Venomous
Chapter Six
Kaveman, who had been patiently waiting for the cargo ship after Connor had left for base, got to his feet, stretching wearily, somewhat bored. The sun had dipped below the mountains and the sky was quickly deepening to indigo. The wind was starting to pick up, and Kaveman looked around him, watching the scattered clouds move towards the north.
A metallic glint off in the distance, just below the clouds, caught his eye. Hmm... he thought, ..that didn't take as long as I thought it would. Has it already been an hour? he wondered, assuming the approaching craft to be the cargo ship.
It was moving swiftly, and as it came closer, Kaveman realized that it was way too small to be a transport. ...It had to be an enemy!
Kaveman quickly looked around himself, trying to find some kind of cover as the ship, a shuttle of some kind, opened fire on him. Kaveman dove to the side, tucking and rolling as the ground where he'd been standing flew into the air with the impact of the enemy blasts. Scrambling to his feet, Kaveman tried to anticipated the ship's next manuever and, as it came around sharp and dove in for another pass, Kaveman ran, dodging, nearly getting caught by the projectiles as they smacked into the ground behind him as he weaved back and forth.
Stopping short and throwing himself to the side, the ship skimmed over him and Kaveman, trying to catch his breath, took off for the damaged Arwing, hoping to use it for cover, or if possible, get a chance to get it off the ground, damaged or not.
The enemy shuttle swooped in quickly behind him and a thin beam shot out of it, striking Kaveman in the back before he could jump aside. The short burst stunned him, throwing him the ground, rolling several times with momentum before he came to a stop, unconcious.
...Opening his eyes, gradually, wondering if he was in a dream, Kaveman groggily became aware that he was lying on the ground of some kind of moving vehicle.
The vibration of the floor started to bring him to his senses and now he was rapidly recalling what had happened. He was in a small cargo area, probably in the ship that had attacked him. His arms were tied together behind his back, and his feet were bound as well. He was alone, surrounded by machinery and a few crates. There was a door on the wall in front of him, which Kaveman supposed led to the cockpit of the vessel.
He tried to work his hands free. They felt like they were tied with some sort of cable. Kaveman almost laughed aloud... whoever had tied him up obviously wasn't very good at it. It only took him about a minute to undo his hands, then he untied his feet.
Getting up, he searched the little room quietly, hoping to find some sort of weapon. There really wasn't anything that seemed suitable, so he grabbed the cable that he'd been tied up with and went to the door, stopping to listen for anyone on the other side. Other than the sound of the ship, he could discern no movement.
He tested the handle on the door, cautiously. He almost laughed again when it opened, soundlessly. Shaking his head at the stupidity of his captor, he ventured a peek into the next room. It was the cockpit, and sitting about five feet in front of him with his back turned to Kaveman, was a grungy, toad-like creature, piloting the shuttle.
Kaveman couldn't believe his luck... He shrugged his shoulders and strode right up to the toad, wrapping the cable around the pilot's thick little neck and pulling up tight as the toad tried to turn around to see his assailant, clutching at the cable, gurgling as his air was rapidly cut off.
The toad, flailing his limbs, accidently hit the controls, sending the shuttle lurching to the side, nearly throwing Kaveman over.
"Uh oh!" he yelped, yanking the toad out of the pilot's seat and throwing him to the ground.
Jumping into the seat, he grabbed the two handed controls and brought the ship level again, trying to quickly figure out how the darn thing worked. The toad, struggling to his webbed feet and gasping for air, lunged for Kaveman, but Kaveman easily avoided a clumsy swing and grabbed the toad, pulling him forward and swiftly punching him in the face. Throwing the unconcious amphibian to the side, his eyes, still searching the console, locked onto a switch that looked like it could be autopilot. He raised his eyebrows, hopefully, and engaged the button, taking his hands off the controls, waiting to see what would happen.
The shuttle stayed level and continued ahead at the same velocity!
Kaveman breathed a sigh of relief... Getting up, he grabbed the toad, who was still out cold, and dragged him off to the cargo hold.
He quickly hog-tied him with the cable, making sure that his prisoner wouldn't escape as easily as he had, then hurried back to the controls, checking all the panels, trying to get a fix on his coordinates.
