by Charles Rye
"That's all you asked me, you never asked if I knew anything about that place!" Vorenzar snapped, struggling against Aurelia.
"I figured you would have had the sense to tell me any damned thing if you wanted my trust, not withhold information!"
"I didn't withhold anything," Vorenzar growled pushing Aurelia off her, gasping for air.
"I'll still help you find those chambers under this base, but I won't do it to gain your trust‚ I want to find out what those soldiers were going to use them for," She added, staring at Aurelia.
"You asked her to help us find the underground base?" Sif inquired walking over to Aurelia; she had been standing near the bus watching Royena patch up Norenia.
Aurelia glanced up at Sif and then glanced back at Vorenzar.
"Yeah, I did because I thought we could trust her. But I'm starting to regret it," Aurelia explained, looking between Sif and Vorenzar.
"I got all of you out of that base alive, not to mention save a captive, the least you owe me is enough trust to help you find the entrance to some hidden base," Vorenzar said looking at Aurelia.
"We're the ones that rescued Norenia, you don't own one ounce of credit for her still being alive. And like I told you before, we would have made it out of there on our own," Aurelia snapped.
"I'm sorry for not tell you that stuff before, but you only asked about those creatures, you did not ask me what I knew about that place," Vorenzar replied, glancing between Aurelia and Sif.
"We could let her find the underground base and if there's anything waiting for us, we can always offer her as bait," Koriphus suggested as he and Caliphar came walking out of the supply room both carrying paint equipment.
"Excuse me?" Vorenzar exclaimed looking up at Koriphus.
"You wanna help us find the hidden base, if the soldiers meant to use it for something then there are bound to be traps or whatever set up down there‚ We sure as hell aren't risking our own lives to find it," Koriphus replied with a shrug.
Search and capture
"General, we searched everywhere we possibly could but there was no sign of that Destroyer that got loose."
A group of soldiers and the general stood around a metal table in a dimly lit room with concrete walls.
"Then widen your perimeter, soldier!" the general barked the command in a loud, rather gruff voice.
"But sir‚ Even if we succeed in finding the Destroyer, who's to say it won't attempt escaping again?" protested the soldier.
"You and your men worry about finding that mutt, I'll make sure it doesn't run away again," the general replied, dismissing the soldier.
Outside with his comrades, he quickly filled them in.
"We're going out again to track that Destroyer, so grab your gear!"
The soldiers all gathered up their stuff and trailed back out to the Jeeps.
"Why does the general even want us to find this damned Destroyer so badly?"
"He does realize since it knows it can escape, it'll only escape again, doesn't he?"
"I think that's why the general is so keen on us bringing it back, he wants to find out why it escaped in the first place," the commanding soldier answered.
"That's just down right stupidity, if you ask me,"
"We've got so many Destroyers as it is already and we're creating more everyday, why bother with this one if it won't obey its masters?"
"Because it's the first one that's done such a thing. I believe the general wants to break it of that bad habit and make it obey him only,"
"It seems the general has his own bad habit of making sure he's obeyed and recognized for his rank, I figure it we weren't under his command already he'd do the same to us,"
"It might be a shitty job at times but I suppose I should be grateful the general doesn't have the authority to turn us all into Destroyers,"
"That's something I think we can all be grateful for," the commanding soldier said in agreement.
They were all driving across the hot desert sand, two to three men each to one of six Jeeps.
The blazing sun shone down on them, but they had gotten used to it and some had their uniforms lined with cooling systems.
"What I'd like to know is why the hell it takes all our effort to find one mangy Destroyer?" a soldier riding in the Jeep beside the one driven by the commanding soldier questioned.
"Apparently the Destroyer never got its tracker chip implanted," the commanding officer replied.
"I heard it malfunctioned," a soldier in the Jeep opposite from the one driven by the commanding soldier said.
"Both could be true, but either way we have to find this Destroyer by tracking it us and us best all pray we find it otherwise we might as well forget returning to the general empty-handed," the commanding soldier replied.
"If we do return without the Destroyer I do fear the general would consider turning us into them, whether he's got the authority to do so or not,"
"Then we'll put in even more effort than before to find it,"
Just then, a pack of about eight Destroyers came running up along side the soldiers' Jeeps, they were growling and snapping their jaws at each other.
"Wonder what's got them so riled up?" one soldier said aloud watching the pack of Destroyers.
"Probably caught the scent of something or someone," another soldier suggested.
"Think we should follow them?" the soldier asked, looking up to the commanding soldier.
