Starfire and The Planet Killer

by Christine Westhead

  "This thing is overheating, we'd better get off."

  "You're right." Hal stopped the machine and waited for Starfire to slide off the back of the robograzer. He handed down the limp form of the Princess and lifted a long leg over the saddle horn before slipping to the ground himself. He took the unconscious girl from Starfire and slung her over one shoulder before heading up the avenue to the Palace gates. Her copper hair was so long that it almost brushed the ground behind him and swayed gently as he walked. Starfire looked back down the wide road through the woods but could see no sign of pursuit. The little robograzer looked a forlorn sight as it stood, white smoke dribbling from both ends. It gave a little wheeze, lowered its graceful head and all movement ceased.

  "I think we killed it," said Starfire, sadly.

  "You killed it," countered Hal. "It was going all right with just the two of us." They had attracted the attention of the Palace perimeter guards, who started to shout from the walls and point in their direction. The Princess was beginning to stir, so Hal lowered her to the ground and leaned her against a convenient tree.

  "What the.." she rubbed the back of her neck, made as if to rise and then thought better of it.

  "Take it easy," murmured Hal, squatting beside her. He pushed her gently back down. "You're going to be all right."

  "You tried to kidnap me!" she twisted out of his grasp.

  "He saved you, idiot!" snapped Starfire. The Princess opened her mouth to snarl out a reply, then frowned as she began to remember what had happened. By then, three Palace guards and a driver arrived in an open coach pulled by two large robograzers.

  "Are you harmed, Your Highness?" asked the Captain of the Guard as he jumped from the coach and snapped into a military brace.

  "A little sore," she answered, rubbing the back of her neck again. "If it hadn't been for this Terrellian, I would have been carried off by bandits and murdered." She made it plain by her tone that she considered the Palace Guards to be at fault in some way and they shifted nervously. She looked up at Hal. "Help me to my carriage," she commanded. She leaned heavily on him and stumbled as she stood up so, accompanied by the worried Captain, he picked her up in his arms, strode to the waiting vehicle and placed her inside it like a sack of corn. She settled herself with barely concealed impatience as the driver fussed around her with a travelling rug. Ignoring the young Captain, who stood holding the carriage door, she snapped, "Terrellian, sit here with me!" to Hal's departing back. He didn't turn around and continued to walk towards Starfire. "I order you to return here at once!" she shouted in a shrill voice.

  The Princess looked from the Captain of the guard to Starfire, who was staring at the ground in an effort not to smile. "Captain, I order you to shoot her!" Starfire looked up in surprise and stood very still as the Captain aimed his handgun at her head.

  Hal was two paces away from Starfire and she could see his eyes narrow. He turned around slowly, stepped sideways to stand in front of Starfire and put himself in the line of fire. He raised his sardonic gaze towards the Captain, and the young man met Hal's stare and held it, clearly terrified, but intent on following his orders. Hal's hand hung loosely near his holstered pistol as usual and he made no move towards it, but his grey eyes seemed to darken slightly.

  "I'm feeling generous today," he began softly, "and I can see that an idiot kid is giving you your orders, so I'll give you just the one chance to lower the gun and walk away. I won't give another warning." As soon as Hal stepped in front of her, Starfire quickly drew her own hand gun, nipped behind a tree and peered around it. Hal had his back to her, but from the frightened Captain's body language, she guessed Hal had treated the young man to the 'stare'. The Captain swallowed but kept his gun trained on Hal.

  "You're bluffing, Terrellian," the Princess yelled. "Now do as I say or I'll have you killed in her stead." The young Captain licked his lips, kept his gun trained squarely on Hal's chest and flicked his gaze to the Princess. In that tiny moment, Hal shot the gun clean out of the Captain's hand. His right shoulder jerked with the impact and the gun spun away. The Captain staggered backwards, hit the side of the coach and almost fell, screaming in pain and holding his blood soaked hand. Starfire emerged from her tree, aiming her hand gun. She and Hal aimed their weapons at the other two guards, who, like many others before them, were stunned into immobility at the speed of the cold eyed gunman's shooting.

