The aircar opened straight outside and Raan steered Starfire through the baggage handlers and service crew to the aft cargo bay of the gigantic ship. A warm breeze blew dirty, grey sand around their feet and there was a trace of sulphur in the air. It slowly disappeared as they both grew used to the smell and they looked up as switchgear hummed loudly and huge doors began to drop down. There were three of them, situated under the massive rear engines and they all lowered with noisy motors and clanking sounds making a ramp for those inside to descend. There was a smell of burnt rubber and scorched metal mixed in with the tangy odour of aviation fuel that grew more intense as they neared the rear loading ramps. Foam dripped from a burnt out engine fifty feet above them and landed with a wet splash on the concrete floor beside Raan. They stepped back and looked up at the scorched and twisted metal and shared a look.
The sound of thumping feet grew louder as a group of Marines thundered towards them and they stepped aside to let them pass. They didn't look too happy to be arriving on Terrell, but at least they were alive. It wasn't much fun being in the cargo hold of a ship under fire as both Raan and Starfire could testify. It didn't seem to have affected the Troop Commander, who spotted Raan, gave him a broad smile and strode towards him, hand outstretched. He shouldered past Starfire as if she didn't exist but she was used to that and stood back to let him by.
"Raan," he beamed. "What are you doing on this doomed rock? I thought you were on a month's leave."
"I was Sir, but I've been recalled."
"Too bad, Captain. Hey, that was some ride. I thought we'd bought it." He lit up a black cheroot, oblivious to the potential fire hazard and ignoring all the prohibitive signs. He took a long drag and blew the smoke out towards the grey landscape. "Do you know who was riding shotgun? I was up on deck and saw him get hit pretty hard. If he got back, I'd like to shake his hand."
"It was Nik," answered Raan, quietly. "He didn't make it."
"Hell, I'm sorry Captain. Give my condolences to your folks. If it's any consolation at all, he got us through after all the others fighters bought it. I don't think we'd have made it if he hadn't drawn their fire."
"Thank you, Sir." The Commander clapped Raan on his shoulder and walked away. Starfire stared at Raan and raised an eyebrow, her expression asking the question. "He was my brother," said Raan quietly.
"He never told me," gasped Starfire. "He always said….."
"I can imagine." Raan looked down at his boots. "We never saw eye to eye. We had an argument the last time I saw him on Tragon Three."
"But he had a different name!"
"We're high-borns," explained Raan. "Our family name is Raan-Nikal. I didn't want to be associated with him so I chose my mother's name when I enlisted." His eyes took on a far away look for a moment and Starfire's heart went out to him. She touched his arm gently but Raan shrugged it away. "I don't need any sympathy from you, Lieutenant."
"And I wasn't giving you any," she answered, hotly. "I need all my sympathy for myself." She spun round, head held high, and meant to stalk off in a dramatic exit but collided with a tall, grey haired Marine, who stood in her path. "Get out of my way, damn it," she snapped and then realised that she had tried to elbow a full General aside.
"Lieutenant Starfire, Captain Raan," he said quietly," I'm glad you two have finally met." His expression softened. "I wish to offer my condolences to you both. Commander Nikal was a fine Marine; he will be missed."
"General, do you know why I was grounded?" Starfire glared up at General Dubois, Commander in Chief of the Aurian Base on Terrell. "If I had been with Nik I could have brought it in. I could have!" She had raised her voice and people were beginning to stare. Starfire slowly took a deep breath and stepped back. "I'm sorry, Sir," she babbled, face turning scarlet. "I don't know what came over me." The General raised his hand for silence.
"I will explain everything to you later," he stated calmly. "First, I want you to do something for me. Let's go to the Starport." General Dubois marched towards the ground level aircar door, the waiting marines moved hastily aside for him and he pressed his palm on the identipad next to the door. It opened almost immediately and they reversed their short journey to step out once again into the main lounge. They didn't stop at the main floor, but rose one level higher to the café balcony, which looked down onto the concourse. He ignored all the tables and chairs, which were arranged all around the edge, and walked towards a chest height glass barrier than ran all along the edge of the floor. He placed one hand on the shiny steel banister that topped it, leaned slightly over and peered down as if scanning the crowd. "Ah, do you see that man there?" he motioned with his head.
