gaelen MacDonald. He was a polite and unassumming young man. Tall and thin, painfully thin even for fourteen. His eyes were bright blue, his hair short and blond, and his face would someday be fairly handsome. But beyond that, there was little that made the lad remarkable. Except perhaps, the fierce pride he held in his heritage. For Gaelen was the last son in a centuries-long line of pioneers.
His ancestry, and his family name, could be traced in a straight line back to before the birth of the Jesus on Earth. Straight back to the islands of ancient Scotland. And as his family went from Scotland to the new worlds discovered on Earth, so his recent family went out to the new worlds discovered amoung the stars. And now he, another MacDonald, was on a new world to open up the newest frontier once again.
Gaelens' grandfather had arrived in the Cassiopean Colonies as a young, endentured man. When the time arrived, as it always does where men are denied their freedoms, his grandfather joined in the revolution which freed the Colonies and gained them their independence and self-rule. Gaelens' father had been born in those Independent Colonies, and Gaelen had been born there also. Shortly before the Imperial Occupation.
He was four when the Confederacy defenders were forced back, foot by bloody foot, and when they finally retreated completely, most of the remaining Colonial Defense Force went with them. He, and his family survived the Occupation. Some of them at least. But, at nine years old, Gaelen killed his first man. Several men in fact. By dropping a homemade bomb into their armoured vehicle. Some nights, he could still hear their screams as the machine burned. Not that he lost much sleep to it anymore.
They had been Butchers, sent to wipe out his town in a reprisal sweep, possible even the same ones who had taken his Grandparents for their torture and eventual death as suspected Resistance fighters. And that was the way of most of the lads' young life: Resistence and reprisals and no quarter from either side once The Butchers arrived. And when the Allies finally liberated the Colonies, Clan MacDonald still fell victem to The Butchers.
Their farmland had been poisoned by the retreating enemy, leaving barely enough to eck out a bare subsistance on. And other, more insidious poisons, were discovered by Cathleen MacDonald and her two younger children. The poisons were slow and terrible, and the MacDonalds' were not the only ones to suffer from them. But, in the end, all three finally died, Kathleen upon giving birth to Moira. And Gaelen was sure that, even though he lived, his father had been lost to those terrible times also.
Once a cheerful, pleasent man, even during the bitter years of the Occupation, with the death of his wife and children, Iain had drawn into himself and become taciturn and surly. Not cruel or mean, just silent and withdrawn. Now, he only spoke when something needed said, never joked nor laughed, nor ever even smiled anymore.
But he was still an inherently kind man. And he had always been a good and loving father, so when Gaelen had returned from town with the UHR Settlers' application, Iain had submitted it, as much to please his son as to seek a new start for his decimated family. And, six months later, he found himself stepping into the bright daylight of a different sun than he'd know all his life, the sun of Sabaatah.
Now, taciturn or not, Iain MacDonald was a farmer and a practical man. So he had spent the months of his shipboard transit time studying the things of Sabaatah which were important to a farmer. He had learned the soil conditions, the farming methods, the weather, and seasonal conditions of his new home. And he had mostly ignored the social and domestic information as low priority. Thus it was, that Iain MacDonald, combat veteran and surviving Resistance fighter, experienced a surge of panic when he turned from addressing his daughter Cora and stepped full against the flanks of a huge beast he knew only to be a wild predator on Sabaatah.
His startled gasped died abourning as a great orange beak swung down and around and a cold, black-in-yellow slit- pupiled eye stared straight into Iains' face. Startled to immobility by the close proximity of jaws that could snap him in half like a twig, the elder MacDonald just stared back. But his son, having studied more than just the practical matters his father had, quickly stepped up beside Iain and gave the great beast a slight bow.
" Pardon us, Mighty One. " the lad said to the animal, " We were staggered by the crowd. "
The huge, violet beast flared its' nostrils, first taking a brief sniff, the blowing a snort before lifting its' near man-size head back up to gaze out over the crowd which bustled around it. The blast left the heat of the beasts' warm, moist breath on Iains' kilted leg and the man stared after the huge head for a moment.
Iain then gave his son a thoughtful look, and made to speak, but was interrupted by an officer of the UHR. The young officer requested their travel voucher and the families' identity cards which he zipped through a portable reader he held in his hand. Politely, but firmly, the officer gave Iain directions to his families' quarters within the Indoctrination dormitory and started them on their way.
