Special Notes: Oh yea, wanted to mention something. I posted a pic of my writing corner with all my multitudes of toys. Well, someone mentioned that was just too much clutter to be able to write. So I actually tried a sterile corner to write in. OMG! Won't try that again. How can you write without all the lifetime of wonderful toys I've collected? I just stared at the screen with a blank dumb expression. So, I went and got just one toy and sat next to me. The words started coming back. I got another toy, and another, and now I have them all and the words flow effortless. You must have all your wonderful creative things around you to keep your mind moving. Write in a sterile environment and you get sterile words. [The Princes XIII] [A New Frontier] Si somersaulted past the crates and pushed off the wall for the open recycle bin against the far wall. Marshal, waiting on the ceiling, calculated Si’s trajectory and pushed off with his legs. Si saw the older boy would collide before he could change direction again and tossed the ball underhand towards Seph. The ball sailed through the weightless environment of the ship and passed just under Marshal’s reach. The two boys collided and spun off in different directions while Seph grabbed the ball and twisted in the air. He wouldn’t be able to change directions but he could pass the ball to his cousin Cetus. Cetus waited until the ball was nearly parallel and pushed off the wall, not so much to catch the ball, but to catch up with the ball and careened past Alden and Maz, pushing them in opposite directions. “NO FAIR!” yelled Alden and Maz, both seven years old now. “You’re bigger and have more mass than us.” Cetus dunked the crumpled up wrapping paper in the recycle bin and collided with the wall. “Score and game!” yelled Cetus. The Colony ship wasn’t a Kitsune ship and didn’t have the gravity plates, but the boys didn’t care, this was more fun anyway, after the initial nausea of weightlessness had passed. A Colony ship was a slow lumbering beast and the boys were in the tenth week of travel across the galaxy. The needle ships protecting the convoy of Colony Ships could have made it in seven weeks, but supposedly they were just a few hundred yards away in a circle around the ship. Not that anyone could see them past the envelope of nothingness that enclosed the ship at light speed. Si and the other boys, and most of the colonists, had covered nearly every view port with towels and sheets, it was just too disturbing to stare at the nothing. The Captain told the boys one night at dinner that someday ships would be able to make the distance in less than a week. Si had a hard time believing ships would ever be able to go that fast, they were already traveling at a staggering 4,765 times the speed of light, but to make it in a week they would have to go nearly two-million times the speed of light. The collective species of the twenty-seven known worlds had hit a speed barrier that many believed was the final boundary; no level of technology could pass that barrier, they had reached the end and there was nothing left to discover or invent. The result of this thinking had brought the space exploration programs on every world to a complete halt. Other than a few probes being sent out every year to poke around, nobody seemed to care about exploration anymore. Si didn’t realize he already had the answer to traveling that fast in his head. He had solved the equation of the Theory of Transdimensional Travel which stated that time and space could be folded together allowing a ship to ‘skip’ under the universe. But, Si was far to young to realize the practical application yet—to him Si had only solved a fun math riddle. “Attention Colonists,” a voice spoke over the ships intercom. “We are preparing to come out of light speed, you will be able to see the planet on the port side.” The boys forgot their game immediately and pushed off the walls for the nearest view ports. Si and Seph crowded around one of the view ports and watched out at the nothingness and then a moment later the universe reappeared. After the dim lighting in the ship the light of the sun was bright and the boys had to cover their eyes. “I don’t see it,” said Si. “There, it’s coming up now,” replied Seph. Si pressed against the view port and Seph shoved him over. “Move over, you’re hogging the window,” complained Seph. The planet was much smaller than Carina and they couldn’t see any moons, though there were supposed to be five of them; maybe they were on the other side of the planet or maybe they were between the moons and the planet. The surface was mostly an off-white color and they saw no patches of green. Angry clouds covered an entire section running from the northern pole to the southern pole. “What’s that?” asked Seph, “Why’s it all white.” “Look, I see water,” said Si. The blue patch of water was near the southern pole and looked more like a small sea than an ocean. The boys watched as the ship entered a near orbit and began circling the planet. “Aren’t we landing?” asked Seph. Si shrugged and continued to watch, the night side of the planet came up quickly and the voice spoke over the intercom again. “Attention Colonists,” said the voice. “Our data on the planet was nearly five