ClanDragon

By M Ross Davies

A fantasy adventure for teenagers, ClanDragon follows a small group of survivors as they evade the enemy from Cretos and escape into deep space. On a new planet they find new enemies and new problems but with the most unlikely of alliances they endeavour to establish a new beginning. Technological superiority, common sense and a lot of good luck help them in their struggle.
A journey through mankinds long distant past.

• Language: English
• Publisher: M Ross Davies
• Release date: Sep 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9780473223687

Book preview

Introduction

Space is infinite; there are no boundaries; galaxies and star systems stretch on forever.

That is the universally accepted theory, the conclusion reached in the absence of information to the contrary.

Scattered amongst the untold billions of systems in their constant state of flux are millions of differing life forms; all evolving and adapting to the specific planet that they inhabit.

Given the scarcity of life sustaining planets, there can be an overlap of requirement as a species develops a need to extend its environment. Such a clash can lead to the displacement or eradication of an entire taxonomic group.

Clan Dragon

Chapter One

Chakin relaxed as he settled into the command chair. Beyond the narrow window panels lay the black emptiness of deep space. Three feet thick, the panels were made of gweldur, an alloy of ferrites and silica, smelted and cast in zero gravity. As clear as crystal and stronger than steel, the panels had been placed in the mould while they were still hot, and then the hull of the ship had been poured around them. He knew this from perusing the data on the ship’s log. The logistics of building a ship in space were staggering. Huge nuclear furnaces had melted the thousands of tons of metal used in each ship, using techniques that had long been lost.

It had been well worth the trouble he thought to himself, and he silently thanked those workmen who had built this ship all those long years ago.

For more than half a solar cycle they had been travelling through empty space, leaving the familiar stars and planets of their home far behind. Every minute of every day he hoped they would see the light from another galactic system and find a planet suitable to live on.

He did not have the faintest idea where they were in the universe at this moment, and he hoped that the Cretons did not know either. The Cretons had come from a neighbouring solar system that they had ravaged and plundered. When there was not enough food left for survival, they moved to another area of the universe. Unfortunately they had chosen his area of the universe.

The people of Shard had known of the Cretons for a long time, but unfortunately, familiarity brings complacency as well as contempt, and when the attack came it was a complete and total surprise, which is exactly what the Cretons had anticipated. In the space of a few short weeks the enemy had captured every major city and landmass on the planet, and only a handful of people had survived in the most isolated areas. That had been nearly a complete solar cycle ago:

Chakin had been holidaying in the mountains with his family when the attack came and they retreated deeper into the relative safety of the mountains.

With his family safely hidden in a deep cave he went out to assess the situation. The horrors he had seen were far beyond anything he could have imagined. He knew the Cretons were a barbaric race, but neither he nor any of the Shardan could have known what the invading hordes could be capable of. As he moved through the countryside he came across piles of decaying bodies where the inhabitants of small villages had been beaten to death. Some villages had been burnt; some had been left relatively intact for the invaders to live in.

Chakin was well suited to a stealthy reconnaissance. The Shardan had no defence force; they had lived in peace and harmony for hundreds of years. A difference of opinion was settled by negotiation and any enforcement of these negotiations or any breaches of social or civil law were dealt with by the people’s security force, and they only numbered a few hundred for the whole planet. However, Chakin had developed an interest in the ancient arts of self-defence. He also belonged to a group who played war games based on the battles that had been fought in the distant past, when the Shardan were not as peaceful as they were now. These activities were not socially acceptable by the hierarchy that ruled the planet, but because it harmed no one, it was allowed, or ignored. He enjoyed the chance to exercise his mind and his body and found it relieved the boredom of his job as a cargo loader and dispatcher at the flight terminal back in his hometown.

Now however, he was playing a war game for real. If he lost a play he would not forfeit points; instead he would be killed and eaten, probably after a long period of torture.

He was starting to feel a little defenceless after seeing hundreds of Cretons armed with clubs, knives and spears. Their weapons were crude, but against an unarmed and unsuspecting population they were extremely effective. They never ran out of ammunition, they made no noise, and nobody knew they were just down the road killing their neighbours. If the victims did scream it make only made it easier for the attackers. When the inhabitants came out onto the street to see what was going on they could be killed as well without the bother of having to look for them. Occasionally someone would run or fight, but that only made it more fun for the Cretons.

