The Bandit Scout Ch. 01

The Bandit Scout on Newhome

Introduction

Newhome was colonized by Earth hundreds of years ago. Twenty years after the initial landing on Newhome, contact with Earth was lost. The government on Newhome quickly broke down, and order was maintained by large plantations, ranches, and mines. Without an industrial base, technology has disappeared, and the old knowledge is barely kept alive in a few monastery-like enclaves.

With no natural predators to threaten them, humanity has spread widely but thinly across the large, earth-like continent. Trade is essential but perilous due to long distances, rugged terrain, and the presence of bandits. Wagon Masters were both guides and warriors who would shepherd the wagon trains as they moved between the producers and the settlements.

The largest settlement is Kennedy, the landing site of the ships from Earth many years ago. Kennedy is home to Unihold, the most extensive enclave of the old knowledge. Unihold would apprentice young adults from the wealthy, imparting at least a rudimentary education.

The most critical areas of knowledge preserved by Unihold were the making and working of metals, medicine, and martial arts. Due to the limited industrial capabilities, weapons were scarce and expensive. Martial Arts from Earth were preserved and taught, although there was little public information on this subject.

Following human nature, bandits used force to take whatever they needed or wanted. They strived, by and large, to avoid causing such harm as to cause a large-scale expedition to be mounted against them. Most bandits joined one of the large and well-organized Bandit Tribes.

Chapter 1 -- Flee to the Badlands

The Boss of Rider Ranch was as angry as anyone could ever remember him being. Foreman Sam Briggs was determined not to cringe as Boss Rider yelled.

"Were the guards posted? Was anyone missing from the guard detail?"

Briggs answered, "Yes, sir. I mustered the guard detail half an hour before sundown. Everyone assigned duty was present. The status of the guard was rated as satisfactory upon inspection, meaning that all guard personnel had proper up-to-date training and had reported for duty in fit condition."

"Then how do you explain a bandit penetrating our security zone and gaining entrance to the inner compound?" demanded Ralph Rider. "It strikes me as being an even worse indictment of this guard detail that the bandit was a woman and that she was able to take out a team of four men when they did come across her, leaving one man unconscious, another with a broken arm, and the other two beaten so badly that they were unable to take up pursuit."

"Boss, I have never come across anyone, man or woman, who could perform the way the team described her actions to me. I have watched you train and have been trained by you. But I never had the feeling that you could withstand an attack by four people, all of whom were bigger and stronger than you. And I say that with all respect for your skills. Whoever this woman is, she has had special training at the highest level, which could be part of the reason she was able to gain access to our inner compound. I am very sorry that I don't have more to report."

Ralph replied, "Despite my anger, I do not see any fault with you or the men. My anger is very much directed toward this female bandit. I hope it will not take long for Capt Riker's Mounted Company that we send out to apprehend her to be successful."

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Stella Brooks had run as fast as she could maintain the pace for about four hours. She knew that she was leaving signs that could easily be tracked. The ranch was nestled on the edge of a relatively flat plain. But she had headed away from the plain into the terrain that was known as the badlands. This consisted of very steep but low hills, most of which were only a hundred meters high or less. Many of these hills were arranged in long ridges that ran generally northwest to southeast. Her destination was to the north, and the lay of the land made it very difficult to go in that direction.

After running for four hours, Stella stopped briefly at a stream for a moment's rest and a drink of water as the new dawn approached. She made sure that her canteen was filled and took off once more, now moving in such a way as not to leave signs of her passage and climbing over the ridge so that she was moving more to the north. She had more than one reason to do this.

First, she knew that a force from the ranch would be after her. Hopefully, she had bought herself a little time by moving fast initially. But now, she would use her skills to obscure her trail. Second, although it was a long way away, she was moving toward home. And third, she wanted to find a hiding place for the things she had taken from the ranch.

Before she had been discovered at Rider Ranch, she had found the building in which experiments were being conducted that appeared to be directed toward small-scale sword production. Stella was a scout for her father, the Chief of the Bucks, one of the larger of the tribes of bandits. She had been trained in martial arts by Medico Frank Stevens since she was a small child. Medico Stevens was a wise and talented man who had been a Master of Medicine and a Master of Martial Arts at Unihold. Although he was not a Master of Metallurgy, he was well-versed in the subject and had tutored Stella in all his areas of knowledge.

