The Battle for Kreludor: Part Three

Retep glared at the minion in agitation. First she had ignored his questions completely and now she was telling him lies.

      "She must have followed me here," Oen said. "I can't think of any other way she would've found the place. We were lucky that security warned us when she got inside. Did you follow me?" He turned to the shadow Kyrii.

      "Follow you?" She looked puzzled.

      "Ah, it's useless!" Retep cried. "She's either being dumb on purpose or she's really like that. She is a minion, after all."

      "Minions aren't dumb," the minion muttered.

      "If she won't tell us anything, then we can't make her," Oen sighed. "We can't let her go either... she'll tell her boss about our location."

      "I guess we'll have to lock her up in some cold dark room... unless..." Retep looked at the minion. "Unless you tell us what we want to know..."

      "I'm not falling for that," she snapped. "You'll lock me up anyways. You're not letting me go when I know about your pathetic headquarters."

      "You'll tell us if you know what's good for you!" Retep growled. "Why can't you just cooperate?"

      "It's useless, Retep," said Oen. "Let's just keep her locked up. Maybe after a few days of prison she'll be more willing to talk."

      "She's a captain, though; she probably has important information about Virtupets. Perhaps we could brainwash her..."

      "That would take a long time... I don't know if it'd be worth it," Oen said thoughtfully. "Minions are often pretty good at resisting mind control."

      "That's probably because they've already been brainwashed so much by Sloth. Well, I guess we'll have to keep her locked up."

      "Let me go!" the Kyrii said suddenly. "If you do, I will ensure that you two are not harmed when Sloth takes over Kreludor."

      Oen laughed as he left the room. "You've got it wrong," he said. "Sloth is never going to take over the moon or Neopia. Anyways, I should get back to the Virtupets base to keep an eye on things... I'll be back later."

      "You should cooperate," Retep told the minion with frustration. "It'd make things much easier."

      "I don't want things to be easier for you," Zara said. "You antis will be destroyed soon. I don't care if you leave me locked up for days; when Virtupets attacks they'll free me."

      "Virtupets will be defeated. I'm sure you'll have company as we capture more minions..." the Lupe sighed. "I don't understand how you can work for Sloth."

      "I don't understand why you oppose him. Sloth is great," the minion said. "He will eventually take over Neopia and make it a better place for us all."

      "He enslaved the Grundos! How does that make him great?" Retep asked in exasperation.

      Zara was silent for a moment. "They were volunteers, not slaves," she said at last.

      "That's only what you want to believe," retorted Retep. "Sloth will enslave all Neopets if he is given the chance! He won't care if they're antis or minions when he takes over. Even you Virtupets workers are like slaves. You get paid hardly anything and have no choice but to follow orders."

      The shadow Kyrii said nothing. She was staring at the ground.

      "You know about the Kreludite mines here, don't you?" Retep demanded. "You know that many of the local people are forced to work there with no pay. The same thing will happen to Neopia if Sloth takes over. No one will be free! We'll all be slaves to his will. That's why the Resistance has to stop him on Kreludor; if we don't, he'll only grow more powerful."

      The minion was quiet. Retep sighed. It was useless; she didn't understand. The Kyrii was obviously one of the brainwashed minions who saw Doctor Sloth as a great hero. She was probably blind to all of the harm Sloth caused to innocent Neopets.

      The royal Lupe was about to leave the room when he heard a voice from behind him.

      "Alright," Zara said sadly. "I'll help you."

Commander's Office, Virtupets Moon Base 32, Kreludor:

      Commander Krule was filing his nails while glaring at his fragmented speech. He should get Captain Dwolt to write it. Krule really had no time. The mutant Grundo flicked his speech outline from his desk, set aside his nail file, and opened his computer. He deserved a break after working so hard on an introduction. Krule was about to start playing a 'Splat-a-Sloth' simulation when someone knocked on his office door. The commander quickly closed his computer screen and picked his speech off the floor.

      "Come in," he grunted.

      The thick metal door swung open to reveal Captain Dwolt accompanying a small Shoyru.

      "Well?" Krule raised an eyebrow. "I am rather busy at the moment, Captain. This had better be important."

      "It is, sir." Captain Dwolt stepped in and saluted. "This is Trey." He gestured to the Shoyru. "He's come from the local Grundo colony to speak to us about the Resistance."

      "Oh?" Commander Krule glared down at Trey. "And does he have anything important to say?"

      "Y-yes, s-s-sir." Trey trembled. "I want to t-talk to you."

      "Yes, well, perhaps you should make an appointment. I don't have any time to spare this morning." Krule looked at the robot Shoyru in annoyance.

      "Sir," Captain Dwolt put in. "I believe what he wants to say is important to us. He has information on where the Resistance's headquarters is."

      Commander Krule sighed. "Well, will you interrogate him then? I really am rather busy."

      Dwolt winced. "Commander, I am afraid I am also busy with other things. I've been up all night trying to organize our conference."

      "Then have him make an appointment and talk to him when you have more time. Now, if you'll excuse me... I have more important matters to attend to." Krule opened up his computer again.

Hallway 6-A, Virtupets Moon Base 32, Kreludor:

      Oen was mopping the floor in front of the Commander's office. The fire Grundo had pulled an old grey Virtupets uniform on and was now pretending to be a harmless janitor. He had seen Trey and a Virtupets captain speaking to each other and he had a strong suspicion that the Shoyru would betray the Resistance. Oen had to confirm this first.

      The office door suddenly opened and Trey stepped out with the Scorchio captain. Oen quickly lowered his eyes and concentrated on mopping.

