“What do they want here?” Mark stroked his chin and asked quietly.
“Mark?” Eddie questioned.
“Eddie, I don’t think that ship is looking for us.”
“So what’s it here for then?”
Red turned suddenly and barked, “We’re all going to find out. Two ships just launched from that thing heading nearby our position.”
“Explain ‘nearby’.”
“Mark, they look to be heading almost right for us, but not quiet on top of us. We could be in trouble if those guys are scouring the area.”
“Great.” Mark grunted, “Go to full red alert. Be prepared, everyone. Things could be going bad in a big way.”
The crew stared at their displays and awaited Mark’s next order.
“Here they come,” Red announced.
A dull roaring could be heard overhead and then disappeared in the distance.
“What the hell? What just happened?” Eddie asked.
“Those ships flew right past us and kept on going,” Red answered.
“Where are they going to though? That’s the question.” Mark asked.
Red replied, “I don’t know, Mark, but I can bet it’s safe to say that these guys are going somewhere they don’t want us to know about. I can definitely tell you one thing though; those ships weren’t looking for us,”
“So they don’t know we’re here,” Mark surmised.
“But what are they here for?” Red asked.
“I don’t know, Red. But I think it’s safe to say whatever it is, it’s something we’re not going to like.”
“Mark, what do we do?” Eddie asked.
“For now, until the ship is repaired and fully operational, we lay low. The repairs will continue as fast as humanly possible.”
“What about those clowns out there?” Red nodded toward the viewer at the red skinned natives. They were now camped out around the ship, actually making fires and cooking over those fires.
“What are they eating?” Lori asked.
“The pterodactyl I think. It’s not exactly a lot of food,” Eddie replied.
“I have an idea,” Mark announced as he turned and exited the command deck.
***
Five minutes later Mark, Eddie and Red along with a small contingent of security people walked down the boarding ramp toward the natives carrying platters of steaming food.
“You really think this is gonna work?” Eddie asked.
“We won’t know until we try,” Mark replied.
“Sometimes, Boss, I think you’re nuts,” Red added.
“Why are we doin’ this again?” Eddie queried.
Mark shrugged. “The enemy of my enemy is what?”
“In this case it could be someone who wants to eat us,” Red offered.
“You know, you are really a glass half full kinda guy,” Eddie remarked as he placed a platter of food on the ground at the inside edge of the force field barrier next to the others.
Outside the barrier the natives forgot about the small pieces of the flying creature they had upon their spits and were all pressed up against the invisible shield, ogling both the strange new invaders and the food.
Mark tapped his right cuff and spoke, “Danny, move the field back in five feet.”
“You got it, Boss,” Dan Sledge’s voice replied.
The natives suddenly fell to the ground as the force field barrier they were leaning against disappeared.
They slowly, cautiously approached the metal trays of hot food, looking at Mark, Red and Eddie with furrowed brows and almost animal uncertainty.
Slowly one of the natives crept forward. He reached a tentative hand toward the platter before him and removed a piece of chicken. He was immediately surprised at the heat of it and juggled it between hands, almost dropping it. But after an instant he cautiously moved it to his nose, sniffing it. Then he licked it. Immediately he was intrigued. He bit down and a smile spread over his face. He waved to his compatriots, and they descended upon the awaiting trays of food like ravenous fiends, devouring everything before them at an almost alarmingly fast rate.
“C’mon gentlemen, let’s go back inside,” Mark ordered.
Eddie and Red exchanged glances and followed Mark up the ramp and back into the Cagliostro. The doors hissed shut behind them and locked.
The three men returned to the command deck where Dan was awaiting them at his usual console.
Mark looked at his friend and asked, “What’d they do after we left, Danny?”
“They finished off the food and then looked up the ramp, like they were hoping more would be coming out.”
“What are they doing now?” Red asked, his eyes slit.
Everyone watched the monitor as all the natives turned to stare up the path they had taken to get to the Cagliostro in the first place. They dropped whatever scraps of food were left and grabbed their crude spears, chattering nervously amongst themselves
“It’s coming back,” Red announced.
“Of course it is. It smelled the food,” Mark agreed.
“Yeah, you said that was gonna happen,” Danny rumbled.
“You’re up, Mr. Sledge,” Mark announced.
Dan Sledge nodded his head. “On my way.”
“You sure you don’t want one of the armored heavy battle suits?” Eddie called after him.
“Naah, I’m good. This won’t take long.”
Dan disappeared into the maglovator. Everyone else on the command deck returned their gaze to the view screen.
The trees shook as the natives began to nervously scatter. An instant later the towering red furred ape appeared through the thick trees, bellowing madly.
Chapter 5
The fearsome red ape-like monstrosity with the v-shaped head bellowed its rage again. The natives fearfully pointed their spears at the towering hundred foot tall creature.
“Gangway!” a voice roared from behind the beleaguered natives before they could even throw one crude spear at the lumbering monstrosity.
Within the ship Mark commanded, “Now, drop the shield and bring it right back up after Dan clears it.”
