“How is he suppose to do that?” the mystery man said.
“He has a weapon that can instantly kill a man.” Alesti said.
“Let me see this weapon.” He replied.
Alex lifted his top slightly to expose one of the white handled weapons.
“And who are you?” the man asked looking at Alex.
“I am Alesti, I come from an area far south of here at the base of a lone mountain. We are survivors from the crash, just like you. That’s the guy that kidnapped me and brought me here.” Alesti said pointing to Orlock.
“Really!” Alex was shocked and his hand instinctively went for his weapon.
Iesala blocked his view and stood in front of him. “He was doing his job and is now part of your cause, he has already assisted you.”
Alex eyed Iesala as she slowly stepped away. Releasing the tension that he was holding onto he let go and his hand fell back to his side. He knew she was right and was grateful for the intervention.
“I haven’t seen the ship they are building. Where is it?” Alex asked changing the subject.
Everyone in the room pointed in a particular direction while several others spoke above each other.
“That way.” Many had said.
“Ten moments by vehicle.” Iesala followed up.
“If you can get on board you can go home, create your weapon and defend these people.” Alesti said.
“No… If we do manage to somehow commandeered the ship we are going back to our home planet and leaving this ugly world forever. You can’t have it.” The man said.
“Perhaps we can use it after we make the trip?” Alesti followed up.
“You’re going with him?” Maui asked.
“I made a life vow to him.” Alesti said.
“You people still do that?” Maui asked, her face was one of disgust.
“So what? I made two of those just last week, they don’t mean anything.” The mystery man said.
“Where I am from, the violator is killed along with the family line. Breaking the vow is not done, ever.” Alesti replied.
“Well, you’re not at home anymore are you?” The mystery man said, then stood up and headed for the back of the room.
“Tissst.. amazing. I’d love to do an interview with you someday.” Maui said while Alesti seemed to blush a bit.
“So who is the creepy guy that lives in warehouses?” Alex asked the group.
“Stovner. The empire killed his father while he tried to complete three years to servant to the Master. They didn’t care or forgot that he had a son who had to fend for himself who was not yet a man. He joined the rebels days later.” Iesala whispered.
“If you’re going to capture the ship you better do it now, rather than wait for it to fill up with loyalists trying to escape the planet.” Orlock suggested.
“He’s got a point.” The mystery man said.
“We are going to need some clothes and I know just the place.” Iesala said with a smile.
CHAPTER 20
FINAL CALL
ALEX WAS PEERING through the front of a department store window towards the shipyard. The store catered to the upper end of society with the newest fashions. Not all that far away, the ship in construction looked a bit bulky, as if were a cargo ship, and he wondered how it was expected to lift off into space. He guessed it was less than two miles distant from their location. In the dead of night vehicles were making their way towards the ship, one passed in front of the shop itself as it drove towards the shipyard. They all assumed it was the result of the broadcast, as this kind of nightly activity was unheard of.
“I called it.” Orlock said smiling. He was the only one.
Alex looked to his right. The whole group stood beside him looking out the window as well. Starting with Alesti, Iesala, Orlock, Stovner, Maui, and then Davi who was still recording everything.
“I hope Bromi is ok.” Iesala said thoughtfully.
Alex eyed her but didn’t say anything. His attention shifted to Alesti as she turned and began looking at several wraps of intracately cut leather strips, much more fasnionable then anything she had seen before.
“So what’s the plan?” Stovner asked.
“We commandeer the ship and fly home, then Alex can use it to go to save the galaxy.” Alesti suggested as she tried on one of her selections.
“Our cover story isn’t going to survive, if you fail.” Maui said looking at her cameraman. “I don’t think we should go with you.”
Alex looked at Maui. After thinking about it for a moment he knew she was right.
“Well thanks for your part in all this, I know your broadcast pushed things along, people are smartening up.” Iesala said.
“Anything you want to say to everyone in case you succeed or fail?” Maui asked Alex.
“Sure.” Alex looked at the cameraman as they both got ready.
“Hello, I wish I had time to get to know you. But the empire appears to have squandered all your efforts. I intend to take this ship and make it so everyone can have a fair chance to get onboard. Hopefully when you get home I might be able to get some assistance to get to my owm home and warn my people about the approaching enemy. You must do what you can to build up a heavy space defense if you want to have any hope of repelling the invaders. Now is the time to band together and work for a common cause. Your people by the mountain are good friendly people. King Hu Va is the best king I’ve ever met and Deetur is an honest man if ever I met one, there are many trustworthy people over there. I hope I live long enough to be of assistance to you. May the sun bring light to your path and show you the way. This is Alex Prager, good luck.”
It was oddly chilly in the room after Alex finished his poor impromptu speech. He rubbed his arms, as if someone walked over his grave.
Maui and Davi left out the back after saying their good byes.
“Well we better go before the Master arrives with his personal guard, we will never take the ship if they are on board.” Orlock whispered.
