Chapter 6:

Unholy Alliance

Hovering over the lands of Third-Earth, General Slithe and his men were 5-miles-away from the Black Pyramid.

"What is he doing," asked one of the lizard soldiers, staring at the legate, Aelius, as he sat on his knees with his, gloveless, hands over his eyes.

"I don't know, maybe he's meditating," replied the other lizard soldier. "Humans sure are weird."

Aelius was not meditating but praying. On the back of his hands were tattoos of eyes, making it look like he was staring at the sun while he murmured prayers: "Imperator magnus est, Imperator fortis est, Imperator dues est…" over and over, again, in Latin.

The legate kept praying until the platform, finally, arrived at its destination. Slithe walked up to the human and disrupted his prayer by alerting him, saying, "You there, human, we've arrived. Come with us and meet our master."

Aelius stopped praying and placed his gauntlets back onto his hands. He stood up off the floor and walked off the platform.

They walked down a long corridor. He was amazed at the architecture, ancient on the outside while advanced on the inside. The legate stood beside Slithe, asking him questions about his master. Who is he? What does he want with Elijah? And how he knew about his presence?

The lizard general responded with a grin hanging on his face, "All questions will be answered, soon." The legate was patient enough to wait.

The three generals took the legate into a large room. Inside, he stared at the four, humanoid statues with the heads of four different animals: A jackal, a lizard, a monkey, and a vulture. In the center of where the statues stood was a pool filled with blue water and at the head of that pool was a throne with a giant, pharaoh-like face above it. Standing in front of the pool was a figure, hunching over the pool, wearing a red cloak and was covered in bandages.

Aelius walked up and stood behind the figure, standing straight with an emotionless facial expression. "Are you the one these three call 'Mumm-Ra?'" asked Aelius.

"Indeed, I am," replied Mumm-Ra. "And who is it that asks for my name?"

Before the legate could say anything, Mumm-Ra turned around, facing the human, and from seeing the mummy's decaying features, he became shocked but still, he responded while trying to ignore Mumm-Ra's disfigurement, "I am Gaius Aelius Aquilinus, Legatus of the Brighton Legion. I came here to form a proper alliance with you and your followers, hoping to help you with your…pest problems and by pests, I mean cats."

"I see but where is your army, Aelius?" Mumm-Ra questioned. Aelius, subconsciously, gripped his hands. He knew that he would have some subordinates in his army but he didn't realize that they were all cowards. He released his grip and answered the mummy's question, "I assure you, my legionaries are here on this planet." He explained to Mumm-Ra about the situation, "You see, they have retreated to the Leviathan, the ship that brought us here and that's now orbiting the planet. After seeing how fierce your enemies and my enemy are, together, they abandoned me and flew back to the Leviathan but don't worry, they will receive punishment for their insubordination."

"And how will you be contacting them?"

"Believe me, Mumm-Ra. I have many ways of contacting them."

He stood outside, standing in front of the Black Pyramid, feeling the sandy wind against his face. Mumm-Ra and his generals: Slithe, Kaynar, and Addicus watched as the human took out a metallic device from the utility belt around his waist. It shape like a spintop, except there was no stick sticking out of the top, with glowing, white veins all over it. With one press of a button on the top, he placed it on the ground and stood a 2-feet-away from it. The top opened and out of it was a beam of blue light, piecing through the sky.

Ironically, the three generals were frightened by it even though they had unlimited access to technology of their own. Mumm-Ra smiled, feeling intrigued by the light show he was receiving. A few-seconds-later, the Leviathan appeared out of the sky and hovering above the Black Pyramid. The design of the Leviathan was less demented, yet more technologically advanced, than the Black Pyramid.

Coming out of the Leviathan, a small ship with three wings, two on the sides and one on top, came down and landed in from of the legate. After it landed, the bay doors opened from the bottom and coming out of the ship was the governor, himself, while being accompanied by two Praetorian Guards.