As one the natives turned toward where the voice had come from in time to see Dan Sledge take three bounding steps then to leap at the red furred beast, both fists forward. He hurtled through the air as if he was shot from a cannon and impacted the ape directly under the jaw. The creature staggered immediately, as if drunken. Sledge dropped to the ground in a crouch and immediately charged the beast, again leaping fifty feet straight up, this time swinging his massive right fist into the beast’s chest.
As if Dan were David fighting Goliath the ape went down with an Earth shaking thud. The impact was so great that the natives were all thrown from their feet.
Dan walked up the giant creature’s body until he was standing on its chest. He reached his hands up above his head in double clenched fists, prepared to administer the finishing blow.
But the Ape moved like lightning and grabbed Sledge around the waist with both hands.
“Whoa!” Dan barked in surprise.
Aboard the Cagliostro everyone on the command deck immediately snapped into action.
“Eddie, do you have a clear shot?”
“Not yet, Mark. I don’t wanna vaporize Dan.”
“To hell with it! Get out there with a blaster rifle and take that thing out. If the ships guns are too big for something like this we’ll do it man to monster.”
“Wait, Mark,” Red interrupted.
“What?” Mark was now riveted to the view screen. Dan brought both his hands down on the towering behemoth’s own red furred hands, with such shattering force that the creature instantly dropped him. Howling, the monster rubbed its wrists as it backed up.
Dan shouted, “You ain’t goin’ nowhere, you crazy lookin’ ape. Now you’ve gone and pissed me off.”
The ape continued to back pedal but Dan was immediately upon it. This time he grabbed its leg and heaved upward, tossing the creature off
its feet, to the astonishment of the natives who were now cheering Dan on.
The great ape brought its hands up and slammed them down toward Dan’s head. Dan instantly ducked beneath them and leaped again, balled up both his fists together, and swung for all he was worth from right to left in mid-air. The blow connected with a loud crack to the ape’s jaw that reverberated throughout the dense woodland. The ape-thing fell over, poleaxed and unconscious. The ground shook with its fall.
“Watch them now,” Mark cautioned to Eddie and Red.
The natives swarmed all over Dan, patting him on the back and cheering.
“Lori, is the translation program getting any of what they are saying? Is it able to latch on yet?”
“Just now, Sir. They’re saying…’God-killer’. Yes that’s it, ‘God-killer’ over and over.”
“Is that thing really dead?” Eddie queried.
“Naaah, it’s out cold, that’s it.” Red looked at the ships sensor display and confirmed, “According to the sensors its unconscious.”
Mark smiled. “Good. Let’s go meet our new best friends, but before we do let’s bring their companions out to them as a measure of good faith.”
“I’ll have a security crew bring them up right away Mark,” Red announced.
Mark nodded. “Good, have them meet us out there. We’ll await their signal that they’re on their way.”
“You got it, Boss,” Red acknowledged.
***
Five minutes later Mark, Red and two security men with hand blasters exited the ship on the entryway ramp with the five natives who had tried to sneak onto the ship in front of them.
The former captives chattered incessantly with their cohorts while Dan walked back up the ramp toward his companions.
“How’s it looking, Danny?”
Dan turned back toward the group of natives and spoke. “They seem ta be lovin’ me for takin’ that thing down. It musta been a grade ‘A’ pain to them.”
“Have they been talking?”
“Yeah, Mark they have, but I got no clue what they’re sayin’. Hopefully the translation program can do its job now.”
“Let’s give it a shot.” Mark tapped his sleeve and a hologram image of a control panel sprang up. He tapped the virtual keys and typed a few commands. He finished off with a sequence that collapsed the holographic control panel. An instant later the alien’s voices were being translated by the tech suits the crew wore and the ship’s powerful computer systems.
“Hhhmmm, we should be able ta communicate with ‘em now,” Dan announced.
“Should be, Dan. By the way, none the worse for the wear against Kong over there, right?” Mark nodded toward the unconscious ape-like giant.
“Naaah, Mark, I’m fine.” Dan smiled and flexed his right bicep.
Red grimaced. “I still don’t trust them.”
Mark slapped him on the shoulder as he walked down the ramp. “That’s what I pay you for, big man.”
The group moved back toward the natives who seemed to grow less wary of them with each second.
“Hello,” Mark began. “We are travelers from far away. We mean you no harm. We simply need time to repair our ship which was damaged on the way here.”
The leader of the pack of natives looked at him quizzically as the suit’s tech replayed everything Mark said in his own language.
“Ship?” The native asked. “The great silver bird is a ship? What does ‘ship’ mean?”
Mark and the others looked back and forth before Mark sighed and began to explain. “I built this vessel or ship. It is like a boat that sails among the stars.” He waved his hand at the sky.
The leader or Chieftain nodded in agreement. “We… know of such things. Others have come and now live in the mountain of fire. We thought you were like them. That is why…we attacked you. They have…done us much…harm. They have…taken many of us as workers. Those taken have not…returned.”
The crew of the Cagliostro looked at one another.
“What did this ‘others’ look like?”
