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 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Chapter 21
“I hope you know where you’re going,” Blynn said as they
turned a corner into a larger corridor. The halls were empty—for now. As soon
as someone realised Hyren had been sprung, security would be all over them.
“I’ve spent a lot of time on this ship between deployments,”
Hyren said. “So I know my way around it. The closest bank of escape pods is on
the next level up.” The ventilation ducts were all well and good for his two
small companions, but there was no way he could fit in them.
He stopped them at a small, nondescript door. “I’m pretty
sure I know where this goes,” he said. Thankfully, it wasn’t locked, and it
opened into a large, unoccupied office space filled with tables and chairs, as
well as a few exotic potted plants collected from various planets. “From here,
I think there’s a hallway we can take to—“ Hyren’s antennae perked at the sound
of heavy boots and clanking machinery. He looked up to see a large set of doors
on the other wall slide open.
A squadron of armoured Virtupets troopers and robot Petpets poured
in. “We’ve sighted the hostiles,” a blue Lupe soldier said into her comm. “Neutralizing.”
She and her unit trained their weapons on the escapees.
“Was this part of your plan?” Blynn asked, reaching for her
slingshot.
The troopers answered with a rain of blaster fire.
“Terra, your sword deflects blaster bolts,” Hyren said.
“Time to take it for a test run.”
She ducked behind him and raised her blade just in time for
a blaster bolt to ricochet off the metal, leaving a fading spot of orange heat.
The recoil jerked back her arms and made her wince, and she blinked in shock
before steadying herself for another incoming shot.
Blynn curved herself around a blaster bolt, backflipped to
avoid the next, and waltzed around three more. The Lupe officer snarled and
unloaded a few more frustrated shots at the slippery Zafara. Blynn merely
swerved past them and gave her a taunting grin.
Hyren seized the nearest table and heaved it into the crowd
of troopers. A panicked shout rose for just a moment and then the table struck,
knocking four flat and throwing several others off-balance in a moment of
chaos.
Blynn nocked a potsherd in her slingshot and fired. The
resulting light show sent their assailants stumbling back even further, the
troopers shielding their eyes and the ‘bots sparking at the seams. “The pebbles
don’t work here,” she said to Hyren. “I already tried it. They only work on
stone, I think.”
The Grundo picked up a chair in each hand and lobbed the
furniture at the soldiers. One chair sent two troopers sprawling, and the other
slammed into a robot Petpet. The ‘bot lost its footing and stumbled into the
Lupe officer, and she let out an angry yelp, the wind knocked out of her.
His Zafara companion fired off more shots, but for every
trooper and ‘bot knocked back, several more advanced from the hallway. “Oh,
crumbs,” she said, sifting around in her ammo pouch. “I’m out of potsherds.”
“Use the pebbles anyway!” Terra said, cringing as a blast
got past her sword and singed her cloak.
The Zafara nocked a stone and let it fly. It simply
clattered against the nearest mutant Grundo trooper’s helmet, not making him so
much as twitch as it reflected off his armour’s shields. “No dice!” Blynn said.
“Fall back!” Hyren said, positioning himself in front of them.
The three began to edge away.
“Not such a great idea, chief!” Blynn said. “More behind
us!” Heavy, hurried footsteps clanged on metal flooring.
“Wonderful,” Hyren said. “Well, stand your ground, then!” He
picked up another table and held it in front of him by one leg, feeling it jolt
and shudder as blaster fire ripped into it.
A mighty yell rose up from behind their foes, and a flood of
Neopets and owners crashed into the troopers and robot Petpets. Soldiers were
tackled to the floor, their weapons wrested from their grip and used to disable
the ‘bots. The motley mob rushed toward Hyren, Blynn, and Terra, and the Grundo
cringed, expecting the worst.
“Don’t shoot!” a female voice yelled from the throng.
“They’re with us!”
To Hyren’s amazement,
the Neopets and owners started firing past
them, not at them. The rebels veered
around them to storm the forces in back of the trio. Two Neopets and a girl
with long black hair remained behind. “Go! We’ll catch up with you!” she said.
“What’s going on here?!” the Grundo asked.
The human turned, and Hyren jerked back in shock to see the owner
whose home he had invaded during the Sakhmet operation. Her green Techo and
purple Scorchio stood nearby, eyeing him warily as though he might attack them
again.
“Someone disabled the security systems for the entire cell
block levels,” she said, looking him over curiously, her eyes wandering to
Terra and Blynn. She seemed older than Terra, but not much taller, and carried
herself with more sureness—and a blaster.
Hyren wondered if she remembered him, although he knew he
looked a far cry from the day of the battle. “You are…?” he said.
“Baojia,” she said. “And you’re the guy who broke my door.”
“Yeah…” Hyren said, glancing aside. “Sorry about that.”
The owner put a hand on her hip as she cradled her blaster
in her other arm and said, “Apology accepted.”
“How did you know we weren’t going to attack you?” Hyren
asked her. “We could be working for Virtupets.”
“Well, first of all, the kid and the Zafara aren’t wearing
uniforms,” Baojia said. “And news spreads fast here, especially when it’s
something as big as a turncoat war hero.” She paused. “Plus, we were asked to
find you.”
Her Scorchio approached Hyren and said, “The Neopet who set
us free requested we give this to you.” She unlatched the belt of a very
familiar claymore from off her back.
“My sword!” Hyren said. He set down the table, which had
been making his muscles ache strangely, to receive the weapon.
She handed it up to him. “He told us to tell you that he
knows now why you’re his inspiration,” she said.
The former commander paused. “Was he a yellow Grundo, by any
chance?” he asked.
“Yeah. He was,” Baojia’s Techo said.
