The Cagliostro Chronicles (15 page)

“Hang on Mr. President, we’ll have you out of here in a moment
,” Eddie offered immediately.

“The sooner the better, gentlemen
,” the bedraggled and battered President replied.

Red looked at the control panel
, then turned back towards Eddie, “I don’t know the code.”

“Neither do I.” Eddie replied, “Now get outta the way.” He raised his pistol and fired at the
doors control panel. Instantly the control panel exploded, showering the hallway with sparks. A half second later, all the cell doors that were active up and down the hallway went out. Above their heads the lights sputtered and failed as well.

“That was interesting
,” Red remarked as the President immediately got out of the now de-powered cell.

A hundred feet up the cell block, two figures staggered out into the dimly shining emergency lighting that had just shuddered to life, casting ghostly images upon the walls and cells of the hidden jail.

The two figures were obviously hurt, and were dragging their way towards the small group. One of the two held the other tightly and was helping that person walk.

“Mark!” Red exclaimed as he ran forward.

“Yes it’s both Ariel and me. She’s been hurt, hurry,” he replied hoarsely. “We have to get out of here.”

Mark dragged Ariel into the dim light. She smiled at their friends.

“Oh geeze, you both look like hell,” Red exclaimed as he helped hold up Ariel.

“That’s about how we feel too
,” Ariel grimaced as she wiped blood from her lips.

“Where’s Dan?” Mark asked.

“Don’t know,” replied Red.

“Let’s find him.” Mark tapped the sleeve of his shirt, atop his wrist and a screen appeared on his sleeve. Mark tapped it twice more and it became an image of a grid with four red dots
together in one square, but the fifth red dot was across the larger square the grid appeared in.

“That ain’t good
,” Eddie mused aloud.

“Where are our weapons?”
asked Red.

Mark tapped his sleeve in response once again and a handful of blue
dots appeared, and close by.

“They’re all at the end of this hallway, somewhere.”
he started, then continued, “now let’s get them, then get Dan, and then get the hell out of here.”

The group made its way to the end of the hallway, the only member of the group unhur
t was Eddie, so he led the way.

Halfway to where the guns
were hidden, at the end of the hallway, six of the purple skinned aliens appeared down the dim hallway and began firing their weapons at the escaping fugitives. Instantly Eddie dove to the floor, the pistol he had confiscated from the jailors they had overcome extended before him and firing before he hit the floor. Three quick shots fired, three of the enemy crumpled to the floor, lifeless.

Red fired the blaster he held, and another of the enemy thugs fell forward.

Mark raised his pistol simultaneously with the men beside him, pulled the trigger and nothing happened. Quickly he dove into an empty cell as a blaster bolt shot by from the opposite end of the hallway, barely missing his head. Mark slapped the gun along its battery pack a few times, but it was dead, either damaged or burned out. As he considered what to do, both Red and Eddie fired one after the other, followed by a thud at the other end of the hallway.

Mark didn’t hesitate
, and ran out into the hall once again, as his people followed him. Red helped Ariel, who clung to him while she rubbed her forehead with her free hand, obviously still pained.

“Good shooting boys.” Mark congratulated them as they broke into the weapons cabinet and took back their property.

“You expected any less, Boss?” Eddie replied slyly.

Mark shrugged, and then grimaced immediately afterward in pain. “Right now I just want to get back to the Cag and let Dr. Troiano have her way with me.” Mark replied painfully.

Ariel shot him a faux annoyed look before playfully slapping him on the back of the head. Then she
grimaced from the pain that caused her.

“Okay,” Mark began, “
enough screwing around, let’s go find Dan.”

The group of
five made a left and a quick right into another hallway. Mark followed the trail leading to Dan on his wrist scanner built into his uniform’s sleeve, a small hologram played out across his sleeve showing a 3D image leading to Dan.

“How’d you get this layout?” Eddie asked, amazed at Mark’s tech once again.

“I copied it from the base we were in on that desert planet. You know this is an exact copy of that underground base correct?”

Eddie nodded affirmatively, “
Yeah boss, I know. Remember, I was there too.”

Mark smiled, and then grimaced
again in pain, “I know Eddie, let’s get Dan.”

