Black Sunrise

ica

orth knowing – and the importance

k Su

, if yo

s hated. (The current advice in general circulation would be 'if you see one, look for a hole – crawl into it and then pull it in after you.') A hamm

' in the Ruminarii language.) In four short centuries they had managed to lay waste to almos

indeed. The Ruminarii displayed only the negative emotions, and their ferocity was matched only by their boldness. How a race founded pure

of the Black Sunrise, happiness was not a state of mind expected of him, though in reality – our- reality – he was probably not such a bad person. Th

licitly distrusted by the Tidhii Mah'k'hai (Naval Command, that is The Queen Of Suth Herself.) He was expected to mete out, in generous portions,

y to explain their cold-bloodedness.) Suitably shaped is the best non-offensive descr

oise. The murals on the chair suggested disturbing

Said Ma

rd." Said a tinny reptilian voice in Ruminari

a moment." Marsh'k paused

, suddenly overcome by

u know what y

niscent of a head banging against a steel

you d

es,

it h

It hurts a

, or you can bring me yo

I won't fo

's whining and rose to his feet, stretching to his

have an extensive corridor network, the interior walls are heavily decorated, savagely militaristic and inevitably, close together. He strode down one. Lesser ranks seeing him, fell to the deck and groveled like their fingernails depend

the Captain.' Marsh'k sat down on his seat of office. It made a muted and rathe

omething like 'Oh Shut the **** Up.' The crew ceased their groveling routine and go

cture on the view screen. They were passing one of th

sman, sporting a rather large fresh-looking bump on his for

sh'k. "For them, anyway. Con

-free and use his spare Ferrari. But then you have to ask yourself, what could you expect living on a planet like Deanna? As a third-rate colony in the Terran Empire, Deanna had more than its fair shar

had just told himself again, under his breath, tha

so he could see a little better. The air hung hot, dry and stifling. He could hear every breath he took, it was so quiet and still. The sun was blinding. It was hot. Silent. He was tense. He knew he was there, somewhere. He tracked

shards seemingly snarling. He walked on, studying the decaying buildings. He adjusted his grip on the

las

no attempt to nibble the grass close to the dry water trough by the post. It seemed

! Probably

l of a building, just in case. His heart was pounding in his ears. Strange, isn't it? You could be in hundreds of fights, but everyo

he? Which

f, and – rather bravely – bent down to nibble at some scrubby grass. Beck took an

gh voice grated from somewhere cl

drop on me. This is where

sually as he could manage. "We

hardware. The pistol too.

linters flying. The horse bolted – and so did he. A couple of shots went off, bullets whistling as he ran, keeping his head down. He reached the safety of

ruck somewhere close by. He fired three shots blind. Corr

y co

ing, made right for a doorway, cursing as he realized he'd lost his hat. Under this hot sun you could end up looking like last week's bacon 'n bea

t before it led to a room with some large windows. The light streaming through the decaying st

ew Corrigan's reputation. He sure didn't want to go up against a convicted

landing behind the bar. The floor planking was a lot harder than he was, and there were bits of old glass and other crap lying scattered everywhere. Gunshots were ringing out, growing louder. Corri

he'd seen in old cop movies and westerns, and doing it rather badly. He lowered the pistol. There was n

stant, slightly muffled, bar