“… and make sure you all play along!” Flupotia turned to see Frize enter again and gave him a once over. “This is perfect. Frize, you’re playing the role of the General. We’re a group of soldiers that escaped Earth and are looking for a ride back to Pluto. We’ll get as many of them on our ship as we can and then lure them into the cells. No need for senseless bloodshed if we can avoid it.”
“Flupotia, what…” She raised her hand and made a sideways chopping motion.
“Now isn’t the time for questions, I just need to know that you can play along. I promise we will talk after this is over.”
“Ma’am,” Kube’s small voice from the corner of the room chimed in, “they’ve docked and are entering the ship.”
With no choice at this point but to play along, Frize dropped all of his burning questions for later.
“There are three ships. Two have docked.” Kube continued. “There are fifteen soldiers in the exit hatch currently. Still no way to count how many left on their ships.”
“Let’s welcome them with open arms.”
Within moments of her words, the sound of boots raced up the stairs, growing louder and louder as they progressed. They filed in the room by twos having run up the stairs in pairs. The final one in the line casually strolled in after his soldiers had all entered and formed a sort of path from the stairs to the command center. He walked with a casual confidence that was powerful yet approachable.
“Who is in charge here?” He only spoke once he had reached the console.
Flupotia went wide-eyed and stared at Frize until they made eye contact.
“Right,” he said before he could help himself, “uh, I mean that would be me, sir.”
“And you are?” He didn’t even bother looking up from the console.
“General Ozod of the Earth invasion.”
“Ahh, yes. That utter failure. And what are you doing up here?”
“We managed to escape but ran out of fuel and have been waiting for someone to find us.” Frize saw Flupotia over his shoulder and she nodded to the stairs gently. “We have prisoners!” Frize said with almost too much enthusiasm.
“Any high-value ones?” The General looked up to Frize now, making eye contact for the first time.
“Yes. Some of the leaders from their pitiful rebellion.”
“Well then, maybe your time on Earth wasn’t a total waste. Show me, maybe we can still manage to salvage something out of this mess.”
“If you wouldn’t mind leading the way, Flupotia.”
“Flupotia?” The General’s lips parted as he turned to her. “That’s not a very common name you know?”
“My parents had very unique tastes when it came to naming.”
“Well then, Flupotia,” he nodded slowly as he studied her face, “lead the way.”
Flupotia went first and was followed closely by the General and half of his soldiers. The rest stayed on the deck while Frize brought up the rear. Down the stairs, they went in silence.
“In this cell, two of our own who turned on us.” Flupotia motioned to a cell where sure enough Reizod and Zinta were slumped over on a bunk with heads hanging loosely in their laps.
“Is that all?” The General narrowed his eyes and cracked his knuckles loudly.
“Not at all. In the next cell, we have Gin-us, one of the Martians who actually helped the human on his quest. We’re rather proud of this one. The human may lead the rebellion, but everyone knows a seasoned fighter like him is the real leader.”
They peered inside the cell where a blanket was draped over someone sleeping.
“Gin-us? I’ve heard some rather interesting stories about him from some of the others we’ve rescued. Get him out of bed.”
Flupotia took the hilt of her sword and banged on the bars. “Prisoner, you have visitors!” There was no movement. “I said, you have visitors!” She hit the bars harder, the sound echoing through the narrow corridor.
“Open the door.” The General didn’t take his eyes off the lump on the bed.
“I don’t know if that’s wise.” Flupotia tried, playing her part perfectly. This couldn’t have gone better!
“I said to open the door!” The General glared at her.
Flupotia broke eye contact with the General and dropped her chin to her chest. She slowly turned to the console and punched in a four-digit code. The metal clanged loudly as it slowly slid on the track.
“You know.” The General turned to Flupotia as he placed a hand on his gun. “I heard stories about Gin-us transforming into a great dragon and blazing a path of fire so hot it even melted some of our weapons.” He snapped the button off of the guns holster. “And I can’t help but wonder how you managed to capture someone like that while on the run? And when I think about it, General Ozod was never that great at taking prisoners.”
With that, the General yanked his gun from its holster and turned to Frize. With not even a second of hesitation, he pulled the trigger. The resounding crack that filled the air around them was quickly followed by screams of agony.
◆◆◆
“Patrick, wake up!”
With his eyes still groggy with sleep he forgot where he was for a moment. Rolling over in his bed, the panic in Rogers’s eyes snapped Patrick back to reality. His calm demeanor had been thrown out, replaced with a panic that surprised and worried Patrick.
“Sir, we’re under attack! We need your powers!”
Why do you need my powers? “First things first, take a deep breath and calm down. You cannot be losing your head right now!”
Patrick grabbed him by the shoulders, surprising himself as he had always been intimidated by Roger’s large stature.
“Get down to the engine rooms; leave one Iceman and one Fireman down there to keep the ship running. Get the rest to their battle stations.” The ship rocked violently, Patrick was thrown from his bed and slammed Roger into the wall. “Meet me in the command center when you’re done. We’ve got this!”
Roger nodded and took a deep breath. As Patrick released his shoulders, Roger ran for the door, pausing and turning around once he was halfway out.
