Part 2
Jarrold looked on as the Vandairre taskmaster raised his whip to once again to swing it at his sister. This was something that he and for that matter all of the slaves had grown used to. They were beaten everyday that was a given but there was no reason for this. Tara had been worked harder than most of the others and was exhausted. Sure she was strongly opinionated and would speak her mind no matter what the cost, sure she had tried to escape at least 50 times but even with all that they had no right to beat and torture the girl like this. She was tired and only wanted to take a short rest.
"Get up you worthless piece of human trash" said the inhuman slave driver. "You still have 11 hours of work before you can take a break." he then put his foot on the girls back and pushed her over with it.
With what seemed like all the energy that the young girl had left Tara Scott stood up and grabbed the shovel that was laying in front of her and began to dig the ore once more. But as weak as she was she couldn't lift the shovel past her waist and fell onto her face. Tharon raised his whip once more as if to strike the girl and there was nothing that Jarrold could do about it.
Jarrold wished that he could just grab the little man and tear him limb from limb. But he knew that he would never have the chance first of all there was the chain that he was bound to. But the more important reason had to do more with the fact that once a few years ago the taskmaster had made the mistake of coming to close to the pit and was pulled in by a very quick man. The man left the taksmaster to the mercy of the slaves and walked off. Tharon barely escaped with his life and swore that he would never be caught off guard or by himself again. Tharon moved towards Tara with a murderous look in his eyes.
Jarrold pulled at the chains knowing that if he didn't do something fast that is little sister was a gooner. This time Tharon brought the sword that he carried on his waist up and with one quick motion swung it downwards. Jarrold turned his head and closed his eyes, scared and sad for what the monster had done to his only remaining family member.
He knew that he wouldn't be able to do anything to avenge her now but that one day soon all of the Vandairre would pay.
Jarrold braced himself and opened his eyes fully expecting to see his sister laying dead in front of him, but instead saw a several of Tharons guards laying on the ground while the others were running to free him from another slave that had been closer and hoisted him into the air as if he was no more than a mere child.
"Release me and my men will kill you quickly" hissed Tharon who was obviously in fear for his life. Jarrold had seen this man around several times but had never spoken to him in the past. Now the only thing he could do was stand in shock as the man throw the slave master to the ground in a heap. Tharon rolled and began to scream as he got up.
"There you go. You worthless piece of Vandairre trash." The man said.
"You'll pay for that!" he shouted as he began jumping up and down frantically. "Kill Him," he yelled to his guards.
The man took up a fighting stance and backed into a large rock that was behind him. This move made perfect since to Jarrold as it kept any of the soldiers from getting directly behind him and forced them to remain in his field of vision. One of the soldiers ran at the man and tried to lunge at him but all he got for his trouble was a swift kick in the chin, which sent him spinning dizzily into the ground. The next soldier ran at the man and got almost the exact same treatment. Jarrold stood with his mouth open. This man was taken these soldiers on like it was mere childs play. Three were down, then four, it was like this stranger had been doing this all his life. But as good as this guy was Jarrold knew that it was only a matter of time before he was overrun. The young man wished that he could help the fighter but couldn't the fight was going on just outof reach. Then he saw an opportunity because who was just in front of him but Tharon. Knowing that he not likely to have this chance again Jarrold through the extra length of chain that he had around the slave masters neck and pulled down on it. "What the hells going on here?" Tharon gasped. As he placed his hands around the chain. He cursed himself for being so careless twice in one day.
"Tell them to move or I'll pop your fat little neck from your shoulders." scowled Jarrold as he pulled Tharon closer to him. Tharon tried to fight. "Now" he said in the mans ear.
"Back away from him now" Tharon ordered his soldiers "leave him alone."
The soldiers began to slowly step away from the man. He looked over and saw that Jarrold had his chain wrapped around Tharons neck and began to walk over to them. The soldiers split to let him through and when he got there he took the key from Tharons hip and unlocked Jarrolds chains than walked over to Tara and did the same for her. Then he handed the key to one of the other slaves that was chained, pickedTara up, grabbed Jarrolds arm and began to walk towards the gate all the time making sure that Jarrold kept a tight grip on Tharons chain. As they approachedthe gate some of the soldiers began to gather around them but every time they got to close Jarrold would give a little tug on the chain and Tharon would order them to back away. As they finally reached the gate one of the soldiers ran at Jarrold catching him by surprise, tackling him and causing him to drop the chain.