The legate walked up to the governor and took a knee, greeting him with such flattery, "Governor Abdul-Muhib, it is a pleasure to see you, again."

"You flattery pleases me, legatus," the governor comment, flamboyantly, waving his hand like an aristocrat. "But keep it up and you'll never reach the rank of dux. Remember, nobody likes a sycophant."

The governor walks passed the legate and stood in front of Mumm-Ra and added without facing his legate, "And I see you are associating with xenos, Aelius."

"Yes, well, you see, it seems Elijah has allied himself with the planet's indigenous inhabitants, feline-humanoids, to be precise, who were able to cripple my forces." Explained the legate, noticing how tensed the governor became from hearing that. Aelius continued, "I believe if we ally ourselves with their enemies, then the tables would turn and we would be able to defeat them and take the sphere."

"Hmm, the enemy of my enemy is my friend," quoted the governor. He, soon, turned towards the legate and said as he placed a hand on his right shoulder, "What a brilliant plan you've forged, legatus. Someday, you will make an excellent dux. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I need to inform the other men that we'll be spending a few days in a pyramid filled with talking animals."

The governor soon realized how ridiculous that sounded and added, "Okay, that sounded, mildly, unnerving." He walked back into his ship with the Praetorian Guard behind him and returned to the Leviathan. 5-hours-later, the Black Pyramid was packed with both humans and lizards. It was a good thing the Pyramid had enough room, or else, it would've felt cramped.

"Give me your best shot Hoo-Hoo!" roared Addicus. He was standing in a chalk-drawn circle, facing the legate, Aelius, preparing to strike with his axe.

Many people gathered, both human and lizard, to watch, cheering and betting on who was going to win. Before the big ape could strike, Aelius placed his left hand in front of his chest, clenching it and pointed it to the ground on his left side. Out of his gauntlet, a blade appears out of the back of his wrist. The brawl began. Addicus and Aelius charged at each other, striking with both weapons.

On different sides, Aelius stood up and retracted his blade while Addicus fell on one knee as his right pelvis started to bleed. It wasn't a serious injury. Aelius, simply, grazed the gorilla. After the brawl, the lizards started paying the legionaries in guns and ammunition.

Down the corridor, Mumm-Ra and Abdul-Muhib started sharing conversations. He wasn't disturbed by the fact that he was talking to a living corpse. "This is a strange place, Mumm-Ra. On the outside, it looks like an ancient pyramid but on the inside, it looks like a high-tech facility. Tell me, was this ever a spaceship?" the governor asks with both arms behind his back.

"Indeed it was, until my commander, Leo, betrayed me and crash land my ship centuries ago, immobilizing it to prevent me from leaving this planet if I return," answered Mumm-Ra. He responded to that answer, having experienced the same thing, "I, too, was betrayed by someone but it wasn't a commander...no. It was some I was close to; someone I once called 'brother.' but that is a story I do not want to get into."

Before they could continue their conversation, the governor was interrupted by a Brighton legionary, running in front of him to get his attention. "My liege!" shouted the legionary. "We found him, the coward that called the retreat."

"Excellent!" the governor didn't show it but you could tell he was smiling behind that bandana of his. Somewhere in the Black Pyramid, in the dungeon room, many Brighton Legionaries were rallying up for some sort of occurrence. Joining them was Mumm-Ra and his three generals, joining to see what was going on.

Thrown into the center of the rally was a tribunus laticlavus, tied up and shaking in fear. He sat and stared at the governor, seeing the anger in his eyes. "Please, master, grant me mercy! I beg of you!" the tribunus laticlavus pleaded.

"Mercy? For a weakling like you?" the governor retorted. "You called in a retreat, you deserted a battle, and you plead for mercy." the governor crouched down, staring at the officer, face-to-face, whispering in a malicious tone of voice: "There is no mercy to grant for the weak."