One man stood out from the first class passengers. He was tall, dressed in black and walked with proud grace, oozing menace and clearing the way for a large, pompous Aurian to follow him. This Aurian was extremely well dressed in heavy, embroidered silks and was followed in return by a trio of chattering sycophantic servants who orbited him like asteroids around a small moon. One of the other passengers, a young med tech if his white tunic was anything to go by, inadvertently strayed into the fat Aurian's path. Instantly the tall man put himself between them, his eyes cold and hard and the young man side stepped with a gulp. The fat Aurian beamed and waddled onward, the tall man keeping pace at his side like a lean, tamed wolf. He seemed to stiffen, his fingers brushing the grip of a huge blaster that hung low on his thigh. He slowed his pace and scanned the crowds with a narrowed gaze and then looked up to the balcony as if he knew that Raan and Starfire were watching him. He seemed totally unaware that he was the centre of attention and continued on his way, guiding the Aurian towards a group of merchants who were clearly waiting for them in the V.I.P. section. He was a gunman, a hired bodyguard and he was Terrellian.
"Will you look at that," murmured Starfire, not quite under her breath.
"Well now I've seen everything," stated Raan. They had drawn back from the rail as soon as they realised the gunman knew he was being watched and headed for the nearest aircar stage.
"I'm not the only Terrellian offworlder you know," snapped Starfire.
"Oh, yeah, "put in Raan. "Out of a planet of over a billion, there must be at least ten."
"That is why I need you to find the man," put in General Dubois.
"The 'Terry'?" asked Raan.
"Yes, the Terrellian. His name is Hal, Captain. I want you to find him, hire him and bring him to my quarters at eight tonight."
Chapter 2
The big yellow sun was slowly setting as Starfire and Raan walked out onto the surface of Terrell, making their shadows long. The air was dry, tasted of copper and smelt of sulphur. A cold, acrid wind stirred dirty grey sand around their boots as they walked and the odour of sulphur increased. The skeletons of a few ancient buildings poked out of the ground, listing and broken in stark silhouette; a reminder of the long gone civilisation that once lived outside. The only beautiful sight from the surface was the darkening sky above them, with the huge crescent shape of the planet Serrell, just rising on the horizon. Stars were beginning to show and glitter in the crimson sky, which darkened to deep black above their heads.
The aircar had brought them out onto the other side of the city, away from the Aurian Base. The only visible signs of planet habitation were ventilation shafts, communication dishes and maintenance ports. Starfire and Raan had just exited one of them to step out onto the rock strewn surface. It was just a concrete shed with a sliding door in the side for the aircar and said door was currently open as Raan had placed a rock in the way so it couldn't close. They would have fifteen minutes at most before the open door alerted the maintenance crews, but it was preferable to being stranded on the planet's surface.
Starfire looked around at the black hills and the grey sand without any enthusiasm. Massive wind turbines stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction and competed for space with the rotating solar panels that tracked the sun. Vegetation of a sort was making headway, but the trees were stunt
ed and misshapen and the bushes were sparse and spiky.
"You okay outside?" asked Raan. Starfire smiled at his thoughtfulness. Terrellians were known to distrust any form of air travel and considered going out on to the surface a feat reserved for a foolhardy, brave minority or the clinically insane. After the catastrophic Great Civil War, there had been nothing left on the surface of Terrell but the contaminated remains of every building, every machine and every living thing that couldn't get off the surface. For well over a hundred years, lethal radiation, tornadoes and hurricanes reigned supreme across the planet. The survivors who had made it underground had stayed there, gradually building an underground culture, which grew larger and more complex as time went by. People began to extend their caves, joining them with tunnels until a vast network of concrete and carbon fibre thrived under the surface. When the contamination finally died down, the underground cities were so well established that no one wanted to leave their concrete haven. It was safe, easy to protect and the Council of the Senate, eager to maintain control, did all it could to discourage trips out into the open or fraternisation with outsiders. Generations of living underground had bred a planet full of severe agoraphobics, but Starfire had been taken to Auria as a young child and her fear rarely surfaced.
