“Leave him alive. He might could tell us where the prisoners were being kept,” Dedron urged.
“I know,” Donna said, feeling a bit annoyed that Dedron was telling here what to do.
“Ok,” he said.
A voice came through the speakers just then.
“Control center, we heard gun fire. Is everything ok up there?”
“Tell them everything is ok!” Donna said. “Tell them you had a malfunction with one of your weapons.” She aimed her laser cannon at the Remoir’s head for emphasis.
“Sir, everything is alright. One of our weapons was accidentally fired. I repeat; everything is under control.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes sir.” An awkward silence followed as Dedron and Donna came into the control room.
“Tell us where the Defense Squadron prisoners are being held and no harm will come to you,” Dedron said.
“They are being held in the eastern wing in room 45-B12, but you are foolish to think you will ever get away with this.”
“You were foolish to think that you could get away with destroying our base and capturing our friends. Never underestimate the Defense Squadron,” Donna said.
“One more thing. We need access to any locks or force fields that might be activated. We need you to grant us clearance,” Dedron insisted.
“Here is a device that will de-activate any of the force fields in the cell block,” the Remoir answered, handing Dedron a small hand-held device that glowed red. It resembled a large jump drive.
“Ok, let’s tie this guy up,” Donna said, looking around for something to bind his hands.
“Here use this,” Dedron said, grabbing some cables from a nearby control panel. He helped Donna to tie the Remoir to the chair where he had been seated. They also tore off his security clearance badge that was attached to his robe.
Donna studied a diagram of the ship located to the right of the Remoir’s seat.
“It’s this way,” she said, pointing to a corridor that led off to the western portion of the space cruiser.
For much of the way, they encountered very few Remoirs until they reached the far end of the corridor. There were several guards posted on either side of the doorway that opened before them.
“Security clearance badge?” the closest guard asked Dedron. He held up the badge that they had taken from the control room, which seemed to satisfy the guard. Donna and Dedron made their way into a vast chamber where several guards moved back and forth. There was a large moving stairway in front of them that led to the next level. On this level were several small rooms stacked up on top of each other in a semi-circle. The rooms all contained prisoners of every description, and appeared to be open with no walls to separate them. Instead, each prisoner was held captive by an invisible force field. Donna and Dedron made their way to the upper floor, looking around for someone of authority so that they could inquire about the Earth prisoners. It didn’t take long before they spotted another official-looking Remoir wearing a black robe with a spiked helmet. Dedron walked right up to him to ask about the whereabouts of their fellow soldiers.
“Excuse me, sir. The commander wishes for us to question the Earthling prisoners. Would you lead us to their cells?” he asked. The official turned and looked at them with glaring red eyes. His visage, like all of the other Remoirs was hidden by the darkness of his helmet.
“I don’t see how that is possible. The commander gave me explicit orders to bring them to the interrogation center in three parsigs,” he said. Donna and Dedron were both puzzled, not knowing what a parsig was. It could have been an hour or two days for all they knew.
“Well, he’s changed his mind. Show us to the cells immediately and we may allow you to live. Do not do anything suspicious or alert anyone or you will be disintegrated,” Donna said, taking out a small laser pistol and pressing it into his back. Dedron looked at her disapprovingly.
“He wasn’t going to take us if we’d kept with your idea,” she said.
The official led out a creepy, deep laugh and shook his head. “I will show you, but you will never make it off of this ship in one piece. I must admit that you Earthlings have some spirit, but your weakness is your compassion for one another. It is sure to lead you to make fatal mistakes such as the one you are making now.”
“Enough with the lecture, Mr. phantom menace,” Donna said, mocking him. “Lead on.”
Some of the guards that they passed gave them strange looks. It didn’t seem normal the way the official was walking with the two guards so close to him, but no one made a move to hinder their progress. After moving up a series of four movable stairways, they came to a column of cells where the other members of the Defense Squad were being held. Inside the first cell they came to was the Lanthan whose tube-like eyes perked up when he saw the group standing there. Dedron used the device he obtained from the guard to open the cell.
“Come with us,” Donna said. The Lanthan immediately recognized Donna’s voice and came walking out.
“But how did you do it?” he asked in his squeaky voice.
“We’ll explain later,” Dedron said as he shoved the Remoir official into the cell and re-activated the force field. The official stared at them with red-hot vengeful eyes as he put his hands up to the force field that surrounded him.
The cell next to it held David and Ken.
“Do we have to let them out?” she asked.
“Of course,” Dedron said.
“I wasn’t serious,” she replied.
“So hard to tell with you humans, sometimes,” Dedron replied.
David and Ken weren’t sure what was happening. They sat on their cots dejectedly, wondering what was going to happen next.
“Come on out,” Donna said.
“Wait, what? Donna?” Ken asked.
“The one and only.”
“But how?” David inquired.
“We’ll explain everything later. Where are Kadija and Laura?” Donna asked, urgently.
“They took them out of their cells just a few minutes ago,” Ken answered.
