Okay, here's the next to last chapter. Yep, that's right, I'll be wrapping everything up next chapter *sob*. I sure hope all of you
had as much fun reading this story as I had writing it.
Jet sidled against the walls of the hallway leading to the Massive's bridge. As he reached the
nearest corner, he peeked around it to make sure there was no danger. Seeing no one, he dived
toward the center of the hallway and did a somersault that ended at the opposite wall. He continued
doing this back and forth between the walls, until he reached the hall that lead to the bridge.
"S***," muttered Jet when he noticed that there were four guards guarding the entrance. "What
do I do now?" His mind began to spin as he tried to think of a way to distract the guards. Suddenly,
he felt his squeedily-spooch rumble with hunger. Glancing around the corner at the guards, he wondered
how long it had been since they last ate.
They must be pretty hungry, he thought. Wait a minute...Hungry...That's it!
He opened his PAK and fished out a small megaphone-like device. As he stood up straight, with his
back placed firmly against the wall, he lifted the device to his mouth and spoke loudly into it:
"ATTENTION! THE SNACK BAR IS NOW SERVING CHOCOLATE CREME ECLAIRS! COME AND GET 'EM
WHILE THEY LAST!"
One of the guards perked up immediately at the sudden announcement.
"Did you hear that?" he said excitedly to his comrades. "There are eclairs at the snack bar! Let's
go get some!"
Having gone without eating for four days straight, the other guards eagerly agreed. Besides, they
thought, they would only be leaving their posts for about two or three minutes. It was extremely
unlikely that someone would come and break in during such a small amount of time.
Licking their lips in eager anticipation, all four guards dashed quickly toward the elevator that
would take them to the snack bar.
Jet grinned as he watched the guards disappear down the hall. Suckers, he thought. As soon
as they were out of sight, he emerged from his hiding place and rushed toward the bridge as
fast as his legs could carry him.
Hang on, Maya! I'm coming!
Maya looked away from the Massive's main view screen, trying not to think about the horrible
image it was showing. But every time she closed her eyes, she could see another resistance
fighter being shot at and narrowly escaping an untimely death.
"When will this nightmare end?" she whispered as she sank to the floor on her knees. "I've
had enough of this. I just want to go home."
The Tallests, however, were having a good time watching the Resisty try to take them on, but
failing miserably. As the small Vort fighters charged boldly at the Massive, only to fly away crying
for mommy as lasers rained down mercilessly upon them, the two Irken tyrants shoved junk food
into their mouths and laughed loudly.
"Can you believe those idiots?" asked Red, tears of laughter pouring down his cheeks. "They go
on and on about how one day they will bring the Irken Empire to its knees, and then they chicken
out at the last-minute!"
"Yeah, that is pretty funny," Purple agreed, his mouth full of Oreos. He glanced at the small clock
built into the right arm of his chair. "Hey, it's been almost an hour since King Shadowfax called us.
Should we call him back?"
"What?" Red checked the clock on his own chair. "Oh yeah, that's right." He turned to Zarthab.
"Cease fire and open a channel with the Resisty's ship!"
"Yes, my Tallest!" Zarthab replied as he and the other technicians immediately got to work.
What do I do? Maya thought as she nervously shuffled her hands. I can't let Dad withdraw our
troops just to save me! We have allies in the Outer Regions that need our help standing up against
the Irken Machine. We can't back out now...!
"Psst, over here!"
Maya's ears perked up as a sudden whisper reached them. She looked up to find Jet tiptoeing
slowly toward her. Normally, seeing an Irken approaching her would have made her scared or
angry, but now she had never been so relieved in her life.
"Where are the others?" she asked him.
"They're safe on the Resisty's ship, don't worry," Jet replied. "I told them I would catch up as soon
as I had you." He deployed a metal spider-leg from his PAK and began picking the locks on Maya's
chains with it.
Meanwhile, the Massive had successfully opened a line with the Resisty's ship, and the Tallests stood
face to face with Shadowfax once more.
"Well, Shadowfax, have you decided yet?" asked Red.
"I'll do anything," the Centauri King replied. "Just please, don't hurt my daughter." However, when he
saw Jet undoing Maya's chains, he breathed a sigh of relief, which, fortunately, the Tallests didn't notice.
