The Cagliostro Chronicles II: Conflagration (11 page)

“
Cagliostro
, this is
Stargrazer
. I’m coming in hot and out of control. I have a hull breach and I’m losin’ oxygen fast. The ‘
Grazer
is badly damaged. Repeat, I’m coming in hot
Cagliostro
, do you copy?
Cagliostro
, do you copy?”

“Mark,
” Shouted Lilly Wallflower, “the
Stargrazer
just went down!”

“What?
Where?” Mark jumped from his command chair and hurried to Lilly’s console.

“Right here, about five miles from us
.”

“Ari-, I mean Miss- Lilly, Lilly
was there any communication from him?”

“No, but his comm may be down
.”

“Shuttles two and three
get to the
Stargrazer
immediately. Medical staff on two and security team, heavily armed, on three. Get Eddie and bring him back here.”

“I’m going
, too,” Red’s voice announced over the comm.

“I’m not going to argue. G
o,” Mark agreed.

“What about the ‘
Grazer
?” Red inquired as an afterthought.

“If you can’t tow it back here
, scuttle it completely. I don’t want the Agalum getting their hands on any part of it. Shuttle three is on its way to pick up you and your men, Red.”

“Good, we’re done here.
Come and get us.”

Mark turned toward Lilly
Wallflower. “Get Mr. Marek up here and on the security console.”

She nodded.
“Will do, Sir.”

“In the meantime you
scan for enemy vessels heading toward Eddie.”

Lilly Wallflower nodded nervously and turned away.

***

The two small shuttles streaked across the alien sky
from opposite directions, both in camouflage mode, both undetectable. Less than a minute later they converged and landed in a smoking, ruined tract of forest. There were downed trees and fires burned across the area freely. The
Stargrazer
sat smoldering at the end of a half mile long tract of devastation.

Red
was out of Shuttle three at a run, followed by a dozen of his security men. Hot on his heels from Shuttle two was a medical team led by Dr. Troiano herself.

“Good lord, the ‘
Grazer
’s been through one hell of a battle,” Red growled, “Eddie! We’re comin’ for ya bud, hang on!”

He worked the hatch controls
to the right of the doorway and the door slid open slowly. Inside everything was askew. Seats were broken off of their mounts to the ship’s hull, and control panels smoked.

“Where’s Eddie?” Red
barked.

In reply a moan issued from under a console along the ship
’s front wall.

“I’ve got it
,” Troiano shouted, getting ahead of Red with two of her medics.

“
Ooohh,” the voice under the console moaned once again.

Medics pulled away the debris and removed Eddie carefully from under the console
once Troiano checked him to her satisfaction. The medics placed him on an anti-grav gurney, and headed toward the shuttle they had landed in.

“Get him to the
shuttle quickly. I want him under a med scanner as soon as possible.”

“All right
, Doctor,” one of the medical staff concurred, holding the anti-grav gurney with another medic. The two men walked the barely conscious Eddie to the shuttle with Troiano right behind them. “Red, we’re heading back to the
Cag
immediately.”

“Go
, Doc, don’t worry about us. Get Eddie stabilized.”

Red turned to his people.
“Get out the anti-grav lifts and get them attached to the hull. I don’t want to give up this ship. The
Stargrazer
has been great to us for the past two years.”

The men
began to work immediately, setting up the two anti-grav discs and attaching them to the ship’s hull.

“They’re attached
, Red,” a man named Barker informed him when the work was done.

“Good let’s get the
Stargrazer
out of here, and let’s all get back to the
Cag
.”

Moments
later the shuttle lifted off. Within its command area Red activated a small pad he held. “Let’s see if this all works now.”

He activated the pad and a holographic control interface popped up from its surface.
Red began working the controls and the
Stargrazer
rose unsteadily into the air, the anti-grav discs attached to its hull slaving it to the shuttle.

“All right
, let’s get out of here before the Agalum show up.”

The s
huttle took off and headed back toward the hidden
Cagliostro
, the
Stargrazer
following behind it, shakily mimicking the shuttle’s movements by remote control.

“Red, this is Lilly,” Miss
Wallflowers voice streamed from the ships comm system, “We have incoming ships headed right toward you.”

“Wonderful. W
e’re picking up the pace, Lilly. What’s their ETA?”

“At their present speed
, about forty seconds.”

“We’ll be there in twenty
.”

Red
accelerated the shuttle and the
Stargrazer
being flown by remote control followed
accordingly.

“Are we
camo’d yet?” Jenkins, one of the security people asked.

“Yes, and I’m extending the field over the
Stargrazer
too. We’re arriving at the
Cag
now.”

Smoothly the shuttle flew into the shuttle bay, followed by the
Stargrazer
, which rocked side to side and landed heavily, even sliding a few feet across the shuttle deck floor.

Shuttle number two was already in place and emptied
. Red and his crew walked out toting their weapons. Mark entered the shuttle deck as they were all approaching the exit.

“How’s Eddie?” Red inquired, concern written all over his face.

“Troiano is looking him over now. We’ll all know more in a short while.” Mark’s eyes played over the
Stargrazer
. “She looks like hell. What the heck did Eddie run into?”

