[Prologue]
[Chapter 1] [Chapter
2]
[Chapter
3]
[Chapter
4]
[Chapter
5] [Chapter
6] [Chapter
7] [Chapter
8] [Chapter
9] [Chapter
10] [Chapter
11] [Chapter
12] [Chapter
13] [Chapter
14] [Chapter
15] [Chapter
16] [Chapter
17] [Chapter
18] [Chapter
19] [Chapter
20] [Chapter
21] [Chapter
22] [Chapter
23]
[Chapter
24]
[Chapter 25]
[Chapter 26] [Chapter 27] [Chapter 28] [Chapter 30] [Epilogue]
Chapter 29
Balka-Rae and his kids ran out of the lift and into a corridor that had
pillars going along it. They ran along.
“Still no guards,” said Kuni.
“Trouble up ahead,” said Zana.
“Where?” asked Balka-Rae.
All of a sudden Catlan guards ran out and shot loads
of lasers at them. Balka hid behind the pillar on his left and his kids
at the right. They switched on their phasers.
The 3 ran out and shot the Catlans. They ran forward
and shot Catlans running up to them. Zana flew up and did a lightning
kick on a Catlan, making him fall onto the other Catlans, making them
topple over like dominoes.
More Catlans ran over the fallen soldiers and Balka,
Kuni and Zana had to stand and duck to shoot the guards. Someone
decided to throw a grenade and they all had to duck. The 3 knew they
had to hide and hid behind pillars. They stuck their heads out every 5
or something laser shots to shoot the Catlan guards.
A grenade was thrown where Kuni was shooting so she
quickly hid behind Zana and let the grenade explode. There was loads of
smoke everywhere so Zana quickly flew over the smoke and shot all the
surprised Catlans.
The other two ran forward and shot everywhere.
Outside, a bomb had been thrown onto a palace wall, making the whole
building shake when it blew up. The Catlan guards running forward fell
over. So did Balka and Kuni. Zana was hovering in the air and shot the
Catlans, but missed many times. The shaking stopped and the 3 ran
forward again. They soon found a corridor on their right.
“We don’t go down there,” Zana
told them. But that
didn’t stop more Catlans coming along.
Kuni saw them first and shot some. But there were
loads.
“Come on, we don’t have time for
this,” said Balka.
“We’re nearly there.” So they ran along while being
chased by a squad
of Catlans.
They got to the door of the Throne Room. The guards
standing outside saw them coming towards them...only to be
clothes-lined by Kuni and Zana. Balka ran in and his kids followed him.
Corina saw them and said: “You came!”
Kuni and Zana shot a few guards while Balka-Rae ran
forward. Kuni grabbed a guard and pointed her phaser at his head and
Zana pointed his phaser everywhere and they both shouted at the same
time: “FREEZE!”
Balka was now standing in front of Ingree. The
Catlans that had been chasing the 3 had now stopped at the open door.
Ingree saw the guards and shouted at them.
“DO YOUR JOB AND SAVE ME! THE ENTIRE EMPIRE IS
IN
DANGER!!” shouted the King.
Balka-Rae grinned. “How can they save their
King if
he is not alive?” Then he shot the Catlan King and Ingree
flopped.
There was silence, no one moved.
“Wow,”
thought Zana.
“Time for a new era,” said Balka-Rae
quietly.
“No...His Majesty,” said a Catlan guard
quietly.
Balka pushed Ingree’s dead body off the throne
and
sat in it.
Corina looked at Yanthro and put her hands on his
shoulder (had to ‘cos of her handcuffs). “Yanthro
you’re free.”
Balka pressed a button on the throne. “Jaron,
have
me in touch with the people.” The cipher from outside the room
came in
and looked at Balka. The big screens and monitors in Catlan Imperial
had Balka-Rae on them. The fighting started to stop.
Balka-Rae spoke. “All the people in Catlan
Imperial,
I suggest you stop fighting and
for the Catlan people to surrender. Ingree is dead.” Huge shouts
of
cheering and shock were heard in the city. “The Catlans are to
stay in
their apartments until further orders are given. The Doglans have been
freed and their injuries are being treated. There will be many new
changes to this city and country. Have a nice day everyone.”
