A new dawn

[Thorin]

Dang you ... ending with a cliffhanger

[Matthiasagreen]

Loving the story, thank you!

[Coenmcj]

"or both"

What if I told you it was the Squirrels.

[CharlieC]

Nine.

Sissy was squatting on the floor in the far corner of the cell. Her hands were clasped tightly around her knees and she was gently rocking backwards and forwards. Her eyes were not leaving the cold dark stare of the dead man who was crumpled facing her on the floor. I gently placed the food tray onto the edge of one of the rough beds we had made.

'What happened here Sissy?' I gently enquired.

She looked up at me and then back to the corpse. 'I was asleep, I woke up and he was dead.'

'Did either of the other two come in here since the last time I was here?' I asked.

'No, I don't know, maybe, I was asleep as I said.' Her voice was distant and small like a distracted child.

I bent down and closed the dead man's eyes and then started to strip him of his dirty clothing. It was as I pulled off his leather jacket that I saw the thick dark pool of Congealed blood around his waist. I probed a now obvious hole with a finger and fresh blood squirted over my hands and onto the floor. He had been hit by the machine gun here and it was a injury I had not spotted when first dressing his wounds. It was this which had done for him. I looked over his bed and saw that a huge amount of blood had seeped into the furs we used as blankets and a large dark pool had formed on the floor under the bed.

'This is my fault. I pretty much murdered him by not spotting that wound. I'm no trained doctor but I should have spotted that.' I said to no one in particular but saw that Sissy was watching me intently.

'I'm not sure if I was dreaming but I think I remember something or someone moving around in here, he was alive then as he was groaning. It was dark and I was frightened. It might have been a dream though as there is little to do but sleep when tied up in the dark.' She said accusingly.

'I will fix some lighting so you can see. Why not make a pledge to help us and join us? I promise you will be treated well and as an equal.' I said gently.

'I'll think about it.' She replied coldly and started to pick over the food.

I picked up the body and staggered out of the door with it and dumped it onto our waste pile. It could stay there until I could get a grave dug. I then went and explained the situation to the other two. A I talked I looked to see if any clue from them betrayed an interest in the death. The only reaction I got was a sarcastic one.

'So you're our self proclaimed doctor and you have managed to kill one of your two patients.' Sneered Lupieri.

'Looks like it. Just hope I don't have to slice into you, so try not to get shot.' I said as I stomped off to dig a shallow grave.

When I got to a likely spot I glanced round and could see Lupieri And Cristobal watching me and talking in low tones. Suddenly a cold feeling crept across my body. Was I wrong? Did they now think I murdered the pirate? Was one of them trying to cover up an involvement? Were they plotting to do the same to me? Was I going insane and conjouring up fantasies when the man had simply died of his wounds?

I could hear the sound of Cristobal's mining tools hammering out as he started to make rough passages and rooms in the cliff behind our rough ruin of a shack. When I had finished making the grave I stared into it for a long time imagining that it was my own last cold home that I was digging.

[CharlieC]

Ten.
It was the morning of February the fourth that we gained a new member of our colony when Sissy made it known that she wanted to join us. I had been talking to her on and off throughout the morning as I skinned and cleaned some of the smaller creatures that we had bagged around our camp. In front of me were various lumps of meat from squirrels, monkeys, pigs and even snakes.

'So you have a good amount of medical training? You can make stuff out of furs such as these and have a little mining experience?' I asked.

'Yeah I was based on a mining depot ship for Hardacre industries for a few years and took some of the free surgeon and nursing courses they were offering. It's pretty boring on those hulks and doing those courses filled up the time.'

'We could really appreciate your kind of skills you know. We can give you the first of these rooms we are carving out of the rock for yourself and one as a sickbay that you will be in charge of. Why don't you chip in?' I cooed at her. 'You will be well fed, warm and safer with a better chance of getting out of here. That boy out there thinks himself to be a genius and says he will build a rocket one day and blast off of this rock.'
She smiled and laughed and I could see that idea was obviously mad but she seemed to be thinking deeply. For a long time she looked to be turning her options over and then suddenly said. 'Ok, I'm in.'

I went and conferred with Lupieri and Cristobal.

