#caldore

     Drake, Curtis, and Jennifer ran down the corridor.  They were taking the quickest path they could, to try and escape the shipyard before it blew up, even though they knew it likely would not be fast enough.  They were passing by a window that looked into one of the ship construction bays, when Drake suddenly had an idea.      “We can’t get out in time like this, but a ship might be able to,” Drake said as he slowed down.      “It’ll also solve the problem we have with the Majestic needing a new velocity regulator,” Jennifer said as she slowed down with him.  “Assuming the ship we take is close enough to completion to have one.”      “Either way, it looks like our best bet,” Drake said.      “Then let’s go,” Curtis said.      Then ran down the corridor, and turned at a crossroads.  As they were approaching the door where the ship was docked, they noticed several Caldore who apparently had the same idea for escape and were quickly going aboard the ship.      “At least we know it’s probably complete enough for space travel,” Drake said.      Curtis readied his energy bow, which was still tied to the end of his right arm, where his hand used to be.  Drake and Jennifer both readied their energy pistols.      They charged in, firing at the Caldore who had not noticed them until this moment, taking them all out before they could react.  They went aboard the ship, and quickly figured out that there were probably other Caldore already on it, as it undocked from the shipyard almost immediately.

     “How did Liz get so good at hacking?” Drake asked as he watched more and more stuff become available to them on the computer console.      “Practice,” Curtis said as he started looking through the programs and files being opened up.  “Initially she was mostly just using the programs we had available for that sort of stuff, but as time went on she’s been learning how they work, and how to make them better, and such.”      “All those skills and she’s using them to help you fight petty crime in one city?” Jennifer asked.  “She could be doing so much more.”      “She is,” Curtis said.  “Here and now.”      “But I mean, on a regular basis,” Jennifer said.  “Like sure, I understand you wanting to lessen the crime in your city, but there’s a whole world out there with far worse problems.”      “You think I don’t know that?” Curtis asked.  “The people who killed my dad are still out there, as far as I know.  Although they haven’t tried killing me since the Caldore invasion, so who knows for sure.”      “Wait, what’s that?” Drake asked pointing at the screen.      Curtis clicked on it, and opened up a self-destruct protocol.  “This is it,” he said.  “Look’s like a ten-minute timer.”      “That’ll be tight, but we should have enough time to escape,” Jennifer said.      “But it’ll also give them enough time to deactivate it,” Curtis said.  “Liz can make it impossible to stop, but that’ll require the timer to be brought down to five minutes.”      “We can’t make it off in that time,” Drake said.  “Not unless we can disable the anti-teleporter fields.”      “Controls for those aren’t on the network,” Curtis said.  “They don’t need to be, as the Caldore never need to turn them off.  They don’t use teleporters.”      “The mission is to stop them,” Jennifer said.  “If we can find a way off in time, great.  But it’s more important that we succeed than survive.”      “Agreed,” Curtis said.  “Drake?”      “Do it,” Drake said.  “They’ll be down here soon, so we shouldn’t risk it by waiting.”

     Jennifer kept poking her energy pistol out from behind the computer console she was using as cover, and firing off a couple shots, but she could not risk poking her head out, so she was shooting blind.  She was trying to listen for where to shoot, but with all of the weapons firing in the room, that was not an easy task.      She glanced over to where Drake was also hiding behind some cover, and did manage to see one of the Caldore trying to sneak around to get at him.  She shot the Caldore, who dropped to the ground.  She was pretty sure there were still seven left though, when she heard something fall down from the ceiling, followed by seven shots from another sort of weapon before the room quieted down.      “It’s all good,” Curtis said, and Jennifer got up to see him hanging upside down from a hole in the ceiling.      “Took you long enough,” Jennifer said.  “Thanks.”      “No problem,” Curtis said as he dropped down to the floor, twisting in mid-air to land on his feet.      Drake was already at a computer.  “Okay, a lot of this is encrypted, and I can’t get past that.”      “Liz,” Curtis said into his comm.  “I’m going to patch you into the computers here, and see what you can figure out.”