“We better hurry then, if the master gets on board we abort the mission.” Alex said as he considered the length of time it would take to build another ship to get home.
Alex looked down at himself, he was dressed like a homeless man that tried to find nice clothes to wear. However, everyone including Alesti gave him a lot of praise over his attire. He felt it wasn’t deserved especially since he didn’t even choose the outfit.
They exited the store, and, using two vehicles, they drove towards the ship. About a mile from the outermost gate they became part of a short line waiting to gain entrance.
“They are going to know we aren’t on the list how is this going to work?” Alex asked from the front seat in the front vehicle.
“We will do whatever we have to do.” Iesala said from the driver’s seat.
After a few minutes they approached a small shack, one soldier with a pad standing out front. The soldier carried one of those stun sticks. He appeared to be young and nervous as Iesala pulled up to position.
“Hey, handsome.” Iesala started.
The solider cracked a smile.
“ID’s.”
“Umm obviously we are here and we’re packed to leave don’t you think we can skip the formality?”
“Just doing my job.”
“Take him down.” Iesala said.
“What?” Alex asked not sure he heard her.
“Take him down, do it now before he smarts up.”
The soldier appeared to be confused and took a step away from the vehicle.
“Hey two military vehicles approaching from the front.” Alex said as he noticed the vehicles approaching from the ship.
“DO IT!” Iesala shouted facing Alex now.
While startled Alex pulled his weapon and fired at the guard killing him. He fell backward flat on his back. Their vehicle revved harshly and took off towards the approaching vehicles. Their compatriots followed closely behind.
Alex looked back and he watched as the t
hird vehicle behind them pulled up and people got out of the vehicle to check on the soldier.
Suddenly he was flung forward as Iesala hit the breaks and hung half her body out the window waving her arms. The approaching vehicles slowed and stopped next to them.
“They killed the guard and are robbing him!” Iesala pointed towards the third vehicle still beside the guard tower. A trail of other vehicles had stacked up behind them as well.
Without a word the two military vehicles sped off towards the guard tower.
Iesala took off once again and looked at Alex while driving towards a group of parked vehicles.
“We had no other play there, it was either we stop him or he and his friends stop us.” Iesala said looking at Alex.
“No, it was a good idea.” Alex relaxed into his seat and focus on what was ahead of them.
They pulled up to the next available parking spot as close to the ship as they could get, everyone got out of their vehicles.
“We made a mistake.” Alesti said as she pointed to those in front of them. They all carried one case of luggage, while their own group carried none.
“Doesn’t matter, we are going.” Orlock said as he gently pushed Alex and Alesti along to keep pace.
The small parking lot led to a single file ramp that extended over a great chasm. The ship was partially submerged in a huge pit that had been dug out and reinforced. A majority of the ship was above ground level. This was the only ramp that appeared to have access to the ship. Their small group walked along the ramp until they were stopped by those waiting in front of them.
“Looks like another checkpoint.” Iesala said.
“I suppose you want me to get them too? Alex whispered.
“He’s got a point.” Stovner said
Alex looked down into the chasm it was at least half a kilometer straight down. There was a lot of activity at the bottom. He looked back towards the parking lot and tried unsuccessfully to get a glimpse of the guard tower much further away.
The line in front of them started to dwindle and they slowly approached the outer hull of the ship. Alex could now see an opening with several guards checking luggage and ID’s just on the inside of the ship.
“How are we suppose to commandeer something this huge?” Alex whispered hating that he was stuck in this situation.
“Cut the head of the Vernun.” Orlock whispered.
There were now less than three people in front of them.
“This isn’t going to go well.” Alex mumbled.
“It’s about to get much worse.” Iesala said as she eyed the Master’s caravan pull up to the ramp to the ship.
“Move it, Move it your Emperor approaches!” One of the guards started yelling at those taking space on the ramp and rushed everyone inside the ship to make way for the emperor.
Alex was quickly pushed along into the ship by some of the guards. One of them looked at Alex’s head with a critical eye, but the crowd pushed him into a large hallway where more guards pointed to another direction where many people were gathering.
“So much for aborting the mission, now what?” Alex asked.
“Alex!”
Alex froze it took a moment for it to register.
“Symboli, you’re on the ship!” Immediately Alex dropped the whole idea of getting off the ship, he now just wanted to find Symboli.
“Alex I have not had any new data since we lost contact. It appears you’re on a ship.”
“Symboli!” Alesti shouted in a whisper.
“Yeah no kidding just watch for a while, I’m preoccupied.” Alex said to Symboli as he nodded his head up and down for Alesti.
“Who’s Symboli?” Orlock asked.
“Nevermind we better –“ Whatever Alex was about to say was lost when one of the soldiers pushed him against a wall.
The Master and many of his men walked past Alex and his group without so much as a glance in his direction.
“Alex, someone just took a small quantity of my fluids.” Symboli said in Alex’s headset. “Adjusting neural pathways.”
