The Cagliostro Chronicles II: Conflagration (21 page)

“Okay this is kinda scary
,” Eddie commented.

Dan  grumbled
. “Judgin’ by these guys didja expect any less?” 

Eddie shrugged.
“Not really I guess.”

“All right, enough guys
. Our people should be right about here.” Mark pointed to a blank wall. “I’m still reading their transponders there.”

“Want me ta punch our way in?” Dan grinned.

“No need. Our friend Barukt is going to lead us to the rooms entrance. Isn’t that right Barukt?”

The alien
walked forward to a corner that was hidden in the dim lighting and turned left. The crew stepped over tendrils that lay across the floor from tree-like limbs that lined the walls.

“This place is freaky
,” Eddie grumbled unenthusiastically.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here ASAP
,” Red agreed.

They followed
Barukt another fifty paces down the corridor he had taken them, stepping over more vines and tendrils until the creature came to a stop. It waved its hand over a nodule on the wall and an almost seamless panel slid open. The creature walked inside with the six man crew following. Once inside the room they all gasped almost simultaneously.

Both sides of the
room were filled with clear tubes. More of the tendrils wrapped about and nightmarishly covered the tubes.

But it was what was within the horrific tubes that caught everyone’s breath in their throats.

“The crew…” Dan verbalized, barely croaking the words out.

“They’re here, but what’d these sons of bitches do to them?” Red growled.

Everyone turned at a sound that came from the doorway. Just entering the room and advancing were a group of the creatures, bent over and slinking their way toward the six man away party. They began to crawl atop one another, like reptiles. Their deathly white skin reflected the dim red lighting giving them an even more gruesome appearance. Tendrils of blackness whipped about them, while their tongues lashed in and out. All the while they hissed maddeningly as they inched closer and closer.

“Hold them off; I’m going to free our crewmen.”
Mark shouted. He worked quickly at the tubes holding the crew, using his tech suits scanners to quickly ascertain how to open the clear pods.

The horrific creatures leapt toward the
away team almost as one unit. A seeming river of the horrid beings frantically crawled atop and over one another just to get to the boarding party before the Tahir Ga’Warum next to him. They were literally fighting for position as to who would attack the human invaders first.

But Red was already swinging his powerful handheld cannon into place from his back. It was Red’s favorite weapon to use on boarding or away missions, even if it was big, bulky
, and heavy.

The creatu
res surged toward the group and Red fired. His first blast of explosive energies sprayed across them with the strength to shake the room and send several of the tubes filled with the missing crewmen smashing to the floor.

But
the aliens kept advancing, relatively unscathed.

“Uh oh…” Red muttered.
“Switching to projectiles,” he announced and fired again.

The projectile hit and exploded
. The aliens were blown off of their feet and scattered.

Mark nodded his approval.
“That’s better. All of you go to conventional projectile weaponry.”

“That’d work if we all brought some
,” Dan growled as he took three bounding steps and hurled himself into a tight knit group of the aliens who were still advancing.

Dan collided with them with a bang. He began hammering at them with blows that could shake mountains. But surprisingly they fought back and did not go down under his superhumanly powerful onslaught.

“Uh oh, that ain’t good,” Eddie muttered.

Eddie brought up his powerful rifle and began firing. He started with energy
bolts which again had no real effect, then switched to explosive shells which, while not the same caliber as Red was using, were still powerful enough to do substantial damage and knock their enemy flying backward.

Dan had grasped one of the
creatures by the feet and was using it as a bludgeon against its compatriots, hammering away incessantly.

“Guys this ain’t goin’ so well
,” he shouted over his shoulder.

Mark replied, “Keep them back, Dan. We’ll have everyone freed in a few minutes. As soon as I get the first group of
forty free, I’ll order Barukt to teleport them back and then return for the next.”

Dan grunted, “Just
do it already.”

“You
heard the man,” Mark continued. “Let’s get everyone free and start heading back to the
Cag
.” Mark and the two men with him continued to work feverishly to open the tubes and free their fellow crewmen while the others fought a desperate battle against their terrible foes,

The heavy armored suits Dan, Red and
Joiner wore were taking a pounding. The aliens smashed at the three men over and over trying to crack the armored suits open.

“These things must be almost as strong as Dan is
,” Eddie assessed.

“Keep shooting
, Eddie. Danny is starting to falter.”

“No I ain’t!” Sledge roared.

Dan slammed two of the pale skinned fiends’ heads together. His armored gloves were covered in their black blood. His fists worked like pistons, slamming through the oncoming tide of alien attackers.

Nearby Red continued to fire his handheld cannon, sending the enemy creatures scattering in all directions with each pull of the trigger.
But less were actually removed from the battle than they had hoped for.

“Mark, these things are tougher than I expected
,” Red admitted.

“It doesn’t matter, Red
,” Mark replied. “They have to go down. If they don’t we’re all done for.”

“Going down.
Good idea.” Red smiled. He aimed the cannon at the ground in front of an onrushing group of the Tahir Ga’Warum and fired. The floor exploded beneath the aliens’ feet, leaving a wave of them to fall below to the next deck.

A few of the just freed crew were helping Mark release the others. Though all were groggy
at first they quickly regained their senses.

