Senshi (Guardians)
Chapter 6: Rumors and Truths

“Shinto san, this isn’t a demotion. I’ve checked your records and replace you to be what I’m looking for as Captain of my Earth teams. Something has developed and I need the best people I can get. The Shnark have somehow established a base here.”

“Shnark? How many?”

“We’re not sure yet, but I’ve tripled security in Earth Space so there will be no more Shnark ships landing here. I had no idea someone would do this. I thought our mere presence would keep troublemakers out. I was wrong. So you see, I’m not so perfect after all.”

“Maybe I should report for duty tomorrow.”

“No. The Shnark can wait. Your sister has missed you for five years and she deserves some time with you. Monday will be soon enough. Besides, I can’t tomorrow. I have an important meeting at 11:30 and depending on how that goes, I will probably be busy tomorrow night as well.”

“Wakata. What you mean to say is that you are going to meet Kyoko chan for lunch and try to get her to do something tomorrow night as well.”

“I told you I can’t lie… besides, you two need time to catch up. The best part of it is that there aren’t any secrets. She already knows everything – including the Shnark and our new allies the Bagneroth.”

“Giants? Here? I thought they only wanted to kill guardians. Why the change of heart – assuming they have one.”

“That was their original aim. They especially wanted me dead, but they saw me kill a Shnark and realized I was no friend to them. I asked them why they wanted to kill guardians and got a shock. That stupid United World Council refused them help. The Shnark invaded Bagneroth Prime and systematically began to eliminate the entire population using proto weaponry. I immediately sent our battle fleet to Bagneroth to drive the Shnark away. Last I heard Bagneroth Prime is free again.”

“But why help us?”

“As thanks for saving their world, I think. They hate the Shnark – we’re fighting Shnark. ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’ or something like that. There may be a bit more to it in this case, but that remains to be seen. Trust is hard earned, so I keep my word.”

“You actually went against the Grand Council…”

“I’m the Crown Prince of Taelon, home of the Guardian forces. Only I decide what the Guardians do or don’t do. If we hadn’t created the Grand Council, there wouldn’t be one. I can’t allow any race to be eradicated just because they don’t want to help them. That elitist, conceited, arrogant, know-it-all council needs to be reminded why my family formed it in the first place. I won’t sanction the killing of innocents – for any reason. In fact, just to spite them, I’m going to place the largest, meanest looking Bagneroth on that councel. That should show them that they aren’t as big and important as they think they are.”

There was a pause. Thael was very upset.

“So, the stories are true then.”

“What stories?”

“As you know from my records, I have been all over the thirty-nine united galaxies and even to the outer rim. Everywhere I’ve been, people tell stories. Usually about people they respect and admire. Heroes, if you will. Every place I’ve been there are always a few stories about you: The Hero Prince.”

“Terrific. Did they mention the one where this fool got hit in the stomach by a Proto-cannon, and because of low gravity and nothing to stop me, I flew about a thousand miles backwards before the momentum wore off? Some great hero that.”

“Actually, they did tell me that one. That proto-cannon was taking out a lot of Taelon ships and disintegrating the indigenous people and property on Achilles nine. They said you volunteered to distract the cannon team long enough that the other Guardians could take over that cannon’s bunker. Because you took that hit – and it took them quite a few tries to get you – the Guardians succeeded in ending the Gnurl invasion.”

“A bit exaggerated, I’d say. The rookie got lucky.”

“On Taelon they talk about the day you single-handedly ended their five-hundred year long war with the Dràken.”

Kyoko had come back into the living room and threw herself down next to Thael. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt that hung like a dress on her. She cuddled close. “Honto? How did he do that?”

“With a flower.”

“How do you stop a war with a flower?” She sounded skeptical.

“It seems the Taelons have a weed that grows wild. The purple flowers on it can be made into medicine, but only the Dràken can use it. It’s poisonous to Taelons. On Dràkos they have the same plant, but it is very rare. So rare that only the very rich can afford it. Thael sama was told to make contact with the King and try to negotiate a treaty, but he disobeyed orders and landed away from the palace. He talked to the common folk there and found out about the medicinal flower. He recognized it as one Taelon had in abundance, so he raced back to Taelon, and loaded his ship with those lavender flowers. He convinced the Dràken emperor to stop the war by setting up trade using the flowers they desperately needed for their sick. In fact, the emperor’s son had been afflicted. The flowers saved his life.”

“Sugoi! A flower stopped the war.”