Seeing this Tharons soldiers began to swarm on the three would be escapees, the stranger reacted immediately and began carefully put Tara down. He looked over to Jarrold "I hope you can fight." he said, as the soldiers swarmed in on them from all directions.
Jarrold looked at the man in and nodded his head. Instantly the two were back to back in almost identical fighting stances. The soldiers ran in and one swung his sword down at the stranger who countered by kicking the hand that the sword was in before his attacker could even bring the weapon completely into the attack. The man then kicked the sword, which went sailing into the air and landed in his hand. Jarrold couldn't believe the way that this guy fought it was incredible and he stood in amazement for the second time today.
The two then moved towards the gate with Tara in tow but the girl was still hurt and moving slowly. One of the soldiers ran to catch her but Jarrold saw it coming and executed a flip that placed him behind the attacker. The stranger had also seen the soldier moving towards Tara tossed the sword into the air. The timing could not have been better because just as Jarrold finished his flip he caught the sword and brought it down on the back of the soldiers helmet who feel down in front of Tara. "Are you ok sis?" Jarrold asked.
"I think so" Tara responded.
"Good we have to get the hell out of here," said the stranger, as he ushered the brother andsister towards the gate.
"You're not going anywhere." said Tharon as he led a new wave of soldiers towards thetrio. Tara responded by leaping into the air and kicking him in the mouth, while at the same time grabbing one of the soldiers by his collar and dragging him to the ground.
"Did you know she could do that?" the stranger asked with his mouth hanging open.
"Yeah, I just didn't know she could do it that well." Jarrold answered as he grabbed another one of the soldiers and pulled him in. It seemed as if the soldier knew that he was in trouble, Jarrold jumped into the air and performed an axe kick on the back of the soldiers' neck and the soldier went down. As he was coming out of his leap the young man used the back of the man he had just taken down to gain leverage and leapt into a group of three more soldiers, grabbing the closet one in the group by his collar and rolling to the left. The soldier was instantly taken off balance and began to fall, as they were going down Jarrold began his attack on another soldier by bringing his right foot across the soldiers face and kicking him in the ribs with his left. The first soldier hit the ground and Jarrold immediately spring off of him and landed a mule kick in the face of the third soldier who went sprawling backwards in Tara who had been waiting for this setup.
The girl quickly grabbed the back of the soldiers helmet and pulled back dragging him down and off balance. While still holding tightly she jumped up and planted her feet into his back and fell backwards and threw him into another soldier that was coming up behind her. The manuever however took more energy then she had and Tara fell down nearly exhausted.
"If I would've known you guys were this easy to beat up we would've escaped years ago." Jarrold said as he moved to help his little sister to her feet.
The stranger grabbed one of the soldiers in a headlock on brought his knee into his targets head."As much fun as beating up on you guys has been I think that we have to be going." he said as he released the soldier, who fell unconscious. Once again the trio started towards the gate and once again they were blocked.
"This is getting old" Tara said as she leapt up executing a flip over one of their attackers and grabbed his sword from its scabbard. "We're leaving and there's no way you jerks are going to stop us." she said as she brought the sword back into the soldiers side. She then pulled the sword out and ran towards the gate.
Jarrold and the stranger both stood in gasped at what they were seeing, Jarrold for the fact that even though he knew his sister was tough he had never seen her act quite like this. The stranger because this girl was so small and despite this was fighting just as hard as they were. "Are you guys going to stand there staring at me or are you coming?" she asked as she took another swing at the soldiers that were surrounding them.
Jarrold and the stranger shrugged their shoulders and began to run into the group of soldiers when they heard a loud rumbling coming from behind them. The stranger turned around and saw a large tank like machine barreling towards them with a large rather nasty weapon pointing in their direction. "Look out!" the stranger shouted as he turned around to and began to run back at the tank.
"You guys get out of here" came a voice from on top of the tank. The Jarrold and the stranger both looked up and saw four people standing on top of the tank and he recognized the one that shouted the warning as the man that he had handed the key to a few minutes ago.
"Can you handle this?" the stranger shouted up to the man.
"We'll be fine, you just get those kids out of here." came the reply.
The stranger turned around and ran back towards Jarrold and his sister who were now at thegate fighting off several of the soldiers. "Come on we're leaving." the stranger said as he ran by the brother and sister team.