  "Sir?" asked one of them, eventually, "may I help my Captain?"

  "Sure," Hal shrugged, holstered his gun and walked towards the coach as the other guards rushed to help their fallen comrade. He was shaking with shock and would have sunk to his knees, but was propped up by a man each side of him.

  "Hey!" called Starfire as they reached them. One of the men looked at her. "I'd go find the Captain's gun, if I was you." The guard looked perplexed until Starfire explained, "a couple of his fingers are still holding it. If you're quick, they might be able to weld 'em back on." The guards looked at each other, then one of them rushed off into the woods to look for the weapon. As Hal and Starfire drew level with the coach, Hal looked up at the shocked princess and her terrified driver.

  "You just got your man crippled," said Hal, softly. "Like I said, I'm feeling generous today. Normally he'd be dead. And so would you." They started walking again and the Princess waited until she thought they were a safe distance away and yelled,

  "I'll have you both whipped and shot!"

  "There's gratitude for you," said Starfire. "We should have let them take her." They had almost reached the Palace and stood back as the carriage rattled past them. It came to a halt at the foot of the Palace steps and a flunky rushed up to open the carriage door. As it opened, the Princess all but fell through it into the King's waiting arms.

  "Father," The Princess pointed to Hal and Starfire, who had reached to foot of the steps, "that Terrellian shot Captain Grey. I want him punished. He must be chained up in the square and whipped."

  "What the hell happened?" gasped Raan, who dismounted from a robograzer he had appropriated from somewhere. A few seconds later, Erion, skirts hitched up to her knees, turned up, seated behind their escort on another robograzer, closely followed by two guards that had been with the princess in the market.

  "What is going on here?" Estrada had materialised out of thin air again and watched in barely concealed anger as the blood soaked, half conscious young captain was helped out of the coach and up the steps by his comrades. Hal caught one of the guards by the arm.

  "Tell him what happened," he commanded.

  "I..er…." The young man stammered. He knew he was doomed to a life of unending suffering if he upset the furious princess, but then again he didn't want to be shot by the tall, intimidating Terrellian gunman either.

  "You!" Estrada pointed to one of the guards that had come back from the town with Erion and Raan. "You were part of Rigondal's escort. Tell us what happened!" he ordered. He glared from the now sulking princess to the frightened young soldier. "I promise you there will be no reprisals for the truth." Haltingly at first, the young man started to speak, then sped up when he found a version of the truth that put him in the clear.

  "Well, we were in the market place and then the Terrellians took Princess Rigondal away on a robograzer. We gave chase, Milord, and then the Terrellian man shot Captain Grey. We were too far behind to be of help and by the time we caught up to them, they had reached here.

  "So, the Terrellians kidnapped Princess Rigondal?"

  "That's what it looked like to me, Milord." The young man stepped hastily backwards as Hal made to walk towards him, then a firm, elderly voice spoke.

  "That is certainly one way of looking at the events, young man."

  "Milord Fabidon," Estrada bowed low to an old man who stopped his robograzer at the bottom of the steps. "You were witness to this?"

  "I was." The old man's robograzer was covered with a blue and gold embroidered tapestry and the richly decorated saddle was high at the back, like a little chair. A tough loo
king individual, seated on another machine, swung a muscular leg over the saddle and slid to the ground. He took the old man's reins and helped him to dismount. The old man wore very expensive, blue silk robes and a small, round, blue silk hat, decorated with gold flowers. He stared at Rigondal's escort, who looked very uncomfortable and shuffled his feet as the old man continued. "Her Royal Highness was shopping in the market and was carried off by a group of brigands. These Terrellians came to her aid, fought off her attackers and rescued her. From what I could see," he glared at the escort again, "her own men did nothing to help her." He turned to the hard looking man on his right. "Moon, please tell Milord Estrada what happened next." The tough looking man was obviously known to Estrada and nodded politely to him.