“It wasn’t one flower. It was two,” Thael said reluctantly.

Kyoko jerked her head sideways to face Thael, “Two?”

“Yes. If you’re going to tell stories, Shinto kun, at least get them right. I was just lucky. Taelon had an abundance of a flower that the Dràken urgently needed. The Dràken had an abundance of flowers that only Taelons could use as medicine. On Taelon the red and white Dràken flowers are as rare as the Purple Taelon flowers are on Dràkos. I set up a trade system: a flower for a flower. The Dràken couldn’t even remember what the war was about, so they were more than happy to have peace again… it was definitely not heroic at all. Nothing I would brag about.”

Shinto put his finger up, “What about the one where you stopped an invading alien fleet with only a paring knife for a weapon?”

Kyoko grabbed Thael’s arm a little tighter. She looked up into his eyes, “Sugoi! How do you stop a fleet of ships with just a paring knife?”

“You don’t. It wasn’t a paring knife it was…” He stopped and quickly tried to change the subject, hoping they would forget this one. “I really like your pajamas, Kyoko sama. Hello Kitty, right?”

Dead silence.

“Maybe I should go out on patrol so you two can catch up on each other…?” He trailed off.

Kyoko looked at her brother. “Oniisan, I have heard that he can’t lie, is that true?

“Oh, yes. Very true, all Guardians are unable to lie, especially the Prince. So, if he says it wasn’t a paring knife, then it wasn’t.”

“Yes, but what was it? …Perhaps, his glowing Guardian sword? Maybe he fought so fiercely he scared them away,” Kyoko suggested.

“Fighting a whole battalion? I don’t think so. Maybe it was like War of the Worlds. He gave them a cold and they had no immunities to it.”

Thael shook his head. “No, No, No, It was none of that, even though the illness thing would be a more believable story than the real one. No one’s ever believed me when I told them it was a rubber chicken.”

“Chotto Matte! What do you mean by that?” Kyoko seemed annoyed. “Is that supposed to be a joke?”

Shinto, who had been quiet till now, chuckled, but continued to be silent. Kyoko gave Thael a steely glare. He sighed.

“We were having a party. A couple of the Guardians dressed up like clowns. The running gag was that every now and then one or the other of them would get hit on the head with a rubber chicken. I grew up on earth and had seen that used so much that I didn’t replace it funny.

“After the performance I went to the prop table to get a look at the thing because even though I had seen them before on TV or whatever, I had never held one in my hand. So, I picked it up and hit my other hand with it. It kind of stung and I couldn’t help but wonder how much it might hurt to be hit on the head with one.

“Before I could experiment, three strange aliens materialized in front of me. Their swords reminded me of a kind of swordfish. You know the one with the tree trimmer-like nose? One of them swung its sword at me. I dodged and unconsciously swung the rubber chicken hitting him on the side of his face.

“He screamed in agony and went to the floor writhing like a madman. I managed to dodge all their attacks and hit them all with the chicken. Now I had three aliens on the floor screaming in agony. On closer look I could see that every place I had hit their bare skin turned red. The flesh looked like it was blistering.

“We finally got them to stop screaming, when we discovered why they reacted so badly. It seems that their skin composition can’t take being touched by anything made of rubber. It causes a violent reaction. Just as if you threw scalding acid on them. We finally stopped the pain and the skin deterioration, but they were seriously afraid of me. So, I did the only thing I could do. I called for a truce, talked to their leader, and explained that we would not fill their ships with rubber chickens nor would we bombard their home planet with them as long as they went home and stayed there. They agreed and left very quickly.”

By now Kyoko was laughing so hard she was doubled up in a ball. Shinto couldn’t believe what he had just heard, so he just stared with his mouth open.

“So, you see, it wasn’t heroism – just dumb luck.”

“Yes, but a rubber chicken?” Kyoko said laughing.

“It could have been anything made of rubber. It just happened that I still had the stupid thing in my hand.”

Shinto suddenly burst out laughing. The outburst startled Kyoko and Thael. Kyoko blinked and began laughing even harder.

“What? You don’t believe me?” He paused, but Shinto and Kyoko were laughing too hard to stop. “Well… I don’t blame you. Even the Admiral of the fleet, who saw what happened on the Vid screen, refused to put ‘rubber chicken’ in the official report. He called it a paring knife because he thought people would believe that, rather than the truth. Personally, I don’t see much difference.”

Shinto and Kyoko had calmed down somewhat, but upon hearing that last statement, they burst out laughing again.