The Trimedian

by Dangerous Walker

  "It's the operating systems, sir, a problem with the memory banks," a Laikan at a computer informed them.

  Trillo whipped back round to Obarr and strode up to him. Hendricks was by now sweating profusely and it was mingling with the cheap hair dye and make up. Trillo wiped one big finger over Obarr's forehead and looked at it.

  "Make up," he cried. "This is not a bounty hunter, but one of Darkstaar's men.

  "Send an armed squad to the basement now. NOW." he screamed and another Laikan sent out the command.

  Hendricks jumped back letting a small knife fall from his sleeve. He cut Milk's ropes as a squad of Laikans entered the room.

  Milk charged Trillo and threw him back as Hendricks ran at the aiming Laikans.

  "No firing," ordered the Commandant as he dived behind his desk.

  Hendricks barged the first Laikan and knocked him to the floor as Milk ran over, grabbed two Laikan heads and banged them together, but Trillo was back up and grabbed Milk in a choke hold.

  Another Laikan hit Hendricks in the stomach and more Laikans ran into the room.

  Milk elbowed Trillo in the stomach and ran over and pounded the Laikan kicking Hendricks on the floor. He picked him up and threw him onto the big wooden desk which the Laikan slid over and landed behind the Commandant.

  Hendricks was up again and grappling with another Laikan as two others leapt on Milk and struggled to keep him down. Trillo waded back into the fight.

  ***

  In the basement Laikans had entered and demanded surrender and our three good guys responded with laser fire.

  The Laikans couldn't fire back for fear of hitting the computers and so slowly and lowly edged forward whilst calling for back up.

  "You're surrounded," barked a Laikan and ducked back down as lasers hit a computer above his head.

  "What are we going to do?" asked Julianna. "If they sent armed men they must have Milk and the Doc."

  "Valkswagon," exclaimed Chase and shot at a crawling Laikan peaking around the corner.

  "Better to be reunited, Chase, we gonna lose down here," warned Jimmy.

  CAPTURED!

  Chase, Jimmy and Julianna were led, bound, into the Commandant's office where they saw a similarly bound Milk and Dr. Hendricks.

  "Hey, guys," Chase greeted brightly.

  "I'm sorry, Chase, I sweated," apologised Hendricks.

  "Nah, my fault, I forgot to put the memory disk back," Chase said.

  "So, Chase Darkstaar at last," grinned the Commandant standing behind his desk.

  "Hey there, Fur Face, and hey, Trillo! Thought we'd left you a little tied up on Peskini," Chase flashed him a grin as the Commandant slammed a fist on his desk.

  "You will not talk to me like that," he shouted.

  Chase ignored him.

  "Hey, Milk, you look a little banged up."

  "They fight dirty. Like dogs," he spat and a Laikan hit him in the stomach, though he took it and didn't double up.

  "Ahh, such bravery, I commend you," said the Commandant, "but pithy lines and heroism can't save you now. Kill them."

  "Wait," commanded Trillo and turned to the Commandant. "I have a long history with Darkstaar, please permit me to see to this."

  "Without you we might not have caught them, you have permission. Do we have the Trimedian?"

  "We have their computer, it should be on there," said a Laikan general.

  "Good, good," said the Commandant and turned to the darkness outside his window. "Then it is time to declare war."

  Trillo walked up face to face with Chase.

  "I'm going to enjoy this. You're going to watch your friends die slowly and painfully and then you are going to die even slower, even more painfully," he growled and spittle flew into Chase's face.

  "Great, I love a party," beamed Chase.

  "Take them to the torture chambers," Trillo ordered.

  They were shoved out the door and marched down a corridor and into a large lift.

  "Is the Trimedian in the computer?" Chase whispered to Jimmy.

  "Nah, mon, I sent it straight to Cherry, but it not be the Trimedian, it be plans."

  "Quiet," barked a guard.

  "Well, see you all in Fiddler's Green," bemoaned Milk.

  "I bet you ten space pounds it isn't finished yet," chirped Dr. Hendricks.

  "You're on, Doc, but this is the end, the last page."

  "Come now, Milk, where's your sense of adventure?" asked Chase.

  "I think I've had enough of adventures in space."

