by DN Farrell
The King then looked back at Trellon and said. "Commander I am presuming your innocence, you are free to go. It is now late, Regis will show you to your rooms and food shall be sent there. In the morning please resume the medical program."
"But Your Majesty, what about your daughter, the princess?" Queried Trellon.
"This is an internal matter," the King retorted, "please stick to the program already agreed to by ourselves and your captain. Apologies about the head wound, Regis please give them back their communicators."
With that the meeting was over and they were ushered out of the court room.
Minutes later they would all be grouped together in a large guest room, which had several guest bedrooms running of off it. Food was brought and so too where their communicators. Trellon took his leave for a few minutes to speak with the captain and returning, the other members of the away team wanted to hear what the captain had to say about things.
"The captain is pretty mad about what happened," Stated Trellon, "but he concurs, that while we're probably in a trap, that we continue with the medical program and then get out of here without getting embroiled in Artemisian politics."
"But what about the princess?" Asked Science Officer Jebelt.
"Jebelt, I feel terrible about the princess, personally I would like to scour the castle and its grounds and see what I could find, but it would only make things worse. As the princess said to me, this is all a big trap. If we start snooping around, they will say that we are spies, the prudent approach is to stick together and don't let anyone here end up on their own, while this medical program is going on."
"Yes commander," Quro said, " we mustn't do anything to rock the boat. We don't know anything about this place, its customs or its politics, its best that we do our work and then get out of here."
"So it's agreed then, we stick together and hopefully we don't get embroiled in any more intrigue." Added Trellon. The group then finished their meals and they retired for the evening, a fatiguing first day on the planet Artemis 11.
Chapter Five – Ransom
Trellon awoke with a sore gut after a night of disturbed dreams. There didn't appear to be much that Trellon could do and as he quietly ate his breakfast along with his colleagues, there was an oppressive feeling of entrapment. They couldn't just up and leave, they would have to stay here for another few days and hope that nothing bad would happen, but it's hard to relax when you know that some unknown group of people are out to get you.
Trellon also thought about the princess and where she was now, but what could he do? He knew hardly nothing about this planet or its customs and anything which he could do, to help the situation, could easily be misconstrued and turned back on him by ruthless minded people, who wanted to take down the king's regime. All Trellon and the others could do, was to quietly get on with their work and hope that everything worked out ok.
After breakfast the away team all headed down to a research facility, in the grounds of the kings Castle and everyone made a concerted effort to stick together. Strictly speaking Trellon and Quro were not required for the medical program, but they stuck around for the sake of making sure that no one in the group was isolated and potentially framed, for doing something which could be thrown back into the faces of the king and the Federation.
About an hour into their work Du Brien, Regis's assistant came and wanted to speak with Trellon.
"Commander the King wants to see you." He said and the whole group started to assembly. "No just you commander, everyone else just get on with your work please."
Together silently Du Brien and Trellon walked over to the court of the king. Once there, they met the king who appeared agitated and Regis began the introductions.
"Commander we have just received the ransom note and in it they have requested you to deliver the ransom!"
Trellon just looked at Regis realizing that a trap had just been sprung, but like the fly trapped in the spider's web, he would have to wait and see when the spider would come and appear, so as to eat him!
"Trellon I would appreciate your help in this." The King then said. "My daughter's safety is resting in your hands." He continued then pointing over towards Regis, Regis nodded at a huge man who stood at the far end of the room. The man was nearly seven feet in height and was dressed with a sort of a skirt and boots and instead of a top, he was bear chested save for two leather straps, which crisscrossed over his huge muscular torso and upon which various weapons were draped. He had what looked like an automatic version of a crossbow, which he held on his back, he had a large sword, a dagger attached to a belt buckle, a blaster was also attached therein and a large spear, which like the crossbow, was attached to one of the straps, which draped across his torso.
"This is Saron," Regis said, "he is the Kings Champion and he will go with your to provide protection."
The huge man walked over and stood beside Trellon, faced the king and bowed. Trellon took a quick look at the man, with the low brow and heavy set Neanderthal type face cut and knew with one look, that this man meant business. Well at least he wouldn't be on his own, unless Saron was also in on the conspiracy, in which case God help him!
"Commander Trellon, Saron please follow Du Brien, down to the vaults and take the necessary amount in gold coinage and then bring it to the location where my daughter is held." The King said imploringly.
"Hhhhm." Trellon cleared his throat and then addressed the king. "Your Highness, this could be a trap, they might take the gold and not deliver your daughter, how can you trust them?"