Down the secondary hallway, which did not suffer the power failure as did the prison cell
wing; another group of enemy guards appeared and began firing. Everyone dove for cover as blaster bolts flew overhead.

“I got this!”
shouted Red, as he readied and primed his hand held cannon. Mark nodded and Red jumped into the hallway and fired his handheld cannon once then disappeared behind a wall extrusion on the opposite side of the hallway. A nano-second later there was an explosion at the far end of the hallway that shook the foundation beneath their feet with its power.

Mark raised his pistol to the side of his head
, the barrel pointing up and peered out around the brick extrusion on his side of the hallway and saw nothing but dust and rubble. The air was filled with a choking fog of debris.

Ariel stepped forward before Mark could stop her
, and placed her fingers to her temples peering down the hallway. “I’m not ‘seeing’ anything down there. I
think
they’re all down.”

Mark put his arm around her, steadying her
, “Okay Ari, relax, you did well.”

She smiled at him as she leaned into him, “Thanks boss
,” she said with a wink, “also I found Danny. He’s this way.”

“I knew where he was Ari
,” Mark replied, with a modicum of sarcasm. He pulled her close, making sure he supported her as she walked. “Red, you take point and keep that big gun up and charged, Eddie you stay behind Red to his left and down low, and I’ll carry Ari. Dan should be right ahead of us.”

“You sure you don’t want me to take her
, boss?” Red asked.

“No Red
, we need your big gun, and your tactical mind to get us out of here. I’ll take care of Ariel.”

Red nodded, “Whatever you say
, boss.” Then he moved ahead of the rest with Eddie flanking him. They moved past the bodies of the men who had just tried to attack them, all were the purple skinned ‘salad heads’.

Red looked at them and grunted as they squeezed past the mass of still steaming flesh the cannon had left.
Red and Eddie motioned everyone to stay still as the two reconnoitered the area. Eddie leaned towards the bigger man and whispered, “Does this seem like déjà vu all over again to you, too?”

“Yeah shorty, been there, done that, again
,” Red answered with a lopsided grin as he and Eddie continued ahead.

The President had been silent until now as he stayed behind them all
, walking guardedly with his newfound companions. “What’s going on out there, Mark? What’d that alien spy do in my name?”

Mark turned to the President, then turned forward again looking ahead with his friends and teammates. “I wasn’t sure if I had spoken to you or the imposter, sir.” Mark began, “I assume there
are ways of being sure you are who I want to believe you are. I was going to suggest testing you myself for DNA anomalies.”

“Would that clear up any distrust you may have for me? Would it clear your mind that I was the real President
Scaleia?”

“It would go far, Mr. President. It’s something I can have my Doctor aboard the Cagliostro perform a simple test for that will tell us all who you really are with one hundred percent certainty.”

The President looked to Johnson and nodded seriously, “Then let’s do this DNA test as soon as we get aboard your ship and while we’re on our way to the White House.”

Mark furrowed his brow as he asked
, “You want to go to Washington? We could be shot out of the sky before we ever arrived there.”

“I’m, sorry Mark, but I don’t just want to go there, I
need to go there. A monster has not only my nation in the palm of his hands, but my wife and children held hostag
e
there, too, and they don’t even know it. They think it’s me, their loving father and husband who is there with them right this very moment.” The President clenched his fists in impotent rage, “That abomination of science is sitting on my sofa right now with its arm around my wife. That’s something I will not allow.” The President fairly growled while he clenched both of his fists.

Red returned
to the two men after he and Eddie had walked to the end of the corridor and peered into the dimly lit room, “All clear, Boss-man.” Red announced in a low voice.

“Good job, Red.

They moved as one, with the President behind them. He had insisted on carrying a weapon, him being a trained fighter and veteran of two wars himself. He held the pistol expertly as they entered the warehouse-like room in the underground base.

It was dark in this room. In fact the only illumination came from what was in the
room’s center.

In the center of the room stood a clear globe about nine feet in diameter, all around the globe were various controls and apparatus’. But what was held inside the globes center was what captured everyone’s eyes. Dan Sledge hung suspended in the air inside the globe, by tendrils of energy. He could get no leverage against them nor put his great strength to bear in any way.
He was trapped and helpless.