Kaveman played around with the shuttle, trying to get a feel for the ship's capabilities before heading back toward the airbase. It was puzzling... If these coordinates were correct, they had covered a hell of a lot of ground while Kaveman had been out. It was going to take him a couple of hours at the shuttle's maximum speed to even get within range of where he'd been attacked.
Kaveman knew he hadn't been out too long, the enemy pilot must have information on some kind of jump point to have covered that much distance in such a short time. He tried to work the communications system, but all he could get was static.
What am I gonna do? He wondered. Without a radio, there's no way anyone's gonna know I'm not an enemy... They'll shoot me out of the sky before I ever get close! Gotta think....
He maintained his present heading, apprehensive about what lay before him.
Cole, CG and Connor had landed at the area where Kaveman had last been seen. Sure enough, blasted holes and signs of a recent skirmish pockmarked the area. Connor had a knot in her stomach, anguished over having left Kaveman to fend for himself.
CG came over to her as she stood at the spot where they had been watching the sunset earlier, staring at the ground, miserable. Putting his arm around her shoulders, he gave her a reassuring squeeze.
"Hey," he said, "He'll be ok... We'll find him..."
Cole came up and joined them, solemnly. Connor leaned against CG, feeling completely drained. The sky was alight with stars now, and Corneria's moon was just coming up behind them, shining brilliantly, casting an eerie bluish glow over the surrounding landscape. Connor sighed.
"Can't we just cruise around for a while? I mean, I know we have no idea which direction to search, but, we gotta at least try..."
CG and Cole agreed, and the three jogged over to their Arwings.
Two hours later, Cole was getting pissed. They'd been all over the landscape in a 75km radius and had seen absolutely nothing! No ships anywhere, no sign of movement on the ground.
"Come on, guys," He called over his headset, "let's head back to base. We're never gonna find anything tonight... Let's try again in the morning."
CG was unwillingly inclined to agree.
"Ok Cole, I think you're right... Come on Connor, we're heading in..."
Connor, dead set against quitting, opened her mouth to argue, when, suddenly, a blip appeared on the very edge of her radar.
"Hey!" she said, feeling herself snap back like a bolt of electricity had shot through her.
"Yeah!!" CG called, "I see it!"
It was moving straight for them on their screens.
"Should we engage?" Cole asked, curious.
"I don't know..." CG said, "Let's cruise over and say 'hello', shall we?" The three companions hit afterburners and sped through the sky to catch a glimpse of the unknown ship.
Kaveman saw the three blips on his screen.
That's gotta be them... he thought. They were rapidly approaching. He tried the radio again.
"CG... Connor... You read me? CG! It's me, Kaveman... do you copy??" Nothing but static....
"DAMN!!" Kaveman exclaimed, slamming his fist against the comm unit. "Stupid thing!" he shouted. "Why don't you work??" Looking ahead, the three Arwings were now coming into view.
Come on guys... Kaveman thought, steeling himself for a possible encounter, ...Don't take me out....
CG tried to establish communications with the alien craft. No response. It looked like some sort of shuttlecraft.
What do I do??... he wondered, feeling his skin crawl. Is it Kaveman??... Why doesn't he signal us??
Suddenly, Cole fired a warning shot at the shuttle, which just skimmed the top of the craft. "COLE!!" Connor shouted, horrified. "STOP!! It could be Kaveman, you idiot!!"
Cole broke formation and banked right, preparing to flank the shuttle. Kaveman, not surprised that he'd been fired upon, pulled evasive, but didn't fire.
CG took off after Cole, who was now tailing Kaveman, preparing to take another pot shot to warn the shuttle. Connor hit burners and moved to intercept Kaveman, hopefully getting close enough to make visual contact with the unknown pilot.
Kaveman banked sharply, seeing Connor come around close on starboard. Not being able to make visual on the pilot, he wasn't sure of her intent. Cole was still dogging him.
CG, swiftly pulling up to Cole, ordered him to disengage, but Cole ignored him, taking another shot. Kaveman was jolted forward in his seat as the shuttle took a hard hit to his aft port thruster. He heard his hog-tied kidnapper let out a surprised croak behind him in the makeshift brig.
Pulling a rolling drop, Kaveman leveled out as Cole shot by overhead, nearly colliding with Connor, who had come in from the left, trying to eyeball the shuttle pilot.
"That's it..." Connor yelled at Cole, over her channel. "You're goin' down!"