“One other thing sir. Flupotia, she’s been missing since the attack started.”
“What?! Did they attack her ship first?!” She can’t be gone.
“I can’t say for sure. None of us saw her ship actually get attacked. One second she was there, the next gone. Then we noticed the attackers flying in.”
“There has to be an explanation!” Patrick shoved past Roger, rushing towards the command center. “Don’t just stand there,” he shouted back down the hall, “get everyone moving!”
Roger took off towards the engine room as Patrick continued in the opposite direction. Making the run in record time Patrick reached for the radio. As his fingers clasped the radio another blast rocked the ship, sending him sprawling to the floor. Patrick cursed under his breath as he lifted himself to the radio.
“Flupotia, come in! Flupotia, are you out there!” He was screaming into the radio as if the louder he was the further his voice would travel over the radio waves.
“Patrick, Gin-us here. We haven’t been able to make contact with Flupotia since the attack started.” His voice was grim, “what’s the plan here?”
“Forget the plan for a second, where did she go?! There’s no way she would abandon us like this!”
“I understand your frustrations, and I hope there is a simple explanation,” Gin-us paused, carefully choosing his words, “but right now surviving this attack is our main objective. So I ask again, what’s the plan?”
Patrick couldn’t bring himself to admit it out loud, but he knew Gin-us was right. Flupotia had proven she could hold her own and had more than earned Patrick’s trust. Whatever reasons she had for abandoning them, they must have been legit.
“Okay,” focus Patrick, “we’ve run this drill dozens of times before, now it’s time for the real deal. Leave one Iceman and Fireman down in your engine room and keep it running.
Get the rest up to the cannons, they know what to do from there. How many ships are we looking at out there?”
“From here, I spot four total.”
“Okay, I’m going to leave Jane and John keeping the ship flying straight. Roger is in charge of coordinating the weapons.” Now for the fun part. “You and I, we’re going out there. Without Flupotia here, we’ll need to be weapons ourselves. There has to be something in this DNA encyclopedia that allows us to breathe out there.”
It wasn’t the greatest plan by any means, but it was the best they had. The Firemen and Icemen had proven their worth by not only powering the engines, but also the cannons. It had been one of their favorite drills to run, the propulsion system built into the cannons somehow amplifying their powers. It had shocked everyone, Firemen and Icemen included, the first time they tried it out. Luckily they’d been practicing in a secluded area of the woods, and there were no casualties. With just a few of them on each cannon, the firepower was formidable.
Patrick took off down the hallway, past the barracks, the mess hall, the med bay and the armory to the exit hatch. On his own ship, Gin-us arrived seconds behind Patrick, having taken the time to bark orders at his own crew. Both stood in silence as hundreds of creatures flashed through their minds, looking for anything that could survive in outer space. There were large creatures capable of breathing in the air, but no way to maneuver without gravity, there were small creatures that could fly through space but couldn’t breathe. Simultaneously they both came to the same conclusion, dragons.
The transformation began quickly, fueled by the adrenaline pumping through their veins. Patrick watched as his skin cracked, forming scales of deep mahogany. As his fingernails sprouted into talons he struggled to punch in the code sealing the inner doors behind him. The inner doors hissed shut and the room began to shrink in around Patrick, his bones cracking as they grew tenfold. Within seconds the room was no longer big enough to contain him. He struggled to turn around, the walls of the room scraping against his body, the sound sending shivers down his spine. With much effort, he finally had the control panel in front of him for the outer doors. Punching in the code, the room depressurized and the outer doors hissed open. No sooner had a crack formed in the doors that Patrick felt all air leave his lungs. He gasped violently, struggling to breathe in the oxygen-deficient environment. His transformation slowed to a snail pace as all energy was rerouted to survival. Patrick urged his transformation forward, pushing his body to its absolute limits. It didn’t seem to be enough though, as the world around him faded to black.
◆◆◆
Smoke poured from the remnants of the gun in the Generals now mangled hand. Frize was speechless and frozen, the only movements coming from his rapidly blinking eyes. The General’s soldiers in the corridor were also frozen, unsure if they should grab their own weapons or run from the room. The General dropped the gun and clutched his hand tightly to his chest, eyes wild with pain and anger.
“Did you not know about the artillery suppressant system down here?” Flupotia circled the General and eyed the others, still frozen in place. “It would be appreciated if the rest of you would remove your weapons and enter the cells now.”
There was little hesitation as weapons clattered to the ground and the soldiers ran for the safety of the cells. The General could feel his chest tightening but refused to break eye contact with Flupotia.
“The system was put in place by Xylana.” Flupotia rocked back on her heels as she sneered at the General. “Of course, it was done in secrecy and not many know of its existence. She wanted to make sure there was a way to keep us from harming any prisoners while also making sure if a fight broke out, our weapons couldn’t be turned against us. Anyone unfortunate enough to actually pull a trigger…” she cast a glance at his hand and swallowed the lump in her throat before continuing. “Well, you see what happens to them.”
“General Ozod and Flupotia. I knew the second I heard your names!” The General’s body flushed hot.
