The Battle for Kreludor: Part Four

Trey had been escorted to a small room and left there until his appointment with the Commander. He suspected that his room was really a cell for prisoners and he wasn't too comfortable with the fact that Captain Dwolt had locked him inside.

      The robot Shoyru was feeling miserable. He had come to the space station in hope of offering information in exchange for a fee. He planned to use the money to buy a ticket to Neopia and escape the conflict. Now he was stuck at the moon base. To make matters worse, Oen had seen him here. There was no longer a chance for him to return to his home at the colony. The antis would not be happy with his treachery.

      It would be better for them this way, though, Trey thought. Sloth was going to win no matter what happened- that was obvious enough. With his information, the minions could have a quick victory with little loss to the antis. Trey was doing them a favour really, but he knew they would not appreciate it. The Shoyru sighed and sat down on the edge of a small bed. It would be a while till he was released.

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

      Commander Krule was engaged in earning high scores in computer games when someone knocked on the door of his office. He looked up in agitation.

      "Come in," he growled. "I thought I said I wanted no interruptions-" He stopped when he saw Captain Zara appear. "Where have you been? It's been hours!"

      "I was following an anti, sir," the Kyrii said. "I thought it might lead to the Resistance's headquarters. It didn't, though." She sighed. "I was supposed to report to you?"

      "You sent a distress call last night." The commander closed his computer.

      "I'm sorry, sir, that was entirely accidental. I hope I did not worry you."

      "No, but for Sloth's sake, you picked the worst time to go chasing antis," Krule said with annoyance. "We're having a meeting this evening and I've had so much to organize!"

      "I apologize for the inconvenience, sir." Zara bowed. "I did not realize that we had so little time. What can I do to help?"

      "I need you to write me an opening speech to present to the visiting officers. I am now commander of Kreludor, after all." Krule hid a smirk. "I've already started it, as you can see." He handed over the rough draft of his speech.

      "You want me to finish it, sir?"

      "Yes, make it inspiring and thought provoking... I want to sound like a good leader when I read it."

      "You'd be a good leader no matter what you read out loud," Zara lied. She took the papers and raised an eyebrow at the lack of grammar the commander used.

      "There are some other things I need done as well." Krule smiled. "Captain Dwolt can tell you what they are. I had better get back to work."

      "I'll go find Captain Dwolt then." Zara tucked the papers under her arm and saluted. "Have fun with your computer games," she muttered as she left the office.

Command Center, Resistance Headquarters, Kreludor:

      "What we need," Retep said, "is a plan. There's a good chance that we'll have to act soon."

      "We should make the first move," a Cybunny said. "Then we'll have an advantage."

      "We also need to prepare our defences," Oen reminded them. "We might get attacked ourselves. And if we are, we're in a lot of trouble. The minions have way better weapons and more soldiers."

      Retep was examining the records on Zara's portable computer. A file labelled 'security' immediately caught his eye. He opened it and quickly scanned its contents. A grin slowly spread across his face.

      "I've got an idea." He turned to his fellow antis. "But if we use it, we're going to have to gather as many antis here as possible... I think we can catch them off guard with an early attack."

      "Just how early?" Oen asked.

      "With this information... tomorrow," the royal Lupe replied. "They've got some serious weaknesses by the look of things."

Conference Room, Virtupets Moon Base 32, Kreludor:

      Captain Dwolt was seated at a huge table with about fifty Virtupets officers waiting for Commander Krule to arrive. He could barely keep his eyes open from lack of sleep, but at least he had started most of his assignments.

      "Do you think we'll end up in war with the Resistance?" A Buzz turned towards Dwolt.

      "It seems inevitable." The Darigan Scorchio yawned. "Unless they surrender to us right away..."

      "Not all of us are prepared to fight, though." The Buzz frowned. "I hope we'll have several months to prepare at least... this was all very sudden."

      "Well, we're here to discuss what will happen. We'll decide how much time we'll need later." Dwolt turned away and suddenly saw Zara sitting beside him.

      "Where in Sloth's name were you?" he asked with annoyance. "I've had to do everything by myself."

      "You look terrible," Zara commented. "And I was busy with intelligence work."

      "You sent a distress signal in. What happened? Did you see a spyder or something?" Dwolt asked grumpily.

