by Dave Lemel
“They still are. There, you see? That shadow moved. It is not part of the vehicle. Change cameras.”
The Vikard cycled to a camera mounted on the wall the foursome had cut through and paned it straight down.
“There.” Dow’s forked tongue licked his lips. “There they are. Zoom in further.” Dow’s yellow and red eyes narrowed. “That one,” he pointed a talon at Jasper. “Show me that one’s face.”
Jasper’s head dominated the screen. He turned to glance back at the hole they had entered through, and Dow’s eyes shot wide open. “It is him! The marshal from Io!”
Dow threw the other Vikard violently into the wall and out of his path. He raced out the door and down the hall. As he hit the bottom of the stairs, he roared with excitement and burst through the doors to the road. In his haste, he failed to notice the turtle-shaped hover droid that had been blending into the ceiling just as he passed the bottom of the steps.
Chapter 35
“Was that Dow?” Todd’s breathing became noticeably heavier as he leaned in for a closer look at Simon’s link. “Play that back.”
“Could you give me a little space? You’re so close to the screen, I’m surprised it’s not fogging up.” Todd stood up straighter, giving Simon access to his link again. He rewound the most recent feed from Shelly’s camera then played it again. “That’s him. No doubt. I will never forget that hideous face.”
“Where was he flying off to like that?” Todd asked nobody in particular.
“Marshal Cain,” said Lombargnor, “please instruct the hover droid to open that door and follow that Vikard.”
“What if she’s spotted when she opens the door?” Simon replied.
“Of no concern at the moment. We know the stairwell is clear the rest of the way, and the ultimate goal for that droid was to locate Dow. Instruct the droid to pursue.”
Simon nodded. “Shelly, open the door to the exterior at the end of the hall in front of you. Once outside, pursue and maintain visual of the Vikard that just exited that door after running underneath you.”
Shelly descended from the ceiling, turned the handle on the big black glass door, and pushed the heavy object open and out of her path. Once outside, she quickly ascended to get a better view and locate her target. She found him as he slowed his pace, nearing the gaping entry to the hangar down and across the road.
Upon entering, Dow could be seen shouting and pointing. One Vikard appeared and hurried out the opening at the front of the hangar. He sprinted for the corner and headed around the side of the hangar. Another positioned himself at the center of the opening and faced inward, his cluster blaster in one hand, Vikard battle ax in the other.
“Is the microphone on the hover droid operating at full capacity?” asked Lombargnor.
“Yes,” replied Simon. “She needs to get inside there for us to hear him. She’s in stealth so she’s moving slow and keeping distance to avoid detection. She’s almost in now.”
Shelly gently glided under the upper corner of the doorway. She immediately located Dow and zoomed in her camera. The Vikard leader’s voice boomed through loud and clear now. “I knew you would come. But where is the other? He did not appear to be in your little group of four. Up in one of the fighters being decimated outside? Or perhaps he is sneaking around somewhere else along the perimeter, attempting to gain access to what is now mine.”
“Who is he talking to?” asked Todd.
“The other four,” Sasha responded. “They must be in there, and they must have been spotted.”
“We need to warn them,” said Simon.
“Already sending message to Foggen,” Sasha replied. “That’s Dow talking to you. He is slowly moving toward the eastern wall from the center of the hangar. One other Vikard guarding main entrance. Another ran around the outside.”
“Jasper,” Simon whispered to himself. “He thinks Jasper is me.” Simon tore up the stairwell while trying to hold his link as steady as possible to watch the feed from Shelly. He jumped up the steps two at a time toward the surface level.
“Simon!” Sasha half yelled, half whispered. “Simon!”
Simon stopped at the next landing as he rounded his way up. He looked down and whisper yelled back, “What? It’s Jasper!”
“If you get caught flying up there like a maniac, what good will it do?”
Simon stared at his link as Dow closed in on the cherry-red cruiser near the eastern wall. Simon aggressively gestured with his left arm to move up and towards himself. “Then come. Now! Help me.”
Simon stared into his link as the other three caught up to him. Dow swung his battle ax menacingly in front of himself as he approached the cruiser, taunting his prey.
