Master Sergeant Tam Shisnu was about average height for a human, a heavy sprinkling of Caucasian genes had given him more size then his Asian ancestry implied. He had been raised in a human colony on a relatively idyllic world, without an indigenous population. The colony had been founded by a group of religious leaders who wanted to explore the potentials of humanity. Children were raised communally and received extensive instruction in philosophy and meditation.

A strong mind is no good without a strong body, so for the first 10 years of his life he was trained in dance forms from through out human history, and when he started to get a man's size he was trained in multiple human martial arts. The end result was a being who more closely represented the ideal of a warrior monk then many who had claimed that life. Of course his life, however it was defined, remained in the balance so long as he was a captive of the Supreme War Leader and his army. Tam remained in his cross-legged position after the Supreme War Leader left. He hadn't actually been meditating when the Supreme War Leader arrived, however the bustle of the important personages arrival gave him enough notice to simulate it for the aliens arrival. Tam was well aware of the frustration it caused the Supreme War Leader, in fact Tam actually took little joy in manipulating the alien, however it was allowing him to learn more about the his current enemy.

He had observed many things about the population of this planet. He knew the basic report from the original anthropology team, so he was familiar with the clan organization of the People as they called them selves. What he found interesting was how the physical differences hinted in the report manifested themselves in the people. The report had stated that the People followed the basic Bi-pedal, symmetrical form that evolution favored with minor variations in things but not enough that they couldn't be mistaken for human at a distance. However there were some key differences from Earth stock. The People had an endocrine system that kept their metabolism running in a sort of hyper mode. The People were incredibly energetic and impulse driven as a result. Their heightened metabolism may have contributed to the ferocity of their wars when the clans grew large enough to compete with each other for resources.

Improvements in all areas of their science went hand in hand with the series of wars that wracked the continent before the arrival of the human ships. The peace that the anthropology team had encountered when they first arrived had been the first in over a century for the People. Tam believed that the fact that it had held for many years was likely a result of the human imbalance to the equation. And now the sum of the equation seemed to be war with the humans.

The attack that had claimed his unit had been an example of the natives endocrine systems as applied to combat. The camp had just settled in for the night, he had finished up his communications check in with Bravo Platoons Captain back at their dug in positions. His squad had been out deploying sensors in the northeast corner of the zone covered by FOP 121, while the remaining two squads deployed sensors in other more accessible zone. This area was known to be well infiltrated already by indigs, so Tam and a collection of veterans making up his squad had been keeping a low profile while completing their mission.

They were skilled in woodscraft and a variety of combat styles, only the best qualified for the scout squads, and only the best survived at this in a variety of hostile environments There were 8 of them, deployed in 2man mutually supporting spots, hidden in the ground cover around them. 4 men on then a swap of watch with their partners til dawn. Tam was paired off with Marcus Koss. Koss was a veteran who'd been busted back to 1st sergeant twice and corporal once for his off duty behavior; he was also the best man in the woods, Tam came a close second, but Marcus had grown in up a very hostile environment on his colonized world. There were no sentient natives to war with but the wildlife was something else, and pretty much impossible to fully eliminate without wreaking havoc in the planets ecology. His colony survived with a strong hunting base to their culture. Of course having prey that actively hunted back with a variety of natural offensive tricks raised the level beyond the traditional hunt of doey eye'd animals.

Koss had seemed nervous. His hands had worked with a combat knife, polishing one side of the blade and then the other, slow movements on a blade that could already pair hairs.

"Sarge I got a bad feeling about this storm tonight." Meteorology had predicted a storm in the area for this evening, the sensors remotely deployed in the area suffered a degradation in performance in heavy rain.

"Well maybe the indigs will want to stay under cover tonight." Unlikely Tam had known since the indigs loved the rain. Their heightened metabolism caused them to heat up and eventually suffer a heatstroke type syndrome without adequate cooling. The Clans all lived in the northern area's of the continent where it was cooler and more likely to produce rain. The humans had set up their colony in a dry southern area of the continent that would be unpleasant for the indigs. The recent increase in rain storms though was making it easier for the indigs to operate in human territory. With a quick glance he had checked the status of his gun and settled down in his hole next to Marcus.

The rain was dripping off the leaves in a staccato pattern when Tam had awakened later. He wasn't certain what had awoken him, however the gleam of a combat knife had let him know that it was time to be awake. The blade had disappeared to be replaced by 2 fingers side by side, then 1 finger pointing north. Tam had tapped his commo unit which sent a buzz through to all his squad, alerting them quietly. Then swiveling his eyes, he had been sleeping in a prone firing position, he had scanned the area north and east of him.