Upon hearing her father's voice, Maya turned her head toward the screen to look at him. As soon as the
last of her chains came off, he mouthed "Go", and she immediately got up and followed Jet to the door.
"Alright then, here are our demands," Red was saying to Shadowfax. "First, you will withdraw every single
one of your troops from our territory. Second, you will decommission all of your outposts on the Vortian
border. Third, you will..."
His voice was soon cut off by the sound of metal chains clanking as they hit the floor. He and Purple both
turned around to find Maya and Jet standing in the doorway leading away from the bridge.
"Jet, get on!" yelled Maya as she scooped Jet on to her back. "Let's get out of here!" She bolted out the
door and down the hallway, with Red and Purple in hot pursuit.
"Get back here!" shouted Purple. "We're not finished with you yet!"
"Let's split up," Red suggested. "You chase them down that hallway, and I'll head them off at the
elevator."
"Okay," Purple agreed. He continued to follow Jet and Maya down the west hall, while Red went down
the east hall to the elevator.
In an attempt to throw Purple off her trail, Maya made a sharp turn at the next corner, causing Purple
to bump into the wall. Jet clung tightly to her back, trying not to let go and fall off. They were almost to
the elevator when Red jumped in front of them, cutting them off.
"It's the end of the line for you two," he growled.
"Not quite," Maya replied. She leaned back toward Jet and whispered, "Hang on tight." She took five
steps backward and, just as Purple was rounding the corner, began to charge at Red. When she was
about two feet away from the cherry-eyed Irken, she reared up on her hind legs and leaped over his
head, landing in the elevator behind him.
Before Red or Purple had a chance to recover from their shock at what had just happened, Jet pressed
the Deck C button, and he and Maya both disappeared from view.
Red dashed toward a control panel on the wall and began pressing buttons on it. "I'm shutting down
all elevator activity on Decks B and C," he explained to Purple. "That should slow them down and give
us more time to catch them."
Purple activated the comlink built into the wristguard on his right arm. "Attention all guards!" he shouted
into it. "We have an escaped prisoner on the run. They should be on Deck B by now. Don't let them reach
the hangar!"
Meanwhile, in the hangar aboard the Resisty's ship, the prisoners and their rescuers scrambled out of
their ships and made a beeline for the bridge to await further orders from Shadowfax and Lard Nar.
Stitch, however, remained in his ship.
"Come on Stitch," said Lilo as she jumped out. "Let's go see what the resistance people want us
to do next."
Stitch shook his head. "No. Jet and Maya in trouble. Stitch go back for them."
Lilo grabbed Stitch's arm and tried to pull him out of the cockpit. "No, Stitch. Jet said he would catch
up with us later. Besides, you can't go back aboard the Irkens' ship now. We're getting ready to
leave."
Stitch gently pried Lilo's hand from him. "Stitch be okay," he said gently. "Get Jet and Maya, then
come back." With that, he closed the windshield around the cockpit and started the engine.
"Stitch!" cried Lilo as she watched Stitch's ship lift off and zoom back toward the Massive.
"Blitznak!" cried Jet when the elevator came to a sudden stop on Deck B.
"What happened?" Maya asked.
"The Tallests must have disabled the elevators," Jet replied grimly. "I guess that means
we'll have to take the stairs. But they're at the back end of the ship. I'm not sure we'll be
able to get there without getting caught."
"We'll have to try," Maya told him. "It's our only chance."
"Hold it right there!"
Guards began pouring into the room from all directions, guns armed and ready to fire.
"Let's go, now!" shouted Jet. Maya reared up on her hind legs and plowed through the crowd
of guards, knocking two of them into the wall as she passed them. The others divided themselves
into teams and resumed the chase.
Jet threw his arms around Maya's waist and held on as the Centauri girl continued to make sharp
turns and sudden jumps to avoid her pursuers and their gunshots. His head was spinning wildly
from the combined sounds of Maya's hooves against the floor and the shots from the guards' guns.
But he reminded himself that as soon as he and Maya had reached the hangar, it would be smooth
sailing from then on.
