The Susquehanna people frequently traveled into Nanticoke territory torturing and killing many of Oria’s fellow tribesmen. Susquehanna raiding parties would attack Nanticoke villages. During these attacks, the men would be tortured and killed and the women raped. As the Susquehanna raiding parties left, they would take the woman and children with them back to their villages as slaves. The only village that Susquehanna raiding parties were unable to successfully attack was the village commanded by
Stoneax. Stoneax and his fellow Nanticoke/Viking clan always stopped these raiding parties. When they took trips into the mountains and Susquehanna territory, they would attack any Susquehanna villages that they came upon rescuing any enslaved Nanticokes and taking serious retribution on the Susquehanna village.
The Susquehanna had been dealing with
Stoneax and his ancestors for hundreds of years. During the late 1400’s a new chief, Black Hawk, rose up among the Susquehanna. He vowed to slay Chief Stoneax and his family, the killers of his father. Black Hawk gathered warriors together from over a dozen Susquehanna villages with the common and unified purpose to kill Stoneax and eliminate any trace of him from the land. This single purpose united these Susquehanna villages more than any other factor in over 100 years. A large war party formed with over 500 warriors and they immediately proceeded to Oria’s village on the Choptank River.
During an early September morning, the Susquehanna war party was finally ready to strike Oria’s village. They had spent months preparing battle plans, collecting intelligence and gathering their courage. On one such mission, a small party came close to capturing
Stoneax’s son and his wife. According to returning warriors, a sea monster thwarted this mission.
Chief
Stoneax was expecting the Susquehanna attack given the increase in Susquehanna activity near his village over the past several months. He laid down plans, increased his fortifications, and organized the local villagers for battle. Various Nanticoke scouts reported to Stoneax the size of the Susquehanna war party. Stoneax felt reasonably comfortable that he could successfully defend their village since he had almost 60 warriors hiding behind the village walls. They had worked long and hard during the last days digging ditches and planting booby traps. If the Susquehanna were going to attack, they would pay a heavy price.
On the morning of the planned attack, storm clouds began to darken the sky. The wind was kicking up and everyone knew that there was going to be a nasty storm. The weather had been alternating between heavy rain, thunderstorms, and clear skies for hours. That quickly changed as a large hurricane moved up the Bay. The Susquehanna war party dug in for shelter and decided to postpone the attack, waiting for clearer weather.
The storm kicked up 100MPH winds and beat on Oria’s village for almost eight hours. When the storm finally cleared, the bay had risen to the walls of the village. Inside the village, the water was almost a foot deep. As the storm waters receded, they washed out all of the booby traps that Stoneax and his warriors had laid during the past several days.
Black Hawk gathered his warriors together after the storm and decided to strike the village. They suspected that
Stoneax had planted booby traps for them and were relieved when they discovered that the storm had washed them away. The Susquehanna climbed into their canoes and headed directly for the village. Without the booby traps, they easily gained access to the village where they outnumbered Stoneax’s men by almost 9 to 1.
The battle lasted almost an hour before the Susquehanna gained control of
Stoneax’s village. Stoneax and his tribe fought fiercely with them killing over 200 Susquehanna warriors. However, in the end, the numerical advantage of the Susquehanna prevailed. They captured Stoneax and his family alive. Of Stoneax’s 60 warriors, only 20 survived the Susquehanna attack. The rest died in battle. They were the lucky ones.
The Susquehanna were weary from battle. They tied up their captives, posted several guards and waited for the next day to begin their celebrations.
The morning of the day after the battle, the waters had mostly receded. Stoneax, his family, and the rest of the men in the village stood tied standing up to poles. One by one, the Susquehanna began to beat the men and dance around them. Occasionally, the bloodthirsty Susquehanna braves would stab or poke hard with a stick one of the constrained Nanticoke warriors. These blows were never killing blows. The Susquehanna began to scalp each of the men and set fires around their feet. Black Hawk saved Stoneax’s family for last.
Oria, his brothers, and his father watched as many of the Susquehanna warriors took turns raping his mother and sisters. In the end, they brutally beat his mother and sisters and Oria watched them die a painful death. The warriors then began to torture Oria, his brothers, and his father. One of the warriors was having a particularly good time harassing Oria. He carved big cuts into each of Oria’s arms and his legs. Oria was repeatedly beat between the legs. One warrior took burning embers and jammed them into Oria’s eyes and ears. Oria, his brothers, and his father never screamed in pain from the torture. It was against the
Stoneax tradition. Towards the end as Oria approached death, one of the warriors took a knife and scalped him. Oria could feel the warmth of his blood oozing down over his face.
Life was quickly fading from Oria. The Susquehanna had lit the piles of wood around his stake and he could feel the flames starting to singe his flesh. Oria was grateful for the life he had had and looked forward to death
and the end of his pain. Just before passing out, Oria heard a loud sound and sensed a bright light through his burned out eyes. Oria thought that was the end.
Sometime later, Oria woke up in a small room with strangely dressed men standing over him. Oria did not feel any pain and was wondering if he had just entered the afterlife. He was quickly beginning to realize that he was not dead, but a prisoner on a vessel which was beyond his comprehension. The injuries that he had suffered at the hands of the Susquehanna had all mysteriously disappeared.
Oria’s captors began to pull on him to force him out of bed. They were yelling at him in a strange language. Oria had no idea what they were saying. His captors picked up clubs and beat him. Oria fought back pinning one of them to the floor. One of the other men shot something at Oria and he felt his whole body go numb.
Oria realized that his captors exercised considerable control over him. They forced him to scrub and clean the ship and to do other chores. It slowly began to dawn on Oria; I am slave!
