Looming Danger
With the worm's relentless assault there was no way the Vortians could fight back. They had to wait.
Fortunately most of the prisoners were able to return to the bunkers before the attack started.
Darden managed to rescue a couple Vortians who'd wandered too far away to make it back in time. He'd tucked one under each arm before jumping down into the bunker.
Of course Lard Nar had asked him to do this, since he never would have done it on his own accord, and he dropped them as soon as he could.
No one could speak to each other without attracting the worms' attention.
The crashing and clanging noises were very loud and it shook the small cramped space.
Darden was crouching near the open hatch. It wouldn't close without electricity. His antennae were raised and his body was tense. He seemed ready to launch himself out at any moment.
The ceiling was beginning to crack and fracture. It wouldn't be long before they broke inside.
Screams sounded from somewhere far away. Had the worms gotten into one of the bunkers? Were people dying right now? There was nothing he could do about it no matter how badly he wanted to help.
The Vortians were ducking down and some of them were clinging to each other. Then just as suddenly as they attack began, it stopped.
No one moved or spoke for a while.
Then Darden decided to climb out.
The former soldier stood near the hatch just in case he needed to make a hasty retreat. He shielded his eyes and looked up at the sky since most of the prison had collapsed.
"The Armada is leading them away," he said. He glanced down at the Vortians who were still huddled in the dark. "Stay there. I will let you know when they're gone."
It was a reckless thing for him to do... still, no one argued and after some time passed the Irken gave them the all clear.
"I'm sorry," Veena apologized to Lard Nar once everyone was above ground. "I left Laes right here... I don't know what happened to him."
"I'm not too sure about a "Laes," but Triple Seven was taken away by some Irken soldiers after he spoke to the Tallest earlier," one of the Vortians offered.
"Triple Seven is Laes' prisoner name..." Lard Nar spoke, and he rubbed his temples.
The Tallest had spoken with Laes before... even so... something didn't seem right about this...
Lard Nar looked up at the sky, but the sun was out. They couldn't see into space from here.
He was sure the Armada was long gone by now anyway.
"What does the Tallest want with Laes?" Veena asked, scowling. "He didn't sound like someone they would be interested in... No offense intended, but he seems... he can't have any useful information or abilities can he?"
Lard Nar turned to regard Darden who was glaring in the direction he'd seen the Armada fly off in.
"What do you think about this?" he asked the Irken.
Darden's scowl faded when he gave his full attention to Lard Nar. "I can't tell what my Tallest are planning... but if he was hauled away by the soldiers then he might have said something stupid to garner their wrath."
"Great..." Veena said as she dragged a hand down her face. "And I'm the one who left him alone."
"Laes is a grown Vortian who can take responsibility for his own idiotic choices," Darden told them both. "Besides, the witness said nothing about him being killed. There is a chance he's just being detained at the moment..."
The former soldier frowned and crossed his arms.
"Although, judging from the Armada's recent movements and the fact they are recalling Irken civilians to Irk... I would say there isn't much time before they abandon this galaxy and barricade themselves inside a barrier, not unlike what the Meekrob have already done."
"What about the planets they've conquered?" Veena demanded, balling her hands into fists as she glared up at him. "Your Empire left them all defenseless."
"We tried to kill the worms before they reached this critical stage," Darden responded. His expression didn't change at all as he continued, "but now the worms are spreading too quickly and have even begun to breed. It won't be long before it will be impossible for anyone to live outside of a very strong and well constructed barrier."
"This means every planet and every race is at risk of being wiped out..." Lard Nar concluded, burying his face in his hands. "That's horrible..."
"Yes... we are looking at a large scale extinction," Darden responded as a matter of fact. There was no emotion in his voice or his expression, as though the death of billions of people didn't matter to him.
"It's sounding kinda sad over here," someone commented.
This Vortian was approaching them from the long corridor. This former prisoner stretched his hands over his head and offered them a smile. Then he glanced all around him and 'hmmed' to himself as he brought a finger to his chin.
"I didn't think I was sleeping that long but it looks like they did some renovations while I was unconscious."
The stranger took a better look at the piles of debris, the large holes in the floor, the crumbling walls and almost non-existent ceiling.
"The Irkens should ask for a refund if you ask me."
"Did you say you were sleeping?" Veena questioned him in disbelief. "How?"
"Well I'm no expert on it, but I'm pretty sure whatever machine I was hooked up to was forcing me to sleep," the other Vortian responded, and he laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "But I guess the power was cut-off at some point, so I finally woke up."
