The Samaradee

©2007 Ian Hobson

'Do you get the feeling we're being watched, OC?' Jingle asked, her voice echoing around the amphitheatre. Juliet OC and Jingle had arrived early for a meeting with the King of Shenzhen; he had requested the presence of the five samaradee. The samaradee were soldiers of fortune, and Juliet OC was their leader.

'Maybe,' Juliet answered. She smiled at Jingle. The two of them could not have looked more different. Juliet was tall and slim with fiery red hair, and was said to be the most beautiful woman in the Seven Galaxies, while Jingle was a diminutive halfbreed, part Shenzhenese and part chimpanzee, the result of a cruel genetic experiment. They both looked up at the night sky as one of the stars became brighter and plummeted towards them.

It was Styxbroox. He could fly faster than most spacecraft and almost as fast as an inter-star voyager. As he decelerated he morphed from rocket shape to a more recognisable form: humanoid but larger, with an upper-body almost as wide as an average Earth-man is tall. As he touched down he nodded a greeting to Juliet and Jingle. 'What is this place?' he asked as he turned and looked around the huge tiered gallery, taking it to be some kind of primitive launch pad.

'It's a copy of a Roman amphitheatre,' replied Juliet. 'The original was on planet Earth.'

'Roman?' Styxbroox looked puzzled. 'Do they rule there?'

'A little under 4,000 Earth-years ago they did.' Jingle answered the question. She liked to show she was not just an ugly face, and to educate Styxbroox who was better known for his brawn than his brain. Juliet found the way Jingle treated Styxbroox as her student amusing; but they did, after all, have one thing in common: Styxbroox was also a kind of halfbreed; half human, half machine.

The amphitheatre was filled with noise and bright light as Mikeyadriano arrived, racing through the main entrance on his Harley Davidson motorcycle, a restored Earth-built relic from the twenty-first century. The machine had been converted to nuclear, but he liked to make use of the sound effects his friend Gareth had installed.

'Hi, Mickey!' Jingle lopped over to welcome him.

'Jingle, how ya doin!' Mikeyadriano leapt off the Harley and gave her a high-five. As always, he was dressed like an American cowboy, having been born in Wyoming, Planet Earth during the second nuclear war. 'Hi, OC. G-G-G-Gareth not here yet?'

'He'll be along,' said Juliet.

'He'd be late for his own c-c-cremation.'

'Go easy on the mickey-take,' said Jingle. 'Gareth's been having treatment for his stutter.'

'Okay, I'll go easy... Hey, Styxbroox, you old hunk of metal.' Mikeyadriano walked over to Styxbroox and gave him a friendly punch in the gut and then winced theatrically, as he withdrew his fist. 'Man you really are all metal.'

Styxbroox frowned; he had no sense of humour.

Mikeyadriano turned to face Juliet; she was dressed for business in loose fitting, green and grey military fatigues, yet she still looked as though she had just stepped straight out of a fashion-hologram. 'So why are we here, OC? Trouble?'

'I th-th-th-think we're about to find out.' replied Gareth, who had suddenly materialised beside Juliet wearing a gold-coloured, hooded suit. His associates stared at him and were about to ask just how he had done that. But there was no time, as a section of the amphitheatre's stone tiers had begun to hinge silently upwards, creating a large rectangular doorway, through which walked a young Shenzhenese warrior, dressed in traditional battle armour, complete with ceremonial sword.

'His highness, the King, will see you now,' he said as he approached the five samaradee. He gave Jingle a sidelong glance and then turned and strode purposefully through the stone doorway. He had spoken Shenzhenese, so Jingle translated for Gareth, Styxbroox and Mikeyadriano. The Samaradee followed the warrior as he led them along a dimly lit and ever narrowing tunnel, which echoed to the sound of Styxbroox's metallic footsteps and Mikeyadriano's cowboy boots, while the stone doorway closed silently behind them.

Mikeyadriano walked beside Gareth. 'Where in the seventh heaven did you come from, Gareth? That was one hell of a stunt.'

Gareth was from Lupusaeth - a planet about as far from Shenzhen as it is possible to be within the Seven Galaxies – yet life there had evolved in pretty much the same way, with intelligent anthropoids the dominant race. 'Just a little s-s-something I've been working on.' he replied. 'I wanted to see if I c-c-could fool all of you.' Gareth was a technical genius.