Hyren fastened the scabbard around his waist, its weight
comforting against his leg, and he smiled as he drew his trusty blade. “If you
see him again,” he said, “tell him I wish him all the luck in the galaxy.”
“We will,” Baojia said. She smiled at Terra, who waved shyly
in return. The owner glanced back up at Hyren. “I’m sure there’s an interesting
story behind this.”
“Yeah,” Hyren said. “But now’s not the time for
storytelling.”
Glancing over her shoulder, Baojia tipped her blaster at the
horde of Neopets and owners who stumbled back into the room toting more weapons
and victorious grins. “We’re overrunning this ship and kicking out all the
Virtupets goons,” she said.
“Sloth got away, though,” the Scorchio said. “We were hoping
to capture him.”
“He’s a slippery one,” Hyren said. “He’s smarter than to go
down with his ship.”
“You’re going to help us, aren’t you?” Baojia asked. “We
could really use you and your family.” She looked over at Blynn, who had
wandered over to the stunned troopers and disabled robot Petpets to collect
stray bolts that had fallen from the ‘bots, putting them in her belt pouch.
“Well, they’re not my—“ Hyren started to say, but he stopped
himself and sighed. “I will. I owe you all that much. And that’s probably my
best bet for keeping them safe.” He looked down at Terra. “What do you say, are
you up for it?”
“Yeah!” Terra said. “Let’s do this!”
“That’s the spirit!” Baojia said with a laugh.
The group of rebels returned. “Well, they won’t be bothering
us for another few hours,” a Gelert panted, his tongue lolling out the side of
his mouth. “Enough time to drag them into cells. So this is the guy?” He and
the others crowded around Hyren and Terra curiously as Blynn hopped back to
them.
“Yep,” Baojia said. “Hyren and his family are with us.
What’s our next plan of action?”
“We need to head for the bridge,” a male owner spoke up. He
moved forward with his Tuskaninny. “Everyone else is sweeping through the ship
and converging there. Once we secure the command deck, the Triumph is ours.”
“Roger,” Hyren said. He turned to his young wards. “Okay,
let’s…” Another wave of nausea surged through him, causing him to clutch his
stomach. His eyes bulged as he doubled over, trying to catch his breath. “Let’s
go,” he gasped when it passed, pointing his sword to the door ahead. In spite
of his pain and discomfort, it was exhilarating to be leading forces again.
“You’re not okay,” Terra said as the group made their way
past stunned troopers and disabled ‘bots. By now the ship’s alarm system was
going in full force. Red alerts flashed around them, and frenzied commands
blared over the intercom.
“It’s probably indigestion,” Hyren said with a comforting
smile. Since when was his sword so heavy, though? Swallowing hard, he pushed
the pain and fatigue to the back of his mind. “The bridge is this way!”
“Take care of yourself!” Blynn said as they neared a large
door at the end of the corridor.
The door slid open and they ran out onto one of the decks of
the multi-leveled bridge. The underside of Sloth’s command platform, where Hyren
had initially taken the girls, stuck out high above. The many terraces beneath
were filled with computer banks, control consoles, and smaller holographic
displays which complemented the immense map that made up the far wall.
The area had been thrown into chaos. Escapees fought
Virtupets troops and robot Petpets on the levels below, while shouts, weapons
fire, and the solid clunk of armour sounded from above. Hyren stepped back from
the edge as someone’s blaster hurtled down from an upper deck.
Baojia and her rebels fired on the Virtupets troops on the
next terrace down. “Follow me to the upper levels!” Hyren said. “We have to
take out the officers first!”
He staggered back to rest against the wall for a moment,
trying to catch his breath. What was wrong with him? He hadn’t exerted himself
nearly enough to feel winded like this. Hang
in there, he begged his body. I just
have to make sure they take the ship.
“We’re not outta the water yet, chief!” Blynn said.
The Grundo pushed himself away from the wall, clinging to
his sword with both hands. Another group of Virtupets forces moved in from the
hallway ahead. Mutant Grundos and Virtupets officers held their blasters at the
ready, while Ultra Pincerons hovered in their ranks, claws snapping. Beside
them marched Scout Units with blaster attachments.
And leading them was a very familiar Blumaroo. Garoo now
wielded a sword of his own, a thin, curved blade. “I’ve been waiting for this,”
he said. “Open fire!”
“Stay together!” Hyren barked. “Defensive formation—get
behind me!” The rebels crowded in back of him, trying to pick off troopers with
scattered blaster shots. The last thing he wanted was to engage Garoo in a
swordfight right now, when Hyren was feeling ready to pass out. But that seemed
to be what the commander was intent on.
Summoning the last of his strength, Hyren managed to lift
his blade again. He felt Terra back against him and he glanced down to see her
frown in determination as she held out her own sword. Blynn crouched at their
feet, gripping her slingshot. Weapon held at the ready, Garoo began to advance
his troops.
“Terra,” Hyren coughed, his vision swimming. “If… if I don’t
make it out of this… I just wanted to let you know… I would have loved to have
had you as my owner.”
Baojia let out a grunt as she was hit and collapsed,
stunned. Her Techo held her while her Scorchio picked up her blaster and
continued to fire. Garoo gave an enraged roar, breaking into a run.
“You’ve always been a part of my family, Hyren,” Terra said.
“If something happens to me,” Hyren said, “take Blynn and
run.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Terra said.
Hyren took a deep breath. He wasn’t
going down a coward, and he was going to do everything in his power to protect his
two best friends. “For Neopia!” he roared, raising his sword and charging.
“For Neopia!” the rebels answered in unison. They let out
battle cries of their own, and Terra’s blade flashed beside Hyren’s.
His final thought before the two forces met was that maybe
they’d call this “The Last Charge of Hyren the Indomitable”.
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 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Chapter 21
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