Razing Pel (9 page)

That was the breaking point for
Phos.  He lifted his arm around him, reaching into his sac.
 In the second that he did, he brought around his assault
rifle, firing off three bullets at Toris.  The three bullets
hit him in his shoulder and he fell to the ground without another
word.  Phos then pointed the rifle at the other two goons,
firing a few bullets at each of them.  They too fell to the
ground.

"Come on Kaj!" Phos yelled as he
dashed towards the city with Kaj following close behind.  Kaj
nearly tripping as he tried to catch up with Phos.

The entire village rallied and
chased after the two.  Kaj saw the lizard creatures that the
Daj were riding, gaining on them.  They ran in a zig-zag
formation.

"Phos, behind us!" Kaj yelled.
 Kaj was worried that the lizard creature would take him down
with its tongue, letting Phos run off without him.

Phos turned and saw the lizard
creatures following close behind.  He carefully aimed at one
of the lizard creatures, firing a couple of bullets at its front
right leg.  The creature fell over, knocking off the Daj that
was riding it before rolling over him.

Kaj was impressed that Phos still
had a good set of skills, even for being the age that he
is.

Phos aimed his rifle back at the
crowd of Daj chasing them.  He fired a few more bullets until
his ammo ran out.  Dropping the rifle, he reached into his
sac.  "Here!" Phos yelled, handing over a small ball that Kaj
grabbed.  "Throw it at them!"

Kaj looked back and lobbed the
ball into the crowd of angry Daj.  When it made contact with
the sandy floor, it exploded, forming a cloud of smoke around the
Daj.

The two finally made it to the
front of the shield.  Behind it was a Galactic Soldier
standing at his post.  He held his rifle down.

"Stop!" he instructed.  "I
cannot let you in unless you have the necessary passes."  Phos
pulled out his badge and showed it to the soldier.  He studied
it for a second before pressing a button, creating a small opening
that would let the two pass through.  As he pushed the button
again to seal the off the opening, the angry crowd of Daj appeared
out of the smoke.  They screamed and yelled as they continued
to charge up to shield.  When the shield closed up, their
screams were silenced.  "You two better hurry if you wish to
catch the ship.  I was just about to head over there."
 The three made their way towards the ship.  Their
freedom was just steps away.

CHAPTER TEN

THE UNPLEASANT TURN

The three made their way through
the city. Kaj looked around, staring at the buildings and people.
 Everyone in this city seemed sluggish and depressed.
 They all looked down, not even glancing up.  The
buildings were poorly made.  They all seemed to be made of
cheap, thin metal nailed together.  Most of the buildings were
damaged in some way, whether it'd be the roof missing or a
collapsed wall.  It was a let-down for Kaj.  The way he
remembered it as a kid was far better.  The city to him was
exciting and lively.  Now, it was depressing and
disappointing.

One poor old man grabbed a hold of
Kaj's shoulder.  "Please son, can you spare some money," he
said in a raspy, tired voice.  He let out a few violent
coughs.  "Please."  His long beard was stained brown, and
his clothes were falling off his bony body.

"Hey!" The Galactic Soldier
yelled, noticing the situation that was going on.  He pulled
out his rifle and aimed it at the old man.  "What have I told
you!  No harassing the newcomers!  Besides, what do you
need money for?  Your world is ending.  You'd probably
just blow it anyway.  Now, release him!"

The old man released his grip on
Kaj.  He dusted off his shoulder.  Kaj felt sorry for the
man, but there was nothing he could do.

"Let's go," the Galactic Soldier
instructed.  They both followed.

As they were leaving, Kaj turned
around and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry" to the poor old man.
 He sat there on his knees, watching them walk
away.

The Galactic Soldier led them to
the line of people that were waiting to board the ship.  Most
of them were Galactic Soldiers, with a few groups of Daj
accompanying them. Kaj tried looking around to see if he could spot
anyone who was on the shuttle he was on, mainly Maj, but could
not.

"I can't believe it," Phos said.
 "Today I woke up, thinking it was going to be another
ordinary day.  But it took just one person to make it an
extraordinary day."  He looked down at Kaj and patted him on
the back.

The line moved fairly quickly,
with just a few more people ahead of them.  Kaj couldn't have
been more excited.  He looked over at the ship. It stood up
tall, like a rocket ship.  The ship was a dark red with
several streaks of silver lines running down it.  A few
windows were located on the ship.

One young Daj, about the same age
as Kaj was standing in front of him, waiting patiently to be
boarded.  "I'll be right back," Kaj said to Phos as he walked
up to talk to the Daj.

He tapped the Daj's exposed
shoulder.  His skin was far more tan than Kaj's.  The
young Daj turned around, facing Kaj.  His short dark hair
didn't move out of place as he did so.

"Hey man," the young Daj said to
Kaj.  He seemed happy that someone actually wanted to talk to
him.

"Hey," Kaj responded back.
 "Aren't you excited?"

"You bet!" The Daj shouted.
 "I won't miss this place for a second.  Nothing but bad
stuff has happened to me here.  I'm glad we're all getting a
second chance to live our lives.  To be more than the sand
crawlers our galaxy thinks we are."  

