"It's too dangerous, sweetheart. And we have Raemond to think of. We must not draw attention to ourselves."
"Father, I don't care. What sort of Katraians would we be if we turned wounded people out into the night?" The old Aurian shook his head. He might not know who Hal was, but he had been around a long time and he made a good guess at what he was.
"Landa, remember when you were little and you brought home that wounded purrcus cub? Everyone told you it was too wild to tame, but you had to have your way. Remember how it bit you and you nearly lost your finger?"
"Daddy, please!" The young girl looked down to hide her reddening cheeks and the older man sighed to himself and looked up as if he had suddenly come to a decision.
"Very well, Landa. Get the med kit." He leaned his rifle back against the wall and walked over to them. "Raemond is my son," he explained. "Rigondal and he have been friends since they were children."
"She has a friend?" Starfire put in before she could stop herself. The old man smiled.
"Rigondal is a spoilt child, but her heart is in the right place and I know she cares for us. Since the Prince made his bid for the throne, Raemond has not lived here as his friendship with Rigondal is well known. He and his friends are hiding in.., well, there is no need for you to know that. Ah, Landa, put the med kit on the table and bring some beer for our guests, or would you prefer coffee?"
"Beer will be fine," smiled Starfire. She opened the med kit and nodded to herself as she saw it contained everything she needed. She motioned with her head towards the oak table and Hal eased himself up there, watching her work.
"If you like, I will wash and mend your jeans, Mr…", Landa looked down shyly and raised her eyes to meet his as if she had been practising the move in a mirror.
"Hal," answered Starfire, seeing that the gunman did not intend to speak. "His name is Hal." His hard grey eyes stared back at Landa without changing expression and Starfire gave up. She eased off the blood soaked dressing and sighed with relief. "The wound isn't infected and looks clean and there's some plastiskin in this kit that'll fix you up like new." She smirked, wickedly. "To do this right, those jeans'll have to come off though." Giving a resigned sigh, Hal submitted to the indignity of being lifted by Landa's father while the Starfire and the young girl eased off the blood stiffened black jeans. Landa looked away to hide her blushes and disappeared with the garment. They must have had a Vanity unit, because she returned before Starfire finished dressing the wound, carrying the trousers, clean and mended. Hal eased himself from the table and dressed himself, gently placing his weight on the wounded leg. The plastiskin had taken and apart from feeling a little weak, the leg functioned as normal. A dressing was not used when plastiskin was applied and all that was needed was another shot of pain killer and anti-infection. They had no blood substitute, however enough beer was going down his throat to counter any fluid shortage.
"You must rest before you go on," insisted Landa, waving aside all offers of payment." We have a cellar that will hide you in comfort." Starfire and Hal looked doubtfully at one another.
"It won't be light for another five hours," persisted the girl. You must rest here until the Palace guards stop looking for you. I will bring you some food while you gather your strength, then I will take you to the hidden base myself." Landa's eyes pleaded with Hal, but it was Starfire who spoke.
"Is it safe for you and your father to hide us here?"
"We will not be harmed; we have many friends at the Palace," smiled Landa's father. "Come, I'll show you the way down."
The cellar walls were covered with shelves carrying tinned and bottled goods. Along one wall stood huge wooden kegs which stored ale for the inn above. Landa's father reached between two of the giant barrels and pulled out a couple of folding chairs and a small deal table. It had place markings for the popular card game of Pan, and they guessed a good few illicit games were played down here after hours. Hal and Starfire placed their beer bottles on it and sat down, gratefully.
"Here you are," Landa made room for a plate of bread, cheese and fruit and handed Hal a cushion. Three loud thumps on the front door made them all look up.
"Who can that be at this time of night?" asked the young girl, tying her housecoat more securely. They heard her father's footsteps pace across the ceiling above them and fade away. He must have opened the door because they could hear male voices.
"It's Raemond!" shouted Landa, excitedly.
