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CHAPTER ELEVEN
A council of war was being held in the Refuge's briefing room. Stephen had laid out a map on the table, showing the island chain with Malosa, Solopus and Foroa all marked. "Papa Minn's played his hand," Stephen explained. "He thinks because he's got all this alien stuff he's invincible. So he doesn't care who he upsets."
"But he's just got one spaceship,"Russell realised. "There can't be much stuff onboard."
"Right. So we need to take what he's got away from him."
"That means going back to the island,"Astrid concluded.
"But Papa Minn's got an army to back him up,"John pointed out. "If we go in full force, we're going to have all the Malosans after us."
Stephen nodded in agreement. "So we don't go in full force. We take a small group and go in quietly, put all his alien tech out of action."
"That's not gonna be enough to finish him off,"Mike argued.
"No. We need an army of our own to do that." Stephen pointed to the map. "The armies of Solopus and Foroa."
John smiled as realisation dawned. "We'll give him his war all right. But without his advantage."
"That's crazy,"Andrew argued. "How are we going to get Solopus and Foroa to do what we want?"
"Well, we're risking exposure,"Stephen admitted. "But I'm pretty sure we'll find ways to convince them."
Andrew shook his head. "It's never going to work."
"Well you'd better hope it does. Because you're going to Foroa with Piper and Lucy. Russell, you, Mike and Charlotte will go to Solopus."
"Charlotte?"John questioned.
Stephen looked at the girl. "She's got a face that makes people trust her. Gonna need it with these two along. You okay with that, Charlie?"
Charlotte gave a nervous smile. "I'm okay."
Stephen turned to John. "Which leaves you, me, Astrid and Irene going to Malosa."
"Me?"Irene asked.
"You wanted to have a look at an alien spaceship. And it'll help to have someone along that understands the science stuff."
"And Astrid?"John asked.
"If I'm right, there's something on that island that stops us using our powers. Having a normal human along could be useful." Stephen looked over his teammates. "We need to put any of Papa Minn's alien weapons out of action, find Cara, Luca and Sophie and get out of there. Anyone got a problem with that?" They all shook their heads. "Okay. Troy, you're in charge here until we get back."
Cara and the rest of the group were marched back into the hangar. They sank to the ground, exhausted. Cara looked around, making sure the Malosans had closed the doors and were out of earshot. "We have to get out of here."
"Sounds great,"Sophie sighed. "Any ideas?"
"Actually, yes. I have got one."
"Escape from here is impossible,"Jarrel protested.
"If you had access to your ship,"Cara persisted,"how long would it take you to get it operational and get out of here?"
"Not long,"Jarrel admitted. "But it would take most of one of your hours."
"Then all we need to do is seize your ship and hold it that long. Then you can leave."
"But what about us?"Luca asked. "Do we go with them?"
"We don't need to. Once the Thargons have left, we'll be able to contact the Refuge telepathically and they can use the belts to teleport us back."
"It…could work,"Jarrel agreed cautiously.
"You bet it could,"Cara confirmed. "So, now all we need to do is get out of this hangar. And hope nothing unexpected happens."