11/6/14

Left Behind
By David Scholes


It started with the rogue navy seal snipers. They located themselves on the rooftops of several Chicago skyscrapers and just started shooting. Yet someone took them out almost before they started firing and with ease. Not even killing them, just disabling them.

Then there was the innocent man who could not be released from jail for technical legal reasons. Someone helped him escape without leaving any footprint of being in the prison. The same person got the innocent man and his family secretly relocated outside the US.

Then things really started to get interesting. With the shooting death of a child rapist and killer who kept getting off on legal technicalities. It was one hell of an execution – a shot first in the groin, almost instantly followed by the chest then the forehead. All as the child killer fell.

* * *

The unknown do-gooder continued his work unabated. The enthusiastic populace viewing him as a latter day ultimate version of the “Equalizer” character of the ancient 1980’s TV show. The do gooder appeared to choose his own targets based on his perception of the level of evil and injustice.

Next on his “list” was a well organized ring of corrupt police. What various Police Commissioners had been unable to achieve in years he did in days. Busting them wide open.

Whoever he was (nobody would even accept the possibility of he being a she) he was operating completely outside of any legal framework. He also appeared to be operating with absolute impunity and with the full support of most of the population of New York City. The authorities were powerless to catch him.

For those trying to track him down it became increasingly a case of not “who” but “what” they were dealing with.

The Navy Seals had been disabled by an energy weapon. There was nothing unusual about this. Such military weapons did sometimes get on to the streets. Yet later investigations suggested at least one energy discharge was not straight line of sight. That there had been an element of curvature in the energies fired. That was unusual to say the least as such weapons were experimental.

Another thing was that imaging equipment taking pictures of the do gooder resulted only in blurred outlines of the entity.

There had been an ex SAS soldier suspect but eventually it was concluded that the do gooder’s speed and strength lay too far beyond human parameters.

It led an investigating police lieutenant to make a different line of enquiry. Of the military.

“The Strealth soldiers when they were here over a year ago on leave during the Strealth/Dree war. They did all go home didn’t they? There’s no chance that one of them got left behind? Accidentally or otherwise.”

“As far as we know no one was left behind,” responded the assigned military liaison officer. “Yet the capabilities of this “Equalizer’ character of yours are consistent with what we know of a very good Strealth first contact soldier. Too good for any known Earth special forces soldier, past or present. Even with exo-skeleton assists.”

“Can the military help us against an adversary like this,” enquired the lieutenant.

The military man was hesitant before responding somewhat enigmatically “do you have any idea of the full capabilities of an elite first contact Strealth soldier Lieutenant? In any case what this entity is doing – getting rid of the bad guys - isn’t really not that bad is it?”

Fortunately it never became necessary for the military to intervene.

* * *

The starship arrived quite unannounced. Though upon arrival it followed normal protocol. As indeed it had done in times past. Contacting the still functioning UN alien visitor coordination control and seeking permission to enter Earth orbit.

When the time came for fuller communication the Strealth commander was quite brief.
“We left something of ours behind and would like to reclaim him,” he explained.

The reasons why the forgotten soldier had been left here were never explained to the UN. Just that he was finally going home.

* * *

We had thought, not unreasonably, that this entity had been operating outside of any kind of legal or even moral framework. By Earth human standards that was true. Yet not by the standards to which the entity was accustomed.

The soldier, as it turned out, had been a law enforcer before he was a soldier. He had started “policing” New York City as he would have any city on his Strealth homeworld.

That is to say, with zero tolerance, and more or less as “judge, jury, and executioner.”

Needless to say the Strealth home world had very low crime rates.