"Landa; No!" snapped Hal, his inbuilt compass pointing due 'trouble', but the young girl raced up the wooden steps and looked down at them from the top.
"I'll be back soon, and I'll bring Raemond to you." Starfire and Hal stood up, warily. The voices raised in anger, then there was a shrill scream and the sound of laser fire. Hal and Starfire looked at each other for a split second and then raced for the cellar steps.
They had just reached the top when an explosion sent them tumbling back down to the bottom. Masonry and wood began to fall all around them, demolishing the stairs, and the smell of burning filtered down with drifting, grey smoke. A shaft of dust speckled light came down from above and Hal pulled over one of the racks, jamming it against the opposite wall and spilling jars onto the floor. He crawled up it like a ladder and used the butt of his gun to punch holes in the ceiling above them. More smoke seeped down into the cellar and Starfire began to cough. Hal pulled himself out of the cellar and leaned back in through the hole he had made.
"Come on!" he rasped, holding out his hand. Starfire grabbed the offered wrist and heaved herself out of the cellar and up onto her feet. They found themselves in the little sitting room and turned to leave by the passage to the bar but found their way blocked by masonry and burning timber. "This way," called Hal, heading off to the rear door.
"Hal!" yelled Starfire, halting him as they rushed into the smoke filled kitchen. On the floor in a crumpled heap lay Landa. He had mistaken her little body for a pile of clothing. Ignoring the falling timbers, he stooped to pick her up and carried her to the doorway where Starfire was waiting. Hal lay the girl down on the dew laden grass at the rear of the inn. She had been shot through the back. The front of her pink, fleecy night gown had been blasted away, leaving blackened ribs sticking out of scorched flesh. Hal and Starfire had seen it all before.
"She tried to run," said Hal, flatly. "They shot her in the back."
"Laser Rifle," began Starfire, "short range."
"Standard Galactic Police issue," muttered Hal. There was a loud rumble and the whole of the thatched roof collapsed down into the building. The fabric of the inn was barely visible through the smoke and flames and they pulled back, away from the searing heat.
"We have to get out of here," began Starfire as distant shouting grew nearer. "Something tells me the locals aren't going to believe we had nothing to do with this." Hal lifted his wrist and peered at the little screen.
"This way," he muttered, heading off at a loping run. Starfire followed him without looking back. They wound their way through dark, narrow, cobbled streets, heading west, away from the town.
They walked steadily for two hours, using three bright moons to see by and falling back on a small torch when necessary. Starfire took bearings from her wrist link at regular intervals. Delta Ten was sending them a signal that they could home in on and it was working well, although it was weak and almost out of range.
"We might catch up with them before daybreak if they aren't travelling too fast," said Starfire. She turned to look back at Hal, who was following at a slower pace. His leg felt fine, but he had lost a lot of blood and still felt light headed and dizzy. "Do you want to rest a minute?" she asked.
"Not yet," he answered, plodding determinedly onward. "When I fall down, we'll stop." He tripped over a tree root and fell down.
"We'll stop here, I think," said Starfire, brightly, deciding to ignore the glare of disgust directed at her from the recumbent gunman. She sat down beside him, leaning back against the thick trunk of the tree. "I could do with
a drink," she gasped, gazing up through the foliage to the black, star littered sky above them.
"Are there any rivers nearby?" asked Hal, Starfire aimed her wrist about her, the tiny computer in her wrist link scanning for water.
"About a mile in that direction. We'd better head for it but I think your wound could do with looking at first though." She rummaged about in her tote and pulled out the med kit Landa's father had given her. She quickly checked over Hal's leg with the mobile mediheal. "The plastiskin's taking just fine. No sign of infection. Does it hurt?"
"Nope." answered Hal.
"That's good!" snapped a hard voice from the bushes, "cos you're going to be doing a lot of walking." Hal and Starfire dived in different directions, coming up with guns in their hands. They looked about the small clearing, then looked at each other. Gun barrels pointed at them from all quarters. They were hopelessly outnumbered.