I need weapons, he thought to himself. And I know exactly where to find them.

Just over a day’s travel away was a bunker hidden in a small valley, well away from the sight of inquisitive people. The bunker was crammed with artefacts of war. They should have been destroyed long ago, but some overzealous clerk had disposed of the paperwork before the weapons had been destroyed.

He had accidentally stumbled across the building while on a lone tramping trip, and after some cautious research he found the cache did not officially exist. He had talked carefully with the other members of his war games group and discovered rumours of weapons hidden in secret locations. On his next trip to the bunker he broke in and found a veritable treasure trove of weapons. To his regret he taken nothing away because all weapons had been decreed illegal objects. To be caught with one would have earned him many demerits and endless sessions of counselling and interrogation.

But now it was different. He needed to protect himself. The elders were probably captured or dead, and not in a position to be disappointed with his actions. He waited for darkness and then headed for the bunker. It was easy to avoid the Cretons; they were in celebration mood and had no fear of anyone on this planet. He could hear them half a league away and it was easy skirt around them. He definitely did not want to be seen. He knew he could not run as fast as the Cretons. They could catch him easily and he could see no good in that scenario. With that thought uppermost in his mind he travelled through the night, making the most of a sometimes fickle sliver of moon that was apt to disappear when it was needed most.

Dawn was breaking when he came across a farmhouse. He approached it cautiously, slipped in the back door and quietly checked all the rooms. The house was empty. So far he had not seen any Shardan in their houses. They had all been captured, killed, or gone into hiding. As he crept carefully down the stairs to the cellar a light flashed on. Panic-stricken, he spun around to fight. Even though he was terrified, he almost relished the situation for a split second. Now he would get to use his martial arts training against the foe that had turned the light on.

He turned, put his foot back to steady himself and missed the step. With a bone jarring thud he fell and rolled to the bottom of the stairs. As he lay on the floor he realised that nothing had been hurt except his pride. Muttering under his breath, he told himself that he was lucky it was not an attack because he definitely had not reacted well. It was one thing to fight in a sports room, but quite another to do it in real life.

Too much reaction, not enough action, he said as he waited for his body to calm down. He had never had such massive adrenalin rush in his life, and his whole body felt like jelly. When he had regained his composure, he looked around and realized he had walked through a trip beam set to automatically turn the light on.

What an idiot, he thought to himself, The simplest system you can get and it got me! Lucky for me it was just a convenience system and not a real security setup.

He picked himself up, looked quickly around the shelves in the cellar and stuffed some of the most interesting looking food into his haversack. Upstairs again and he looked outside. A group of trees a couple of hundred paces away looked like a good place to rest for a while.

He slipped out of the house and with his back to a stone wall he sidled along to the corner. It was getting lighter now. He reached the corner and peered around. Only two paces away someone was coming towards him. The other person’s back was to the wall as and he was sneaking along looking back, away from Chakin. In his hands the newcomer held a hayfork. Chakin gave a little cough. The man spun around, ready to do battle.

Good morning Jas, Chakin said quietly. Nice day for a walk. He was surprised at how quickly he assessed the situation and had it under control, so different to his little episode in the cellar a few minutes ago

.

The man with the fork stared at him for a few moments, then in a barely audible voice he spoke, By all the Saints, Chakin, What are you doing here?

Chakin replied, Trying not to get killed and eaten I suppose. He was overjoyed to have run into Jas. They were both members of the same war games group, and while Jas did not practice the martial arts he excelled at the strategies and theories of combat. He was not completely surprised to find Jas safe and well. Their training had led both of them to follow the safest route through the countryside.

Do you have enough food? He asked casually. If you need some there's an excellent selection in the cellar of that farmhouse. Just watch out for the light switch on your way down the stairs. I’ll stand guard, but be quick. It’s getting too light to be out in the open.

It only took a few minutes before Jas came out of the house with as much food as he could carry and they ran for the shelter of the trees. Sitting with their backs against the trees they looked at each other as they tried to take stock of their situation. At last Chakin spoke:

What happened? he asked. I was on holiday in the mountains. When my family and I walked back to the village to catch the train home we found everybody had been killed or taken away. We hid in the mountains and then I came out to see what had happened. I found Cretons everywhere.

