Starfire and the Space Dragons: A Grennig Crew Adenture

by Christine Westhead

  "That was your doing, wasn't it?" he began, in a slightly accusing tone. "The hospital in the attack on Terrell?"

  "I'm sorry, Tab," Hal looked down. "It was me that hit that fighter."

  "No, I don't mean that," said Tabbert, holding up his hand. "That was your ship, wasn't it? The corvette that put the damn fire out?" Hal looked at Tranter, not knowing what to say. They were technically enemies and Hal didn't want to give anything away. In the end, he nodded, quickly. "Yeah," continued Tabbert, "it looked like the sort of crazy thing you'd do. And under fire as well. Look, Vin, Hal or whatever your name is, not one person died in that attack. A lot of equipment and ships were destroyed, but we only had walking wounded. The only reason I'm here talking to you now is because of that fact. Whoever co-ordinated that attack is a fraggin' genius."

  "Yeah, she is," murmured Tranter, under his breath so that only Hal could hear.

  "Now, the Marine top brass here is pretty pissed off about all the damage and lost ships, and I can't say as I blame 'em. I'm guessing you had a damn good reason, so let's cut to the chase. If I'm caught here I'll be shot, but I owe you this one favour because of those prisoners of mine that you saved. Now, what do you want?"

  Hal told him about the empty Trenee complex under Serrell. Kaura had given Hal a computer key that would gain access to it and Hal passed it to Commander Tabbert.

  "Any Terrellians who want to work at the new base on Serrell can still live underground and access the base through the tunnel system," explained Tranter. "It'll mean the Steelers can still keep their jobs and free up valuable space on Terrell."

  Hal hadn't introduced Tranter and Tabbert didn't ask his name. The young man had the same haunted look that he had seen on a lot of Rebels and Tabbert guessed that this guy had a personal reason for fighting the New Federation.

  "I'll make sure it happens, son," said Tabbert, making the same mistake that most people did about Tranter's age.

  They left after that and made their way back to The Rebel. According to Tranter, when he was de-briefed by Erion, Hal had disappeared for a couple of hours and refused to tell Tranter where he had gone. They lifted off from Terrell as soon as he returned and were back on following day.

  The night sky on Manta Six was alive with dragons. They flew overhead, whooping with joy and leaving bright, fiery red trails in the starry darkness. They flew in a sort of dance, coming together and then flying off in different directions making a bright, fiery chrysanthemum overhead.

  “You know,” said Starfire, looking up at the bright display, “I always heard that Dragons breathed out fire, but deep down, I never really believed it.” Prince Grennig, his wing now mended, but still weak, looked at Starfire and laughed. They heard the sound in their heads, but he also laughed out loud and the booming, coughing howl rolled across the forest. Four days had gone by and he stood with Hal, Starfire, Raan and Erion behind the abandoned and decaying Starport.

  Grennig sat back on his thick tail, watching his human friends as they leant on a concrete wall, looking up at the extravaganza in the black sky overhead. When they realised that Grennig was laughing so loudly that he was choking himself, Raan frowned and said,

  “What’s so funny, Corporal?” Grennig controlled himself with an obvious effort.

  “We are not supposed to talk about this with non Trenee,” he said, “but you are virtual members of the pack anyway, and you have proved that you can keep secrets.” They could sense his reticence, but he continued slowly, obviously searching for the right words. “When we were on the Tanker, did you happen to notice a pungent aroma of sorts?”

  “Pungent?” said Raan, “It made your eyes water! Why do you think we stayed in the crew compartment for the whole trip?”

  “We call it the golden water, Captain.” They could sense his acute embarrassment and Erion said,

  “What like ….” She tailed off.

  “Pee?” said Starfire. “We call it that too.”

  “Not exactly, Starfire. It does come from that area and mixes our waste ammonia with other chemicals we make from eating the blue doayth flowers. We have two bony protrusions at the, er rear, that can vibrate to make a spark and we can spray the…….”

  “Hah!” shouted Raan, laughing. “So dragons don’t breath out fire.”

