Rene nodded to the two Inyorin. They looked strong, though it seemed to be more a matter of muscle density than sheer size and their feathers had been dyed with some sort of vegetable compound so that they were stiff and very dark in color. Rene recalled lessons from his childhood about the dangers of anthropomorphising aliens too much. One of the pair stepped back, looking suddenly apprehensive. Rene realised he had been grinning only as he blanked his face. These locals were about to get a lesson in the dangers of excessive anthropomorphisation also, one that would be a lot less survivable than Mistress Doziers doddering lectures had been.

“Alright I’m coming, just give me a moment,” he instructed the two Syshin and pulled the curtain of woven vines that closed the spartan room closed with a rustle. He pulled Solae to him and kissed her impulsively then, reluctantly he released her. He drew the automatic pistol he had taken from her pursuers on the day they had met. It was heavy for its size, with far more metal than a contemporary Imperial design would allow but common enough on more remote worlds. He held it up and clicked the safety down with his thumb to reveal a red phosphor dot, then pressed it back up with the thumbnail to reengage the mechanical lock out. Marine training highly discouraged giving weapons to civilians, which Solae was in function if not in fact, but he couldn’t leave her with nothing to defend herself, not after all she had been through. Solae looked about to protest but he pressed the weapon into her hand and closed her fingers around it nonetheless.

“Please, it will make me feel better,” he told her and she nodded.

“I’ll be right back,” he assured her, plastering a confident smile on his face for her benefit, then peeled back the curtain and stepped out to join the two Syshin. A gentle anger simmered beneath his calm exterior. He supposed he would have done nearly anything to get Solae off New Concordia, but he was pleased it was something that would make this world a little better after he left it.

The night was surprisingly clear, the sea having evidently decided to spare them a storm for a change. The air itself was hot after the semi-subterranian cool of Amber Horizons and the ferocious humidity sprang sweat from Rene’s skin immediately. If the Syshin were discomforted it didn’t show on the faces of the two Inyorin crouched beside him. The alien’s additional leg joints meant they could get considerably lower to the ground without laying down than was possible for Rene but he couldn’t imagine the crablike pose was comfortable. Both of the aliens held improvised spears made from agricultural tubing and had long knives at their belts. Trade in weapons was technically banned except by Imperial License, a fact that did not deter smugglers, but did mean that modern weapons were expensive for an impoverished group like the Syshin. The fact that the law as much more likely to be enforced against aliens meant that guns were a generally bad idea.

The trio were set up atop a small rise which overlooked the scrubby tropical forest. A broad track, dirt pounded by feet rather than paved, ran through the lower area, weaving between trees too large to bother cutting. A spine of upthrust granite provided good cover and concealment from the road and the foliage between them and the trail was minimal. Both moons were up and nearly full, bathing the entire scene in pale silvery light. Rene would just as soon have done this in a rainstorm where sightlines would be sort and confusion easy to so, but you had to play the hand you were dealt. He leaned forward slightly, resting the foregrip of the rifle on the lichen pitted stone for support.

“You are sure they will come this way?” he asked in a low quiet voice. Both of the aliens looked at each other and spoke in liquid and unintelligible Syshi. Rene cursed silently beginning to wish that he had bought Solae along afterall, though the risk to her was too great for him to have considered it. He realised that he was nervous, something that surprised him. He didn’t worry for his own life, he didn’t hold it in high enough regard for that to matter, but the thought of leaving Solae alone and vulnerable twisted his stomach uncomfortably.

“We sure,” one of the Syshin finally responded in broken pigeon. He seemed about to elaborate when a bird hooted nearby. Both Syshin froze and then made answering hoots. From a shadow at the bottom of the rise a third alien emerged, scrambling up the rise with little more than a rustle of leaves. This one also held a spear as well as a length of metal piping that would serve as a club at close quarters. More liquid Syshin flowed along with a good deal of gesticulating off to the south along the road.

“What is it?” Rene demanded as the conversation grew more heated.

“Stars burn you! Keep your voices down!” he snarled as his words went unheeded. All three Syshin fell silent and then one turned to him.

“Kadal say the men already have Syshin Rene Bonded of Solae,” the alien sounded despairing. Rene cocked his head to the side trying to piece the fragmentary sentence together.

“They already have captives?” he asked, taking care to speak slowly. In the distance he thought he heard a sound and his eyes scanned the moonlight road.

“Women, women from the Penshae,” the Syshin agreed emphatically, his elongated head nodding as he spoke. Rene didn’t know or particularly care what a ‘Penshae’ was but the fact that the humans already had captives compicated matters dramatically. Unfortunately it didn’t alter his job tonight. He needed to earn the trust of the Syshin so they would help Solae off world and falling back because of bad intel wouldn’t do that.

“We go!” the newcomer declared, standing to his full height decisively. Rene grabbed the alien and yanked him down, though he suspected had the Syshin really wanted to he could have broken free.

“No!” he snapped, “Keep to the plan, we will get your people out!” As Rene smoke a whining sound became clearly audible. It was recognisable as an electric engine, one of the capacitor powered kind that was frequently used for agricultural work. Rene held a finger to his lips for silence and gestured everyone down.