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The author has written six collections of sci-fi short stories and two sci-fi novellas (all on Amazon). He has been a regular contributor to both the Antipodean SF and the Beam Me Up Podcast sci-fi sites and has also been published on a variety of other sci-fi sites. He is working on a new anthology of short sci-fi stories and also a “Human Hunter” series for the Beam Me Up Podcast site

4/3/14

Soldier of the Rorne
By David Scholes


Just outside Canberra, Australia
2025

The human form male entity was kneeling by the roadside looking disoriented. Dressed in a metallic blue-grey semi military style outfit with some unfathomable attachments.

“Are you all right?” inquired Rachel, stopping her SUV.

He hesitated as if gathering his thoughts. Then spoke slowly as if unfamiliar with the language he used.

“Thank you for your kindness, I have some memory loss, but this is normal in my circumstances. It will return as I rest for a while. The journey always takes it out of you but I see that I am where I should be.”

Rachel knew immediately that he was not “from around here” or anywhere else that she had heard of or probably could even imagine. Still she offered him a room for a few days at her nearby farmhouse and decided to let him tell his story in his own time. If he chose to.

Rachel enquired as to his name but he seemed unable to provide an answer, even struggling with the concept.

Before resting at Rachel’s home he withdrew a piece of instrumentation – pulsating light tracers left it in several different directions then converged above a large shed at the edge of Rachel’s property.

"These are the coordinates, this is the place,” he said pointing to the shed. Have you ever witnessed anything unusual here?”

Rachel’s mind raced. She recalled stories of strange happenings decades ago as told by her grandfather.

* * *

The “man” spent more than two weeks at Rachel’s home, then the sole reason for his being there crystallized.

As the dimensional aperture above Rachel’s shed appeared she saw the fearsome Xyylk gathering to cross over. They were too horrific for her mind to fully process and she “saw” instead what was only a filtered approximation.

The “man’s” task was to stop them gaining any kind of beachhead. To defeat them right at the dimensional interface. He did so, destroying the dimensional aperture in the process. At the cost of his own life.

The destruction of the interdimensional aperture had a finality about it.

Rachel realized that he had come here to die for a world he hardly knew. She knew a sadness out of all proportion to the length of his stay here. He did not even have a name but explained that he was a soldier of a race known as the Rorne. Soldier 13849734.

She was grateful that she had been able to show him some kindness during his short stay and to tell him a little of our world.

* * *

Years Later

Rachel and her daughter were at the modest grave site when the alien came.

It had been years but she immediately recognized the metallic blue grey semi-military uniform. Then as he came closer she saw that he had his father’s eyes.

“The war with the Xyylk is over,” he said “we, the Rorne, have won.” He did not say this in any triumphal way and chose not to elaborate on what had been the Multiverse’s most horrific war. Simply stating “I have come to see where my father died.”

Rachel wondered if the alien would be bitter. That his father had died so far from home. For a world of which the son probably knew nothing. She was wrong – if his father could die for a world he could certainly learn as much about it as possible. As he had done.

“The authorities here do not know of your father and what happened here,” said Rachel sympathetically “we kept things simple and avoided complications.”
“Dad would have wanted it that way,” came the reply “he is remembered where it counts.”
And in our hearts too, Rachel thought.

There was silence for a long time.

“Will you be taking his remains with you,” Rachel inquired somberly.
“No we do not do that,” came the reply “Rorne soldiers are buried on the world where they die. It is our way”

Inwardly Rachel breathed a sigh of relief.

“This is your half sister,” she said quietly.

“I know, I can feel it,” the third generation soldier of the Rorne embraced his half sibling. Rachel smiled.

“We gave your father a name,” she said, tears welling in her eyes “an Earth name “Orin” you can see it on the small grave stone along with his soldier number.”

The son of soldier of the Rorne 13849734 (aka Orin) smiled.

“Thank you," he said quietly.


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I've been writing science fiction for 6 years and have 5 collections of short stories and 2 novellas published (all on Amazon). I've been a regular contributor to the Antipodean SF and Beam Me Up Podcast sites and have been published on a variety of other sites. My Alien Hunter series appeared in the then Golden Visions magazine for 2011/12.