Becoming a Ranger (complete)

Chapter one

Passing the Test

I am Simon Joseph St James and sat in the speeding copter and thought about my life and what had brought me here to this time and place. I was twenty years old and the last four had been spent working to reach this point. First were the martial arts and then the science, well… biology and zoology. I had been on the planetary youth marksmanship team as well.

My goal was to become a ranger for our planet. The few rangers that came through were only here for a month or two before leaving. It was the ranger’s job to make sure the people of the colony were safe as well as the animals of the planet. It was also their job to preserve any ruins or artifacts on a planet. I sighed as the copter changed pitch and spun in a wide circle.

I could see a grove of giant home trees and a herd of Simeron’s slowly moving through under their huge expanse. The copter shifted and tilted the other way before seeming to drop through the branches to a small clearing. My survivor instructor Mr Perry leaned close, “All right kid, this is it. Still want to go through with it?”

I nodded as my hand tightened on my small pack, “Yes sir.”

He nodded and patted my shoulder, “Just follow your directions and do not get killed.”

I grinned and as the copter dipped I moved to the door and jumped the two meters to the ground. The copter barely hesitated before lifting back into the sky. A moment was all it took and then I was standing alone in the small clearing. I looked around and put the pack on before turning to walk into the brush on one side of the clearing.

I had only been in the brush for an hour when I heard the hissing sounds of distress. As much as I wanted to head away from what I knew was danger I did not. I moved closer and after a few minutes I was looking into the crushed bushes to see a Lenolyn trapped in the net like ground vines of a chameleon tree. I thought about just walking away.

The Lenolyn were not known as being nice to humans. More like they went out of their way to rip us apart or stomp us to paste. Then there was the fact that chameleon trees were extremely dangerous. I sighed and looked around before stepping out. The growling hiss from the Lenolyn was not exactly comforting. I took a breath and walked closer carefully.

The sticky vines were wrapped around the Lenolyn’s snout and I reached out to slap the side of its head, “Be quiet and stop moving.”

I was a little surprised when it quieted and only glared at me. I looked at all the vines holding it and up at the slowly descending sucker vines. I nodded and moved around to its side and knelt as I pulled my long mono knife. I carefully split the vine, ignoring the extremely high pitched scream of the chameleon tree. I used the seeping vine milk on the leg of the Lenolyn and it caused the vine to drop away.

When the leg was free it twitched but stayed still as I moved to the back leg. I did not bother glancing up as I sliced along the new vine and began working it loose from the Lenolyn. When it was free I moved to the head and looked in the huge eyes, “I need to work the vine off so do not bite.”

The only thing it did was snort, which I took as ascent. It did not take long to work the vine off the snout and I glanced up to see the suckers almost all the way down. I absently patted the side of the huge head, “When I say go, walk straight and do not stop until you are clear.”

I moved to the other side working as quickly as I could. I almost stepped in a net vine myself before moving to the last leg. As soon as the vine came free I checked the tail and then reached up to touch the upper leg, “Go!”

The Lenolyn did not hesitate in walking forward almost delicately. The chameleon tree’s scream of defeat made the surrounding forest go silent. I carefully made my way away from the chameleon tree and glanced back to see the Lenolyn looking at me. I nodded and turned away to slip into the surrounding brush. That evening I found a sheltered spot to camp.

I used a blow gun to kill a slow Grecal as it watched me from a low hanging limb. I cleaned the lizard skin as the meat sizzled over a small fire. The night came alive with the sounds of both predators and prey. The next morning I was moving cautiously through the last of the home trees in this grove when something caught my eye.

I should describe a home tree. They are around twenty meters thick and can grow to be almost two hundred meters tall. The lowest branch on a home tree is about a forty meters above the ground. While the leaves looked large and deciduous, the trees were a type of evergreen. I had noticed what almost appeared to be a path to the closest home tree.