"I'm fine, thanks, Captain. It's just rain and snow I don't like. Where I grew up, wet stuff falling from above means there's the good chance of a cave in, that's all." She was about to point out to Raan that if they were found out here they would be in deep trouble with the Terrellian Council and probably court-martialled by the Aurian Marines, but then she saw the way he warily scanned the scorched rocks. He must have known the risks they were taking but he raised his voice to speak above the whistling wind and said in a pleasant tone, "Terrell has breathtaking scenery don't you think?"
"It's a wasteland and you know it," she retorted. "You're speaking of my homeland you know; I could get a little touchy." They grinned weakly at one another then were both instantly alert as the sound of a falling pebble reached their ears.
"Is that you Cap?" called a whining voice. Raan stepped out from the rock they had dived behind and answered,
"It's all right Cully. It's just me and a friend, you can come out."
"She's a 'Terry', Cap." The voice had a wheedling tone that Starfire found increasingly irritating, but she'd had far worse receptions from Aurians. The little man stepped into view and she had a chance to study him in more detail. He couldn't have been more than five feet tall and he was dressed in filthy overalls with a logo that claimed him to be a sanitation engineer, third class.
"Cully, come and meet Lieutenant Starfire," grinned Raan. The little man sniffed and brushed a grimy hand through his lank, greasy hair. He wiped his other hand down the leg of his overalls and raised it palm held upwards, Aurian style. Starfire returned the traditional 'weapons free' gesture and pasted a smile across her features, trying not to notice the smell of dirty drains that hung around him like a cloud.
"Any friend of Cap's is a friend of mine," he droned ingratiatingly.
"Lucky me," she answered, dryly. Cully opened his mouth to speak again but Raan spoke quickly.
"Cut the chat, Cully and get to the point," he said, motioning Starfire to keep watch.
"I found your man, Cap. He's right here in the city."
"I could have told you that," retorted Raan.
"Yeah, but I know where."
"All right, where?" sighed Raan.
"First things first, Cap. I gotta live you know." Cully sniffed again, held out his dirty hand and waited for Raan to fill it with credits. When this was done and the bounty stashed away in his overalls, Cully motioned Raan over and whispered in his ear while keeping a wary eye on Starfire.
"Right then, let's go." Raan's voice made Starfire jump as her gaze had been turned away from them towards the aircar exit.
"Where did the smelly man go?" she asked. "Did he have the information?"
"Let's get off the surface first," answered Raan, striding across the sand to the waiting aircar. "I know the air is supposed to be safe but, man, it stinks!" Once inside, he shut the doors and programmed their destination using the information Cully had given to him. As they were no longer on the Aurian base they had to pay to use the aircar and Raan added an extra credit to ensure their privacy.
"Well, where are we going then?" asked Starfire.
"The guy we want is called Hal, like the General said. He's riding shotgun on the big fat Aurian we saw. And get this; he's none other than Dolton Blass."
"Dolton Blass the gangster?"
"The very same! Only don't let him hear you say that. He's managed to get himself pretty high up on the ruling council. They say he'll soon be Minister for Trade."
"Well I don't like the look of him," muttered Starfire under her breath.
"I'm sure he'll be all broken up about that if he ever gets to hear of it," said Raan dryly.
"So, we find this Dolton Blass guy and we find Hal."
"That's about it. They're staying at the Galaxy; got a suite on the bottom floor. That's where we're going now."
"You want to go into the city? In uniform?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Steel City's off limits," pointed out Starfire. "And besides that, Terrellians hate Aurians at the best of times: Marines they hate even more."
"Terrellians hate everyone," said Raan with a wry smile. "Why ask us to come here if they didn't want us around?"
"Because of the pirate raids, nothing else," explained Starfire. "Come on Captain, you know how they hate space flight. They don't even have any ships. How the hell could they fight a space war?"
