Keeper Hunter

We walked through a vast warehouse filled to the rafters with pallets of bottles stacked on racks.

“Where are we going?” I had to ask the question surprised at seeing all the soldiers. From the last comms we had to the general he had nixed involvement in our mission. Yet all around me were soldiers from the 43rd.

“To the general he’s set up a CP in the transport yard.”

By CP I assumed he’d meant command post. I followed him out of the warehouse and out into the transport hub. A number of Ezarans were dismantling what I could see was an impressive defence system. Beyond them were a number of dropships with Confed markings clustered around a central point. The lieutenant headed straight for the dropships. Surrounding the dropships were a contingent of soldiers in full armour their weapons at the ready. The guards parted to let us through the cordon. In the centre was a dropship it front ram lower. Inside I could see a number of soldiers one with bulky comm equipment. In between them was a desk with a holo terminal on it and a older man sat behind it. He was old his hair as grey as his uniform. In front of the desk facing him was Hlanhildr her weapon strapped to her chest. I wasn’t that surprised to see her here. She turned to face me as I got closer. I wondered how she’d known that I was there.

“Initiate,” she said no trace of anger in her voice. She must have known what I’d said to Leo. I had asked that he disarm the Valkyrie risky at best.

“Hlanhildr?” I replied. I was still reconciling myself with her actions at the house. She didn’t have to cut that Security Officer’s manhood off. Yes a Cell Stitcher would repair the damage, but to do that in the first place made me go cold inside.

“You want my team disarmed why?” There was not threat in her voice.

“Regitha tried to kill me and died for it.” I hadn’t killed her Sverun had but I wasn’t going to push the blame onto her. “She was one of those who believed in the Prophet.”

“I see,” Hlanhildr said sadly. “I understand Initiate.”

She pulled her coil assault gun from her chest. Making all the soldiers suddenly reach for theirs. Only the man behind the desk made no move. She placed it on the table and stepped back. “I’ll make sure they all disarm.” With that she turned and walked out.

“That was interesting,” the man behind the desk remarked,

I took a better look at him he had several decorations on the chest of his dress uniform. I could see a passing resemblance between him and Captain Osward from the lab in the jungle. His nametag and the stars on the collar of his high confirmed necked tunic indicated that he was a general.

“What was?” I had to ask.

“I’ve never seen a Valkyrie back down so quickly.”

I changed tack. “You wanted to see me sir?” I finished my speech with a Confed salute.

“Take a seat Gwen Hunter,” he said indicating a chair soldier had just placed in front of the desk.

I sat in the chair feeling I was being sized up for something. “What is it that you want to talk about?” I asked.

“Did you manage to find the C.E.O. I was told you were chasing him.”

“You mean Gustav I’m afraid he’s dead killed himself before I could get to him.” I went on to explain about his laser fingers and how his body turned to dust.

“Everyone out!” Osward ordered suddenly going pale faced. “Not you Gwen.” The general waited until his soldiers had exited before he pressed a button on his desk and raised the ramp. It clanged shut with a finality that was hard to ignore.

It was just the two of us I felt a chill run through my body as he regarded me carefully.

“You are certain the body turned to ash?” the general asked anxiously.

“Yes it really weirded me out,” I said honestly.

“I was afraid of that,” Osward stated. “What you saw was the death of a Rhosani.” He took a deep breath. “This complicates things no end.”

An understatement if I ever heard one. I swallowed hard the Rhosani betrayed the Keepers and allowed them to be slaughtered. I wasn’t about to tell him that, I filed it way for later perusal.

“This hasn’t been disseminated to the general public. Rhosani can take over a Human host. It’s a death sentence to the host but there are those stupid enough to believe the lies the Rhosani give them.”

I understood now what Gustav had been on about.

“The host is a mere shell only retaining its memory. When they die they turn to dust I’m not sure why but it is true.” Osward’s brow furrowed. “There must be clones close by we’ll have to deal with those.”