'I trust her and think she could be a useful addition, four can fight and work better than three.' I bargained.

'She's a pirate and I don't trust scum like that. One night she will creep up and slit you throat old man.' Cristobal spat onto the floor.

'I think she's alright, for a pirate that is and will be cool.'  Lupieri chipped in.

'Well that's two to one and I count that that's a vote to free her, keep a good watch on her and well, let's just see how it goes.' I said.

'She isn't going to be any good at hauling stuff, she's a skinny streak of pee, no meat on her.' Cristobal grunted.

'She says that she is a trained medic and that she can mine, she worked for Hardacre.' I countered.

'We will see about that, she can help me and I'll be the judge as to whether she can mine or not.' Cristobal said as he picked up his tools.

I led the girl out into the sunlight and she winced at the sudden change from darkness to light. I cut her bonds and gave her the pile of clothes that had belonged to the male pirate.

'You might want to see if any of these are any good for you as it looks like we need help mining some rooms out of this rock. You can start by helping Cristobal here.'

'So you have done some mining.' Cristobal asked condescendingly.

'Yeah I did three years on asteroids and one on a comet in the dread rings.' She replied confidently.

He tried not to show it but I could tell that Cristobal was impressed. They headed off together to drill where Cristobal had already made a start. As they headed off Sissy turned round.

'Thanks for releasing me and accepting me it's a good present as it's my twenty eighth birthday today'.

It was as they were mining that a strange low droning sound started up and a odd panicky feeling enveloped my whole psyche. I staggered and held on to the bench on which I was cutting furs into strips. It was a feeling I had never encountered in the past. Part fear, part dread and revulsion with a rising panic. My head pounded and my vision wavered. I glanced around and could see that Lupieri was suffering in the same way as he tinkered with yet another machine gun.

'What's going on?' He shouted at me.

'I don't know but I think we should get inside.' I shouted back.

Thunder cracked and torrential rain fell as we started to run towards the shack. We had only gone a few metres when about a dozen enraged pigs threw themselves at us from the jungle. A pig barrelled into me and I felt it's tusk burrow deep into my left leg. As I collapsed to the floor I could see that bullets from the turret guns zinged and pinged all around me. Some were hitting the pigs, thankfully none were hitting me as I slumped into unconsciousness. As the light faded I could hear Lupieri screaming for help.

I awoke with Sissy bending over me. I could see Lupieri was bandaged and asleep in the cot next to me. Next to him was Cristobal. He was heavily bandaged. He looked to be in a bad way.

'Sorry, I done what I could, the pigs are dead or dying. Whatever it was, It's over and I think you and Lupieri will live. I think the big miner might die though, he is infected with something and after treating you all there are only a few medical supplies left.'   She said as she finished inspecting the tusk wounds in both my legs.

'Thank you. I'm glad you joined us when you did.' I said.

'So am I, It wouldn't be much good if I was still tied up and you three were dying out there full of hog tusk holes.' She grinned as she left the room.

'Men.' I heard her say as she closed the door.

[skullywag]

THIS is why Rimworld was made, keep it up. Loving it so far.

[CharlieC]

I will keep the story going till the end of the colony. Is there still a formatting problem for some readers with the speech quotes? If so I'll try writing them direct to the forum despite my difficulty in doing so

[skullywag]

Think you've fixed speech marks but apostrophes have the same issue. If you copy and paste into notepad then again into the forum it might address the issue.

[CharlieC]

Cheers. I think it should look ok now. I'll go back and fix the older episodes as and when I have time. Will have a new episode tomorrow.

Think they are all fixed now.

- tomorrow  ' Songs, Sissy and the Scythers!'

[skullywag]

yep all fixed.

Cant wait.

[Coenmcj]

Been a good read so far. Interested to see how useful the artist is in the long run.