"They might have caught scent of the Destroyer we're trying to find,"
"It's worth a try, if they aren't after our escaped Destroyer they may lead us to someone to recruit,"
"Let's follow them and find out," the commanding soldier said.
They all drove in the same direction as the pack of Destroyers, racing across sand dunes to keep up with them.
Eventually they found themselves coming upon the crumbling ruins of a building, which they assumed used to be several stories tall judging by the height of its last two remaining walls.
"Be quiet as possible, check out what brought those Destroyers here," whispered the commanding soldier.
He and all the other soldiers quietly got out of their Jeeps, armed with tranquilizers slowly approached the ruins.
They reached the south wall, crouching low to conceal themselves behind it to avoid making their presence to the Destroyer pack known.
The commanding soldier peered over the edge of the wall and spotted the pack in the very center of the ruins, they had formed a circle to keep whatever they had tracked from escaping.
"Okay, they definitely got something because they've got it surrounded. So it must be important, our only problem is finding out what it is without scaring them away‚" He told his men, looking at them.
The eerie chorus of howls and growling coming from the pack of Destroyers pierced the silence among the soldiers, causing them to all peer over the edge of the wall.
All the Destroyers were snapping their jaws at whatever they had cornered; they seemed to be acting in self-defense against their captive.
To the soldiers' surprise, a Destroyer much larger than the rest unexpectedly leaped up into the air and jumped over the others, coming to land in a cloud of sand.
They all watched as the sand settled and blinked in disbelief as they realized the Destroyer was the one they had been sent to capture.
"Isn't that the Destroyer the general told us to bring back?" asked a soldier near the commanding soldier.
"Yes, it is‚ but if it can fend off a pack of Destroyers, I'm not entirely sure how we're going to capture it, a commander from another squadron told me that Destroyer recovered too quickly from tranquilizers," answered the commanding soldier.
"Then, exactly how are we supposed to bring it back?"
"I have an idea that might work, but we're going to have to get close enough to the Destroyer for it to actually work," the commanding soldier replied.
He slowly stood up from behind the wall, revealing himself to the creature.
&nb
sp; The Destroyer locked eyes with the soldier and growled loudly.
It seemed to have been severely damaged by the pack that had surrounded it; the soldier could see the creature bleeding from various wounds on its hindquarters, front right leg and several large bite marks on its chest and neck.
"He looks tough but those other Destroyers seemed to have done pretty good damage to him, my plan might be easier than I imagined," the commanding soldier spoke with an air of confidence.
He signaled for the others to stand and they all obeyed, standing up from behind the wall to reveal themselves to the Destroyer.
The Destroyer looked at each soldier as they came to stand from behind the wall they had been hiding, he simply snorted at them as a sign of arrogance.
"There are some tranquilizers and ropes in my Jeep, you two go get them. Now!" barked the commanding soldier.
Two soldiers quickly ran to the Jeeps nearby and grabbed the tranquilizers and rope from the commanding soldier's Jeep, quickly returning to him.
"All right, you two follow me and the rest of you get yourselves into a surrounding position so this Destroyer doesn't get by us!" the commanding soldier barked the order to his soldiers.
The two soldiers that had gotten the tranquilizers and rope followed the commanding soldier as he cautiously walked towards the Destroyer, while the other soldiers got theirselves into different positions around the ruins to cut off any exits.
"Not so smart now, are ya' you stupid mutt, hmm?" the commanding soldier said smugly as he approached the Destroyer, the two other soldiers behind him.
"The general wants you as his new pet, wants to make an example of ya',"
He took one of the tranquilizer guns from the soldier standing to the right of him, aiming it straight at the Destroyer's face.
The Destroyer stood his ground, digging his sharp, blood stained claws into the sand as he stared directly into the commanding soldier's eyes.
The commanding soldier lowered his tranquilizer, hoping the action would fool the Destroyer but the creature was smarter than the soldier thought and followed the gun's movement.
Nevertheless, the soldier pulled the trigger, shooting a tranquilizer dart straight into the Destroyer's right paw, which caused it to howl in pain.
It glanced at the dart sticking out of its paw, looked back up at the soldier, and snapped his jaws at him.
"Shoot him!" the commanding soldier shouted at the soldier to his right.
The soldier quickly raised his gun and shot a tranquilizer into the creature's chest, making it growl angrily and snap at the soldier.
Unfortunately, the darts were filled with a much stronger dose of tranquilizer than the ones from before and they caused the Destroyer to collapse at the commanding soldier's feet.