An eternity passed, though it couldn’t have been more than ten minutes, before the source of the noise finally came into view. A group of about a dozen human, all male and most carrying torches or flashlights came into view laughing and singing with drunken good humor. Most of the men cradled weapons, shotguns and machettes seeming to predominate, though Rene did see one man with what looked like an automatic rifle. The were all dressed in variations of the gray jumpsuits and smocks that was common to paid laborers. In the middle of the procession was a small utility vehicle about the size of a small ground car. It had a windshield but no sides enclosed it. Behind the vehicle, secured with wire ropes, were a half dozen naked Syshin females, huddled together and crying as the vehicle half dragged them along. Rene felt all three of his companions stiffen. As they watched one of the drunken men whipped one of the Syshin across the bottoks with a wite knot, laughing uproariously as she screamed.

“Alright,” Rene said, “You three circle round to the…”

“MYINDI!!!” one of the Syshin screamed and leaped to his feet before charging full bore down the slope towards the road. Both of his companions stood frozen for a second before following with weird undulating cries. The men below screamed and cursed and a half dozen weapons went off more or less at random. Rene wanted to scream in frustration but that wouldn’t help now. At times like these you had to save what you could. With a quick jerk he swung the weapon onto his target and took up the trigger pressure. The weapon cracked and slapped his shoulder. A stared hole appeared in the plastic windshield of the utility vehicle and the driver twitched and slumped over into the passenger seat leaving a smear of blood on the seat cover. He let the weight of the barrel drop it a fraction and then fired twice more with sharp syncopating cracks. Bluish sparks exploded as the rounds shredded the engine of the vehicle, dumping the entire load of the capacitors in a few seconds of stunning destruction. Smoke poured out a moment later masing the couscating blue destruction. 

The leading Syshin reached the edge of the road and leaped into the air, his spear plunging downwards towards one of the terrified slavers. A shotgun blast thundered in the tropical night and the Inyorin flew sideways in a spray of dark fluids, his spear falling limply into the dirt. The automatic rifle roared spewing thirty rounds into the night air in Rene’s general direction. The purplish red muzzleflash, a byproduct of ionization as the electromagnets drove the copper gold driving bands up the weapons muzzle, had given his position away but the shooter was drunk and on full auto beside. Above Rene timber cracked as one of the rounds shattered a tree limb and dropped it twenty feet to his left. The shooter reached for a fresh clip but pitched to the dirt as Rene’s return fire shattered his sternum. It would take a real soldier to hit the concealed marine in the dark and the screaming chaos of the battle, but another burst like that could easily kill all of the naked Syshin women currently tearing at their wire bonds.

The two Inyorin still on their feet crashed into the group below, spears stabbing down in brutal deadly archs. Rene cut down two more soldiers with five round burst as they struggled to bring their shotguns to bear. Small fern like plants that grew from the base of the boulder shriveled away from the rifle barrel as excess heat started to build up in the barrel. Electromotive weapons heated fast but Rene didn’t have any choice but to keep shooting. A big bull like man swung a torch at one of the Syshin, driving him back a step. Rene’s shot caught him in the neck, the shot was too high but it did the job, all but decapitating the man in a spay of arterial blood that sparkled red in the muzzle flash. 

The surviving humans broke as a group, turning and fleeing from the scene of the carnage. Even with the Syshin blowin the ambush the carnage and the screaming noise of the firefight was too much. These men weren’t soldiers, merely armed thugs out to abduct some helpless women for sport. Rene put down two more in a chattering staccato burst that sent them tumbling in a tangle of arms and legs and spraying blood.

“Go!” he shouted at the Syshin spearmen.

“Get the survivors,” he screamed as he hoped from behind his cover and skidded down the embankment. The Inyorin looked between the human and the females, most of whom were now huddling behind the smouldering utility vehicle, clearly uncertain.

“GO!” he roared, this time punctuating the words by firing twice into the air. With the grace of hunting hounds the Syshin sprang into pursuit, weird undulating war cries dopplering away into the dark. A massacre of would be slavers was one thing, but nothing would keep men away from the Syshin like a slaving party simply disappearing without a trace. Fear of the unknown was a more powerful deterrent than any amount of weapons.

The clearing stank. Burning insulation from the utillity vehicle mixed with the reek of blood and the seweage taint of violent death. The fire crackled and snapped without much enthusiasm and the captive Syshin wailed. They shrieked in terror as Rene approached, eyes wide and panicked. He held up one hand and let the weapon hang down close to his leg, they probably thought all humans were a threat and he couldn’t blame them. Several of the aliens bore bloody slashes where the humans had been whipping them. He pulled a knife from his belt.

“Go back to Amber Horizon,” he said in a clear commanding voice and cut the bundle of wires close to the attachment point on the back of the utility. The wires parted easily under the powered blade and several of the women staggered off into the dark. One of them ran to the fallen Syshin and fell to her knees beside him shaking his shoulder. The spearman who had set of the ambush was still alive, although he seemed to Rene, ignorant of Syshin physiology, to be in a bad way. The shotgun blast had torn a ragged bite from his pelvis and dark blood oozed over shredded skin and muscle.


“Myindi,” the alien croaked to the shivering woman, reaching up to touch the womans face.

“She is your bonded,” Rene said in understanding, the remains of his anger cooling. The woman nodded and began tearing strips from his clothing to bind the wound. Rene unfastened his small improvised first aid kit. Suddenly a scream tore the air. A very human, very female scream. Rene bolted upright black terror coiling in his guts. That had to be Solae. Without another word he bolted in the direction the scream had come from, crashing through the bush in his thoughtless haste.