  "No you haven't," said Chase with a sly grin, "not yet."

 

  EPILOGUE

  Is this the end of our heroic adventurers? How can they possibly escape this time? Deep in enemy territory! How will the peaceful Universal Trading Network defeat the Laikans in all-out war? And what of the Trimedian? Will it fall into furry Laikan hands?

  Will Cherry ever cheer up and will we meet Milk's daughter? Will 'contrigued' ever make it into the dictionary? What are the ingredients to a good Chokdee cocktail? Will I be sued over Jonny Skyewalker whisky? Will we see Chubbs again? Or Terd Ferguson?

  And what of Earth? How does it fit into all this and will it be able to protect itself if attacked?

  Find out the answers to these questions and more in the next exciting series of:

  Book 2: Tears of War is available HERE

  If you enjoyed this book, perhaps you would consider helping a brother out and rating or reviewing it? IT really could change my life?

  Still, while you're here, why not check out the following extracts by the same author:

  The ADVENTURES IN SPACE series

  The TSAR Trilogy

  Book 2

  Tears of War

  TWO EMERGENCY EXITS (extract)

  Trillo had gone on ahead to prepare; in a way he was in a state of shock. Dreams don't often come true, in fact it seems the longer you hold a dream the less likely it is to come true. But Trillo's dream had come true, he had Darkstaar in his hands and he couldn't quite believe it. His mind whirled with all the different things he could do.

  Who should he start with? Maybe the Indian, he might take quite a while, maybe a whole day's work. And what should he start with? The Mengalin Twister or Schreinold's Box? Maybe some time in The Carutan Pool of Death. Hmm, so much to do, so little time. So little time before he would be called up to the WAR that was even now starting.

  And this gave Trillo pause. He wasn't really sure about this WAR, he couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something amiss. He wasn't terribly high up in the ranks and so didn't know the full reasoning behind the WAR and that niggled him. Why had they suddenly chosen to fight the UTN? There didn't seem to be a reason, or moreso that the reason was being kept a secret from him and perhaps most of his brethren.

  Most Laikans, and no doubt their allies, bought into the routine about oppression, about being stuck at the edge of the Universe, about being the workhorse of the UTN, of others getting rich off of Laikan backs. About how it was time to forcefully take a larger role in the Universe. Take the power that they would never be given.

  But Trillo didn't fall for that, after all, most of the reasons behind the Laikan situation arose from the First Laikan War. They were stuck at the edge of the Universe because they had been pushed there in a large counter attack by the UTN forces.

  They lacked power in the UTN because their leaders refused to be bound by the legalities of the Council. And were others getting rich off Laikan backs? Well yes, but that also included the Laikans who owned the mining companies. For all his grand speeches the Commandant was by no means poor, had no interaction with the common Laikans, nor did he want any. No, this WAR wasn't about anger for his people's situation; it was for the same reason any war starts, power and greed. But why did the Commandant think he could wrest power now? Why start an all out war instead of focusing on one galaxy at a time, the kind of war that the UTN would leave as a domestic squabble? For someone who was more or less a g
lorified bounty hunter, he wasn't stupid and he wanted answers to his questions. But that would have to wait.

  For he, Trillo, had work to focus on. Blood work.

  ***

  Whilst Trillo prepared, his mind racing around, our intrepid heroes were being led down a grey, featureless corridor to the torture chambers. Chase Darkstaar, one time intergalactic hitman and general rogue; Julianna, one time bar girl and taker of no shabbus. Milk, the giant reluctant Indian; Dr. Hendricks, Laikan archaeologist and one time fighter pilot and Jimmy Jazz, the mechanic who was once Chase's best friend.

  They had an armed escort of four, two behind two ahead and had their hands tied behind their backs.

  "What's the difference between a chamber and a room?" Chase mused happily.

  "We be about to find out," Jimmy replied.

  "I suppose torture room doesn't have the same ring," Chase said.

  "Remember in Ictopia when we were captured?" Dr. Hendricks quietly asked Julianna. "You said you were good with ropes."

  "I am," she replied taking her hands out from behind her back, twisting left and delivering an elbow to the Laikan's stomach behind her. As it doubled, she grabbed it's gun as at the same time Chase also brought his unbound hands up, reached around and delivered a chop to the Laikan's windpipe, grabbing it's gun at the same time. Julianna and Chase shot the other two guards simultaneously. The whole action had taken less than five seconds.

