I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.
Backup
I stare at the ship as it approaches. It doesn't look quite like any Mogadorian ship I had seen, but I'm just a human. What do I know?
"That's not one of ours," Adam says.
"No," Six agrees, resting a hand on Marina's shoulder to calm her. "It's okay. Don't you recognize it? It's one of ours. Like the one that brought us here."
I stare at her then back at the ship. That's a Loric ship? Is that the backup John had mentioned? Had he somehow found more Loric? Hopefully they were Garde. As the ship lands I shoulder my rifle, not trusting the ship to not be filled with Mogadorians. The others seem to agree because they're all tense. A ramp unfurls from the side, reaching to the ground as a door opens above it. Then, a familiar beagle charges down the ramp, running to Six and propping his front pas on her thigh a moment before rushing to greet Marina, then Adam, then me, his tail a blur the entire time.
"Hello again BK," I grin, lowering my rifle and reaching down to scratch Bernie Kosar's head.
I look back up at the ramp to see Sarah standing at the top, arms spread wide and a grin on her tired face. Lines ran under her eyes and her eyes were a little bloodshot. Of course they were. The invasion would be on every channel, and Sarah had known where John was. She must have been worried sick.
"Look what we found!" Sarah said, still grinning before heading down the ramp where Marina met her with a hug, followed by Six.
"Who's we?" I ask just as a boy about Sarah's age steps into view at the top of the ramp.
He has messy dark hair and tired squinty eyes, as though he didn't see the sun often. His eyes find Adam and widen.
"Whoa," he speaks up. "You've got one of them standing behind you."
"That's Adam," Sarah says. "I thought I told you about him."
"Oh, I guess you did," the boy nods. "It's just, uh, spooky, seeing one of them walking around like normal. Sorry bro."
"It's alright," Adam says, then indicates Phiri Dun-Ra, who we had brought back out of the jungle after finishing with the skimmers and blasters. "As you can see, I'm not the only Mogadorian here, but I am the friendliest."
"Noted," the boy nods, walking down the ramp.
As he approaches, I extend my hand.
"James," I greet.
"Mark," he says, shaking my hand. "Mark James."
I smirk, shaking my head. What are the chances? Six and Marina head into the ship and Mark and I walk back to the pit with Adam.
"What's this?" Mark asks.
"We're preparing for Setrákus Ra," I say. "The skimmers, uh, ships, over there, are rigged with C4. We'll blow them when the Mogadorians are close enough. Then We use the blasters hidden in the trees to slaughter the rest while making them think the attack is coming from all around them. Then, when Setrákus Ra tries to stroll into the Sanctuary, he'll fall into our pit."
I drop into the pit, picking up my shovel and continuing to dig.
"A pit?" Mark scoffs. "You're going to kill Setrákus Ra, with a pit?"
"Not kill," I say. "We can't kill him unless we kill Ella first. We're only slowing him down while we rescue Ella and steal the Anubis."
"So, your big plan is to drop the giant alien in a pit, then steal his ship?" Mark asks just as Six and Marina return.
"Pretty much, yes," Six nods. "We don't know what he wants with the Sanctuary exactly, but he can't take the power inside anywhere without his ship."
Mark groaned.
"I get that this was a great plan before, when you were, like, stranded, but we can leave now," Mark says.
I sigh, resting my forearms on the handle of my shovel.
"You're right," I agree. "We could leave. And then Setrákus Ra would have an endless supply of Loric Energy at his disposal, god-like power, and he would probably strip all of the Garde of their powers. Would you prefer that?"
Mark stared at me before sighing.
"Thought not," I said, beginning to dig again. "Whatever Setrákus Ra wants, he can't have it. We have to stop him here. And if all else fails, we can have the ship waiting on standby in case we do end up needing to get away fast."
"I agree with James," Six says. "It's both what's right and what's smart at the same time."
"Alright," Mark sighs. "Fine. I understand."
"Now for the real question," I speak up, grinning up at them. "Why is the only one digging our most important trap the one with no powers?"
"Silence slave," Marina laughed, miming cracking a whip. "Faster slave."
"Yes Mistress," I say, digging as fast as I could, most of the dirt falling back in the pit anyway.