I was working near the main spaceport, repairing a computer in a sky tower when it started, Jas replied. "The traffic controllers had unauthorized craft appearing on their monitors. They were coming in from Cretos. I started to get a real bad feeling when I heard about it. I'd been to Cretos a few years ago and I didn't like what I saw then.

A team of us had gone over there to upgrade their flight control system. It took us five days to complete the job and we weren't impressed with the Cretons. They were arrogant, rude and openly hostile to us. I don’t know why they were like that; we were doing them a favour, bringing them food in exchange for Xiarilium ingots. We didn’t really need the metal, we had our own resources, but it was all they had to trade and they needed food, so in the name of good business and high profits our leaders agreed to deal with them.

Anyway, I had this real bad feeling, so I rang my girlfriend and told her to leave immediately and go to her parent’s farm in the country and if things got bad they were to hide at the back of the farm. They've got some pretty rough land back there. I just hope she got there. I'm making my way there now, but it’s taking a while."

What happened when these spacecraft landed? Chakin asked.

It took a couple of days for all the craft to assemble over Shard, Jas continued. "Even at maximum velocity of just under the speed of light it takes two months to fly here from Cretos. In that couple of days our leaders decided that the best thing was to say nothing to our people until they had talked to whoever was in the spacecraft. The only trouble was, the freighters were packed with Creton invaders who had killed our flight crews and put their own pilots in. Nobody knew that they could fly inter-solar. It seems that their upper class is more intelligent than we thought and they kept their capabilities secret. When they were all assembled over Shard, they all landed at the same time at different ports around the planet.

I was watching through an electron-telescope from the top of a sky tower two leagues away. It’s handy to have access to some places when you're a repairman. Anyway, two freighters landed at the port, and a delegation of our leaders dressed in their finest apparel walked along the pad to greet them and ask what they could do to help. About a thousand Cretons disembarked from the freighters and walked towards them. Without stopping, the Cretons cut the heads off our leaders and walked into the crowd with their swords swinging.

A few minutes later, five thousand people were dead on the ground. The invaders got into cargo trucks and drove towards the city. That’s when I took the express elevator to the ground, jumped into my service van and headed out. I nearly made it onto the motorway before the roads jammed up. Other people saw what was happening on their info-screens and decided to get out of town as well. The Cretons were too clever though; they had two-wheeled machines each carrying an invader and a bag of explosives. They simply rode along footpaths and over parks to the three bridges around the city, blew up a few cars to block the roads, and the city was theirs to do with as they chose. I waited for nightfall and used an empty container to help me swim the river. Then I headed for the hills. I was looking for somewhere to rest up for the day when I ran into you."

I’m really glad you did. It’ll be safer with the two of us together. Chakin said thankfully. We can watch each other’s backs. I was heading for a weapons store half a day’s travel, or half a night I should say. It lies to the east of where we are now.

A weapons store, Jas exclaimed, his eyes lighting up at the thought. I need something better than a hayfork. What’s in there?

All sorts of weapons, from swords to laser-pulse guns to thermo-chemical bombs. There are even two light armoured-cars stored there. Chakin told his friend.

That sounds fantastic, Jas said eagerly. I can’t wait to get there. I was going to head southeast tonight to meet up with my girlfriend, but if this store isn’t far out of the way I don’t mind going there first.

They ate well on their newly acquired provisions and slept most of the day, hidden inside a tangle of prickly bushes. Even if the enemy happened to come close they would never see them. An hour before sunset they woke, and after they extricated themselves from the prickle patch they checked their surroundings and sat down to another excellent meal.

As soon as it was dark they set off. The sliver of moon low on the horizon gave them just enough light to see as they made their way through the night.

Four or five hours and we should be there, Chakin said quietly. There shouldn’t be any Cretons this far from the main cities yet. He was close in his estimate; five and a half hours later they arrived at the mouth of a small valley hidden in the hills, far from any towns or farms.

There was no sign of any road leading into the valley; it had been overgrown long ago. Making sure to hide their tracks, Chakin pushed through the thick undergrowth that covered the ground under the towering trees growing in and around the valley.