  “It comes out the other end!” added Starfire. They all laughed, and even Hal raised a smile. Raan added,

  “I once had a wanga curry that felt like that,” and they laughed some more. Another chrysanthemum burst overhead and they laughed again.

  “It is done purely for the joy of the dance,” explained Grennig. “It was primarily used for mating display but, because of our solitude underground, we have not been able to perform it for hundreds of years.” One of the fiery trails headed for them and winked out as a young dragon landed in front of them and settled its wings.

  “Would you like some company, Prince Grennig?” They heard the voice in their heads and realised it was the dragon who bound up Grennig’s wing on board the tanker. She wore a little necklace of the blue flowers around her scaly neck and walked up to the wall to lay her thorny head upon it.

  “Time we were getting back anyway,” said Erion, turning away. They left Grennig and his betrothed talking under the stars and headed for one of the rear storage bays that had access to the underground complex.

  “Can you believe it?” drawled Hal, “Dragons actually spray fire out of their...”

  "Yes, Hal," interrupted Erion. "We all got the message."

  “Be handy on a picnic,” said Raan.

  “Yeah,” added Starfire, “you could use him to light the barbecue, then you got your ready-made fireworks display for after.” They were still laughing when they walked into the guest lounge, deep underground. The Citizens had been busy while they were away and the lounge was three times as long and twice as high. Vermillion and Kaura were talking on a specially constructed couch and looked up as they entered.

  “The shield is working well, Vermillion,” he said. Eventually, we shall extend it to the other side of this planet so that we will be completely hidden and leave you in peace.” Vermillion laughed.

  “There is no need for that, Kaura. We welcome new minds to converse with, young and old. There is plenty of room for us all.” In the seven days they had spent resting on Manta Six, Tranter and Thirty Seven had been back to the Cantina a couple of times. Tranter had repaired the damaged engine on The Rebel and he had sent a message for Hal and brought back the answer. Hal had read it in their quarters and seemed quietly pleased with the reply, although it was sometimes difficult to tell.

  “I am grateful to you, Vermillion,” Kaura bowed his big head towards her, then turned to Erion. “What will you do now?” he asked. “Your ship is gone.” Erion shrugged.

  “I don’t know, Your Highness. Gant has suggested that we split up; go to different ships until we can find something else. Tranter thinks he might be able to buy something, but it will take months to get combat ready.”

  “I take it that you are not happy about going to different ships, even for a few months?” Kaura put his big head on one side. There was a short silence, then Erion said,

  “We’re stronger when we’re together, Your Highness. More confident.” She tailed off. It sounded like a pathetic excuse for school friends to stay in the same class after they had been separated. Starfire tried.

  “When we’re together, stuff works out,” she said. “Things get bad, but somehow we always pull through, even when we shouldn’t.”

  “I see,” said Kaura, when plainly, he didn’t.

  “Tranter says we can use the Josie Dog until something bigger comes along,” began Erion, “but the thing is, Captain Jakoral and Moon seem to have taken to her and it doesn’t seem right to just take her back after their first mission went so well.”

  “And most of our missions are long haul,” Raan pointed out.

  “There’s that too,” said Erion. “We’re usually in hyperspace for ten; twe
lve hours at a time, and the Grennig was, well….” She tailed off.

  “She was right for us,” put in Starfire. “She was yar.”

  “Something will turn up, Star,” Raan smiled and patted her hand. He yawned and stood up. “I’m going to turn in.” The Citizens had built separate quarters for their human visitors and he left the large, communal lounge.

  “I think I will too,” Erion stood up and was soon joined by Hal and Starfire. They had not been given individual bedrooms but there was a small breakfast area and a room off it with six bunks and a Vanity Unit. The idea of separated bedrooms simply had not occurred to the Dragons or the Citizens as they did not need personal space. They were telepathic and it would have served no purpose to physically segregate themselves.

  Raan was already asleep in his bunk and Erion was in the Vanity so Starfire sat on the side of her bunk to wait her turn. She looked up suddenly as Hal came and sat beside her.