“Go, bring them back, then return here immediately
for the next group,” Mark commanded Barukt. The alien nodded once and disappeared amidst flowing tendrils of darkness along with forty of the groggy and just reawakened crewmen. An instant later the helmeted Tahir Ga’Warum returned, as he was commanded.

“Next group, go
,” Mark directed.

Again the alien
disappeared and returned a moment later.

Eddie was kneeling now, the big gun resting on his knee. He fired again and again
, knocking down the creatures, but each time they regained their footing.

“This ain’t good
, Boss,” Eddie cried.

“No kidding, Eddie
,” Mark admonished. “We’re almost done. Barukt’s coming back for the final group now.”

“Can’t come fast enough
,” Red answered. The big man reloaded his cannon in a heartbeat and fired again, taking out several of the ghoulish aliens that were leaping across the room toward him. “I’m starting to run low on ammo. We have to get out of here.”

“I know Red, a few moments longer
.”

Barukt
reappeared in a mass of swirling, whirling alien tendrils, grasped the last group of crewmen within said tendrils, and disappeared once more.

Dan was up against a wall with a crowd of the creatures pressing in on him. With a grunt of fatigue he lifted his foot up and slammed it down, scattering everyone near him with vibrations like an
earthquake within the ship. The floor buckled under his powerful stomp.

But still more of the ship
’s denizens scrambled over their senseless brethren and continued to attack Dan. Meanwhile Joiner fired his rifle repeatedly, scattering the enemy, but only temporarily.

“These things are tough
, Captain. Only the Chief’s cannon and Mr. Sledge’s fists seem to be making any real difference,” Joiner shouted at Mark.

“I know
, Joiner. Keep firing and fall back to my position, all of you!”

The men
closest did as they were bade, encircling Mark. Only Dan was still separated from his companions. Mark removed a grenade from the bandolier he had across his chest and heaved it into the crowd of aliens nearest the doorway. The explosive ‘whoompf’ knocked everyone, including the landing party to the ground. Only Dan Sledge was immune. Even Joiner and Red who also wore the heavy armored suits were knocked down by the powerful blast.

Dan burst through the
remaining aliens and stood between them and his teammates. “You wanna get to them, you gotta go through me, freaks,” he growled hotly.

The alien
Barukt reappeared then in their midst. “Get us back to the
Cagliostro
now,” Mark ordered.

In an
eye blink the remainder of the boarding party was standing back aboard the
Cagliostro
’s command deck.

Dan immediately pushed his way to the
pilot’s station, almost heaving the man sitting there from the seat.

“Get us out of here
!” Mark yelled.

“Wit’ pleasure
, Boss.”

Dan punched the controls and the
Cagliostro
arced away, accelerating rapidly and leaving the heavily damaged Tahir Ga’Warum vessel behind.

Mark turned
toward the alien in their midst. “You, return to your people and warn them never to cross our paths again, or they won’t be so lucky next time.”

The creature began to teleport a
way, its tendrils swirling madly for an instant and then it disappeared in a burst of its black, whirling teleportational power.

“Do you think it made it back to that ship? We put a few hundred thousand miles between us already
,” Dan asked.

“I couldn’t care less, as long as the damned thing is gone and from what I see on ship
’s sensors it’s out of here,” Mark rumbled.

“What about the helmet? We lost that now
,” Ariel asked.

Mark shrugged.
“That doesn’t matter, Ari. We could build another in ten minutes now that we have the design stored.”

Red tu
rned toward Mark apprehensively. “Mark, that ship is giving chase and it’s gaining on us.”

“Dan
, prepare to phase us back to our universe. Let’s see if eight hours of calculations and test scenarios pan out.”

“I’m on it,
Boss. I can’t wait to get outta this nutty purple universe anyway.”

Mark mused, “Yes
, I have to agree. Just for once I wouldn’t mind going somewhere and being met by sentient teddy bears with hearts embroidered on their chests.”

”Who just want to hug us all?”
Ariel smiled.

“Exactly
.” Mark returned the grin.

Red grunted, “Mark
, they’re still gaining on us.”

“Dan
get us out of here.”

“I’m on it, Boss
.”

Dan activated the hyper-warp and the
Cagliostro
seemed to shudder and violently skew to the right, throwing everyone off their feet who was not seated

Then a warm, flush feeling passed over everyone on the ship simultaneously.

“Lookit that.” Dan smiled.

Everyone turned to the view screen
, relieved to see the familiar stars and deep, rich blackness of interstellar space.

“Status reports
, Red and Dan? Ari, scan for communication signals.”

“All systems are nominal, Mark
,” Dan answered.

“Not getting any contacts within range, Mark
,” Red advised.

Mark turned t
oward his communication officer. “Ari?”

“I have EPIC command on the
interstellar frequency, Mark. They want to know where we’ve been.”

“Advise them that a full report will be sent shortly. Also
tell them I will be contacting them shortly and that I’ll be requesting back up fleet regiments at the coordinates I’ll be furnishing them with.”

Ari nodded and forwarded the message.

“Now what?” Eddie turned and asked.

“Now I go down and talk to our guest in the medical bay
.”

Eddie chuckled.
“I almost forgot about Chakix.”