Micahs beast brigade, p.1
Micah's Beast Brigade, page 1
Micah’s Beast Brigade
Twelfth in Beast Book Series
By
M. Garnet
( c ) copyright by M. Garnet, July 2022
Cover Art by SudaGraphics, Inc.
ISBN 978-1-60394-
Smashwords Edition
New Concepts Publishing
Lake Park, GA
www.newconceptspublishing.com
This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This is the twelfth in a series that
I enjoy writing, plus
I have had fans request me to continue.
So Thank You, and keep on reading.
I love these stories of the future
and the problems that humans have
that is the same as we face today.
I need to give out a special thanks to the
head of my publisher Madris DePasture
at New Concepts Publishing
and for the wonderful editors that she has on
staff (especially Karla) to help clean up and
put me on the right track with all my stories.
I also need to acknowledge the great
work by SudaGraphics, Inc. for
the distinctive covers that she
designs for each of my stories.
Covers DO help sell books.
I also need to give out a special
thanks to an Official Social Worker
AUDREY OXENHORN.
From her advice as to how people
would actually react under stress
I was able to finish this story and
write the last two Chapters.
We don’t always need to
understand why others do evil things.
LIST OF BOOKS OF THE VELDAN SHIFTER SERIES
1ST HELP THE BEAST
2ND FORGIVE THE BEAST
3RD BOUNTY ON THE BEAST
4TH HUNTING IN THE GULL WING SHIP
5TH LOVE THE BEAST
6TH THE CAPTAN'S BEAST
7TH STEALING THE BEAST HEART
8TH MY HIDDEN BEAST
9TH VELDAN VENGEANCE
10TH GALATIC VENGEANCE
11TH ADAMANT’S REVENGE
All are available at www.newconceptspublishing.com.
Or at my website at www.mgarnet.com
and all the usual online places.
Chapter One
Predators. Beasts.
Out in the real worlds, these living beings are separated by; trees, brush, jungle, or the topography and their own nature. In civilized situations, they are penned up with spaces separated by some type of bars, some invisible, some created with imagination, which keep the danger under control.
Micah was on a quest to gather a group of what he called his Army of Beasts and turn them loose on someone. Someone was screaming behind one of the doors on his stolen ship, and he smiled as he put on more speed. That scream was not from a beast and not from someone frightened. It was from a spoiled young woman who owned this special ship that he had locked in her fancy cabin.
This was the first time that he had a moment to rest and even consider what had happened during the last few days to change his life so drastically. Among his people back on Veld, he was just considered to be coming into manhood. He had spent nineteen years growing up and being trained on the planet with the help of others and the mother earth. He was rare, what his people called a modifier. A shapeshifter.
No child wanted to be treated different, as they all had the need to fit into the pack or group of their peers. To be teased or to be bullied because there was something different about them was dreadful for all children. To be pulled away from those of your age and taken out into the jungle to play with beasts and the dreaded Calluf Cat was enjoyable, even if one hated to be different.
But at an early age, it was explained to Micah that he was different in a good and very rare way. So he was schooled in two ways, the regular learning that all children had daily and how to control his beast. After all, he was not to hurt anyone or anything by accident. There was a process to cover his upbringing that had been passed down through the ages on Veld, and they tried to make everything as painless as possible for the very rare person who developed this gift.
When he reached his pre-teens, Micah was again allowed back in with his family, a father who was a widow. His mother had died off-world when Micah was very young. No one was going to tease a modifier—in fact; he was of interest to most. As a teen, he was taller than the boys and, of course, very handsome. Due to the normal process of that age, ladies were attracted to him and some of the guys.
Micah knew of the history of his unusual
species but, since they are so rare and most are out on projects far across the universe, he hasn’t met any, even the couple of modifiers that might still be on Veld.
There were a lot of questions and deep worry in his young mind as Micah hurried through the cave halls on his way to the Elders' summons. There was an elected council that handled the government of Veld. Veld had a very stable population with a high share of wealth among everyone. Progressive medical and education was shared by everyone far beyond most of the established worlds in the civilized universe. Food was free, and special restaurants accepted trades as tips.
Work was a responsibility of everyone, but there were lots of robots and AIs that produced most of the cleaning, building, digging, and repairs. Micah had done his share of work, and he wondered if he had made a mistake by taking that last girl behind the workstation? Was he going to be assigned something that a bot should be doing?
The Elders' and the Council's room was at the end of a beautiful long underground hallway that had plenty of free-growing plants and light from holes in the ceiling. The daylight came through sharp-pointed clear metal that stuck up through the roots of the jungle above. The shape discouraged plant growth above.
