Voyage of the Dawn Rider

Chapter 15

Voyage of the Dawn Rider 13.

Elansa must have been doing something horrible to these creatures, but after what I'd seen, I was in no mood to stop her. Finally, she released her spell on them, dropping them into a pile. They didn't move, "They're not dead, just in a trance so you can pick them up," commented Elansa. "There's a room I found near the "Rider" we can lock them in," said Spanner. We grabbed them by their necks, and carried them to Spanner's "room" for "safekeeping." After that, I initiated an aggressive "search and destroy" mission, to root out the rest of the aliens, even taking Nessa. We must have captured them all, as we found no more. I instructed Elansa and Dr. Dall that time was of the essence, and to do whatever they felt necessary to get "inside" the minds of these little "fiends,"

I then went to see Garet, and how he was coming with his "Gok." He had set himself up in a nearby room in the hanger bay. When I entered, he and the Gok Brate, were chatting amicably. Garet introduced me to Brate, even though we could not understand each other. "This won't last much longer captain," said Dr. Leah. "I'm going to administer a sub-conscious language program to Brate here, when he's absorbed it, he'll be able to speak Elvin." "Fine Dr. Leah, you just do that, meanwhile, what's his story," I said indicating the Gok. "Basically he and some friends were walking home from the fields one evening; suddenly a bluish light enveloped them, preventing them from moving. They were pulled up into the ship, next thing he knew, he was lying on the floor of a cell, he saw his friends taken out, never seeing them again. Brate here tells me he has dedicated the rest of his life to destroying these creatures. He understands we're friends dedicated to the same goal, he's ready to do his part." "Well Dr. Leah," I said, "Once old Brate here can understand us, I'll put him on call for any "muscle" work that comes along. In the meantime, try and find out what skills he's capable of." The way things were shaping up around here I just might need a good walloper, and fairly soon, I left Dr. Leah and his charge to themselves

Personal Journal of Keith Dall

I've seen things on this alien craft that will haunt me for the rest of my life, things…Too horrible to even recount. On the other hand, the running gunfight the captain and I engaged in was truly life on the edge, I hate to admit it, but I've never felt more "alive" than when we were engaged in combat with these creatures. The captain assigned Magiere and I to recover alien bodies in the lower levels, while he and the chief cover the top levels. This duty has allowed both of us to observe the other in a trying and stressful situation, both of us seem to like what we see. Later at the end of our shift, Magiere asked me if I knew how to operate what she called the "Vibe Shower." I told her I knew only what the chief had told my father and I. When I got ready to wash myself, she showed up and quickly undressed, needless to say, our mutual "shower" turned into passionate lovemaking. I think the captain is now quite aware of our liaisons' At this point, we simply do not care anymore.

My Journal…Magiere Starle

My heart want's to cry out for Keith, he hints at things on this ship of horrors he's seen but dares not tell me. The captain has placed us together (intentionally?) to clear the corridors and rooms of the dead Morda, very distasteful and disgusting work, but Keith and I do it without complaint. Afterwards we shamelessly shower together. Like a willing student, Lt. Dall accepts my instruction eagerly, always interested in some new technique. I tell you I have never enjoyed a man who fills me as completely as Lt. Dall does he simply leaves me gasping.

Eventually the "s**t" details were over; all the bodies we could find were piled up at the hanger doors or had been flushed into space via the small airlock hatch. Dr. Leah was being rather insistent about doing a survey on the planet below us, so I had Elansa cast a spell on the door into the bridge so nobody but ourselves could get in. We collected in the Dawn Rider, Magiere piloted the pup however, she had to don a suit then go up to the hanger control and open the doors. The pile of Morda floated out into space, she then went to the pup and together we left the Morda ship. Our first order of business was getting the pup back inside the "Rider" then resuming our survey of the planet. We took up an orbit over the southern hemisphere studying the scanners intently. To make things easier, I moved us into a low orbit, the scanner was now starting to pick up small areas or pockets that had little or no radiation, we also started seeing signs of long past habitation amid dense vegetation. Suddenly Nessa alerted me, "Saw something captain." I turned the craft around and re-crossed our old path, "Nothing!" As Magiere was bringing us back around to our original course Nessa sang out again, this time Magiere also spotted the indicator. What ever it was lay hidden under a thick canopy of tangled growth.

"Doesn't look like there's anyplace to land nearby," observed Magiere. "Blast us a hole Lieutenant," I ordered, "We'll create our own." With that, she moved us away a little from where we thought the reading came from and opened fire with the cannons. Trees, jungle like growth and soil were blasted away leaving a rough but clear area. We then set down and began to take readings, the radiation levels were present but well within limits, if we were going to spend a week here I'd be concerned, however a few hours exploring wouldn't hurt. The outside atmosphere was just at breathable level no vectors were detected everybody was bound and determined to go even the Gok. "Captain, I told Brate what we're doing, and he wants to go as well," said Garet. I looked past him to the Gok leaning against the bulkhead, with his arms crossed. "Well…I don't really want him carrying a weapon, ask Magiere if she'll part with her falchion, he can carry that." She must have consented, because I saw a happy Brate carrying the short sword over his shoulder. After "gearing up" we lowered the ramp and started walking in the direction of the scanner readings. Breathing was passable; our Gok friend seemed to be having a bit of difficulty. The air was heavy with the odor of decaying growth, we heard no sounds of wildlife, birds oar anything else.