CG took off after the shuttle, which had broken right and was slowly making a wide bank, Kaveman desperately trying to make visual with any of the pilots...
Connor hit burners and slammed into a 360, enraged, leveling quickly and coming straight after Cole. Cole corkscrewed wildly, trying to dodge her, but Connor opened up on him, sending shot after shot, which Cole frantically worked to evade.
"I QUIT!!! STOP!!!" he yelled, hearing sharp pings ricochet off his port wing. Connor went straight for him, rolling at the last minute, nearly ramming him.
CG was close enough to the shuttle to at last be able to see the ship's pilot waving one of his arms, trying to catch CG's attention from inside the cockpit. He gave a thumbs-up to the shuttle and yelled into his headset.
"It's Kaveman!! Break it up, you two!"
Cole sped away from Connor, and she fired at him one last time, the shot glancing off his fuselage. She was sorely temped to throw a smartbomb at him, and be done with it. "Shithead!!" she yelled at him as he he hit burners, anxious to be as far away from her as possible. He sped off towards the base, not waiting for the others.
Connor dived down to pull up shotgun with Kaveman and CG.
"What the fuck were you doing, Connor??" CG asked, incredulous. The shuttle was between the two Arwings, and as Connor turned her head to glance at CG across the way, she could see Kaveman, shaking his head and waggling his finger at her, scoldingly, but unable to help cracking an amused grin at her.
Connor laughed heartily, while CG, somewhat confused, not having seen Kaveman's gesture, wondered what the hell she was laughing at... Somewhat mystified, he merely shrugged to himself with a heavy sigh and called in to base that they were coming in for the night...
Back at the airbase, Cole was nowhere to be seen as CG and Connor jumped out of their ships, parked under the tarmac lights, and went to meet Kaveman as he emerged from the stolen enemy shuttle.
CG gave him a warm embrace, glad to see him back, safe and sound. "Man, bro! I thought we'd lost ya for good!"
He threw his arm around Kaveman's shoulder, companionably, as they strolled across the flight deck, heading for the turbolifts. Kaveman looked around him, wondering where Connor was. She was walking with them, but hanging back and off to the side.
Kaveman stopped, turning himself and CG around to face her.
"Hey..." he said, "aren't you even glad to see me?"
She walked up to him with a smile.
"Eh," she shrugged "I knew you'd be ok... No biggie..."
CG laughed, knowing what hell she'd been going through earlier. Kaveman looked somewhat disappointed, but Connor stepped up to him quickly, giving him a fierce hug. "Hey," Kaveman laughed, "you think I'd trust CG to look out for ya?... No way..."
CG looked at him in mock chagrin, "Hey!..." he protested, laughing.
After a moment, Connor pulled away slightly, "Geez, Kaveman," she teased him, "can't I even leave ya alone for a minute with out you gettin' in trouble?" He groaned in mock annoyance as she cracked up.
Kaveman was reluctant to let loose of her, but she wriggled out of his grip, jumping away as he took a playful swipe at her, laughing, jubilant that he'd returned. Kaveman regarded her with a wry grin. She stood still a moment and looked at Kaveman and CG, squaring her shoulders and letting out a heavy sigh of relief.
"Ok," she said, "I don't know about you two, but I'm starved! Anything to eat in this joint?" CG and Kaveman heartily agreed, and, throwing their arms companionably around each other, they all strolled over to the turbolift, talking happily amongst themselves as the the doors slid shut behind them...
Unbeknowst to CG, Kaveman and Connor, their reunion had been entirely witnessed by someone standing in the shadows of the nearest Arwings, parked in neat rows on one side of the airbase hangar.
After the turbolift doors closed, Cole stepped out from behind the ships and narrowed his eyes, still fuming at Connor for humiliating him in front of Kaveman and CG. His shadow, cast by the bright lights of the hangar behind him, stretched far in front of him, eerily meeting and blending with the darkness just beyond the artificial glow.
After all I've done for them... he thought, frowning. ...They always treat me like a piece of shit...
Cole could feel his fingernails digging into his palms as he clenched his hands, still staring at the doors of the lift as if his eyes could pierce the metal...
"I'll show them..." he whispered through clenched teeth. "You just wait and see..."
He headed over to the turbolift, knowing the others would soon be wondering where he was...
on to Chapter 7