Their quarters were nothing glamorous. Functional, but barren was more like it. The space, as the entire building, was fusion-formed stone, unpainted and unadorned, just barely smoothed out. They had two sets of military-style bunkbeds, a four-dresser/counter along one wall, with a closet at one end and the door to the bath at the other end. Between the bunks were a small, round table and four military-pattern chairs. The only other furnishings in the room were a rifle rack on the floor to the left of the entry door, and a hanger bar for pistol belts above that. To the right of the entry door was a plaque which gave the times and directions for the mess hall, indoctrination lectures, stake assignments, and claim filings. Hanging from the pistol rack were four room keys, each on a neckchain.
" Barracks! " Iain snorted as he bent to read the placard.
He handed a key to both Gaelen and Cora and told them they had several hours before dinnertime. No meetings were scheduled until the morning so they had some time to kill. What few personal belongings they carried were quickly stored away, the matresses laid out and the beds made with linen from the closet. Each then went their seperate ways until they were to meet in the mess hall at dinnertime. Iain went straight to the library, to find out why that huge predator he bumped into was wandering freely amoung the landing colonists. Cora went to seek out other girls of her own age. And Gaelen went looking for more of those magnificent beasts, which he knew, from his shipboard studies, to be Sabaatian dragons. The lad didn't have far to go to find them.
Gaelen exited the dorm and turned back towards the hustle and bustle of the landing field where he'd seen his first dragon. As he approached the corner where he would turn towards the field, a baggage train, basicly a small hover- truck towing eight or ten hoversleds behind it, whisked past him on the street and turned to take the corner ahead of the lad. Everywhere, these trains whisked and whipped about, racing to and from the landing field, in the task of moving the possessions and materials brought with the twenty-five hundred settlers which had come to Sabaatah.
Suddenly, the train ahead of Gaelen veered wide, the whoosh of braking thrust louder than the curses that poured from the driver. And, around the corner, there came the clatter and banging of spilled cargo containers. Gaelen raced around the corner, quickly glancing about for possible injuries that would require emergency aid. It was obvious either the empty train that passed him, or the loaded train which had been around the corner, had disobeyed the right-of- way and both had nearly collided.
While there were no injuries, and the trains had not collided, the filled train had lost some of its' cargo, which now lay scattered across the dusty street. And as Gaelen had rounded the corner at one end of the long block, he noticed a pair of UHR officers and a smaller version of the beast he'd met earlier, came around the corner at the other end. By the three met in the middle, near the spilled cargo, a loud, vociforous argument between the two drivers was well underway.
" Any injuries? " the male officer asked Gaelen when they met.
" Um, nosir! " the lad answered uncertainly.
" Okay, son. " the man replied, " Then why don't you help Carrie get that cargo reloaded. I'll handle the drivers. " And the man turned on his heel and strode away.
Gaelen was used to taking orders from his taciturn father, and had always been taught to respect his elders, which the officer was, albeit just barely. The mans' manner had been no-nonesense and not condescending or imperious, but the lad still felt a bit rankled by the strangers' ordering him about so prefuntorily. But the female officer touched his arm.
" Come on, lad. " she said in a sweet, melodious
voice, " The sooner we get them loaded, the sooner they'll move again. "
Gaelen turned toward her then, and stopped, staring straight at the purple chest of the beast that remained beside the young woman. The officer reached out and slapped the animals' forequarters with an audible crack.
" Shadow! " she said with exhasperation, " Get out of the way, you great oaf! "
The beast grunted and ambled its' nearly thirty-foot- long bulk aside, moving to where the other officer had joined in the drivers' argument. Gaelen was taken aback by the girls' familiar and lose manner with the huge animal and his face must have shown it plainly.
" Hardly the proper respect for such a noble animal, eh? " she asked him with a devilish grin. " Well, don't worry. You'll get over that soon enough. Besides, that one's mine. Or I'm his, or something. We haven't quite figured that out yet. " she mused aloud. " Oh, well. Come on, lad, we've work to do. "
Standing amoung the scattered cargo of the last sled, she looked around, her arms akimbo, hands on hips.
" These are all personal belongings, " she sighed, " How about you bring them over to the sled, and I'll log the numbers against possible damage. Okay? "
Gaelen nodded and turned to the furthest container. As he hefted it and carried it back to the sled, the young woman squatted and began recording the numbers of those containers near her.