The governor stood up, back away, and was about to give out a speech: "My people, children of the Emperor! This man—this coward—is responsible for our defeat! Nowhere in history have the Brightons run from a fight! And furthermore, he broke the chain-of-command!" the legionaries were filled with rage against the coward. Who knew the governor was that charismatic? He continued: "Let us remove this tumor from our ranks and sew up the wound we removed it from!"

they all cheered, taking out their batons and walked towards the tribunus laticlavus. The tribunus screamed as he was about to be beaten to death, "Brothers, no!" this was the act of fustuarium. The governor, himself watched while he stood next to Mumm-Ra, you could tell he was enjoying the scene. Mumm-Ra, Addicus, and Kaynar were, also, enjoying the scene as well, hearing the legionaries chant "fustuarium" out loud while waving their batons in the air. The only ones not enjoying it were the lizard soldiers, showing deep fear towards the humans' method of punishment, Slithe, showing disgust at such a barbaric ritual, and the legate, knowing that he didn't deserve such a major punishment.

After it was over, Aelius walked and stood in the center. Blood was spilled, the tribunus wasn't dead but he was, slowly, dying. With what little strength he had left, the tribunus, etaphorically, reached out to his superior, pleading for mercy. The legate looked away in guilt and responded with such sorrow in his voice, "I am sorry but, even though we are amici, you are now a traitor and the deed is already done."

As soon as the legate walked away, the tribunus breathed his last breath and died with his eyes and mouth wide open. The tribunus' body was tossed out of the Black Pyramid, slowing, sinking into the sand, never to be seen again. The legate took a stroll inside the Pyramid, contemplating on his moral regrets. Did he do the Right thing? Was it okay to let his amicus die or was it wrong to not have been able to defend him?

oooooo

the corridor of the Thundertank was dark and hard to see. Returning from the bathroom, Kit headed back to her room. Even though Kit could, barely, see where she was going, her senses were strong enough in helping her find her room. She then stops and stood in front of Lion-O's room. Looking down, she could see the lights in the lion king's room were not turned off, indicating that he was still awake.

She opens the door and waltzes in to see Lion-O sitting on his bed, legs crossed and reading Elijah's Earth History book. "You're still reading that book?" inquired Kit.

"Oh, hey Kit. Yeah, it's a big book so it'll take me a while to finish," Lion-O replied. Kit sat on his bed looked over her king's shoulder to see what he's reading about. "Chapter 6: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Rome." the young wildcat thought that was a weird name for a chapter but she just shrugged and just looked.

Kit noticed that it didn't have many pictures, just a few portraits, which made her feel bored. Lion-O, on the other hand, thought it was interesting.

"What's the point in reading this?" asked Kit.

"Well, Since we have a human as an ally, I thought it would be interesting to learn about Elijah's people," Lion-O explained. "Besides, As far as I've gotten from this book, The human race has a unique, yet violent, history."

"Who's the guy in the robes and why is he pointing up?"

Lion-O looked at the figure Kit was referring to and read it to her: "Augustus Caesar, first Emperor of Rome, from 27 B.C. To 14 A.D." he continued reading out loud, "It says that he was the great nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar, General and Dictator of the Roman Republic, from 49 B.C. To 44 B.C."

Wilykit didn't seem very fond of history but she was happy to be beside her king. 20-minutes-later, Wilykit headed back to her room, however, it was hard to tell where her bed was. Good thing her brother's snoring helped her. She lied down on her bed and when she did, Kit, immediately, fell asleep.

She started having dreams about Lion-O, running and playing in a field of flowers. Then, while lying on the ground, both Lion-O and Kit leaned in for a kissed, which caused her to wake up. She saw that it was morning. The sun was shining out of her window and the bird-frogs were chirping outside.

She sat up, wrapping her arms around her shins, asking herself while her face blushed, "I wish it was like that."

Kit soon realized that her brother might've heard her but she was relieved when she noticed he wasn't in the room. He must have woken up early before she did.