years old, it would appear we have arrived at the end of winter and storms are covering our intended landing site. The Captain is searching for an alternate landing site and we will inform you as soon as a decision is made.” Si got bored watching the planet and pushed himself back into his seat and waited. Seph watched a little longer and sat back in his seat as well. “What’s taking so long?” asked Seph. “I don’t know,” said Si. “But I’m tired of waiting, I want off this ship.” Si pushed off and headed towards the Bridge with Seph trailing along after him. The other children had gotten bored watching out the view ports and were talking excitedly among themselves in the corridors. Si pushed himself up the long ladders to the Bridge deck far above the Colonist’s quarters. The Bridge was a bustle of activity. The Captain, Lord Tolnor, Akio, and Marshal, along with the navigation officer were gathered around the navigation table in the center of the room. “Master Fox,” Lord Tolnor looked up at Si’s arrival and greeted him. “What’s taking so long?” asked Si. “Lets land already.” “We have a bigger problem than just the winter storms,” said the Captain. “Our recon probe of the planet was older than we knew. There are trees now where we intended to land.” Si looked at the map laid out on the table. “Where’s our landing site,” asked Si. The navigation officer pointed at an open spot in the trees at the far edge of the mountains. “This open area is where we were to land, but our scan shows it over-grown now.” Si inspected the map and ran his finger up and down the map. “Where is the new scan?” asked Si. The navigation officer moved the map and showed Si the scans he made as they passed in orbit. Si studied the scan, he wasn’t sure what he was looking at. “What’s this fuzzy stuff?” asked Si. “Those are the winter storm clouds,” replied the navigation officer. “And this spot?” asked Si pointing at a place outside the cloud cover. “That’s open desert, about twenty miles from our landing site,” replied the navigation officer. “Okay, there’s no storms there,” said Si. “If we land there can we move the ships again.” “Yes,” replied the Captain. “This is a smaller Colony ship but the reactor has enough fuel for twenty-years of continuous flight.” “Then land there, Captain,” ordered Si. “Master Fox,” said the Captain. “That won’t solve our problem, the landing site is covered in trees.” “That is where Lord Black wants us and that’s where we are going to be,” said Si. “Land there, we’ll go and clear the trees so the ships can land.” “That is a very long walk across twenty miles of open desert,” argued the Captain. “The Carinians can’t walk that far.” “I don’t intend to take them,” said Si. “I’ll take my…” Si was about to say his army, but Lord Black said he couldn’t call them that anymore. Si thought for a moment before continuing. “The Gunslingers will make the long walk,” said Si. “Give us one month and we will have the landing site cleared.” “Si?” said Akio. “That is a lot of trees!” “Cousin, we carried all that sand across Black Island in one month,” replied Si. “We can cut the whole forest down in a month, and anyway, we need the trees to build cabins and stuff.” “Lets do it, Captain,” ordered Akio. Si looked around for a place to sit but there weren’t any spare seats so he grabbed Seph and they headed back to their cabin. The wait to land still took longer than Si wanted, but eventually the announcement came and the boys strapped in for the landing. The landing was much smoother than the one they had made when they had landed on Carina. Si unbuckled and stood on shaky legs, even with the slightly reduced gravity of the smaller planet he still felt heavy at first. Si crowded down to the cargo bay of the Colony Ship and waited for the massive ramp doors to lower and let them see their new home. The Cargo Chief finally got clearance to lower the ramps. Si was nearly jumping up and down, he really wanted to stretch his legs. The ramps lowered and a dusty cold wind blew into the cargo bay. Si and the other boys were the first to run down the ramps and step on their new planet. Si jumped up on a big rock and raised his fist in the air. “I claim this planet in the name of the Glor…” Si saw the Carinian Colonists glaring at Si and paused realizing what they were thinking. They all knew who he was and that for him this was exile until he could take back his Imperial Throne, but for them, they wanted a chance to build something that wasn’t part of the Empire. “I claim this planet in the name of the Glorious Krat’ne Sea Squid,” Si shouted to the colonists, “and hereby name this planet Krat’ne Minor.” The colonists cheered the new name. A flurry of activity ensued as thousands more colonists poured out of the ships. The colonists had their own leaders and really didn’t need Si to do anything. Temporary shelters began to pop up randomly, cooking tents, maintenance tents, and children ran around the dust blown chilly desert screaming with joy to be off the ships. Akio and Marshal sent the boys to search for equipment they would need for the walk to the mountains. The boys rummaged through crates and pulled gear out of the ships and surveyed what they had and didn’t have. “I can only find the revolvers, Fox,” said