-Jitos Syndicate Base, Saiccano, 8:30 Turo Standard Time-
The hallway was boiling with the heat of plasma as they advanced, pausing every so often to exchange volleys with Federation soldiers. Snarling, Jumba dropped a pair of them with his own blaster before turning to face Alci Spec. "Well, great leader of Jitos Syndicate, I hope you have back up plan!" Now that the Federation dogs were busily taking over the landing pads at a speed far beyond what he could have imagined and were making their way through the base from at least five different entry points, the Kweltikwan was having severe regrets on his choice of allies.
Face covered in sweat and darkened from a glancing wound taken some five minutes back, Alci simply glared back and growled "shut up, Jookiba. Shut up and fight."
"Fight?" Jumba snorted as he shot a charging Federation soldier clear through the chest. "That's your plan? We fight, they kill us! Face it Alci – we've lost."
"No. Not while I'm still alive." She kicked the hallway wall. "Damn it! Their captain died, so why haven't they given up?" It wasn't like any of the fools she employed would bother themselves with doing the same if she were to get blasted to oblivion, she knew, which made the Federation's continued drive all the stranger. "It doesn't matter, I suppose. We need to escape."
"Escape? How?" One of her men protested. "Madame, they're capturing all of our ships! We're as good as grounded!"
"No. There's one hangar left. If we can get to my personal ship, there will be room enough for all of us?"
"But what about everyone else?" Someone asked.
"They can rot in the five hells for all I care." Alci looked at her men, who seemed less than thrilled at the prospect of abandoning their comrades and had to resist the urge to hit someone. "Don't just stand there, damn it! MOVE!"
They ran down the now-clear hallway another thirty yards before Alci's second in command held up her hand and bid them to stop. "I've got an update from Level Eight. The Federation soldiers have completely secured the adjacent landing pad and routed all our forces there. And there's something more – it has been spotted leading the charge."
"It? What in space are you referring to?"
"Jumba's creation. His first one, I mean. Experiment 626."
Alci and Jumba looked at each other, worried. If 626 was here, just two levels below them…
"What about Leroy?" Jumba asked. "Has he been spotted?"
Alci's second in command listened to the comm chatter a bit more. "I'm not sure. Wait a minute…yes. Apparently, he's been camped out on Level Nine for the past twenty minutes."
"We make for Level Nine, then." Alci grunted. "We can't risk running into the Federation's monster without having ours to bring to bear."
Jumba wanted to protest that 626 and Leroy weren't monsters, as their group changed direction and started towards their last hope of surviving long enough to escape he decided to hold his tongue for once in his life.
An expert shot to the head took down the last remaining Jitos in their section of level eight, after which 626 holstered his weapon Glancing back at Lilo to see how she was doing he walked back to where Commander Aray stood. "The way's clear, sir."
"Good. Once Evri and Jij finish sealing the door behind us we can rest for a moment." A few seconds later there was a whirr and a rushing noise as the two completed that very task, at which point Aray gave their group five minutes to collect themselves before they pressed onwards.
Lilo had been given a set of noise-cancelling headphones cobbled together from various odds and ends strewn around the landing pad and in the transport, which she took off as 626 came over to her. "Is it over? Are we safe now?"
626 shook his head. "No. We're just resting for a bit after all the excitement. How are you holding up?"
"Fine." Actually, Lilo was more scared than she'd ever been before and doing her best to keep it from showing, but she didn't want to worry any of them. "With you and Spon here I know that I'm safe."
626 smiled at her. "You're very brave, you know that? Your sister must be proud of you."
Lilo had to laugh at that. "Only when I'm not driving her crazy, which I guess is probably most of the time. Except for Tuesdays and Bank Holidays."
"Well, I'm sure she appreciates the break." Spon had come over as well and kneeled down to Lilo's level. "Although I'm pretty sure you've missed a few and Bank Holidays while you're here."
"Only two!" Lilo replied, a bit defensively.
Before either Spon or 626 could respond a massive bang sounded across the hallway. Everyone immediately tensed up and grabbed their weapons, turning towards the origin of the sound as the bangs continued to ring out.