"No arguing in the dojo!" shouted a loud, commanding voice. Elijah was walking back and forth, wearing a white tunic with a black belt around the waist.

"Oh, come on! I'm not arguing; I was just asking if there was an easier way to learn this," Tygra pleaded. He was dressed the same way as Elijah, except, instead of a black belt, he was wearing a white belt.

"No complaining in the dojo!" Elijah shouted, again.

"I don't even know what a dojo is!" Tygra emphasized.

"Enough!" Elijah grabs Tygra by the arms and judo flips him to the ground. He looks at the tiger and says to him with a stern face, "Never show such disrespect to your sensei!" he moves his sight away from Tygra and looks at the others: Wilykat and Panthro. "And that goes for all of you, as well!"

"Yes, sensei!" Wilykat and Panthro replied in unison.

It was their first time learning human martial arts. They didn't understand the rules or the terminologies, like sensei or dojo, but they were learning. After training, Wilykat asked Elijah to come with him.

Wilykat was in the corridor, walking beside the human, Elijah. He wanted to show him something that he'd been hiding from the others. He hid what he wanted to show Elijah in the storage room. Moving a few boxes, Kat pulled out a bag.

"And for what, pray tell, was the purpose of showing me a sack?" asked Elijah, crossing his arms and raising his right eyebrow.

"This, my friend, is the Forever Bag. It's a magical bag with the power of infinite space," explained Kat. He continued: "You see, along time ago, it once belong to a powerful wizard until it was stolen by Mesclabar, the King of Thieves. Over the years, many thieves have stolen this bag from other thieves, that is, until my sister and I 'borrowed' it from a thief named Tookit."

He opens the sack and yells out the secret word: "Rokenbass!" Next thing you'd now, he jumped in and disappeared. The sight of it baffled Elijah, holding the bag and looking around it to see if it was a trick but it wasn't.

"Umm...Rokenbass!" Elijah repeated what Kat said and soon, he got sucked into the bag without any warning.

Falling, he thought it was the end for him; seeing his life flash before his eyes: Awakening from a test tube, being assigned to a foster family during infancy, being sent to the Academy at the age of twelve, Vincent's betrayal, Caldrak 5, the Battle of Centuari Prime, and the Arrival to Third-Earth. But, as luck would have it, a pile of jewels and gold broke his fall, which wasn't a soft landing, if you think about it.

"Huh...electrum," Elijah picked up a gold coin and observed the context. "What is this place." He got up off the pile and looked around in astonishment.

"Hello, Elijah, and welcome to the inside of the Forever Bag!" Greeted Kat, standing in front of the human.

The human looked at Kat with a jaw-dropped look. He pushed his jaw back up and asked, "How long have you had this?"

"Oh, for a few days," Kat Replied. "I put it in the storage room for safe keeping but then I forgot about it."

There was so much treasure in the Forever bag. Elijah started commenting out loud: "Look at all this! It's like I'm inside the treasure room of the lost city of Atlantis!"

Wilykat didn't know what Elijah was talking about but he just shrugged and didn't ask. For the first time, Wilykat had never seen Elijah this excited, nor have the other Thundercats. It was like watching a 12-year-old getting a new toy on Christmas Day.

As Elijah continued acting like a kid, he turned and remembered that Kat was, also in the bag, which caused the human to revert back to his usual, stoic self. He let out a small cough with his left hand over his mouth and said to the kitten, "Sorry about that." It was a strange personality change to witness, which was sad because Wilykat was starting to like the childish Elijah better than the robotic Elijah. "So, do the others know about this...item or is it just you and your sister?" Elijah asked, looking at the cub with both of his arms crossed.

"Just my sister and me," Wilykat answered, waving his right hand nonchalantly. "I was going to show it to the others but why let them have all the fun. Also, because I forgot I had it." the young cub rolled his eyes and kicked the dust from the ground, asking without hesitation, "So, why are you training us? I know you said I wasn't old enough for Kung Fu but then you changed your mind."