  "Milord sent me after the Terrellians and the Princess. They were on a single seater grazer and it packed up just through the woods. I followed to watch like Milord asked me to do. The Terrellian starts to carry the princess towards the palace. Then the coach turns up and he puts the Princess in the coach and starts to walk away. Her Highness now, she wants him to sit with her but he was having none of it and he kind of ignored her and carried on walking. She gets really mad and orders the Captain to shoot the other lady if he doesn't go and sit with her. Then the Terrellian shot the gun out of the Captain's hand." Moon stopped at this point and mimed a fast draw with an imaginary gun. "Man, he's fast! I never seen anyone shoot like that before…"

  "Thank you, Moon," Fabidon interrupted his guard with a wave of his hand. "Well?" he turned to the Princess's guard. "Would you say that was a fairer representation of the circumstances?"

  "Yes, Lord Fabidon," he whispered.

  "Can't hear you. Speak up!"

  "Yes, Lord Fabidon!" The escort looked from Estrada to the Princess, mouth gaping like a fish, until Estrada dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

  "You may go." He didn't need any more encouragement and fled, swerving around Hal as if he was an unexploded bomb.

  "Will somebody please explain to me what is happening here?" King Lendus, a confused look on his face, looked over his daughter's head.

  "I think rebels loyal to Farrell tried to abduct the Princess Rigondal, Lendus," began Fabidon. "These two young Terrellians foiled the attack and saved her."

  "We must give them all medals," the old king kissed his daughter's forehead. "Rigondal is my most precious jewel in all the kingdoms." He looked down at her and smiled, "Is there anything I can do to make it all go away, my treasure?"

  "Father I want him," Rigondal pointed to Hal. "Can I have him?" The King looked confused again, and the Princess continued, "he would make an admirable champion, father, and he would have to obey me then." Starfire choked back a snort of laughter and Erion stepped forward, silencing Hal's approaching outburst with a raised hand.

  "Your highness," she curtsied towards the old King, "Hal is my champion and I could not find it in my heart to release him." Rigondal, who had obviously never heard the word 'no' applied to something she wanted, contorted her face with fury and stamped her foot.

  "I will have my way," she screamed. "I must be obeyed at all times!" The King looked slightly embarrassed and it fell to Estrada to intervene. He bowed low.

  "Your Highness, this man is here with the Lady Erion's party and is Prince Farrell's personal guest." At the mention of her brother's name, a look of pure hatred crossed the girl's lovely face, making it look old and ugly. It vanished as quickly as it appeared and she spread a smile across her features. She bowed her head to Hal and Starfire.

  "I apologise for the misunderstanding and I thank you both for saving my life." She passed a trembling hand across her brow and appeared to stagger slightly. "Father, I feel fatigued. I shall go to my room and rest." The King smiled weakly and guided his daughter up the steps and into the Palace with Estrada following them like a faithful dog.

  "My Lady," Fabidon bowed his head to Erion. "I must apologise for this unpleasantness," Fabidon looked uncomfortable. "I am afraid the King has indulged his daughter to her detriment."

  "You can say that again," murmured Hal, not quite under his breath.

  "I don't know how he does it," muttered Raan, looking pointedly at Hal.

  "It's a gift," grinned Starfire.

  "I do not understand," Lord Fabidon looked confused, but Moon caught Starfire's eye and winked.

  "Hal has a gift for making enemies," explained Starfire.

  "I'm afraid it's nothing new, My Lord," sighed Erion.

  "Well I think she fancies you," Starfire nudged a tight lipped Hal. "Let's go to our quarters, then I'll tell you how Hal screwed up doing somebody the first good turn he has ever done in his life."

  "And the last," muttered the tall gunman.

  Chapter 8

  Del!" beamed Erion as they stepped into their rooms to see the android waiting for them.

  "I have completed the unloading of the ship," he bowed his head towards them in greeting. "It is also refuelled and on standby."

  Standby?" asked Starfire. She looked pointedly at Delta Ten as if trying to read something from his eyes, then gave up. The android motioned about the room with a graceful hand. "There were several listening devices here. I have de-activated them."

