Chaper 26
It was afternoon when they got together. They headed right for the stage where Claudio stood every time he addressed the workers. They found the door he always seemed to disappear through, and with very little effort knocked it down. Inside they found Snake reclined on a plush couch with servant girls in togas all around him, feeding him grapes and wine, massaging him, and fanning him with huge feather fans. The room was filled with huge, colorful floor pillows, candles, and sheer curtains hanging from the ceiling.
Snake was so taken by surprise that he didn't know what hit him when he was shot in the shoulder with the modified weapon.
"Now Honey," Aaron said "We want to know where the control panel is that turns off the force field in the outdoor laundry area."
Snake would not answer.
"Tie him up!" Ordered Aaron.
Jack and Theta did so with strips from their blankets that they had cut that morning.
"Aaron." Jack said and she began a search for the control panel. She quickly found what she was looking for and disabled the force field by removing some type of wire.
"Alright, let's get out of here!" Jack ordered.
"Uh, Jack, we can't just leave these people. So the force field is turned off, they don't know that, they don't know Snake has been taken out, and what about Rican and Kareen? We owe them more!"
"Aaron!" Jack said in an aggravated tone.
"Jack, you know I'm right!"
"Fine! You and Theta grab Snake and we'll drag him to the laundry. Have your p-90s ready." Jack then looked at the servant girls in the togas and told them to follow behind them.
Once the group arrived at the laundry, Jack peeked inside to see the location of the guards while the rest of the team stayed out of sight. With silent hand signals Jack told each team member the location of the guards he wanted them to target with their p-90s. Luce kept his p-90 trained on the bound and gagged Snake.
They rushed into the laundry and took out a dozen guards in seconds. "Luce, bring Snake in here!" Jack called as other guards heard the commotion and came to investigate.
Luce kept his weapon on Snake, while Jack warned the advancing guards that they would kill the Supreme Ruler of the Scorpions if they came any closer. Then Jack climbed up on the edge of one of the laundry vats so everyone could see him.
"Listen, people, you're free!" He began. "The force field is gone and you can do whatever you want! You can leave!"
The slaves began to come forward to hear what Jack was saying.
"Look," he continued, "Snake has been captured, Dace is dead, and so is Claudio. The force field is gone; you can create whatever kind of society you like! You guards are free too. If you are loyal to Claudio and want to stop us step forward now."
A handful of guards tried to rush the group and were immediately put down with shots. Another one shouted something about insolent slaves and received a laundry oar to the head courtesy of Dava. The woman then stepped forward to stand near Jack.
"I have lived in this complex my entire life. These strangers are giving us the chance to choose our own leaders, make up our own laws and venture into the outside world if we so choose. They have given us a great gift."
By this point Rican and Kareen had worked their way to the front of the group. Jack was telling Dava and the guards that they needed to keep the people away from the Scorpions who were sending aquanda to the ships.
"Once they're gone," Jack was saying "It will be safe for you to go anywhere, just stay away from them until they are gone."
Dava nodded. "I will see to it." Already, Aaron and Jack could see that Dava was taking on the roll of the leader of these people. They knew she would be a good leader.
"We have to go now!" Jack said
The group headed back toward the underground spring. They had stashed six Scorpion uniforms in the hidden cavern that led to their escape opening. Each of them, including Rose, now donned a Scorpion uniform, took a weapon and escaped the cave.
As they entered they clearing, shots fired all around them. "Damn they arrived early! Come on, we have to hurry!" Aaron yelled.
Running back to the TARDIS with Scorpions hot on their tails was harder then it seemed. When they reached the TARDIS, Jack ducked behind a log to hold off the attackers until everyone was inside.
Whilst returning fire from behind a downed log, Jack turned to his friends and asked, "Where's Aaron?"
Surprised, Theta replied, "She was right behind us. Luce, any idea?"
"No Theta. Aaron was indeed following us. She should be here."
"Aaron!" Jack yelled. All they heard was silence. Starting to worry, Jack looked at the other two. They were also worried.
"She can't be far, surely."
"She cannot. She was right behind me when we entered the forest. If we were to retrace our steps we will surely find her."
Just then a loud explosion shook the forest and another spurt of enemy fire hit a nearby tree. However the enemy fire was decreasing. Maybe the Scorpions thought that they had moved off towards the caves again. Jack decided that for the moment, staying where they were was the best thing to do. The Scorpions would continue on to the caves and then they could backtrack to find Aaron.
Twenty minutes later with no further sightings of any Scorpion troops the remaining members of the group went to locate Aaron. Carefully retracing their path until they reached the forests edge, but there was no trace of her.
"Where is she?'
"Do you think the Scorpions could have captured her?" Jack looked at Luce.
"I suppose it could be possible."
Jack looked back up the path, "Let's double check everything, maybe she veered off the path to avoid the troops."
Once again the three of them walked the path. This time carefully checking to see if Aaron had left the path.
"Jack. Over here!"
"What is it Luce?"
"It appears something was dragged off the path in this direction"
Nodding, Jack knelt down to examine the area of foliage next to the path.
"There's blood here."
"Is it Aaron's?"
"I don't know Luce, but we have to find her. Let's go."
Moving through the scrub was slow but eventually Jack noticed evidence that someone had come through here very recently.
"I think Aaron was walked through here. There's no drag marks and look there's a knife mark on all these trees."
Walking back past several trees Jack looked for and found the marks on them.
"She's marking the trees for us, telling us which way they're going. Keep your eyes open for this mark on any of the trees."
Both Theta, Rose, and Luce nodded and turned to the nearest tree. By using this method they managed to navigate their way through the forest to a large clearing. Jack wondered what to do next. There were no trees to lead the way. If Aaron could leave the clues on the trees he was sure she would find another way to tell them where she'd been taken.
Looking around the clearing for the clues he saw evidence of a fight at the far end of the clearing. Two Scorpions were lying on the ground.
"Over here!"
"What is it Jack?"
He pointed to the Scorpions. It looks like Aaron escaped them. Kneeling down he felt for a pulse. Not finding one he stood again and proceeded to follow the trampled down path that led away from the clearing. Continuing down the path they came to another clearing. In the middle of the clearing lay the prone body of Aaron.
"Oh my God. No."
Running over to her, Jack repeated the action of looking for a pulse. This time however there was a beat.
"She's alive but she's injured. We have to get her back to the TARDIS ASAP." They nodded and with everyone's help, they managed to make a stretcher and took her back to the TARDIS.
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only a few more chapters left (not gonna tell u how many evil laugh) please review!
oh! im not gonna be here for a week so i hope u can survive that long without an update...lol