His position was in a slightly enlarged depression screened by a copse of deciduous type trees. Marcus was on his left covering the northwest approach, a gentle slope with scattered trees leading to the south bank of a stream. To his rear and left, by about 20 m was another fireteam covering the west side of the squads camp. To the rear and right was another team covering the east, and somewhere south was a team covering their rear. Tam had taken the northern position since that was the most likely line of attack for the indigs if they moved on the squad. His scanning had revealed movement in the tree line approaching the stream.

The heavy rain had started to pick up then cutting his visibility down to uselessness, but as it had picked up Tam was sure he had seen a scattering of movement northeast. He had just started to signal his squad to prepare for assault when a scream sounded and a native came boiling out of the rain 6 m in front of him. With reflexes honed through training and application he snapped a shot at the indig, the head snapping back as the bullet punched a hole through the left cheek. The indig kept coming, carried by momentum into the hole with Koss and Tam. The corpse fell between them, Koss's knife plunging quickly into the top of it's neck, ensuring that the indig was dead. More screams had sounded as the men opened fire, just starting to realize that they were facing a force much larger then a squad. Tam had fired as quickly an accurately as he could but in the end he and Marcus were overwhelmed by dozens of indigs swarming up the hill. Marcus took a wicked knife wound to the back as he fought with 2 natives in front of him. Tam had heard the sounds of his squad dying on the radio as he flipped Koss's killer over his hip, firing a pistol into the indig's head when it landed. He had squelched the retreat broadcast and tore out of his position with enemy hot on his heels. When he ran into an advancing indig column from the south he realized his situation was hopeless, dropped his weapons and surrendered. The battle was over in less then 5 minutes, and the natives didn't fire a single weapon, instead attacking hand to hand with curved swords, and bayoneted rifles.

The sheer speed of the natives when they attacked had overwhelmed the human forces who were unable to track them as they rushed in the storm. Their abilities in hand to hand, while rudimentary were still devastating because of their speed and aggression. Tam hadn't been sure that the natives would accept his surrender, but they had and now 2 weeks later he was in this cell. He hadn't seen any other sign of human prisoners and what he had learned from the Supreme War Leader suggested it was unlikely that the indigs had captured any other humans.

Finished with his contemplations he was surprised to note from the rays of the planets sun that quite a bit of time had passed since indig leader had left. It may not have been proper meditation, but his body felt refreshed and ready for action. Mentally he was clear and focused, he felt that he had learned enough as a prisoner and it was about time to escape.

Rising from his position he stretched quickly in his cell, readying his body for action. The building was a very simple wood structure with rough hewn boards attached to a series of wooden arches, with crossbeams, running it's length like ribs. The rooms were arranged on either side of a corridor in this wing, simple boxes with boards laid over the huge horizontal crossbeams as a ceiling. That ceiling separated the rooms from a small loft space that the Tam hadn't detected the indigs using. The ceiling to Tam's cell was high, at least 5 feet about his hands, and his room provided little room for him to move. He could see gaps in the rough hewn boards that made up the ceiling of his cell, unlike in the tightly fitted manner that the walls had been constructed in. His best bet was to get up into that loft and out of the building by night fall. He had a pretty clear idea that he would be left alone for a number of hours, they fed him once a day and the War Leader rarely came more then once in a day.

He took 2 quick steps and leaped into the air lightly, just testing his bodies response to the planets gravity and the nose the floor would make on his landing. He rose at a similar enough rate to Earth G and his landing was almost noiseless as he absorbed his momentum first into his toes, ankles and finally in a deep bend of his knees. The guard outside his door didn't make anything of the soft thump and remained deep in contemplation of his supper, a drink made by fermenting a sugar rich plant. Tam had come no closer then 18 inches to the boards, and knew that he would require a significant leap to reach the ceiling. The noise would likely be greater on landing but he didn't intend to land. Bending deeply he focused on the task at hand. He had no personal effects to gather, the natives had left him his uniform alone, taking even his boots for study. Bending deeply he bounced several times rising quickly up to the balls of his feet then dropping again. He synced his breathing with these motions so that his was exhaling sharply as he rose, and inhaling on his descent.

