Arthur and the Andarran Rescue

by Craig Speakes

  The Solarian base which the Andarrans had nicknamed Rybok, meaning ‘festering hut’, stood in the middle of an exposed area of rock. Wide open areas on all sides of the base made it difficult to sneak up unnoticed. Six large fortified towers were linked together by tall, solid-looking walls.

  Arthur and Sky took shelter behind a rocky outcrop with the Major, as he had instructed. Char and several of his detachment moved next to them. Arthur glanced at the Major, who was also paying attention to what Char and his fighters were doing. The Major nodded his head subtly at Arthur to confirm that he was also watching them.

  A series of explosions and the sound of mobile plasma cannons opening fire made Arthur jump. Forgetting about Char, he spun round to see what was happening. The attack had started! Arthur was transfixed as the plasma weapons flickered and flashed, and the deep boom of shells exploding against the walls echoed in his ears. The rain had picked up in intensity, making the flashes and explosions look somehow unreal. Half a dozen of Char’s fighters crept towards the edge of the open area on their side of the base. Each one was carrying a handheld launcher.

  ‘Release the drones,’ ordered Char, who had himself picked up a launcher and was striding over towards the edge.

  Three drones shot up into the sky and spread out across the open space.

  ‘Drop the Tappers,’ he ordered.

  ‘Tappers?’ asked Sky.

  Arthur shrugged.

  The drones hovered for a moment before ejecting several objects that fell to the ground with muffled explosions. Almost immediately, plasma cannons rose up out of the rock floor and began to turn, searching for a target. Char put the rocket launcher on his shoulder, aimed and fired. The nearest cannon exploded in a blinding fireball. The others with rocket launchers picked their targets and did the same.

  ‘Urraaa!’ shouted Char, and he and his fighters ran across the rocky open ground, drawing fire from Solarians in the towers. Almost immediately, blue bolts streaked down on the towers from high up in the mountains above.

  ‘It’s the snipers!’ shouted Arthur as the Major led the Earth group at full speed behind Char. Reaching the wall, Arthur grabbed hold of the end of a long rope that had already been fired into the top of it. As they had done countless times in training, he attached the rope to a special motorised device, built into their clothing, that would help to propel him up the rope. When he let go, the device immediately snapped tight. He leaned backwards and found he was able to walk up the side of the wall, his rifle held out in front of him. As he neared the top, the line jolted and he came to a stop.

  ‘Damn it!’ He said.

  ‘Arthur, look out!’ shouted Sky, who was below him on a different line.

  As he glanced down, he saw Char staring up at him. Char was holding his rifle to his face and pointing it directly at Arthur. For several seconds, Arthur and Char just stared at each other. In those moments, the only thing he could think was: he is going to shoot me.

  ‘Arthur! Not down there!’ shouted Sky again, breaking the spell. And in the second that it had taken for Sky to shout, Char had swivelled round towards the nearby tower and opened fire.

  ‘Char got him!’ called Sky, drawing level with Arthur moments later.

  ‘What? Got who?’

  ‘The Solarian who was about to shoot you, that’s who!’

  ‘The Solarian!?’ cried Arthur, immediately looking back down to where Char had been standing. He was no longer there.

  ‘Come on, hold on to me and maybe this thing will be able to pull the both of us up,’ she said. Arthur held on to her and together they climbed up the remainder of the wall.

  There was no chance to pause or get their bearings at the top. Solarians in the nearby towers had already seen them coming over the wall and were targeting them. The towers quickly came under a hail of sniper fire, but it was not enough to stop the enemy soldiers from shooting back. Plasma shots were bouncing and exploding everywhere.

  ‘Come on, quickly!’ cried Arthur, running down the steps that led to the inside of the base. Luca, who was already at the bottom, pulled off the plasma launcher she was carrying and, taking aim, fired it at the nearest tower.

  ‘Let’s go, lad!’ shouted the Major, engaging several Solarian soldiers nearby. ‘That door over there!’ He pointed to a door that looked as if it led underground. Several of Char’s men were already positioned around it. ‘Get yourselves in there! I’ve got you covered!’