[CharlieC]

Eleven

I awoke in the middle of the night and thought I must be dreaming as I was sure I could hear a rich baritone accompanying a tune being played on an old time hurdy-girdy. I did not know the song but it sounded like folk music from the past. I looked over to the other sick bay cots and saw that they were still occupied by Lupieri and Cristobal. I then heard Sissy laugh, clapping her hands. I was awake and not dreaming. There was someone else here. I crawled out of the sick bed and half walked and half staggered to the door. Upon opening the door I was surprised to see Sissy clapping her hands to the performance of what looked to be a medieval troubadour. He was dressed in a minstrel's motley complete with bells on his many cornered hat. He had cymbals on his knees and was holding what was indeed a wooden hurdy-girdy. His right hand worked a revolving handle as his right hand fingers found the notes on the strange stringed instrument. He stopped his playing and leapt up with a flourish of a bow almost to the floor whist doffing his cap to me.

'Cisneros at your service squire. I have decided to join your merry band as minstrel, pun maker and entertainer. I was passing this sad looking castle and I said to myself, Cisneros this is a palace that needs your mirth and your fine singing voice. A tune or three is what they need here, a joke, a pun and much merry laughing fun.' He said with a giggle and then a bent over to release a massive fart.

Sissy clapped her hands again and turned to me.

'Isn't he wonderful? He's funny and he sings and plays and is another hand to help, what with you three out of action for the time being.' She said.

'We put any new member choosing to a vote, not just invite anyone to join. Anyway he's obviously mad. Who would be wandering a place like this with just an old instrument whilst singing his head off? I am having trouble believing all of this.' I said shaking my head.

'Don't you worry lord, I do not only sing finely and play a canny tune but also cut trees and hunt wild beasts and I'm a young sixty-two sapling with many a warm spring yet to come. Although I do have a bad back that gives me a fair amount of gip from time to time.' He then launched into another song and resigned I fell into a chair to listen.

Over the next few days Lupieri had recovered enough to be up out of his sick bed and back to doing some light work. Cristobal thankfully was also recovering and was off the danger list. Sissy had found it necessary to amputate his left pinky finger as gangrene had set in and if it spread elsewhere he was likely to die. So off it came. He was indignant and cursing but came to accept to reality of the situation and thankfully did not seem to hold a grudge about it. The addition of the fool to our group had been less of a problem than I first thought it would. He was a remarkable cutter of wood and a very good hunter. Very soon he provided a great deal of fresh meat and well cleaned skins. His constant merrymaking though was getting tiresome after a while. He tended to repeat jokes, made puns of near everything and seemed to only know half a dozen songs.

One night a few days later we were all sitting around playing cards. We played with a deck that Lupieri had made from dried snake skin. Outside the wind was howling and rain was yet again lashing at the door when there was an almighty crash of thunder that shook the room. Shortly after we again heard that dreaded droning that had sent the boars mad. We dashed from the table and quickly I explained to the minstrel the danger we were in. We took up defensive positions with guns pointing at the door. We were waiting for another onslaught of pigs and listened intently for the spitting fire of our defence turrets to start, but none came. There was just the low, maddening, droning hum.

'We need to take a look outside.' Cristobal whispered.

Slowly we opened the door just a chink and looked into the blackness of the storm. Nothing. We edged outside, In the light of the jagged forks of lightning we could see the outline of what looked to be part of a crashed ship outlined against the dark night. It was just a few dozen yards from our camp.

'What the hell is that?' Sissy said.

'Is that where the sound is coming from?' Lupieri asked.

Cristobal aimed his rifle at the hulk and before anyone could stop him, he loosed off a shot and then another.'

The bullets clanged in the darkness and suddenly just a moment later two strange, fearsome robotic mechanoids burst with great speed straight at us from out of the darkness. One of them levelled a charge lance straight at me. I dived to the ground and the bolt of hot plasma missed me by just a few inches. To my left I could see Lupe and Cristobal taking aim. I pulled out my R-4 charge rifle and brought it up to eye level. I aimed carefully and squeezed off a burst and I saw at least a few hits. What shook me most though was the sight of our foolish but brave minstrel as he dashed from cover right up to one of the mechanical monstrosities and bashed if squarely on its metal snout.

'Die you tin sack of crap.' He screamed as he scissor kicked it in the area where if it had been a man, the man would be unlikely to father children. The mechanoid staggered backwards and fell over and the minstrel also collapsed rolling around. 'Oh bugger, my sodding back.' He screamed in horrible pain, oblivious to the danger he was in.

'Try and shoot the other one.' I shouted and a volley of shots resulted in the remaining monster exploding in a shower of multi coloured sparks.

