by M. Shaunessy
They made their way into to the highly secured area. Unfortunately, four heavily armed guards stood in front of the door just as CRAIG had said. Tygla and CRAIG kept out of sight wondering how to deal with them.
“How are we going to get past them?” The android inquired.
Tygla replied, “The old fashion way.”
She then opened fire on one of them, instantly killing the guard. The others looked, and fired back. One of them pressed the alarm button and pinned Tygla and CRAIG down. CRAIG did not carry any firearms as it was against his programming to kill any living organism, and Tygla did not like that. Once Tygla managed to kill the rest of the guards, she entered the small Self-destruction Security Room. She thanked herself for practicing her sharp shooting with a video game her bother got her for her seventeenth birthday. She first quickly disabled the alarm and looked around. They saw a panel on the far wall as CRAIG opened it with a touch of a button the keypad. When it slid opened, he saw a screen appeared.
“PLACE HAND ON THE SCREEN FOR IDENTIFICATION,” the computer informed.
CRAIG stuck his input finger into a slot near the terminal and started to access the hacking program that Justin upload into his system. What took only three days, took a few minutes as Tygla paced waiting for her android friend.
“Can you hurry up,” she said, “Who knows how many more guards will come.”
“Patients Princess Tygla,” the android told her.
“COMPUTER ACCESS ACCEPTED, PLEASE ENTER A LOCK OUT TIMER,” the computer finally announced.
CRAIG thought about this and replied,
“Ten minutes, start now.”
“SELF DESTRUCTION OF BATTLESTAR SHIP HADES ALREADY IN PROGRESS,” it replied.
Tylga then said, “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Tygla turned and gasped to see Drax, Hiss and four other soldiers blocked their way. She wondered how he would know where they were. Then she remembered the brief alarm that went off. It was amazing that they responded swiftly.
“Going somewhere my dear?” Drax asked, “Hiss, stop the detonation sequence.”
“Yesss my lord,” Hiss replied as when got the panel.
CRAIG Then said, “But you can’t, it is irreversible.”
“Is it now?” Drax said, “Then it is a good thing I added a failsafe device since your last upload.” The computer stopped its countdown as Drax looked to Tygla as she frowned. She knew that it was all over for them, “Nice try my dear.” He looked to one of the guards, “Take her to my office. Make her comfortable as possible. Like her brother. As for the android, terminate him.”
“No!” Tygla shouted as the other guards shot CRAIG in the abdomen.
She frowned in sadness as her friend slumped to the ground. The guards handcuffed Tygla and left the room leaving CRAIG there. He twitched as he was still functioning. He had to contact Mike through his wireless audio network even though the blast damaged his voice transmitter; he had to try.
On the bridge of the Hades, Tah saw the Rebirth coming closer. He ordered to activate and arm the giant plasma drill. Soon Xman took notice that the front of the ship started to open as a large alien like gun barrel seeped out. The barrel of the drill glowed yellow, as the ship slowly got into position.
“Oh no, father,” Xman mumbled to himself worriedly.
He then heard Sommanar’s voice, “All Claws, concentrate all your fire on that plasma drill.”
The Thunder Claw did an amazing U-turn and rolled as the ship trusted towards the laser drill avoiding Xatu ships along the way. Xman fired his lasers upon it, but it was no use Xman and his crew could not even dent it with their proton missiles. That only meant that the shield around it was still up. Xman wished that Mike would hurry up.
They finally got to the door but three Xatu soldiers heavily guarded it. The soldiers saw them and started to fire. Mike and Justin shot two of them as the third shot Justin in the leg. Mike hated that and fired his blaster at the Xatu’s head.
“You ok buddy?” Mike said as he went over.
Justin cringed, holding his burnt shin as he replied, “I’m fine. It’s just a scratch. Just get to that drill room!”
Mike nodded, as Justin was right, it was up to him. He darted to the lock door and frowned, but he knew that he had the right key. He took out a wall bomb, stuck it on the door, and armed it.
“Fire in the hole!” Mike shouted to his friend.
The door exploded and Mike entered the control room. The Xatu computer workers were either injured or dead. Inside he saw a large controller panel and a window that peered in the working room where the huge drill was, but it was too late they had the gun locked and loaded. Mike had to act quickly. He fired at the pane as it shattered in a million pieces. He then took out the rest of the wall bombs, armed them, and threw the bombs at the drill itself before the safety shield activated. He ran out of the room to meet Justin when a huge blast ruptured the hallway. The yellow glow dimmed as Xman heard a cry of relief from the other pilots. Mike helped his friend up as they hobbled back down the hallway.
“M-m-m-icael,” A voice called as Michael instantly recognized it.
It was coming from Mike’s MicroCom. He took out a slim small cell phone-like device and replied, “Mike here, something wrong CRAIG?”
CRAIG tried to talk, but all Mike got out was Drax taking Tygla. Mike frowned not liking this. That means that Drax stopped the detonation sequence and has Tygla in his grasp. He had to find her now.