Everyone laughs then Adam, Six, and Marina drop back into the pit to help while Mark, Sarah, and the pilot, who I assume is Loric, go to get shovels. Adam loosens the soil again and we continue to dig, Six and Marina hurling massive chunks of ground away from the pit one after the other, the rest of us pulling up shovelfuls then piling them in the middle where Six and Marina would lift it out of the pit once it was big enough and we'd continue.
We talk as we work, telling each other what we've missed, all of us being very careful to say as little as possible about Eight's death, and me being completely silent while the others talked about his temporary resurrection. Oddly enough, despite everything Sarah had done for the Garde, she hadn't gotten any Legacies, at least, not yet. Mark James hadn't either, but no one really seemed surprised by that. Sarah was overjoyed for Sam, but it clearly hurt her a little that she didn't have Legacies. Finally, Six asked the important question.
"Is John on his way?" Six asks. "He said he was bringing the military."
"I don't think that's going to happen," Sarah sighs. "The government isn't exactly cooperating. like, they want to fight, but they don't want to lose."
"What the hell does that mean?" Six asks.
"They're being little bitches," Mark grumbles.
"They're considering cooperating with Setrákus Ra instead in order to save as many as possible if we can't show them we can win, aren't they?" I ask.
"Yes," Sarah nods.
"Figures," Six grumbles, continuing to dig. "The military never was good for anything."
I laugh once, resting my arms on my shovel again as I look over at her. "Ouch."
"Present company excluded," Six corrects herself rolling her eyes.
"Only present company?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah why?" Six asks before realizing who I was referring too.
"Hawkeye's going to be disappointed," I shrug, continuing to dig.
"Oh, he's definitely useless," Six laughs. "Rookie's alright though."
I laugh again and Marina joins me.
"Hopefully Hawkeye will find some beach to relax on soon," Marina smiles.
"Maybe he and that other human Garde Sam mentioned will take a liking to each other," Six grins. "Get him off my back."
I can't help but laugh.
"Oh now I feel bad for her," I laugh. "No one deserves that fate."
"Isn't it a little rude to make fun of friends who aren't here?" Mark asks.
"If you met Hawkeye, you'd be making fun too," I promise. "He's a good guy. He just hits on anything that moves."
"Not Marina," Six grins and I shoot her a knowing look.
"He didn't want a teleporter pissed at him," I lie. "Pissing Eight off would be a very easy way to make your life hell."
The mood drops a little, pretty much everyone catching my lie, but they let it slide. We dig in silence for a while.
"So, is John coming?" Marina asks.
"Oh, I never finished about that," Sarah says. "More bad news. Five has taken Nine hostage in New York."
I hear the crackle of frost from Marina's direction.
"What?" she hisses.
"John and the others are trying to track him down and stop, whatever that psycho has planned," Sarah says.
"I should have killed him," Marina mutters.
"No, you did the right thing," I say.
"Once they have that settled, he'll be on his way," Sarah continues after a moment. "But..."
"He won't make it in time," Six says. "It'll just be us."
Sarah nods.
"They might show up in the knick of time, just like every stereotypical action movie," I say, not really believing it in any way, mostly saying it for Sarah. "With John and Sam hanging out of either side of a helicopter and fighter jets flying in behind them, bombing the Mogadorians, but not Setrákus Ra, into oblivion."
"Maybe," Six snorts. "Bet they even do us a favor and throw Setrákus into this pit or us with their missiles."
I grin, imagining that scene playing out in a movie. Right up until the scene turned into a blood bath because Setrákus grew into King Kong's ugly bald step brother. We dig in silence from then on. Finally, after several hours, we finish. The pit is deep, easily seventy feet, mostly on my suggestion we make the depth excessive in case Setrákus can expand more than we know. Once it's dug, Six and Marina carefully levitate us all out one at a time with their Telekinesis. Then, they very carefully move the dirt square they had cut out back into place, setting it on the lip inside we had left so it wouldn't drop to the bottom. Once that's done, Adam carefully moves Dust onto the Loric pilot, Lexa's ship. I follow with the cloaking devices Adam had taken from the skimmers. They look like solid black boxes the size of the average lap top, and have some exposed wires hanging out of the backs. Once on the ship, Lexa gets to work attaching one and the rest of us head back outside. I get Sarah and Mark each blasters, then we all sit down and get ready for the Mogadorians to arrive.
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