'Can someone help me up, I can't move. I think I might have slipped a disc.' Moaned the troubadour as he thrashed around next to the strangely bleeping robot he had disabled.

[CharlieC]

Twelve

We hurried over to the stricken Minstrel and between us gathered him up and carried him back to the sickbay. Sissy looked him over and saw that apart from his back injury he had also suffered a gunshot wound from one of the R-4 charge rifles in his left leg.

'I know my jokes are bad but there was no need to shoot me!' He groaned as he fell into a deep sleep.

Embarrassed I shuffled off to bed. I was the only one directing fire at that machine. I must have accidentally shot him. At some point we would have to put some rules down about gun safety as I could foresee some more friendly fire incidents whilst defending ourselves or even when hunting. The night was still wild with thundering skies and high winds so we decided to leave any investigating of the wreckage until the morning.

Thankfully the terrible weather had abated somewhat as we investigated the remains of the crashed ship part and the mechanoids. Most of the parts had burnt out during the night leaving a tangled mess of metals. We recovered a good amount of scrap metal and some silver along with an intact sealed unit that Lupeiri thought might be part of the ships computer system. We carefully extracted this and carried it back to the base and placed it into a secure area we had made as we hacked rooms into the cliff. The two mechanoids were now just hulks of twisted junk with a little recovered metal and little else. The one that Cisneros had kicked had burnt out in the rain but we could see a large dent in the panel that he had contacted with his feet. It looked as though that had destroyed delicate parts underneath and shorted electrical mechanisms.

'I saw things like these in the war museum, there are different types and they are called Scythers. Fast and deadly if not dealt with quickly. Always best to rush them. I think our minstrel has met these before. There is more to him than he is letting on.' Lupeiri said bending down and sifting the remains for further treasure.

As we were talking we heard the familiar whooshing sound as pods re-entered the atmosphere. Six vapour trails descended to the ground into the thick jungle some miles off.

'Better warn the others and prepare for more unwelcome visitors.' I said un-slinging my R-4 and finding a good look out spot in the rocks nearby.

'How's laughing boy?' Cristobal asked Sissy as she took up a position in the rocks next to him.

'He's going to recover in a day or two with the med-shots I gave him. That back needs surgery that we can't offer though. It looks like he has had that back injury for a long time and unless we get a proper surgeon he will have it for a good time yet.'

We watched and waited and shortly saw the signs of a small group of pirates advancing on the base. We stalled our violent welcome until the first of our turrets reacted to the invaders. Then we let loose with all we had. It was a short battle and in a few seconds there were six dead raiders just in front of the tree line. When we went to investigate we saw that this was a badly armed bunch with four of them using bottles filled with fuel and a basic wick, two had small knives. We were delighted to find that these two were dressed in military armour vests and one had a very attractive Iguana skin jacket, this Lupieri found fitted him perfectly. I snaffled an armour vest and Cristobal got the other one. The rest of the day was spent in constructing another geo thermal power station over a freshly discovered vent that we had found close to the base. Soon we had cables running and it felt good to have an alternative power source.

'Within a few days I think we will be able to move from the sleeping shack to our own rooms in the caves. We will all feel better when we have some space' Said Cristobal.

'Wood plank floors will be good. Those rock floors are bad for the feet and chilly.' Sissy Chipped in.

It was as Sissy and Cristobal were carving out a new room that they happened across a large vein of metal ore. The vein was opened up and the cavern that was excavated looked to be a good place to start a new battery store.  Another smaller room was made to house a general workshop for lupeiri as he had ideas about making mortars, researching improvements to our machine guns and even making the goo from the nutrient dispenser a little more palatable. By this time the minstrel was up and moving about and fool that he was he started cutting down trees almost as soon as he was out of his sick bed. We now all had a room of our own and that lifted our collective mood a fair amount. We cleared most of the rubble and laid wood floors. The outpost was now starting to look like a home.

It was early one morning when our fragile peace was once again shattered when from out of a clear blue sky a mortar bomb fell on our shack. It fell directly on the spot where Sissy was preparing breakfast.

[CharlieC]

Thirteen.