Once we reached the edge of the blasted out landing area the going got tougher, Brate with Magiere's falchion went to work chopping and hacking the undergrowth, he began to run short of breath, but refused to stop. He worked like a man possessed eventually bringing us into a clearing containing objects that had obviously been constructed by sentient beings. Everything was covered with overgrowth, and hard to discern, Spanner located what turned out to be a small cabin or shack. Another pile of overgrowth was covering what at one time must have been some sort of vehicle, now since gone to rust. Brate went around doing what he could to clear away the brush. Once he had gotten the overgrowth away from the door, we attempted to enter. The door was intact, and appeared to be locked. Brate kicked it open; Magiere gave out with a yelp when she saw what was sitting in a chair. It was a well-decayed skeleton, and by the size, was at one time either an Ogre or a Gok. "Stand away from that skeleton," demanded Elansa, "back away, let me attempt something." We all did as we were told; she then slowly approached the remains. She appeared to go into a trance, as she placed her hands on the skull, for several minutes she just stood there, making no sound. Slowly we heard a barely audible chant come from Elansa's mouth. Finally, the chanting stopped, and she straightened up, turning to us, she took a deep sigh and spoke. "Even after all this time, the dead still speak, his name was Dreng, and he lived over eight hundred cycles ago, I want everyone to be extremely careful, this house is very old and could come right down on our heads at any moment. Get the Gok out of here lest he do something foolish and unwitting. Captain, I'd like for you, and everybody else to slowly step outside as well. Nessa, please look around this room for a strongbox, Dreng tells me there's one here with all the answers." as we slowly moved outside the creaking of the old house grew louder. Finally Nessa flew out the door, as Elansa slowly came as well, holding a metal case. No sooner had she cleared the front door, the place collapsed in on itself. "Captain," said Elansa, "There's nothing more for us here, as an honor to Dreng, would you please fire the remains of this place, it was their custom to be cremated at death, he has yielded up his secrets, the least we can do is see that his ashes scatter to the winds." I fired my plasma rifle at a couple places in the rubble, which became an inferno almost immediately. The fire quickly began to engulf the whole area, we made a hasty retreat towards our ship until we heard shouts and screams in the forest off to our right Garet gasped the word that sent chills down our backs "Ogres, and by the sound, lot's of 'em!" "Everybody back to the ship, double time, let's move people, Nessa in your pouch NOW!"

We moved as fast as we could, Spammer, Elansa and Dr. Dall not being especially fleet of foot. We could hear roars and howls coming from our rear, and even ahead of us. By now, I had my Kryer M-6 at the ready, as did Magiere. Spanner had one of the "Omma's" Lt. Dall had his sniper rifle over his shoulder, as well as his Parker, and the VyMont autoloader. As we broke into the clearing, we were confronted with the sight of a horde of what appeared to be larger than normal Ogres. Magiere and I started firing away at them; Lt. Dall swung the sniper rifle off his shoulder and took aim at the fast moving Ogres. "Bam! Bam! Bam!" Lt. Dall was dropping them as fast as he could work the action; the man was an incredible shot. Even Elansa got into the action by conjuring up some sort of four-legged demon that charged at the "greenies" causing them to temporarily retreat. We continued to move as fast as we could towards our ship, but we were faced with the possibility of being cut off, as the Ogres were now moving at an angle towards us. One of them threw what appeared to be some sort of club; it caught Magiere across the chest, dropping her to the ground. Elansa screamed, and attacked the closest Ogres with a lightening bolt, giving Lt. Dall time to rush over and literally pick her up with one hand, and throw her over his shoulder. Spanner and I were occupied with holding off the Ogres behind us and were unable to deal with the ones trying to intercept us. Two Ogres attempted to tackle the Lieutenant, but were met with his big .44 Parker, taking off their heads at extremely close range.

I couldn't believe what I saw, his unswerving steadiness in the face of the enemy, picking up a crewmember like that, and turning only long enough to kill two Ogres, turning their heads to bloody pulp. One of them must have been so hopped up on adrenaline the body kept running colliding with one of his fellows, who threw him out of the way. Spanner made a final dash for the door, as I kept up my fire with my plasma rifle. I had it set to the maximum level, it went through plasma charge packs quicker, but when I hit an Ogre, it literally melted him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Spanner had the ramp down and the others were halfway up the ramp. Only myself, the Lieutenant carrying Magiere, Spanner, and Brate the Gok were still outside. I screamed for him as well as Lt. Dall it get up the ramp. Dr. Leah was also shouting for Brate to hurry, in stead, he veered off towards Lt. Dall and plucked Magiere right off the Lieutenant's shoulder before resuming his dash for the ramp. Elansa cast one last spell that created a small whirlwind in the midst of the attacking Ogres, surrounding them with flying sand, dirt and debris. This caused them to pause long enough for the rest of us to get our asses up that ramp and close it. No sooner was it closed, than we heard the Ogres pounding on the hull, by then, I was halfway to the bridge preparing to take off.