Free IronStar by Grant Hallman Page B

you must remember, it’s not quite your planet…”

 
    Kirrah woke slowly, surfacing out
of a deep, dream-filled sleep, lying awkwardly on her left side. Stiff muscles
protested at the night’s irregular surface as well as the previous day’s hard
use. Take a number , she thought muzzily. I’m too busy hurting inside …
yet to her surprise, the intense wound-up-tight feeling around her heart had
unwound a little… quite a bit, actually… the grief was still there, the brutal
reality of the loss of her shipmates, yet somehow it did not seem as immediate as it had before …before whatever that was, that she and Akaray had done last
night. No wonder he started bawling when I made that ‘universal peace
gesture’, back at the pond, Kirrah thought. I happened on the starting
posture for that …ceremony he knew was waiting for him, back at the village.
    Now something new was there where
her grief had been so strong; something even stronger, oh my, and darker ,
something very much like anger - no, more solid than anger. Something
with a voice of its own: So they had desecrated this village on her planet, so they had shot an arrow into her eight-year-old friend, so
they had butchered her friend’s family and village…

 
    At the touch of Akaray’s hand
shaking her right wrist, Kirrah’s eyes opened fully, to the sight of multiple
dark brown furry legs standing and shuffling in her field of view. I have got to stop waking up like this , was the first thought that popped into her
head.
    Oh, this is different , chirped
some cheerfully insane corner of her mind. See, this isn’t ‘Matey’ your
twenty tonne mastodon-analog, not even close! These are ordinary Terran horses ,
and they have saddles ! And riders!

 
    Well, you wanted a crack at the
raiders, went through her mind as Kirrah surged up to her knees,
battle mode engaging, sidearm coming up in a smooth deadly arc to face the
threat… NOT coming up… why not? Because your new eight-year-old friend is
clinging to your right wrist with both hands and all his strength, that’s why
not…
    “ Keerrah! Jasa! Jasa, jasa,
Kirrah! sho’Teescha! Eesa Teescha! ”
    “What? Akaray! Not now!” Kirrah’s
semi-coherent struggles to free her gun hand from his frantic grip ceased
abruptly as her battle mode analysis poured in:

 
    Four - six - seven unknowns,
mounted, four with weapons drawn or drawing. Those three are wielding bows; the
arrows cannot penetrate your suit, but a headshot will kill you. Based on their
central upper-body aimpoint, the archers do not believe the suit will protect
you. Generating Tactical Options:
    Option One: break the boy’s grip;
fire on the three archers, fourth opponent with half-drawn sword no immediate
threat; other three unknowns appear armed, not currently in threat posture.
Opponents unfamiliar with beamer weapon, the surprise will confuse them.
Projected tactical outcome: probable victory. Contra-indications: Minor risk of
taking lethal headshot; significant risk to unprotected boy; unknown (probably
minor) risk from possible unseen participants.

 
    One of the men was looking at her
quizzically, as though she were some puzzle to be worked out. You have no
idea! thought a small, remote observer in her mind. He was very young,
barely twice Akaray’s age and blond, with that same disconcerting open gaze.

 
    Option Two: stand down, make no
threatening moves, retain Option One at hot standby. Projected tactical
outcome: parley. Contra-indications: Any of three archers can retarget your
unprotected head faster than helmet or beamer can respond, consequences severe,
probability low; Possibility of betrayal by boy due to unknown factors,
consequences unknown but undesirable, probability very low.

 
    In the slow-motion stretched time
of battle mode, Kirrah could see the swordsman’s eyebrows rising as he seemed
almost to track her thoughts.

 
    Significant non-tactical concerns:
insufficient data to classify unknowns as