"I'm defiantly going to miss this
place," Kaj admitted.  The young Daj gave him a weird look,
but allowed Kaj to explain why.  "It's just … we've lived our
whole lives here.  We don't know anything else about any other
planet.  I don't know what village you grew up in, but we
weren't taught anything about any of the other planets in our solar
system in my village.  Even though we all knew this day would
come, that the Galactic Soldiers would leave and our planet being
destroyed, they still taught us about our history.  Teaching
us all about where we came from and how our world became how it is
today.  They taught us about life before the Oce came here.
 They taught us that all life is sacred.  They taught us
to never give up.  And that's exactly what I did."

The young Daj didn't really know
how to respond to Kaj's speech.  "We didn't have any teacher
at the village I was at," he said.  "It sounds like my village
wasn't as good as the village you grew up in.  I guess you
were the lucky one then."

"Next!" The Galactic Soldier at
the front of the line yelled.

"Well, it was nice talking to you,
huh?" the young Daj said, not knowing the name of his new
friend.

"Kaj," he said.  They both
shook hands.

"My name's Gaj," he said.
 "Hey, I'll see you on board."

As the rest of the people in front
of Phos and Kaj made it on the ship, the Galactic Soldier that
cleared people to get on the ship said he had an announcement to
make.  "Last call for shuttle 9812!"  He yelled out.
 The Galactic Soldier overlooked the area, trying to see if
they were heading to the city right now.  He turned to the
Galactic Soldier next to him and said, "That’s the only shuttle
that hasn't arrived.  I don't see them."

"Well, we have to take off now,"
the other Galactic Soldier said.  "We don't have time to wait
for them.  Everyone on board is waiting to leave."  He
then walked onto the ship.

"Ok you two," the Galactic Soldier
said, pointing at Phos and Kaj.  They both walked up to the
Galactic Soldier.  "Show me your passes."

"Passes?" Phos asked.  "From
where?"

"Look," the Galactic Soldier said
in a distressed voice.  "I don't have time to explain to you
how to get these passes.  You either have them or you
don't."

"Listen," Phos said.  "I am a
former Galactic Soldier myself you see ..."

"Do you have any proof of this?"
The Galactic Solider asked, interrupting.  Phos again reached
into his vest and pulled out his badge.  The Galactic Solider
examined it closely.  "Alright, you're clear to board."
 Phos and Kaj proceeded to board the ship.  "Excuse me
son.  Where's your pass?"

"Oh, I'm with him," Kaj told the
Galactic Soldier while Phos walked past him.  Kaj tried to tug
on Phos' shirt as he walked by but didn't.

"Sorry, you need to have a pass,
son," the Galactic Soldier told Kaj.

Kaj looked over at Phos who just
stood there.  There was nothing he could do.

"Do you have a pass son?" The
Galactic Soldier asked.

"No," Kaj said, keeping his eyes
locked with Phos'.  Even though he couldn't do anything to
help, Kaj still felt it was Phos' fault that he didn't come over
and at least try.

"Sorry son, I can't let you on,"
the Galactic Soldier said.  He pressed a small button on his
wrist.  "Start the ship."  He pressed the button again.
 The Galactic Soldier walked behind the gate that was cutting
off the entrance to the ship from the citizens of United City,
closing it.  The Galactic Soldier walked by Phos.  "Get
on the ship!" He told him.

"Just give me a minute," Phos said
to the Galactic Soldier.  He patted the soldier on the back as
he walked towards the ship.

Kaj ran up to the gate, wrapping
his hands around the bars.  Phos casually walked up to him.
 "Please Phos, you've got to do something … anything," Kaj
said.  He held back the tears that tried to escape from his
eyes.  "Look at what we both went through.  We went
through all of it together just so we can make it to this point,
except we're both supposed to be standing behind this gate.
  Not splitting us apart."

"Kaj, I haven't been fully
truthful with you.  I've never cared about this planet or
about protecting your species.  But after today, I've started
to.  You changed the way I view your people.  Anyway,
that whole story about me protecting a village with my squad was
false.  Same for what had happened to my legs.  The truth
is, I was betrayed.  The very people that worked for me
stabbed me in the back.  It was my second in command.  He
wanted the position of Captain, and knew that I wouldn't give it up
for a while.  So, he decided to gather a group of soldiers and
attack me.  They shot off my legs and tossed me off into the
wasteland to die.  Ever since that day, I've planned my
revenge.  That's why I was so hostile to you about looking
through my papers.  But now, thanks to you Kaj, you've made my
dream for revenge a reality.  I will infiltrate the Galactic
Soldiers' facility and destroy them from the inside."

"But Phos," Kaj said.  "What
about the Oce?  What about my people?  We can change
everything!  My planet won't die!"

"I'm sorry Kaj," Phos said as he
started to walk over to the ship.  "When change has begun, no
force can stop it.  I'll come back for you Kaj.  And when
I do, I will be Captain again, and I'll have my honor back!"
 Phos boarded the ship without another word.  The door
slid closed.

"But Phos, I know the secret to
destroy the Oce!  Phos!  Come back!"  His words
didn't do anything.  He tried climbing up the gate, but
halfway up, slipped and fell back down.

The ship's engines kicked on and
began to lift off the ground.  Followed by a bunch of weird
sounds, the ship was now at a decent height in the sky.  The
triangular object was gone.  Kaj watched it until it had left
the atmosphere.

Kaj then dropped his sac and
pulled out the small container carrying the leaves.  His hands
were shaking.  When he opened the container, he noticed that
the corners of the leaves began to brown.