When Oria left his small room, he entered a larger room and saw various dials, flashing lights, and pictures emitting strange displays of lights. Towards one end of the room was a large window. Outside of the window, he saw stars. At that moment, a cold chill ran down his back as he realized that his captors were from the heavens and not from Earth. Ever since his early childhood, the tribe elders taught Oria that only the spirits lived in heaven and that, those who lived good lives were able to make the spirit journey to heaven. Oria did not understand much about his current predicament, but he knew that his captors certainly were not good spirits; at least not like any spirits, the tribe’s elders described!
C
r
eyte Exploration Ship (1 year prior to Hercules departure from Azortec)
Labasto and Shalustra approached the Creyte war ship slowly. They had just left an Azortec Council meeting a little over a week ago. In that meeting, they were successful in forcing President Shalat to transfer Admiral Oria and his fleet out of the 3
rd
Quadrant and into the 4
th
Quadrant. This was the sign that the Creytes had demanded prior to allowing them to meet face to face.
Commander Retilia of the Creyte Exploration Ship Yasinomot welcomed Labasto and Shalustra aboard. He hated dealing with humans and felt it demeaning for any Creyte in good standing to deal with them. He was still mad at himself for not keeping closer control over his son. Retilia’s son had failed to show up on several occasions to the Community Service Board. Everyone was required to serve the community and report
their services to the Board. The failure of Retilia’s son to report to the Board forced his entire family into disrespect. As a result, the military command demoted Commander Retilia and stripped of his starship command. His new commission was a mere exploration ship responsible for securing new food sources and the herding of humans. Retilia desperately wanted to regain command of a starship.
Retilia led Labasto and Shalustra to a small conference room. Labasto was well muscled and looked particularly appetizing to Retilia. Shalustra was an attractive woman and looked like a good breeder. Unfortunately, for Retilia, he could only think about satisfying his appetite and not fulfilling it with his current company.
Labasto started speaking in a serious tone, “Commander, as you requested, we have succeeded in getting Admiral Oria removed from the 3
rd
Quadrant. That reduces our forces there by over 50%. You should have an easier time taking the 3
rd
Quadrant fleet, which should open gateways to the 1
st
Quadrant for you. This, of course, will provide us the basis to hand over a dozen 3
rd
Quadrant planets to you.”
“Very good, Labasto, as you know, we will require you to keep Oria out of the 3
rd
Quadrant and to divert weapons supplies from the existing fleet.”
Shalustra spoke up “Yes, Commander, we understand your needs. You must also understand our requirements to perform these services for you.”
“Yes, my pretty one, in your communication you said you wanted several of our older planets to be set up for your own mining operations using whatever humans are left as slaves. Then, you want free passage back to what remains of Azortec.”
Labasto replied, “Yes, that is our agreement; plus you recall the additional accommodations that I requested?”
“Of course Labasto, you can have your pick of some of our ladies that we have stored near the galley.”
Shalustra shot an angry glance at Labasto. “I don't believe you
! Can't you control yourself for even a short trip? We're here to talk about our futures, not how you can achieve a momentary gratification.”
Retilia loved this exchange. It cost him nothing to let Labasto relieve his passions with one of his breeders. Besides, it would improve the mix of future stock. The fact that it was part of the overall bargain meant that he could also reduce his cost in completing this trade. Of
course, Retilia would have preferred not to have to deal with these dirty humans at all.
Retilia only permitted the argument between his new partners to last only a short time before breaking them up.
“Humans, please, we came here to negotiate a trade. The ‘piece’ requested by Labasto is something I'd give him anyway.”
Shalustra exploded with Retilia's last comment “What
! Labasto, is that what you call women to Retilia, a piece???”
Retilia quickly responded. “No that's not how Labasto put it. Forgive me; I'm not quite familiar with your language. I was referring to only a small part of the deal. Letting Labasto have his way with one of our breeders benefits us.”
Retilia knew by extending an olive branch to Labasto that it would put him further into his debt. A debt that Retilia knew he would collect. He then continued speaking. “Labasto and Shalustra, my most important requirement is taking Oria's home planet Earth. You must try to keep Oria and his fleet out of the Azortec 3
rd
Quadrant.”
Shalustra calmed down and replied, “Yes we know. I believe you will find that substantial progress has already been made on that account.”
“Yes, however we all know Oria will manage to find another way back to Earth. However, don't worry about it. I'm counting on him finding another way back to Earth. We will be waiting for him there with a large fleet ready to eliminate him once and for all. When Oria is finally destroyed, you can have your mines, and your partners in the Azortec High Command will become further indebted to you.”
Shalustra replied. “Yes Commander, you're right. Labasto and I can settle our differences elsewhere. They should not be part of this deal.”
“Agreed, Labasto, my Chief will take you down to the galley. Have fun; and Shalustra, is there any way that I can serve you while we wait?”
“No, definitely not! Besides, Labasto is too much of a jerk to take very long.”
Retilia laughed. “Yes, I believe you're quite right.” He added in his thoughts “yes, Labasto is a weak wimp”.
True to Shalustra's prediction, Labasto returned in less than 20 minutes. The two then departed the Yasinomot and started their return to Azortec. Commander Retilia gave orders to head to Earth. He would drop off some of his crew trained to sabotage human political systems and begin the process of taking control of the planet. He would meet up with the Azortec traitors in another year when his plan would go into full action.
Oria’s Heritage
It was a bitter cold October morning as Olaf
Stoneax stood in the doorway of his lodge looking towards the Oslo Fiord. The last few weeks were a blur. King Fairhair was deceased and his son, Erik Bloodax, was ruthlessly expanding his own kingdom conquering his brothers. Bloodax was given his name because he slayed 7 of his 8 brothers. After killing each brother, he took over his Kingdom.