  “What?” she asked, warily. Hal passed her a throwaway flexi and she took the computer pad and unrolled it, lifting it up like a scroll. It was the message from Terrell that Tranter had brought that morning. ‘Your information on Logus was correct,’ she read. ‘You are no longer on our liquidation list.’ It wasn’t signed. “Who’s Logus?” she asked.

  “That’s the scumbag Ionna was shacked up with on Terrell,” he said quietly. “Ionna kept me to my promise not to kill him,” he added bitterly.

  “Something tells me he’s still dead, though," said Starfire, dryly as she handed him the message. Hal swiped his finger over the Delete sign and the flexi crumpled in on itself and disappeared, leaving a small ball of plastic, which he tossed in the recycler for later. “That was from the mob, wasn’t it? You told on him, you dirty sneak, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah,” grinned Hal, wickedly. He fumbled in his jeans pocket, pulled out the hologram from Ionna and opened it for her. Starfire watched it and handed it back.

  “That’s great, Hal, really great,” she grinned, accepting a black cigarillo, which she dialled to silver. “I think they’re all gonna be really happy. Is that where you went?” She saw Hal’s expression and knew he wasn’t going to answer her so she quickly changed the subject. “Will you stay in the Alliance if we get separated?”

  “I don’t know, Lieutenant,” he took a drag of his cigarillo. What about you?”

  “I can hardly get a proper job, can I? I'm on the run and I can’t do anything else but pilot warships. At least you can find work outside. There’s always somebody who wants a gun for hire, especially one as good as you.”

  “Something will turn up,” said Hal. “It usually does.” Erion appeared out of the Vanity in a diaphanous, silk robe and floated to her bunk.

  “Goodnight,” she said, yawning.

  “Night,” said Starfire.

  “After you,” Hal pointed to the Vanity and leaned back to rest his head on the wall. “I ain’t finished my ‘rillo yet.”

  “Thanks, Hal.” When she came out of the Vanity, Hal was asleep with his head twisted at an awkward angle, half way up the wall. Erion was standing by the side of the bunk, looking at him.

  “He could sleep on a cactus,” said Starfire. “We really should wake him up.”

  “Well good luck with that,” said Erion, dryly. “He’s still wearing his gun. Try and wake him and he could blow your head off.”

  “Not him,” began Starfire. “Even when he’s asleep, he’s awake. I’ll show you.” She peered in the recycling bin and smiled when she saw it hadn’t started its cycle. She fished out the little ball of plastic that Hal had thrown away and aimed it, carefully. She threw it gently across the room towards his face and Hal’s hand shot in the air and batted it away, seemingly without looking. He blinked, yawned and lay down on his left side, facing the room, still apparently asleep.

  They all unconsciously kept Aurian Standard Time and were up and eating breakfast at roughly the same time.

  “Well, I still think we should hold out for a ship of our own,” said Raan, sipping his coffee.

  “It’s all right saying that, Captain,” began Erion, “but what do we do in the meantime? We can’t stay here.”

  “We could get dropped off somewhere, do our stuff and then get picked up again?” he argued.

  “Carl Honoray would take us all for a while,” said Hal. “It ain’t Alliance work, I know, but it’s better than nothing. Everyone nodded, sagely and looked away, lips curling in forbidden laughter. Tranter had filled in Erion about Hal’s current celebrity status on the Pirate Base, and of course, she had filled in Starfire and Raan as soon as she got them on their own. It said much for the cold eyed gunman that he would recommend that for them all, knowing he would hate every second of it himself.

  “Something to think about,” Raan nodded slowly, careful not to show his mirth.

  “For frag’s sake,” sighed Starfire in exasperation. “Something good always happens for us. Why isn’t something good happening?”

  There was a thunderous roar in the distance and Starfire jumped up. “I know that sound. Come on!” She ran out of the bay and into the glorious sunshine to see the Grennig touch down on the main, concrete pad. It looked exactly the same and Starfire stared hard. This ship wasn’t the same as the Grennig, it was the Grennig.

  “But…. what …..” Starfire looked at Raan and Erion, who were equally speechless. The rear passenger ramp hatch lowered and Delta Ten and Tranter walked down it. Starfire and Erion ran up to meet them while Raan and Hal followed at a leisurely pace. Starfire seemed to have lost the power of speech, so Erion asked, politely,

  “How is this possible?” Tranter was grinning from ear to ear and held out his hands to Erion and Starfire. It was Delta Ten who spoke.

