Camallay: An Infinite Worlds Novel (Marik's Marauders) by Joel Babbitt

Author:Joel Babbitt
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Warhorse
Published: 2015-08-03T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

Jim Ryker thrived on new experiences. While most people are hesitant when encountering an alien culture, Ryker was fascinated. Though his uncle hired plenty of yazri whenever he needed violence done, he’d never actually seen a yazri clan. Because of this, while Colonel Alexander had been in council with the elders of the over-clan, Jim had gone poking about among the various sub-clans of the Mon-Jikkik.

Because he was one of Mar-Shal’s men, very soon he found acceptance among the clans as he went from one tree to another. Sitting at the first meal of the night with one clan, then another, he had heard much and began to understand the motivations that were at the heart of yazri culture. He was no sociologist, even his mother would have laughed at the idea, and indeed it wasn’t from any academic interest or even from the normal tourist sort of interest that Ryker was mingling with the clans. He was far too driven for that.

No, Ryker was fishing for information. And by dawn, as he sat listening to a small group of yazri warriors talk about the far hunts they had conducted out on the eastern steppes, he believed he had found what he was looking for.

Now, as he stood talking with Colonel Alexander and Captain Washington in the late morning sun, despite having lost a heavy quadcopter and the expedition’s doctor, the pair of veteran warriors couldn’t help but smile with the news.

“You say they took down a metal caribou?” Colonel Alexander asked in disbelief.

“Yep,” Ryker smiled and nodded. “And they said that inside were parts for ‘metal flying things’. Oh, and they said that there were probably fifty metal caribou in that herd. And that wasn’t the last herd of metal caribou they saw, either. They’ve seen two more in the last month.”

“Metal caribou herds with drone parts,” Alexander mused. “Sounds like we’ve found their supply line. Well,” he said, looking at the other two, “we were already going to have to travel out east to avoid Principay on our way to talk with our customers in the Far Point colonies. Looks like we’ve got some caribou hunting to do.”

“Yes, sir,” Captain Washington said. “I think that would give us further proof of Principay’s intentions. Not that we need further proof, but I think it might help Terra Alta come to our side.”

Colonel Alexander was silent for a few moments, and his face took on a somber expression. “I guess we have gone about gathering the colonies to fight Principay, haven’t we? So, yes, I guess we have a side now, don’t we?”

“Sir,” Washington said as she stood straighter. “We didn’t start this fight, but if not us, then who? And if not now, then when?”

“Yes, it seems no one else is leading the charge, so I guess we’ll have to keep doing it,” Alexander said with a note of finality as his face took on a look of grim determination.

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