“Some have purple flesh, others yellow. Some make our minds scream in pain without saying a word.”
Dan turned toward Mark. “That’s all Agalum.”
“I know, Danny,” Mark returned his gaze to the chieftain. “Where are your people now? How many are still free?”
“Only small amount left. Perhaps five hundred more than is what is here.” The translator program concluded an instant behind what he had said.
“How many were taken?” Red queried.
The chief looked to them and replied slowly, “Thousands.”
Chapter 6
“What’d we stumble onto?” Dan asked. The command crew, less Ariel, were seated around the table in the command conference room.
“We’ll have to find out. I have to assume it’s some kind of forward base in the making at least, if not completed,” Mark replied.
“It makes sense,” Red offered. “The atmosphere’s breathable and the indigenous population is no threat. Hell, a single guy with a rechargeable hand blaster and a force field or an armored suit could conquer this whole planet.”
“Yeah, these people ain’t exactly a threat to the Agalum,” Eddie agreed.
Mark nodded in agreement, “No, but they make great slave labor.”
“For whatever they’re building here,” Red added.
“I guess that answers the question of where those two extra ships came from that joined the attack on us before we crashed here.” Eddie added.
“This would be the most forward base the Agalum have built, if it is that,” Mark announced.
“Yeah, It’s only a day from Earth at full hyper-warp,” Danny agreed.
“If this is a base, we have to either shut it down or get word back to EPIC,” Red commented.
“The Earth Protectorate Interstellar Command needs to know about this as soon as possible. This is a launching point for another invasion. They could mass ships here and be in and out of our home system in a day. If they rotated ships both ways it could be a never ending assault from here,” Mark commented and then continued, “I have both Lori Westin and Miss Wallflower rotating shifts on the comm, scanning all frequencies and all bands.”
Dan turned his head slightly and squinted his eyes before asking, “Why d’ya do that?”
“Do what?”
“Why d’ya call Lilly ‘Miss Wallflower’?”
“Well, it is her last name, and to be honest every time I think of her whole name, well, I have a hard time taking her seriously, and she is very good at what she does.”
“Ah Mark sometimes I don’t get you.”
“What can I say, Danny? I’m quirky. And to be honest, calling a woman ‘Lilac Wallflower’ or ‘Lilly Wallflower’ just makes me want to smile.”
“Yeah, I guess her parents had a sense o’ humor.”
“Are you two done yet?” Red interrupted his face a twisted mask of disapproval.
“What?” Mark asked, smiling slightly.
“What? Really? We’re stuck on this planet and there may be hundreds, or even thousands of Agalum warriors here with us and you two are playing name games. That’s what.”
“Look, Red, sometimes you need a few moments of levity to lighten the mood in a bad situation.”
“I’m not seein’ it, Mark, especially not now. Things are looking pretty grim to me.”
“Things are always lookin’ grim to you,” Eddie smirked.
“Maybe that’s because I’m the only one not looking at the world through rose colored glasses.”
“Okay enough,” Mark blurted out. “Here’s why I’m not that concerned, Red. Things are not that bad. The ship is being repaired. Even though we may have some time stuck here as of yet, we will get off this planet. Secondly we just befriended the natives, who are even now eating more of the food we provided to them. Thirdly, somehow we lucked out and fell upon a major Agalum base only a day or so from Earth, their most forward base.”
“That we know of,” Red amended.
“Yes, that we know of. Though I’m pretty secure in saying it’s probably the closest one, period.”
“Okay I’ll go with that.”
“Alright Red, so tell me in your estimation, since you are security, what happened to us out there? How come we were attacked first by a fast attack ship we managed to defeat in a pitched battle and then by reinforcements that just happened to be in the area? The G’Kor class ship is another matter entirely.”
“As far as I’m concerned the whole cluster muck up is just coincidence. That fast attack ship was probably on patrol in that sector, scanned us and went on the attack because we were relatively close to their base. Or it was returning there and its crew knew it had to stop us.”
“Okay, what about the other ships?”
“The fast attack called for help, those others responded, which would explain why small two man vessels would be out this far in the first place.”
“Because it wasn’t really that far with this hidden base smack dab in the middle of everything,” Eddie added.
Red nodded. “That’s right, short stuff. You got it exactly. Those guys were the back up.”
“Fine. What about the G’Kor though?” Mark pressed.
“What about it? It may not be here for us at all. It could be on a supply run or something. Or it could simply be passing through.”
“Do you believe that?” Mark inquired.
“Not for an instant, but I had to put it out there because it is a possibility,” Red finished.
Mark nodded. “Understood.”
“So what do we do about this base?” Eddie asked.
“I don’t know,” Mark replied. “To be honest I’d rather be able to get the hell out of here and back home, and then point the Fifth Fleet out this way to clean that thing off the face of this planet.”
“What’s stopping that from happening?” Eddie queried.
“It depends. I can’t send a signal from here, even a fast encoded one. They’ll find us instantly. One thing we’ve been able to learn is that a lot of their tech has gotten very good of late.”
The Cagliostro Chronicles II: Conflagration Page 4