" I'm Carrie, by the way, " she said as she punched the keys of her reader unit, " Carrie Murray. Lieutenant Murray in formal company. " What's your name
lad? "
" MacDonald, " he replied as he set the first crate down beside her, " Gaelen MacDonald. "
" Where you from, Gaelen? " she asked " Lanteen? Or Omeron IV? "
" New Britain. " he replied flatly.
" Oh! " she exclaimed, " I didn't realize there were any Colonials in this wave. "
" Not many. " he answered, " But a few. "
" Well, I knew there would be eventually, " Carrie replied conversationally, " You Colonials are good, sturdy stock, used to a hard life. Just right for our new world here. "
Gaelen noted there was no condescention in her voice, nor sarcasim.
" Besides, the Colonies got hit bad. Nearly as bad as Raas. "
The lad heard a strange sadness in her voice when she mentioned the devastated homeworld of the reptilian Rash'al. They had been the elite forces of the Empire, and Gaelen known them for many years during the Occupation. They had been thorough and competent in carrying out their orders. Even when those orders were the execution of civilian prisoners or captured Resistance fighters. The only redeeming value they held, in Gaelens' eyes were the fact that the Rash'al would execute an Imperial soldier who broke the law as quickly as they would the Colonials. And that captured fighters were always given a weapon and the chance to win their life in one-on-one combat with their captor. Still, he bore no great love for the Rash'al.
" Why would you feel sorry form them? " he asked in barely disguised disgust.
Carrie Murray stoped in her task and stared at Gaelen for a moment.
" I gather you've met the Rash'al, lad. " she said more than asked. But then her face turned hard.
" Well, the war's over, boy, and they lost! Even more than you Colonials did. It's not common knowledge lad, but Raas was so badly devastated during the invasion that it is unliveable. Now and for many decades to come. They are the oldest race man's ever encountered, nearly twice as old as man himself. Honour and Duty have been their entire lives for so long it is more important than life itself to them. Many of those here suffered under them, or faced them in combat. But, by and large, their remains no animosity for them. That's why some have come here with your wave. They deserve the same chance for a new life as any other victem of the war. "
" Okay! Okay! " Gaelen conceeded, stung by her sharp tongue and her biting lecture.
He set the last of the scattered crates beside the girl and waited silently while she recorded the numbers. Glancing about, the lad noticed a small crowd had gathered around the officer and the arguing drivers. Even as he watched, Gaelen saw the beast Carrie called Shadow stretch his neck and below out over the gathering. All went silent for a moment, as all looked up at the young beast, and then the argument resumed as hotly as before. Shadow looked down on the boisterous crowd a few moments, then lifted his head high again and gave out three loud, coughing grunts. Gaelen heard the girl beside him chuckle evilly and he looked at her in askance.
" Now they've done it! " she sniggered, " He's called his Dad. " was all she would say to him.
Gaelen had no idea what Carrie meant by her remark and, with a shrug, began stacking the crates she had already recorded on the hoversled. As he bent for his third crate, the earth beneath his feet vibrated and a great shadow fell over him.
" They're for it now! " Carrie said with a wide grin," Cover your ears, Gaelen! "
He saw the girl clap her hands over her own ears, as the sound of rushing air came to the lad. It was akin to the intake of the big bellows from the blacksmithes' forge back home, and Gaelen looked up. Many feet above his head, he saw the huge head of the dragon he'd met at the port, and he swiftly clapped his hands to his own ears. Just as, twenty feet above him, the mighty Dragon set free a thundering roar. And the very air shook with that ear-piercing sound.
Everything within hearing seemed to stop and go silent when that bellow faded. The huge head above Gaelen swung left, and then right, as if surveying the reach of his voice for a moment. And then, with a snort, the great beast turned and ambled off the way he had come from. Gaelen just stood an stared after the receeding bulk, unaware of anything else until soft fingers gripped his wrists and pulled his hands from his ears. It was only then, he became aware of the laughter beside him.
Carrie stood holding his wrists, her eyes wet with tears and laughing hugely. It took only a moment for Gaelen to realize she was laughing at him! He felt his face flush with colour as he was instantly filled with anger and embarrassment. And when she saw that, she began to try and get herself under control. It took tremendous effort, but she finally managed. And, wiping away the tears of her humor, she apologized to the lad.
