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

looking, I am.” She leaned forward and kissed him, then withdrew slowly, touching the helmet on her head. “Gets in the way, doesn’t it?”
    “Afraid so , honey. Tell your passenger that we mean her no harm and we want off her world as much as she wants us off of it. The Cagliostro is almost repaired enough to make a run for it off of this planet.”
    “ Mark, she still wants us to drive the invaders off as well. She’s adamant about it.”
    “Tell her we’re not here to run a suicide mission on her behalf. We have a crew of one hundred people against who knows how ma ny that the Agalum have stationed here.”
    Miss Wallflower’s voice rang over the comm system. “Captain Johnson, please return to the command deck immediately.”
    “Uh oh. Does your passenger know anything about this?”
    “N-no. She’s not really saying but she seems more frightened, as if fearful something bad is about to happen to her ‘children’.”
    “Stay here , Ari.”
    “I’m restrained. I can’t go anywhere, remember?”
    “Okay I’m sending Troiano back in. I’ll be back as soon as possible .” He leaned forward and kissed her again, then bolted out of the room. Mark turned toward Ann Troiano as he ran past and said, “Doctor, see to Ari. I have to get back to the command deck.”
    Less than a minute later he exited the maglovator and re-entered the command deck once again.
    “What is it, Miss Wallflower?”
    The buxom redhead pointed at the view screen in answer. He followed her finger to see several of the red skinned natives jumping up and down gesturing wildly , while talking to the security team by the ramp.
    “What the hell?” Mark exited the command deck and was out of the ship a moment later trotting down the ramp toward Red who was standing there trying to calm down the red skinned natives of Chakix’s world.
    “What’s going on here , Red?”
    The leader turned to Mark before Red could reply and began to speak quickly, his words instantly translated by the ship’s systems into Mark’s tech suit. “Our tribe is under attack. They come for us again, from the sky. Help us,” the alien warrior begged. “Help us please, or they will kill us all!”

Chapter 12
     
     
     
     
    The Stargrazer flew free of the shuttle deck of the Cagliostro . At the controls Red Robinski piloted the sixty foot long sleek ship with the swept back side wings close to the tree tops. Instantly upon leaving the Cagliostro he activated the Stargrazer ’s camouflage device and, like the shuttle before it, the ship faded from sight.
    “ Ya gotta love the way the new camo unit works compared to the old one,” Eddie DiGenovese commented. He sat in the co-pilots chair next to Red.
    Re d nodded grimly as was his wont. “Yeah, Mark worked out all the bugs. After the last iteration of that thing failed us around Mars two years ago he made sure he got it right this time.”
    “ETA thirty seconds , big guy,” Eddie announced.
    Red stole a glance back over his shoulder. Behind him and strapped in was the red skinned alien who had implored them for aid.
    “What’s your name, fella?” Red asked.
    “I am Derombu,” he replied stoically.
    “Okay , Derombu, are you the chieftain of your people?” Eddie inquired.
    De rombu shook his head negatively. “No I am a warrior, but my feet are swift so the chieftain, Procolectu, sent me from our village.”
    “Okay , Der, when we land, find Procolectu and point him out to us.” Eddie concluded.
    The native nodded his head nervously in agreement.
    Behind them all stood thirty security men, basically soldiers and warriors who were a permanent part of the Cagliostro ’s crew who answered to Red.
    “You men get ready , we’re landing in five.”
    The ship touched down silently, displacing little plumes of dust . It was still invisible to every known type of sensor. But those on the ground were not invisible to the crew aboard the Stargrazer
    “Oh man, we got trouble ,” Eddie