Disclaimer: I do not own Lilo & Stitch or any of the characters therein.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:
HORSTHAR'S HOSTAGES
Inside the main control room it was dark, save for all the glowing surveillance screens and monitors. The large, thirty-foot-high screen reserved for incoming transmissions was bright blue, and on the opposite side of the room, where we were, was an upper level that faced the screen and looked down on the rest of the room. This upper level was the only part of the enormous control room that was lit up. Le'Kruune stood at the edge of it and rested his hands on the railing, watching the screen. For a long minute, there was silence, save for a few whispers and the tapping of keys on the consoles below. Mother and I stood about ten feet behind the Kaizaxx leader, flanked by four guards. Finally, the blue of the screen before us flickered, replaced momentarily by the blue face of the Grand councilwoman. Her slanted dark eyes were fiery as they surveyed her rival, Le'Kruune. Suddenly I noticed the shocking similarity between the two leaders, and was dumbfounded. Aside from their coloring, and Le'Kruune's extra fingers and claws, and the prominent antlers in the males of his species, he and the Grand councilwoman looked very much alike. I had little time to wonder if they were related in some way, because just then the Grand councilwoman was addressing our captor.
"Horsthar Le'Kruune, this is ZaiLeia Miik of the Galactic Alliance. We have you surrounded. You are hereby ordered to surrender, and to hand over your hostages without delay."
There was snickering down below, which grew louder as Le'Kruune himself laughed at the council's demand.
"Oh, I'm sorry! You were serious, weren't you?" he asked gleefully. "Alright, I'll play along…however, you seem to be forgetting that the high card is in MY hand, and the stakes are innocent lives."
He snapped a finger and two guards dragged us both forward into the light. "As you can see, I have a lovely pair right here, and I'm not about to fold. Agent Vay Pleakley, and her son, convicted criminal and FORMER Agent, Wendy Pleakley." The guards let go of us and retreated back into the shadows. Le'Kruune laid clawed hands on our shoulders and smiled at the screen, as if posing for a picture. The Grand councilwoman did not look pleased to see us. Not that she didn't care about our lives, of course. It was the stiff poker face that all leaders must wear at times like this.
"I am NOT here to play games, Horsthar!" she snarled, and I was surprised. I had never heard anyone call Le'Kruune by his first name before, not even Mom. Everyone aboard the Kaizaxx ship referred to him as "Your Highness," or "Sir," while most of the galaxy used either his full name or simply Le'Kruune. I began to wonder if there was more to these two leaders than meets the eye. Her Highness, ZaiLeia Miik, had served on the council for a very long time… since before I was born. So of course she had known Le'Kruune from when he had been a council member himself. But then, the very idea of these two having anything to do with each other outside of a professional relationship was preposterous. Beyond their identical physical features, there were other, more subtle, likenesses… leadership qualities, if you will…that fiery look in the eye, a certain ferocity of character, diplomatic charisma, and extraordinary skills in battle. Not to go off-topic here, but I had heard stories about the revered Grand councilwoman… graphic, intense tales not for the weak at heart. Looking at her it was very hard to believe those stories. Though she had a severe affect, most people could not picture her as the vicious warrior she was proclaimed to be.
ZaiLeia and Le'Kruune argued heatedly for several minutes over each other's demands before Le'Kruune startled everyone in sight by snatching up my mother and slamming a plasma cannon against her head. I screamed and a guard stepped forward and pulled me back, out of the small ring of light Le'Kruune was standing in. In the awful silence that followed, Le'Kruune was breathing heavily, his reddish skin glowing with an intensity that suggested heat. He was enraged, his razor-like teeth bared in the most hideous snarl he could muster. He held my mother up by the scruff of her neck, his gun half-buried in her hair as he glared up at the thirty-foot-high image of his nemesis.
"Give me one good reason," he hissed through clenched teeth, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow her frigging head off!!!"
My heart thudded painfully in my throat as I watched. Mother remained perfectly still, but I could not see her face. The Grand councilwoman didn't look the slightest bit worried about my mother's life. For a split second, I could have sworn that she was fighting down a smile.
"Because it would just be a childish attempt to get something that you shall never have!" she told him. "I know you better than that, Horsthar. A lot better. You won't kill someone like Agent Vay outright unless you're certain that there is something to be gained by it. And I can tell you now; the only thing to be gained by murdering her is an immediate open fire on your ship from all sides. Is that a risk you are really willing to take right now? Or shall we continue to barter for something that's actually WORTH fighting about?"
At this, Le'Kruune let out a blood-curdling growl. Without warning, he hurled Mother aside and stuffed the plasma cannon back into his belt. "You win this round, bitch!" he snarled as he smoothed his suit. "I'll see you strapped to a dissection table when we're through! Not that that's such a terrible fate… you don't even have the GUTS to open fire on the Kaizaxx!!!" he chuckled at his sick joke.
"There's a big difference between guts and brains, Horsthar," she told him, completely unnerved by his words. "I won't open fire while there are innocent lives at stake. That is why we are here in the first place: to negotiate their release into Federation custody."
"And to try to trick me into surrendering!!!" Le'Kruune yelled, looking insane, infuriated and triumphant all at once. "You really expect me to fall for that, do you, Zai? What kind of an imbecile do you take me for?!!"
"The best we ever had," she replied, smiling fondly at him.
"Go fuck yourself, you withered old she-trog!" Le'Kruune spat. Then his demeanor changed, and a wicked smile spread across his face. "Unless you would like ME to do the honors?"
The Grand councilwoman didn't dignify him with a response, but for a split second, something in her stone-like façade seemed to falter, and my intestinal tract constricted into knots as I realized the implications of Le'Kruune's suggestion. ZaiLeia Miik, leader of the Galactic Alliance, and Horsthar What's-His-Names Le'Kruune, leader of the Kaizaxx?!! The thought sickened me. How could she -? But then, that was a long time ago, I reminded myself. Le'Kruune wasn't a bad guy back then… actually, he WAS, but no one had known it. ZaiLeia was no different than my mother when it came to this man… this MONSTER, I should say. I didn't know her story, and I didn't want to. She was a good leader, and that was more than enough to pardon her questionable history with Le'Kruune. Still, it really makes one stop and think about the crookedness of politics…
* * * *
As of 11-14-03, I have edited several chapters, changing Pleakley's name to Wendy wherever appropriate. As most of you know by now, the November 7th episode of "Lilo and Stitch the series" revealed Pleakley's first name to be Wendy, and so I have decided to make changes to all my stories accordingly. Although Le'Kruune is still calling him by his surname, his mother Vay will, of course, be referring to him as Wendy from now on. Before Nov. 7th, my full name for Pleakley was Pleakley Nn- Llewellyn-Xinth-Vay, indicating that surnames in his people's society are derived from ancestral first names, in this case, his mother, hence the last part, Vay. As Vay's last name happens to be very similar, Nn-Llewellyn-Xinth-Hanilah, you can assume that Hanilah was her mother's name, and that the rest which she shares with her son is based on the name or names of a common ancestor. Also, I decided that their society was matriarchal (in other words, female-dominated, which explains the mother's names in the last names of the offspring). Not that any of this did any good, since Chris Sanders and the gang cleared the whole name thing up for me by announcing Pleakley's real name. Tis probably for the best, since I only had the whole surname/ancestor thing only partially worked out. Besides, I just LOVE the name Wendy for Pleakley! IMO, it suits him perfectly!!!