The Cagliostro Chronicles II: Conflagration (34 page)

“Hurry it up,” Red countered.
“We have wounded.” “Everyone else back to back with me surrounding the maglovator until the wounded are safely onboard.”

“I hope the b
oss and the others are doing okay,” Joiner thought aloud.

“I’m worried about them too, but they ain’t the only one’s I’m concerned about
,” Red replied.

He turned his eyes skyward and watched as the blue sky above was lit up by bright explosions in space.

“Get those forward guns back online!” Nagata shouted.

“Working on it,
Sir,” came his engineers’ static filled reply.

“My God, they’re everywhere
,” The
Coronado
’s comm officer breathed.

On the main view screen dozens of small Predator craft filled space, forcing the five remaining EPIC battle cruisers
away from their Agalum counterparts.

“Once we get far enough away from that G’Kor
, it can use its big gun on us. Then no matter how tough our shields are we’ll be done for,” Captain Argento growled from the Tempest’s command deck.

“I am aware
, Argento,” Nagata tersely replied.

“We have to retreat
,” Carlson advised.

“We can’t. W
e’re close to gaining control of this world. We have to see this through!”

“It’s no good Nagata. W
e just lost forward shields,” Jepson on the
Eagle’s Claw
interrupted. “We’re breaking off the attack.”

“You fool, they won’t let you. Don’t turn your back to them
,” Nagata implored.

But it was too late even as the big battl
e ship turned to put some distance between it and its attackers, the Agalum ships, Predator attack craft and larger ships alike ,opened fire and concentrated on the
Eagle’s Claw
. The explosion was both horrific and spectacular.

“No!” shouted Nagata, while leaping from his chair.

It was too late. The
Eagle’s Claw
had joined the
Tempest
. Both were destroyed.

“All remaining ships form up together. We’ll strengthen our shields by being in close proximity
,” Nagata commanded.

“Oh no,” Nagata’s security officer moaned.

“What is it?” Nagata demanded.

“
Captain! That G’Kor, it’s turning toward us and its main gun is starting to power up. Even with the ships tightly packed together, our shield strength won’t be enough to survive that.”

Nagata gritted his teeth while a million possible thoughts ran through his mind
trying to find a way to avoid certain death.

***

Mark, Dan, Ariel, Eddie, and Dr. Troiano followed Dorn and Crosby into the headquarters of the head of the Agalum base. The moment they stepped through the doorway laser blasts began burning the air about them. Inside and tightly packed were a score of troops. Even though the
Cagliostro
’s crew was camouflaged and invisible they were in a confined space. Dorn and Crosby each caught laser blasts. While the stealth suits were derived from the standard tech suit Mark had developed to resist energy blasts and afforded its wearer some protection, the repeated blasts that hit Dorn and Crosby were too much, too close together. Both dropped to the floor of the Agalum leader’s office, their bodies smoking from multiple laser blasts.

“Back!” shouted Mark. He lobbed another grenade into the office
and ran back into the hallway, ducking low and pulling Ariel and Troiano underneath him an instant before the explosion shook the walls and sprayed everyone with debris from its concussion.

Dan was the first one back through the door
, followed by Eddie. Inside it was carnage and devastation. Dead Agalum were everywhere. Dorn and Crosby’s bodies were buried beneath the detritus.

Mark pushed past Dan to the desk at the back of the room. Atop it
were controls built into its surface and it was relatively unscathed.

“What is all of this?” Mark muttered aloud. Ariel joined him while Dan and Troiano stood together near Dorn and Crosby’s bodies
. Eddie stood just inside the doorway scanning the corridor.

“It
looks like monitors and cameras throughout the complex,” Ariel replied.

Mark looke
d up. “Did any of you find the Agalum leader amongst the dead?”

“No, Mark, unless he’s one of these guys
,” Eddie answered from the doorway.

“No,
he’d have to be a yellow skin. You know what I’m talking about, with the full black eyes.”

Both men and the Doctor looked about at the bodies all around them.

“There’s no one here like that,” Troiano replied.

Ariel pointed at one of the m
onitors embedded in the desktop. “Look.”

Mark followed where her finger pointed and saw a yellow skinned Agalum running through a
storage room.

“Dammit, he had an escape hatch somewhere around here
,” Mark growled. “Step back, Ari.”

He began firi
ng his blaster at the floor behind the desk, then at the walls, burning away the veneer. Within seconds he found the disguised hatchway at his feet. “Stay back,” he ordered Ariel. Stepping back himself, he turned his blaster all the way up and fired. The hatchway melted into atoms instantly.

“C’mon
,” he ordered. Mark jumped through the still smoldering hatch into the hidden corridor below. Ariel followed him. Dan was next, followed by Dr. Troiano and then Eddie, but both men stopped with the Doctor pinned between them before jumping down and stared at the desk with the monitors built into its top. They both looked at the same monitor and the room it showed.

“Are you seein’ this
, squirt?” Dan asked.

“Hell yes, amigo
,” Eddie replied.

“What is it?” Ann Troiano asked.

“Hang on Doc,” Dan ordered before he touched his sleeve and activated his comm. “Mark, I just saw something up here on this desk top that you better take a look at.”

“
What is it? Fill me in on the run.”