“Marshal Cain,” Lombargnor said as he joined Simon on the landing, “the tunnel to the locker room.”
“What?” Simon asked without breaking eye contact with the feed on his link from the hangar.
“The tunnel under the road that leads to the locker room. We will use that to access the other side of the road.” Simon looked up as Lombargnor continued. “The upper floors of this building have a significant Vikard presence. I see no reason the locker room or the tunnel to it should be heavily guarded or occupied under current circumstances. We take the tunnel to the locker room, then emerge on the desired side of the road directly next to the hangar building.”
“Yes.” Simon took off up the stairs again. “C’mon!”
Chapter 36
“Six times six is thirty six,” Jack mumbled to himself, staring at the hole they had entered through. The booming voice of Dow grew louder as he drew nearer. “Seven times seven is forty nine.” He squinted and stopped the multiplication. Is that somebody nearing the hole from the other side? he asked himself. He flattened to get a better angle on it. The Vikard that Dow had sent around the side of the building was now crouched down, battle ax in hand, grinning back at him. As their eyes met, he began to pull himself through the hole.
“Guys,” Jack exhaled more than really spoke while pointing at the new threat. Li heard him and looked to identify what he was pointing at.
“Oh boy.” Li fired a pulse from his wand, and the Vikard ducked back out the hole. “We need to move.” He tapped Foggen. “Right now.”
Foggen peeked over the hood of the cruiser. Dow was maybe thirty feet away, navigating around the last Vikard fighter between them and him. He spotted Foggen instantly and took a shot with his cluster blaster as he cackled.
Jack gasped, “The little smokies.”
“What?” asked Li.
Jack unzipped a small pocket near his waist and pulled out a tiny cylinder. He unscrewed the cap and poured three small capsules into his hand. “Get ready,” he whispered toward the other three.
He whipped the first capsule at the floor before throwing the other two at the wall on either side of the hole. Thick, soot gray smoke expanded rapidly from each location a capsule had struck a surface. “Run,” he whispered as hard as he could.
Dow paused his advance and observed the dense cloud intently.
“Stay down behind or under the vehicles if you are able,” Foggen urged Jasper as he yanked him back down to the ground, and they began crawling in the direction of the doorway. “They have the ability to sense heat signatures. Not great, it’s a leftover ability from long ago in their evolution when they were night hunters, but well enough.”
“What about Jack and Li?” Jasper whispered back as they scurried from behind the cruiser to the nearest Vikard saucer fighter and then behind a large cart full of crates.
“They went the other way. I think he has selected us as his primary targets.”
As the smoke began to dissipate, Jasper and Foggen pressed up tight to the stacks of crates. Jasper’s heart relentlessly hammered at the interior of his ribcage as he struggled in vain to control his breathing.
The jolt from behind was as violent as it was sudden. The crates came tumbling down on top of them, and Jasper lunged out to the side as Foggen wa
s buried beneath the avalanche. Jasper scrambled to his feet, desperate to flee for the next closest cover he could find. That Vikard fighter ship, his mind raced, maybe I can climb on top of that.
He leaped for the side of the shiny red saucer, desperately hoping his hand would find something to grasp that he would be able to pull himself up with. Just as his feet left the ground, he felt the talon-like nails dig into his sides. He thrashed and howled out in pain. His heart pummeled him from within so forcefully he swore his chest would burst open with the next pump.
The hands squeezed. The claws plunged in to his flesh deeper and deeper. He wanted to cry out in pain but he could not find the breath. The hands lifted him higher, the pressure relaxing just enough for him to whimper before the air was ruthlessly squeezed from his lungs once more and his body viciously propelled into the concrete surface below.
Jasper tried to jump up and escape. His brain begged his legs to remove him from this horror. It was as if he was asking his hair to lift him up and carry him away. He could beg all he wanted, his hair would never be able to comply, and now neither could his legs.
He rocked his shoulders and rolled his upper body enough to grab the handle of a nearby crate. He pulled himself over and onto his stomach. He desperately pulled his body along the floor, forearm over forearm, as he tried to hide amongst the scattered, fallen crates.