"Give it up, Terrellian." said the voice, "you can't kill us all." Several men stepped into the clearing and Hal gazed at the hate filled faces, lowered his hands and let his big gun fall to the ground. A glance across at Starfire showed that she had done the same.
"Who are you?" she asked, as the dozen or so men walked towards them.
"We support Princess Rigondal," said a rough looking individual. He stood aside for a tall, well built Aurian, who shouldered his way to the front.
"I am Raemond," he said without emotion. "You killed my father and sister. Now you will die yourselves."
Chapter 11
The sky began to lighten and the stars were fading in the false dawn as Rigondal called for another halt and sank gratefully down on a grassy hump beneath a large tree.
"We are almost at our secret base," she explained, proudly. "Another hour will see us at the perimeter of its walls.
"Del, try Starfire again would you." asked Erion. There had been no contact with Starfire and Hal since they had left the Palace and Erion was concerned. She had asked Delta Ten to contact them every hour with no reply.
"Their comlinks could be out," suggested Raan for the tenth time.
"Both of them?" answered Erion. "More than likely they are out of range."
"If they are out range, I could back track until I pick up their signal," suggested Delta Ten.
"How would you find the way?" asked Rigondal.
"No, Del!" put in Erion quickly. She did not want anyone to know that Delta Ten was an android and he looked as though he was going to explain to the Princess about himself. Rigondal glared at him, expecting an answer, but the command from Erion had been enough. He was silent.
"You'd probably get lost, man," said Raan, "and that wouldn't do us any good." He smiled across at Rigondal, who nodded sadly.
"I am afraid I did bring you the long way round."
"I thought as much," said Raan. "Still don't trust us do you?"
"I thought I was a good judge of character," admitted the princess, but I have been proved sadly wrong. I still cannot believe that Estrada was a traitor. I have known him since I was a child."
"Perhaps Farrell got to him, or something," suggested Raan.
"I always thought he loved me, but I never thought he would go that far," said Rigondal, biting her lip. "He told me you were here to destroy Katraia, and I believed him."
"The Federation wouldn't have let it happen," put in Raan.
"But you were there yourselves. You could have been killed."
"Not us, sweetheart," grinned Raan. "They knew we'd be there and on our guard."
"They want us very badly," said Erion, "preferably alive, but they'd take a chance on a couple of us being injured in the explosion." She caught sight of Rigondal's worried face and added, "Don't worry, Princess. I promise you they were watching it all. If Raan hadn't stopped it, they would have stepped in."
"Why are you so important to them?" asked Rigondal.
"We have access to information that the new Commander, Roland, wants destroyed." answered Erion. The information she referred to was stored in the memory banks of Delta Ten, but she didn't say any more.
"He's also pretty mad at us." grinned Raan.
"That's an understatement," began Erion. "To say we have been a thorn in his side wouldn't begin to cover it at all."
"Yeah!" admitted Raan with a smile. They had not only outsmarted Roland and his Robot Commissioner of Police on more than one occasion, but had also caused him to look a fool in front of his men. "And we just blew up his passing station."
"There's that," admitted Erion. "Yes, you could say Roland wants us very badly indeed. We have become a symbol of the Rebellion; not by choice, you understand, but we are fighting him openly and we are still alive despite all his efforts."
"Why do you go on?" asked the Princess.
"Well, for one thing," began Raan, "all of us, for one reason or another, owe him a death."
"And for another," Erion went on," while he is wasting his resources on us, he is leaving others alone to plot against him."
"I cannot understand a man who would risk destroying a whole planet and its people to catch five others," the Princess shook her head sadly.
"Just don't underestimate him, Your Highness," warned Erion, "Roland is very clever and dangerous man."
"Yes, I can see that," she began, "but we Katraians have been masters of intrigue for thousands of years. He must take care not to underestimate us!" With that, she stood up, tossed her long hair over her shoulders and set off determinedly in the direction of her hidden base.