How did you ever find this place? Jas asked, This forest is almost impenetrable.

I was out tramping about ten years ago, and decided to take a shortcut, Chakin replied, but it all went wrong and I ended up coming down this valley by mistake. It‘s only half a league long and two hundred and fifty paces at the widest spot, narrowing to about ten paces at the entrance, and that’s just a boggy mess now. Any road that led into here has long since disappeared. It was only luck that I found the building. If I'd come down the other side of the valley I'd never have seen a sign of it through the thick bush.

After fifteen minutes of pushing through the gloomy undergrowth Chakin stood to one side and pointed. There it is, he said proudly. Scarcely visible in the moonlight was a long, low, bunker style building partly dug into the hillside in front of them. After hundreds of years, moss and small plants had grown on the building, and with the large trees growing around, it was difficult to see that it was actually a man-made structure. They rested for an hour until it started to become light, and then Chakin clambered up the steep slope where the building was dug into the valley wall. At that spot a tree had pushed its roots down between the rocky hillside and the back of the building and displaced part of the wall. He took off his haversack and rolled a broken building slab to one side. With a gesture to Jas to follow him he dropped his haversack into an opening and disappeared after it. Jas lost no time in following his friend.

There’s a rope tied to the roof, Jas heard Chakin say from inside the building. He reached around in the dark and found a knotted rope, and he held it tight. Cautiously he let himself down a slope of rubble to the floor. In the darkness that was hardly dispelled by the faint light of the dawn coming through the entry hole he could just make out the shape of boxes and crates stacked to the ceiling.

This is it, Chakin said, with a note of anticipation in his voice. We’ll find the light switch and see what we’ve got.

With a small torch light the way, they walked about sixty paces to the front of the building. Beside the door Chakin opened a cabinet on the wall and threw a switch. Ever so slowly, up in the curved ceiling of the bunker, small glimmers of light appeared, and then with a soft humming sound that became inaudible after a few seconds, the lights got brighter and brighter.

Chapter Two

The building was a good twenty-five paces wide, and crates were stacked in rows all the way to the back wall. On the left at the front were two armoured scout cars. Mounted on large pallets, they were jacked up on blocks.

I think those cars will still work, Chakin spoke quietly. There's a forklift over to the right. I don’t know what the batteries are made of, but it still went when I was here last. Trust the military to get the best technology possible. There are some crates over by the forklift that I opened up. Want to have a look?

Jas did not speak, but moved slowly over to the opened crates. He slid off the top of the closest one and pulled out an object wrapped in oilcloth. Inside the cloth was a large handgun. Up until this moment he had only seen pictures of such a weapon, and now he could not believe he was really holding one. All weapons, especially a weapon like this had been banned for hundreds of years.

Here’s a rag, wipe the grease off it, Chakin suggested.

Is there any ammunition for this? Jas asked.

Thousands of boxes, Chakin replied. We can’t fire them though. The noise from these things might attract too much attention from those Creton mongrels. There are weapons in here that make little or no noise though. Come over here and look at this. Chakin said eagerly. "This is a laser-pulse rifle. It makes a little puffing sound when it fires, followed by a soft hiss as the energy blob goes through the air. It fires five shots a second and can mow down enemy troops easily. The drawback is that the enemy can see where the flashes of light are coming from and shoot right back at you. It's best to have several of these things firing at one time so the enemy gets confused about where the attack is coming from. Now, come and look at this box. I don’t know what these things are called. The best description I can come up with is that they're a cross between a bazooka and particle cannon.

I fired one at a tree, and it just blew the tree to pieces. It makes quite a bang though, It’s a bit like a small lightning bolt and it superheats the air, so you get a rushing, crackling sound followed by a small thunderclap as the ion charge hits the target."

Alright, that’s good stuff in a shooting battle, Jas answered, but we want to be just a bit unnoticed if we get into a situation. There are only two of us and even with these weapons we'd be in trouble if we run into a big group of Cretons.