'So we were being watched,' observed Juliet.

'S-s-sorry, OC.'

'Camouflage,' said Jingle. 'One-hundred percent perfect camouflage. That's why we couldn't see you. Right?'

'One-hundred per-s-s-s-cent accurate, Jingle.'

'S-s-s-still having a little trouble with...'

'Can it, Mickey!' Jingle gave Mikeyadriano a disapproving look as they passed through another doorway and into a large hall-like chamber hewn out of solid rock and lit by flaming torches mounted at intervals along the walls. An armed guard stood at attention at each corner of the chamber, while at its centre stood the King of Shenzhen accompanied by three Shenzhenese warriors and Mdickun, his senior advisor.

'Welcome,' said the king as he turned towards his guests. 'My apologies for meeting you here, this hall has not been used for a long time, but there is a need for secrecy.'

Juliet OC approached the king first thinking that, despite his regal bearing and fine gown, he looked older and more frail than when she had last seen him. She bowed deeply, and in fluent Shenzhenese said, 'It is a great honour to be in your presence once more, your highness.'

'You grow more beautiful with every passing year,' said the king with a smile. 'And no doubt you and your companions are as formidable as ever?' He acknowledged the other four Samaradee as each in turn bowed, though Styxbroox's bow was little more than a nod. The king's expression changed again; he looked troubled.

'How can we be of service?' Juliet asked.

The King spoke only Shenzhenese, so Juliet was not surprised when he said, 'Mdickun will explain.' He gestured to his adviser who stepped forward and bowed stiffly to Juliet. Mdickun was an outcast from the planet Fventurini. To Jingle he looked like a very large praying mantis, but Juliet had met him before and was accustomed to his insect-like looks. His voice was little more than a whisper but he spoke Josiedog, a simple language, common to most planets in the seven galaxies and understood by the five Samaradee.

'As you will have heard,' he said, 'war is brewing between our neighbours the Katerini and the Cuzwejamin. And as you may know, his highness has peace treaties with both and cannot take sides. Indeed his highness Prince Jacobea is betrothed to Princess Amidala of the Katerini.'

Juliet glanced at the warrior who had led them to the chamber. She had recognised him when he had entered the amphitheatre, though he had been little more than a child when she had last seen him. He was now standing beside his father, the king, and looking every bit as troubled. 'Why not bring the wedding forward?' she asked. 'Then the princess can be safely ensconced here in Shenzhen.'

'His highness had planned to do exactly that,' replied Mdickun. 'In fact, with the agreement of King Dermott II of Katerini, the princess was on her way here when her craft was attacked by Cuzwejamin forces. And now we have learned that the princess is being held hostage.'

'We should declare war on the Cuzwejamin,' said Prince Jacobea, also speaking Josiedog. 'The Katerini are our true allies.' There was a murmur of agreement from the other warriors present, but the king, understanding the tone of what was said, held up a hand to silence them. 'I will not be the one to break the treaty,' he said.

'Do you know where Princess Amidala is being held?' Juliet asked.

'We do,' replied Mdickun. 'We recently intercepted transmissions to and from a Cuzwejamin spy operating here in Shenzhen; a traitor called Biggus. He is now under sentence of death, but the transmissions revealed that Princess Amidala is being held in the Silver Spun Sand mines on a Cuzwejamin moon known as Littleditty.'

'And you want us to rescue the princes?' Jingle asked.

'Precisely,' said Mdickun. 'You are free agents. Your involvement would not be seen as an act of war.'

'We will pay you well,' said Prince Jacobea, resigned to accepting his father's decision.

'There will be no need for payment,' said Juliet; she had a score to settle with the Cuzwejamin military, they had played a major part in the destruction of her home planet.

***

The Silver Spun Sand mines were named after the process by which the silver was extracted from the sandy ore. In its day the city that had sprung up beside the mining area had hosted almost a million workers and family members. But the mines had long since played out and much of the site had been converted into a military base.

With her spacecraft, Sanddancer, in stealth mode and approaching from the unoccupied side of Littleditty, Juliet OC touched down inside a crater that, with luck, would keep the craft safe from detection. The journey had taken 2.47 days - measured in Shenzhen-time – and Styxbroox had grumbled about the lack of speed for most of the way. But their arrival was timed to coincide with an eclipse that would throw Silver Sand City into darkness.