Alex didn’t respond as the soldier waited for the last of the Masters men to pass by before he let Alex off the wall and pointed down the hall where the other passengers were gathering.
As the last of Masters men entered the ship he turned to one of the many soldiers.
“Master orders the door to be closed, boarding has finished.”
“It will be done.” The soldier replied and immediately went towards the boarding hatch and pushed the few people in the doorway out of the ship onto the ramp and closed the door amongst their shouts and pleas.
Alesti grabbed Alex’s arm as they walked side by side to another room where all the passengers were being gathered.
The room reminded Alex of a large college classroom. A video began to play as everyone took a seat. Several soldiers stood along the walls with stun sticks.
“The ship will be launching shortly.” A woman in a uniform started saying in the video.
“You will be expected to be locked into your seats for the initial launch. Then you will be freed to choose a domicile anywhere on this deck. You are not permitted to leave this deck for any reason.”
“I count seven.” Iesala said in a whisper interrupting the video.
“I think making a move now would be a huge mistake.” Alex responded.
“Did you forget that your supposed to stop this ship from launching so that everyone might get a chance to get onboard?”
If Alex’s mind hadn’t been enhanced he imagined that his head would be spinning as there was so much to think about and much more to observe.
“Food will be provided at these designated times.” The video continued.
“How much did they take?” Alex asked to Symboli.
“About half a cup.” Symboli had responded on top of Stovner. “What are you talking about?”
It didn’t help matters that he had to pee really bad.
“How many can you handle?” Iesala asked as she glanced around the room.
“We are going to be moved from this room in about three moments, they will bring us to our launch seats. If you’re going to do something it better be now.” Orlock said as he watched the video.
“Everyone be quiet.” Alex said.
He need a moment to think, he needed more information. As if a habit, he closed his eyes and reached out with his mind to the soldier he believed was the leader. It took a moment to dive into the cloud and take hold.
“-wasting time with this video. It doesn’t make any sense to keep them alive, if we’re going to kill them anyway. If I were in charge…-”
Alex immediately withdrew.
“They are going to kill us, all of us. We have to do something.”Alex attempted to whisper but several people not in his group overheard him and became visibly disturbed.
“Ok… good, your late to the moment, but glad you arrived.” Iesala said.
Alex didn’t spend any time trying to decipher the local saying. “We need to make our move before the launch.”
“How do you know this?” Alesti asked.
“Trust me.” Alex said.
“What does that have to do with anything?” She responded.
The video ended with the female soldier smiling. He vaguely remembered her saying in the last few moments that if there was an emergency there were no escape pods or lifeboats.
Starting with the front row people began to file out of the room.
“Everyone follow me.” Alex said as he stood up.
“Alex, I calculate a possiblity that you may be correct but the odds are not in favor of your assumption.” Symboi said.
Alesti reached out with her hand for the headset.
“No.” he whispered.
Then it was their row’s turn, with one more row behind them. Alex followed the stream of people leaving the room. Alex grasped his weapon on the inside of his coat. He passed one soldiers in the hallway that pointed right as everyone walked in that
direction. The moment Alex realized that soldier was the only one in the hallway he spun around and shot the soldier in the side of the head.
The bang from the weapon bounced off the walls harsher than Alex had intended. He thought he had the one with small round loaded. As it was he had three medium rounds left in the weapon that was almost empty. Grabbing Alesti’s hand, Alex took off at a sprint running over the fallen body on the floor, moments later he passed the short hallway that lead to the exit door. There were no soldiers to be seen. He continued running down the hallway until he could make a right turn into another hallway and he did.
Once hidden from sight from their classroom he stopped and waited for Orlock. Once Orlock rounded the corner Alex asked. “Wheres the command center?”
“There are three guards right behind me, it’s this way.” Orlock said. He didn’t even slow down as he passed Alex.
Alex didn’t want to wait for the three soldiers to arrive in their new hallway instead he peeked around the corner and fired one round at the closest soldier who promptly fell face first into the deck only about fifteen feet away.
Alex took off running he noticed he was far behind the others as everyone raced after Orlock.
Alex watched Orlock turn left and abruptly fall onto the floor clutching his abdomen. A soldier walked over him swinging a stun stick wildly at those struggling to stop in time. Running along the left wall Alex raised and fired his weapon before someone accidentally walked into his line of sight.
The soldier dropped his stun stick and fell over. Stovner picked the stick up as Alex approached crouching down to look over Orlock.
“He will be down for five or ten minutes his abdomen is stuck and won’t relax until then.” Orlock grunted in pain.
“Which way to the command center?” Alex asked feeling terrible about Orlock.
“Ug …tisssstk. Up …ssss…Left and up again.”
“Are we leaving him here?” Alesti asked.
Alex looked back wondering what the other two soldiers were doing. He discovered they had just worked up the courage to peek into their hallway and started running after them again.
“No choice.” Alex said as he ran past Orlock on the floor up a flight of odd stairs. Each step was a different size and length. It was infuriatingly difficult and to Alex pointless.
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