“Clones?”

“Copies of the host. We need to find the facility and destroy it.”

Now that was the thing I could do, I wasn’t really that bloody thirsty I just wanted the Rhosani gone. Some expression on my face must have alerted Osward.

“Not you you’ve done enough exposing the Rhosani in our midst. Take a break you look like you need it. No one will condemn you if you do?”

“I just want to see this to the conclusion.” I countered knowing I wasn’t going to get a fair hearing. What was with it Admiral Komana, Lady Broaden and now General Osward all seemed to want me to be elsewhere?

Osward shook his head. “We’ll take it from here it gives us a reason to scour this world from top to bottom. Go rest.”

I pressed my point. “Speaking of which why did you refuse our mission only to participate now?”

“We couldn’t move without the Regional governor’s say so. Since you were declared to be terrorists and that was our excuse to act.”

That I understood. “Shrewd move.”

“Good now go get some rest. We’ll finish mopping up here.” He pressed a button on his desk to lower the ramp.

His soldiers filed back in. I took the hint and exited. Hlanhildr was waiting for me at the bottom of the ramp. She removed her armour and was in one of those form fitting grey jumpsuits the Confeds called skinnies. It was clear she wasn’t wearing anything under she was a close to naked as a Valkyrie could get outside Alfheimir.

“Initiate,” she said formally her hand on her chest. “I’ve disarmed my team and will begin an in depth investigation in to how this travesty got on board.”

I had to be honest with her. “I don’t know if I can trust any of you at the moment?”

“I understand.”

Before I had a chance to say anything further Hlanhildr pushed me down as a flurry of bullets crashed through the air where I’d been standing a moment ago. I felt her on top of me her body shielding me from the chaos around me. I heard her grunt in pain she must had been hit but she never moved.

“Kill the Terrans!” Several voices shouted.

I couldn’t see much from my position but what I could see chilled me to the bones. A saw a number of Confederacy soldiers with black bands on the arm of their combat armour fighting others without. All about me lay the bodies of the fallen. A number had been Osward’s officers and had taken the brunt of the attack dressed only in the cloth of their uniforms.

“Get Hunter to the shuttle,” Osward yelled firing his pistol into the fray. “Don’t give these bastards a chance to legitimise their mutiny.” He sounded really angry.

Someone hauled Hlanhildr off me and I was hoisted on to the back of one of her team still in their armour while another pulled Hlanhildr to her feet.

Carried with my butt in the air the Valkyrie trotted toward some objective. I was in no position to know where that was. All I could see the rough concrete of transport hub. Suddenly the Valkyrie halted dropping me to the floor. A dozen or so of black banded soldiers appeared from round the corner and raced to block our access to the shuttle. We were in the open without cover and in my case wearing the jumpsuit I’d been lent. Before I could draw my Seven Double ‘M’ Hlanhildr fired. I could see she was bleeding badly she’d taken hits meant for me. Her coil assault gun mowed down the soldiers as if they hadn’t been wearing any armour. With a quick flick of her fingers I was hauled over the shoulder of the Valkyrie and we double-timed it to the shuttle. I was hustled inside. The shuttle was standard with the seats ready for take off. Before I had time to object I was buckled into a seat like I was a child. The door slid shut with a finality that I wasn’t getting out of this.

“Pilot immediate dust off!” She finished her words with a sour grimace.

Another of her team tried to fuss over her.

“Leave me!” she snarled. “Pilot get off the ground now!”

I felt the shuttle power up under my feet we were leaving. Another failure to add to my growing list. It kept repeating through my mind as the shuttle roared into space.

“Failed, Failed, Failed!” A screaming litany for my continued failure. It was just my luck. I was leaving this world and it seemed my fate was to return to Alfheimir. I’d lost my fate was now back in the hands of the Valkyrie. I pondered this as the litany in my head faded to be replaced by thoughts on what the future would hold for me.

Continues in Ancient Hunter