The king looked back sternly at Trellon and then gave him his answer. "The kidnappers have requested that we meet them in a lonely place to swap the gold for my daughter. They explicitly ordered no armed forces to be present commander. Although this kingdom appears antiquated and quint, this is only a front." He said while waving his right hand from side to side. "We are up to speed with modern advances in technology. We choose to live this lifestyle, because it is in keeping with our traditions and our culture, but these kidnappers can easily evaluate electronically, how many people we send out and I cannot take chances with my daughter."
"So we're just supposed to hand over the gold and hope for the best?" Queried Trellon.
"No commander, you can use your common sense and make sure that the gold is given at the same time my daughter is swapped. Will you do this for me commander?"
"Well of course Your Highness."
"I know you have just arrived, in our fair land, and that it goes against all kingly etiquette to ask a guest to undertake a dangerous pursuit like this, but what am I to do, what would you do if it where your daughter who had been kidnapped?"
"Well of course Your Highness, I will do it." Replied Trellon. "But what about Saron, will they not complain about him been there also?"
The King smiled a wry smile and then addressed Trellon one more time. "No commander, in our culture one person alone would never escort the princess, she is entitled to a champion and a couple of assistants. Two men will come with you to carry the gold and Saron of course, this will be acceptable to the kidnappers."
Trellon just bowed and with that the king signalled for Du Brien, to show them to the treasury building. As Trellon reached the door, while walking backwards, so as to not offend the king, the king addressed him one more time.
"Trellon, a more precious task I could not ask of thee, please bring back my daughter." He said quietly with a touch of desperation in his pleading voice and with that Trellon, Saron and Du Brien left the chamber.
The Treasury
Down at the treasury, Du Brien brusquely pointed towards two men, who were dressed in short red skirts and golden colored tops, with bright red coloured scarfs, wrapped around their heads. He looked over at the treasurer, the man who handled the financial transactions at the treasury, and the man indicated for the two men to pick up a small wooden chest.
The small wooden chest was about twenty four inches in length, fifteen inches in height and twelve
inches in width and had gold plated hinges and corner covers. The treasurer opened up the lid, which revealed many kilograms of gold coinage, just sitting there glistening inside the small trunk.
"One hundred kilograms of gold coins, as requested." Said the treasurer and Trellon just stared at it, he had never seen so much money, in one place at one time before.
Quickly the treasurer closed and sealed the lid and then the two men bent down and placed a long wooden pole through two openings, one either end of the wooden trunk. They then made a quick heave and lifted up the pole, so that it rested on their shoulders, with one man in front of the trunk and the other man behind the trunk. They had wrapped a scarf around their shoulders, so as to support the weight of the pole, without hurting their shoulders, and then they proceeded to walk out of the treasury building.
"Saron knows where to go Commander, simply follow him and all will be well." Stated Du Brien, who once again gave Trellon a wry smile. "And Commander if you could leave your communications device here, that would be appreciated."
"Why do you want my communicator?" Trellon asked.
"Oh we want to keep this matter private, no need for your Federation colleagues to know the most intimate challenges, been faced by the royal household of Artemis 11." Replied Du Brien.
Trellon just stared back at him, so Du Brien asked once again. "Humour me please Commander."
Trellon didn't like the idea of handing over his communicator, but then again he didn't want to make a scene either, so he took of the small badge communicator, which was attached to this breast, and handed it over to Du Brien, then he turned and followed Saron and the two trunk bearers out of the castle grounds.
The March
It was summer time in the equatorial region, where the great regal city of Tar Palin was located. The temperature was in the low twenty's celsius and as Trellon followed Saron, who followed the two trunk bearers, it was turning out to be a pleasant walk through a scenic location. Until now Trellon had only seen the castle and its grounds, which were impressive and old fashioned, with a distinctly old worldly European feel about them. But now as they walked off, away from the castle towards some woods, he could see that the city of Tar Palin was really like a very large old world village, or series of villages, with the inhabitants largely wearing skirts, turbans and robes. It appeared to be a mix of old European culture, fused with ancient Middle Eastern culture, from what Trellon could see. Something which always fascinated him, particularly in the kolatian Quadrant, there was a tendency for earthly cultural traits to re assert themselves in different ways, as if all of these cultural attributes where really universal at heart , with each individual society merely copying some aspects of them.
After half an hour or so, the group reached the woods and they followed a narrow trail, which lead through them. Hours passed and every half an hour or so, the trunk bearers would say something to each other, then they would make a grunt noise and with that they would pass the trunk overhead and swap shoulders, so as to relieve the pressure of the one hundred kilogram plus trunk, from hurting their shoulders.
Finally they came to a clearing, where the midday sun was glittering of off a fast running stream. As they walked through this area, Trellon thought to himself, that this was a magnificent spot for a picnic and no sooner had he thought this than Saron indicated for the party to stop.