"All right, all right, I'm sorry." Raan held up his hands in mock surrender. "We'll stop off at the base and change into civvies." They rode in silence for a while, then Raan, who seemed to Starfire to have the attention span of a kitten, fidgeted in his seat. "They still asked for our help though," he muttered under his breath. "Damn it, we're not even allowed in their fair city but it's all right for us to go out there and die for them."
"Oh shut up!" snapped Starfire; then she caught his eye. "Shut up, Sir I mean," she added hastily. Raan smiled to show there was no ill feeling and sat down beside her as the air car travelled on.
"Look kid, I know it's none of my business, but just how did a Terrellian end up a Lieutenant in the Aurian Space Marines?"
"It's no secret," began Starfire, "I was born here in Steel City. My father was killed in an accident when I was two so my mother went to work for The Aurian Ambassador and his wife while they were posted here. Anyway, my mother died too and Uncle Von and Aunt Mera, as I call them, adopted me. They were very kind to me but they were quite old and I guess I was a little wild. They took me with them when they went back to Auria and put me in the Marine Cadets. I've been with the Corps ever since. How about you?" Raan shrugged,
"There's not much to tell. All my family are in the Marines. Nik was older than me and he went first. I wasn't that bothered about joining, but then it's kind of expected of you in our family." He would have said more, but they had reached their destination. They stepped from the aircar into a deserted corridor, painted dull grey with a darker grey floor. Directly in front of them on the opposite wall, the stylised legend '1 to 30' was painted in bright yellow with an arrow pointing left and '31 to 60' was painted with an arrow to the right. They went in different directions and met again at the aircar door fifteen minutes later, dressed in white jackets and dark red jeans, which were the current vogue in Steel City.
The Galaxy Hotel was so important that it had its own aircar stage and the door opened silently to reveal a plush red carpet in the main lobby. All eyes turned their way and Starfire grinned at Raan.
"What's it feel like to be the odd one out, Captain?" Raan didn't reply. He didn't like the pointing fingers and hostile looks being thrown his way by every pale Terrellian and he began to realise what it must have like for Starfire on Auria. A few banner-waving youngsters were being hustled
out of the main doors by City Police and Starfire walked over to the desk to ask the clerk what was going on.
Well," he began eagerly, "Dolton Blass is in the bottom suite. He's booked for a month and paid triple rates. The manager says his money is as good as anyone else's so what the heck? Anyway, a few student types decided to protest about the Aurians coming here and taking all the best rooms." He caught Raan's accusing eye and babbled, "Well, live and let live, that's my motto." He spoke to their backs as they made their way to the internal aircar.
"Welcome to the Galaxy. Which floor sir?" asked the small robot attendant. Normally, a hotel aircar would have been passenger programmed but this was a prestige establishment. The little cigar shaped machine bore a strong resemblance to a rubbish disposal unit and hovered about two feet off the floor. It had a smiley clown face painted on it that someone in marketing obviously thought was happy but would have given a small child nightmares for a week. It was obvious that they were going to get nowhere until they answered it so Raan said,
"Bottom Suite."
"Thank you madam," it replied and the little car shot straight down for ten seconds and then stopped. With depth being a prime commodity on Terrell and space coming a close second, it was odds on that Blass would have taken a bottom suite of rooms, but even Starfire showed surprise as the door whooshed open to show a superfluous hallway. The machine hovered to one side and droned, "Bottom Suite Madam."
"Thank you," said Starfire on her way out.
"You're welcome Sir."
"Oh come on." Raan pulled her through the hatch, "Don't encourage it." They found themselves in a richly carpeted square hall. Directly opposite them were large double doors and another robot rose off its stand to greet them as they approached. It looked like a rubbish disposal unit too, but there was no smiley face and it was sprayed gold to match the ornate decor.
"We'd like to see.." began Raan
"Mr Blass has given strict instructions that he is not to be disturbed." It cut in with a droning, tinny voice.
Starfire at Traitors Gate Page 2