CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE:
THE BEGINNING OF THE END

Pleakley echoed Leera's scream as Le'Kruune descended on them. Together they jumped off the bed, narrowly avoiding their captor's teeth and claws. They tumbled across the floor and Le'Kruune was on them in an instant. Pleakley threw himself on top of Leera to shield her from the attack. Le'Kruune seized hold of him and tore at him viciously. His wounds only half-healed, his strength was diminished and that was the only reason Pleakley stood a fighting chance against him. Even at that, Pleakley was no match for the deranged monster striving to kill him. Leera pulled herself out from under him and seized the empty plasma cannon laying on the floor nearby. She struck Le'Kruune repeatedly in the head, but he was impervious to the blows. Giving up, she threw the weapon aside and then flung herself upon Pleakley's assailant. Le'Kruune finally responded, falling backwards over Leera and then rolling over until he was straddling her.

"NOOOOOO!!!" Pleakley screamed, pulling himself up and pouncing on Le'Kruune. With every last bit of his strength, and a surging rush of adrenaline, he tore Le'Kruune off of Leera and chucked him aside like a piece of trash. Rage overcame him, and he threw himself onto Le'Kruune again, beating him down with trembling arms. Leera sat up shakily, covered in scratches and bleeding from some of them, but ready again to throw herself into the fight.

"NO!" Pleakley shouted at her as she approached. "RUNNN!!!"

Leera just stood there, eye wide with terror. "No, Wendy, I can't -!"

"Dammit, Leera, run! NOW!!!"

Hearts threatening to explode in her chest, she took one long look at him - covered in Le'Kruune's blood and his own, his eye pleading with her - and ran.

Outside in the corridor, the scene had changed drastically since she had last been there. About a dozen Kaizaxx soldiers stood in the center of the floor, surrounding Vay and the grand councilwoman. The one called Mackayl lay a short distance away, outside the circle, conscious now but still very weak as a physician bent over him. At least a dozen more soldiers stood in an even larger circle, surrounding all the others, their weapons raised. They appeared to be arguing heatedly with the smaller troop that was surrounding Vay and the councilwoman. Their weapons were raised also, but were not pointed at the two prisoners. Instead, they were aimed at the soldiers in the outer circle. The thud of hooves on the stainless steel floor signaled the approach of even more Kaizaxx soldiers. Sure enough, at least a dozen more heavily armed men came charging around a corner, only to stop short at the perplexity of the scene before them.

Terrified, Leera also skidded to a halt, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. Just then, however, several Kaizaxx looked over at her, their faces showing a wide range of expressions, from anger and fear to shock and relief. Three or four of them started toward her simultaneously. Leera froze, too petrified suddenly to even take a step backward in retreat. One of the soldiers advancing on her turned to the others and growled out a threat. They took the hint and stayed back. Leera's blood ran cold as the man loomed over her. To her surprise, he lowered his weapon. To her even greater surprise, he bent down and said in a calm voice, "Is he dead?"

Shocked, Leera stared at him a moment before finding her voice.

"N-no. What?! I mean - he's got Wendy! Le'Kruune! H-he's gonna kill him!" she started sobbing hysterically, trying to explain the situation in Le'Kruune's suite, while still shocked and terrified of the situation she was now facing. Yet again to her surprise, the man laid a hand on her shoulder as if to calm her before darting off in the direction of Le'Kruune's suite. The other three soldiers followed him. There was a roar of protests from several other soldiers, and the arguments between them all intensified. Some of them began fighting. Utterly dazed, Leera jumped when she felt something touch her arm. She whirled around to see another Kaizaxx man, who gently but firmly steered her over to Vay and ZaiLeia. Seeing them, she snapped out of her stupor and rushed over to Vay, throwing herself into the older woman's arms and sobbing.

"He's not dead! He's alive! And Wendy…" she choked, unable to finish. Vay hugged her tightly, and she could feel her shudder. "I didn't want to leave him," she whimpered, "but he told me to!"

"It's okay," Vay tried to assure her, but her voice cracked, and they both knew it wasn't true.

The proceeding events were little more than a blur to all who were involved, though the memory of that fateful day would live in infamy in each of their minds and hearts. In the blink of an eye, the corridor went dark, only to be relit with a flashing red light accompanied by a siren. An automated voice was making an announcement over the intercom, but the words were drowned out in the uproar that followed. Time slowed to a trickle and a roaring silence descended on the corridor as blasts of neon green erupted from all angles. In slow motion Vay pushed Leera to the floor as sizzling plasma globs inched past them. The inner circle of soldiers surrounding the prisoners swooned as those in the outer circle plunged into them in a bloody free-for-all. The two Plorginarians were tripped over and nearly trampled by those who were trying to protect them. One soldier dove down out of the throng and scooped them both up. Two other soldiers followed, tackling him and trying to snatch the two women out of his arms. Leera and Vay both managed to squirm away from them, but were recaptured in an instant by two more soldiers. A third and fourth soldier dragged the councilwoman to her feet and pulled her along forcefully as they fled the corridor-turned-battlefield.

Uncertain who was friend or foe, Leera struggled with her would-be rescuer, demanding, among other things, to know what the hell was happening. The soldier gave an incoherent reply, breathless as he bounded at top speed down the corridor. Vay and her captor/rescuer followed closely, while ZaiLeia brought up the rear, staggering along with the aid of her two escorts. Leera watched in fear as half a dozen Kaizaxx men came charging up behind them, some with their weapons raised. To her surprise, they did not fire. A minute later, the party reached a dark, deserted section of the ship and turned a corner into a much narrower hallway. This they followed for about half a minute until they came to a small docking bay.

By the look of it, it hadn't been used in years, if it had ever been used at all. Leera seemed puzzled, but Vay recognized it to be an emergency escape bay. A dozen escape pods were lined up and ready to go. The pods were small and could hold no more than two grown Kaizaxx at a time. Without warning, Vay and Leera were both shoved into a single pod, while the grand councilwoman was placed in the next one. Several soldiers jumped into the other pods and blasted off without a second's hesitation. Frightened, Leera clung to Vay, demanding again to know what was happening.

"Someone's tripped the ship's self-destruction mechanism," Vay explained. "This ship's gonna blow in about five minutes."

Leera's eye nearly popped out of her head in horror. "What?! But how?"

"All I know is, it's in Le'Kruune's suite. Someone in there must have set it off."

"But that means…"

"Oh my God…"

"WENDY!!!" the two women screamed in unison, jumping out of their escape pod and running back to the entrance of the docking bay. From out of nowhere came an enraged roar as Le'Kruune appeared via a shortcut route from his suite. He was nude and gory from head to toe, and barely recognizable. In his right hand he clutched a small limp body - Pleakley - his claws clenched tightly around his throat. The orange and purple muumuu hung in shreds from his bloodied form, and he did not move. Le'Kruune charged into the docking bay, dragging the little alien along behind him. Fear fled them just then as Vay and Leera both ran to meet the monster halfway.

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