     Drake looked around the command center as he was brought in by the Caldore guards.  In addition the two guards that were bringing him in, there were an additional thirteen Caldore in here.  One of the guards started talking to a Caldore that looked to be the one in charge, based on his rank markings being that of a commander.  The commander turned to look at him.      “How did you get here?” he asked in near-perfect English.      “Not sure,” Drake said.  “I think I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque.”      “What?”      “Never mind, the important thing here is that you should surrender.”      “To you?”  The commander laughed.  “You are our prisoner.”      “I actually meant, to her,” Drake said as the door burst open and Jennifer came charging in, firing off shots from her energy pistols as she did so.      Drake dropped behind a computer console, as the whole room erupted into a firefight.  He was feeling pretty glad that he had not put any kind of cuffs on him.      “Drake, catch,” Jennifer said as she tossed an energy pistol his way.      He kind of fumbled for it as it landed in front of him, and picked it up.  Most of the Caldore were concentrating on Jennifer’s location, so he managed to get off a few shots before a few of them switched their focus to him.      “How many are left?” Drake yelled.      “Eight still,” Jennifer yelled back.  “But I’m pinned down.”      “Same here,” Drake said.

     As the elevator came to a stop, Drake readied himself.  The door opened, and he exited out into a corridor, where several Caldore soldiers were standing guard in front of a door.  They all pointed their guns at him, and one of them started speaking in the Caldore language.      “Yeah, I don’t understand a word of that,” Drake said as he raised his hands.  “Well, other than ‘bthok’, that means ‘stop’, right?”      The same Caldore that had spoken said something to another one, who took out a device that Drake recognized as a translator, although unlike the one he had been using earlier, this one had a speaker instead of just a screen.      “I told you to stop and surrender yourself,” the translator said after the Caldore spoke into it.      “No problem,” Drake said.  “I surrender.”

     Drake turned a corner, and almost ran into a Caldore soldier walking down the corridor.  The soldier yelled something in the Caldore language, and Drake turned around and started running.  The soldier gave chase.      Drake ran into a storage room, and the soldier came in after him, but got knocked to the ground by Jennifer who was hiding next to the door.  He was about to get up, but Curtis had his energy bow pointed at him.  The bow was tied onto the end of Curtis’ arm where his hand used to be.      “Which way to the command center?” Drake asked.      The soldier said something in the Caldore language.  Drake took out his translator device, while Jennifer replied in the Caldore language.  She was not fluent, but she knew a bit of it.  Drake joined in the conversation with the help of his translator.      “So, what’s he saying?” Curtis asked.      “You know, the usual,” Drake said.  “How he’s not going to tell us anything and we’re going to fail, and blah blah blah.”      “Could I use that translator of yours?” Jennifer asked.  “It know the language a lot better than me.”      “Sure,” Drake said, handing it over.  He turned back to Curtis while Jennifer continued her interrogation.  “So, how’s the superhero stuff going.  I understand you’re training a sidekick now.”      “Yeah, the son of the original Dark Hawk.  He decided to take up his dad’s mantle,” Curtis said.  “He’s pretty good, but doesn’t like following orders a lot of the time.”      “I mean, if he’s learning from you, that seems like he’s just be following your lead on that.”      “I suppose,” Curtis said.  “I mean, I guess it does take a certain level of defying authority to become a vigilante.”      There was the sound of a couple punches in the background.      “What kind of orders does he tend to ignore anyway?” Drake asked.      “He’s the one that snuck aboard the ship, after I told him he couldn’t come with,” Curtis said.  “I locked him up in the brig.”      “I mean, I’m not sure that’s going to make him listen better in the future,” Drake said.      “I know, but I just know want him getting in the way,” Curtis said.  “And I don’t know what else to do.”      “Okay, I know where the command center is,” Jennifer said.  “Do you just want to knock this guy out?”      Curtis made sure his energy bow was set to stun and fired at the Caldore soldier.

     “So, do we have any idea where we’re even going?” Curtis asked as he walked down the corridor with Drake and Jennifer.      “Not really,” Drake said.  “I mean, we’re definitely moving in the correct direction, I think.”      “Yeah, we started on the edge, so we just need to move in the direction of the center, and that should at least lead as closer to a command center,” Jennifer said.      “Yeah, but this place is massive,” Curtis said.  “Moving towards the center is good for now, but eventually we’re going to need more precise directions.”      “That’s when we find someone to question,” Jennifer said.      “With our fists?” Drake asked.      “Well, mostly my fists,” Jennifer said before looking at Curtis.  “Sorry.”      “No worries,” Curtis said.  “I still have the one fist, and besides, I’m better at the long distance stuff anyways.”  He took his energy bow out of his spacesuit.      “I didn’t know that thing was collapsable,” Drake said.      “I made some modifications recently,” Curtis said.      “Can you even use that with only one hand?” Jennifer asked.      “I’ll figure something out,” Curtis said.