Dow roared with laughter. “This is even more pleasurable than I had imagined.” Dow paced along in the trail of blood Jasper smeared along the floor as he attempted to slide away. “You thought you had defeated me. You.” He squatted down and dragged a finger through the blood. He examined the tip of the finger closely. “You. A pathetic, little, fragile,” he kicked Jasper violently in the side of his ribs, “human.”
Foggen launched up through the pile of crates, wand raised and trained on Dow. Four pulses found the Vikard’s massive torso. He staggered, nearly toppled, and snarled, “You I will now torture for days along with this flaccid sack of flesh and bone at my feet. Is Lombargnor with you perhaps? I would love nothing more than to add him to the tortured to death clan that I am collecting here.”
Foggen spotted Li desperately attempting to get his attention from atop a gleaming red Vikard fighter saucer by the back wall of the hangar. Li pointed down animatedly and repeatedly. Foggen dove to the ground with two of his hands outstretched. He grasped Jasper’s wrists and dragged him into the pile of crates.
The concussive wave slammed into the back of the temporarily frozen Dow. Foggen slung Jasper over his shoulder and bolted as fast as his four legs could carry them in the direction of the fighter Li had been perched upon. The cherry-red star marshal cruiser near the hole they had entered the hangar through flipped twice from the force of the blast that had originated beneath it. It came crashing down to rest on the Vikard unfortunate enough to have just crawled through the hole in the hangar wall.
TZZZ, TZZZ, TZZZ. Golden pulses lit up the darkness beyond the massive opening at the front of the hangar. The Vikard guarding the entrance was hit with pulse after pulse before falling flat to the ground, incapacitated, as Simon led the charge over his body and into the hangar.
Simon stopped and shouted into the cavernous structure, “You want us?” Todd and Lombargnor joined him, the three standing at the ready, shoulder to shoulder. “Come and get us!”
Sasha crept into the building, her back pressed against the wall as she slid around the entrance and then into the nearest corner. She crouched down and shuffled along, attempting to maintain line of sight on Simon, Todd, and Lombargnor. Dow roared with excitement, the rush of rage at being taunted by a voice he longed to silence providing more than enough to re-awaken his frozen muscles to push himself back to his feet.
Todd pointed with his wand. “There’s that ugly mug we been lookin’ for.”
“Where’s my brother?” Simon shouted as Dow forced one leg then the other to begin carrying him toward the trio, his pace increasing with each step.
“Is that who I broke just before you arrived? Pity. I was certain that was you.” Dow raised his cluster blaster and fired as he exploded into a sprint.
Lombargnor used two arms to shove Todd and Simon out of the path of the oncoming blasts. With the other two, he returned fire using a pair of wands. “Get around the back of him,” he said over his shoulder before charging, wands blazing, at the oncoming Dow.
Todd and Simon raced off and skirted around a vibrant powder blue star marshal cruiser that nearly perfectly matched the top half of their uniforms. They slid to the ground beside it, taking up position near the trunk as they each fired a pair of pulses at Dow. The Vikard was hit by one in the shoulder of the arm wielding his battle ax. The limb paralyzed as he attempted to swing it at Lombargnor as he approached. His hand numbed to the point of no feeling. The ax dropped out of it and skidded across the floor.
Lombargnor skipped off one foot as he arrived, then launched off the next foot to touch ground. He spun into his Vikard target, and one foot then the other heavily impacted Dow’s face, knocking him back but not down.
As Lombargnor attempted a follow-up blast with his wands, Dow smashed his arms down with clenched fists and followed with a crushing head butt. Lombargnor cried out as Dow delivered another blow with his knee to Lombargnor’s chest before crashing down on the back of his head with the handle of his cluster blaster.
Todd and Simon jumped out from behind the cruiser and threw themselves at Dow, wands firing between wild kicks and an attempted clothesline by Todd. Dow easily absorbed the blows before delivering two devastating counter punches, knocking both violently to the cold, hard concrete.
