Last chapter, Bloom woke up from a strange dream involving a strange man with glowing blue eyes. Sky told her that Stella and the others who were trapped on the planet had made contact with the Thermopylae. Carmen had decided to use the Dragon Slave, the most powerful Dark Magic spell, to destroy the enemy power generators. (note, the Dragon Slave spell belongs to the anime Slayers) With the enemy shields down, those trapped can be rescued. On with the show!

Chapter 6: Rescue

08:51:08

With just over six minutes before the rescue plan goes into action, Bloom was anxiously pacing up and down the length of the bridge of the Thermopylae. "Relax," said Vincent, "The best thing you can do for your friends is to relax." "It's the waiting that's so irritating." Said Bloom. "In the two wars I've been in," said Vincent, "This one and the war against the Cylons, I've discovered that war is mostly boredom. Boredom punctuated by moments of shear terror."

Bloom then decided that now was the time to ask Vincent something that's been troubling her. "There's something wrong about Major Samson." Said Bloom. "What do you mean?" asked Vincent. "Well," said Bloom, "Normally I can sense peoples emotions. I can usually tell when they're lying for example. But with Major Samson, I'm not sensing anything from him. It's like he's not human."

"That's because I'm not human," said an irritated Major Samson, "I'm a cyborg." "Well," said a somewhat shocked Bloom, "That explains a lot." "Major Samson was one of the cyborgs who stayed when the others left." Said Vincent. "Oh." Said Bloom. "Almost time," said Corneal Powell. He then activated the ship's intercom, "First Viper squad to your stations. Raptor 1 and Raptor 2, prepare for launch in T –5 minutes."

08:46:12

"Now that I've had time to think it over," said Riven, "I just want to go on record that this is a really bad idea." "Well if you have a better idea," said Carmen, "Now's the time." They were on the roof of the Irken base. "I still can't believe that they haven't found us yet," said Flora, "I mean hiding on the roof is the most obvious place to look for us." "The bugs claim to be smarter than humans," said Aiden, "But the majority of them are just plain stupid."

"Thirty seconds to go," said Tecna, "Are you ready Carmen?" "Ready as I'll ever be." Answered Carmen. "I think we should give Carmen some room," said Helia, "Just to be safe." Everyone nodded in agreement and backed away from Carmen. Tecna then checked her watch, "Fifteen seconds…ten…five, four, three, two, one…"

08:45:00

"Now!" exclaimed Corneal Powell, "Launch Vipers and Raptors!"

08:44:59

"Now!" exclaimed Tecna as Carmen began to chant:

"Darkness from twilight;

Crimson from blood that flows;

Buried in the flow of time…

A bright yellow energy ball with a black outline began to form in Carmen's hands.

"In Thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness!

Those who oppose us shall be destroyed by the power you and I possess!"

The energy ball reached its full form as Carmen shouted…

"DRAGON SLAVE!"

She shot the energy ball from her hands at the power generators. It struck the machines and exploded with the force of a small nuclear bomb. "Goodness!" exclaimed Tecna. Carmen then collapsed from the effort of the spell. "Are you alright?" asked Stella. "I'm just tired, that's all." Said Carmen. "Now we know why the Dragon Slave isn't on the normal curriculum in Cloud Tower." Said Flora. "If the spell isn't taught at C.T.," said Riven, "How do you know it?" "It's a family tradition." Answered Carmen.

When the smoke cleared, Stella saw that there was nothing left of the generators but twisted chunks of metal.

08:43:45

Inside the Irken complex, Zim had rushed into the main control room to find total chaos and near darkness. "Technician!" exclaimed Zim, "What was that explosion? And why are the lights out?" "Fleet Master," said the technician, "Something has happened to the primary and secondary generators. We're on emergency power only." "The shield is down!" exclaimed a second technician, "Our weapons are offline!" "We're completely defenseless." Said Zim to himself. "Yay!" exclaimed Gir. "No Gir," said Zim, "That's bad." "Oh." Said Gir, sounding somewhat disappointed."

Zim, Gir, several guards and soldiers rushed outside to check the damage to the power generators. "What could have destroyed our source of power from inside our shields?" asked Zim. "Maybe they know." Said Gir. The robot was pointing at the roof, where Stella, Riven and Aiden were watching, their heads poking from the edge. "Oh frak! They've seen us!" exclaimed Aiden.

"They're on the roof?" exclaimed Zim, "They're on the roof! Gir! Destroy them!" The eyes of the robot shifted from blue to red as Gir exclaimed, "None shall survive!" The robot activated twin flight jet's in it's legs, and took off for the roof. However, the jet's sputtered and died before Gir could get more than 20 feet into the air. Gir's eyes shifted back to blue as it fell to the ground.

Zim rushed over to the robot, which was apparently undamaged, so to speak. "What happened!" exclaimed Zim, "How did you run out of fuel that quickly!" "I emptied it out." Answered Gir in a matter of fact way. "Emptied it?" asked Zim in disbelief, "Why!" Gir then detached one of it's legs. There was something sloshing around in the leg, something other than jet fuel. "To make room for the tuna." Answered Gir in a tone that sounded like Zim just asked a rather stupid question. Gir then proceeded to guzzle said tuna.

"I told you your robot was broken!" shouted Helia. "It's more like a lunchbox than a robot!" laughed Morgan. "Uh, Morgan?" said Flora. "What?" asked Morgan defensively, "Oh I know I said no more jokes. But that was too good to pass up." "It's not that," said Flora, "it's that." The Irken soldiers had each sprouted four retractable metal legs from their backpacks. They used they legs to jump onto the roof, their blasters pointing at Stella and the others.

Zim was the last one to jump onto the roof. "You filthy human teenagers thought you can make a fool out of me," said Zim grimly, "Well you're wrong!" "I don't need to make a fool out of you, Zim," said Stella, "Because you're already one!" At this, Stella transformed into her Winx outfit. "What the!" exclaimed Zim. "You might want to cover your eyes!" said Riven to Aiden.

Stella had taken off her ring. It unfolded into her staff, and she raised it up, shouting, "SUN POWER!" The resulting flash of light hit the aliens full in the face. When the light faded, the Irken's were stumbling around, their eyes seemed to have scabbed over. "My eyes!" exclaimed Zim, "I'm blind! Blind!" He stumbled over to the edge of the roof, and fell over. The remaining soldiers were thrown off by Aiden, Helia and Riven.

"That was close," said Tecna. "Too close," said Carmen." "What now?" asked Flora. "Now," said Aiden, who was looking up at the sky, "We get rescued." Stella and the others looked up to see several craft descending from space. "Here!" shouted Aiden, "We're over here!" He began to jump up and down, waving his arms in order to attract the craft.

Within two minutes, the craft Colonial Raptors had landed. Stella, Carmen, Aiden and Tecna got in one, while Morgan, Flora, Helia and Riven got in the other. The two Raptors took off for space.

Back on the ground, several Irken soldiers had managed to get Zim to his feet. "What now, Fleet Master?" asked one of the soldiers. "Do we have enough power for communications?" asked Zim. "We do indeed, Fleet Master." Answered the soldier. "Then signal the Armada," said Zim, "I'll join them in orbit. I just need to wait for the skin to grow back on my eyeballs."

The end of chapter 6. Next chapter, our brave explorers are reunited again, as they wait for the way home to open. See you next time!