  “Con Tranter and Captain Jakoral went back to the crash site on Serrell and The Rebel picked up the wreck of the Grennig while the Josie Dog stood watch above. They bought her back here and the Trenee and the Citizens brought her back to life for you.” Starfire’s eyes were full of tears and Raan and Hal, who had just arrived on the scene, looked at each other. Yes, it felt good to get the old ship back again, but they didn’t see the need for all the emotion.

  “But it must have been a great big pile of burnt, twisted metal,” said Starfire, “there wouldn’t have been anything left.”

  “She had a heart, Tehr Starfire,” said Vermillion, who had turned up with Kaura. “Any intelligent machine knows if it is loved. She had saved you and you had saved her so many times, that she knew. All we needed was a pattern of that love and we could rebuild her as she was before.”

  “A pattern?” asked Raan. All this was going over his head.

  “Yes, Captain,” said Kaura. “A piece of her that was untouched from the inferno that remembered and was still pure.” He pointed a long spur towards Delta Ten, who held out his hand to show them the handle of the Grennig’s front passenger hatch.”

  “I kept it when I removed the door, just before we jumped out,” he explained. “I thought the Lieutenant might want a memento.”

  “Did you know?” asked Starfire.

  “I cannot answer that question on the given information, Lieutenant. Please be more specific.”

  “Well, I don’t care why you did it,” she hugged the android and he held her for a few seconds and smiled his new smile, “you did and that’s what matters.”

  “This is our gift to you,” said Vermillion. “It is from all of us.”

  “Thank you,” said Erion, sniffing back a tear. She turned to the others. “Let’s go home.” They all looked at each other for a moment, including Delta Ten, and nodded. “We won’t be long,” said Erion, joyfully, as she let go of Tranter’s hand to run up the ramp after her comrades.

  Vermillion, Tranter and Kaura walked back to the main cargo bay as the Grennig took off with a low whine and climbed into the sky. Five hundred Dragons went with her, roaring and trailing fire, then the noise changed from a whine to a throaty growl as Starfire and Raan engaged the rear, ion eng
ines.

  “What did they mean by that, do you think?” asked Tranter. “Where are they going? They ain’t got no home.”

  “The Grennig is their home, Con Tranter,” answered Vermillion. Tranter nodded, as if the thought had just occurred to him and walked into the cargo bay, leaving Vermillion and Kaura outside.

  “Thirty Seven has told me of their pasts," began Vermillion. She and Kaura strolled slowly around the compound; the metallic, shining robot with the noble dragon strutting by her side. "Hal was an orphan, living rough on the streets of Steel City and Starfire was put into the Marine Cadets when she was twelve years old and was bullied relentlessly. Captain Raan was always in his older brother's shadow. He joined the Marines to get some respect from his parents, but they never noticed him, no matter what he did, so he just stopped trying. And Major Dubois was made to live with her mother to spite her father when their marriage failed. She ran away from home and joined the Marine Cadets as soon as she was old enough to go. So you see, Kaura, they all grew up without a family. That is why they were all so devastated when they lost the Grennig. It wasn't just the loss of their ship they were mourning, it was the thought that they would all have to go their separate ways.” The roar died away into the distance and the graceful robot looked at the mighty Dragon.

  “Do you think it is them?”

  “Many of my pack seem to think so but I do not yet know, Vermillion.” He tilted his head on one side to listen for the crack when the Grennig shot into hyperspace. “There have been legends for hundreds of years, but who can tell?”

  “Yes,” answered Vermillion. “The Lady and her champion, the sky rider, the soldier and the scholar, riding the galaxy on the back of a dragon. Yes, it could be them; and Erion is a Lady. After her father died, she inherited his lands and title. The Federation took her estate, but the title still stands. And they named their ship the Grennig, after your son, did they not?”

  “They are certainly blessed by fate,” said Kaura. “I too have been hearing of their exploits from Thirty Seven. They succeed when all odds are against them."