The wide large double doors were open, but he had slowed down; Micah did go ahead and enter the beautiful room. Here the roots of great old trees had been gently trained to form furniture that did not harm the living structure above. Respect for their planet was what the Veldans believed had saved them. No one lived on the outside of this planet, even in the dunes of the desert area. The Veldan had seen the other worlds damaged and poisoned by its citizens and had learned long ago to let their world survive with them.
There were small parks that Veldans could visit in limited groups. There were work areas where the earth or world was repaired. But the changes to the surface were small and minor. There was only one landing zone for air and space ships, and it was on a raised platform that protected the ground under it. There was an invisible barrier around it to protect and keep all animals and insects, and flora away. Air travel was limited, and underground railways were fast and free.
With his strong legs in imitation leather that were matched by the soft boots, Micah made no noise as he looked around the impressive room. He was alone, but from the back, through a door, Elder Dea entered. Even though Micah had never met an Elder, everyone knew the council members from the vids. There were two quiet guards behind the older woman who stood just inside the door she had entered. Micah heard the doors behind him closing, and with his unusual senses, he knew there were a couple of guards that had stepped in behind him.
This was a world that Micah knew and understood. He also had learned that it was unusual and different from most of the colonized worlds out in the universe. It was the same as he was different and unusual from the rest of the humans and individuals in the universe, which might be why he had been called to see an Elder.
The Elder stopped behind the beautiful long curved desk that was the upright root of a great old tree. The flat piece of granite rock that sat on top of the rough root rising from the floor made a long area for several tall chairs that sat behind it. The Elder took one of the seats in the middle and, after sitting, waved a hand that drew up a floating screen.
Looking up at Micah, he felt her dark eyes examine him from his short dark hair, past his strong chest, down his long legs, taking in all six foot six inches of his growth. At nineteen and in top health, the medics had told him he had probably reached his growth. They also told him his beast was almost eight feet tall. He had a very large vicious monster to control, but he had been taught well and now had the power.
"Young man, step forward." Elder Dea's voice was firm but not too commanding.
Micah moved across the big room to within a few feet of the front of the large Council’s table. He stood at rest attention, deciding not to speak.
"We have a problem, and we need your help." With her words, Elder Dea began to let a recording begin to play on the screen that was between them. First, there was a shot of deep space as if taken from a satellite or spaceship of a small star and a single planet. Then a deep voice began to speak.
“This is an uncivilized system designated CA211201/A. It is on the edge of galaxy 7B440 and is totally uninhabited. Please watch the star or sun.”
There was no need for Micah to move as Elder Dea enlarged the screen and everyone in the room, including the guards behind him, had a clear view of what happened next. The small sun first seemed to have some sun flairs, and then it burst apart and spread out, taking out the one dark planet as it expanded, and then after about two or three minutes, everything turned dark. Then the de ep voice returned with the screen dark.
"We know there is no way anyone can attack and win against the planet Veld. But there are a lot of good stars out there with many worlds around them that contain lives on those worlds. Unless you co-operate, we will pick one and do the same thing to a star of our choice, and those deaths will be on your conscience. To prevent such an act, all you have to do is supply us two of your special ships and guarantee that you will declare our people safe and off-limits from any interference from either Veldan or Federation contact."
There was a pause and then a replay of the star exploding in a fast motion. Again the deep voice calmly spoke.
"Until we have a guarantee of Veldan acceptance to our terms, no one can land or leave your planet. We know you have two Shifters on sight at this time. We are tracking them on Veld and making sure that they do not leave. We realize that if they change, we probably will not see them. If they disappear, a star will explode. Make sure they love their human form until everyone agrees to our protection."
Again there was silence as the star expanded and died in fast motion. It was followed by the voice one more time.
"Take two of your special ships out to the edge of Galaxy 7A540 to location 76E/4L/241, and that will let us know you agree. We will ignore your planet and its travels and hide our Star Killer weapon. There will be no need to ever use it again. We will be watching."
The star exploded again, and then the screen was blank.
Elder Dea looked up at Micah. “There was something obvious on that message. Did you understand it?”
Standing there in shock, Micah could not believe, after all these eons, that someone would be stupid enough to threaten Veld. Veld was one of the oldest planets in the universe, and its people had inventions, weapons, and a rare individual that no one else had anywhere among the civilized worlds. Veld often came to the aid of others with its higher-tech, including medicine.
Shifting his feet only a bit, Micah felt anger. “How can someone be so stupid to threaten us?” His voice was lower and harsher than the man on the screen. It contained some of the beast.
“I ask again, did you see what he missed in his comments?” The lady leaned back in the tall chair and looked at him.
Taking his eyes off the dark screen, he looked at the Elder and got his mind working on what had been said in the blackmailer's words. Then it hit him, and it explained why he was here.
“Tracking two shifters. Oh,” Micah let a bit of an evil smile show. “I’m so new they don’t know about me.”