Other members of the Bucks taught Stella about woodsmanship and desert craft, how to move through towns and villages without being noticed, and above all, how to observe so that she could assess the value of potential targets for the Bucks. As she matured, she gained experience and reported on several high-value targets that were taken by the Bucks. It is also worth noting that she developed into a strikingly beautiful woman. Her regular workouts and martial arts training gave her a trim and taut athletic physique. Her genes endowed her with a gorgeous face characterized by perfect symmetry, exceptionally keen and clear eyes with a rare green hue, luxurious black hair that grew long, almost to her legs, and large but firm breasts.

The men, and no small number of the women in the Bucks, desired her, but it quickly became known that any suitor would have to beat her in a fight as the first step toward winning her. After seeing the results of her first few fights with suitors, it was quickly decided that she was simply unapproachable. Chief Brooks also made it clear that he valued Stella not just as his daughter but also as a scout of significant importance to the tribe.

Steel production on Newhome was in its infancy with low and irregular output. Due to the scarcity of steel, weapons were highly prized. Scavenged pieces of Earth steel were used to forge swords, knives, spears, arrows, and tools. Methods of high-quality forging were still being sought. Finding ways to forge steel to make high-quality weapons and tools was a high priority, and it was generally believed that this capability would ultimately come from Unihold, just as the method of making steel had.

And so, Stella, because of her unusual training, was perhaps uniquely positioned to understand the value of Boss Ralph Rider's private project. From Ralph's research area, Stella has seized a manual of metallurgy that Ralph had copied while he was at Unihold, along with his notebook containing the details of his failures and successes. These would give Chief Brooks the capability of being the first to create new weapons out of native Newhome materials.

The sun told Stella that it was midafternoon as she topped her third ridge in the badlands and headed down the other side. She was still moving slowly, taking great care to leave no trace of her passage. Although she knew that a truly competent tracker could still find her. She came across a small cave that had landmarks that assured her that she could locate it later. She quickly hid her satchel, containing the manual and the notebook, within the cave and continued down the arroyo and across the next ridge. By now, the sun was getting low, and she looked for a place to stop for the night. Even with her skills, it would be risky to cross the badlands in the dark.

The next morning, as soon as it was light enough, she continued her journey. While crossing the next arroyo, disaster struck.

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Capt. Riker, the company commander sent to apprehend Stella, was a wily old veteran warrior. He had figured that there were only two Bandit groups powerful enough and close enough to risk scouting the Rider Ranch. The Bucks were located about 120 km to the north, in the mountains somewhere between Rider Ranch and Kennedy. The Comanche were located some 200 km to the southwest. Of these, he guessed that the Bucks were the most likely to have sent this spy. They rode north to the edge of the plain and the beginning of the badlands. He figured that she would have come about this far north and then headed northwest up an arroyo until dawn. Then, with light, she would head north, crossing the ridges and moving much slower, covering her tracks as she went.

At first light, his trackers verified that he had hit a bull's eye and were right at the arroyo that Stella had entered. The Captain split his company, sending each of his three platoons up a carefully picked arroyo. His best platoon was sent up the arroyo that Capt. Riker thought was most likely to intercept the spy. The other two platoons were sent up the arroyos to either side of the one he considered the most probable for them to intercept the bandit. One squad from each platoon was held back to stay with the Captain. Each platoon carried signal flares with colors unique to each platoon. The Captain sent a runner to the top of the nearest hill, where the runner could look along the ridge tops and should be able to see any signal flares fired by any of the three platoons. The runner had flairs of different colors so that he could repeat the signal for the Captain to see.

The 3rd Platoon Leader, Lt. James, was assigned the middle arroyo. He changed the pace to a walk when his platoon got near the location where the Captain expected the spy to cross the arroyo. All the members of the platoon had been cautioned to be quiet and to keep their eyes peeled for any movement. Suddenly, a sharp-eyed private whispered, "Lt. James, 11 o'clock."

Lt. James immediately looked just to the left of straight up the arroyo, saw the spy, drew his sword, and cried out, "Charge!"

The platoon sprang ahead at a gallop and quickly had Stella surrounded,

Lt. James called out to the spy, "Drop your weapons and take a kneeling position. I would like to take you alive, but that will be your choice."