Jingle swivelled in her seat and checked the sensors. 'Gravity reads 0.93. Atmosphere non-toxic, but almost zero oxygen beyond the city's life-support shield.'

'No problem,' said Styxbroox. He was keen to leave the confines of the flight deck which, although relatively spacious, was not ideally suited to someone so tall.

'Not a problem for you and OC,' said Mikeyadriano, 'but some of us need a little oxygen now and then.'

'You and Gareth take the shoebox,' said Juliet. The shoebox was the nickname for the two-man transporter that was stored in Sanddancer's hold. 'Jingle, you stay with Sanddancer, but be ready to move at a moment's notice.'

'And how will I travel?' Prince Jacobea asked. The prince had secretly followed the Samaradee until they reached Sanddancer, and then insisted on coming along.

'We have been over this before,' replied Juliet. 'You must remain here aboard Sanddancer. If you are caught and identified your presence could easily be taken for an act of war.'

'Very well,' said the prince, his face a mixture of acceptance and frustration.

'Okay,' said Jingle. 'I'll run a full weapons check in case we need them.'

'Hopefully we won't,' said Juliet as she left her seat, stepped over to the chart table, and activated a hologram of Silver Sand City. She and the others had spent much of the voyage studying the city's layout. 'Styxbroox, if you leave first and orbit Littleditty at cruising speed, and then create a diversion here when you get my signal,' she pointed to the derelict side of the city, 'that should grab the Cuzwejamins' attention and reduce the numbers we'll have to deal with.'

Juliet glanced at Gareth. He was still wearing his golden camouflage suit and had demonstrated his ability to become invisible several times during the journey. 'Gareth, we'll make use of your new toy. You go in with Mikeyadriano and, Mickey, you will have to blast through the life support shield; that will also get their attention and you may get roughed up a little, but my guess is you'll be taken to wherever they detain prisoners and all Gareth will have to do is follow.'

'And w-where will you be, OC?' Gareth asked.

'With the princess, of course.'

***

Beneath a single dim light-fitting, Princess Amidala paced the cell where she had spent the last two days. Was it two days or was it more? She was beginning to loose track of time, and to loose hope too. The crew of the Liana 07, the small craft in which she was on route to Shenzhen, had fought valiantly, but they had stood no chance against the larger Cuzwejamin ship, and all had been killed or captured. She had demanded that the survivors be released, as their mission had been peaceful, but her demands had been met by silence, and she had been kept in isolation and then brought to this terrible place.

Twice she had been questioned by a Cuzwejamin officer called Maddan who, at first, had brought her food and water and had treated her respectfully, but as he realised that she would reveal nothing of the Katerini war plans he had begun to threaten her and had moved her to a cell below ground level where the screams of prisoners being tortured could be heard almost constantly.

She stopped pacing and sat on the cell's wooden bunk. Her long dark hair was becoming matted and her skin felt grubby, and the cell stank of the contents of the bucket in the corner. She was close to tears, but looked up as something caught her eye: a white mist was creeping under the cell door, and with a mixture of fear and amazement, she watched as it formed in front of her, gradually taking on the shape of a woman. The princess scrambled backwards across the bunk until her back was against the wall.

'Don't be afraid, your highness,' said the woman in fluent Katerini. 'May name is Juliet OC and I have come to rescue you.'

Princess Amidala stared at her rescuer, for a moment unable to speak. She had heard of the ancient people known as the Oc; they were said to have been the most evolved species in the universe, able to dissolve into a gas and to drift, as if blown by the wind, until their will brought them to whatever place they desired to be. 'You are of the Oc?' the princess whispered. 'I thought there were none of you left, that you had all been...'

'Annihilated?' Juliet smiled, but it was a sad smile. 'Most were, along with Tretchicovmaniacva, our home planet, but a few survived: my father and my mother; they are gone now, but their essence still wanders somewhere in the universe.'

'But who sent you?'

Juliet took a ring from her middle finger and handed it to the princess who gasped as she recognised it as the ring she had given to Prince Jacobea on the day of their betrothal. There was a sound beyond the cell door and Juliet put a finger to her lips, listening to the sound of another door sliding open followed by footsteps and voices speaking Cuzwejamin.

'I don't know who or what he is.'

'A Shenzhenese spy probably, though he doesn't look Shenzhenese.'