"We're almost there!" he yelled as a sign pointing the way to the stairs came into view. "Just a
little further!"
Suddenly, a laser blast zoomed toward Maya and hit the underside of her left hind foot. Crying
out in pain, she tumbled to the floor, throwing Jet off her back. The Irken landed hard on his back,
knocking the wind out of his breathing organ. He sat up slowly and rubbed his head, wondering
what had just happened.
"Maya?" Jet pulled himself to his feet and looked around for the Centauri princess. He frowned
in suspicion when he noticed a large, milky-blue puddle on the floor, then he gasped when he
saw what lay right behind it.
"MAYA!"
There, lying sprawled on the floor, was Maya. Her eyes were half open, and she was panting softly.
Her left hind foot was bleeding quite heavily, dripping pale blue Centauri blood on the floor. Standing
over her, holding a laser gun, was Tallest Red, with Tallest Purple standing a few feet behind him.
"Say goodnight, Your Highness," Red snarled as he raised his gun and prepared to fire.
"No!" yelled Jet as he charged at Red and smacked his arm, causing the taller Irken to drop his gun.
Surprised, Red and Purple both stared at Jet, who stared defiantly back.
After a long period of silence, Red finally spoke.
"You disappoint me, Jet," he said. "You could have been one of our finest soldiers, one of the best the
Irken Empire could offer. But instead, you're choosing to throw away your chances at greatness for the
likes of -" he practically spat out the next word "-her!"
"Yeah, don't you remember what the Centauri do to us?" Purple chimed in. "They're trying to stop us
from taking what's ours, and they kill hundreds of us every day."
"Only because we've killed thousands of them," Jet replied. "They're only fighting us because of what
we did to them long ago. We kidnapped their children for no reason."
"They were trespassing, Jet," Red said grimly. "They were stealing what should have been ours. We
were just teaching them a lesson, that's all. Now, step aside and let me put her out of her misery." He
raised one of his spider-legs high above his head and advanced toward Maya.
"NO!" Jet crouched down next to Maya and cradled her head in his lap. The Centauri girl opened her eyes
and looked up at her rescuer.
"Get out...of here...Jet," she said weakly. "Save...yourself..." Her breath came out in ragged gasps.
Jet shook his head. "I'm not leaving without you, Maya," he told her. "You're going to be okay, I
promise." He turned to face the Tallests, eyes burning with hatred.
"You can do whatever you want to me," he said boldly, "but you won't lay a finger on Maya. As
long as I'm around, you'll never take her."
By now, the guards had caught up and were gathered behind the Tallests, awaiting further orders.
Finally, Red pointed a skinny finger at Jet and Maya and shouted, "Destroy them!"
The guards immediately held up their blasters and prepared to fire. But before the first shot could be fired,
a big red police cruiser came crashing through the middle of the hallway, creating a big hole in the side of
the Massive.
"Aloha!"
"Stitch!" exclaimed Jet as he looked up at the blue koala-like alien. "Help me get Maya on board, and then
let's go."
It just so happened that particular section of the hallway was located directly behind one of the snack
pods. So when Stitch came crashing in, he broke right through the pod, causing all kinds of bags of goodies
to go flying out into space.
"Noooooo! Our snacks!" screamed Red as he and Purple ran around, frantically trying to round up as many
snacks as they could before they all floated away. Purple pointed at one of the guards and yelled, "You!
Save the donuts!"
While the Tallests and their guards were busy trying to save their snacks, Stitch and Jet carefully loaded
Maya into the cruiser. As soon as she was safely on board, they both jumped into the cockpit, where Stitch
fired up the engine and pulled away from the Massive. As soon as they were a safe distance away, Stitch
activated the hyperdrive and prepared to follow the Resisty's ship into hyperspace.
In the backseat of the cruiser, Maya was fading quickly into unconsciousness. The loss of blood was making
her feel weak. Jet took her hand in his own and squeezed it gently.
"We're going to get help for you," he was telling her, but she was hearing the words as if they were
being spoken from far away. "You'll be alright, just hang on...Hang on..."
Those were the last words Maya remembered hearing before the darkness of unconsciousness
finally swallowed her up.