Star Raiders and the Lost Expidition (31 page)

Mike knew that it was on the first level. It took him six flights of stair to get to Level 1. Once there, he got his gun was ready, pressed the open button, and the door slid open. Right in front to him a Xatu guard stood his back to him. His eyes widened in surprise and quickly hit the back of his neck with the butt of his gun, knocking him out. He then got brilliant idea. He dragged the guard in, undressed him and then put the guard’s uniform on himself. Mike then was a Xatu guard, temporally, as he now can wander the ship unnoticed. He put on the helmet that they wear, so no one can recognize him. He walked down the bark-shaped grey hall as a few Xatu soldiers walked by. His heart raced a bit hoping that would not notice him with his helmet on. He stopped and faced a nameless door pretending to access it. He looked to see if they passed him and they did. All of a sudden, he heard a grunting noise beyond the door followed by a crash. Mike opened the door and entered curiosity.

He saw CRAIG standing by the Self Destruction panel with his input finger in the computer slot. The android looked up to him. He thought Mike was another guard and in a blur, he grabbed the dead guard’s weapon and aimed it at Mike.

“
Hey, hey whoa!” Mike said as he took his helmet off to reveal himself, “It’s me CRAIG. It’s Mike!” CRAIG cocked his head in confusion and lowered his gun, “I thought it was against your programming to kill?”

“
I was hoping to frighten you in submission,” CRAIG replied.

Mike said, “It worked. Now where is Tygla?”

“
Drax has taken her to his office quarters,” CRAIG replied as he keyed in buttons on a control panel. On a separate screen a map of the
Hades
appeared. It zoomed in on the first level. Mike saw a line leading from the self-destruction control room to Drax’s office. It showed Mike that there were some twist and turns in the path of the diagram, but Mike got the idea. “Right there,” CRAIG Pointed.

“
Great,” Mike said in satisfaction, “I thought you were damaged?”

“
My internal repair system activated while I was in hibernation mode,” CRAIG replied.

“
Good, how long before you can reactivate the sequence?”

CRAIG looked to the screen and replied, “Three point five minutes.”

“
Ok, once that’s activated get the hell out of here any way you can,” Mike ordered, “I’m gonna get Tygla and find an escape pod or something.” Mike put the helmet back on.

“
Good luck Mr. Tippin,” CRAIG said.

“
You too,” Mike replied as he exited the room.

Mike made his way towards Drax’s Office. He saw two guards standing there. He wondered how to get in, and then he had another idea. He can get one of them to leave, but the other once, might be tricky.

He walked over and said to one of them in Xatu, “Captain wants to see you. I’ll cover you until you return.”

He looked to him and nodded. The guard walked down the hall as Mike took his place. The other guard just stood there like a statue. As soon as the first one was out of sight, Mike turned to the remaining guard.

“
Did you see the game last night?” Mike said in English.

The guard turned his head in confusion and in a swift move, he kicked him so hard in the gut, the Xatu fell forward. Mike then knocked him out with his gun again. He then pushed a button on the side and the door slid open. He was hoping Drax was not there, but he kept his gun out, just in case. He crossed the threshold and saw Drax sitting behind his desk holding Tygla’s chain leash. Tygla was on the floor next to him. She looked like one of Mama’Halb slaves to Mike. Something he did not want to see.

Mike withdrew his helmet to reveal his face, aimed his gun at Drax’s dark heart and commanded angrily, “Hands up Drax.”

Drax just smiled at him as if he was expecting Mike. Tygla looked and smiled to him gracefully, “Mike!”

Drax then commented, “Well done, Mr. Tippin. I must congratulate you. It’s not every day a pathetic Colonial like yourself can, thwart my plans, break into my ship, disable my plasma drill, and make your way in my office, all in one day in fact. It’s too bad you didn’t become part of the Xatu Empire. You have excellent thieving skills.”

“
Release Tygla, or I’ll blow this ship up,” Mike warned.

Tygla looked at him and wondered just like Drax if he was bluffing, as they knew that Drax stopped the self-destruction sequence.

“
You muck be joking,” Drax commented.

Then suddenly the ship’s alarm went off as Drax and Tygla looked about. A female voice informed them that the ship would detonate in ten minutes. Mike hoped that would be enough time to escape.

“
I don’t Joke,” Mike said and ordered again more persistently, “Now release her.”

“
I don’t know what you have done, but I assure you, you will not leave this ship alive,” Drax warned.

Tygla then saw a shadowy figure behind him. She then warned, “Mike behind you!”

Surprisingly, Mike heard another voice behind him, “Drop that weapon Colonial ssss.”

It was Commander Hiss aiming his blaster at Mike’s back. Mike tried glance behind to see the Serpitian but only felt the barrel of Hiss’s gun to his spine urging him to drop the weapon. Mike frowned, knowing he had lost. He lowered his gun as Drax kept smiling. Then, Mike heard another clicking sound and a familiar voice.

“
Drop it scale face,” Mike and Tygla instantly recognized it.

It was Justin standing in the door and he was holding his gun at Hiss’s head. Mike turned his head to make sure it was his best friend. Then suddenly Tygla cried his name as a warning, but before he could turn back to her, a large puma tackled him. They both fell on the floor as the force knocked Mike’s gun out of his hands as it fell under the couch. At the same moment, Hiss rapidly turned around, knocked Justin’s gun out of his hands, wrapped his slithery body around him, and started to squeeze tightly. He used his mechanical arms to strangle Justin’s neck.

Mike wondered where the puma came from. He then realized it must Drax.

Unbelievable, he had morphing powers,
Mike thought.