You’re right Jas. For silent defence there's a crate of swords down the centre aisle. I really wanted to take a couple home with me and hang them on a wall in my house but that would have been a bit risky. I would have been questioned about how and where I found them. Over where the swords are there are several crates of rail bows. Come and have a look. These are your truly silent but deadly weapon. Chakin climbed up to the top of a pile of crates and pushed the lid to one side. Here, catch these, he called, and threw down half a dozen long cylinders. Open them up and see what’s inside.

Jas unscrewed the top of one cylinder and pulled out an oilcloth wrapped object. He unwrapped it and looked closely at it. I give up. It looks like some sort of rifle. What is it?

It’s the ultimate crossbow, Chakin replied. It took me a while to work out what it was, and even longer to find out how it worked. If we clean the grease off I’ll show you how they work.

Five minutes later they were ready. Right then, he explained, it’s a sort of a crossbow, but as you can see it has no bow. See the handgrip under the barrel. Pull it back. It comes back a bit over a foot. Push it forward, now it’s in its cocked position. Now, get one of these small cylinders that were wrapped up with the bow, twist the end off so it exposes the ammunition. Now clip it up in front of the trigger guard like this and re-cock the handgrip. You now have one hundred steel bolts three sixteenths of an inch in diameter and three and a half inches long. He pointed the bow his bow at the wall and pulled the trigger. With a soft hiss the bolt buried itself in the wall.

Jas walked to the wall and put his finger in the small crater where the bolt had disappeared. How can it have that much power? It’s not that hard to pull the loading handle back. I can’t see how it can do it?

You’re right. It doesn’t seem possible, Chakin agreed. I had to strip one down to find out how it worked. In the breech is a hollow cylindrical supermagnet. All the bolts are magnetized the opposite way around. When you load the bolt, it slides into a tube that shields it from the magnet, and then it is pushed against a spring into the magnet. When you pull the trigger, the spring pushes the tube forward out of the way. Because the supermagnet and the bolt are set up with like poles together, the supermagnet repels the little magnetized bolt. Absolutely simple in its design, but the technology needed to build it is incredible. I've never seen materials like it anywhere else. The magnet could probably lift that forklift off the ground it is so powerful, and yet a little alloy tube can shield it. Unbelievable stuff. All the electronic weapons are impressive, but this little rail bow is so neat.

I like it. I’m taking one of these with me. What else is in this building?

There are boxes of communicators and surveillance gear beside the forklift and most of the right side is stacked with crates of food. It’s extra high-energy dehydrated stuff. I tried some, it might be hundreds of years old, but it tastes not too bad and it really gives you a boost, Chakin laughed.

We should have some, Jas said thoughtfully. It might help if we are going to carry a lot of weapons away from here.

There are some thermo-chemical bombs as well. Chakin went on. "There are three sizes, the smallest you can hold in your hand, the next is the size of two fists, and the biggest is the size of a melon.

I don’t know what they go like, but I saw an article on the info-screen about using thermo-chemical charges for mining and construction on the outer planets, where no one could complain about despoiling the environment, and they were very impressive. They could vaporize huge sections of soil and rock to make roads or open up mines. We’ll take some of the small ones with us, they could be handy. There are quite a few crates of guns that use powder ammunition similar to that handgun as well."

Jas looked quizzically at his friend and asked, How do you know how all this stuff works?

Chakin laughed, I spent two weeks here, about a year after I found it. That gave me enough time to understand how it all works. With the exception of the bombs; I wasn’t game enough to try those out.

That’s it then, Jas said decisively I’m taking a handgun, laser rifle, rail bow, and some small bombs. What are you taking?

For myself, I'll have a rail bow, laser rifle, bazooka, and of course, some bombs. I think the sign on the box calls them thermal grenades. If we have room, maybe one or two medium bombs. They could be useful. Well, that’s enough shopping for goodies, we'll plan our next move as we eat and then catch some sleep. We can move out before dark because no one will see us in this thick bush, Chakin decided.

.

They dined on tinned vegetables and a roll of meatsub, with a dessert of preserved fruit and very old battle rations, and they planned their next move. My family is in a cave two days north. Chakin spoke through a mouthful of food. How far is it to your rendezvous?

