"It's not romantic, is it?" said Erion gently.
"No, it isn't." Raemond shouldered his rifle and walked forward without looking at her. "Do you think she made it?" Raemond asked after they had been walking for a while. Erion knew he meant the Princess and said,
"If she's with Raan, she's got more than an even chance."
"So you think she's all right?" Erion stopped and looked up at the young man.
"She's either alive or she isn't. You worrying about it won't make a scrap of difference either way. The best thing you can do for her is to keep yourself alive and you need all your wits about you for that. So try not to think about it."
"Is that what you do?"
"I have to do it. I wouldn't be able to function as a marine if I didn't."
The rest of the journey back to the Labyrinth passed without incident and ended with Rigondal screaming with delight as she ran to Raemond and threw her arms around his neck as she caught sight of him in the compound. Men and women came out of the little rock houses and greeted the returning rebels in the dawn light, some people scanning the group in vain for signs of their friends or loved ones.
"See you made it back all right then," Raan looked up from the computer console as Erion walked in and flopped down onto a couch. She accepted a mug of coffee from him and took a grateful gulp.
"How'd it go?" she asked.
"Those two guys Raemond gave me were good men," said Raan. "They took out three fighters, a planet hopper and a couple of ground cars while I piloted the Grennig out of there. Not many Trooper casualties though."
"We got the Grennig back, Captain, don't forget that was the whole point of the exercise."
"Yeah, we got her back," smiled Raan.
"Where's she hidden?"
"About ten miles due south at the bottom of a dead volcano. It's camouflage shielded and can't be seen from the air. She should be safe till we need her."
"How'd the Princess do?" asked Erion. She had sent the young girl with Raan, partly because she knew where the dead volcano was but mainly because she didn't want her running around in a fire fight and getting herself killed. Like it or not, The Princess Rigondal was the figurehead of the Katraian rebels and Erion did not want to risk her. Yes, the men looked to Raemond for courage and to old Fabidon for wisdom, but everyone on the planet knew who Rigondal was. She was their Princess and they would follow her after all this was over. However, she had kicked up such a fuss about being left behind that Erion had reluctantly allowed her to go on the mission under Raan's strict command.
"Ah, well, she did okay Major, but there's just one little thing…" The door opened and Rigondal and Raemond came in, the young boy Tomas between them. He approached Raan and raised his hand in the typical Aurian greeting. As Raan took it, the boy pulled Raan towards him and hugged him. He peered over the lad's shoulder at Raemond, his expression asking the question.
"This is Tomas," began Rigondal. "It was his brother that you waited for on the Pinnacle Flats." Raan nodded knowingly as the young boy released him and stepped back, trying to speak words that would not come.
"I did a stupid thing," he explained to Erion. "I was about to shut the ramp and I saw this guy get hit giving us some covering fire. Rigondal ran back down the ramp for him." He glared back at Erion's accusing stare. "Yeah, I know I should have left them both, but you gave her to me to look after." Erion glared at Rigondal as well. She had one simple instruction; to stay with Raan. That was the condition Erion set to allow her along. "It's my fault, too, Major," continued Raan. "I should have waited for her in the cargo bay, but I wanted to get the Grennig up in the air and I though she was right behind me."
"Look, it worked out all right so that's all that matters," put in Rigondal.
"That isn't the point, Princess," gritted Erion. "Your actions could have cost us the ship and got you and Raan captured. You just proved to me that you can't keep your word. I won't trust you again."
"I'm sorry, Major," Rigondal looked down at the floor and Raemond's jaw dropped. The Princess had never apologised for anything in her life. "Please don't blame Raan. It was all my fault. He told me to follow him, but I disobeyed." She looked up, with pleading in her eyes. "It was just so awful; the noise, the burning, the screams…" She swallowed and continued, "Jeriod, Paulus, Carter; they all died. I saw them die. Her bottom lip quivered, "Captain Raan told me to follow him and then I saw Marcan fall. I didn't want him to die as well. I didn't want anyone else to die." She burst into tears and Raemond took her into his arms. Erion caught his eye and they shared a look. Rigondal had seen the reality of war and it wasn't fun or a jolly adventure. It was just people dying needlessly in a horrible way. A young boy ran in and handed Raemond a comp pad. He took it and read it over Rigondal's shoulder. All colour drained from his face and he looked at Erion, clearly shocked.