“We have to get him out of there
,” Mark announced as he moved forward into the very dimly lit room. He turned back and looked at the President, “Sir, stay back please. Let us handle this.”

“Mark, I’m as much in this as you are. I have no intention of standing on the sidelines and watching you people put your lives on the line. I’m in with whatever you are planning here. Just get me home.”

The group began to cautiously walk across the blackened warehouse-like space.

“I never thought I’d see Danny helpless
,” Eddie spoke aloud.

“After everything we’ve seen the last few weeks Eddie? Well there ain’t nothin’ that surprises me anymore.” Red
replied quietly as they cautiously walked together at the head of the pack, scanning the room around them.

“Be careful you two, I’m not reading anything on my hand scanner but they may have blocked them somehow.”

Suddenly, Ariel grasped her head with both hands and doubled over moaning painfully.

“Ari!” Mark shouted as he caught her
just before she fell to the floor.

Instantly the lights came on in the big facility. The five
former captives looked around, as alien troopers surrounded them. In the midst of the troopers was the same uniformed alien who had captured them earlier. “I see you pathetic humans were trying to escape my hospitality. Now that’s not a nice thing to do is it? You all should be thankful I have taken you in. Others would have simply shot you on sight.”

“I don’t know who you are
, mister”, the President shouted as he pushed his way in front of Mark and the others, “but I’ve had enough of you, your salad headed friends, and whatever evil you’re planning for my planet and its people. We will defy you and further, we will defeat you.”

“A noble speech, Mr. President, but one that is useless and
, without teeth as it were. As for who I am, you may call me ‘Klaxxus-17’and you may also call me ‘Master’.”

Mark and the others looked on in anger as Ariel stood there, leaning heavily on Mark, holding her head in abje
ct agony. Ari looked up at Mark, tears of pain streaming down her beautiful face. “Q-quel.” Was all she was able to stammer out between gritted teeth.

Mark looked around at this point
, heedless of his own safety, while various alarms went off in his head warning him not to do anything. They were alarms he had every intention of ignoring.

While Eddie and Red had their weapons up and aimed at the aliens surrounding them, Mark had been holding Ariel
up; otherwise she would have collapsed to the floor as if she had no skeletal structure. He leaned close to her and whispered, “I’m sorry,” then placed her gently upon the floor before he pulled his weapon and in one smooth move aimed it directly at the head of Klaxxus-17. “Tell your people to stand down, now.”

“Or what?” The bald headed purple skinned alien replied
as he waved off his troops cautiously, “You’ll shoot me? Please sir, consider that I am number seventeen in a series of clones. My eighteenth iteration will simply take my place.”

“That may be so
, Seventeen, but you will still feel a slow and painful death. I have no intention of simply disintegrating you. I’ll shoot you once with the power set low enough to burn your brain from the inside out. It will be a building reaction that will be more painful for each instant it carries on. It will kill you, but it will feel like an eternity of pain searing behind your eyes. You’ll be begging for it to end, and it seemingly won’t. Eventually you will die, but it’ll feel like an eternity by the time you do. In actuality it will be only minutes. You won’t be able to tell the difference. You’ll just be begging for death.”

***

Behind everyone and forgotten in all of this, Dan Sledge continued to hang suspended in coruscating energy in the center of the great room.

Silently
, Dan continued to strain against his bonds, his brow dripping sweat as he redoubled his efforts to tear free of the energy prison.

***

“A wonderful and frightening speech, Mark Johnson, but one I do not believe, for you see, you are less than an annoyance to me and my masters.”

“This is a lot of energy and effort I’m standing in for ‘less than an annoyance’. You people are planning something for my world, or you’re afraid of us, which is what I surmised anyway. I may be wrong, but with the effort you’ve all put into this place, as well as creating another just like it back on the desert planet, I’d say you clowns are pretty well invested in this one.”

“The name of my world is ‘Duddas’. It is the sand world you
speak of, and it is a beautiful place compared to this cold and green world of yours. There is too much water here, there is too much cold here. There are too many of you here.” He pointed a finger at Mark, “and you are too dangerous to get off this world and out of this solar system to be allowed to bring your infectious madness to the rest of the universe. Best to obliterate you all, rather than to allow you to spread.”