Dow cackled maniacally as Todd switched his wand into cutting mode. He rotated the wand around in his hand and stabbed downward on the top of Dow’s foot. The wand tried its best to bore into the surface of Dow’s armored boot, but clearly it would be a slow job to cut through to flesh.
Dow hammered down with two fists on Todd’s back. Todd desperately wanted to keep hold of his wand and the pressure he had been applying with it, but he could not manage. As his hand released, Dow kicked him in the face, the wand still sticking up from the top side of his foot. Dow reached down and snatched the wand. He twirled it in his fingers and glared at Todd’s panicked eyes. “Pathetic little stick.” He snapped it in two, and with a flick of his wrists tossed each half away.
Simon thrust his wand up from beneath Todd and fired twice at Dow’s grinning, red, scaly face. The first glanced off his shoulder as he turned, reacting to the incoming threat. A portion of the pulse seemed to find an exposed part of his neck. His grin melted into a snarl as he struggled against the effects.
Another explosion sent blast waves reverberating through the hangar. As they hit Dow, Todd noticed him rock slightly, and sensing an opportunity, gathered up all the strength he could tap and launched off the ground and into Dow’s waist.
It was like trying to tackle a boulder. Even in his mostly frozen state, Dow seemed to be made of concrete. Poured into his suit and cured there ages ago. Hard as a basement wall.
Dow rocked ever so slightly, the grin returning to his face as Todd bounced off him. As Simon scrambled off the floor himself, Dow’s freedom of control over his limbs began to return. His right hand shot out at Todd, snatching his arm and clutching it. The left soon followed and grabbed a leg. He lifted Todd over his head and threw him at Simon. He smashed into Simon, and the two marshals crashed over each other, tumbling to the concrete surface in a heap once again.
Dow rotated through Todd, Simon, and Lombargnor with a fierce kick to the ribs for each. He located his battle ax and stalked off to retrieve it. He picked it up, slipping his fingers into the grip holes, the blade edges lighting up in response. Delight in Dow’s yellow eyes visibly glowing in the ax’s aura as he strode back.
“How do I choose?” he exhaled through his grin. “All three heads will be such a pleasure to liberate from their bodies. But which first? Which last?” He kicked the unconscious
Lombargnor again. “Definitely you for the main course, my old friend.” He kicked him once more before spinning to give Todd and Simon each a follow-up boot as well. “These two I have been anxious to enact revenge upon. But you,” he spun and delivered another fierce foot to the midsection of Lombargnor’s limp body, “I have been dreaming of this moment a lifetime.”
Dow turned slowly and crouched down beside Todd’s face. “You and your partner I will execute together for the appetizer.” He lifted Todd up with his free hand and held him in the air. He yanked his face toward his own, snapping the crown of his own head into the bridge of Todd’s nose. The crunch of bone breaking rang through Todd’s head as blood poured from his nostrils and down over his mouth and chin. “That human blood does really excite me,” Dow exclaimed as he threw Todd down onto Simon. Dow raised the ax over his head, grabbing the handle with both hands as he roared with laughter.
At the other end of the hangar, Sasha had climbed into a gray star marshal cruiser with thick black racing stripes running over the top. She desperately attempted to summon the little bit of training she had received what seemed like ages ago on how to operate a cruiser. She was just about to give up, but then she saw Dow deliver the blows that knocked Todd and Simon off their feet. Then it had clicked.
As Dow laughed with pleasure, she lifted the cruiser off the floor of the hangar and aimed it at his scarred, red face. She hammered the throttle, launching the cruiser forward as she clutched the controls with white-knuckled grip.
Simon saw the blur of gray and black approaching in his peripheral vision and turned to see the cruiser barreling dead at them. He closed his eyes and waited for impact.
The front of the cruiser caught Dow waist high as he had turned to see what was coming. It lifted him off the ground and carried him into the powder blue cruiser Todd and Simon had used moments earlier for cover. The two cruisers bounced and skidded, Dow sandwiched between, as their trajectory and momentum carried them all the way into the wall. The rear of the gray and black cruiser swung upward before thudding back down to the floor, finally coming to a stop. The two vehicles were pinned together at the point of impact.