"What?" she asked, warily, "what is it?"
"It's from the Winter Palace on Trianon," said Raemond, gently. "Two fighters followed the Royal Launch and caught up with it before it was able to dock with your friend's ship. They blew it up ten thousand Ks out. I'm sorry, Major, there couldn't have been any survivors; there's nothing left of it." Erion walked to the little couch and sat down, slowly.
"Is it confirmed?" Raan sat down by her side, looking straight ahead.
"The whole planet is to go into mourning for two days. They think it was us who were aboard. The Federation have already issued a statement to that effect." There was a long, uncomfortable silence.
"What will you do now?" asked Rigondal, quietly. Raan looked up at her in genuine surprise.
"Keep on at the Galactic Police till Jed turns up next week with the Planet Killer."
"But your friends...."
"They said we were the longest surviving unit," began Erion, her eyes on some distant point in space. "I think we all knew it was only a matter of time..." They both sat in silence and when Rigondal realised they were not going to discuss the matter further, she blurted out,
"Aren't you just the tiniest bit upset?"
"Of course we're upset!" snapped Erion, "but crying all day won't bring them back, will it?"
"Steady," Raan's softly spoken word acted like a slap in the face and Erion looked quickly away. When she turned her head to face them again, she had composed herself and spoke quietly and firmly.
"We go on with the plan. Jed will bring the weapon back, you can be sure of that." Erion rose from the couch. "I'm going to get some sleep." She placed her mug back in the dispenser for recycling and looked back from the bedroom doorway. "I suggest you all do the same." Raan raised a hand in silent salute and Rigondal and Raemond turned to leave. Young Tomas eventually found his voice and said to Raan,
"Thank you for waiting for my brother."
"That's all right, Tomas. I'm sorry I didn't ask before; how is he?"
"He has a fighting chance. He's going to make it, I know it."
"That's good."
"And I'm sorry about your friends."
"I'm sorry too, Tomas." Raan watched them leave then walked into the bedroom after Erion to lie on his back on one of the thin bunks, looking up at the ceiling.
"You'll get over it in time," Raan looked at Erion's grim face in the gloom.
"I know, Raan," she sighed. "I made the mistake of getting too close to them. I did it with my last Captain and troop. I swore then I wouldn't get involved with anyone else, and now I'm gutted all over again."
"They would have gone down fighting," Raan's voice said softly from the other bunk.
"Yes I know," she answered. "Maybe when this is all over, we'll find out what happened."
Chapter 15
"Any signs of pursuit?" Starfire kept her eyes on the heads up display on the front direct view port as she steered the Royal Launch away from Katraia.
"Nothing yet," Hal sighed in frustration. "I can't be sure, though. This is a pleasure launch. All I have are proximity warning sensors. It doesn't have any defence systems that I can see apart
from anti theft shields over the doors."
"I believe I have the Pinnacle Port Com," put in Delta Ten. He sat crouched at the back of the twin seats in the space normally reserved for luggage. Starfire couldn't hear anything, so she assumed he could hear it in his head somehow.
"Play it," she ordered and the android reached to one side of the cockpit and pressed a sequence of buttons. The speakers burst into life and they all listened intently to the background explosions and blaster fire as the com operator shouted above the racket.
"We're under attack, Commissioner. I repeat, Pinnacle Port is under attack!.........I don't know, Sir, maybe twenty or thirty rebels. It's a concerted attack on three sides. We can't get a ship off the ground." Hal and Starfire exchanged grins of triumph.
"I think we'll get away clean," began Starfire "unless they have anything in orbit."
"Unlikely, Lieutenant," put in Delta Ten. "They would not have wanted anything to show up on sensors. All their ships must be on the ground and shielded."