  "How do you do that?" asked an astonished Dr. Hendricks as they untied the others.

  "The Cortian Knot Trick??" asked Chase untying Jimmy.

  "You can do it too?"

  "Who do you think taught her?" he replied with a grin.

  "I'm disappointed, you said you were good with knots," Hendricks protested at her.

  "She is, Doc, lots of people know how, but only five people in the Universe, as far as I know, can do it," Chase explained, "Milk's been trying for years to master it."

  He nodded over to the big Indian who was currently squirming and struggling behind his back.

  "Ok, valkswagon, I give up, untie me," he fumed.

  Jimmy went and untied him asking, "What be de plan?"

  "Get the hell out of here," Julianna put bluntly.

  "Not so fast," Chase mused.

  "Oh now what?" bemoaned Milk rubbing his wrists.

  "This is a golden opportunity, isn't it?"

  "For what? Getting recaptured?"

  "The Laikans believe they have the Trimedian, or at least have stopped the UTN getting their hands on it. If they haven't declared war by now, they will soon."

  "And we happen to be in their headquarters," Julianna spoke.

  "Where all their plans will be," agreed Chase.

  "Right, so what do we do?" asked Hendricks.

  "We need to get Jimmy's computer back and then we need to tap into the computers and download anything we think will be of use."

  ***

  Andrew Forster, former President of the United States and newest member of the Great Council was back on Earth, and as much as he dreamt of seeing his wife and children, was at 10 Downing Street with the Prime Minister, Defosimo and Ateksos, the two Grey aliens charged as advisors.

  "War?" asked the PM again.

  "Yes, war. Well, more like WAR."

  "And you two knew about this did you?" he asked the aliens.

  "In a way, yes," replied Defosimo.

  "In what way?"

  "In that we knew," clarified Ateksos.

  "Well what do we do now?" the PM asked Forster.

  "Two things: one, we don't tell anyone, two: except the military."

  "The military? Do you really think we'll be attacked?" the PM worried.

  "Who knows? Probably not; but we need to be prepared and we need to get the world's armed forces ready for adventures in space."

  "It'll leak," the PM pointed out.

  "It will, but only that the military is learning how to use space craft. Nothing wrong with that."

  "True."

  "We have already organised a meeting," Defosimo chirped up.

  "Indeed, we best be off," Ateksos said, "time is now of the essence."

  ***

  Indeed time was of the essence as A.R.S.E forces entered into the nearest galaxies for the first phase of the WAR PLAN. It sounds more ominous in capital letters, no? It's safe to say that none of the galaxies in the Universe were prepared, they had only just got the message that a war had started.

  Except the nearest galaxies to Tegariff Major, who were armed and ready, well, armed and not ready. The UTN had managed to get Naval fleets out despite the Laikan's best efforts to stop them. Across the galaxies Planet Defence Guns boomed, fighters and bombers launched and those in charge sat in the bridges of the battleships and tried to work out how to not lose too badly. Or at least look good doing it.

  ***

  Deep in enemy territory our heroes were trying to remember where they were and how they got there. What they needed to do was to get back down to the basement, find the console and find out where their stuff would be stored. And that meant stairs.

  If they could find them.

  "Haven't we been here before?" asked Julianna.

  "Everything's possible," Chase noted.

  "You are far too chipper about all of this," decried Milk.

  "It could be worse," Chase shrugged.

  "Considering from the moment we left Earth till now I would say 'could' is not the word."

  "'Will' is probably better," the Doc chimed in.

  "Exactly, so there's no point worrying about it."

  "Fact," noted Jimmy.

  Since declaring war the Laikans were all in their offices and control rooms trying to organise their forces and this meant the corridors were thankfully deserted.

  "We're going to try and find Laikan WAR PLANS, yes?"

  "That's right, Doc," Chase assured.

  "What do you think those plans are?"

  They came to a windowed control room, had a peep in and then crawled past below the window.

  On the other side Chase continued.

  "Dunno, Doc, hopefully we'll find out their targets."

  "What do you think they'll be?" asked Julianna.