" Oh, I'm really sorry, Gaelen! " she said sincerely, " But the look on your face.....! It was just too much! I couldn't help myself. Really! I AM sorry! "
Her apology was genuine enough, and Gaelen had to admit he probably did look rather silly holding his ears and awking after the retreating beast. And he said as much to Carrie. To his dismay, she heartily agreed and then began trying to mimic the look he'd had. She put her hands to her head and began aping all manner of hilariously exaggerated expressions, until Gaelen and she both laughed loudly. With his anger dispeled, and the final subsidence of their laughter, the two finished restacking the cargo and secured it to the sled again.
When they were finished, Carrie gave a sharp wistled and waved at the other officer. He looked at them and waved back. then, with a shout, he started the driver of the empty train back on his way. Two more empty trains followed, held up in their runs by the near accident. With a final admonishmenet at the guilty driver, the loaded train moved out and the male officer walked back to rejoin Gaelen and the girl.
" So, who's this young man, Carrie? " he asked as he stepped beside the female officer and slid an arm around her slim waist in obvious possessiveness. " and what was so funny? "
" This is Gaelen MacDonald, Ed. " she replied " Gaelen, this is my husband, Lieutenant Ed Murray. Gaelen's from the Colonies. "
" Pleased to meet you, Mr. MacDonald. " Ed said genuinely, thrusting out his hand to give Gaelen a firm shake. Gaelen mumbled a return greeting.
" And what was so funny? You weren't trying to beat my time here, were you? " Ed said with mock jealousy.
" No, he wasn't, Ed. " Carrie chided her husband, " I was laughing at Gaelen. Or rather, I was laughing at the look on his face when Dragon bellowed. " she hastily amended.
" Yes. Well. The big fellow does have a way with words. " Ed said dryly.
" Dragon! " Gaelen exclaimed in awed surprise, " THE Dragon? The FIRST dragon? The Governors' dragon? "
" Yes, lad, " Ed chuckled, That Dragon. But you've no need to be so awe-struck about him. "
" But he's the one my father bumped into at the ship field! " Gaelen said in dismay. Then, seeing the strange look his remark apparently earned him, he hastily added, " But I apologized to him! I hope he remembers that! "
" Well, don't worry too much about it, lad. " Ed said, " None of the domestic dragons have ever shown they hold a grudge. And we're not real sure of just what they do remember. "
" Yeah, " Carrie added, " Where the dragons are concerned, we've far more questions than answers. But an apology couldn't have hurt. Always better safe than sorry. "
" Well, anyway, thanks for your help, Mr. MacDonald. " Ed said, " We really appreciate it. Especially as busy as things are right now. But we've got to go. We're supposed to me someone in the mess hall in a few minutes. "
Gaelen glanced at his watch, just as his belly growled loudly. Ed and Carie chuckled at his sudden embarrassment, and Ed clapped him on the back.
" Sounds like you need fed too! " Carrie chuckled again, " Come on with us. You can meet a couple of our friends and we can meet your family. We might all just as well meet the new neighbors. "
" Yeah, Lord knows we haven't had too many so far! " Ed said with great feeling. And with good reason.
For the last six years, the total extend of the planetary human population consisted of the two Governors, and the small staffs of the three research stations and the garrison established on Sabaatah. In all, about one-hundred and fifty when averaging the few births against the few deaths over that time. That didn't take into account the nearly one-third of the population lost to an epidemic the year prior to this landing. Most of them had been the children born to the researchers and soldiers since arriving. But now, with a fleet full of new colonists come to start making a home of Sabaatah, that would change.
Gaelen had never been to the cities of New Britain before they were reduced to ruins in the war, and the three- story Indoc dorm was the tallest building he'd ever seen. But, upon entering the vast cavern of the mess hall, he gasped at the enormity of the immense dining area. Fully five-hundred people could be seated at once in that great room and Gaelen was awe-struck by its' sheer size. Once more, the lad just stood and stared until Carrie drew his attention. Shaking off his amazement, Gaelen looked at the young woman and she grinned widely at him. He felt his face colour with remembered embarrassment and Carrie gave a light laugh, handing him a metal tray.
Sandwiched between Ed and his wife, Gaelen set his tray on the slidebars and watched Ed hand the clerk his ID card. The mess clerk slid the card through a reader, the machine beeped softly, and he handed the card back. Never once did the clerk glance up from the readout he studied beside his machine. Instead, he merely held out his hand for the next ID card. Not knkowing what else to do, Gaelen handed over his ID card. The clerk zipped it through the reader and held it back out. But instead of a soft beep, the reader gave forth a raucous buzz and the clerk jerked his head up to stare at Gaelens' ID card.