"Listen!" Hal waved them into silence.
"We have a Launch off the pad! It's firing on the rebels." The com operator's obvious joy turned to despair. "Oh no, they've launched their ship, Sir. It's firing on our Launch. They've destroyed it, Sir."
"Yes!" Delta Ten and Starfire clapped their hands together in a high five as Hal looked on in disgust. As far as he was concerned, robots were for heavy lifting or manual toil and this move looked like another one of Captain Raan's experiments.
"Way to go, Raan!" called Starfire.
"Yes, Sir," continued the com on Pinnacle. "I have the Royal Launch on my scopes. Launching fighters now."
"Fighters: what fighters?" asked Starfire, darkly. "I thought they didn't have any more ships."
"This is a fast yacht. Put your foot down!" snapped Hal. Starfire gunned the motors and the little ship shot forward.
"Well we certainly can't fight them," she said. "I just hope Jed is waiting for us or this is going to be a very short trip." A warning chime drew her attention to the limited control panel in front of her. "I have them; two ships approaching from Katraia. I think they're Wasp fighters."
"Damn it!" snapped Hal. "Android, can we outrun them?"
"This ship is based on the Wasp design and I believe it has the same engine," answered Delta Ten. "The fighters will be only single seaters but we don't have a weapons payload so it should make our mass almost equal. We should be able to keep in front of them, but we won't be able to draw ahead. Shall I alert Jeddoh Cloud?"
"No, Del," put in Starfire, quickly. "I want the Rising Star to be a complete surprise to our Police friends. They'll be monitoring our transmissions and I don't want to give anything away. We'll be out of sight for a few seconds when we orbit the dark side of Trianon. Jed's been in this game a lot longer than we have. He's not the sort to relax his guard for a second. As soon as he sees them behind us he'll fire on them before they can get a signal out.
Starfire's narrowed gaze scanned the instruments quickly, then flicked back to the heads up display. Hal felt helpless as he watched her.
"Are they gaining on us?" he asked.
"No, we're still out of their weapons range." Starfire answered him without taking her eyes of the scanner in front of her. "You were right, Del, they can't catch us up but they're not falling behind."
"The planet Trianon is in range," said Delta Ten. His eyes had built in magnification and it was several minutes before Starfire and Hal could see the tiny planet with the naked eye.
"I'm heading up on it pretty fast," warned Starfire. "If I slow down, we'll be in their weapon's range. I'll just skim it and then veer around, so hold on to your hats!"
"The Port on Trianon is asking for our ident code," said Delta Ten.
"I have it," answered Hal. He placed the small crystal Rigondal had given him into the computer console and flashed his fingers across it. Their com channel burst into life.
"Welcome, Your Highness. We were not expecting you, but I shall have your suite ready for you as soon as you land."
"I should think so!" snapped Delta Ten in an exact impression of Rigondal's voice.
"Do you have a problem with your com channel, Your Highness. We are only receiving audio.
"The stupid thing isn't working," he yelped. "Raemond, fix it. Make it work!" Starfire cut off the link and silence descended.
"Del, that is really creepy," she muttered.
"Ten seconds to Trianon," he said in his normal voice.
"Here we go." She pushed her fingers down hard on the starboard icon of the pressure sensitive glass panel and the ship's right wing dipped as it flung itself around the little pleasure planet. Rigondal had assured them that all it contained was a huge glass dome, under which was The Winter Palace and some very expensive mansions belonging to the elite of Katraian society. Trianon did not rotate on its axis and they had agreed to meet Jed on the dark side, which faced away from Katraia. The Yacht skimmed the planet and hurtled towards the dark side, where the Rising Star was hopefully waiting for them.
"I have an idea," said Hal. "How long before we can contact Jed?"
"Twenty two seconds," answered Delta Ten. Jeddoh Cloud's ship, the Rising Star was hiding behind the planet. They would have to be in visual sight before they could communicate directly.
"Let me know as soon as we are in range." Hal realised that as soon as they turned to orbit the little moon, the pursuing fighters would be out of sight and therefore they would be out of communication range.
