Ancient Hunter

I walked down the corridor or in reality marched down a pale blue painted corridor. I hadn’t much choice in the matter. Four guards surrounded me and I was walking at their pace. A head and shoulder shorter that my escort I felt as if I was child amongst them. Me, a taller than average woman with brunette hair and brown eyes I was the child compared to the taller Valkyrie with me. All four were in full combat armour, coil assault guns strapped to their chests. I’d recently found out that my height might have been down to my Valkyrie great grandfather. A fact I’d been ignorant of until I had found myself back on Alfheimir for a second time. It turned from that to the situation that had brought me here bundled aboard a shuttle without my say so. A handful of hours ago I was on the planet Davenport in the middle of an insurrection although I can’t be certain of that. I was dragged into a shuttle before I could process what was happening. My mind flicked to what had occurred earlier. The revelation that the C.E.O. of the brewery had been an impostor and had been a Rhosani in disguise had shocked me to the core. The Rhosani wanted what they had lost back. Ancient races opposed to them had defeated the Rhosani and now they wanted payback. That was a part I was a bit hazy about and there was no T’Arni around to tell me the tale of how the Rhosani were exiled. The T’Arni had been slaves to the Rhosani and had unspeakable things done to them. The ancient races had awoken to what the Rhosani were doing and went to war with them. These same ancient races sealed the Rhosani away. Somehow a few had found their way back and were plotting to release the others. The disguised Rhosani had killed himself rather than be captured his body dissolving into dust. The reason I was there in the first place was by accident. Two local Security Officers took a dislike to my Imperial accent. I was born on Earth the capital world of the Terran Empire. This was the Confederacy a number of allied worlds sharing a senate and military. I’d got involved with a team fleeing the same Security. I later found out that the team from Special Operations was investigating the brewery and we were both being hunted by Security. Someone was putting a neurotoxin in the export beer one that only effected Humans. Because of that I found myself aiding the team.

I’d entered brewery with a pair of Valkyrie the less said about that the better to find the place in chaos. The C.E.O. had ordered his guards to kill any workers in the building. The most likely scenario was to blame their deaths on the team. I could feel a small wooden doll in my pocket and the promise that went with it from a dying Valkyrie. I had to return the doll to Alfheimir. I glanced at my escort wondering about them. One of their number Regitha had tried to kill me. A believer in the false Prophet on Alfheimir she had been convinced the truth about the Prophet had been lies. I refused to call the false Prophet a Prophetess a DNA test had proved the truth. No right-minded Valkyrie would ever follow a male. The irony of the situation was that Sverun from the Palkkasir Clan saved my life killing Regitha. She was the last person I’d expected to help me with the history I had with that Clan.

“Where are we going?” I had to ask the question. Hlanhildr has been rushed off the shuttle by medtechs while I found myself with these four guards. Hlanhildr had been in charge of the Valkyrie team that had sent to fetch me and got embroiled in the brewery investigation. Except one of her team tried to kill me and I wasn’t that certain about the rest. She’d been wounded protecting me I felt guilty about that. I’d ordered her to disarm her team and they had been caught in an insurrection weaponless. The only good point in this was that they hadn’t disarmed me I still retained my Seven Double ‘M’. An automatic pistol the fired 7mm caseless ammunition. I was dressed in the black jumpsuit and harness a loan from the 43rd GF.

“Not far, this way,” One of the Valkyrie said.

We walked on through a strangely deserted ship. My guards halted a door numbered A-27. One pressed a button on the console beside the door. It opened to reveal a square room. My quarters I guessed the Valkyrie confirmed it.

“These are you quarters.”

“I know the drill,” I said stepping into the room. Like I had a choice in the matter.

The room was a glaring white without a trace of colour. It contained a Valkyrie sized bed flanked by a locker on each side that faced the door. Along one wall was a desk terminal combo and to my surprise above it was a mirror that stretched the full length of the desk. Opposite the desk was a couch and like everything else glaring white. I’d have my time in hand keeping this place clean unless that was the point. Keep me busy while they hauled my ass to Alfheimir. I looked again at the mirror in wonderment. Valkyrie weren’t that vain, they might have a small mirror in the washrooms but other than that nothing. The Valkyrie ideal was to take them as they were. I remembered an image of an ancient painting of someone called Oliver Cromwell. The caption below said ‘warts and all’. The Valkyrie would have admired the painting if it hadn’t been of a man. I brought myself to the present as I surveyed my surroundings. On the bed next to a pile of packaged bed linen was my holdall. I knew it was mine it had a stain on the handle. I opened the holdall and examined the contents. Yep I was right it was mine and so were the contents although I did wonder how they’d got them I hadn’t told anyone where I was staying.

I took out clothing I was going to change into and went to put the holdall into one of the lockers and halted staring hard. Inside was a red faux leather case with the initials ‘GH’ on the top. (The last time I had seem this case with on board the trader ‘Independence’ which had picked me up on Paranova a planet within the Empire. That’s what those that lived there called it. (We were Imperials, Confeds was our name for the Confederacy who called us Terrans.) And had dropped me off on Davenport a planet within the Confederacy. I’d ‘accidentally left’ this case on the ship. It had been a present from Lady Camelia Broaden the Empress’ mother and head of her Intelligence Service if the rumours were true. The case should have been full of fancy clothes and other stuff and I preferred to travel light. I opened it confirming it was full of the stuff I’d never wanted or had use for.

I stripped off my jumpsuit and harness changing into a pair of jeans and a purple vest top. As I folded the jumpsuit I noticed two slashes in the back I couldn’t remember how I got them. In a moment of inspiration I turned with my back to the mirror. In the reflection I could see twin red marks on my back matching the position of the slashes in the jumpsuit. They didn’t hurt so I dismissed any further thought of them. I had a couple of narrow escapes when I was dealing with those auto turrets outside the control room. Feeling more certain of myself I put my holdall away and directed my attention to making the bed. The chime of the door interrupted me and I answered it. It would have been foolish not to. A Valkyrie stood in the doorway. She was typical of her race. Tall with pale skin, blue eyes and long blonde hair which had been platted and piled on top of her head in a bun. She was wearing leather armour consisting of a breastplate, arm guards, a skirt and greaves. The hilt of a long sword peaked out over her shoulder. I’d seen the like before she was a Guardian an escort for a Clan Mother. She didn’t have a sash or cloak to indicate her Clan.

“Gwen Hunter,” the Valkyrie announced her hand on her chest. Some sort of salute I still hadn’t fathomed out. “Come with me.”

That was as close as Valkyrie could get to politeness. I again was left without a option.

“Ok,” I replied and left my quarters.

I followed the Valkyrie through the ship feeling a little vulnerable without a weapon. It was on the bed along with the rest of my gear.

“Where are we going?” I seemed to be asking that a lot.

She said nothing and just gestured for me to follow.