      "It was nothing," Zara muttered. "I didn't mean to send a warning."

      "Well, I hope you at least found some good information. You're caused me a lot of trouble."

      The door to the conference room suddenly swung open and Commander Krule arrived. Dwolt and the other officers stood up respectfully as he entered.

      "Welcome to Moon Base 32," the commander said. "I am glad that all of you were able to attend our conference on such short notice." The mutant Grundo reached for his notes. "As you have all heard, Doctor Sloth has given orders for us to take control of Kreludor," Krule began. "He has proposed a unification of all the minions and I am to lead us to victory. An anti-sloth group known as the Resistance is currently controlling all opposition on Kreludor; they are our enemies and they are preventing Sloth from ruling the moon. We will destroy them and claim Kreludor for Virtupets and Sloth." The commander looked up from his notes. "You are all required to send whatever help I need in this war. I have invited you all here this evening to discuss our plans for victory. Together we will conquer Kreludor."

Hallway 14-B, Virtupets Moon Base 32, Kreludor:

      Retep glanced down the corridor to ensure it was empty of Virtupets employees. Seeing none, the royal Lupe turned to Oen and nodded. They crept out into the hallway and silently moved through the base.

      "There's no one around," Retep observed. "I thought they'd have more security around."

      "They're probably either at the meeting or training for the war," said Oen. "It's generally pretty easy to break into the base anyways."

      "Are we close to the control room?"

      "Yes, it's just around the corner," Oen replied. "I hope your idea works..."

      "If we can get this done, we have victory guaranteed," Retep said.

      They approached a huge door reinforced with kreludite strips. It was locked and bolted with a series of complicated electronics. Retep examined the security device and sighed.

      "How are we getting past this? It looks like you need an identification card and the password."

      "This door is usually open in the day," Oen said. "I guess when no one is inside they lock it."

      "Is it possible for us to get in now?"

      "I don't think so," the fire Grundo said, looking at the locks. "We'd probably have to be high ranking officers to be allowed access to the control room. We could wait until it opens in the day and try and sneak in. The only problem is that it'll be full of minions."

      "There has to be another way," Retep said in agitation. "We need to get inside for our plan to work!"

Conference Room, Virtupets Moon Base 32, Kreludor:

      A heated argument had broken out over how power was to be distributed over the Virtupets troops. Many officers wanted to have control over their soldiers in the upcoming war, but Commander Krule insisted angrily that he should have absolute power over everything. Zara sat at the table in boredom waiting for the debating to calm down.

      "Sloth put me in charge!" Krule cried furiously. "I have authority over everything! If you question me, you question Sloth."

      "I don't care," a Grundo captain answered. "Why should we give you all of our troops? I'd like to see the evidence that Doctor Sloth actually said you could be in charge!"

      A shout of agreement echoed through the room.

      "Do you think I'd make this up?" Krule asked angrily.

      "Why did he put you in charge?" another commander asked.

      The argument got louder and louder. Zara sighed. Minions always seemed to fight over power. She was about to say something to support Krule when her communicator started to beep. Who would be trying to contact her? The Kyrii quietly left the noise of the conference and stepped into the hallway. She switched her communicator on. Retep appeared on the screen.

      "Zara? I need you to come to the control room for a second," he said.

      "Eh, I'm in a meeting right now... and why do you need me at the control room? Are you at the base?"

      "Maybe... just come here quickly and give us a hand." The communicator switched off.

      Zara stared at it in puzzlement and then hurried off away from the conference room. Why were members of the Resistance here? And what were they doing with the control room?

      The shadow Kyrii found Retep and Oen waiting in hallway fourteen.

      "What's going on?" she asked.

      "We can't open the door and we need to get in," Retep told her. "You said you'd help the Resistance... you can start now."

      "Why would you want to get into the control room?" Zara raised an eyebrow.

      "We just want to change a few things," Oen said simply.

      Zara pulled out her identification and opened the thick metal door in a few seconds. "Are you planning on taking control of the base's computer?"

      "Maybe," Retep said.

      Zara looked at him suspiciously as she swung the door open. "Try not to leave any evidence behind if you're going to tamper with things."

      "Of course not." Oen raised a brow. "We're professionals."

      "Thanks," the royal Lupe said as they entered the room. "We need to have the base's defences under our control."

To be continued...