Free IronStar by Grant Hallman Page A

luuuuaaaa… Malaa…
me’thsha… shuahsha” and with the town’s name, his palms came together, directly
over Akaray’s head, and dropped before his knees onto the ashy floor. Two
fingers brought a pinch of ash to his lips, and he was silent.

 
    Somehow Kirrah found herself
kneeling in the blackened debris beside the grieving child, feeling like a dam
was bursting inside her, hot tears flooding down her face. I can’t do this!
I Can’t! someone wailed in her mind. Stop me, then , someone else
dared: a darker, stronger someone who was holding Kirrah’s arms out at her
sides, palms upward, and drawing in a deep, deep breath…
    “Ahhhh… yahhhh… luaaahhh… tha” she
sang. Akaray stared up at her in sudden wonder, as her alien, alto voice
somehow picked up the thread of the Realm’s ancient Deathnaming chant:
    “Captain William Karin Leitch,
Commander, Regnum Survey Service… Shuah…
    “Lieutenant Commander Howell
Docking Junior, first officer… shuah!” Akaray sank back onto his heels beside
her, solemnly attentive, somehow telling her this was right , and somehow
understanding and sharing her terrible pent-up grief in a bond that transcended
all language:
    “Master Chief Samuel Chuwan Lee,
Fleet Engineer Second Class… shuah!
    “Lieutenant Junior Grade Gerald
Archibald Parvane Sykes, Helm Second… shuah!
    “Lieutenant Doris Amelia Finch,
Sensor Specialist First Class… aieeeeya … shuahhhh…” A whisper of wind
lifted a few puffs of ash from the earth around them.
    “Ensign Sara Margellen Roe, Sensor
Specialist Third Class… shuah!
    “Lieutenant Angela McKay Foley,
Contact Specialist First Class… shuah!
    “Lieutenant Doctor Harrah Lynn
Burnham, Life Science Specialist First Class … shuah!”
    “Regnum Survey Ship Arvida-Yee ,
registration Romeo Sierra eight eight niner three eight… shuah…sha.” Kirrah’s
palms met, finally, over her head. The pinch of ash tasted bitter on her lips.

 
    By unspoken agreement, the pair
left the desecrated, silent village walking hand in hand, and in the last gray
light of that long, long day, they found shelter among a cluster of trees a
short distance off, snuggled down in one another’s arms, and fell asleep
immediately.

Chapter 8 (Landing plus two): Options

 
    “The revenger of blood himself
shall slay the murderer: when he meeteth him, he shall slay him.” - The Book of
Numbers, 35:19; King James Translation, original circa 1400 B.C. Terra.

 
    Towards the end of her last dream,
Kirrah was sitting on the porch by the small creek, at the back of her Aunt
Risa’s old house. It was evening, her aunt was sitting on that big overstuffed
couch across from her, reading by the glow of the sunset. Insects were chirring
as the day cooled. Her aunt put her book down and sighed a deep, contented
sigh.
    “What is your question, Kirrah
dear?” she asked.
    “Uh, I was thinking, Aunt Risa,” ( how
did she know I had a question? Kirrah wondered)… “In the memory I have of
falling, you know, out of my, out of the ship…” Aunt Risa smiled softly at her.
“…there was that very bright light on everything, just at the end… what was
that?”
    “Oh, yes.” Her aunt’s head cocked
slightly sideways, like it did when the young Kirrah had asked a particularly
insightful question. “Sammy really did get that second Kruss ship, the little
one, that fired its railgun at you. Even after he’d been… well, after.” Her
aunt’s lips pursed in that way they did when someone had done something very
rude.
    “He’d done a very good job with his
missile spread, even better than that other nice young man, Howie
something-or-other. And that, dear, is why…”
    “That’s why I haven’t been worried
sick about a Kruss landing on my planet, isn’t it? Isn’t it?”
Kirrah always loved getting it right for Aunt Risa, and Aunt Risa never made
her feel bad when one of her logical leaps missed.
    “Quite so, dear,” answered Aunt
Risa. “Although