Star Raiders and the Lost Expidition (30 page)

“
Jeez, CRAIG wasn’t kidding,” commented Justin as they took covered and fired at them.

Mike fired his gun at them and knew that this was wasting their time. He opened his waist pack and took out what it looked like a miniature flying saucer about the size of his palm, but Mike knew that it was his wall bombs. They used them for excavations in caves. He armed it, threw it down the hall like a Frisbee, and took cover. The bomb exploded and the sound of their blasters had stopped.

“
How many wall bombs you got left?” Justin asked.

Mike replied as they continued, “About four.”

“
Good, cause we might need them for that plasma drill.”

Lucky the elevator did not make any stops. If it did, they would be in big trouble. The lift slowed a bit as Tygla got her gun ready. She was a bit nervous when the door open, but luckily the hallway was empty.

Once Tygla and the android got out of the elevator, CRAIG said, “This way your highness.”

“
Are you sure you know where this room is?” She said glancing about for Xatus.

“
I do, all of the ship’s statistics are in my data banks.”

When they entered another hall, three patrolling Xatu guards spotted them from behind. Tygla instantly saw them and started to fire upon them. She and CRAIG ran for their lives as the guards took cover then chased after them. Tygla kept shooting as she killed one of the guards. The other three kept firing back, but they missed due to Tygla agility. Tygla shot twice and killed another Xatu Guard. The battle was swift but they had to lose their chasers. As they passed an archway, CRAIG accessed the safety shield and told Tygla to hurry. The princess ran through at laser bolt missed her by inches. They were safe as the computer automatically activated the shield. Tygla then destroyed the control panel so they the guards could not follow them.

They made their way into to the highly secured area. Unfortunately, four heavily armed guards stood in front of the door just as CRAIG had said. Tygla and CRAIG kept out of sight wondering how to deal with them.

“
How are we going to get past them?” The android inquired.

Tygla replied, “The old fashion way.”

She then opened fire on one of them, instantly killing the guard. The others looked, and fired back. One of them pressed the alarm button and pinned Tygla and CRAIG down. CRAIG did not carry any firearms as it was against his programming to kill any living organism, and Tygla did not like that. Once Tygla managed to kill the rest of the guards, she entered the small Self-destruction Security Room. She thanked herself for practicing her sharp shooting with a video game her bother got her for her seventeenth birthday. She first quickly disabled the alarm and looked around. They saw a panel on the far wall as CRAIG opened it with a touch of a button the keypad. When it slid opened, he saw a screen appeared.

“
PLACE HAND ON THE SCREEN FOR IDENTIFICATION,” the computer informed.

CRAIG stuck his input finger into a slot near the terminal and started to access the hacking program that Justin upload into his system. What took only three days, took a few minutes as Tygla paced waiting for her android friend.

“
Can you hurry up,” she said, “Who knows how many more guards will come.”

“
Patients Princess Tygla,” the android told her.

“
COMPUTER ACCESS ACCEPTED, PLEASE ENTER A LOCK OUT TIMER,” the computer finally announced.

CRAIG thought about this and replied,

“
Ten minutes, start now.”

“
SELF DESTRUCTION OF BATTLESTAR SHIP
HADES
ALREADY IN PROGRESS,” it replied.

Tylga then said, “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

Tygla turned and gasped to see Drax, Hiss and four other soldiers blocked their way. She wondered how he would know where they were. Then she remembered the brief alarm that went off. It was amazing that they responded swiftly.

“
Going somewhere my dear?” Drax asked, “Hiss, stop the detonation sequence.”

“
Yesss my lord,” Hiss replied as when got the panel.

CRAIG Then said, “But you can’t, it is irreversible.”

“
Is it now?” Drax said, “Then it is a good thing I added a failsafe device since your last upload.” The computer stopped its countdown as Drax looked to Tygla as she frowned. She knew that it was all over for them, “Nice try my dear.” He looked to one of the guards, “Take her to my office. Make her comfortable as possible. Like her brother. As for the android, terminate him.”

“
No!” Tygla shouted as the other guards shot CRAIG in the abdomen.

She frowned in sadness as her friend slumped to the ground. The guards handcuffed Tygla and left the room leaving CRAIG there. He twitched as he was still functioning. He had to contact Mike through his wireless audio network even though the blast damaged his voice transmitter; he had to try.

On the bridge of the
Hades
, Tah saw the
Rebirth
coming closer. He ordered to activate and arm the giant plasma drill. Soon Xman took notice that the front of the ship started to open as a large alien like gun barrel seeped out. The barrel of the drill glowed yellow, as the ship slowly got into position.

“
Oh no, father,” Xman mumbled to himself worriedly.

He then heard Sommanar’s voice, “All Claws, concentrate all your fire on that plasma drill.”

The
Thunder Claw
did an amazing U-turn and rolled as the ship trusted towards the laser drill avoiding Xatu ships along the way. Xman fired his lasers upon it, but it was no use Xman and his crew could not even dent it with their proton missiles. That only meant that the shield around it was still up. Xman wished that Mike would hurry up.

They finally got to the door but three Xatu soldiers heavily guarded it. The soldiers saw them and started to fire. Mike and Justin shot two of them as the third shot Justin in the leg. Mike hated that and fired his blaster at the Xatu’s head.

“
You ok buddy?” Mike said as he went over.

Justin cringed, holding his burnt shin as he replied, “I’m fine. It’s just a scratch. Just get to that drill room!”

Mike nodded, as Justin was right, it was up to him. He darted to the lock door and frowned, but he knew that he had the right key. He took out a wall bomb, stuck it on the door, and armed it.