'What I don't get is how he was able to punch a hole in the life support shield.' said a third voice. 'The vehicle he was driving had no weapons.'

'Where are you taking me?' Another voice, but this time Juliet recognised the speaker: it was Mikeyadriano, speaking Josiedog and sounding indignant. 'You have no right to arrest...' He stopped speaking abruptly as he was struck by a fist or a weapon of some sort.

'I told you once; you keep your mouth shut.' The reply was in Josiedog but continued in Cuzwejamin. 'You'll get plenty of chance to sing later.' There was laughter after the last remark and then the sound of a cell door sliding open and then closing, and then the voices and footsteps moved away and another door closed behind them. Somewhere beyond the closed door a prisoner screamed.

Juliet waited until she was sure the Cuzwejamin had gone before calling out, 'Gareth!'

'Be right w-with you, OC,' Gareth replied. Another door slid open and there were more voices and footsteps and then the door to the princess's cell was opened and there stood both Gareth and Mikeyadriano. 'Their door c-codes are pathetic,' said Gareth. 'Opening them is ch-child's play.'

'Are you okay, Mickey?' Juliet was looking at the cut above Mikeyadriano's right eye.

'It's nothing,' he replied. 'The hardest part was not resisting. I would have liked to give those guys something to remember me by.'

'You may get your chance yet.' Juliet switched from Josiedog to Katerini to speak to the princess. 'These men are my comrades and will help us to get away.'

'I guessed as much.' Princess Amidala replied in Josiedog. 'I too can speak the common language. I am very grateful to you for your help. But we cannot leave here without the other prisoners.' As if to underline the princess's words, there was another tortured scream from somewhere in the building.

'Very well,' said Juliet as they left the cell. 'But you must let us take care of that. Mickey, that can be your job, and if you meet your friends, you can take care of them as well, but be as quick as you can and we'll meet you outside, okay?'

In reply Mikeyadriano just grinned before heading off along the corridor.

'Follow me,' said Gareth as he led Juliet and the princess in the opposite direction.

***

Mikeyadriano was, in most respects, a typical Earthling; he could feel pain - in fact his head was still aching from the blow he had received from one of the Cuzwejamin, a soldier named Spack – but he was no ordinary man. By rights, with the doses of radiation his parents had received, he should have been dead before he was born. But the unexpected genetic result was that he thrived on low-level radiation and was a catalyst for it and, rather like a dragon breathing fire, he could emit laser-like pulses through his eyes, pulses powerful enough to vaporise anything, or anyone, within range.

'Stand back!' he shouted in the common language as he reached the first cell door and, lacking Gareth's finesse with such things, he vaporised the door lock with no more than a glance and then kicked the door open. 'You are free!' he shouted at the dazed prisoner who stared back at him. And without waiting to see if he understood he went on to the next door and the next. But as he turned a corner amongst the labyrinth of cells and torture chambers, he came upon the three Cuzwejamin who had taken him to his cell. All three were armed and running towards Mikeyadriano, but as they recognised him they stopped with a look of astonishment on their faces. Ahead of the other two was Spack, the soldier who had struck Mikeyadriano with his assault weapon. And now, as that very same weapon was raised and aimed at Mikeyadriano, his eyes flashed and a beam of bright light swept along the corridor, vaporising the three Cuzwejamin.

***

Meanwhile Juliet, Gareth and Princess Amidala had got only as far as the ground floor before they encountered more Cuzwejamin guards and had to duck back out of sight around a corner. Juliet closed her eyes in silent communication with Styxbroox and Jingle before speaking to Gareth. 'If we have to fight, leave that to me. You get Princess Amidala safely outside. Jingle and Sanddancer are on their way.' But it was then that an intermittent and very loud alarm began to sound.

Two guards came racing around the corner; they were carrying side-arms but were still removing them from their holsters when they ran smack into Juliet. But Juliet, a devotee of the form of martial arts known as Doningnacio, despatched them with such speed that the princess could not believe her eyes. Juliet reached for one of the side-arms, a 6dotcell handgun, and then stepped over the unconscious guards and peered around the corner.

Two more guards were manning the desk beside the main entrance and closely studying holographic images of what appeared to be the basement cellblock. One was talking rapidly into a wristband communicator but the conversation came to an abrupt stop as the building shook as though from an explosion or a moonquake. More explosions or aftershocks followed and, while the guards were distracted, Juliet raised the 6dotcell and, with well-practised aim, she took them both out with a short burst of fire before beckoning to her companions.

