H.A.L.F.: The Makers (47 page)

The dozen Vree’Kah on the command deck rose from their reclining chairs and all bowed deeply, showing their respect for U’Vol. He touched each on the top of the head as he passed. It was the signal that he acknowledged their show of deference and gave permission for them to rise to their feet. Each quickly returned to their tasks as soon as touched by U’Vol.

U’Vol stepped onto a raised dais in the center of the room. He sat on a molded plastic seat and it immediately reclined. He blinked slowly once to begin to interface with the central computer. Reports were fed directly to his mind through his optic nerve. All departments reported readiness to begin the hunt. Tu’Vagh had things under way before U’Vol had even entered the command deck. U’Vol made a note in his personal log that Tu’Vagh should receive a commendation upon their return to Uktah for his exceptional preparedness.

U’Vol did not need to move or even speak to issue commands. He had only to think the name of an officer or battalion chief and the interface would issue his command directly to that person via the optical uplink. On their end, a red light would flash, alerting them to an incoming command, the red denoting it was from the captain.

The
Dra’Knar
had entered the space just outside of high K’Sarhi orbit. They would soon be directly over the continent in the northern hemisphere that the Sarhi referred to as Europe. Scouting reports indicated that it was a significant economic and population center but with fewer defensive capabilities than some of the other, more highly populated areas of the planet. The tactical team had determined that it should be the first area to enter.

U’Vol commanded the electronics weapon orbiter La’Knar to commence high orbit. The crew had been standing by and was through the bay doors in less than ten minutes.

A yellow light flashed and U’Vol blinked quickly once to allow the message to interrupt the information he had previously been receiving. The orbiter was now directly over Europe and signaled it was ready. U’Vol issued the command for them to engage the weapon.

The La’Knar sent a powerful electromagnetic pulse to the planet and concentrated it over Europe. U’Vol briefly sat up and stared out the window of his ship. The pulse was a magnificent sight to behold. A wide arc of white-hot electrical tendrils shot from the ship. As soon as it hit the planet’s atmosphere, it interacted with the chemicals and became a colorful light show of green and yellow and purple.

There was another yellow flash in U’Vol’s optical interface. His muscles tensed as a report came in that a missile had been launched at the La’Knar. The orbiter had expended all its energy to send the EMP to the planet and was vulnerable. The
Dra’Knar
had intense shields that would destroy any ballistics that threatened it. But the
Dra’Knar
was not equipped with antimissile weapons. The M’Uktah had never attempted to hunt on a planet with intercontinental missiles before. When the engineers had learned from the scouts of the weapon capabilities of the Sarhi, they calculated that it was within acceptable risk parameters for an orbiter to be destroyed rather than lose the Mocht Bogha window by having to retool the
Dra’Knar
with antimissile weapons. If they lost the Mocht Bogha, it would be another three years before it returned. The M’Uktah were already dangerously low on food stores since the uprising on Kreelan.

The officer U’Vol had put in command of the La’Knar had performed admirably. He had done exactly what he needed to before the La’Knar was destroyed. As it was now night over Europe, U’Vol watched as the continent went dark. U’Vol made another note of commendations for the captain of the La’Knar and its crew. Their names would be woven into the tableau of heroes.

U’Vol issued the command to ready his lander and its crew. He blinked slowly and disconnected from the optical interface with the computer. His chair rose while at the same time the glass case holding his krindor opened.

He uncinched his robe and allowed the red silk garment to fall into a pile on the floor. U’Vol lightly touched his hand to the black krindor suit and it came alive. The nanobots embedded in the graphene skin of the suit recognized his unique electromagnetic signature. The suit undulated and became a wave of ebony spilling onto him. It reformed on U’Vol’s naked body, covering him from neck to toes.

The krindor was a second skin, enmeshed with his flesh and syncing with his nerves in a perfect synergy of man and machine. He took the helmet from the glass case and pulled it over his wide forehead. The helmet’s bots shook hands with the nanobots in his suit and, like a zipper, formed a nearly seamless bond. The strip of sleek, black fur attached to the helmet flowed down his back. It was not of any utility but was instead a tradition worn by all ship captains. Black was the color of his father and he wore it proudly into the hunt.