"This is Commander Aray of the United Galactic Federation!" Aray shouted. "Cease this at once and surrender or we will use deadly force!"
"It's just us, Commander." The voice on the other end sounded highly irritated. "Would it kill you to be a bit less trigger-happy for once?"
"And just who is 'us'?"
"Colonel Obrea. Open up, damn it!"
Aray complied somewhat reluctantly, popping the door open long enough for Obrea to enter with his own weary soldiers. Upon scanning the crowd and noticing the three of them, Obrea's jaw dropped and he marched over to 626, Lilo and Spon.
"I know what you're gonna say," Spon hurried to get the first word in, "but know that it was either we bring her with us or leave her on the Durgon."
"And you were okay with this?" Obrea looked squarely at Lilo, who nodded. "Well, if you insist. I'm sorry you had to get dragged into our fight, miss."
"What's the plan?" 626 asked.
Obrea shrugged. "Well, we intended to head up to level nine and capture everything up there. As for you all, that depends on what Commander Aray wants to do. Why are you fighting with the ground forces, by the way? Aren't all the pilots supposed to be clearing the airspace?"
"I got shot down, and since I wasn't going anywhere anyways, I wanted to be of some help."
"He means he wants to track down and fight the other experiment mano-a-mano." Spon interjected.
"On your own? Are you nuts?"
"Who else can fight him?" 626 protested. "No offense, but last time you tried that didn't exactly go well."
Before Obrea could respond Aray called him over to plan. "We'll talk about this later."
The two officers talked for a bit before concluding that it would be best to act together. "Alright, time's up." Aray's voice carried across the entire hallway. "Colonel Obrea and I have decided that the best way to proceed would be for our two groups to move as one. With that in mind, we have a new goal: take Level Nine. Everyone, move out!"
They all started marching towards their new destination.
Jumba and Alci's group emerged into the massive room at the center of Level Nine, in the middle of which sat a small, red-furred creature. "Leroy?" Jumba called out. "Is me; Jumba. Are you alright?"
"Ih." Yes. Leroy stood up and faced them. "Tagga huaa allah?" Where's master?
Jumba sighed. He'd explained to his creation that Dr. Hämsterviel was gone several times, but it never seemed to stick; the Kweltikwan half-suspected that Leroy felt that admitting its master was dead was some sort of cardinal sin. "Is not here. Only me and Miss Spec and her friends."
"Aga ba yuuga chinti?" Why are you here?
"To find you, of course. We stand a better chance together and I wanted to keep you safe."
"Meega?" Me? Leroy looked like he didn't believe it.
"Yes, you."
"The hell is it saying?" Alci looked at the experiment suspiciously.
Jumba shot her a quick glare. "I am trying to persuade Leroy to help us. Hämsterviel damaged it, I am fearing, so we are needing to be patient and careful."
"Just hurry it along, will you? We need to get moving again!"
Jumba resisted the urge to hit her and instead turned back to Leroy. "Come. I will take care of you."
Slowly, Leroy began walking towards them. As it approached them Jumba noticed that its fur was covered in dried and drying blood and felt a surge of pride in his experiment. For all that things are going to hell, at least I did manage to create a bioweapon after all.
The moment Leroy reached them, the massive doors on the other side of the room exploded and an octet of Federation soldiers rolled through the flames and debris. As the smoke cleared and the number of guns trained on the thirteen of them increased, everyone on Jumba's side raised their own weapons.
The two leaders of the group, one of which looked rather like the Raptrian Leroy had run into back on Gapra, stepped to the front of their little army.
"I am Commander Nilo Aray of the United Galactic Federation." The Commander spoke in the most imperious voice Jumba had ever heard. "This is Collonel Ellar Obrea. Your reign of terror is at an end, your army collapsing. Come quietly, and we will grant you a fair trial. Resist, and pay the price."
Always theatrical, these Federation types. Jumba allowed himself to snort before turning to Alci. With a subtle swing of the claw she gestured upwards, and when Jumba glanced after her he noticed a large and somewhat loose pipe running from the ceiling. Judging from the color, and from the waves of heat that he could see even from fifty feet below, he surmised that it was a lava pipe. He looked back at Alci and smirked in understanding before addressing the Federation soldiers once more.