I was looking after our patch of vegetables which now included ripe berries when the first mortar bombs fell. The first had hit the kitchen and dining area. It was early in the morning and Sissy had been cooking breakfast for all of us. It was a job she seemed to enjoy. It was a busy part of our small outpost most days. I dropped my hoe and ran towards the kitchen. I could see flames and billowing smoke already coming from the roof; dust and broken bits were all over. As I reached the area of most devastation a second mortar fell into the vegetable patch very near to where I had just been. I felt very odd for a second and then remembered why I was staring at the gaping hole in the wall and the pile of rubble. I clambered over the pile and fell inside the remains of the kitchen. I could see that the nutrient dispenser had been destroyed and the wood table was burning with the chairs part cinder and part smashed wood. I looked around for bodies and saw none.

At that point the door to the kitchen area opened and several faces including Sissy's stared out.

'I think we are being bombarded. The pirates have changed to a new tactic.' Cristobal said stating the obvious.

'I thought you were under that.' I blurted out.

'Ahh, that's sweet. I finished in here and was starting to get on my mining stuff.'
'We need a plan. I got two rough mortars made. We can try them out and see if we can dish it back out.' Lupieri said.

'Ok, you set them up. Two of us should go and see what they are up too and how many of them there are.' Cristobal said as he was picking up his rifle.

'I'll go.' I said feeling a little too brave for a short second. I picked up my R-4 charge rifle.

We slowly entered the jungle after first camouflaging ourselves as best we could with some dye Lupeiri had made some days earlier using  juices from the vegetation. He was investigating paints but it made pretty good jungle disguise as well. The usual animals were scampering around the trees and through the brush as we carefully passed. There was no sign of the foe except a plop and whoosh of an occasional mortar shell heading towards our camp. We followed the sound in a general South direction and after a few thousand feet we heard a voice shouting orders. We stopped to listen. The voice was a few hundred feet off and was ordering shells for the mortar to be readied for use.

We crept closer and worked our way round to a point where we could see our adversaries. They numbered eleven in all and were a ragged bunch of desperado's more than cut throats. Most were armed with small pistols or improvised weapons and only one possessed an automatic rifle. We could see that they had built two medium mortars and had a good amount of ammo although not a lot of food. There was a single crate of survival meals in the middle of the lightly sandbagged gun pit. One of them was obviously injured as he lay on the ground groaning. Several others were arguing.

We retired back to camp to make a report and as we did so the first of two missiles went overhead but this time they were towards the pirates. It looked like our own mortars were ready for use. We held a short council and after a short ethical debate we decided that we should go kill them and kill them quickly and thoroughly. Wewould wait until the very early morning and then attack the pirates as they rested for the night. Considering we were outnumbered two to one we gambled that our R-4's would sway the battle. I didn't like the idea of attacking people whilst they slept but survival is all. I tried to get some sleep until my firewatcher stint but tossed and turned as I felt we would be engaging in a dirty business that night.

We assembled clothed in darkest garb we could get together and used up all Lupieri's paint which upset him until it was pointed out that it was much better used if it helped save our lives and if we didn't take out the pirates then we would have little of the base to defend. With no base there was no need for any Art. We pulled straws as one of us would have to remain behind as a fire watcher as half of the missiles had been incendiary types bursting with a napalm like ferocity.

The straws were gathered and we all pulled from Sissy's hand. I looked away and then down: a short straw, I was going  to stay behind. I felt shocked and then relived but suddenly fearful and wanting to go as if it all went horribly wrong, I did not want to be the one left behind. I did not want to face a band of pirates alone. Horrible visions of torture flooded my mind.

The hours waiting for their return seemed very long and I tried to busy myself with little chores. The outpost come base was very large with just myself wandering it. I remembered that I was on fire watching duty so I snapped out of my day dreaming and wandered around from cover to cover just outside of the camp area. The odd missile was still coming over but most burst helplessly into the cliff. I only had to douse a small fire that briefly threatened a secondary power line.

It was the minutes after the sound of a distant fire fight that were the worst. I just sat staring into the dark forest expecting pirates to burst from it in their hundreds. It was just darkness with the occasional howl of a Monkey. Then I felt better as I realised the mortaring had stopped. Had we had Won? This Time.

[litlbear]

ooh continue please