Riebens - Richard B Riddick - Retold from old legend

This is the story of Richard Ben Riddick, not the sci-fi character of old earth era, but a real flesh and blood human being - or so the legend goes.

816 AS - The early years

Growing up on Orestes was fun. - And dangerous.

But when you are a small boy of 12 or 13, the word 'danger' leads to more exploration, more questions, more of everything that makes parents prematurely gray.

'Hey Rich, let's go see if we can find the carcas of that rat we killed last week'

Gregory walked right on the water's edge of the pond, next to Richard as they made their way around to where they caught and killed a big bush rat with a sharp stick.

Neither of them minded that it took them at least 3 frustrating hours last week to penetrate the tough hide of the rat with the piece of wood. At least they were out of the house and did not have to help with cleaning it.

Speculating about what they expected to find, neither boys noticed that they have entered a patch of water lillies that blurred the edge of the pond.

As Gregory turned to Richard, he stepped forward and suddenly disappeared in front of Richard's eyes.

Looking down, all Richard could see was a patch of lillies and a gentle swelling where the water was disturbed as an object passed through it moments before.

Instinctively reaching down and grabbing at anything below the surface of the water, Richard's had made contact with Gregory's hair and he tightend his hold on the hair and pulled Gregory out of the water and onto firmer ground.

'Wow, that was fun'.

'Are you mad?' Richard stared in disbelief at Gregory. 'You nearly drowned'

'Yes, but it was fun.'

Richard could see Gregory start to shiver - either from shock or from the freezing water, and suddenly reaching the rat was a distant second to just returning back to the road that will take them back to better places where there are not water to swallow brothers.

'Don't tell' Gregory looked at Richard with wide open eyes. 'Mom's going to kill me'

'Not to worry. I will not say anything. Hey. How about going to the treehut and riding the slide?'

The two boys started sprinting down the trail and turned left into the road and started searching for their favourite treehouse. Maybe they could still play in it for a few weeks before the loggers reached it and cut down the tree.

Having a father that built spaceport facilities for Cryer on Orestes and a mother that workes as a store clerk for the Rheinland military, gives the boys more than enough free time to do whatever they want without supervision. Somewhere there was a war being fought but so far, nobody have threatened Orestes, but that could change any day.

There was also talk of having to leave as somebody thinks they found something about old lizards that used to be on a planet called 'earth' and that must not be disturbed.

Richard thought that was cool, finding life on a planet that also existed on some other planet. If the same type of animals could be found, maybe there was also other humans somewhere that did not originate on Sol - as the old earth planetary system is called.

816 AS - War

'Did you hear the news? The NOMADS have attacked XII'

Everyone in the classroom was suddenly talking at the same time.

'QUITE!' Mr Davies tried in vain to restore order. 'Pack up all your books neatly and put then in your lockers. The school will be shut from this afternoon and instructions for re-opening will be posted on the town hall notice board'

Grabbing his rugsack, Richard stormed for the door and ran to his peddycycle. He saw Zaina as she exited her classroom and changed direction.

'Are you going straight home? I am going to the AA offices to see what they know about the Nomad attackes. Want to come along?'

'Hi. Sure, my mom's not at home and my dad is at the shipyard. He will only be home later tonight.'

The two collected their peddycycle and cycled down to the military base where the local Anti-Aircraft battery was located.

Being twelve years old, knowing the guards at the gate, and having a mother that worked in the Inventory Store, secured then a pass onto the military base.

'Make sure you get a pass while you are at the admin offices' the guard adviced them. 'We have orders to let no one inside. Never know if the person may be infected or not'.

'We will' promised Richard and Zaina togeter, dropped their peddycycles against the fence and walked over to the Inventory Depot.

'Let's go find out of anything else has come over the network about what is happening in Crossfire'

Entering the office where his mother worked, Richard ran around the desk and hugged her.

'Richard. Listen. Go home, and take Zaina with you. It's not save to be here now, you will get in the way and I don't want problems.'

'What is happening mom? Is there any news?'

'It seems that the Nomads have attacked XII and also destroyed most of the cargo vessles that was orbiting it. They are currently busy bombarding the towns from space. Admiral Crouse says we should be ok here as there is no reason to come after us. Nothing but primordial forests and he does not think timber features big in their list of resources.'

'But what about us? Don't the Nomads just kill all humans?' Zaina moved closer to the desk and glanced out the office window. 'My dad says they hate us and want to kill all of us'

At the open doorway stood a Major in the AA, dressed in battle gear.