I hesitated and then moved to the side and slowly and carefully left the brush and walked to the tree as quietly as I could. The area under a home tree was normally clear of brush or grass although most did tend to grow thick there. I stood a couple of feet away from the bark and looked at it carefully. It was a moment before I realized there seemed to be a pattern.

There was a section of bark about the size of my hand that looked worn as if from being touched. I reached out and placed my hand on it and hesitantly pushed. There was a very soft click and a section of bark two and a half meters tall and one and a half wide popped away from the tree. I slowly pulled it out to see a set of stairs going up and another going down.

So much for not being a cat. I started up the stairs and was surprised to see indirect lighting as if the light seeped through the bark. I was up to what I thought was the forth layer of branches when the stairs stopped. There was a doorway that should have led out. It turned out to be a room with jagged slit windows. There was a feeling of waiting about the room as I looked at soft skin couches and glossy tables.

There were two other doorways into the room and I began to explore. While there was a food preparation area, there did not look like there was anything to cook the food. I found two bedrooms with soft beds and light airy blankets. I even folded one of the blankets up to take with me. At the bottom of the stairs was a smooth stoned room about thirty meters under the ground.

Strangely, the walls glowed more than bright enough to see and I looked around. There were glyphs carved smoothly into the walls by each door. I followed one for a long way and came to another room with a spiraling staircase. I turned back and finally made my way up and out of the tree. The door made another soft click when I pushed it closed.

I paused and just listened before moving into the brush thinking about what I had just found. When the forest around me went still I stopped moving as well. I was long past the last home tree and in what we called new growth. The trees were only thirty to forty meters tall. They were also filled with more animals a lot of them very dangerous to lone humans.

I slowing reached for my long bush knife and glanced around. The brushed crashed towards me and I spun and took three running steps before leaping for a hanging branch from a ladder tree. I brought my feet up and around to stand on the branch. I jumped straight up to grab the next branch and swung up as the tree shook with the impact of the Croclin.

I did not bother to jump up again. I jumped to the adjacent branch, my hand grabbing the trunk to help spin me in and I jumped to another adjacent branch again. The tree continued to shake as the Croclin swarmed up the tree. As I landed I could see the back legs and most of the body of the Croclin as it followed me. My next jump brought me along side the animal against the tree trunk.

I pulled my mono knife and brought it down through the spine at the base of the skull. I shoved it in at an angle to penetrate the brain as the Croclin jerked and started convulsing. As it fell I grabbed onto the trunk. After the tree shopped shaking I looked down. The Croclin was about four meters long which meant it was about four years old.

The big ones that were full grown were over eight meters long. I cleaned my knife and put it away before dropping to the ground. The forest around us was quiet and I squatted and waited for the big animal to stop thrashing around. When it stopped moving I used a small knife and skinned it and cut off a large chunk of meat. I rolled the skin around the meat and slipped into the forest.

I stopped a couple of hours before the sun went down and made a fire in a hollow tree that had been struck by lightning. While the chunks of meat cooked I began scraping and cleaning the Croclin skin. I was up early and rolled the skin up and tied it to my pack before moving on. That afternoon I came to a large clear area with a mound of sticks and grass in the middle.

I was immediately on alert, this was a nest of a Simeron which meant mom and dad would be close by. Normally they were not aggressive but when they nest it was a different matter. I moved to a nearby ladder tree and started climbing. When I was high enough to move into one of the larger trees I did. Finally I started moving from tree to tree as I started around the nest area.

When the Drakonus drifted into the corner of my eye I froze. Drakonus were what the colonist called a large flying reptile that looked like the old earth drawings of dragons. I used my peripheral vision to watch as I moved in a wide circle around the nest site and then turned to head south. I waited a minute after it was gone before continuing to move from tree to tree.

When I was on the other side of the clearing I moved away. When I was far enough I climbed down and slipped into the brush. It was another week before I came to a grove of home trees. I had killed a Grecal and went to the trunk of the first home tree. I slowly walked around the tree and found what I was looking for. I pushed and a tall bark door popped open.