“Where did they go?” Dedron asked.
“Not sure. They took them down to the lower levels.”
“Most likely for questioning, I would guess,” the Lanthan said.
“From what I hear, that’s not a good thing,” David said.
“Come on. You three walk in between us so the other guards don’t get suspicious,” Dedron instructed.
“Too late, we’ve got company,” Donna said as four guards began to walk towards them.
“What are you doing with these prisoners?” one of them asked.
“We are taking them down to the lower level for questioning. Once they are through with the female humans, they will want to talk to these three,” Donna suggested.
“We haven’t received any word of this? What are your credentials?” another of the guards asked.
“We don’t need credentials. We have these!” Donna said, shoving her laser pistol into their faces.
“Come on, all of you. Into the cell,” Dedron shouted. They led the guards at gunpoint back to the cell that they had just freed David and Ken from and re-activated the force field. Afterwards, they proceeded to the lower levels to find Laura and Kadija.
Once they were back on the lower level, they saw a room where two armed guards were standing.
“That’s the room where they took the girls,” Ken whispered to Dedron who was standing right in front of him.
“We have brought the other prisoners for questioning,” Dedron said as the two guards stared at him.
“The Commander hasn’t called for them yet. This is highly irregular,” one of them answered.
“I was just following orders. Now, let us inside,” Dedron said.
“I don’t remember seeing you before. What are your credentials?” the other guard asked.
“Not again,” Donna said in exasperation. “Let us in unless you want to be incinerated!” she said in such an ins
istent voice, the guards responded right away. They looked at each other and then stepped back from the door.
“Let’s have the weapons too,” Dedron added. The guards dropped their laser cannons and Ken and David each picked one up.
“Wow, their cannons are lighter than ours,” David remarked.
“On the count of three, we go in,” Dedron said, turning to Donna who nodded.
“One, two, three…” Dedron said as he flung open the door.
Chapter 6
As soon as they burst into the room they were met with looks of surprise from the officials inside.
“Put down your weapons, immediately!” Dedron called out when he noticed that there were two guards standing on either side of the room. In the center were two throne-like chairs made of come type of crystal. Laura and Kadija were sitting in the chairs with metal bands holding their arms and legs in place. Some sort of headset devices had been placed on both of their heads. Right in front of the two chairs was another official-looking Remoir with a black cloak and spiked helmet.
“What’s the meaning of this?” the Remoir official asked.
“We are here to rescue our friends. I suggest that you free these two immediately if you wish to live another day,” Donna said.
The official did not make any immediate move to free Kadija or Laura who both looked hopeful at the sight of their friends.
“You don’t really think that you will be able to get off of this space cruiser in one place, do you?” he asked in a sinister, deep voice. His red eyes seemed to glow with a brighter light than the other Remoirs they’d seen.
“We made it this far haven’t we? There’s no reason to believe we can’t get off this ship,” Donna said.
“Don’t even waste your time talking to him,” Dedron said.
“Yeah screw him!” David added.
“Even so, you’re too late. We have received the information that we need from the brain scans we just performed on these two human females. We received intelligence about your intentions to strike us with your weak Defense Squad. Now we know where you intend to strike, which was up until now, the last piece of information we needed. I assure you that if there are any of your squad members that intend to go through with your foolhardy plan, we will be well prepared. So, Kerbron and Jerha, go ahead and free the two humans. We have no more use for them now,” he said.
“Yes Commander Herbron,” they both said in unison. Then they went about the task of freeing Laura and Kadiya. Both of them ran over to the rest of the squad. Both Laura and Kadija hugged Donna.
“Now, you will come with us to the prison level,” Dedron ordered the Remoirs.
“You heard him, guards, to the prison level!” the Commander ordered them. Dedron and the other squad members looked around at one another as if they thought things seemed a bit too easy for their liking. Nonetheless, they led the commander and his two guards back to the prison level. By this time, the guards that the Squad members had imprisoned in the cells had been discovered by other Remoir guards. The entire ship was now alerted to the presence of the Defense Squad.
As soon as the assembled group moved into the corridor, a swarm of guards rushed towards them.
“Stop right there. If you wish to see your commander live another day, you will put down your weapons and clear the way for us!” Donna said as she pressed her laser pistol into Commander Herbron’s back. The guards looked at the commander to gauge his reaction.
“Do as he says,” the commander said in a calm voice.
“Change of plans,” Dedron said, turning to the rest of the group. “Now that the ship is alerted to our presence, we will take the commander as our hostage. That will be all of the leverage we should need to get off of this ship without any resistance.”
“Sounds good,” both David and Ken agreed. The women all nodded their approval of the plan as well.
“Where are the docking bays for the smaller ships? We want access to one of the fastest ones you have!” Dedron asked Commander Herbron.
“Go to the far north wing. That’s where all of the docking bays are located. There will find the Kebroran Fighter Rocket, the fastest fighting ship we possess,” he said, calmly.
