Free The Cagliostro Chronicles by Ralph L. Angelo Jr. Page B

above the designated search location.
    “Anything yet?” Mark asked.
    “No not yet. Nothing out here but farm animals of some kind that resemble cows.”
    “It’s amazing that this is one of the only mountainous regions on this world.” Ariel offered.
    “I know, it’s strange. There’s actually some vegetation here as well, and yet signs of habitation are few and far between. Most of these people on this sparsely populated world tend to be near the commerce centers. It’s a dust bowl, but at least they can have some form of a social life.”
    “It’s a dreary world. That’s kind of an understatement, I know, but there’s not much other way to describe it.” Ari replied.
    “Yes I know, still there has to be something significant about it for them to drag the General here, if that is who it is.”
    “Do you really think they have Abruzzi here? Then who was that we’ve been dealing with?”
    “Ari, I don’t know. I know it definitely wasn’t him, that much I can tell you. He may be a stodgy pain in the ass, but what he’s been putting us through the past few weeks has been just shy of crazy. Whoever that is taking his place has done his best to confiscate the Cagliostro, which means we would have never made this flight. In fact I have no doubt the ship would have exploded the moment it went to hyper-warp, and that would have ended our deep space program before it started.”
    “Wow ,” she murmured, “I hadn’t thought of that.”
    “This is a convoluted mess, Ariel, and it’s only likely to get worse before we figure it all out.”
    “What’s worse is we have no one to back us up.”
    Mark nod ded as his sky cycle sped over treetops, “I know the Cag is gone now too. We’re really on our own out here, which is definitely something that can bite us if something goes wrong.”
    As if in response to his last comment a spotlight suddenly shine d upon him and Ariel from above, and then a voice boomed, “You will land your vehicles immediately and allow yourselves to be subject to a search. Land now. You will not be warned again.”
    “Yeah, I don’t think so.” Mark replied to his crew over the com m link and suddenly shot his sky cycle straight upwards, past their pursuers. Ariel followed but on a different vector.
    “Hell, it’s more of those two-man gunships that were after us at the space port.” Mark grunted angrily.
    “Do you two need help?” Reds voice cut through instantly.
    “Yeah you could say that.” Mark replied testily.
    “On our way.” Red confirmed.
    Mark and Ariel zig-zagged their sky cycles to and fro, avoiding deadly energy beams that lanced out towards them from the two-man gunship dogging their tail.
    “Watch out Ariel I’m going to try to draw their attention.” Mark shouted into his microphone.
    Sliding his cycle to the right of Ariel’s, he flipped it over in midair, and sped across the bow of the gunship, then dove down and back up, looping around the two-man craft. When he was facing them directly he fired the two small laser blasters equipped on the sky cycle. Scoring a direct hit on the larger ship.
    The problem was that the weapons on the sky cycles w ere small discharge blasters, and could do no real damage to the heavily armored gunships.
    Now it was a dance of death over the blackened landscape with the stars twinkling overhead, as the two small sky cycles dove and spun th rough the night sky, avoiding the attacks of the much more heavily armed, two-man gunship, its bubble canopy showing the helmeted faces of their antagonists within.
    First Mark would draw their fire, then Ariel, as each took turns blasting the larger vehicle, their energy pulses splashing off its armored hide like water.
    “This is no good; we’re hardly making a mark on that thing.” Johnson lamented.
    “I know, but we can’t run , they’ll shoot us down right away.”
    “I know Ari; we have to hold on until the others get here.”
    “Here now.” Red’s voice intruded as his