Two days and we should be there. Jas answered. I’m not quite sure exactly where Bell is. There are several places where she could hide at the back of her parent’s farm. It won’t take long to find her once we are there. What are we going to do? Go north to your family, or southeast to mine? Go together, split up, or what? I’m good at theoretical problems, but this real life scenario is hard to solve.

It’s got me beat too. It’s all happening too fast. There's only one way to do it. Let’s flip a coin. Chakin suggested.

I think you’re right. Jas replied. You flip. Heads we stay together, tails we split up.

They watched the coin spin through the air until Chakin caught it and slapped it onto his arm, then removed his hand to reveal the coin.

All right, it looks like we're together. Jas said, looking at the coin. Now, heads we go north, tails southeast. And north it is, he said as Chakin flipped the coin again. You can’t argue with a high-tech method of problem solving like that. There should be a name for the technique.

Two hours before sunset they woke and ate another meal. You know, these rations don’t taste too bad, Jas mumbled through a mouthful of food. A bit like forty year old Skolya, it sort of grows on you. Maybe we should get the recipe. We could start a fast food chain.

Chakin laughed, It would go well, especially if you sold Skolya as well. If you ordered that combo you would either run for a week or sleep for a week. Let’s go load up and head out. We should make the Cleft by morning.

Chapter Three

They made their way through the thick forest to the head of the valley and climbed a steep spur to the main ridge where they paused to get their breath.

I thought you said the battle rations gave you a boost, Jas puffed. These extra weapons are getting a bit heavy after climbing that hill.

It’s more of a long slow release of energy I think. Mind you, it might be worse if we hadn’t eaten it, Chakin said, breathing heavily. We’ve got a long way to go and we want to go as fast as we can. The bush cover is less dense up here, so pull those night vision goggles out and see if the solar panels will charge them up. It sounds stupid doesn’t it, using the sun to power up the goggles so you can see at night. I don’t know how long they go for so we’ll use them sparingly.

They turned north and moved off at a good pace. They had decided to carry two extra rail bows each, so that when they teamed up with family and friends they could arm them.

It was dark before they had gone very far, with only a sliver of the small moon low on the horizon to providing the faintest illumination of the animal track that followed the ridgeline. They stopped only once during the night for a brief rest, and then just as the dawn was starting to show on the horizon they reached a row of rocks angled across the trail,

Strange place for a pile of rocks, Jas said quietly. They stopped there, glad of an excuse to have a rest. Let’s rest up a minute. It’s coming light; we probably should find somewhere to spend the day.

They helped each other to drop their loads on the ground and climbed up onto the rocks where they sat down with their feet hanging over the side. They drank from their water bottles and looked to the east where the sky was rapidly becoming brighter.

It looks like it is going to be a fine day again, Jas said, mostly to himself. Those hills over there look quite steep; see how they plunge down into that valley.

As he spoke he looked down, and then very quietly he said. Good grief, we're sitting on a precipice.

Looking past his feet there was nothing but thin air for three hundred feet, at which point the vertical cliff eased into a rocky slope and then into a rough bush covered valley floor, eight hundred feet below them. Desperately fighting vertigo they carefully moved back from the edge to a position where they could still see into the valley, but was not so frightening.

I think this is ‘The Cleft’ by the look of it, Chakin said in a hoarse whisper. I’ve driven through here in an autocar, but the cliffs didn't look this steep from the bottom of the valley. No wonder they put these rocks across the path. If you walked over the edge of that cliff it’s a long way down to the next step. I think we should stop here for the day. We can sleep in the trees behind us, and then we can check if there are any enemies around before we cross over tonight.

Good idea, Jas replied. Let’s eat and catch some sleep.

They sat on their rocky perch and casually watched the road below as it clung to one side of the gorge and then crossed over a narrow bridge to the other side where the terrain was slightly easier.

Jas mixed some preserved fruit and a slab of battle ration in his eating bowl and chewed away at it, washing it down with an occasional mouthful of water.

I wonder when the use by date of these rations expires. It’s amazing that they're so old and yet they still seem all right. I hope we don’t get sick from eating them.

I think that if anything was wrong with them we'd know by now, Chakin answered hopefully. Mind you, if these were made five hundred years ago, that was when we still had nuclear fission plants, and they probably radiated this food so much that you could measure its shelf life in half lives. We’ll probably glow in the dark after a few days of eating the stuff.