'We are a small group here and even if they do come after us, it will be some time, as I think they are more interested in the bigger population centres' he said as he entered the office. 'To be on the safe side though, I think we should all make sure our survival packs are ready and be ready to leave for the caves at a moment's notice. I have already sent a few men along to open up the doors and let fresh air in. It seems we did not get rid of all the bats the last time and the place stinks.'

Richard pulled a face as he remebered the last time he was at the cave. It was supposed to be a place to hide if the Pirates attacked their village, but now it seems that it may be a place to hide from the Nomads as well, but the previous inhabitants was not so willing to give up their home.

Small leathery flying animals that everyone called 'bats' as they resembled animals named bats in some old vids. Their excement stunk. Wowo .. did it stink.. but it was good to mix with water and once the solids disolved, it made some of the plants grow very good.

'Major, do you think the new sub-orbital launchers will be enough to fight the nomads if they come here?'

Just a few months ago, Cryer and Rheinland military have concluded a deal that saw two small misslile platforms attached to the planetory dock ring to help protect traders and cargo ships during the few crucial second when they left the atmosphere and before their cruise engines could fire up. The pirates have learned to grapple and disable electronics during that time period, and have become quite a menace, so much so that all non-essential cargo flow like sweets and cold drinks were completely disrupted.

'Hey keep this quite, but the Outcasts have actually contacted us a few minutes ago and want's to discuss the Nomad situation. They should all be in jail, but I think they want us to form a defense network if those aliens ever show their faces here. Got to go meet them now. Go home and prepare yourself'

816AS - Helios

Standing with his back to the fire, Richard felt the heat through the thick overcoat and on the back of his legs. With the hood pulled low over his face to protect him from the wind, he peered out into the gloom where the bright spotlights of the landing pad illuminated the ships standing there.

Well, not so much standing as laying and not so much landing as crash-landing.

After the loss of the planetary landing rings on Orestes and the destruction of most of the village, the decision was made to abandon and move everyone left to Eton.

At least 60 people were killed and more than half the defending spaceships destroyed when a small fleet of Nomads attacked and was successfully repelled, but a second attack would have wiped everyone out.

On Eton, there was no attack, as the main Nomad force that jumped through the gate, was met at the newly completed EmpireStation by most of the Britonian and Rheinland forces in Helios, backed up by the Corsairs and the Outcasts.

Retreating slowly back to Eton, the Defence Force slowed down the Nomad advance to a crawl, but paying dearly for it in ships and lives.

A messanger was dispatched to Brittonia high command and the hopes were that a relieve force would jump through the gate and attack the Nomads from behind. The idea was not to win the battle, but to crush the Nomads so that they never return.

Everything that was in, on and around Eton was made semi-spaceworthy and tackled the trek to the gate, knowing that somewhere along the route, they would run into the fire front and help slow down the enemy.

Both Richard and Zaina's dads were out in space somewhere between Eton and the gate and nobody really knew what the situation was until the first ship arrived back at Eton eleven days ago.

It crash landed off to the side of the landing pad and brought with it the first mixed reports of victory and loss.

Since then, precious few ships have managed to limp back and most were completely unsalvageable for the job of going back out there and rescuing what was left of the fleet.

Women and children were drafted into rescue parties, firefighting and canabalising ships to try and make a few more capable of taking off again.

As the days wore on, fewer and fewer ships returned and finally the last two days only saw a single craft make it back to Eton, and roumours were flying around that that was the last one.

Unwilling to believe this, a lot of mothers, wives and children have started camping out next to the landing pads, hoping for the last ships to come in with their loved ones.

'It will be light soon, then we can finish getting that console out of the jumper and hopefully finish the last cargo carrier. There must be more disabled ships out there in the wreckage that have people still alive in it'

'Yes' said Richard in responce to Zaina's statement, one that has been uttered so many times by so many people that it is starting to become a fact and not a belief any more.

Richard's dad was in hospital, he came in nine days ago and was badly burned on his arms and hands, but of Zaina's dad there was no word yet. He originally went out with some of the earliest vehicles that helped slow down the Nomad advance and none of those ships have returned yet.

A special order has already been issued that nobody were to touch or salvage any wreckage between Eton and the Gate and that all the ships that died so galantly will become monuments to remember their crews.

Orestes was also declared off limits to settlers as Rheinland claimed it for themself in the absence of any Brittonia military.

Richard and Zaina squatted down and extended their hands to the fire as the last flames died down and left only red hot coals to give off heat. No use adding more wood, it will be light soon enough to start stripping the wrecks.