Eddie watched the monitors and the same one that showed
the yellow skinned Agalum leader running past a few minutes ago now showed Mark and Ariel passing its camera by.

“Mark
, this whole base, the fake volcano. It’s all a weapon.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“There’s a room that’s emptying out now. The techs within it are abandoning the base with everyone else. It’s a control room for the weapon.”

“But what weapon? What are you talking about?” Mark pressed. He was continuing to run
, with Ariel doing her best to keep up behind him.

“The top of the volcano, it’s a weapon. They must have never fired it, maybe it was never ready, but it looks like it’s just been completed recently. The cone of the volcano is no cone. It’s the barrel
of an energy cannon. They could take ships out of orbit with this thing.”

Mark stopped running and stood stock still while what he was just told sank in.
He turned around toward Ariel. Her eyes widened in surprise as she shouted, “Mark look out!”

Mark turned but too late. A laser blast rang out from the darkness catching Mark Johnson fully in the back and dropped him agonizingly to the floor.

Mark writhed in pain on the floor. His stealth suit shorted out and he immediately came into view. Even so, his stealth suit
’s resistance to weaponry saved him from an instant death.

“So this is the great Mark Johnson of
Earth. The Scourge of the Agalum Empire,” The yellow skinned alien stepped from behind shelves filled with supplies, still holding his laser.

“I assume you have an accomplice hidden here as well. Someone else I cannot see with the naked eye. It doesn’t matter. I can see you now, and I can just as easily blow your head off of your shoulders, no matter what the standing orders from the
high command may be.”

The yellow skinned Agalum aimed its laser at Mark
’s head when a blast of energy appeared out of empty space. It caught him square in the chest and blasted him back through a pile of crates. His weapon careened off into the darkness.

Ariel shimmered into view with her gun still aimed
toward the direction the Agalum disappeared in.

“I was wondering when you were going to show up
,” Mark croaked painfully. He pulled himself to his feet. “I have to find this guy. I can’t let him get away.”

“You can barely walk
. Forget him. If he’s not dead he’s not in good shape, and he lost his weapon. We’ll find him later,” she implored.

Mark winced and begrudgingly turned back toward the hatch they had dropped though.
They cautiously walked down the darkened corridor between two sets of shelves with boxes stacked on either side; all the while searching for the missing Agalum base commander.

While they searched a
box abruptly dropped from the top shelf. Mark threw himself between it and Ariel, knocking her aside. His blaster careened out of his grip, disappearing under more shelving. As she fell Ariel hit her head and was instantly unconscious.

“Ari!”
Mark shouted.

The box of equipment had
caught him squarely on the shoulder. He was pained but still able to move. The Agalum they had been looking for dropped down from above, a malicious smile plastered across his foul bright yellow face.

Mark slowly stood up to his full height. His back and shoulder ached
terribly. The Agalum faced him and smiled a pencil thin grin of evil. Both men were approximately the same height, though the Agalum looked heavier, thicker than Mark.

“So
, Mark Johnson, we are both weaponless, and both of us are wounded, but it seems you more so than I. I will make this short and as painless as possible.”

The Agalum lunged toward Mark with both his hands outstretched for Mark’s throat. Johnson ducked under the two handed grab and chopped his
own arms upward, snapping both of his enemies hands ceiling-ward.

Before the enemy could react M
ark smashed a right legged Thai kick into his foe’s gut.

The Agalum immediately stumbled backward.
Then it reversed position. Spinning left he kicked out at Mark’s legs sweeping the right out from under him. Mark hit the ground with a thud and a groan, slapping out with both arms to cushion the fall.

The Agalum lunged again at Mark. This
time Mark caught him by his shirt and stuck his foot in his opponent’s stomach, throwing him overhead. The Agalum landed with a thud behind Mark.

Mark fought his way to his feet but so did his enemy.

“You are a trained fighter, Mark Johnson. Good, good. I would like to see what an enemy can do before I kill them,” the yellow skinned fiend drawled.

“Come and find out
,” Mark growled.

The two enemies circled each other
both looking for an opening.

The Agalum lunged again, this time with a right cross.
Mark stepped left and parried the blow with his left hand. Grasping it with his right he pulled the fist through, throwing his foe off balance while hammering him with a powerful left.

But Mark did not stop there
. He grabbed the Agalum’s shirt and pulled him toward himself, slamming his knee into his enemy’s stomach. He finished with a strong short chop to the base leader’s neck. The leader dropped to the ground at Mark’s feet. Mark stumbled backward huffing slightly.

“Th-this is not over, Johnson
,” the yellow skinned alien groaned. The Agalum leader fought his way to his feet and began to pull his fist back, but Mark was much faster. He stepped forward and unleashed a powerful right cross, smashing his enemy across the left side of the face. His eyes fluttered and the Agalum fell to the ground, unconscious.

“Sure it is, Smiley
,” Mark quipped.

“
Oooh, my head.”

Mark spun around and found Ariel grasping her forehead, struggling to her feet.

“Easy there babe. I’ve got you.” He held her tight for a moment, and then relaxed. “Let’s get Troiano to look at you before we go anywhere.”

“I already called her
,” Ari replied.

“You did? I didn’t see-” Then Mark paused and smiled. Ari was holding two fingers to her forehead smiling.