Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (46 page)

The snow eased and the endless grey sky gained a
little more brilliant in the ice cold air. The three travellers had just
skirted around a large spur at the base of a mountain which disappeared upwards
into the cloud cover.

Peter surveyed the ground in front of him. Two cliffs
skirted a small flat valley which snaked its way around to the left. The bases
of the cliffs were lined with thick undergrowth and the occasional tall
conifer. Peter’s eye quickly saw the cliffs were smooth and would not conceal
an ambush. Satisfied he ‘felt’ no enemy in front of him he quickly made a plan.
He looked at Toormis and the Administrator breathing hard and large clouds of
white vapour exhaled at every breath. “You two stay here while I scout up to
that bend in the valley. I don’t think there’s danger in this part,” he
indicated with his hand the immediate area in front of them, “I’m not sure what
is around the bend. I’ll signal you from that small tree at the bend on the
left,” he said and moved off only to stop a short distance and return. “Do not
fall asleep. A quick snow storm or flurry and your dead or at the least lost.
So stay awake, you hear me?”

Both the Administrator and Toormis nodded their heads
in the affirmative while they patted their arms trying to get warm. Peter
glared at them, turned and keeping to the undergrowth disappeared.

Peter made his way cautiously along the base of the
cliff. The eerie silence and stillness of the protected area came as a welcome
change from the howling wind and snow. He heard each footfall ‘crunch’ into the
pristine surface of the snow. He saw the occasional animal tracks and strange
smells wafted from small deep splits and caves in the cliff base. A welcoming
feeling came over him as he became more and more accustomed to the environment.

He came up to the bend in the valley and cautiously
made his way from the cliff to the edge of the tree line. He saw a large
conifer branch which was low to the ground and the wind movement had caused it
to sweep back and forth leaving bare ground. Peter crawled under the tree and
onto the bare ground and soon was looking along the rest of the valley. He
admired the beauty of the scene in front of him but remained cautious and
scouted the terrain with his eyes for signs of the enemy. The valley ended in a
vast forest which rose up and over a small line of hills. Mist and cloud
blocked any further view.

Movement caught his eye one hundred yards to the left
when a small heard of moibla broke cover and entered the open area. Peter
watched them fascinated with their grace and beauty in such soft deep snow.
Memories came to him but he couldn’t quite grasp them, he got a faint glimpse
of something in his past but it eluded any attempt to materialise in his mind.
Suddenly further movement from the same spot the moibla broke cover quickly
came into view. Four smaller nimble four legged creatures bounded after the
moibla. Peter’s mind quickly presented the thought, ‘wolves’. He rose on his
forearms to better see the scene unfolding in the valley before him.

Two wolves broke off and started pacing along the
flanks of the herd of moibla. Peter focused on the wolf closest to him and
could see the effort the creature was using to outpace its prey. It used a well
practiced motion to use its belly hitting the snow to assist its rear legs gain
a faster purchase. The herd of moibla had now bunched closer together around
their leader. The leader made the fatal mistake of slowing to look back at the
pursuers, this allowed the flanking wolves to circle in towards them and cut
off an escape to the other side of the valley where there was thick
undergrowth.

Peter totally lost all feeling in his body as he
focused his attention on the large black male wolf. His long black mane
rhythmically swaying as he banked hard left in the snow in a beautiful
prediction of the direction the slowest of the moibla would turn. His tongue
streaming down the side of his face as he strained to gain further purchase in
the snow as the moibla turned more
sharpely
left.
Peter urged the wolf on, willing it more speed and willing the wolf to
straighten as the moibla would soon do so. Peter moved out of his body and
found himself looking down at the snow as he moved quickly along the valley.
The trees came closer and he flew directly at them feeling their presence and
seeing every branch and snow laden pine needle. The sense of flight filled
Peter with exhilaration, he savoured every new sight, the tree tops, the rush
of the ground coming up to meet him to the feeling of rolling over seeing the
clouds in the sky and the mountains in the distance. He spotted the black wolf
getting closer to its prey and glided quickly to a few feet off the ground and
sped towards the wolf. He gained quickly and soon reached the wolf’s tail and
flew along its back coming to rest between its ears. He heard the animal’s
breath come in short powerful bursts; he smelt its musty wild smell and watched
the wolfs’ viewpoint of the moibla’s rear legs pumping at a tremendous rate
trying to get away. Peter became one with the wolf in its unwavering
determination. The moibla veered left then right but the wolf gained with each
step. On the right Peter saw one of the flanking wolves close in and the moibla
hesitated with this new threat. Peter felt the thrill as the wolf leap high
into the air and come crashing down on the back of the moibla.
His fangs finding the back of the creatures’ neck, sinking them
deeply into flesh and bone.

“Peter! Peter!” Toormis said loudly shaking him by the
shoulder. Peter snapped back into his head. His focus blurry and sense of
location disorientated. “You OK?” Toormis asked concerned. “You were away so
long, we came looking for you. Glad we found you, thought you said no sleeping?”

Peter rolled on his side and looked at Toormis and
then the Administrator who was looking out into the valley where a pack of
wolves were dancing around a freshly killed animal. The Administrator looked at
Peter and smiled. Peter looked back with a puzzled look on his face. “You can
tell me. I’ll understand,” the Administrator said softly. Peter’s eyes rolled
and focused on the Administrator, he nodded recognition to the Administrator’s
words but quickly crawled out from under the branch and stood looking up the
valley.