That would look interesting. Speaking of that, shall we set up that solar generator and charge our weapons? Jas suggested.

Good idea, Chakin replied. All the electronic gear has its own little solar panels but they don’t work as fast as the generator. He reached into the large battlepack he taken from the bunker and pulled out a small metal cylinder. Placing it on the ground he pushed a button on the top. With a soft click the sides of the cylinder sprang out. Carefully, He lifted the sides up and then spun them around. Like the petals of a giant flower, a full pace across, the solar panels were ready to soak up the sunlight and transform them into electrical power. Laying the laser rifles and the ion bazooka on the ground beside the generator, he opened a flap on the side of the weapons and pulled out a cord which he plugged into the base of the generator.

I don’t know how long it will take to charge these up. There are outlets for ten cords on this thing, but I think we should charge the weapons up first, and then we’ll power up the communicator’s and imaging goggles. I don’t like sleeping close to this trail, but on this narrow ridge there’s not a lot of room to move around in. We’ll put a proximity sensor on the track, front and back of us, with a bit of luck we’ll hear them beep if anything comes this way. I’ll give them a quick charge while we get ready for a sleep.

Ten minutes later, they had made themselves each a sleeping spot lined with ferns and grasses. They kept their locations about twenty feet from each other, so if one was discovered, the other would have a chance to react, or run, or hide. Returning to the solar generator, the green light for full charge was showing on the sensors. They placed them under the undergrowth on the side of the track and retreated to their beds.

We should test these sensors, but I don’t really want to make too much noise. Jas said. I don’t think the enemy will come up here, but you never know. It’s hard to remember that this is for real now, and not just a game where you might get hit with paint ball, and then go home for a shower and a nice meal. If we lose this game, the best we can hope for is to be killed. Worse is to be kept alive for slave labour, or tortured and eaten.

You’re right, Jas replied grimly, We haven’t seen any Cretons for a couple of days now, and it’s easy to forget quite how dangerous our position is. Keeping their weapons close at hand they slept fitfully, feeling very uneasy about their position on the narrow ridge top.

It was mid-afternoon when Chakin crawled out of his sleeping hole. Jas, are you awake? he called softly. A muffled grunt assured him that he was. I thought I heard something. I’ll have a look around. With a quick look both ways on the track he crept carefully onto the low rock wall. As he peered over the edge, he let out a muffled curse.

What is it? Jas said, coming up beside him.

Cretons, Chakin whispered. They’re attacking a group of Shardan. The Cretons must have been hiding beside the bridge and surprised them as they came up the gorge.

They watched in horror as small group of Cretons, maybe ten in number, ran past the last of the Shardan who were still standing and cut off their escape. A dozen bodies lay on the ground where they had been struck down. The Cretons clubbed another two prisoners to the ground, and then screaming with delight at their success they dragged some of the dead Shardan to the other side of the bridge and disappeared into the undergrowth.

Stunned, Chakin and Jas stared at each other, speechless after witnessing the attack on their fellow countrymen. After what seemed like an eternity, Jas spoke. At first he could only make a few incoherent sounds, but then he settled down. The scum, the rotten scum. They just killed them in cold blood. What’ll we do?

Chakin said nothing for a minute as he tried to think of a plan. As he sat there, looking down into the valley, the Cretons came back and dragged the rest of the bodies off the road, back to their campsite.

That could've been us. Chakin said hoarsely. We could've walked straight into that ambush. We can’t do anything up here on the cliff; we're just too far away to do anything. Let’s get down to the bottom of the gorge and make a move on them. Hopefully they’ll be too interested in their new catch to be expecting an attack, especially an attack with hi-tech weapons.

Chakin unplugged the rifles and the bazooka, and packed the generator away. Strapping the weapons to their battle packs, they lifted the packs onto each other’s backs, and with a laser rifle clutched to their chests they made off down the track. Ten seconds later they dived into the undergrowth as a high-pitched beeping tried to shred their eardrums.

Thankfully, the noise stopped after five seconds, and they crawled back up to the track and struggled to their feet. Reaching under a bush, Chakin retrieved the sensor and switched it off.

Well, at least we know it works, he said. "It