“Who are your masters? What world do they hail from?” The President barked.

“You do not ask the questions here, human, I do. Your title is meaningless in captivity. You are my prisoner. The only reason you are still alive is so that we can gather information from you for our invasion. Once we have all the security codes and any other necessary information needed to overcome your security systems you will be discarded.”

The President began to raise his gun to shoot when Mark laid a hand on the weapon and stopped him.

“You talk a lot, Seventeen, but you’ve said nothing. What do you want here? Why all this subterfuge? If your masters wanted to destroy us, they could have done so from space.”

“The masters know your weapons are great and powerful. You excel at destroying things. For some mad reason it is an art with your race. The universe knows this. A wary eye has been kept upon you for years.”

“Like I told you before, I already surmised all of that already, Seventeen. There’s more to it though isn’t there?”

“Of course there is, human
. Your race is to be crushed, enslaved and spread throughout the universe, never to gather as one people again. You are too dangerous, and your world’s wealth will be broken up amongst the many races and distributed. Barbarians such as yourselves will never live free again. The Universal Emperor will see to that.”

“The hell he will!” shouted the President as the blaster in his hand barked death and splattered the head, brains and blood of Seventeen all over his troops standing directly behind him
.

“Aw
, hell!” shouted Red, wide eyed as he immediately brought his weapon up and prepared to fire.

Instantly all about the crew of the Cagliostro weapons were raised and pointed at the
m as triggers began to squeeze.

But behind them
, and all but forgotten, a powerful man strained to the breaking point and beyond, until with one more Herculean effort, Dan Sledge pulled against his ethereal bonds and this time he shattered them. The globe he was trapped in exploded outwards with a fury like unto an erupting volcano. Everyone in the room immediately looked towards the sound of his escape, including the Quell, who suddenly screamed as its concentration was shattered and Ariel put all her psychic strength, power and will into one pinpoint accurate bolt of psychokinetic retaliation, shattering the Quell’s mind as his head snapped backwards agonizingly, blood instantly spraying from his eyes and nose, before he dropped to the floor, dead.

Now the troopers
turned to fire at their enemies, but it was too late. Eddie was firing first, taking out half a dozen of the guards with almost super-human accuracy before any of them got a single shot off.

Red
brought up his energy cannon as he dropped to one knee, resting the heavy weapon there as he fired. The sound was like standing next to a rocket at lift off, and the results were just as catastrophic, as the purple skinned guards were scattered across the warehouse-like room

Then Dan was there, leaping from across the empty room in one angry motion, landing the midst of their enemies, his powerful legs exploding downward into the concrete and steel reinforced floor, shattering it and sending shockwaves that scattered
their enemies like tenpins.

Instantly
the President, Red and Eddie took defensive positions behind crates that were scattered about the huge room and began firing as Mark joined them, having picked up a gun one of the enemy lettuce-heads had dropped, with Ariel hanging on to his shoulder for support.

The room was alive with bolts of energy flying every which way
, as stunned guards tried to fight their way to their feet, but Dan would simply stomp on the floor with incredible strength sending shockwaves through the very ground, scattering them.

Ariel looked up and inhaled sharply, drawing in her breath. Then she turned to Mark and finally spoke, “I’ve got this
,” she stated with an almost feline growl as she walked away from Mark, put both hands on either side of her head and suddenly concentrated.

Every alien within the room suddenly dropped to the ground like puppet
s with their strings cut. Ari stumbled a second as blood began to run down from her nose, and Mark quickly caught her once again.

“I’ve got you Ari, I’ve got you
,” he reiterated reassuringly.

“We leavin’?” Dan asked as he rubbed his hands together, dispelling dust.

“Yes we are, Mr. Sledge,” Mark replied as he tapped his sleeve, bringing up a 3D image of the cells and the entire underground compound. “This way,” he stated flatly and pointed.

The entire team
, including the President, began to run when suddenly the underground base shook violently.

“What the hell?” grunted Dan.

“We’re under attack,” Red shouted.

“Not us, this base
,” Eddied replied.