I closed the door after I went in and climbed to what looked like another Tron home. In the food preparation area I put some stuff together and used my small solar heater. I was using one of the old Tron bowls to heat water and the cut up Grecal. I added several plants I had found during the day and waited patiently for the stew to finish cooking.

I walked to what looked like a crack in the wall and it just peeled back as I got close. I was looking out at the flat top of a large branch. I glanced down to the ground far below and saw a large full grown Croclin walking around the base of the tree. The way it moved told me it had been following my scent. I was glad I had managed to find the entrance to the home tree.

I washed in one of their rain rooms and slept comfortably in their soft bed. I woke early to a scratching sound and looked at the wall. I could hear the zap of an electric charge and slowly went to check it out. The wall opened as I approached and I stepped closer and then looked down the tree in the dawn light. At the base of the tree was the body of a grown Croclin, probable the same one I had seen yesterday.

I gathered my things and climbed down the stairs. After making sure the entrance was closed, I moved into the brush. I moved silently and was soon lost in a mist as it sprang up. I knew that meant I was close to a river. From the map I had memorized I knew where I was. The brush began getting thicker and I had a choice, follow a game trail or force my way through.

Following game trails near water was extremely dangerous. I forced my way between two thick bushes and slowly worked deeper into the thick brush. When a huge home tree popped up suddenly I was more than ready to take a break. The thick fog had just started lifting as I moved slowly around looking for the doorway. When I opened it, I closed it behind me but instead of going up I went down.

The stairs went down further than before and when they stopped I saw a glyph over what was a door in the direction of the river. Strangely the glyph looked like wavy lines that made me think of water. I headed towards the doorway and started walking. After what I guessed was six kilometers, I came to another room. I grinned and started up the stairs.

I went all the way up to the home in the tree and walked in to rest on cushions. I relaxed and ate some roots I had found and thought about everything I had done so far. I still had three hundred kilometers to go before I reached the ranger station. I finally stood and made my way down. I opened the door and closed it behind me before standing still and listening.

I finally crossed the open space around the tree and slipped into the brush. It was two weeks before I looked out of the thick brush surrounding the lone building. It stood alone in a clearing with tall sonic posts around it. I finally slipped out of the brush to walk across the clearing and through the sonic screen. When I opened the door to the building I saw Mr Perry sitting at the table eating dinner.


Chapter two

Invasion

Our flight back the next morning seemed shorter than the one out. Mr Perry was thinking about my story concerning the home trees and what I found inside them. We landed at the colony landing pads to see people running everywhere. As soon as we stepped out we found out why. A large Cariss warship was insystem headed for the planet.

We all knew that meant they were here to strip the planet before anyone could come to help us. Cariss was one race that was always warlike. They only fought as a clan in a single warship or small fleets. I followed Mr Perry as he headed for the comm building. The crowd around the building was demanding to know what to do. He pushed his way through the crowd and into the building.

I looked at the crowd and shook my head before remembering I was the one that wanted to be a Ranger. I yelled for quiet and they turned to look at me in my dirty clothes. I looked at them and then started pointing to people, sending them for weapons or other things we would need to defend the landing pads. I sent more out to warn everyone else and have them gather on the other side of the settlement.

I sent others to different places to make fighting positions. When Mr Perry came out his lips were tight together, “We can not get through.”

I thought about it and finally nodded as a plan came to me, “Get Mr Harris and whoever you need to take everything out of the building. Move it to the other side of the city where the women and children are gathering. Set the radio up using the nearest generator for power.”

I looked up at the sky above us wondering how long we had, “Set up a relay with the satellites. When the Cariss start to orbit, use the satellites to send the signal, it should get through.”

Mr Perry nodded as he finally understood and several of the men around us grinned. I looked around, “We need to hold the Cariss here. They always send in their best fighters before they even reach orbit and we need to buy time.”

