Page 28 of Protected By the Alien Commander

Doshax

I keptmy blaster in hand as I walked around our ship. I looked for signs of animals, poisonous vegetation, nests of anything. After clearing the vessel, I used my scope to look in the distance for other crashed ships and signs of civilization.

Our spaceship had come to an abrupt rest against two of the tall trees in the small grove. It had skidded along the ground for kilometers, as far as I could see with the scope. That would not be good if someone else was alive on this planet and decided to investigate.

I walked around to the side of the ship that rested against the downed trees. There were no punctures in the hull, which was surprising for a ship that had been in the elements for over a decade. Still, it was odd that the space rats had not chewed through the ship’s cables or destroyed the ship. Especially since the door had been open and there had been minimal dust and debris inside.

My quills rose as I felt like I was being watched again. I raised the scope and studied the landscape. Not too far away was a cluster of the tall, spiked green plants like those from where I had first seen Ohliveah. There had to be water by those plants, better-tasting water than what was on the ship. That water had been in the holding tank for over a decade. And what had happened to the captain and crew? No one would have left a good shelter like that unless they had been forced to.

What was going on with this planet? I wished I had paid closer attention when my grandfather had told stories about Yazell. But I had thought those were just stories to scare younglings. Now that we were stuck back on this planet and Ohliveah was safe in the ship, I moved finding my squadron to the top of the list. I was sure my men were fine. However, crashing on a planet could cause injuries that would be fatal without a medpod.

I increased the radius of my perimeter walk around the ship. Nothing was going to be left to chance with my female inside. I found a deep gully several meters away from the other side of the ship, the one with no trees, but there were no footprints or any other signs of life around it.

Next, I circled around the ship back to the side with the trees. I looked up, but there was nothing hiding in them. There were only seven trees, very tall with long, flat leaves high on the trees. Either the plant had evolved that way, or animals had eaten the lower leaves.

I would have to remind the females not to leave the ship without me. I had hated my tribe’s annual pilgrimages to the Plains of Ocren where the Goddess had first found and saved us. Now, I was thankful for the experience. I had learned how to survive with no modern tools, comms, devices, or beds. We made everything from the land on the pilgrimage.

The scope did not show any giant lizards or anything else moving by the tall vegetation in the distance, so I hiked to them. It was a ten-minute walk, not very far. There had to be water nearby, just like with the other vegetation. With another source of fresh water, we could definitely survive. And we could set traps for food. Every animal needs water to drink.

I held my blaster as I walked, ducking under and climbing over the thick, barbed, leaves. Then I stilled. The sound I heard was so faint I almost missed it. It sounded like a cry of pain.

After a minute of silence, I quietly moved towards the direction I thought the sound had come from. Scuffling sounds reached me, and my quills stood. I crouched close to the ground and stilled.

Voices reached me. I could not make out what they were saying. I crawled under the last plant and now had a good view of two bipeds looking down at something on the ground before them. It could be an animal or another biped, like one of my men.

My scope showed that it was definitely one of my men. He was wearing the IGS flight uniform and lying on his side, facing away. I wanted to burst out and attack the scum kicking my man, but I tamped down my anger. I needed to plan so I could save him and disable the scum. All the IGS military were trained for hand-to-hand combat. The only way anyone would have gotten a jump on one of my men was if they had been incapacitated.

I glared as I fingered my blaster’s trigger. I wanted to shoot the scum that had to be pirates. No one would miss them. But I needed information, and dead pirates could not speak. How many other pirates were there in the area? Were they out of sight but ready to attack when I made my move to help my man?

So I waited and watched, clenching my jaw, looking for the right moment to attack. I reminded myself that I could not kill the pirates. I had to learn where their base was and how many were in the quadrant.

I looked away from the scene and scanned the area with my scope angled down so as not to reflect any light. After a methodical search, the only notable thing I found was another deep gully about a klick past the group of men. The pirates must have crashed down there. Which meant I did not know how many of them were in the vicinity.

The pirates yelled, and I trained the scope back on them. They must be Gamilon with their light gray skin. That species was known for smuggling and thievery.

I wished I knew which one of the men in my squadron was on the ground. Some of my men were more devious than others. They would fake being unconscious to attack when opportunity presented itself.

No more pirates joined the group, and by now I was sure my man was truly unconscious. I put my scope away and pulled out my blaster. I had not been the best shot in my class in the IGS, but I was not bad. Aiming at the pirate standing to the side, I clipped him in the shoulder. It distracted the other pirate, who had his back to me and had been in the process of kicking my man on the ground. The pirate I shot clutched his shoulder and yelled. I grinned fiercely.

Then I burst out from under the plant with a shot of speed and took down the pirate standing over my man before he even put a hand on his blaster. I tied the pirate’s limbs with his jacket and belt. Training my blaster on the whining pirate I had shot, I stood.

The scum stared at me. "Where did you come from?"

Clenching my jaw, I controlled myself from shooting him again. "Take off your jacket and kneel.”

“Hey now! You can't kill me! I know the laws. You can't just shoot an unarmed guy for no reason."

I aimed my blaster at his midsection. "You attacked a member of the IGS military and one of my squadron. Get on your knees before I decide no one will know if I break any rules."

The pirate slammed to his knees and held one arm up in the air. The other hung useless at his side.

"Take your jacket off."

The pirate struggled to remove his jacket with one hand while I glanced at the other who laid on the ground quietly, not even trying to get away. I scowled.

They must have a tracking beacon or emergency signal of some sort. One that may or may not be working because of the interference on this planet. But I did not want to chance it.

Pulling out my ceremonial knife, I cut the pirate’s jacket. I shoved a sleeve in the mouth of the pirate on the ground. He still did not fight or say anything. This confirmed my suspicions that they had help on the way. I stood and addressed the kneeling pirate. “How many of you are there?"