“We have to make it over those hills. I believe there
is an open track of land where we will recover their trail. This valley is just
part of a larger one which points up there. Unless they climbed out of here, that’s
where they had to go!” Peter said.

“Well, let’s catch the walking corpses. I’m really fed
up with this planet and want to get Cassy and get off this deep freeze,”
Toormis said truly itching for someone to fight.

Peter understood the intensity of Toormis’s attitude
and did something that only an Irrimus person would ever do, he said, “a quick
death to a good enemy, let’s go,” and changed his grip on his gun and jogged
off through the undergrowth.

“Oh
!…
This is just too much!”
Toormis said to the Administrator who knew all too well the Irrimus battle cry
while he looked at Peter making his way through the snow. “Who do you think he
is now? Johe or this Earth soldier Peter?”

The Administrator shrugged his shoulders. “We better
get going,” the Administrator said realising Peter has gotten a quite lead on
them already and started jogging after him. Toormis shook his head to clear the
snow on his hat, checked his gun and followed.

The terrain at the end of the valley turned into thick
woods. Rocky areas made the travelling rough on the feet but actually faster
than in knee deep snow. Peter moved in a relaxed easy manner but the other two
laboured and soon tired to such an extent Peter had to stop and let them rest.

“We must be moving soon,” Peter said pacing around the
Administrator and Toormis. The enemy gains strength while we wait.
Plenty of time to put our feet up later.”

“Just what was your war like?” Toormis said
sarcastically, “A test of who dies by exhaustion first, I really need to get my
breath back and look at him,” he added jerking his thumb toward the
Administrator. “How could he be of assistance in a battle right now?”

Peter looked at the Administrator who was gasping for air
and the air was so cold, pain registered on his face with every breath. Peter
tried to think and remember but his mind came up blank. His own body was cold
but felt like it could go all the time at the pace he set. He saw that
Toormis’s face was streaked with sweat and he had trouble breathing the ice
cold air.

Confusion crept into Peter’s mind. He tried hard to
take into consideration the needs of the two with him and a compassionate plea
from his companions to rest pervaded his mind but he just couldn’t see his way
to do anything else but completing his mission. Body condition didn’t make any
sense to him. He finally decided he needed his two companions and thought maybe
what they had to say will have a bearing on his orders.

“What is it you need to complete the mission?” Peter
asked sitting down cross legged with one gun in his lap and another slung
across his shoulders.

Toormis said, “Just time to get my breath.”

“Just what is the mission?” the Administrator asked
with a raw throat.

“To regain and secure from harm, Cassy.”

“And then what?” the Administrator added.

Peter’s face went blank and he looked with vacant eyes
at the Administrator. Toormis found himself holding his breath waiting for the
answer. Peter remained silent.

The Administrator sat upright and then leaned towards
Peter. “Isn’t the mission to regain and secure from harm, The House of Irrimus
?…
of whom Cassy is now the leader?”

Peter’s eyelids flickered and stopped. “Such a mission
does not exist for Irrimus. Irrimus is not in danger,” he answered.

Toormis was about to interject but the Administrator
saw it coming and jumped to his feet. “Time to save Cassy from harm,” he said
forcefully and made a show of checking his gun.

“Yes,” Peter said with conviction. “Follow me,” and he
stood up and moved off through the trees.

“Don’t tell him directly about Irrimus Toormis.
Irrimus is in a state of a Trigealian intervention and his programmed loyalty
is first and foremost to the Trigealian Regiment. Let’s follow this one step at
a time and get Cassy first. I believe we can turn him around with Cassy’s help
but it will still be dangerous. We really need Torquay.”

Toormis scratched his head and agreed. He realised no
better asset could exist but he also understood Peter could be very dangerous.
The danger he understood but he felt totally dejected when he saw Peter
signalling through the trees for them to get going. Toormis had never before
been put to such physical and mental endurance as following Peter. He grimaced
and set out after the equally challenged Administrator.

---------

High above the atmosphere of Zion the Confederate
Space Patrol received its orders. ‘Deploy a defensive satellite in Zion’s orbit
and report back to base immediately.’ The Commander of the patrol ordered the
leading supply ship to initiate the deployment of a data scanning satellite
with offensive capabilities and to program it to attack any unidentified ship
and to scan the planet’s atmosphere for any ship activity. If the satellite is
destroyed its beacon signal would terminate and bring immediate response and
investigation. “Deploy,” the Commander ordered and a small silver object was
fired by the supply ship. The squadron left orbit and soon departed the solar
system.

Two Volen ships which had been hiding on an asteroid
close to the third planet’s moon powered up their systems and drives. The
leader gave the order to proceed to Zion.

“I thought they would never leave. Shall I activate it
now?” the Captain of the second ship asked his leader.

“Not yet... wait,” the leader replied checking his
coordinates. He set a number of sequences and instructions into his computer.

“Sending the sequence now,” he radioed across to his second
ship and soon he saw the probe leave the ship and increase speed on its way to
Zion. “Wait…
wait
,” he whispered watching his monitor
as data streamed across it. “Now!” he ordered and the second ship’s Captain
sent the activation code. The probe activated and glowed golden white and with
a frequency beam homed in on the Confederate satellite and neutralised its
scanning capability.