Page 71 of The Warrior's Oath
“Oh, believe me, I realized that. The rest of us took off as fast as we could. Fortunately, there was some rain, so we had a bit of cover.”
“And you left tracks because of it,” Korvin noted. “It is fortunate that happened after the Dohrags had already surveyed your landing site. Had they seen your trail they would have undoubtedly captured the rest of you.”
Nyota squatted down in front of him. “Hey, about that. You said there were others. We saw several sets of footprints on the way here. Where are they?”
“We split up to scout a bit. You know, cover a larger area. But that was a full day ago and I haven’t seen them since.”
“So, you just stayed here in one place?” Korvin asked. He left unsaid that what the man had done was make himself a particularly easy target in the process.
“I figured they’d maybe found something, but I know they’d come back. They wouldn’t just leave me here.”
“Unless they had no choice,” the alien pointed out. “More likely than not, they encountered the crewmates of the Raxxians we came across.”
The man paled at the mere mention of their captors. “You’ve seen them? The green ones, I mean?”
“There is a group of Raxxian survivors from the transport ship we were aboard. They appear to have regrouped into some semblance of organization and are now operating in this general area.”
“To kill us?”
“No. They are attempting to retrieve us. We are valuable cargo to them, and it is their protocol to construct a central holding area and then reclaim as much cargo as possible before a proper retrieval unit arrives.”
“You mean more of them are coming. Oh man, we’re all screwed!”
“More are coming, yes. But it will take some time. From what we have learned, there are many races operating on this planet, and as such, even the Raxxians will have to exhibit a modicum of tact in their actions. They cannot risk blundering into a full-scale conflict. Not over a single transport vessel.”
“But these Raxxians, they’re out there, right? And they’re looking for us?”
Nyota reached out and patted him on the arm. “Hey, it’s okay. We already took out three of them. And they don’t have a ship. They’re on foot, just like the rest of us.”
“You killed them?” he asked, shock clear on his face.
“They’re tough bastards, but they’re not invincible. And it sounds like they’ve got more of our people.” She glanced over at Korvin with a questioning look. He gave a little nod. “We’re going to do whatever we can to get them back. And if that means taking out those Raxxians, then so be it.”
“What if it’s the other ones? The Dohrags?”
“Then we fight them too,” she replied. “Can you fight?”
A serious look spread across the man’s face. One of grim determination. Gone was his panic. He wasn’t alone anymore. And his new friends had a plan.
“Yeah, I can fight,” he said, getting up to his feet.
Korvin tossed his spear back to him. “Then take this. You will need it.”
He nodded once. “I’m Steve, by the way.”
“Korvin. And I believe you have already met Nyota aboard the ship.”
“A pleasure. Well, as much as it can be given the circumstances.”
Nyota couldn’t help but chuckle. His panic was fading, and his eyes grew clear. This guy was going to be all right.
“Okay then,” she said, looking to their de facto leader, “what’s our next move?”
“Oh,” Korvin said. “It is quite simple. At least in theory. We track them. We find them. We eradicate them and retrieve the others.”
“You make it sound easy,” Steve joked.
Korvin let out a cold laugh. “It will be anything but, I assure you. But our options are few and our time short. We do this now, or we don’t do it at all.”