"I am preparing you and the others against the Brightons," sighed Elijah.

"Why? I've only seen them, once, and they don't seem that bad," retorted Kat.

"There are things about my encounter with the Brightons I have not told you, or the others, about," The stoic expression on Elijah's face disappeared, replacing it with a sad look. He added without looking at the cub, "Things that would tremble the entire Galaxy in fear and disgust."

Wilykat scratched the back of his head, thinking of what to say next. Kat, finally, made a response and insisted: "Maybe, you should discuss it with the others and maybe-"

"The things I've experienced from them are for me to keep to myself! Understand!" Elijah interrupted Wilykat with a loud voice, scaring the young cub. The human wanted to leave, asking "Who do I get out of this bag" in which Wilykat answered: "See that light up there? Well, all you have to do is stand in the center of it, jump, and you'll be out of here."

Elijah walked away and did what Wilykat said. He stood in the center of the light and jumped up in the air. Next thing you know it, he started flooding up to the ceiling.

3-seconds-later, Elijah pops out of the bag, flying out and falling to the floor. He got up off the floor, brushing the dust off his clothes and walked out of the storage room.

Feeling the pain surging through him, Tygra started rubbing his left arm, then the other, muttering how humiliated he felt to himself: "Stupid Elijah and his martial arts. Can't believe I got flipped by a guy with an average physique."

Lion-o, Kit, and Pumyra overheard what Tygra was saying and laughed, quietly, making sure he wouldn't hear their laughter.

"Don't worry, Tygra. At least, he didn't break your arms," said Cheetara, walking and sitting down next to her mate. "Besides, if he does, how else are you suppose to hold me?" wrapping her arms around him, Cheetara and Tygra looked into each others' eyes, intimately, making Lion-O feel uncomfortable watching.

The sight of it made Lion-O's stomach twist but he kept ignoring it because he's trying to move on, but that was going to be a tough one. Next thing you know, the couple's intimacy was interrupted when Elijah entered the control room, causing Tygra to jump up out of his chair and walked up to the human. "Hey! I have a bone to pick with you!" Shouted Tygra, shaking his right fist in front of his face. "What person flips a guy to the ground for asking questions?"

"The same guy who teaches a prideful tiger the art of patience," Elijah retorted in a stoic manner. What Elijah said made Tygra speechless and the only thing coming out of his mouth were mumbling sounds.

Walking into the control room, as well, was Panthro, holding a Brighton helmet in his mechanical paws. "Hey, Elijah!" called Panthro. Elijah turns around towards the general, wanting to know what he wanted. "What do you think? We can put this on the training dummy, along with the rest of the armor, and you can teach us any weak spots those legionaries have." Panthro throws the helmet to Elijah, grabbing it and looking, directly, at the eye holes.

There was nothing but a wide stare coming from Elijah's eyes. Eyes twitching, he started having flashbacks from first experience with the Brightons, 5-years-ago.

Flashback:

It was a 12:45AM in the morning, as it was written on the digital clock on Elijah's ship, the Avenger. He was assigned by his superiors to patrol the Sirius Star System; monitoring everything that occurred. Walking into the bridge was his 'sister' Isabella Mendoza.

She was beautiful woman in her twenties with a slim figure and kind demeanor. She had long, flowing black hair that reached down to her waist, bronze skin, and was about 6-foot-tall, short by two feet. Like Elijah, she was also a Divina. You could tell because she had the same eyes as Elijah's. She was wearing the same stillsuit as Elijah's, except the one she was wearing was design for female Divina only.

"So any sign of the Brightons yet?" asked Isabella, placing her right arm on Elijah's seat.

"Negative, Isabella. There's nothing but stars and planets out there."

"Well, if you see anything, give me a call, okay"

"I'll do that."