"Ok... but how were you not eaten?" Veena asked.
The stranger blinked. "Eaten by what?"
"Giant flesh eating worms," Darden answered for her.
"Oh," the other Vortian looked around again before regarding the Irken. "We have those here?" He rubbed his cheek. "I thought I was dreaming. Guess it's a good thing I decided to roll under that cot for a bit after all."
This older Vortian didn't seem flustered or upset at all. There was also something that seemed familiar about him... Lard Nar couldn't quite place it. The other Vortian not only looked familiar, but his actions and expressions also reminded him of someone.
"Well, I should find my better half and my son," the former prisoner decided as he started to walk past them. "Thanks for the information. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for those worms you mentioned. I'm guessing they're worse than the sand ones considering the state of this place."
"Hold on," Veena said, snagging him by the wrist. "Didn't you say you just woke up? Are you sure you should be walking around right now?"
The other Vortian turned to her and smiled again.
"I'm alright, but I'm a bit concerned. I was dreaming about my son a little while ago." He brought a hand to his chest. "Call it a father's intuition, but I can't help feeling something might have happened to him."
He shrugged his shoulders.
"But I shouldn't be troubling you guys with my personal concerns. Unless you really want to hear all about them. Then I'll keep talking about it, no problem."
"Your son... his name wouldn't happen to be Laes would it?" Lard Nar questioned.
The similarities were too much to ignore.
"It is," the stranger responded happily. "People always tell he looks more like his mother, so I'm a bit surprised you guessed that. Did he tell you about me?"
"Well... no... he um..." Lard Nar murmured, lowering his gaze and clutching his arm close to his body.
He never expected to find himself face to face with Laes' father. He had given so many parents and relatives bad news about their children since he started the Resisty, but it never got easier.
"The Irkens took him," Veena interjected, letting go of the stranger's arm.
"I see, well, hopefully wherever they took him looks better than this place," Laes' father remarked. He held out his hand to Lard Nar. "I'm Freedo, former engineer, drafter, repair officer, among other things."
Was that really all Laes' father had to say...?
Lard Nar stared down at his hand. This guy seemed to be acting very casual despite his son being taken away. Of course there was nothing any of them could do about it, and there was no proof Laes was dead.
It took him a moment to realize Laes' father was doing an official Vortian greeting.
This was common in Vortian culture; to list their professions. That's how others learned what a person was capable of in case there was a job that needed doing, or someone knew of a job that needed doing.
Lard Nar slowly extended his hand and grasped the older Vortian's. He gave it a quick shake.
"Lard Nar..." he said. Then after a moment of hesitation. "Former engineer."
He let go of Freedo's hand and returned his gaze to the floor.
Veena didn't move to greet Freedo. Instead she kept her distance and folded her arms over her chest.
"I'm Veena, hacker, data collector, and programmer."
"It's nice to meet you," Freedo told her before regarding Darden. "You're not one of the guards are you? I don't recognize you."
"No," Darden responded, and he didn't offer any further information, even though Freedo seemed to be waiting for him to say something more.
The silence didn't last very long.
Freedo glanced down the next hallway before speaking.
"I should really try to find my life partner at least."
He gestured in the direction he was looking at before returning his attention to the group of three.
"She'll want to know Laes and I weren't eaten by worms, and that he's not on Vort anymore, again. For someone who's never left the planet before he's sure seems to be spending a lot of time away from it lately," he chuckled and shook his head as he began to walk away.
Once he rounded the corner, Veena glanced side-ways at Lard Nar.
"Do you think he understood everything that's going on right now?"
"I'm not sure..." Lard Nar admitted.
His attention shifted to a small group of Vortians mulling around nearby. Most of them were talking to each other and searching through the debris for useful building materials while a few of them seemed content to just watch.
"But right now I think repairing whatever ships we can salvage and evacuating the planet should be our first priority."
"And where do you plan to evacuate to exactly?" Darden questioned him.
Lard Nar looked up at the Irken.
Darden's expression was neutral and his body seemed relaxed enough. It was an honest question.
"There are more worms now than even the Armada can handle... and as long as they can find a food source, more will come," the Irken informed him.
"Th-then..." whatever false confidence Lard Nar felt instantly vanished.
"Perhaps it isn't my place to say since I am not an engineer, but I would suggest you and your people build up your planet's defence systems instead. Get the energy generators running and rework the shields so that there's less sound."