"In four, three, two, one, now,"
"Jed, this is Hal. Don't bother to answer. Launch a life pod and align it with our trajectory now." He glanced up at the dark sky, where the Rising Star's silhouette blocked out the stars.
"Life pod launched," said Delta Ten.
"Starfire, catch up with it and dock with it as quick as you can."
"I'm on it." She guided their little ship underneath the pod and raised the yacht up to slam the mating hatches into line. As soon as it was pressurised, Hal and Delta Ten dropped the emergency roof hatch down and crawled up into the tunnel. They waited for Starfire, who placed the little hopper on an automatic course and joined them. Delta Ten hauled her manually through the tunnel gap and she landed inside the padded sphere to roll on the floor in a heap. Hal slapped his hand on the release mechanism a split second before the engine on the yacht burst into life and it carried gracefully on its way, shot around the little moon and headed back towards Katraia.
It passed the screaming fighters going the other way and they pulled up sharply and raised their noses to fly up and over, before executing a barrel roll to right themselves and carry on their pursuit. Starfire had placed the engines on maximum thrust but the launch wasn't far enough away to get out of the pursuer's range. Both fighters fired simultaneously and the Royal Yacht disappeared in a giant orange ball of flame. Debris spiralled outward from the explosion, but the missiles had all but obliterated the little ship and there wasn't a piece left that was bigger than a pebble.
The rescue sphere was richly padded in plush gold velvet and had a raised bench all around its circumference which could seat four people in comfort with their knees not quite touching. Starfire got up from the floor, sat on the bench and looked out of the one tiny viewing port.
"Here's Jed. He's not going to dock, he's going to reel us straight in." They didn't bother to strap themselves in, but grasped hold of the hand straps and waited while the Rising Star sent out a magnetic grab, which hauled them into its crowded front cargo hold.
"Welcome aboard, peasants!" Jed's drawl came over the intercom. "You're pressurised now, you can come on up. She's built the same as your ship so you should know the way." The sphere was weighted so that it always rolled with its door at ground level, so when Delta Ten activated the hatch release, they stepped straight out into the crowded bay. They wove their way past stacked boxes, hanging space suits and a mobile weapons locker before they came to the circular staircase that rose up from the floor.
They ran up three levels and found themselves in an hall identical to the one on the Grennig. Hatch number three opened to reveal the pilot section, complete with a grinning Jeddoh Cloud, his youngest brother Lon on the guns and one very large, black robot. Jed rose to meet them as they entered the pilot compartment and he shook their hands warmly, Terrellian fashion. Thirty Seven rotated his head all the way round and nodded politely,
"An interesting manoeuvre. I have never seen it performed before."
"I hope I never have to do it again, either," answered Starfire. "And don't give me the credit for it, Hal thought that one up." She removed the heavy wig and ran her fingers through her hair.
"It was a spur of the moment thing," Hal put in. "If I had given any thought at all to it, I probably wouldn't have considered it."
"Let's hope they fell for it," said Starfire, then looked Thirty Seven up and down. He looked suitably intimidating in black, shiny paintwork with the red and silver lightning insignia of the Galactic Police emblazoned on his dented chest. "They sure did a good paint job on you, Thirty Seven. You look positively menacing."
"Wait till you hear it with the voice," Thirty Seven droned on in the monotone that Rimek favoured. Starfire shuddered despite herself. "I've only seen the Alliance holos of Rimek, but I can see why he is feared so much."
"The recordings we have are only a few weeks old," Thirty Seven continued in his normal, melodic tones. "We have copied every dent and mark of the paintwork and I have changed my eye sockets to glow red as you see. As long as Commissioner Rimek has not changed his paintwork or body shell, I should be able to pass for him. I have all standard recognition codes taken from the data core on Castillon stored in my memory banks. It appears that they are changed every twenty days. That means we should have three days left before the codes are changed."
"We just have to get in there, get this Planet Killer thing and get out," said Lon. "Piece of cake," he grinned.
Starfire and The Planet Killer Page 17