“
Fire in the hole!” Mike shouted to his friend.

The door exploded and Mike entered the control room. The Xatu computer workers were either injured or dead. Inside he saw a large controller panel and a window that peered in the working room where the huge drill was, but it was too late they had the gun locked and loaded. Mike had to act quickly. He fired at the pane as it shattered in a million pieces. He then took out the rest of the wall bombs, armed them, and threw the bombs at the drill itself before the safety shield activated. He ran out of the room to meet Justin when a huge blast ruptured the hallway. The yellow glow dimmed as Xman heard a cry of relief from the other pilots. Mike helped his friend up as they hobbled back down the hallway.

“
M-m-m-icael,” A voice called as Michael instantly recognized it.

It was coming from Mike’s MicroCom. He took out a slim small cell phone-like device and replied, “Mike here, something wrong CRAIG?”

CRAIG tried to talk, but all Mike got out was Drax taking Tygla. Mike frowned not liking this. That means that Drax stopped the detonation sequence and has Tygla in his grasp. He had to find her now.

He looked to his friend and said, “Can you walk on your own?”

“
Yeah, no problem,” he replied as he limped wincing to the pain.

He helped Justin once more as they walked down the long passage back to the ship together. They heard constant laser blasts coming from the Condor and knew that Digan was in trouble. They got to the corridor and saw that they were right. Ten Xatu soldiers barricade the area. They frowned not knowing what to do Justin smiled as he had one wall bomb. He armed and threw it down the hall towards the barricade. Moments later the barricade was clear from the violent blast.

“
Get to the ship and get out of here,” Mike said. “I’m going to find Tygla. And blow this thing up.”

“
What? No Mike,” Justin argued, “I’m coming with you.”

“
Justin you don’t have a choice, soon they’ll have this entire area covered with more Xatu guards,” Mike pointed out.

Justin asked, “Then how are you going get off?”

“
I’ll think of something,” Mike replied.

Justin worriedly said, “Mike.”

“
I’ll be ok, just get out of here.”

Justin smiled and hugged him, “Good luck bro.”

“
Yeah thanks,” Mike replied hugging back.

Chapter 17

The Destruction of Hades

When the guards brought her in, they chained Tygla down like her brother before her, and left the room. She looked around and noticed a large windowpane on her left giving her a great view the battle that was going on. She thought of her brother and wished he were here as well as Mike and her friends. She also saw a few alien-like potted plants carefully placed around the room. On Tygla’s right she saw a large comfortable bench, sitting against the wall with a huge portrait of the emperor Mi’Tuk hanging above, she despised it. She also noticed two old ornamental Xatu blades hanging on the far wall above Drax’s desk. Other than that there was nobody else in the room, she was alone. She had to get out, but when she struggled, an electrical surge entered her body and she cried in pain. It was no use; she was a prisoner for good. She frowned and sobbed as she missed Michael. Deep inside of her, she knew if Mike noticed that she and CRAIG did not return to the ship. He would come for her. Suddenly the door open, but her demised Drax walked in.

He crouched in front of her and said, “Comfy my dear?”

She grew angrily as Drax noticed her tears and replied, “Screw you, you monster.”

“
I’m a monster?” He said as snickered, “I think you should look in the mirror my dear. You Animuns are the monsters. You know, perhaps I will keep you as a pet. Just like my last commander kept your mother as one.”

Tygla frowned at that remark and said crossly, “You bastard!”

“
Now I’m a bastard? You got such fowl language for a princess. I think when we return to Mars, I should teach you some respect and obedience.”

She cowered at that remarked. She did not want to go to Mars and become a slave to these beasts, but she was in a useless situation. All she hoped that Mike would come soon and rescue her.

At that moment, Drax’s MicroCom came alive, “Lord Drax? Captain Tah here. We have a problem. Someone disabled our plasma drill.”

“
What?!” Drax exclaimed. Tygla looked up to him smiling with a satisfaction on her face. Drax turned to her. If she was here then that means Michael Tippin was in the
Hades
as well. He said to Tah, “Captain, inform Hiss to have him search the entire ship. We may have two more saboteurs on board, and when you find them, kill them.”

Tygla’s smile faded and had a horrid look on her face as Tah replied, “Yes my lord.”

At that moment, two extra guards stayed in the self-destruction device room one of them told the other to drag CRAIG to the garbage holding area. The android just lay there, but when the guards started to drag him face up, he came back to life. CRAIG flipped the guard over him knocking the other Xatu against the wall. He knocked both of them out of conscience.

“
Don’t bother,” said CRAIG as he got up, “After I am done here I will show myself there.”

He plugged his finger back into the computer and continued his mission. It seems to CRAIG, that it might take him a bit much longer to hack back in the system. When Hiss deactivated it, some of the coded had changed and so CRAIG has to decode the different sequences once more.

Mike now had to be cautious. He had to find where Drax is keeping Tygla. He remembered the schematics of the ship from the hologram. There were two possibilities were she can be found, one was the prison area. He knew now that might be tricky. The other was going to find CRAIG first. Perhaps his android friend knew more of where Drax is keeping Tygla. He started to head toward the elevator lift, and then stopped as it opened. He moved to an alcove nearby as two guards walked out. That was not going to work. He might be spotted. He saw a door next to it with ‘Stairs’ in Xatu written on it.
Better than being spotted and caught,
he thought. He darted over and entered the stairwell. Luckily, it was deserted. Perhaps they only use this for emergencies only. He looked up and started his ascent.