“Sir, we are approaching Aidel at the speed of mach 2. We will be coming into contact with the atmosphere in less than an hour.”
“Good,” said Commander Mutack, looking at the blue and green surface of Aidel on the monitor before him. “Have you contacted Aidel yet to let them know of our approach?”
“We’ve tried to, sir, but there has been no response from them. Their communication system must be down.”
The Commander frowned thoughtfully. He was a minor officer of the Doom Armed Forces, but he did not get to where he was in Doom Command by being flatfooted. It could be possible that Erinol’s ravings were based on fact and not neuroses after all.
“Try to contact once more within the next quarter of an hour. If there is still no response, see to it that the cannons in all of the ships are energized,” he ordered. “Prepare the robeast as well.”
“Aye, sir. Will do.”
“The curtain is up!” Pidge crowed as he emerged from his Lion, his face wreathed in a smile. “Hey, Hunk, have Keith tell Admiral Montgomery that the communications system at Erinol’s stronghold is permanently jammed from receiving and transmitting any information outside the planet.” An urgent blipping on his Lion’s console summoned him back into the cockpit.
The two were stationed with the Lions, assigned to take care of the enemy communications system and monitor air space activity for any surprises. Assaults on points around the base walls were to commence in less than a quarter of an hour, and Keith and Lance were each leading a squad of Resistance fighters for the assault. Keith, Lance, and Zach checked on the two who were left with the Lions regularly, and just now it was Keith’s turn to get a report from them.
“What’s going on up there, little buddy? Keith wants to know,” Hunk called out to him, waiting impatiently for the younger space explorer to emerge. It was a few minutes before Pidge came out again, finally jumping nimbly down to where Hunk was waiting, a worried frown on his face.
“Hunk, didn’t Admiral Hawke say that the fleet of slave-ships coming to take this month’s shipment away is scheduled to arrive the day after next?”
Hunk looked puzzled. “Something like that. I’m not really sure,” he admitted. “Why?”
Pidge looked at Hunk, his frown creasing his forehead. “I just detected an attempt to make contact from a Slave Fleet Noir,” he confided, the worry mounting in his eyes. “And their coordinates indicate that they’ll be entering Aidel’s airspace in a little less than an hour.”
“Uh oh,” Hunk said, as the implications hit him. “Is it a full-strength Doom slave-ship fleet? Twelve ships?”
“Appears so,” Pidge said, fiddling with his own communicator to contact
the others. “We better get Keith, Lance, and Sam back here. We’re going
to have to be the ones to stem the pending air threat.”
“The first time those slave-ships decide to be early, it has to be now,” Zach said wryly upon hearing the news from Keith. Both were in a crouch in a ridge fronting the main gate of the fortress where each of their squads were stationed meters from one another. “We’ve prepared for this possibility, and there will be forces inside the fortress to guard the docking bays, and if all goes well, we will also have control of the space cannons on the far side of the fortress. Unfortunately, the men there have no real experience with weapons like those.”
“Lance and I are going to have to relinquish our commands to our seconds, and Sam must come with us so she can pilot Blue Lion. The Lions can handle those slave cruisers and still be able to give you firepower assistance as long as there are no other surprises in the wings. Don’t hesitate to contact us,” Keith said. He took his communicator from his pocket and gave it to his father. “I’m sure you still know how to use this,” Keith said, a wry note in his voice.
Zach merely raised a sardonic eyebrow at his son and took the communicator
from him. “As I said, I was here long before you were even a thought in
my head,” he said. “Now get out of here and impress the hell out of me
for being a chip off the old block.”
Contrary to what Zachary had predicted, Allura and the rest of the slave women were led into Erinol’s throne room.
Upon seeing the king, Allura understood why the leaders of the Resistance movement regarded Erinol with disgust – the king looked like a lump of lard slumped on his throne as he was, a product of all his excesses and abuse of the past ten years. She realized that if it hadn’t been for Zarkon’s continued protection, Erinol would have been toppled a long time ago.
He was flanked by two women fanning him with large woven grass fans, one of them tall and slender with a bland expression on her face, the other small and voluptuous, her emerald eyes flashing with spirit. Allura’s eyes quickly slid around the room then riveted back to the smaller woman’s arresting green eyes. She knew her own eyes reflected recognition as she realized that the smaller woman’s features under her darkened skin were that of Lt. Commander Katherine Montgomery.
She had found Keith’s mother.
Kat appeared to be scanning the faces of the women in the line up before they came to rest on hers. It wasn’t hard to single her out, Allura reflected, she was the only one with skin the color of cream among all the others. Upon meeting Allura’s eyes, Kat’s mouth appeared to quirk in a slight smile and, in response, the Princess nodded her head almost imperceptibly.
“My King, here is the latest bevy of fine young Aidelian women,” the head of the slave-catchers called out as he stepped forward and bowed. He stood right in front of Allura, who was standing just off the center of the line. There were only two guards who had come in with them, one on each end of the line up of girls standing before the King. “For your pleasure,” he concluded with a snicker as he rose. It was public knowledge that the king did not get any of his pleasure in that way anymore.
There was no response from the king as he continued to sit low in his chair, his silver cup dangling from his hand.
The slave-catcher moved closer, peering more closely at Erinol’s face. “My King?” he asked, his face creased in a frown. “Will you choose which of the women you will –“
But he was not allowed to finish. After seeing Kat mouth the words “Knock him down” as the slave-catcher bowed, Allura didn’t hesitate. Her one of her legs swooped around in an arc that would have done Keith proud if he had seen her. Before the slave-catcher could regain his balance, Allura had jumped forward and had brought the flat of her hand against the man’s neck, knocking him unconscious.
Suddenly remembering the two other guards behind her, she turned around to see that two other women who were not part of her shipment were holding them at laser point. Their hands were raised to their heads and lasers thrown to the floor. The women from her shipment looked at her with stunned and frightened expressions on their faces, although some of them were also looking at her with a degree of admiration and awe.
Allura went to pick one laser up from the floor for herself before stepping forward to meet Katherine Montgomery at last.
Reunion - A Meeting of Sisters