  Arthur looked at Sky. ’We’re going to have to make a run for it – ready?’

  ‘Yes!’ said Sky, double-checking her rifle was still in live mode.

  ‘No!’ came the faint voice of the cat.

  ‘Now!’

  Arthur and Sky, rifles at the ready, ran as fast as they could over to the door, firing several times at a Solarian who had appeared out of nowhere and spotted their run. The Major, Luca and several others were laying down covering fire.

  ‘I don’t want to be doing that again any time soon!’ shouted Arthur as soon as they’d reached the door and taken cover. Next, it was the turn of Margot and Vijay to make a run for it. Arthur and Sky raised their rifles and, taking steps outside the door, they also laid down covering fire for them. The pair had almost made it across when Sky screamed. Vijay had fallen: he was sprawled out on the ground in front of them. He wasn’t moving. Without thinking, Arthur ran forward, followed by Sky, and with Margot’s help they managed to drag Vijay to the door.

  ‘He needs help!’ yelled Arthur to the Argon fighter near them. Margot was doing all she could to bandage his wound and stop the bleeding. He had been shot in the chest. Moments later, Luca ran over to them, followed by another fighter. The unknown fighter removed several instruments from his pack and scanned Vijay with them.

  ‘He has been released,’ said the fighter to Luca.

  ‘Been released? What the bloody hell does that mean?’ yelled Margot, trying to keep pressure on the wound.

  ‘Margot… it means that Vijay has gone,’ said Captain Schmidt softly.

  ‘Oh God, no,’ mumbled Margot, letting go of him and falling backwards onto the ground in shock. ‘Not Vijay… he has a wife and daughter! Oh dear God!’ She shouted, grabbing her rifle.

  ‘Margot – where are you going?’ barked the Captain, trying to grab her by the arm. Margot broke free of his grip and ran round the corner. The sound of plasma fire followed her.

  ‘I’ll go and get her,’ shouted the Major, bounding after her.

  Unsure what to do, Arthur hugged Sky, whose cheeks were streaming with silent tears. He wanted to tell her that everything would be okay, or not to worry because it’ll all be all be fine, but it would all just sound stupid. He simply held her and said nothing. The Major came back with Margot, her eyes wide and fiery.

  ‘All of you with me!’ called out the Major, taking something out of his belt pouch. ‘The Commander’s daughter activated a tracking device and we believe that she must be down here. Char and his men will keep the Solarians busy while we go and get her.’

  ‘How do you know there aren’t a whole load of Solarians lying in wait for us down there?’ asked Yan.

  ‘We don’t! But we didn’t come along for the sightseeing, so let’s get moving!’

  Leading the way, the Major hurried into the tunnel, holding out the device he’d taken from his pouch, which was topped by a fast-blinking light. He was followed by Margot and then Arthur and Sky. Yan and Captain Schmidt brought up the rear.

  ‘I have a strange feeling about this,’ Arthur heard Yan say to Captain Schmidt. ‘Something as elemental as a tracking device… it strikes me as strange that, with all their technology, the Solarians weren’t able to spot that one a mile away.’

  ‘What are you saying?’ asked the Captain.

  ‘I’m saying that this all smells a bit fishy, that’s all.’

  ‘Have you told your con
cerns to the Major?’

  ‘No,’ said Yan. ‘As I said, it’s just a feeling… I’m sure that no one wants to listen to my feelings.’

  ‘I think you might be surprised,’ said the Captain. ‘ I just hope you’re not right, because it’s too late to turn back now.’

  Moving unhindered down narrow corridors and then several flights of stairs, the Major gave the order to stop and signalled for everyone to be quiet. Almost without daring to breathe, the rest of them stood and listened in the darkness. Far above them, the thump thump thump of explosions could be heard, but down here everything was eerily still. Without words, the Major signalled for the group to split into two. The first group were to spread out in case anything came at them from the back. Arthur, Sky and the Major then moved forward, following the Major’s device. It was flashing more and more furiously the closer they got to Finna’s tracking device. They were almost right on top of it… The Major indicated with two fingers that the prisoners should be around the next corner. Raising their rifles, the group slowly and silently turned the corner. There, in the gloom, a tiny red light flashed. It was the tracking device lying in the dirt.