“Yes. You are the secret that will turn this around on that voice with the Star Killer weapon. We need your help.”
Now he straightened up, fully prepared to do whatever this woman asked of him. How dare someone be so brash as to threaten his people or possibly kill thousand of innocent others in the process?
“I’m ready. What can I do?”
Her words stunned him. “Save us all.”
They needed to get him off-world for a special mission. Trapped on Veld, no one could do anything about this threat to the rest of the universe and unknowing people. The Council also decided it might take more than one very young modifier to track down and catch this person who had such a deadly weapon.
So for the next few hours, they sat down with the handsome young man and gave him everything they knew about his brothers. The historian for the council explained to Micah that there were nine living modifiers besides himself. There might be older ones hiding out in the jungle or out in the universe, but the records had been lost.
That brought a new shock to Micah, as they told him he was basically immortal. There was a great age difference between him and the two males that were living on Veld.
Sever as a modifier that had returned to Veld after several projects with his wife, a human female who had now passed away. He still lived on the home planet but in recluse.
Teve also had returned to Veld after spending a long time out in the military with a lovely Sergeant Margaret Bloom. He and Mags had eventually retired to his home planet, and after she passed away, he spent his time working with the Veldan military behind the scene.
They were the two that this threatening stranger was tracking. So they were trapped and unable to come forward to leave and help track this barbarian down. What the council had was a list of the other active males who were of the rare breed like Micah that was out in the universe. The idea was to give Micah as much information about the seven other modifiers. The hope was that he could find and enlist the help of as many of them as possible as soon as possible to catch this brigand.
Chapter Two
The first problem was getting him off the planet. Knowing that they were being watched, they needed to find a way to send Micah up in such a way that he would not be scanned or seen on standard equipment.
Working with their top scientists and astronauts, they decided to use a material they had that was extremely strong but was made from plant-based cells. It was used in some products on their planet but had not been passed on to other off-world people at this time. This was the first time it was being used for a large item.
Above Veld, in a close orbit, was a small construction site where they built their special ships. To buy time with the threat, they geared up the robotic place and slowly began to construct a ship. They decided it would look to the blackmailer as if they were starting to meet his demands. It would take a couple of months to build one ship.
Under disguise at this place, they were also putting together a plant-based small bullet-shaped item that would not show up on scans since it was not metal and it would not heat up when it was shot out into space. It would also not have a human inside, as it would only contain a beast.
The plan was for Micah to go out by himself and steal a ship. He would be naked as he returned to his human form, and he would have no weapons. He would be unable to return to the modified form for a few hours, but he would have to find a way to overpower the people on a ship that he would have hit with the bullet-shaped unit that carried him.
Once out in space with a stolen spaceship, he had a list of other males to try to find and hoped to convince to help him track a killer. Easy, hmm? Of course, Micah did not hold back and memorized everything the Elder's brought to him. They also told him that there would be no way for him to contact them or anyone on Veld, as the killer would be listening. His existence must be kept a secret until he had enough of his kind with him to attack and save the universe. No problem.
The plant bullet went together fast, as many people worked on it, and it was built in sections in different areas of the caves on Veld. Everything was shipped up as parts of the air ship's wings or outside cartons and was easy to take apart first and assemble in the shadow of robots and the shape of the assembly sector.
If Micah was worried, it wasn't as much as the Elders. They were sending out a young, untried modifier to save everyone. Then a scientist came up with a necklace. It was made from the root of a Bala tree and looked like what humans in the outer world called gold. They had gold on Veld but only took small amounts for medical to technical reasons. Most of their minerals came from distant, cold asteroids. The necklace would stretch when Micah changed, and it would give him proof of identity when contacting others of his kind. Any single link contained a copy of the threat and a message from the Council.
The plan was to sneak Micah up to the construction sight in a crate of supplies. From there, he would enter the strange small bullet that had limited fuel and almost no steering. He was to change and enter the tiny invention, and as a monster, he could use only his feet to cause limited controls to steer and push the thing that contained him towards a ship. He would crash into a chosen ship where he would overtake those on board and steal it for the first part of his assignment. From that part onward, he was on his own. His job was to save the universe from an egomaniac.
It wasn't until he was in his larger form, stuffed into a speeding bullet out alone in the deep dark, that it all finally hit him. As he shifted his feet, he decided this had to be the stupidest thing anyone had ever done in the history of Veld. He was almost out of fuel and a long way from his home planet with no ships in sight. He wasn't going to help the Council; he was going to die in this capsule.
At last, his long-range senses picked up something, and he stretched as much as he could. There were two ships, both moving fast, probably looking for a jump gate. One was close but had a lot of people on board. It seemed to have a great deal of commotion and outside communications. It had to be a military ship, so that would not be a good choice.
