The Cagliostro Chronicles II: Conflagration (2 page)

“I just hope I can get us back in
to space once we land,” Dan grumbled quietly.

“If not we’ll just have to start building some log cabins
,” Eddie replied, smirking.

“You’re not really that funny, ya know that
, DiGenovese?” Red growled.

Eddie began to answer then closed his mouth, having thought better of it.

The
Cagliostro
limped across the alien solar system
they found themselves in, trailing plasma from the damaged engine as well as a trail of particles from the damaged rear cannon.

“How much longer?”
Mark asked grimly.

“An hour
, maybe two,” Dan replied. “Our speed’s not exactly constant. The engines heat up, I have to shut ‘em down. We coast for a while. Things cool off, I fire ‘em up again.”

Mark sighed.
“All right, Danny. Do what you must. Get us down there safely so we can start repairs.”

“Mark,” Ariel began, “s
hould I send out an emergency beacon?”

“No, the
re are too many Agalum ships around this system.”

“Are they going to be able to follow our trail?” Eddie questioned.

“Possibly, but it can’t be helped. That plasma should dissolve in a few hours. If no ships pass through here we’ll be okay. If they do, we may have more trouble. Just get us down there as soon as possible, Dan. Once the engines are fixed we’re bee lining it for Earth.”

***

An hour and a half later the
Cagliostro
began its descent toward the unknown world below.

“Main stabilizers are at forty percent power,
Boss. This is gonna be a rough landin’,” said Dan.

Mark gripped his chin pensively.

“Understood.” He replied quietly.

The
Cagliostro
began to skim the atmosphere until it slowly dipped beneath it.

“Hull temperature is climbing, but shields are holding, as is hull integrity
,” Dan announced.

Mark nodded
.

The
Cagliostro
shook as it nosed deeper into and began bouncing off of the atmosphere.

“Whoa, what’s with the rough ride?” Eddie
hung on tight to his chair and console nervously.

“Keep yer yap shut
, pipsqueak,” Dan growled. “I’m concentratin’ on keepin’ us in one piece.”

Mark leaned forward.
“Dan, any spots that you would recommend landing on so far?”

“I see one close to our general vicinity, a few hundred miles off that’s accessible
and has some cover for the ship.”

“Good,” Mark nodded.
“I want the ship to be hidden. If there are some sort of life forms here, they don’t have to know they have visitors.”

The
Cagliostro
rocked again, causing breaths to be sharply in taken, and grips to be tightened. The ship began to slow, its skin shunting heat from entering the planet’s atmosphere.

Finally mere feet above the planet’s surface, the
Cagliostro
’s nose rose up in a stall-like maneuver and the ship hovered above a lush valley of dense growth. In the midst of the valley was a deep ravine with many overhanging trees.

Mark pointed at a spot on his personal holographic view screen
on his console. Instantly the image was transferred to the main viewer as well as the smaller personal viewers across the command deck. “Enter there,
clear any trees in the center with the solar cannons,” Mark ordered.

“What about indigenous life?” Ariel asked.

“I’m not picking up anything close by, Boss,” Red replied. “It looks like there may be some bird or serpent-like creatures out there at the edge of the valley, but they’re already scurrying away from us.”

“Good
,” Mark commented, “Take those trees down ASAP.”

Eddie nodded and fired the forward cannons in one blast, instantly clearing a space almost eight hundred feet wide beneath the immensely tall canopy of trees.
“That should work, boss. There’re still enough of these trees bent and overhanging the forest floor from above to keep us hidden, even though I turned a lot of ‘em to kindling.”

“Good job, Eddie.” Mark acknowledged. Then he turned toward his pilot and said, “Take us in, Dan,”

The big man nodded, and
hovered the ship into place beneath the lush growth that surrounded them. The ship settled down with a gentle thud.

“We have a lot of burning foliage out there, Mark
,” Red proclaimed.

Mark
nodded “Release the flame retardant foam, ten thousand gallons should do it.”

“Ten thousand gallons it is,
Sir,” Red replied.

“I want life scans done immediately. No one leaves the ship until I’m certain it’s safe. We may be here a while. I don’t want any surprises
.” Mark turned to Dan. Let’s get to work.”

The two men left the
command deck together.

Dan and Mark along with a crew of ten men labored nonstop to repair the damage done to the ship
in the extended battle they had just come through.
Internal systems were being repaired and rerouted by the hard working.

Mark, Dan and their repair crew were huddled together in one of the magno
-disc conduits working within the tight confines. After many moments of silence Dan turned to Mark, and wiped sweat from his brow before speaking, “Hey Boss, I know we gotta get off this mud ball, but uh, we should take a break sooner than later ya know? We been at this fer what, fifteen hours now?”

Mark looked at his holographic chrono
; a holographic watch of sorts that popped up on his blue and silver tech suit’s sleeve and sighed, nodding in agreement. “You’re right, Danny. We both need a break. In fact the rest of this crew does too.” Mark looked at the rest of the people working with him and Dan, and then continued, “I’m sorry, all of you. I had no idea that much time had passed. But I want this magno-disc repair to continue. Get a second crew on, this Danny, and then go get some shut eye. You are right though; we have been at this far too long. Have the second crew logged in for an eight hour shift. After that we’ll replace them again, that is if the repairs aren’t completed at that point.”