  Arthur suddenly recalled what he had heard Yan say about something being fishy. The Major took a couple of steps closer to the tracker and then turned and ran swiftly back towards the group.

  ‘Everyone out now!’ He whispered. ‘As fast as you can! No talking – run!’

  The group ran as fast as they could, back up the stairs and along the corridors they had just come down. When they got to the door, they found Char and his men taking heavy fire.

  ‘It’s a trap!’ shouted the Major. ‘We need to get the hell out of here!’

  Char looked at Arthur. ‘Keeper?’ He asked.

  Surprised that Char was asking him, Arthur nodded. ‘Yes. The tracking device is just lying there on the floor.’

  As Arthur replied, Char raised his hand for him to wait, and put his other hand to his ear. A message was coming through his communication device.

  ‘Solarian Voltar ships incoming in three sars,’ he shouted to his men, then turned to the group from Earth. ‘Yes, Major, they are coming! Get out now!’

  Arthur, who had already noticed the Solarians had stopped shooting moments earlier, began searching for a way out. ‘Major! The walls over there are damaged – we can get out that way!’

  ‘Well spotted, lad. Everyone make for the walls!’ The Major shouted and led the charge across the open square. Char and his fighters were right behind them as they sprinted to the other side of the base and scrambled over the smouldering ruins. The Solarians had slunk away and the base was now silent, broken only by the sounds of Arthur and the others running for their lives.

  ‘One sar!’ shouted Char, looking up into the sky. Arthur followed his gaze. In the distance, two enormous battle cruisers were flying low over the mountain peaks, heading straight towards them – fast!

  ‘Oh no!’ said Arthur to himself and scrambled down the other side of the ruined wall. Checking Sky was with him, he ran as fast as he could towards the protection of the mountain. None of them made it there before the Solarian ships unleashed their devastating firepower on the base. Still running, Arthur never saw the waves of missiles that struck the centre of the complex, destroying everything. The last thing he remembered was being picked up by a wave of energy and thrown a dozen metres through the air before hitting the ground heavily.

  Arthur coughed and groaned as he opened his eyes. His head was spinning and for a while he could hardly move. He lay listening to a loud ringing sound in his ears and watching a billowing cloud of smoke rising high into the sky in front of him. As his head stopped spinning, he rolled on to his back.

  ‘Ouch! Watch it! I’m thin enough without your help,’ shouted the cat.

  ‘Cat!’ said Arthur, struggling to sit up and take off his rucksack. It was peppered with small burn marks. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘How can I be okay? Look at me, I’ve been singed! And luckily for me, you landed on your head,’ said the cat, getting out unsteadily.

  ‘Yes, lucky for you!’ replied Arthur, understanding now why his head was hurting so much.

  Sky! He thought and twisted round looking for her. She was sitting on the ground just in front of him with her head in her hands.

  ‘Sky,’ he called out, his own voice sounding distant through the droning in his ears. She didn’t seem to hear him.

  ‘Sky!’ He called again, this time louder. Slowly she lifted her head and looked at him, her eyes empty and bloodshot.

  Arthur crawled over to her.

  ‘Are you all right?’ He asked.

  ‘Not too bad,’ she said my ears are ringing badly.’

  ‘Mine too!’

  Arthur saw several Argon fighters lying motionless on the ground behind them. The Major and Captain Schmidt were already moving about, checking on Margot and Yan.

  ‘Are you both okay?’ called out Captain Schmidt whilst helping Margot to sit up.

  Arthur nodded.

  ‘You and Sky get up there to higher ground,’ he shouted, pointing further up the slope.

  Helping each other to their feet, they clambered up to the rocky ledge the Captain had pointed to. From here, they could view the entire area. Arthur lay down next to Sky and the cat behind a dip and looked over the top. His head was still throbbing.

  ‘Look at the base – there’s nothing left of it at all, just a burning hole in the ground,’ said Sky. ‘We were really lucky to make it out.’