“Less talk, just run
.” Mark ordered, as everyone raced towards the staircase leading to the upper levels.

“Danny, take point and clear the way for us.”

“You got it, Mark,” Sledge replied as he barreled through half a dozen guards who suddenly appeared before them from an adjacent hallway. They were scattered and down before any of them drew a weapon as Dan Sledge tore through them like they were made of paper.

“Steel doorway to the outside ahead
,” Mark advised as they ran.

“Not for long
,” Red acknowledged as he brought up the cannon once again, “Danny, down!” Red yelled, as Dan hit the deck, barely avoiding a blast from the hand-held cannon which obliterated the bulkhead door, while the entire facility shook yet again from the continuing barrage from the outside.

“Everyone try to raise the ship, we have no idea how high up it is
, or even where it is exactly. They could be doing this from orbit for all we know,” Mark commanded.

“Not quite, Mark. Look!” Eddie shouted as he pointed above them.

The Cagliostro shot across the sky stopping almost directly overhead as a small hatch opened up on the bottom of the ship and a magnetic tractor beam grasped onto them all, drawing them into the ship.

Red and Dan each placed a hand on the Presidents upper arms, holding him lightly as they floated upward.

“How is this even possible? I have no metal on.” The President stared in wonder as he floated upward.

“The beam is pulling you upward by the iron in your blood
and whatever magnetic material is in our suits alone. It’s that powerful, but it’s also gentle. You’re not feeling a tug or any pain. It’s all calculated accordingly,” Mark explained as they entered the ship through the belly hatch they were drawn up through.

Seconds later the entire group was running through the ship toward the forward maglovator and from there to the control deck.

They burst onto the control deck as the secondary crew all stood, all except the man in the command chair.

“
You’re all relieved people, good job,” Mark began, but stopped when he saw the General sitting in his chair, “General, where’s Mr. Marek?”

“In sick bay, Johnson. You had a traitor on board. She tried to kill your second in command, but I showed her the error of her ways
,” the General concluded, rubbing his fist ominously.

“
Who was the traitor? Reynolds? From life sciences?”

The General raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Good instincts Johnson, yes that’s the one. Pretty red haired tart too.”

“Auburn sir, her hair color is auburn. I’ve been concerned about her since we got her back from that prison facility. According to the crew she made some comments on the Stargrazer that seemed a bit out of place for her. Where is she now?”

“The brig, nursing a black eye and one nasty headache I hear.” He laughed quietly in memory of his
arrival and subsequent knockout blow to the traitors jaw.

“Goo
d, let her stay there and stew awhile.” He turned to Ariel who was seated at her console, “You’re going to the med bay, I’m taking you there myself. Mr. President, find a seat please.”

At Mark
’s comment all on the command deck turned their heads suddenly to the maglovator doors, General Abruzzi included, who immediately stood and saluted the President.

“Mr. President! I apologize sir
, I did not realize you were standing there,” Abruzzi offered sincerely.

“At ease General, this is not a formal meeting. These people just saved my life
. Believe me I’m not going to stand on circumstance at the moment. I’ve been in a cell for the past few weeks.”

Then the President stopped, “Wait Abruzzi, what are
you doing here?”

The General smiled slowly, “You were held the past several weeks sir, here. Johnson and his people found me thousands of light years from here held in an alien prison, where I’d been trapped for
months or maybe even years. I guess we both owe them much,” he concluded with a slow nod.

The President turned to Mark who was forcibly making Ariel leave her station and go with him to the
medical bay.

“So I was correct, Mr. Johnson? We had a traitor in our midst
, an imposter, besides the one who took my place?”

Mark nodded as the young woman who had taken Ariel’s place at the communications console returned and did so once again. Mark led Ariel away
. It was obvious she was still in pain from her ordeal. “Yes, Mr. President. You were right on all accounts. It was the General as we had surmised earlier who was replaced by the Aliens.”

“Mark, get yourself looked at also, you look like hell
, you know,” the President stated.

“I feel like hell plus some
,” Mark replied, a slight grin in place.

“Danny, take the command chair, head to
Washington. I’ll be back in a few minutes. If attacked, don’t fire on any of our own planes. Follow the Presidents orders.”