Dedron didn’t like the smug tone of the commander, but they followed his suggestion and made their way quickly towards the north wing. They got onto a large movable walkway, which made the trip much quicker. As they went along, they encountered more guards that all laid down their arms once they got the command from Commander Herbron. Finally, they reached the northern wing of the cruiser where the smaller rockets and escape pods were parked in the docking bays.
“Here is the rocket that you need,” Commander Herbron said in the same smug tone; his eyes were still glowing with a creepy confidence. The crew looked up at the Kebroran Fighter Rocket in awe- it was a sleek, black beast with four laser cannons and one large mega-thruster in the back. Each of its wings were long, and thin curving dramatically at both ends. The rocket resembled a vulture, lurking on a branch waiting for an easy meal.
Donna looked at the ship skeptically and went over to Dedron who had opened the loading door and was peering inside.
“I don’t like this one bit,” she whispered.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“This commander guy is way too cool as a cucumber. He’s plotting something.”
Dedron was a bit puzzled about the first part of her statement, but he soon came around to her way of thinking. He looked over at the commander who was still standing patiently near the loading area, and began to walk in his direction.
“Do you have another of these fighters?” Dedron asked.
“Why? There is nothing amiss with the one you are looking at here,” the Commander insisted.
“Commander, I have no doubt that the rocket is operable. I just wonder if anything has been added to the original model, that is,” he said. The commander just stood there staring back at him.
“There is nothing wrong with this rocket I tell you.”
“Then, what’s this?” Ken asked as he took out a small sphere-shaped device he found under one of the seats in the fuselage.
“That would be a 212 detonator,” David answered, feeling proud of himself about his knowledge.
“Nice try, commander. Let’s get to that other fighter rocket, shall we?” Dedron said. Donna smiled. Her eyes followed Dedron as he walked confidently towards the door of the docking area; her mind was awash with admiration and appreciation of his leadership qualities and his muscular, virile appearance. She was also pleased at how receptive he had become to her ideas and suggestions in a relatively short period of time.
The commander’s eyes didn’t seem to be glowing as brightly, and he went nearly silent. It was becoming obvious that he was deeply disappointed by the outcome of their plan to derail the Defense Squad’s plan to escape the Remoir cruiser. Once the crew had loaded everything onto the rocket, Commander Herbron began to step away from the loading platform.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” Donna asked him.
“Well, I figured since you had your escape vehicle and all of the weapons you could possibly want, I’d take my leave of you,” he said.
“Oh no, you’re coming with us. You are a great little bargaining chip, if I do say so,” she said. Dedron overheard the exchange and leaned out of the window next to the pilot’s seat. He smiled.
“I agree, Donna. What does everyone else think?” Dedron asked the rest of the crew.
“Agreed,” David and Ken answered simultaneously.
“Oh yes,” Laura said.
“Only if we get to torture him,” Kadija said, prompting the others to look at her.
“I’m only kidding!” she insisted.
Everyone then looked to the Lanthan who was keeping to himself in a seat towards the back of the bridge of the rocket.
“I agree too,” he squeaked finally.
“Alright, commander, let’s go. Don’t worry we won’t
get too rough with you!” Donna said, motioning with her laser pistol for him to start walking. The commander walked slowly onto the ship and was led by Donna to a holding room behind the bridge. Donna sat down next to Dedron who was still positioned in the pilot’s seat. Dedron switched on the rocket’s communication function and a Remoir appeared on a screen next to the control panel.
“This is Dedron of the Intergalactic Defense Squadron. Do not try and interfere with our departure or you will never see your precious commander alive again!” he warned.
“Do not worry, Baringge. We will not interfere with your escape,” the Remoir said in an eerie, sarcastic tone.
Soon the large rectangular cruise ship began to recede into the distance, but Donna swore she saw some other small ships departing as she looked down.
“We’ve got to get out of here fast. They are sending out ships to follow us,” she said.
“I see them. I’m going to activate the light speed engager, but its not fully charged for another minute,” Dedron said.
“Come on, David, let’s man the guns on this thing in the meantime,” Ken urged his friend.
“That’s just what I was thinking,” David insisted.
“Yes, that would be wise,” Dedron agreed.
Ken and David manned the large laser cannons, each one had control of the operation of two laser cannons on opposite sides of the rocket.
“This is going to be a blast!” David said.
“I’ll pretend you didn’t just make such a lame pun,” Ken answered.
The Remoir ships were getting closer, but were still out of range of the rocket’s guns.
“How much longer?” Donna asked Dedron.
“We’re almost there; just a few more seconds,” he said.
Just then, another Remoir fighter, the same as the one the Defense Squad members were aboard flew so close to them, it nearly crashed into them. Without warning, the enemy Remoir ship began to shoot a barrage of laser fire, unloading lasers in such rapid succession, Donna could hardly believe it.
“Shields up!” Dedron declared as he pressed a large, red button and the lasers bounced right off the hull of the rocket.
A New Reason To Fight: An Intergalactic Romance Page 32