He looked to his friend and said, “Can you walk on your own?”
“Yeah, no problem,” he replied as he limped wincing to the pain.
He helped Justin once more as they walked down the long passage back to the ship together. They heard constant laser blasts coming from the Condor and knew that Digan was in trouble. They got to the corridor and saw that they were right. Ten Xatu soldiers barricade the area. They frowned not knowing what to do Justin smiled as he had one wall bomb. He armed and threw it down the hall towards the barricade. Moments later the barricade was clear from the violent blast.
“Get to the ship and get out of here,” Mike said. “I’m going to find Tygla. And blow this thing up.”
“What? No Mike,” Justin argued, “I’m coming with you.”
“Justin you don’t have a choice, soon they’ll have this entire area covered with more Xatu guards,” Mike pointed out.
Justin asked, “Then how are you going get off?”
“I’ll think of something,” Mike replied.
Justin worriedly said, “Mike.”
“I’ll be ok, just get out of here.”
Justin smiled and hugged him, “Good luck bro.”
“Yeah thanks,” Mike replied hugging back.
Chapter 17
The Destruction of Hades
When the guards brought her in, they chained Tygla down like her brother before her, and left the room. She looked around and noticed a large windowpane on her left giving her a great view the battle that was going on. She thought of her brother and wished he were here as well as Mike and her friends. She also saw a few alien-like potted plants carefully placed around the room. On Tygla’s right she saw a large comfortable bench, sitting against the wall with a huge portrait of the emperor Mi’Tuk hanging above, she despised it. She also noticed two old ornamental Xatu blades hanging on the far wall above Drax’s desk. Other than that there was nobody else in the room, she was alone. She had to get out, but when she struggled, an electrical surge entered her body and she cried in pain. It was no use; she was a prisoner for good. She frowned and sobbed as she missed Michael. Deep inside of her, she knew if Mike noticed that she and CRAIG did not return to the ship. He would come for her. Suddenly the door open, but her demised Drax walked in.
He crouched in front of her and said, “Comfy my dear?”
She grew angrily as Drax noticed her tears and replied, “Screw you, you monster.”
“I’m a monster?” He said as snickered, “I think you shoul
d look in the mirror my dear. You Animuns are the monsters. You know, perhaps I will keep you as a pet. Just like my last commander kept your mother as one.”
Tygla frowned at that remark and said crossly, “You bastard!”
“Now I’m a bastard? You got such fowl language for a princess. I think when we return to Mars, I should teach you some respect and obedience.”
She cowered at that remarked. She did not want to go to Mars and become a slave to these beasts, but she was in a useless situation. All she hoped that Mike would come soon and rescue her.
At that moment, Drax’s MicroCom came alive, “Lord Drax? Captain Tah here. We have a problem. Someone disabled our plasma drill.”
“What?!” Drax exclaimed. Tygla looked up to him smiling with a satisfaction on her face. Drax turned to her. If she was here then that means Michael Tippin was in the Hades as well. He said to Tah, “Captain, inform Hiss to have him search the entire ship. We may have two more saboteurs on board, and when you find them, kill them.”
Tygla’s smile faded and had a horrid look on her face as Tah replied, “Yes my lord.”
At that moment, two extra guards stayed in the self-destruction device room one of them told the other to drag CRAIG to the garbage holding area. The android just lay there, but when the guards started to drag him face up, he came back to life. CRAIG flipped the guard over him knocking the other Xatu against the wall. He knocked both of them out of conscience.
“Don’t bother,” said CRAIG as he got up, “After I am done here I will show myself there.”
He plugged his finger back into the computer and continued his mission. It seems to CRAIG, that it might take him a bit much longer to hack back in the system. When Hiss deactivated it, some of the coded had changed and so CRAIG has to decode the different sequences once more.
Mike now had to be cautious. He had to find where Drax is keeping Tygla. He remembered the schematics of the ship from the hologram. There were two possibilities were she can be found, one was the prison area. He knew now that might be tricky. The other was going to find CRAIG first. Perhaps his android friend knew more of where Drax is keeping Tygla. He started to head toward the elevator lift, and then stopped as it opened. He moved to an alcove nearby as two guards walked out. That was not going to work. He might be spotted. He saw a door next to it with ‘Stairs’ in Xatu written on it. Better than being spotted and caught, he thought. He darted over and entered the stairwell. Luckily, it was deserted. Perhaps they only use this for emergencies only. He looked up and started his ascent.
Mike knew that it was on the first level. It took him six flights of stair to get to Level 1. Once there, he got his gun was ready, pressed the open button, and the door slid open. Right in front to him a Xatu guard stood his back to him. His eyes widened in surprise and quickly hit the back of his neck with the butt of his gun, knocking him out. He then got brilliant idea. He dragged the guard in, undressed him and then put the guard’s uniform on himself. Mike then was a Xatu guard, temporally, as he now can wander the ship unnoticed. He put on the helmet that they wear, so no one can recognize him. He walked down the bark-shaped grey hall as a few Xatu soldiers walked by. His heart raced a bit hoping that would not notice him with his helmet on. He stopped and faced a nameless door pretending to access it. He looked to see if they passed him and they did. All of a sudden, he heard a grunting noise beyond the door followed by a crash. Mike opened the door and entered curiosity.