  "Usual stuff, strategic galaxies, places with high natural resources."

  "My guess is dat dey will go after anyt'ing dat can be used as a bargaining chip later. Give 'em more power in de Council."

  "Would make sense," agreed Chase. "Ahh, stairs."

  They descended the stairs.

  And descended.

  And descended.

  And descended.

  "I hate stairs," bemoaned Julianna.

  "Keeping you fit," said Chase without looking back at her.

  "But we've done this once already."

  "Look who's complaining. I got beat up for my role in our stupid plan," exclaimed Milk.

  "Fair point," conceded Julianna.

  "Hey, it's not stupid, just, er, loose."

  "Right, 'loose'."

  And descended.

  And descended.

  And descended.

  And finally reached the basement of computers.

  ***

  Jimmy peeked in and could see a couple of technicians busy fixing the laser damage of the recent fight.

  "I can see two," he whispered back at them, "but dat don't mean dere ain't more."

  "OK, we'll sneak in and split up, sweep the room," whispered Chase.

  They decided against cleaning and instead a-snuck into the room and crouch walked through the banks of computers. Jimmy snuck up behind the closest technician, picked up a spanner and knocked him out. Yep, no amount of technology will ever make spanners redundant. The APOCALYPSE? Just spanner wielding cockroaches left.

  Chase took out the other one they could see using the butt of his recently liberated laser machinegun. Only Julianna found another technician and took him out the same as Chase. Milk nearly shot Dr. Hendricks when they backed into each other.


  "Clear," shouted Chase.

  "Clear," returned Milk.

  "Should we be shouting?" shouted Julianna.

  "I'm at de terminal," shouted Jimmy.

  ***

  Trillo stood in the middle of the torture chamber looking around at his set up, he considered moving Schreinold's Box again, but realised he'd never have it perfect. He'd hoped for this moment for so long that now he was fretting over it instead of savouring it. He had been so absorbed in getting everything perfect that he didn't think about how long it was taking for the guards to bring his victims to him.

  Until now.

  A leaking dread started to fill, what had happened? It could be anything, but let's face it, they had probably escaped.

  Trillo ran out of the room and tore down a corridor whilst radioing the guards. Nothing but static and Trillo picked up the pace.

  ***

  "How long before they find the guards we hid?" asked Dr. Hendricks as Jimmy fiddled with the terminal.

  "I would think Trillo must have realised we're not showing up today," Chase said looking over Jimmy's shoulder.

  "We can't get stuck in here again," Julianna pointed out.

  "True, get your groove on, Jimmy," Chase agreed.

  Jimmy was looking through directories of rooms trying to find some sort of storage, but it could take forever.

  COMPUTER, ANY IDEA WHERE THEY ARE KEEPING THE BELONGINGS OF THE PRISONERS?

  WHICH PRISONERS?

  CHASE DARKSTAAR AND HIS GANG.

  OH, I'VE HEARD OF HIM. FAMOUS HITMAN, RIGHT?

  YEAH.

  LOTS OF INFORMATION ON HIM IN HERE; TRILLO SPENT A LONG TIME SEARCHING FOR HIM.

  "That's interesting," mused Chase, "can we get that info?"

  "Not without my computer."

  COMPUTER, WE'RE KIND OF IN A HURRY, ANY IDEAS?

  ABOUT WHAT?

  ABOUT THE BELONGINGS OF THE PRISONERS?

  OH, RIGHT. THEY'RE IN THE LOCK UP ON LEVEL 42.

  COULD YOU SHOW ME A MAP?

  The computer did so and Jimmy did his best to memorise it.

  "Let's get the hell out of here," Milk said urgently.

  ***

  Trillo's mind was spinning at an alarming rate, he had to get Darkstaar back, but if he notified anyone the Commandant would find out and he would be dead. There was only one thing for it; he was going to have to get the hell out of Dodge. Well, Tegariff Major anyway.

  ***

  Our heroes had decided to throw caution to the wind, who caught it and threw it back, so they decided just to be less cautious. The point being that they took a lift up to level 42 and if anyone tried to get in, they'd have to shoot them. Nobody did though; everyone was far too busy being at WAR. Sofas were now officially banned in Laikan HQ.