The helmet was formed in the shape of an ulv head, another throwback to his forbears. But the pointed, wide-set ears had utility. With his helmet on, he heard sounds that were deeper, higher and farther than he could with his own ears. The eyes, too, were enhanced with advanced tech. He could see in the infrared and his night vision was greatly heightened.

To any creature that had the misfortune to be his prey, the helmet’s mouth was perhaps the most frightening aspect of the krindor. It was equipped with razor-sharp teeth set in a mechanized hinging jaw. U’Vol did not use the mechanical mouth to eat but rather to rip open the throat of his prey. It was quick and efficient and did little damage to the meat.

U’Vol breathed the krindor’s odor in deeply. It smelled of sweat and blood and metal. The scent brought to his mind a wave of memories. Of running on all fours in his krindor, chasing the burly thukna on Ghapta. Of ripping its throat open, the pungent smell of the musky animal and the taste of its blood as it spattered into the mouth of the helmet and touched his true lips.

U’Vol blinked slowly twice and the krindor’s computer powered on and synced itself with U’Vol’s organic computer. The krindor both received and sent information to U’Vol’s brain and body.

He issued commands via the optical interface as he sped to bay one, where his landing ship, the
Wa’Nar
waited. His movements were awkward at first. He had not worn his krindor for many months and his body was unused to it. And the series of blinks and focus required to give the mental commands to not only operate the suit but to interface with the ship were difficult to manage all at once. But U’Vol had been fitted with his first krindor when he was only forty. He’d interfaced with the exoskeleton for nearly eighty years. By the time he got to the bay, he was moving as smoothly as ever.

The
Wa’Nar
was tiny in comparison to the
Dra’Knar
. It had a small six-person command crew, but the ship was large enough to hold a hundred Vree ensconced in their krindors. The Vree landing party was already strapped into their upright landing harnesses when U’Vol entered. At the sight of him, the Vree began a thunderous howl. Their voices were filtered through the mechanized voice bot, making them sound tinny and hollow.

U’Vol’s blood pumped hot in his veins, his breathing rapid. He said nothing but issued his electronic order to the commander of the
Wa’Nar
to proceed toward K’Sarhi.

The
Wa’Nar
had no windows. The hull was crafted of the same black drosh as the
Dra’Knar
. The quarters were cramped as the Vree stood shoulder to shoulder, crammed into every inch of the central area of the ship. Beneath them was an empty refrigerated cargo bay waiting to be filled with fresh meat to feed their families.

The floor vibrated beneath U’Vol’s feet and he was jostled as the ship began its descent through the atmosphere. The Vree were silent, the only sound the roar of the flames that engulfed the
Wa’Nar
as it rocketed toward K’Sarhi.

His optical interface had been crackling with conversation back and forth between the command crew on the
Wa’Nar
and the officers aboard the
Dra’Knar
. But now the comm was silent. It was always a tense time during the communication silence of the burning entry to a planet.

The roar of the fire died down, and his optic interface came alive. The
Wa’Nar
reported a perfect entry without sign of missiles or other hostile forces in the air. U’Vol issued the final command to proceed with landing.

Before he left their marriage bed, Eponia had asked him, “Why must you be in the first landing party? You are U’Vree, not a simple Vree-Kah. You should command, not be in the front lines of danger.”

U’Vol had pulled her close, kissed her deeply and said the answer that was expected. “Because it is tradition, dashi. It is bad kagha for the captain to sit on his banch. If I am to lead, they must see me out in front. I must take the first kill.”

Eponia had lightly punched him. Her tiny fist was like the flutter of a bird’s wing against the rippling muscles of his broad chest. “Tradition.” She frowned. “My husband is as bound to the laws of custom as any M’Uktah there ever was.”