"You are generous to offer, but I am thinking that we will decline your offer."
"Does he speak for all of you?" The Raptrain asked.
"He does." Alci replied. "Far be it from the Jitos to surrender to a bunch of government stooges."
"Very well, then." The Commander's voice was solemn. "Your lives are forfeit."
"Perhaps, but perhaps not." With a swing of her claw the leader of the Jitos bade her followers to fire upwards. Ten plasma bolts hit the lava tube dead center and burned straight through the metal, and within moments the room heated to an almost unbearable temperature as waterfalls of boiling red began to plummet to the floor. Without waiting for the lava to near them the thirteen turned and sprinted back the way they came, Jumba throwing one last look behind him in the hopes of seeing his first creation. 626 was nowhere to be seen.
They sprinted back through the hallway at top speed; there was no time to stop. Their trick with the lava had bought them a little time and cut off the fastest route by which the Federation soldiers could chase them, but there were plenty other paths around the level, and all it would take was a dozen soldiers to get lucky for their escape to get that much harder once again.
As it turned out, they weren't found by a dozen soldiers.
As they reached a four-way intersection, the doors to their left and right opened and a good forty soldiers poured out from the sides, cutting off two avenues of escape.
"RUN!" Alci shouted as they opened fire. She and her men sprinted forwards while Jumba grabbed a snarling Leroy and followed after them, doing his best to return fire with one hand while holding his creation in the other. After he made it through the door Jumba blasted the controls, closing it and buying them another few seconds. He looked to see who else had made it; now it was just him, Leroy, Alci, and two others.
Obrea ran up to the door and slammed the control pad. Getting no response, he swore. "They've locked it. Damn it, this is going to slow us down again."
"At least we killed most of them." Someone suggested.
"True, but that experiment's still alive. If he escapes unchecked, it's going to be hell."
"Maybe there's another way forwards?" 626 had been studying the layout of the hallway as they ran. "If we hurry we might be able to intercept them from the front."
"It could work." 626 crossed to the right door and opened it. "626, Spon, with me. The rest of you, work on that door."
The three of them started running down the hallway. They intercepted their quarry several hundred yards down, in what looked like a giant storage facility, when 626 spotted Jumba and the other four survivors working their way between the metal crates. "I see them!" He shouted.
Immediately the two remaining Jitos thugs dropped into a firing position as their leader ran for it. Their three opponents ducked behind the nearest metal crates and returned fire, and after a brief exchange Spon felled one and Obrea felled the other. Then, emerging from their hiding place, they and 626 took off after Jumba.
Missed by all the rest, Alci Spec slipped out a side door.
They caught up to Jumba and Leroy near an elevator leading to the next level. Upon seeing them Jumba tensed, picked up his creation, and threw it into the elevator before starting up the controls. He looked at his experiment, eyes full of regret, and turned back to face his opponents.
626 ran to a pipe and started climbing after Leroy, leaving Spon and Obrea facing Jumba down below.
"Last chance, Dr. Jookiba." Obrea kept his weapon steady. "Surrender. End the fighting."
"Give up? Of course not!" Jumba's own gun was pointed square at the Raptrain's chest. "I am not out of game yet."
Spon started edging his way towards another elevator, but when Jumba noticed him the Kweltikwan swung his gun around. "Don't even think about it, kid."
From his side came the click of Obrea's safety. "Shoot him and I swear by all the Gods I'll drop you before you can even start to turn back around."
Reluctantly, Jumba complied and turned to face the Colonel.
Spon ran over to the elevator, hesitating before getting on. "Are you sure?"
Obrea gave a little nod. "Go. Help 626."
"I'll look out for him." The elevator doors closed behind him, and Spon started upwards.
626 ran down the catwalk as fast as he could in order to gain on Leroy. As the other experiment rounded a corner in front of him 626 took a deep breath. "Stop, Leroy."
He heard the clink of claws on metal as Leroy halted and turned around.
The two experiments eyed each other from a distance. There was no need for words. Instead, with a bestial shout that reminded 626 horribly of the Aeterna, Leroy hurled itself through the air at its opponent, who leapt to meet him.
In the middle of the hallway, blue met red in midair.