      "What are you doing soldier? You should be training," the Darigan Scorchio addressed him suddenly.

      "Mopping the floor, sir." Oen mimicked a Virtupets salute with his left hand.

      "Well, obviously. But why are you doing it? Are the maintenance robots all broken?" The captain looked annoyed.

      "I don't know, sir," the fire Grundo said calmly. "I was given orders to help clean the base for our upcoming meeting."

      Oen couldn't help noticing that Trey was staring at him with wide eyes. Did the Shoyru recognize him?

      "Very well," the captain said tiredly. "Continue training then as soon as you are done."

      "Yes sir." Oen turned back to his mop. That had been close. He glanced up and saw that Trey was whispering to the captain. It was time to leave.

      The fire Grundo casually picked up his bucket and began to walk away.

      "One moment, soldier!" the captain called suddenly from behind.

      "Yes, sir?" Oen turned around innocently and set down his pail.

      "Let me see your identification," the captain demanded.

      Oen sighed. "I'm afraid I left it in my bunkhouse. Do you want me to go get it?"

      The Scorchio captain drew his Virtublaster and pointed it straight at Oen. "Stay where you are!" he yelled, running closer.

      In one swift movement Oen took his mop and knocked the laser gun from the captain's hands. He then reached for his moon boots and pressed a button on them. Smoke came streaming out and coiled through the air to hide him. Oen turned and ran to the nearest exit, leaving a cloud of smoke behind to conceal his path.

Command Center, Resistance Headquarters, Kreludor:

      Zara was seated with several members of the Resistance. She had been untied and brought to the command center to speak to the antis.

      The shadow Kyrii was afraid. She was betraying Commander Krule and Sloth by giving the antis information. She knew that if the minions won the upcoming war she'd face terrible consequences for her treachery, but she also felt that she was no longer a minion. Zara couldn't see Sloth in the same way... he was a villain... nothing more, she thought. She was ashamed to be wearing a Virtupets badge.

      "So every single base on Kreludor is going to send soldiers to fight?" Retep asked her.

      "I believe so," said Zara. "That will total several thousand minions in the end."

      "We'll have to fight hard then," a brown Grundo commented. "Are you planning on fighting us from the sky as well?"

      "Probably. We have quite a few destroyer shuttles. There is also a chance that we'll get more equipment delivered from one of the space stations."

      "You might get reinforcements as well," said another Grundo.

      "That depends if we need them or not. I think that Krule believes that he will have a quick and easy victory."

      "Well, we'll prove him wrong then." Retep grinned. "I think we can find a way to stop all deliveries from the space stations. We have agents there that could arrange a few delivery problems for the cargo ships."

      "Good idea," said the brown Grundo. "That would make things much better for us... but we'd still be outnumbered."

      "How many soldiers do you have?" Zara asked.

      Two of the Grundos exchanged glances. "That's confidential."

      "Oh, well, most of the Virtupets employees on Kreludor aren't very well trained. Only the officers are good fighters," said Zara. She wished the antis would trust her. Now she had no one to trust but them.

      "Well, they may not be trained well," said another Resistance member. "But they do have better weapons."

      "We can still defeat them. The minions may have good weapons, but they have no intelligence. We still have a huge advantage," said Retep.

      "But there is an easy way to destroy our weapons," Zara said. "There's information in my computer about it. Basically-"

      At that moment the door flew open and Zara turned to see the fire Grundo Oen fly into the room. A cloud of concealment smoke was hanging around him.

      "What happened?" Members of the Resistance stood up.

      "I was nearly caught!" Oen panted. "Listen, Trey has betrayed us! I saw him at the base talking to the officers. He was the one that ruined my disguise."

      "Trey is a traitor?" the brown Grundo said in disbelief. "We always knew that he was reluctant to fight... but I never thought he'd turn us over."

      "He'll pay for it if we ever meet again!" Retep said angrily. "What has he told them?"

      "I don't know," Oen answered. "Probably everything he knows... that would include the location of our headquarters."

      There was silence in the room. Zara felt the antis' anxiety. She knew that Krule could easily attack early and trap the Resistance within the ravine where their base was.

      "Well, Trey probably won't return to the colony after this," Retep said at last. "I expect he'll stay at the Virtupets base... Did you learn what their plans were?"

      "No." Oen sighed. "I didn't have a chance. But now my cover is blown. They'll probably give my description to security and program the cameras to recognize me. I will not be able to spy as easily anymore."

      "I could go," Zara offered. "I could return and get information for you. They'd never suspect me and I have a lot of influence at the base... I'd be able to help you a lot."

      "Yeah, right," laughed a blue Grundo. "I bet you just want to return to your fellow minions." He turned to the rest of the group. "She's obviously playing games now... she's been helpful, but she's obviously taking the first opportunity to return. I won't trust her."

      "She was being cooperative?" Oen reflected. "I imagine she would be a great help to us if she wanted to."

      "I'm not a minion anymore," Zara said sadly. "I can't be. I swear I won't betray you to Sloth."

      "You'd risk you're life in going back," Retep said. "I know the penalty for treason at Virtupets..."

      "They would never suspect it. I am a good liar." The Kyrii gave a weak smile.

      "We should let her spy," Oen said. "It won't matter much if she does betray us. Trey has already given them all they need to know."

      "I guess she couldn't do much more damage than he has done," the blue Grundo agreed. "It might work."

      "I promise I won't let you down." Zara smiled. She had a chance to prove herself now.

To be continued...