Eponia might have believed it to be so because U’Vol had rarely spoken his true mind. He gave people little reason to see him as anything other than a strict adherent to the M’Uktah way. In truth, he observed the custom of taking the first kill not because it was law, but because he was a slave to his primal instincts as much as any Vree’Kah. Eponia was a woman, not Vree. She would never know how his blood boiled in his veins, his heart thrummed in his chest and his mouth salivated at the mere thought of hunting. It was no burden to be in the first landing party. It was an honor that all Vree’Kah coveted. While on Uktah, the Vree’Kah played the part of domesticated animal. But as soon as they hit the ground of this new planet, for a short time anyway, they would be as their primeval ancestors were: ulv predators, wild and filling the need of their four-legged legacy.

Their heads bounced as the
Wa’Nar
landed. All eyes were on U’Vol.

He threw back his head and howled. It began low and soft but rose in pitch and volume. As he howled, he simultaneously gave the order to open the doors. The rest of the Vree’Kah joined his howl and the ship was filled with the thunderous voices of the rabid Vree.

The doors were fully open and the restraints that had held him in place unwound from around him. U’Vol sniffed the air. He was used to landing in forests or vast plains. The first scents were usually of grasses and trees, of dirt and dung.

His krindor analyzed the chemistry of the scents it detected. It noted significant quantities of carbon and nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur and other poisonous gases. The krindor’s computer determined that the air was breathable and that the poisons were within acceptable parameters, though just barely.
Exhaust from combustion engines.
He smelled no grass or dirt.

But he did smell blood. He took another whiff and his head nearly swam from the infusion of scent into his system.

He barreled down the wide ramp out of the ship on his feet. By the time he hit the ground, he was on hands and feet, running like an ulv. The krindor’s interface with his body allowed his spine to undulate and his legs to move as required to run as his ulven ancestors had run. The speed was intoxicating but not nearly as delicious as the smell of his prey.

The ground was hard beneath him and buildings rose up like a constructed canyon on either side of him. Though it was night and pitch black without artificial lights, a throng of people milled around the tall steel structure that rose into the sky like a metal spire.
Perhaps it is a shrine to one of their gods.
The Sarhi talked excitedly and soon screams and shrieks issued from their open maws.

The krindor’s eyepiece highlighted his prey in bright yellow before him. It was a humanoid no more than six feet tall and male. The creature looked back at him and its mouth dropped open, its eyes wide. It broke into a run and kept looking over its shoulder at him. Sweat poured from the creature. The scent of salt and fear from the human drove U’Vol to run even faster.

It took him less than twenty seconds to close the gap between them. The man swung a rectangular object at U’Vol, but he batted it away. He leapt onto the creature, knocking it to the ground. It shouted and other Sarhi screamed, but the sound of his own blood in his ears, drumming and rushing, beat out the cacophony of Sarhi cries.

U’Vol bent his great neck, unhinged his mechanical jaw and bit into the creature’s fragile neck. He severed the spinal cord with one quick snap and the creature lay lifeless under his hands. His Vree’Kah forces were at his back, waiting for their chance to quell the rising tide of need for the taste of blood.

U’Vol would not deny them their due. He issued a mental command to his krindor, and three-inch-long claws as sharp as razors sprang from his fingertips. With one swipe at the man’s chest, U’Vol tore the warm heart from the still body and raised it high in the air for all the Vree’Kah to see. There was a loud howl as they scattered, each of them now hunting their own prey.

U’ Vol threw back his head, opened his mouth and allowed the fresh blood from the creature’s heart to fall into his open mouth. The warm, sticky substance covered his lips and wet his tongue.

He swallowed the sacred liquid and gave a silent prayer of thanks to Doj’Madi for giving them safe passage to these new, fertile hunting grounds. The blood of these creatures was sweet yet tangy and hinted at a highly flavorful and nutritious food source. And the kill had been easy. The creature proffered only a small, soft projectile as a deterrent to being killed.
Perhaps my worry was for naught.

U’Vol stared out over the concrete and glass field of battle and his heart soared as he smelled the fresh kill all around him. They had only six months to secure the hunting grounds and subdue the Sarhi population to ready the planet for colonization by the Vree’Sho, the farmers among the Vree. If this first kill were any indication, U’Vol would easily stay on target and achieve his mission in that time.

And Earth shall be known forevermore as K’Sarhi, outpost of the M’Uktah, ruled as all the universe is ruled by the most holy Doj.