"Perfect, now hurry and tie him up so we can load him in the Jeep and return to base!"
The two soldiers got on their knees and quickly began tying the creature's front and hind legs together as tightly as possible; they also made sure to tie a rope around his mouth as a makeshift muzzle.
They then lifted the creature up with the help from the other soldiers and loaded him into the back of the commanding soldier's Jeep and then all got into the other Jeeps.
Once they were all situated, they raced across the desert back to the base.
Upon arrival, they spotted the general standing outside the base, his arms behind his back and a stern look on his face, his brow furrowed.
"Well, did you bring it back?" were the first words out of his mouth.
The soldiers all killed the engines of their Jeeps and proceeded to get out and march over to the commanding soldier's Jeep, unlatching the tailgate before dragging the unconscious Destroyer out of the back of the Jeep.
"Yes sir, we managed to capture the creature. It was easier than we imagined, sir,"
"Good, good, glad to hear it. This might mean a raise in rank for you, once I make sure the creature is in full health and learns to obey it's master that is," the general responded with patting the commanding soldier on the back.
The other soldiers carried the Destroyer to the general.
"What happened to it?" the general questioned as he inspected the numerous wounds on the creature's body.
"Ah, those were sustained from a pack of wild Destroyers that had chased it to some ruins,"
"But with a little time and help from the medical staff, they should all heal up in a day or two, sir," the commanding soldier explained.
"But aside from a few cuts and scratches, the creature is in pristine condition," He quickly added, reassuringly.
"I'll be the one who determines that," the general spoke.
"Get that thing to the medical bay," He snapped at the other soldiers.
They quickly obeyed the command and rushed into the base and brought the Destroyer to the nearest medical room and laid it on the cold steel table in the middle of the room.
"We'll attend to this creature, please tell the general," the head doctor said as he came to stand beside the table to examine the Destroyer's wounds.
"Right away," a soldier replied before they all left the medical room.
The soldiers suddenly froze in place as they spotted the general and commanding soldier walking along the hall towards them.
"I hear it was a successful capture, good work men," the general said as he looked at the soldiers, who all simply nodded in response.
"Now I must return to my quarters, go about your business," He said as he walked past them.
"So now what?" a soldier spoke, looking at their commander.
"You lot got evening patrol, the rest of you night patrol so rest up," the commanding soldier replied.
Six of the soldiers walked past their commander to get ready for evening patrol as the rest followed the commander to their bunker.
Prototype
"Hey guys, I think you should come check this out!" Vorenzar shouted to the others excitedly.
She was standing over a panel in the floor of the airbase that had been covering a floor hatch.
Aurelia, Caliphar and the others quickly ran over to where she was standing and all looked up at her.
"What is it?" Aurelia asked her.
"I believe I finally found the opening to the secret underground chambers, care to take a look?" Vorenzar replied with a grin.
Aurelia looked at Royena and Sif.
"Mind getting some flashlights?" She asked them.
Nodding in response, Royena and Sif ran off to get flashlights from the supply room.
They quickly returned and passed everyone a flashlight.
"Let's see how far the rabbit hole goes, shall we?" Aurelia said turning on her flashlight.
She aimed the beam of light into the opening and began to slowly descend the stairs, Caliphar quickly followed her, shinning his light all around the underground chamber.
Koriphus followed them with Zxeron at his heals, Norenia and Soraf just behind them.
"Man, this place gives me the creeps and I'm not one to easily get spooked," Caliphar said as he and Aurelia reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Could be worse, I suppose," Aurelia replied.
"I think you spoke too soon‚" Koriphus said aiming his light towards the middle of the chamber.
Aurelia and Caliphar aimed their lights in the same direction and noticed what Koriphus was pointing out.
It looked to be some kind of cryo-tube filled with a sort of luminous liquid, but that isn't what concerned them.
What filled them with concern was what inhabited the tube.
It was a fully-grown Destroyer with four long curved spikes along its neck, nine smaller spikes down its spine and a spike sticking out of the top of its front and hind paws suspended by tubing and wiring with a clear plastic mask over its mouth.
"I've seen Jurassic Park; I'm getting my ass outta here before that thing wakes the fuck up," Caliphar started to slowly back away towards the stairs.
"Hold on, it isn't alive so you
can relax," Aurelia said as she stepped up to the tube holding the Destroyer.
"How do you know it ain't alive?" Caliphar asked looking up at Aurelia.
"There's a monitor but it doesn't seem to be functioning so that Destroyer can't still be alive," Aurelia explained, dusting away some cobwebs off the monitor.