Kuni let go of the Catlan she was holding and
checked on Yanthro. Zana walked to the throne. He looked behind him.
“Hey, go away, run, skat, go back to your
homes-please, it’ll make things easier on everyone,”
ordered Zana. The
Catlans went away from the door and back to their apartments.
Balka-Rae pressed a button on the throne.
“Jaron,
send a medical team up here.”
“And give us a general status report,
please,” asked
Zana.
“At last count, at least 50 dead, thousands
injured,
large medi-ships are landing and fighting has pretty much
stopped.”
Jaron said this as if he had been crying. Balka and Zana looked at each
other.
“Jaron are you alright?” asked Balka.
Jaron sniffed. “Yeah.” Zana shook his
head.
“Jaron, what’s wrong?” aked Balka.
“Well...Rida found a Rush Bomb and tried to
disarm
it…he couldn’t.”
“Sir! We have a situation!” reported a
Tellen
soldier.
Balka-Rae saw a number of flying laser probes
gathering outside. “What is going on?”
A news reporter was standing near a medical ship. Crowds of soldiers
could be seen. The news reporter spoke.
“Rati here, bringing you all the news around
Takla
to Waya. There appears to be some kind of hostage situation here in
Catlan Imperial. This only became known a few minutes ago, mere hours
after the surrender of the Catlans. It seems to be that a group are
threatening to kill many innocents unless their demands are met. And
flying above me is King Jaron of Tyrony!”
Jaron flew through the smashed window of the wrecked Power Station. On
this level, there were big rooms with consoles and smaller machines.
Tellens and Tyrons were standing around one room, aiming their weapons.
In the middle were middle-aged Catlans.
“We can’t end this way!” said one
of the Catlans. He
pointed his phaser at the Tyron King.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,”
told Jaron in a
quiet voice. “Whatever crimes you might have committed, we
won’t
torture you for them.”
“That’s not the point!” snapped
the Catlan. He
gripped his phaser tightly. “You have helped bring down a
powerful
nation. Now, you will tell us your own lies. You will brainwash all the
young and make them weak! Like YOU!”
“Balka-Rae led us to make you strong
again,” told
Jaron.
The Catlan laughed. “That traitor! He’s
brainwashed
you already! Do you seriously think you’re an equal to me?
Kralek!”
“If I remember correctly Kralek,” said
Jaron, “your
people met an industrial dead end decades ago, so you took all the
technology from my country.”
Kralek didn’t believe it. “LIAR!”
He didn’t seem
sure.
“My parents would have given you the
technology...if
you had asked.”
“Really? ... I don’t think so.”
“The only thing we wouldn’t give you
would be
weapons.”
The Catlan seemed even more confused.
The female middle-aged Catlan next to him spoke.
“We
just want you to leave! We know how to lead!”
“What’s your name?” asked Jaron.
“Baro.”
“Baro, many buildings are destroyed and there
are
many injured. Surely you’ll need our help to heal them.”
“THEY WERE WEAK!” shrieked Kralek.
“THEY WILL DIE
AND THE NEW CATLAN RACE WILL BE CLEANSED!”
“Then why do you keep hostages?” asked
Jaron.
“TO MAKE YOU LEAVE!”
The King turned to Baro. “Where are
they?”
“The room behind me.”
“LISTEN TO ME!”
“Kralek! How can your race be strong if there
are
only a few?” asked Jaron.
“CATLAN’S GLORY MUST RETURN!”
“On Catlan screens we’re broadcasting
philosophical
questions and the various answers that different philosophers have come
up with,” reported Zana. “Hopefully we can prevent
more...incidents.”
He stood up in one of the palace dormitories. Jaron was sitting on a
chair, staring at the floor. “The Lan Desert won’t be able
to recover
properly if the population’s too small.”
... Jaron didn’t move ... Zana watched him ...
The Tyron King eventually spoke. “How many
have
committed suicide?”
“Quite a lot,” Zana answered.
“Especially among the
older folk... especially those who were in Government.”
...
...
©Ruth Amy Louise Hüneke 2008