They walked steadily on until Rigondal stopped at a tall dark cliff face, its walls covered with vines and partially hidden by a thick covering of trees around its base.
"Keep close behind me," she warned, then stepped up to a tree, turned sharply left and disappeared. They found on following her, that one portion of the cliff face overlapped another, which formed a hidden entrance to a narrow tunnel. "We call this the labyrinth," she explained. "Raemond and I found this place when we were children. Only our closest allies know of its existence and fewer still know the way through the tunnels to the base."
Rigondal picked up a torch from a niche in the wall and ignited it, leading them forward steadily. The glow from the flames cast eerie shadows on the rock walls as they walked, turning left and then right several times. Erion was glad Delta Ten was with them, for he would unfailingly remember every twist and turn they took. At last, they turned another corner and Rigondal brought them out into a huge basin, scattered with tall, red rock pillars. They all stopped and gazed up through the shafts of sunlight high above them.
"Impressive, isn't it?" she said.
"It's beautiful!" gasped Erion. She looked across at Delta Ten. "Is it natural?"
"Yes, Major," answered the android. "It was caused by a combination of water erosion and volcanic activity. We are standing in a large natural basin in the ground, with pillars of rock inside it."
"There are ancient houses built into the actual rock pillars and the forest grows on the top," explained Rigondal. "It's virtually invisible from the air and the passages between the pillars are too close together for a ship to land here." They walked on, steadily and the Princess chatted about the base, clearly excited about what she seemed to consider an adventure. "We have brought in enough food to last a year, and there is a fresh water supply. The Federation will never be able to capture us in here. The path is too narrow for heavy equipment to be brought in."
They turned a sudden corner and found themselves in a clearing. Bright dots of dappled green sunlight could be seen far above them but the main source of light was from portable arc lamps that were dotted around the camp. Crude doors and windows had been cut into several of the hollow pillars and small equipment was spaced around the clearing. Although there were several mobile huts and chairs, there was no sign of any people. Raan and Erion exchanged glances and fingered their weapons. The Princess chatted gaily on." We have solar and ion generators that will.."
"Rigondal!" They spun round at the shouted word.
They were surrounded by several men, all pointing guns at them and with distinctly unfriendly looks on their faces. The man who had shouted to the Princess strode forward. She looked up at him in bafflement.
"Raemond, these people are.."
"They are spies, Rigondal. You have been tricked!" Denials sprang from Erion and Raan, but the menace of suddenly raised guns stopped them.
"But they saved me," explained Rigondal. "Estrada was the traitor, he was going to kill me. They have been telling me all about their Alliance."
"No, Rigondal, You have been tricked. They have a mind turning machine. It was used on Estrada to turn him against us. They sacrificed him to get these animals into your confidence."
"I don't believe you," gasped Rigondal, looking from Erion to Raan in alarm.
"We have proof," said Raemond gently. "We too have our spies in the village. Last night, two more of these pigs went to the Tavern and blew it up, hoping I would be inside."
"No!" screamed the princess.
"Yes, my love."
"Landa, and your father?"
"They are dead," said Raemond, softly. Rigondal turned a hate filled face to Erion, her little hands clenched.
"I will kill you myself for this."
"Rigondal, please," began Erion. She made to step forward, but then thought better of it.
"We found this at the Inn," Raemond held out a trinket, shaped like a star system with a yellow diamond in the centre. It was Starfire's little brooch.
"That's been planted," growled Raan, stepping forward, "she wasn't wearing it after the ball."
"Just drop your weapons, Federation scum," snarled a large, rough looking man. He aimed his rifle at Raan's chest, clearly itching to use it. They complied and he motioned with his rifle towards a small oak door with a little iron grill, set at the base of one of the rocky towers. Once they were inside, the door slammed shut and they stood in the semi darkness.
Starfire and The Planet Killer Page 13