"We break for lunch here." He said brusquely and with that the two trunk bearers let down the trunk onto the ground and Saron pointed to them, to sit either side of it and for Trellon to sit beside him on the other side. The four men where now positioned around the trunk. As they sat there, Saron reached around to a large cloth bag, which he had attached to his belt buckle and as he opened it, it revealed a dozen or so roast chicken legs and several chicken breasts. Starting with Trellon, he distributed their packed lunch and then reaching around again to a large pouch with water in it, then he distributed this amongst the group. The group of men ate in solemn silence, for no one appeared to be interested in speaking, maybe because of the inherent fear which came with such a job.
Finally Saron looked over at Trellon and said. "Commander, we are at the half way mark now." Then pointing upwards, at a nearby mountain he said. "We must climb this mountain, it's not very high, maybe two thousand feet, then we have to meet the kidnappers in a famous temple there."
Trellon nodded affirmatively and so they ended their lunch and prepared to climb the small mountain. The mountain had a fairly low gradient, so it was a leisurely climb for Trellon and Saron, but for the poor trunk bearers, they had to huff and puff their way along. Furthermore, now and again they came to a rocky section, which required the trunk bearers to slow down to a snails place. Two hours went by and they were only half way up the mountain. They took a quick water break and then once more they started to climb, finally arriving at the top of the mountain, about four and a half hours after they began to ascend it.
Once on the top of the hill, they could clearly see a large stone like structure in the distance, the Temple of Qorabo. The temple was a large stone structure, which appeared to consist of a series of rectangular buildings, connected together, across an acre or so of mountainous landscape.
"Wait here." Saron said and then he disappeared at speed, in order to make a quick recy of the temple surroundings. Trellon and the trunk bearers just sat in an open piece of ground and waited. Every now and again, Trellon could make out Saron's hulking frame, moving at substantial speed across the terrain. About five or six minutes later, he returned and was slightly out of breath.
"I have checked out the four directions and there are no armed forces hidden out of sight, whoever we have to deal with must be residing within the temple itself."
Trellon nodded and stood up, the only thing which they could do now was to walk into the temple and see how things shape up. Once more the bearers started walking forward, followed in line by Trellon and then Saron.
Trellon impulsively kept his right hand near his blaster gun holster. Trellon was kitted out in his navy blue service uniform, consisting of a dark navy blazer and dark navy pants. As standard equipment, he was wearing his holster with a blaster attached and he always carried a multipurpose dagger, which was attached to a holster near his blaster. Trellon wished he had more armaments, like Saron, who appeared to be ready to fight world war III. But he would see what he could do with a blaster and a dagger.
As they approached the main entrance to the temple, there was just one female monk standing at the door, dressed in an ochre colored robe, which was hooded and covered most of her face. She ushered them inside, where they were led by another female monk, towards a central area of worship, deep inside of the temple.
They finally came to a standstill, in a large hall which was decorated with fantastical frescoes, which outlined the galactic origins of the planet of Artemis and the central most picture depicted a seventy foot tall painting of a beautiful brown skinned lady in white robes, with a halo around her head.
As they stood there Saron addressed him. "Commander, the Temple of Qorabo is dedicated to the Great Mother Goddess Urchil. Men are not normally allowed in this temple, but yesterday the kidnappers forcibly took over the temple, knowing full well that the king would never attack it with an armed force, as this would be sacrilege."
Trellon looked over, or rather up to Saron and whispered. "But what about the princess?" Saron just placed his right hand on Trellons shoulder and gave him a look, which suggested that he should wait patiently.
Five minutes later, they could hear a rumbling and then Trellon could hear a voice coming from behind them. "Stay where you are and drop your weapons." Trellon could hear a man's voice and then both Saron and Trellon, looked back over at where the man was standing. He was standing on a second floor landing, looking over at Trellon and Saron. The man had his face covered by a cloth and there was a turban on his head, so Trellon could not make out his facial features, but by the tone in his voice, Trellon could pick up on his sini
ster nature, and to his right hand side stood the Princess Harahan. The bearded man had a knife in his hand and had it perched dangerously close to the princess's neck and the princess looked strained and worried, as she stood there.
"Drop your weapons I say!" Exclaimed the man and with that Saron started to de-weaponize himself, which could take all day, Trellon thought to himself.
"That includes you Commander, take off your blaster." He spoke once again and Trellon obliged him, by taking of his blaster and dropping it to the floor, but he didn't take off his dagger. Trellon stood there and his dagger seemed to go unnoticed, it might prove handy perhaps, Trellon thought. Finally Saron had taken off all of his more obvious weapons and left them on the floor.
"The gold Commander." The man demanded.
"The girl." Trellon retorted.
"Send over the gold and you will get the girl." The man responded.
"Aha, I wasn't born yesterday, what's your name anyhow?" Trellon queried, but the man just stared back at him.