Marshal, “The rifles are buried in a crate somewhere.” “Give one revolver to each Prince… I mean Battle Team Leader… I mean… umm.. what do we call them now if we can’t call them Princes?” asked Si. “Lets call the Princes Lord Gunslingers,” said Marshal. “We can’t really hide that you guys are noblemen, you walk like princes and you talk like princes.” “That’s a good idea,” said Akio, “but we can’t call everyone Gunslingers, it will get too confusing.” Maz was standing next to Akio wearing the long thick leather overcoat that Lord Black often liked to wear. Maz he had taken to following Akio around this week; Maz changed his hero once a week and it was Akio’s turn. Maz held up a shiny metal star for Akio to look at. “Where did you get those?” asked Akio taking the star to look at. “In a box with my coat,” said Maz in his soft small voice. Si walked over and looked at the shiny star Akio was holding. “What’s Deputy?” asked Si. “I think it means second in charge,” said Akio, “like Deputy Minister of State back at the Imperial Palace.” “What are you supposed to do with it?” asked Si. “It’s a police badge, you sheltered pampered princes,” said Marshal laughing. “You wear it.” “I have an idea,” said Si. “Lets give the other boys on the teams each a badge so everyone knows who the deputies are.” “Excellent idea,” said Akio. “It will hide our command structure and people won’t suspect we are actually Samurai Battle Squads.” “I want to be First Deputy,” Maz pushed in and took the badge back. “First Deputy?” asked Marshal. “Prince Delphean is my prince, he’s in charge,” said Maz. “I want to be his First Deputy.” “I get what he’s saying,” said Marshal. “Not everyone can be second in command, one of the deputies will have to be a First Deputy.” “What about Marshal?” asked Si. “He needs a Gunslinger rank too.” “Naw, I’m okay, just call me Marshal,” said Marshal. “Okay,” said Si. “You are now Marshal Marshal.” “Huh?” asked Marshal. “You said call you Marshal,” replied Si. “Marshal is now a rank, it means the top Gunslinger.” “Si, I don’t think you can just make up words,” said Akio. “Sure I can,” said Si. “I’m an Emperor.” Si ran back up the ramp laughing. “It’s done, I order it, Marshal isn’t just a name anymore, it’s a word. Come on, lets find those leather coats, it’s going to get cold where we are going.” The Samurai-Gunslinger teams of boys were ready an hour later, revolvers slung on the princes, everyone with one of the new leather long overcoats, several with hunting knives they had found, axes, shovels, backpacks, and fresh shiny badges pinned on most of their coats with the word ‘Deputy’ printed on it. Si was surprised when Akio remained with his team of boy-deputies and Marshal Marshal went to the front of the column. The months of coaching Akio had given Marshal was starting to produce a fine young lord. Marshal raised his arm and pointed at the far mountain. “WAGONS FORWARD!” shouted Marshal. Si thought maybe Marshal had spent too much of the trip in his cabin watching those ancient frontier vids from Corvus. The desert wind was chilly and stirred dust that blasted against the boys faces. Si saw one of the boys tie a piece of cloth around his face and Si did the same. The sun was already long into the afternoon and Si had doubts about having had insisted on leaving today. The boys were about thirty minutes into their long walk towards the mountains when Lord Tolnor and four of his chefs jogged past them singing a cadence. “Look to your left and whadaya see?” chanted Lord Tolnor and repeated by his four men, “a bunch of baby gunslingers staring at me!” The boys, not to be outdone leaped into a run and passed the cooks screaming taunts back. “I want a cheese burger… make mine with fries… go make some grilled cheese sandwiches…” Marshal allowed the boys to run for another ten minutes and then ordered everyone back to a walk, there was just too far to go in this hostile desert to run the whole way; they needed to conserve their strength. The light began to fail and the wind started to pick up. Marshal ran around the teams yelling last minute instructions. “Soon we won’t be able to see each other,” shouted Marshal. “Stay with your teams, keep each other alive, stay with your teams.” Marshal disappeared into the sand and Si hoped he would stay with one of the teams. Si, Seph, Akio, Caprithus and Volnus formed their own team to survive the night. In the morning when the boys found each other again, they had discovered Marshal had walked through the night sand storm alone. All his ammunition was expended and he was covered in blood, none of it his. Marshal never told anyone exactly what happened to him, though everyone knew he had fought the same as the rest of them to survive, but he hadn’t fought the same creature. The claw he showed everyone in the morning was from a creature none of them at that time had heard of. After that the stories of Marshal’s fight, on his lone long walk through a raging sand storm in the dark night to the mountains, against a great Grizzly Bear woken early from hibernation and driven to the desert in hunger, grew to legends that would sustain the Gunslinger Order for centuries. Si’s night in that sand storm was one of terror. The wind picked up until they