That sobered everyone as they realized no one would come to save us and we would have to fight the Cariss on our own. I headed towards the pads and grabbed a long barreled laser rifle with a belt of charged battery packs. I set my pack and rifle aside and began moving heavy crates beside the thick brush near the closet pad.

When I finished, I grabbed the rifle and started going around checking the other positions. The men seemed resigned but firm in their commitment to protect the rest of the colony. When I checked the comm building I found it empty. I moved around to the positions and told each man where to go when we withdrew. After I had talked to everyone, I headed back to my position and waited.

It was a couple of hours before three large assault shuttles sped over the trees. I was ready and took aim at the engines of one as everyone just started firing. The shuttles were flaring as they braked and my long burst with the rifle went through the engine housing on the portside of the shuttle. It suddenly lurched and spun as it over flew the pad and crashed into the trees.

I put another long burst through the tiny exposed spot behind the engines and it exploded in white hot flames. I shifted to another shuttle that was already on the ground. Armored Cariss were spilling out the back as I aimed and fired at the tiny area where the fuel feed was behind the engines. As the shuttled exploded throwing Cariss away like broken rag dolls I came under fire.

I drop and aimed through a small opening I had made at the last shuttle as it started to lift. As the third shuttle exploded the Cariss started concentrating their fire on my position. I dropped and crawled backwards and slipped into a larger collection of huge crates before moving to the side. There were probable only forty Cariss that had managed to get off the shuttles.

One stepped around a crate in front of me and I fired and watched it fall backwards. I kept moving to change position. I fired around another crate at a Cariss that was pulling a rocket launcher out of a pack. He toppled and another took his place. I had to duck back as the crate I was using began to shred under the impact of bullets.

I rolled behind the crate next to the one I had been using as a loud explosion rocked the pad. I peeked around another crate and shot three Cariss that were close together and then there seemed to be a silence. I carefully looked around and then began to move. I checked the pads to find only dead Cariss and a three colonist bodies.

I looked at the burning shuttles and opened a local comm device, “Mr Peter?”

There was a long silent pause, “Here. It looks like they are just reaching orbit…”

There was another pause, “Simon we have multiple shuttle launches. The signal is being punched around their ship now.”

I nodded, “As soon as it is sent get everyone together and start for the nearest Home Trees to the east.”

I turned the comm device off and looked around, “Aim for the shuttle engines! When they land break contact and start for Mr Alder’s greenhouses!”

I heard several men shout that they understood and walked out to the pack I had seen the Cariss pull the launcher from. I grinned and grabbed the pack and launcher before moving back to the large stack of crates behind my shredded position. I held the launcher and lifted it to my shoulder. We heard the shuttles before we saw them.

I was ready and aiming in that direction as the first one appeared and fired. I knelt as it exploded from the kinetic warhead. I loaded another missile and turned to aim at a shuttle that was heading for a distant pad and fired. As it exploded two more joined it and another crashed. I took out a third as it touched down on a pad and it exploded making that pad useless.

I shot down a fourth as two more shuttles crashed. Cariss started climbing out of the wrecked ships and I knew we did not have much longer. I destroyed another as three shuttles landed off the pads. I dropped the launcher and grabbed my rifle, “Pull back!”

I saw men start moving back into the brush and shot two Cariss wearing bright officer plums. I slipped back behind the crates just in time. The crates in front exploded and sent plastic splinters flying. I shot two more Cariss as they rushed around the back crates and then sprinted the ten meters to the nearest tree. I spun around the tree as it shook under the impact of slugs and lasers.

I fired back into the group shooting at me and dropped three and scattered the rest. I looked around the pads and did not see anyone else. I slipped back into the brush and headed towards Mr Alder’s greenhouses. I used a brush choked route I knew and stopped at a spot that overlooked the main road into the colony.