Before fatigue set in and when his muscles felt ready, he inhaled as he lowered into his starting position; then with tremendous energy Tam straightened his legs. The large muscles on his thighs provided the initial burst of motion, but as his body rose up he pushed with every muscle in his legs, even his toes adding force to his leap as they straightened to a point. His arms stretched up towards the ceiling, fingers aligned onto a gap between two boards. His fingertips screamed the sensation of the rough wood too him as he stretched and grasped and held. Both hands had a firm grip on the wood and he hung suspended from his cells ceiling. The gap he had chose was close to both the outside wall and a one of the arches. It was into the corner made by their intersection that he thrust a foot now, finding enough purchase to allow him to lessen the load on one of his arms. Using the freed limb he thrust it further into the gap, forcing a lifting of one of the boards with his efforts. This allowed him eventually to enlarge the gap and crawl up into the ceiling, muscles shivering and shaking from the exertion required of them. Carefully now, he placed the loosened board back into place, the entire exercise had been so silently conducted that the guard outside his door was still comfortably absorbed with his intoxicant.

Safely out of sight in the loft area of the building Tam turned his eyes to an examination of his surroundings. The indigs had the electric light and enough ambient light leaked up from the rooms below to give him a fairly clear idea of the loft. It seemed to cover the entire length of the building, and at one end he could see a glow of day through an opening in the boards making up the exterior wall. The drumming of rain was a solid sound drowning out most noises he could hear from below as he belly crawled the length of the building towards that opening. It was the raised voices that stopped him just short of his goal.

"I don't care if he is the North God incarnate, that fool is going to cost us the support of the People if he convinces them this war is unwinnable. I want him removed, and soon."

"Honoured leader, we can not kill him without provoking a clan war, but perhaps we can get the humans to do our work for us."

"What do you mean?" The two voices were male indigs, and the one that had just spoken was clearly recognizable to Tam's ear as the War Leader.

"There was an incident near the human lines. One of our scout groups was destroyed in combat with human forces."

"Yes, yes, I know about that, our prisoner is from a subset of that group, we tracked them when they separated It's a shame we didn't destroy the other humans, but what do I care about some scouts, councillor?"

"Because they are from the North." Tam listened intently to this conversation, learning now that the rest of Bravo Platoon had been attacked and survived.

"All the better that they died then." spat the Supreme War Leader.

"Ahhh, yes honoured leader. Though I'm sure the People would like revenge on the humans who killed them." The councillor suggested.

"So, I'm not about to go chasing after some humans in the hills. I caught my human." the Supreme War Leader sniffed at the memory, he had dispatched a force of over 60 troops from the southern army, only about 2 dozen had come back with the lone human prisoner.

"That's right honoured leader, however there is a debt of honour to be paid, and as leader of the North, that debt belongs to Northwind."

"Ahhhhh, now I see councillor. Perhaps Northwind will eliminate these humans, or perhaps they will eliminate them. Very tidy. Send a courier to the Northern camp, let Northwind know that I desire to see him."

The councillor took his leave and his leader remained with his contemplations, unaware of the human thinking about the same things a few feet above his head.

-----

Northwind hadn't been happy to recieve the summons from the War Leader, however protocol demanded that he attend to the War Leaders commands. The news of the loss of his clansmen hadn't reached him before the War Leader told him, and he was unprepared for the trap he was manuvered into during his conversation with the War Leader. Now leaving the War Leader's building he made his way back to the vehicle he had arrived in. It had gotten quite dark outside during the time that he had been inside and he didn't notice the shadow that detached it's self from a tree as he crawled into the open door of his electric carriage.

The vehicle was a smaller version of the tanks developed by the Western clans, without the weapons, armor, or electrical capacity. Power was supplied to it's 4 independant wheel's motors by what looked like a chemical battery system, and essentially was except that the chemical reactions were products of the metabolism of a ocean creature from the West. If liquid it was immersed in was sufficently saturated with the necessary chemicals it was capable of generating enough electrical energy to run the vehicle. Power transmission lines didn't exist on this world, instead these creatures were generally used as organic generators/batteries where ever power was required.

When Northwind turned to close the side hatch after himself he was surprised to see a blurred face rushing at him, then darkness closed in.

When he awoke his vehicle was moving over what felt like moderately rough terrain, he couldn't see the driver from his position on the rear bench, but he could hear the wheels revving as the vehicle started up a small incline. Northwind was lying on his side with both his hands securely bound behind him, a rope connecting them to his ankles, effectively immobolizing him. This didn't stop him from struggling against his bonds futilely for a few moments silently. When this didn't succeed in freeing him he turned his attention to trying to get a glimpse of the out side terrain through a viewport. What he saw, while incomplete, seemed to indicate that he was headed west out of the War Leaders Camp. His positioning made it impossible to see the driver of the vehicle, so he was surprised when the driver spoke to him with a human accent.

"I've got you disarmed and tied up. I can't put your vehicle on autopilot, so I have to stop to untie you, but I didn't gag you so you can talk to me. Tell me which way to go to get to your camp, and while we travel I'll tell you why I knocked you out."