Darden continued: "I'm giving you this advice based on what I've seen work for the Empire... the worms are attracted to noise more than anything else. Also regular shields will not work. You will need a powerful one, or multiple ones. You will also need a nearly infinite energy supply to power it considering we are unsure how long it will take for the worms to leave and any breaks or weaknesses in the defences could get everyone killed."
"That requires constant monitoring of the energy levels and the shield itself," Veena stated.
She didn't sound the least bit put off by the Irken's suggestion, but then they still had the prototype of the infinite energy producing thing probably, so having a very powerful shield that could run for decades wasn't an impossible idea.
They would have to track down where the device was being stored though, and then they would have to build a fully functioning one based off of this prototype.
The Irkens had already done something with the real one.
"I would suggest monitoring them in shifts then," Darden responded.
The Irkens had been dealing with the worms for a short amount of time, but they still knew a whole lot more about the creatures than anyone else did.
It wasn't that long ago that he didn't consider the worms a threat. There had only been a few of them at first, and they seemed less interested in the Resisty and more interested in the Armada.
When it became apparent the worms were ravenous and would eat anyone they came across however, that's when he built the cloaking device which turned the Resisty's ships invisible.
He'd been working on this cloaking system to use against the Irkens, but the worms definitely pressed him to complete it faster.
"If the worms couldn't see the planet, and met with a normal barrier, would they attempt to break through it?" Lard Nar asked Darden.
The Irken stood quiet for a while before responding, "that would be considered too risky by our standards, plus we do not have that kind of cloaking technology readily available."
"I have that technology..." he paused to consider what he should say next. "The Resisty has that technology right now, but I can make another cloaking device if I need to."
"Again, it sounds too risk..."
"If it fails we could use the bunkers," Veena suggested, interrupting Darden.
"For a while, yes," Darden agreed. "However, we received reports from front line soldiers that these worms can in fact break apart planets, and your planet has already survived two attacks. I honestly don't think it could survive third."
"They break apart planets...?" Lard Nar repeated quietly in disbelief.
How was that even possible...?
"Yes," Darden responded, scowling down at him. "I just told you this."
"But even if we had a shield that was strong enough to deflect them for an extended period of time, how would we get supplies?" Lard Nar pressed although his resolve was starting to waiver.
He was beginning to realize that if they managed to not get eaten themselves then they would likely die of starvation... if that was how their lives were going to end, it might be better to be devoured quickly than to suffer the agony of slowly wasting away.
"I'm sure the wardens had prepared for this type of lock-down," Darden spoke. His voice sounded calm, and his posture was relaxed. The Irken didn't seemed concerned at all.
"There will be at least a few months of supplies stored away somewhere... but you're right. After those supplies run out getting more will become a problem, though I'm sure if you converse with your people someone will have an idea on what should happen when that time comes. Vortians are not a stupid race."
Lard Nar's eyes widened in surprise as he stared at Darden's expressionless face. The Irken was actually telling him to worry about starving later as though the idea of it wasn't currently worth thinking about.
"If you want to gather your people together, I will explain about the threat we're currently facing and what is needed to stop them," Darden offered after a few moments of thoughtful silence.
"So you're going to help us then?" Veena questioned; her eyes narrowing in distrust. "Why?"
"Because my orders were to protect Laes, and since his parents are here I'm sure he will return whether the worms are attacking or not," Darden answered without a moment's hesitation.
Lard Nar dragged a hand down his face. The Irken was right... Laes wouldn't care about how dangerous returning was if his parents were still here. Besides that, his planet was falling apart... the prison was pretty much a ruin now. They would only have scraps to work with.
He didn't doubt these worms could destroy a planet after witnessing what they did to the jungle planet.
"Well, I'll start gathering everyone over here," Veena offered before walking towards a small group of Vortians talking nearby.
"I'll go speak with some of the others about this idea," Lard Nar said, and then he began walking down one of the splintered hallways.
Since the Prison made up their entire planet, there was no way for them to communicate with the prisoners further away until the power was turned back on.
That would be their first priority then: restoring power to whatever was left of the building.
Author's Notes: Look at Freedo beating all of the odds and coming out alive! See? It can happen!
Also I apologize if there is any wonky wording or obvious spelling errors etc. I should have edited this chapter much more but I got depr—severely unmotivated.
I'm going to lie and say I'm totally fine mentally, and there definitely isn't any kind of concerning pain shooting through my arms and hands at the moment! Ha ha.
I can't promise quick updates right now but they will continue to happen. I will not abandon this fic the same way I abandoned all of the others! Err... I mean. I could still update those one day possibly.