The three of them raced towards the main entrance to find there way blocked by an invisible force field, and this time it took Gareth a little longer to overcome the locking device, by which time an elevator door had opened and eight armed Cuzwejamin soldiers poured out.

Juliet fired first as she backed out through the open doorway, and was surprised to discover that the princess had taken the other 6dotcell and was firing with her. The Cuzwejamin were blown backwards by the force of the fire and those who were not hit were obstructed by those who were, making it difficult to bring their weapons into play. But as the three that were still standing started to wildly return fire they were immediately outflanked by Mikeyadriano as he emerged from the basement and zapped them with another dazzling and deadly ray.

Outside in the semi-darkness there was mayhem as Cuzwejamin soldiers clambered aboard military vehicles and raced off towards the side of the city that they believed to be under attack – though in truth the whole thing was a decoy perpetrated by Styxbroox as he flew into derelict buildings with such force that they were knocked off their foundations.

Juliet quickly took in the scene; the buildings here were mostly rectangular multi-storey blocks divided by a four-lane carriageway that Juliet could see was easily wide enough for Sanddancer, though the air was already filled with small Cuzwejamin craft, some of them illuminating the night sky with their searchlights as they raced away, easily overtaking the wheeled military vehicles. She turned back towards the doorway as Mikeyadriano came through followed by several escaping prisoners, all Katerini men, some of them wounded but all able to walk. Princess Amidala recognised two of the men: one of them was Captain Flash, of the Liana 07; he was badly bruised, and a bloody bandage was wrapped around his head, but he bowed to her as she greeted him.

'Let's save the reunions till later,' said Mikeyadriano. 'It's time we got the hell out of Dodge City.'

But at that moment a powerful searchlight mounted on the top of a building across the street swung its beam towards them and an amplified voice, speaking Cuzwejamin, shouted, 'PRISONERS ESCAPING! STOP THEM' One of the wheeled military vehicles, an armoured Redrecon with a single dendrite-laser gun-turret, veered across the road and pointed its menacing weapon directly at Juliet and the others, but Mikeyadriano stepped forward and zapped it with a radioactive pulse that shot, like a fireball, straight into the muzzle of its gun, blowing off the turret and sending it high into the air.

Now more vehicles turned back towards the escapees while overhead more searchlights illuminated the area. Another Redrecon swerved across the street firing rapid salvoes from its single turret, and the fugitives ducked and scrambled away from the building as glass and chunks of concrete fell from the walls. There was a muffled explosion from the city's perimeter, as something pierced the life-support shield, and then almost immediately the Redrecon was hit by an incoming rokkitnite missile, and then more military vehicles were hit as a fast moving dark shape came flying between buildings and then decelerated and dropped towards the ground as though it was about to crash.

'Nice one, Jingle!' exclaimed Gareth, as Sanddancer gracefully and precisely touched down. And as the cargo bay loading ramp was lowered, with Prince Jacobea standing at the top of it, Princess Amidala and Juliet hurried aboard, soon followed by Gareth, Mikeyadriano and the others.

'Battle stations!' Juliet shouted as the prince raised the loading ramp. 'We're not in the clear yet.'

The samaradee hurried to the flight deck and as they arrived there Sanddancer shook as she took a hit from and incoming Dendrite, but Jingle had her off the ground and accelerating so quickly that only Juliet managed to retain her balance and stay upright. Juliet joined Jingle at the controls as the other two samaradee scrambled to their feet and took up their battle stations, returning fire and releasing patmac particles to confuse enemy guidance systems. Then Sanddancer veered left over the tops of the buildings and accelerated away, soon overtaken by Styxbroox who soared ahead, leading the way back to planet Shenzhen.

***

'How can we ever repay you?' the prince and princess asked as, hand in hand, they stood beside Sanddancer and said their goodbyes to the five samaradee.

'Are you sure you can't stay for our wedding?' Princess Amidala was dressed in a flowing white gown and looked very beautiful beside her dashing prince, once more dressed in traditional warrior attire.

'I'm sorry,' replied Juliet OC. 'We have received an urgent request for help elsewhere, but we wish you every happiness.' And with that, the samaradee boarded Sanddancer and made ready to depart.

THE END?