Jarrold and Tara nodded at him and ran through the gate barely making it out before thegate slammed shut on them. Tara turned around to make a comment and saw that Tharon had been caught under the collapsing gate and crushed beneath its weight. Tara decided not to make her the comment that came to mind and simply shook her head as the trio walked away grateful for finally being free.
Bryan stood at the door of his family home. He hadn't been home since the day he shipped off to the military academy almost three years ago, and even though he had exchanged letters with his family at least twice he still missed them all and couldn't wait to taste his moms cooking. The young man reach up grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. Almost instantly he was tackled by his little brother "Hi ya squirt" he said as he lifted the small boy into the air and gave him a little toss."Look how big you got."
The boy giggled and ran into the kitchen "Hey everybody Bryans home" the child shouted. The family ran from different rooms a to greet Bryan who responded by giving them each a hug. "How are you dear?" asked his mother as she looked over her oldest sons blue uniform.
"Did you bring me one of those cool blasters?" asked his little brother.
"Yeah did you bring us a blaster?" asked Bryans other little brother Elliot.
"I'm doing great" Bryan answered looking first at his mom then at his dad. "I'm really excited about my first assignment, I can't wait to get into space. And sorry Johnny and Elliot I couldn't get you guys a blaster" he said as he reached into his bag. "But I did get you these" he said as he pulled out two bracelets.
"Cool, what are they?" Elliot asked.
"They're short range sonic sling shots" he answered. "Now be careful with these you could hurt someone."
"So when do you ship off son?" Bryan's dad asked as he looked over his oldest son.
"I ship out in three days so I want to rest, and spend little time with you guys before I leave. But for now all want to do is take a shower."
"Go ahead Bryan," said his mom "dinner will be ready in an hour." she gave her son a hug and headed back into the kitchen.
Bryan walked into the bathroom and turned on the water and began to strip. It had been a long time since he had taken a shower in private and this felt like the best shower he had ever taken. As he stood under the soothing water he felt as if he could be in here forever. That is until he heard a crash and a scream coming from down stairs. Instinctivly he jumped out of the shower and grabbed a robe. As he ran down the hallway he put on his robe and came to the stairs just in timeto catch the site of his father on his knees with a Vandairre soldier standing in front of him with a pistol pointing towards his head.
"What the hell is going on here?" Bryan shouted,"That man is my father and a senator.I order you to release him and get out of my home now." The soldiers simply looked up at him and began to laugh.
"Do you find something funny?"he asked with a scowled "Obviously you don't know who I am."
"Oh we know who you are Lieutenant, and you are ordered to prepare for departure. Your family is to be executed as traitors and you have been ordered to ship out early." said the soldier holding the pistol "Since you are a member of the armed forces you will be spared as long as you follow orders and cooperate."
"What do you mean executed as traitors, my father is a highly placed senator there is noway he could be a traitor now let him go apologize and get the hell out of here. Maybe I won't bring you up on charges. Bryan said as he began to walk down the stairs.
"If you don't believe us ask him." the soldier said pointing towards the senator.
Bryan looked at his dad in confusion "Dad please tell me that he's lying." the young man pleaded.
"Bryan do what they say and go with them now." his father said turning his headaway from his oldest son.
"No, dad tell me their lying, please tell me their lying."
"I can't do that Bryan." his dad returned.
"You see your family are traitors, now report to base as ordered and as soon as we're finished with these traitors we'll be joining you."
Bryan began to walk towards the door than he stopped and turned around "Wait I'm still in my robe let me go get into uniform" he said. The soldier nodded his head and Bryan walked towards the stairs. "And if you have to do this at least wait until I leave."
"Alright Lieutenant, we'll give you that much but hurry up we have other things to take care of." the soldier said.
Bryan entered his room and quickly discarded the robe and put on his uniform then he looked over on the bed and saw the sonic slingshot that he had given Elliot sitting there. At first he thought that since he had only seen his mother and father downstairs that maybe his brothers were hiding In their room. After donning his uniform he ran to their room and saw that they were not there. 'Damn' he thought 'where are they? Well at least they won't be around to see what I'm about to do?' and with that thought in his head he walked out of his room, down the stairs and towards the door stopping only to take a quick glance at his dad, then he began his attack.