Flupotia glared down at the General and without warning landed a blow to the side of his head with the hilt of her sword. He crumpled to the ground and she stepped over his body, punching her code into the cell doors yet again. They clanged shut and she turned back to Frize.
“Go get Chrove, let him know there’s an injury down here that needs his attention.” She scooped her arms beneath the Generals and began dragging him to the cell where Zinta and Reizod were now standing at the gate casting glances of uncertainty to one another.
“Be discreet, we still have to get the others down here.”
Frize took off to find Chrove while Flupotia and the others managed to prop the General in a cot and stop the flowing of his blood. Chrove was not pleased with the work when he arrived. His jaw was firmly set as he narrowed his eyes and quickly set to properly cleaning and bandaging the wound. While Chrove was busy with the General, Flupotia left with the others to deal with those still remaining.
Those left on her ship were dealt with quickly. Having transformed into the General, Flupotia tricked them into entering a cell. After the soldiers on board were dealt with they wasted no time in taking the other ships. The first of the three was already empty, the entire crew now locked up. The second ship fell quickly, none on board willing to take a leadership position and fight back. Things took a turn when they tried to reach out to the third ship. They sensed something was amiss and began to take off. A firefight ensued, Flupotia destroying the enemy ship as it attempted to fly away. She wasn’t happy with the outcome but knew there had been no alternative.
One of the two newly commandeered ships took the brunt of the damage during the chaos of battle. Her ship had sustained minor damage that was repairable. However, given that the other newly commandeered ship remained unscathed, she decided it best to transfer the army, supplies, and prisoners to that one. All of this happened very quickly, but Frize still managed to corner Flupotia while she was alone and demanded the answers he was desperately seeking.
“Flupotia, we need to talk.” He approached with his shoulders high despite the tightness in his chest threatening to steal his breath away.
“Frize, help me load up this crate. We can talk while we work.” She tossed him a case of ammo that he packed into a crate that lay open on the floor behind him. “What do you want to know?”
“How did you know they were coming? And why did you divert us from everyone else?”
“I’m not proud of this, but I had the radar on the other ships limited. They can only see about seventy-five percent of what I see.”
“But why?” Frize missed the case she was throwing and it crashed to the floor, skidding out of view.
“I knew if we ran into any large fleets, it would best to handle them myself.” She grunted as she lifted a heavy box to the top of a pile next to her, averting Frize’s gaze. “I know my people. I know how to handle them and get them to surrender. Isn’t that a better alternative to more fighting?”
“I guess.” He frowned and tried to make eye contact with her around the crate. “But why not let Patrick and Gin-us in on it? They could have done what we did, transform into Plutonians and tricked them down to the cells?”
“Think about it. If there were three ships and they had to choose who to board, they would probably board all of them. There’s no doubt they would be in constant communication with each other during the whole ordeal. And what happens when we all try the same story? How did we all escape? How did we get so many prisoners? The questions would be endless.”
“I see where you’re coming from, but I don’t agree. We could have figured it out together.”
“Frize, please. I don’t need you to understand why. I just need you to understand that I did what I thought was best for everyone. And I beg you to keep it between us.” She was pleading with him at this point. Now just isn’t the time.
He stared at her for a moment, wondering what other secrets she was hiding. “I don’t know if I can do that, Flupotia.�
� His brow wrinkled as he thought hard. “I don’t want to lie to Patrick and Gin-us. Not when it could cost me what little respect I have around here.”
“Respect? That’s what you want? Look, I’ll put a bug in Patrick’s ear. Pull you into more meetings. Whatever you want. Just please,” she sighed as she dropped a large sack of grain into an open crate, “please don’t tell anyone about this.”
Frize sighed, knowing how she must feel. “Fine, I won’t go out of my way to tell anyone. But if anyone asks, I won’t lie about what happened here today.”
“I’ll take that.” She stood a weak smile on her face and finally made eye contact with him. “Now, let’s get back to Patrick and Gin-us.” And keep them from asking you any questions.
Frize nodded and turned to walk out of the room, leaving Flupotia to work alone. “One last condition,” he turned back to face her, “fix their radar as soon as you can.”
He didn’t wait for a response and left the room. Frize was incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of keeping secrets. The only way he could justify it was if nobody was in danger. But are we? He thought as he looked out a porthole window, remnants of the enemy ships floating in space around them.
◆◆◆
Gin-us flew around his ship, admiring his reflection as he made his way into battle. Maybe this whole magic thing isn’t that bad. He was absolutely terrifying. His body had turned a deep royal blue with a neck over ten feet long that ended in a head with a sharp, strong jaw. His wingspan was short but similar to bees he was easily able to defy physics and flew with ease. As he rounded his ship he took off for the nearest attacker.
Roger sat in the command center of his ship and watched as the blue dragon came flying from behind the Martian ship. Now that’s something special. He reached out and placed his hand on the glass window, watching as Gin-us flew headfirst into the middle of the battle. Within seconds his sharp claws were tearing into the hull of the ship, chunks of metal floating away into space. Where is Patrick? Roger scanned the skies but saw nothing.
Aliens from Arapholanx: The Burn of Magic Page 3