Stella did a quick calculation. She saw there was no way that she could cross the arroyo and get to the steep slope going up to the next ridge or the one behind her before she would be cut down by sword or spear by the horse troops. She slowly removed her sword and knife from her belt and dropped them a little away from herself. Then she settled down into the classic seiza kneeling position and awaited what was to come.

Lt. James dismounted with six sword-bearing troops who moved to encircle the spy. Ten more platoon members, bearing spears, dismounted and formed a slightly larger circle around Stella with their spears leveled and pointing toward the spy. Lt. James moved so that he was directly in front of her with the point of his sword at her neck. On his signal, four of his troops returned their swords to their scabbards and rushed the spy, knocking her face forward onto the ground.

Spear troops moved closer so that their spear tips were touching the spy. Any resistance on her part would mean instant death. Her arms were pulled behind her back. A trooper to her left grabbed her right hand, and a trooper to her right grabbed her left hand. Her hands were held so that they were about 30 cm above her back with her wrists crossed. A third trooper then passed a rope around her wrists vertically several times and then horizontally several times. There was no slack, and the ropes were pulled very tight. Then the trooper wound the rope around several times between her arms, cinching the previous wraps and ensuring there would be absolutely no slackness in the bonds.

The trooper was far from finished. He slid a noose up her arms and levered her elbows tightly together before cinching the ropes between her arms. Then, while another trooper bent her knees and held her feet directly above her knees, he lashed her ankles together, ending that bond as always before with a cinch. While the trooper holding her feet lifted them higher, pulling her knees off the ground, he tied a rope around her legs just above the knees again, ending with a cinch.

During this process, Stella made no sound. While the troopers were not gentle, the pain was not excessive. She figured that would be coming soon enough. The trooper doing the tying, Pvt. Sloan did enjoy using bondage to cause pain.

Lt. James signaled, and they lifted her to her feet. A trooper held each arm, which helped with her balance. For the first time, the troopers got a clear view of the spy. She was wearing a buckskin halter that showed significant cleavage and buckskin pants that some might call low riders. Her hair was braided into a lengthy pigtail that hung well below her waist to her back. She gazed at Lt. James without blinking.

Lt. James ordered, "Fire a signal flare. Get her strapped on behind the Platoon Sergeant's saddle. Prepare to return to the Captain."

While the Sergeant's horse was being brought up. Private Sloan continued to work. He quickly looped rope above and below the spy's breasts and cinched between her arms and body and took the ends of the rope around the outside of the chest loops, under her armpits, and over her shoulders, threading them between her breasts and looping around the chest loops both above and below her breasts. This allowed Pvt. Sloan to pull the upper and lower loops closer together between her breasts, putting pressure on her tits and making her more uncomfortable. The trooper had made free use of her tits, pulling this way and that way to get the ropes just where he wanted them. There was only a small amount of rope left, so he tied the ends together and left the remaining length to dangle.

As the horse was brought up, he said quietly, "This would have been a lot more fun without those buckskins. I hope I get to play with you later."

Stella was then laid across the back of the saddle, belly down. She was attached to the saddle, so she might bounce but not fall to either side or behind the horse.

The troop mounted up and formed up. On the order of the Lieutenant, they followed him back down the arroyo.

-----

As they approached Captain Riker, Stella was thankful that the Sergeant had done nothing to make her more uncomfortable, such as making the horse prance or jump over something. She still felt like someone had been beating on her. Nothing in her training had prepared her for this.

As soon as the troop was in front of Capt. Riker Stella was detached from the saddle and stood before the Captain. She could see the hate in his eyes.

"You invaded my compound. You harmed some of my men. I am ordered to get you back alive," the Captain said with intensity.

Then, with no warning, he drove his fist into her stomach. Stella doubled over and collapsed to the ground, fighting to get air into her lungs.

"Why is the prisoner not gagged?" asked Capt. Riker. "See to that immediately," he ordered Lt. James.

Lt. James's Platoon Sergeant pulled a clean kerchief from his saddlebag and, kneeling beside the spy, stuffed it in her mouth. He then took his kerchief from around his neck and cleave-gagged her so that the cleave held the other kerchief firmly in her mouth.

"Tie this trash back on the horse and mount up. We are going to see the Boss."

After Stella was affixed to the back of the saddle once more, the Troop Sergeant came by her head and said softly, "I am sorry that you are being mistreated. In your line of work, you must understand that bandits can cause emotions to run high."