Grabbing the sword that he had hanging from his hip, spun around and drew the weapon while at the same time ramming into the soldier that was pointing the weapon at his dad. The soldier was stunned was by this action and dropped his weapon. Bryan brought his sword down on top of the gun completely destroying the weapon. He then ran over to the fallen soldier and gave him a kick in the head knocking him unconscious.
The other soldiers were shocked by this and totally surprised by his course of action. This is what he had hoped for because now they were all off balance.
Bryan continued his attack on them by bringing the hilt of his sword into another soldiers ribs knocking the wind out of him and then leapt up and kicked yet another in the back of the head with a spinning roundhouse, that soldier went down also. One of the other soldiers realized what was happening and brought up his weapon to fire at Bryan but was tackled from behind by Bryan's dad.
"Nobody points a weapon at my son" he said as he stood back up and picked up the soldiers weapon. He looked over and saw that another one of the soldiers running at Bryan and quickly leveled his weapon on that soldier and fired hitting him in the back. The soldier fell against the wall a slid down leaving a bloody streak.
The lead soldier had slowly regained consciousness and was now standing. He quickly realized that his team were not strong enough to finish the lieutenant or his father. He looked around for a moment and got a grip on his surroundings. He then bolted away from the fighting headed directly for the door "Torch the house" to a figure that was standing on the other side of the openi1ng. The remaining soldiers all gathered themselves and raced towards the door. Bryan attempted to block them but there were to many and he was knocked over.
Another soldier entered the house wearing a flame thrower. He stepped on Bryan as he walked by and kicked the senator sending him flying over the couch. He pointed his flame thrower at the couch and fired, incinerating the piece of furniture. The fire spread very rapidly and Bryan found himself surrounded by flames. He started to run to the door but realized that his dad and mom were still inside. In midstep Bryan turned around and ran to the couch. Bryan didn't see his mom anywhere but found his dad laying on the floor. The young man leaned down and helped his father to his feet. The fire was beginning to quickly spread up the walls and throughout the family room.
"Good" said the lead soldier."Now we can get out of here."
As they walked out one of the soldiers fired a shot into the room and hit the senator in the chest. Bryan was running towards the door when he noticed that his dad had been hit he to turned around and leaned over to help his father up.
The senator pushed his son away "get out of here" he said. "You have to find where they took your mother and brothers so you can rescue them."
"Come on dad we'll get out together." Bryan said, now on the verge of tears.
"No Bryan, I am a traitor but not just to the Vandairre. I betrayed my family and the Earth years ago and thought that by stealing military plans and giving them to the resistance that maybe I could somehow redeem myself. That's why I pushed so hard for you to get space duty. I made a deal with the resistance so that they would not interfere with the space forces in any way."
"Dad why didn't you tell me this?" Bryan asked as the fire blazed around him.
"I didn't want you involved in what I was doing. I knew that if I were caught they would kill me so I tried to protect you." The senator said as he clutched at his wound. "Now Bryan you have to leave. I'm too weak to make it so just leave me. Besides there is something that you have to do for me."
"What is it dad?" the young man asked as tears swelled his eyes.
The senator reached in his pocket and pulled out a small golden coin and a piece of paper."I need you to go out and look for the resistance. You'll find a young lady by the name of Rebecca Sawyer, she's a leader of on of the factions. I need you to make sure that she gets these."
"What are these?" Bryan asked, looking over the objects that had just been handed to him.
"These are the Earths last chance of ever being free from the Vandairre. The paper is a map to a place where the will find the power to fight the aliens and the coin is the key to that power. I had hoped to use these to fight Nicandros." Senator William Cranston looked at his oldest son and then pulled him in close, giving him a firm hug. "Now get out of here before it's to late for us and the world."
"Dad, I love you." Bryan said as he hugged his dad for what he knew would be the last time.
"I love you too son." his father said. Then his body went limp.
Bryan ran out of the house with tears running down his eyes. He turned around to take one last look at the house and thought that he could see a figure moving around in the smoke, but just as quickly as it came the figure had disappeared.
The house collapsed and Bryan truely realized that his life as he had known it was over. The young man pulled the military jacket that he was wearing off and dropped it to the ground. He looked at the coat for a moment before grinding it with his feet and spitting on it.
Bryan Cranston turned to look at his burning family home and silently made a vow that the Vandairre would pay dearly for what they had done this day and he was going to be the one that made sure that it happened.