Isabella was about to leave the room but not before she did her usual flirting Elijah gesture. She leaned forward, placing her lips close to Elijah's left ear and whispered, seductively: "You know, if you ever get bored, you'll know where to find me." And just like that, she blow into his ear and walked to the exit. She turned her head to see if there any response from Elijah. Sadly, it was the same thing, as usual. Elijah was still looking at the monitor with no sign of any reaction, which brought disappointment in her system.

Just then, as Isabella left the bridge, something appeared on the monitor. Coming from the darkest part of the Sirius Star System, a Leviathan appeared out of nowhere but it was a different Leviathan. Not the one piloted by the governor, Abdul-Muhib, but by someone far worse than any other Brighton official but not as worse as the emperor, himself.

The bored expression on Elijah's face, quickly, changed to that of fear and inexperience. It was his first time seeing a Leviathan and it was going to be his first time facing the Brightons. The only time he had ever faced a Brighton was in a simulation at the Academy but that was about to change.

With athletic speed, Elijah got out of his seat and got ready for battle stations. Using his communicator, he contacted the rest of the crew throughout the ship, ordering them to their stations. "Come in, captain! This is first lieutenant, Elijah Robertson! Can you hear me!" he ordered, feeling the sweat pouring out of his face.

"This is the captain, speaking," answered the captain, walking around the corridors. "What do you have to report, lieutenant?"

"I've spotted what appears to be a Class 4 Brighton warship: A Leviathan, on the monitor! I don't know where it came from or how it got there but it's coming towards us!"

"Don't worry, lieutenant, you have my permission to activate the ship's weapon system."

"Yes; sir!"

Elijah kept running, heading to the control room and prepare the ship for battle, pressing the code: 3-2-4-4-9-6, pushing buttons and pulling leavers until the cannons started popping out of the top of the Avenger. Every soldier in the Avenger were preparing for battle, all 600 of them. They positioned themselves in the cannons, operating it from the inside.

Before they could fired, the Leviathan fired first but it wasn't energy beams. It was harpoons attached the titanium chains, the Leviathan started pulling them closer to the ship, dragging them close to the inside. The crew of the Avenger opened fire but their cannons had no effect. It barely made a dent.

"What the hell! Are cannons aren't working!" remarked one of the soldiers.

Next thing you know it, the Avenger was devoured by the Leviathan but the wasn't converted into fuel. Instead, it was dragged into landing bay with the entire crew about to face what was coming to them.

Present day:

Frozen from his recurring memory, Elijah stared, deeply, at the helmet he held in his hands as images of himself covered in blood while being electrocuted and stabbed flashed before his eyes.

His eyes ceased twitching and his face turned from a stoic expression to bitter rage, crushing the helmet with his bare hands. Coming from him was a huge, terrifying roar. So terrifying that even Panthro was a little scared. Elijah crushed the helmet like paper, cutting his hands feeling the blood flow out of the cuts. Elijah soon ran out of the control room as blood dripped out of his hands. He would've gotten Pumyra to bandage his hands but if he did, then he would have to tell her and the others why he went berserk.

Lion-O was holding the crumbled helmet in his paws, feeling the humans' blood on it. He was shocked to see what Elijah did. "Ooookay, that was a little weird," Pumyra commented, standing behind Lion-O has he examined the helmet.

"Something tells me there's more to the Brightons than Elijah had told us," Lion-O knew Elijah wouldn't talk about something like this since it took the human a lot of energy to tell him about Vincent. "And we know he's not going to tell us anything if it's going to be that personal."

"Either that or he's just crazy," Tygra snickered.

Cheetara frowned at her mate and snapped at him for the first time, "Tygra, this is serious! What if something's wrong with him and he won't tell us? We have to find out what's wrong with him." she turned to her king and said with a stoic expression, "What do you think, Lion-O?"

"I agree but we have to let Elijah tell us," said Lion-O.

To be concluded.