  Why didn't you say that in the first place," muttered Starfire, flinging herself on a richly decorated sofa and grabbing a large peach from the silver bowl nearby on a pedestal.

  "He just likes to see a stupid Lieutenant like you make a natural fool of herself is why," put in Raan.

  "Frag off, Captain," snarled Starfire, throwing the peach at him. He deftly caught it and took a large bite.

  "To get back to Starfire's original point," began Erion, "you haven't just left the ship on standby for no reason. Do you have any particular reason to believe that we might have to leave here in our customary hurried fashion or are you just doing it now out of habit?" Delta Ten stood in front of her and placed his hands behind his back.

  "While I was supervising the unloading of the ship, I made use of our main computer scanners. The natural Golden Bearmyl of this planet was supposed to have been contaminated by a low band radiation storm. I could find no sign of any low band natural radiation, although there should have been traces."

  "What did you find?" asked Raan.

  "An ion trail."

  "Ion!" muttered Starfire. "From a ship?"

  "Yes," agreed the android.

  "Recent?" asked Erion.

  "According to the port computers, no light ship has landed here for thirteen months, however the ion traces suggest a recent orbit or a pass at least."

  "How recent?" asked Erion.

  "I cannot be precise, Major, but I would say a light ship orbited or landed here no more than four weeks ago."

  "Do you think the Federation has been here?" asked Starfire.

  "It's a possibility," mused Erion, "but I thought my presence here was supposed to prevent that."

  "Have you seen Prince Charming yet?" asked Starfire.

  "No," answered Erion. "According to the guard who went with us to the market, Prince Farrell is to introduce himself to us at the ball tonight."

  "That should be something to see," Starfire helped herself to another piece of fruit. "Tell me, do you know if us lowly Terry's will be invited."

  "You'd better be," muttered Erion, darkly. "I managed to obtain the guard's trust and he explained things a little more clearly. Look, we have until Eight tonight. I'll tell you what he said." They made themselves comfortable and waited until Delta Ten passed round the coffee.

  "Now then," began Erion, "according to Captain 'What's His Name', our darling little princess is the King's only child and her mother died in childbirth. In theory, she is the only heir to the throne as Farrell isn't even the King's son. He was part of the package that came with the King's second wife, who died a few years ago. Anyway, Prince Farrell invoked a little known law concerning rights to the title by combat or something. The males always inherit the throne on Katraia and the council or wha
tever, ruled in Farrell's favour. The Princess is the people's favourite and many people didn't like it, especially when Prince Farrell was declared the next heir. Ever since the announcement, there's been what you could call civil unrest. Farrell's coach was set alight and someone stole his favourite hunting bird. It's been little things like that, but it has been getting worse. Estrada hates Farrell as well, which isn't helping. The Captain thinks he must be sweet on the princess because he follows her about like a dog."

  "There's no accounting for taste," mused Starfire. "Estrada doesn't seem to like Terrellians either so that makes him a dick twice over!"

  "Anyway," continued Erion, throwing her companion a glare, "Rigondal didn't contest the challenge, but it hasn't improved her temper. Her father is trying to keep her happy by granting her every wish and hoping she'll forget about it in time."

  "So that accounts for the look she gave us when she found out who we were," put in Starfire. "That was pure evil. You watch your back, Erion."

  "Thanks for the warning," said her friend. "I already gathered our sweet little Princess has a nasty side to her nature. Anyway, there's more. I found out about the Terrellians here too." She took a sip of coffee. "A few hundred years ago, there were Terrellian slaves here. There was some kind of uprising. Captain Thingy was a bit vague about it, but slavery was officially abolished here over two hundred years ago. The Terrellians that are here are the slave's descendants." She threw Hal and Starfire a smile. "There was a huge shift in public opinion and most of the slaves married into Aurian families. He doesn't think there are any pure blood Terrellians left any more. Anyway, being light skinned is in vogue at the moment." Starfire sighed and tried to look down her nose.