  Arthur was also staring at it. A few seconds earlier and they probably wouldn’t be here now, he felt sure of it.

  He handed Sky a bottle from his pack. She took a few sips.

  ‘I can’t stop thinking about Vijay,’ she said tearfully. ‘He recently showed me pictures of his family, his daughter. He just wanted to do the right thing, you know, to help the others. And now he’s gone, and for what? Some silly girl who couldn’t control herself!’ Sky hit the hard ground angrily. ‘I took this photograph of him and his family from his pocket, to give back to his wife if we ever get home.’ She took out the photograph and passed it to him. Arthur stared at it quietly. He pictured Vijay in his mind and thought of all the things they’d been through together since they’d arrived on Andarra. He felt a sudden deep sadness. It was a sadness for Vijay, and for his wife and daughter, who would never see him again because he had dared to do what he’d felt was the right thing to do; it was for his mum and sister and stepfather back on Earth who had disappeared, and for his father who he still couldn’t find. Not wanting Sky to see the tears welling in his eyes, he handed the photograph silently back to her, picked up his rifle and scanned the area.

  After the attack, what remained of the Argon brigade returned to the tunnel entrance and regrouped inside. It was clear that the attackers had paid a heavy price. The brigade had lost over half of its fighters and many more had been wounded.

  ‘Our losses have been grave,’ said Sorin to the Major, who was staring at the lines of wounded as he waited to speak to him. ‘We were foolish to have believed it could be anything other than a trap. Perhaps, Major, we try to see hope where there is none and bind ourselves to worse fates as its consequence.’

  The Major glanced at Sorin, surprised to have heard him utter such words, and nodded.

  ‘I have also been instructed to inform you, Major, that as of this moment, none of the Earth group shall be allowed to return to the Nira valley before the Commander’s daughter has been found.’ Sorin looked distinctly uncomfortable at what he had just said. ‘I fear that this is more a reflection on events and not any attempt at rational reasoning. In any case, I am sorry to be the one to have to inform you.’

  ‘I see,’ said the Major. ‘And where would you suggest we go?’

  ‘I do not know, Major,’ replied Sorin apologetically and excused himself.


  ‘Well, you heard him,’ said the Major, sitting down with the rest of the group. ‘The bombs been dropped on us and now we have our marching orders.’

  ‘We heard him,’ replied Yan, who had already removed a holographic map of Andarra from his pack. ‘The question is, where are we going to go?’

  Sky nudged Arthur in the ribs. He shot a questioning glance at her.

  ‘What?’ He whispered.

  ‘You know what!’

  ‘Really? You think they’ll agree?’

  ‘Agree with what, lad?’ asked the Major.

  ‘Um… well, I know that this might sound crazy,’ said Arthur, his voice shaking slightly, ‘but when the captured Solarian told us about the Northern Plateau, it was the first time I had felt anything since we arrived on Andarra.’

  ‘And me,’ purred the cat.

  ‘Maybe, just maybe it means there’s a chance they are there?’ He said imploringly.

  ‘We could at least try,’ added Sky.

  The others looked at them, unsure what to make of Arthur’s little speech. Arthur noticed that only the Major didn’t look at him. Instead he was watching the faces of the others with interest. It was Margot who spoke at length.

  ‘I guess that if we’re not allowed back, then we don’t exactly have anything better to do… and we aren’t going to be getting off this planet any faster by twiddling our thumbs here,’ she said. ‘So I guess you can count me in!’

  The Major winked at Arthur.

  ‘You can count myself and Captain Schmidt in as well,’ he said. ‘Although it strikes me as strange and rather improbable that the Solarian should’ve been telling you the truth, lad, it is the only lead we have.’

  Arthur looked at Yan, who was busy studying the map.

  ‘Yan?’ He asked.

  ‘Hmm?’ asked Yan distractedly.

  ‘Do you agree about going to the Northern Plateau?’ asked Arthur.

  ‘Yes, yes, if everyone else is up for it, then that’s fine with me,’ he said, without looking up. ‘But in order to get there, we’ll need to go across the Spice Sea, by the looks of it.’