could see nothing. The teams were on their own, they would only have their teammates to survive or fall. The boys linked their arms together and continued to walk in the direction of the mountains, at least they hoped they were still going in the right direction. Si heard gun shots over the wind that seemed to only be a few feet to their left, another team must be nearly on top of them. Akio saw the monster first as the beast appeared through the sand storm leaping at the unaware boys. Akio caught the monster by it’s throat and Caprithus pulled his revolver and pressing the barrel against the beast’s massive skull, pulled the trigger. Si heard more and more gun shots. The boys looked down at the dead beast in horror. “Oh ancestors, oh ancestors,” screamed Si. “He found me! he’s going to eat me alive… it’s magic… dark magic…” Si got up to run and Akio grabbed the frightened boy and held him. “No,” shouted Akio. “He didn’t find you, they must not be extinct on this world, there’s no magic, Si.” Si recoiled from the awful beast, it was the dark evil monster that adorned his Uncle’s House Crest and Banners. Si looked down on the massive wolf; a horror, a nightmare beyond anything he could imagine. House Wolf, his father’s murderers come to tear and devour Si. The muffled gun blasts could be seen and heard all around them. The wolves on this planet were quite real and having never seen people before had no natural fear of them; they were attacking in great numbers. “Lets move,” ordered Akio. “Someone's going to get shot if we stay here.” Si’s team moved away from the shooting, the other teams were truly on their own in the blinding storm and would live or die together. Akio fired as the monsters appeared out of the sand and pulled Si along behind him. The rest of the night was a blur of terror for Si, to him these were not just wild animals attacking. They were the evil demons of House Wolf come to drag him away in the night. The storm ended near morning and light crested through the dark clouds over-head. Si saw several of the teams in the distance and Akio headed towards them. The mountains were near and several hours of walking brought them to the base of the hill that led up to the proposed landing site. It was nearly noon when the last of the teams wandered in from the desert and collapsed just inside the tree line. The sandstorm was replaced by biting cold winds and falling snow. The trees provided a welcome relief from the wind. The boys didn’t reform into the one army they had been but instead remained separate, huddled together in their five-man teams. The experience had built something that no amount of training on the ancient practice sands of the Palace could ever have created. Marshal walked around and looked into the eyes of all the boys and saw something, something different. The last team came in carrying the body of Prince Trinus, only eight years old. The rest of the teams that had survived whole glared at the four orphan-warriors carrying their dead Prince. The accusation was clear though no one spoke. The four boys turned north without a word and carried their Prince into the wilderness. The survivors of Prince Trinus’ team were never seen again and was never spoken of by any, not even Lord Tolnor and his four men said a word. It would be clear from this day forward that to lose your Lord Gunslinger would be banishment from the Gunslinger Order. Marshal stood, his eyes on fire and held up the long bloody claw from whatever creature it was he had fought alone in the darkness of the sandstorm. “Lord Akio,” said Marshal. “When the ships get here in a month, send word to Lord Black only to send us the very strongest, bravest, and most loyal boys. They are to only be sent once their team is formed and they are to be dropped at that large rock we started this Long Walk from. Marshal paused for effect, he had learned well from Akio. “They will make the same Long Walk through this brutal desert that we made,” said Marshal. “They will arrive in these mountains as a true Gunslinger team. Lord Black gave us this Marshal Order to build, and by the names of all the ancestors we will build an Order to be feared.” Marshal pointed at Lord Tolnor. “You may be cooks, but you survived the long walk, when the ships arrive find some more of those badges and give to your men,” ordered Marshal. Marshal raised his voice to a near shout. “Only those that can survive the Long Walk will be permitted to call themselves Gunslinger.” The boys, to include Lord Tolnor and his men, jumped to their feet and chanted. “Gunslinger… Gunslinger… Gunslinger…” Si felt it more than really understood how or why. This was no longer Sionnach’s Eighty, it was not his army anymore, Sionnach’s Eighty had just evolved into something much more. Marshal picked up one of the axes. “Lord Tolnor, take two of the other teams and your men and start building a dining cabin from the first trees we cut,” ordered Marshal. “This winter is far from over and we will need shelter quickly.” Marshal walked towards the trees they had identified on the maps that needed cut. “Lets move it men,” shouted Marshal not turning around. “We have a camp to build.” The boys and men jumped up and grabbed the gear to build their new frontier home.