Drax, with his razor sharp claws tried to swipe Mike’s face, but he caught it with his free hand. Now Tygla could have helped them, but Drax attached the chain leash to the immobile chair before he morphed. She tried to release herself but it was impossible. The metallic leash will not budge. She was lucky that there was no electric shock like last time. She frowned and knew she was helpless.

Mike got both of his feet free and kicked Drax with all of his might as flew on to the far wall. One of the swords fell to the ground as Tygla saw it, just inches from her. If she just could reach it, but her hands her were bounded behind her back.

Meanwhile, Justin struggled with Hiss as they fell to the ground. He saw his gun just in arm’s reach. He wiggled his arm out of Hiss’s grasp, grabbed the barrel of the gun, and hit continuously on the commander’s eye. Hiss cried in pain as finally released him. Justin fell on the floor weakly.

Mike wearily got up only to see a large black grizzly bear stand on its feet. He growled and pounced on Mike once again. Drax slashed his face as Mike shrieked in pain.

Tygla shouted fearfully, “No!”

She looked to her pendant for a moment and remembered why Mike had given it to her. That was it. With Tygla’s catlike agility, she sat down and slid the cuffs over her tail, down her buttocks, thighs and around her feet. She then can now grab the sword, but she was too far away to use it.

“
Hun, catch!” She said as he tossed the blade to him.

Mike caught the butt of the sword with his free hand, thanked her, and stabbed Drax in the shoulder. The bear bawled in pain as he morphed back into Drax. He then kicked him off another time. Drax staggered back holding his shoulder with his other arm. He then grinned evilly as his arms became sword-wielding weapons. Mike’s eyes widen, not believing this.

As the fleet battled Xatu Empire on the outside of the hull, Xman had gotten word from CRAIG that he
Hades
self-destruction sequence had begun. He asked if Mike and the rest gotten to their ship yet.

“
Not yet your highness.” CRAIG replied.

This worried him as he continued to blast more B’tars. He did not want to leave his friends stranded on a doomed battle ship, but he only had ten minutes to fly away safely before it blew.

“
THIS SHIP WILL SELF DESTRUCT LESS IN FIVE MINUTES,” The computer reminded them.

“
Thiss my cue to ssscramble,” Hiss said cowardly as he slithered away as fast as he could to nearest escape hatch.

Justin was trying to get his breath back when he saw Mike and Drax engaged in a sword fight. Drax advanced on Mike slashing his morphed blades on him side to side. Mike did his best to block his deadly blows as their swords clashed together. Tygla saw in horror but she cheered on Mike the best she could. Then Drax found an opening and stabbed Mike in the shoulder.

Mike screamed as Tygla and Justin shouted, “NO!”

Justin slowly aimed at Drax, but could not get a clear shot. Tygla however took the other sword from the wall and threw it sideways at Drax. The sword’s blade sliced his back as he growled in pain. It fell near Justin as, this gave Mike the opportunity and pierced Drax’s abs. Drax grunted as Mike kicked him off. He fell on the ground apparently dead as Justin limped over to Mike.

“
I thought I told you to get the Condor and get out of here!” Mike argued.

“
And leave my best friend here to die?” Justin shot back, “Not likely.”

Mike smiled briefly to him and said, “Go unchain Tygla.” He glanced over to where Drax was, but he was gone. He wondered where he went, but it did not matter as they only gotten less than four minutes left.

Justin hobbled over to her told her to move and he blasted the links off. Tygla got up, ran over, placed her bounded arms around Mike, and kissed him ever so gracefully.

“
Thank you Justin, oh you’re welcome Tygla,” Justin said to himself wittedly.

“
THIS SHIP WILL SELF DESTRUCT IN THREE MINUTES,” the computer voice warned.

“
Let’s get the hell out of here,” Justin said as he and Tygla helped Mike. They exited the office, and Justin said pulling Tygla’s arm, “This way.”

Mike looked down to his friend’s injured leg and asked, “How’s your leg holding up?”

“
You know a little salve goes a long way,” Justin replied as his friends smiled.

Justin led them down the hall as they looked around and saw people scrambling around as if it was the end of the universe or something. It took them two minutes of wandering until Justin knew where he was going. They have gotten to a large area that it looked like a viewing room or a lounge area. Before them was a huge thick pane glass window that showed the deepness of space. Justin closed and blasted the door’s controls. Mike and Tygla wondered what he was up to.

“
THIS SHIP WILL SELF DESTRUCT IN ONE MINUTE AND COUNTING. T-60, 59….” The computer reminded them.

“
Here put these on,” Justin ordered as he handed them a couple of Oxymasks from his mini pack. They looked at them curiously then Justin said in his MicroCom, “Ok Digan, we’re ready.”

Out of nowhere, the Golden Condor floated up behind the glass window while it opened the bay ramp. Justin aimed at the huge window. Mike and Tygla thought Justin was out of his mind.

“
Justin! Are you crazy?!” They cried but Justin fired at the window, but nothing happened, the bolt ricocheted and hit a picture of Mi’Tuk. He frowned, increased its power to maximum, and fired two more times. The windowed cracked as Mike and Tygla eyes widened and quickly slipped the oxymask over their faces.

“
THIS SHIP WILL SELF DESTRUCT IN 30 SECONDS, 29, 28…” The loud speaker informed.

Justin told them to hold on each other, then with the pressure of the vacuum outside the window shattered in a million pieces. They screamed in terror as all of them flew out towards the ship’s opened bay ramp. They tumbled through the ship’s air shield and into the ship’s mini cargo bay as the mesh net caught them.

“
THIS SHIP WILL SELF DESTRUCT IN 10 SECONDS.”