“What about you Mark?”

“I’m going to do the same. Between our narrow escape and our wonderful landing here, well, we’re lucky we made it this far.”

“Worst part of all of this is we ain’t that far from home, at least not in hyper-warp terms
,” Dan commented.

“I know. We’re what?
A day at most?”

“Yeah.
About that, Boss. Without hyper-warp we might as well be forty years away.”

“I know
, Danny, I know. We took some bad damage here. How are the repairs on deck nine going?”

“It was deck ten, not nine, an’ they’re finally
nearin’ the halfway point. But the crew’s gonna have to go outside to finish them up.”

“Deck ten, that’s right
.” Mark shook his head in consternation.

“Hey you okay
, Boss?” Dan asked quietly so as to not alert those nearby.

“Yes
, Danny, I’m okay. Just getting bleary eyed from all of this.” He waved his hand about him at the damaged engine components. “What about replacement parts? How’s the fabrication lab doing?”

“I’ll call ‘em
, Boss. In fact I’ll stop in on deck six before I get some rest just to make sure they’re on track.”

Mark nodded
. “Good. Get that second crew in here, and then go get some rest yourself. I’m getting to the point that I can’t think straight.”

Mark rose from his crouched position and patted Dan on the shoulder
, then limped off toward the maglovator.

Dan watched him disappear into the sliding doors
, then turned back to his crew. “Okay I’m going to call in a replacement crew now. You guys go get some rest, you’ve earned it.”

“Thank you
, Sir,” was muttered over and over again by the bone weary group.

Dan touched the sleeve of his jacket once again,
connecting to the communications web aboard the ship. “Sledge to engineering lab, I need a replacement crew on deck seven immediately to continue engine repairs. I’m awaiting their arrival.”

***

Mark arrived at his quarters and walked in. The room was empty.
‘Where’s Ari?’
he thought silently. He tapped his sleeve once more. “Johnson to communications.”

A young woman’s voice replied, “This
is communications, Miss Wallflower speaking.” Mark knew who she was and besides her rather comical last name she was the model of efficiency and decorum. She stood five feet five inches tall with long brown hair. She was pretty and she did a good job. “Miss Wallflower, where is Miss O’Connor?”

“Miss O’Connor is outside the ship with the survey team
Sir, reconnoitering the area.”

He
cursed quietly under his breath. “Get me a direct link to her please.”

“Will do
, Sir,” Wallflower replied.

An instant la
ter Wallflower called him again. “Sir, I have Miss O’Connor.”

“Very well
, Miss Wallflower, thank you.” Mark paused a second until he heard a faint beep from his suits sleeve, then he asked, “Ari, what are you doing? I told you to stay on the command deck.”

“Mark, everything’s fine
. I just wanted to get off the ship for a few minutes, that’s all. I’m out here breathing the fresh air. There’s a science team with me looking over the flora and fauna. I have to say it’s surprisingly Earth-like.”

“That’s not a bad thing
,” he shrugged. “What about life signs, did we pick any up?”

“
No one is sure. They’re picking something up, but it’s muted or masked.”

“What’s doing that and is it natural?”

“Unknown, Mark.”

Mark paced about his room a second in thought then added,
“Okay, how about you getting back up here and joining me while I get Monroe out there to head up the investigation.”

“I beat ya to it, tough guy. Monroe is with me already looking into things
. She says it’s going to be a while before anything concrete is decided.”

“All right
. I’ll call her when I click off with you. Now come back inside, please?”

“Okay party pooper, will do
.”

“Good
. I’ll talk to you in a minute.”

He clicked his shirt sleeve
above his wrist once more and said, “Madison Monroe.”

Instantly a
rather pleasant female voice replied, “Madison Monroe here.”

“Madison, this is Mark Johnson.
I want you and your team to stay close to the ship. If you find anything troublesome or in any way dangerous I want you all back inside here pronto, understand?”

“Yes
Sir, I got it.”

“Good, be careful out there
, Madison.”

“Will do
, Sir,” came her curt reply.

Mark disconnected
the contact. But almost instantly the comm unit within his shirt sleeve pulsed light softly and buzzed quietly. He tapped it again and saw Ariel’s name appear in a hologram above his right arm.

He tapped his sleeve once more.
“What is it, Ari? Are you back on board yet?”

“Nope,” her voice re
plied. “I had a better idea. How about you come out and visit me out here? It’s kind of nice out here. Serene even.”

“Ariel…” he began
, instantly annoyed. He had been on edge for days, weeks even, and this was not helping.

“He
y tough guy, how about just coming outside and taking a few deep breaths? The air is safe and clean. We all double checked, and it’s kinda nice out here. Relaxing even. Come out for ten minutes, then we can both go back inside. You’ll like it out here, I promise.”

Mark shook his head angrily
, then deflated slightly, his head sinking into his chest. After a moment he finally replied, “All right Ari, I’m on my way. But all I’m giving you is ten minutes, got it?”

“Got it
, Boss,” she acknowledged mischievously.

***

A few minutes later, Mark exited the
Cagliostro
and found Ariel waiting for him at the boarding ramp.

“Well? What do you think?”

“About what?” he answered.