"Awright! Who's the wiseace gimme the set'lers' card! " the clerk demanded loudly and irrately.
" Probably the settler it belongs to, Cookie! " Carrie retorted before Gaelen could reply, pointing to the boy.
" Well, there ain't s'posed to be any set'lers use this line, L.T. " the clerk replied officiously, handing back Gaelens' card.
" Since when! " Carrie demanded of the man.
" Um, well, there ain't none of 'um has used it before! " he answered her defensively.
" We've only served them one bloody meal, Cookie! Most of them haven't strayed this far from the dorm yet! "
" Yeah, well, okay, Lieutenant. " the man admitted, then he looked at Gaelen. " Look, lad, my line or another, set'lers don't need to give over their cards. Set'lers don't get their rations tracked, okay? "
" Er, thank you, sir. I didn't know that, sir. " Gaelen replied politely.
" No problem, lad. Just move along. " the clerk said, then raised his voice and added, " The rest of these freeloaders DO get carded! So have 'um ready! "
When Gaelen caught up with Ed down the serving line, the man asked after the hold up.
" I gave the clerk my ID card, like you did. It caused a bit of trouble. " the lad answered, flushing with embarrassment once more.
" I'll just bet it did! " Ed replied.
" What did the clerk mean, " Gaelen asked to change the subject, " settlers don't get their rations tracked? Do you have to BUY your meals? "
" No, lad. " Ed chuckled, " But WE all have private or family quarters already. And every hand not absolutely needed elsewhere is here in Dragon Hill for the offloading. Until Sabaatah is self-sufficient enough to provide for all our food, we are allotted a certain amount of rations to eat. Since it would waste a lot of time, and slow down the landing if we all went home to eat, we get our meals charged against our allotment. That way, we don't end up eating all you settlers' food while our quarters end up stacked with rations we aren't there to eat. You see? "
" Okay. I understand. But what about us settlers? "
Carrie had joined the other two in the sideways shuffle down the serving line by then and answered Gaelen.
" Since there is no place else for you settlers to get meals until you move to your homesteads, all your rations come here, Gaelen. There's no need to keep track of where they should go. "
That made sense to the lad. And as they moved down the line, Gaelen made sure he got his fair share of the rations sent there for him. Even after the several months aboard the ship being fed like this, he still wasn't over trying to make up for the years of having just barely enough food to quiet his belly, let alone fill it. He didn't even get embarrassed when Carrie made mention of the pile on his tray either. But when he cleared the end of the serving line and turned towards the seating, he nearly dropped the over-full tray. Staring bleakly out over the vast expanse of the hall full of its' fusion-formed ables and benches.
" How will I ever find Da in THIS place! " he muttered absently.
" No trouble, Gaelen! " Carrie replied to the question he had not meant to ask aloud. " There are nowhere near enough folks downside to fill this place yet. And everybody's bunched up at the end there. See? " she said pointing out the dozen or so occupied tables she meant.
" Besides, we're just a little early, so the crowd's still thin. " Ed added as they made their way to the seating.
Gaelen still felt fortunate when they found his father and Cora sitting at a table alone, at the near end of the slowly-growing crowd. The lad made the proper introductions as Ed and Carrie sat across the table from Iain and Cora respectively.
Iain greeted the newcomers in his usual, taciturn manner: polite, but far from eloquent. Ed flirted unabashedly with the skinny twelve-year-old Cora until her cheeks blushed bright red and Carrie made him stop. But then Carrie teased her a little about her pale beauty, just beginning to bloom at her age. And when the first opprtunity arose, Carrie got her hands on baby Moira. Ed goaned when he saw the gleam in his young wifes' eye, and Gaelen got a real surprise.
With Eds' groan, Iain glanced up from his meal. Taking in the dreamy look on the young womans' face and the disgusted look on her husbands', he chuckled. And smiled! Iain MacDonald hadn't smiled since the death of his wife and younger children! Ed noticed the grin too.
" Oh, and you think it's funny! " he carped at the other man.
" Aye, laddie, Ah do!" MacDonald replied grinning even wider.
" And why's that? " Ed demanded.
" Baycause et's ye and nay me thes time, lad! " Iain said, laughing again.
These Pages Hosted By GeoCitites
Get Your Own Free Home Pages!