“We won’t know until we download her files
.”

Mark nodded.
“I’m having the techs go over her now. Whatever did this to her may still be out there.”

“Is Eddie awake?”

“No. He got banged up in the crash, but Troiano thinks the safety protocols saved his life.”

“When he does finally wake up we’ll know what we’re up against
,” Red grunted.

“Let’s get those files out of the ‘
Grazer
’s security systems,” Mark ordered.

Red nodded slowly, almost absentmindedly. It wasn’t lost on Mark.

“What’s the matter, Red?”

The big warrior turned to him.
“Eddie’s down, Ari’s down, hell both the
Stargrazer
and the
Cagliostro
are down, the ‘
Grazer
maybe for good. We’re in trouble now.”

“We’ll get out of this.
We will. This is a tough spot we’re in, Red. I’m not belittling it. But we’ve been in worse. We’ll get out of this one, too.”

“I hope you’re right
, Mark. I don’t wanna be stuck here for the rest of my life, however short an amount of time that may be.”

Troiano’s vo
ice broke over Mark’s comm unit. “Captain, please come to sick bay. We have a situation.”

“Eddie?” Red asked.

“Let’s go
.” Mark ordered.

Both men ran from the shuttle deck to the
maglovator. They were whisked almost instantly down a level and across the ship to come to a soft halt on the medical deck. The doors shushed open and the two men emerged in the med lab’s hallway. They pushed their way through into the med lab itself, the doors not sliding open quickly enough.

“What is it
, Ann?” Mark asked Dr. Troiano.

“It’s Ari. She’s needs you. B
etter get in there.”

Mark turned and ran toward the room Ari was in.
Mark found her up against the wall holding her head. The helmet was still in place, but she was obviously fighting the thing within her.

“What happened to her restraints?” Red asked.

“She was fine with the helmet in place; she wasn’t a problem or a danger to herself, so I let her out of the restraints for a while.” Troiano answered.

“Ari, honey
, it’s me, Mark. Talk to me, baby.”

“M-Mark… this thing, this Chakix… it won’t leave and it’s fighting against the helmet, and against me
.” She stumbled across the room and landed on the hospital bed in a fetal position, still holding her head. Mark got on the bed behind her and held her arms.

“Honey, what does Chakix want?”

“S-she…it wants the helmet off. It’s in pain, an-and now it’s feeding that p-pain to me. It s-says it won’t stop u-until I’m dead, or the Agalum are d-driven from t-the p-planet.”

M
ark stood silently, dying inside at having to watch Ariel suffer. He touched her long blonde hair gently, then put a cover over her on the bed.

“Doctor
,” he called to Troiano.

The diminutive physician appeared almost instantly in the room
’s doorway. “What do you want me to do, Captain?”

“Administer another sedative. Let her rest.
Then
remove the helmet once she’s out cold.”

Tr
oiano looked at him in surprise. “Are you sure, Mark?”

“Yes
, Doc, I am. Ari’s going to get permanently hurt this way if she has to keep fighting this Chakix’s influence and the helmet keeps harming this alien creature as well. Chakix is sending that pain right back into Ari’s mind.”

“I know
, Mark. I am a doctor.”

“
I can’t have Ari continually hurt like this. There has to be another way to get this thing out of her.”

“Okay
, I’ll be right on it.”

Troiano and a nurse approached the quivering Ariel in her bed. The nurse handed Troiano a hypodermic
, and the doctor shot Ari full of sedatives again. A moment later Ariel was silent and asleep.

“
Okay. I’ll remove the helmet now.” Troiano looked at Mark for approval and he nodded his head. Troiano, with the help of her nurse, then slid the helmet off carefully.

“Keep her sedated, D
octor. Keep the helmet off of her for now. If this Chakix attempts to control her again, put the helmet back on, but keep her sedated anyway. I have to drive that thing out of Ari’s body. I’m not going to let it win.”

“It’s beating us at every turn, Mark. I was sure the helmet’s frequency shoul
d have been enough to drive that thing out of her body.”

“So was I, D
octor. How could I have been so wrong about this?”

“
Stop blaming yourself,” Troiano ordered. “This is all unknown territory, Mark. And to be honest, I don’t think it has any intention of leaving until its demands are met.”

“I want the Agalum off of this world as much as this invader in Ariel’s mind does. But her ways of coercing us are not the best way
s to gain my attention or my trust.”

“Agreed
, Captain. But what else are we going to do right now?”

“I’m open for suggestions, D
octor. Do you have any?”

She sighed heavily. “Sadly
, Mark, no.”

“Neither
do I, Ann. But I keep thinking I’m missing something, some way to clean up this entire mess.”

“Keep working at it
, Mark. You’re the smartest guy I’ve ever met. If there’s a way out of this, you’ll find it.”

“We’re only a hundred people on this ship. We can’t storm a mountain
base full of Agalum.”

Troiano nodded in silent agreement.

“Not to change the subject,” Mark began after a pause of several seconds, “but how is Eddie?”

“He’ll live. He’s going to be hurting for a while though. He’s bruised up and he hit his head p
retty hard. Hard enough for a concussion.”