He saw CRAIG standing by the Self Destruction panel with his input finger in the computer slot. The android looked up to him. He thought Mike was another guard and in a blur, he grabbed the dead guard’s weapon and aimed it at Mike.
“Hey, hey whoa!” Mike said as he took his helmet off to reveal himself, “It’s me CRAIG. It’s Mike!” CRAIG cocked his head in confusion and lowered his gun, “I thought it was against your programming to kill?”
“I was hoping to frighten you in submission,” CRAIG replied.
Mike said, “It worked. Now where is Tygla?”
“Drax has taken her to his office quarters,” CRAIG replied as he keyed in buttons on a control panel. On a separate screen a map of the Hades appeared. It zoomed in on the first level. Mike saw a line leading from the self-destruction control room to Drax’s office. It showed Mike that there were some twist and turns in the path of the diagram, but Mike got the idea. “Right there,” CRAIG Pointed.
“Great,” Mike said in satisfaction, “I thought you were damaged?”
“My internal repair system activated while I was in hibernation mode,” CRAIG replied.
“Good, how long before you can reactivate the sequence?”
CRAIG looked to the screen and replied, “Three point five minutes.”
“Ok, once that’s activated get the hell out of here any way you can,” Mike ordered, “I’m gonna get Tygla and find an escape pod or something.” Mike put the helmet back on.
“Good luck Mr. Tippin,” CRAIG said.
“You too,” Mike replied as he exited the room.
Mike made his way towards Drax’s Office. He saw two guards standing there. He wondered how to get in, and then he had another idea. He can get one of them to leave, but the other once, might be tricky.
He walked over and said to one of them in Xatu, “Captain wants to see you. I’ll cover you until you return.”
He looked to him and nodded. The guard walked down the hall as Mike took his place. The other guard just stood there like a statue. As soon as the first one was out of sight, Mike turned to the remaining guard.
“Did you see the game last night?” Mike said in English.
The guard turned his head in confusion and in a swift move, he kicked him so hard in the gut, the Xatu fell forward. Mike then knocked him out with his gun again. He then pushed a button on the side and the door slid open. He was hoping Drax was not there, but he kept his gun out, just in case. He crossed the threshold and saw Drax sitting behind his desk holding Tygla’s chain leash. Tygla was on the floor next to him. She looked like one of Mama’Halb slaves to Mike. Something he did not want to see.
Mike withdrew his helmet to reveal his face, aimed his gun at Drax’s dark heart and commanded angrily, “Hands up Drax.”
Drax just smiled at him as if he was expecting Mike. Tygla looked and smiled to him gracefully, “Mike!”
Drax then commented, “Well done, Mr. Tippin. I must congratulate you. It’s not every day a pathetic Colonial like yourself can, thwart my plans, break into my ship, disable my plasma drill, and make your way in my office, all in one day in fact. It’s too bad you didn’t become part of the Xatu Empire. You have excellent thieving skills.”
“Release Tygla, or I’ll blow this ship up,” Mike warned.
Tygla looked at him and wondered just like Drax if he was bluffing, as they knew that Drax stopped the self-destruction sequence.
“You muck be joking,” Drax commented.
Then suddenly the ship’s alarm went off as Drax and Tygla looked about. A female voice informed them that the ship would detonate in ten minutes. Mike hoped that would be enough time to escape.
“I don’t Joke,” Mike said and ordered again more persistently, “Now release her.”
“I don’t know what you have done, but I assure you, you will not leave this ship alive,” Drax warned.
Tygla then saw a shadowy figure behind him. She then warned, “Mike behind you!”
Surprisingly, Mike heard another voice behind him, “Drop that weapon Colonial ssss.”
It was Commander Hiss aiming his blaster at Mike’s back. Mike tried glance behind to see the Serpitian but only felt the barrel of Hiss’s gun to his spine urging him to drop the weapon. Mike frowned, knowing he had lost. He lowered his gun as Drax kept smiling. Then, Mike heard another clicking sound and a familiar voice.
“Drop it scale face,” Mike and Tygla instantly recognized it.
It was Justin standing in the door and he was holding his gun at Hiss’s head. Mike turned his
head to make sure it was his best friend. Then suddenly Tygla cried his name as a warning, but before he could turn back to her, a large puma tackled him. They both fell on the floor as the force knocked Mike’s gun out of his hands as it fell under the couch. At the same moment, Hiss rapidly turned around, knocked Justin’s gun out of his hands, wrapped his slithery body around him, and started to squeeze tightly. He used his mechanical arms to strangle Justin’s neck.
