Bug Out

Episode 5 of Plans Go Awry

Last episode, Tee was shocked senseless and Rugen had to fight a "bug" drone. As Rugen stood breathless over the defeated drone, he felt a hand grip his shoulder.

Rugen, leaped forward, away from the hand, and spun, bringing his stunsword to the ready.

"Tee!" he shouted, surprised to see his friend recovered. "I thought you were still deactivated."

"Whatever you did rebooted my internal diagnostics. It did the rest, and I am now functioning properly."

The duo checked the bag it was dragging. They found a human child, unconscious and bound.

"I would say that these creatures are harvesting humans. For what end, I cannot say," opined Tee. He managed to revive and free the child. They placed him in a safe location, promising to return. Then they continued to make their way down the corridor, heading toward the A Wing docking platform.

A little further on they heard the sound of footsteps. Before they could react, two more "bugs" turned a corner. These bugs were armed with laser blasters, with stunswords sheathed. They immediately spotted our heroes and rushed forward, blasting away with abandon.

One shot grazed Rugen, who spun and fell to the floor. Tee flattened himself as much as possible against the wall and began to return fire. One of his shots fried an "arm" of one of the enemy, but it still charged toward our heroes.

Laser fire arced through the corridor. Another shot struck Rugen and he fell back down, wounded this time. As Tee fired, his pistol suddenly jammed. He tried to fix it, but the warrior bugs were upon them. They drew their swords. One swung, hitting Tee in the chest. He staggered back into the wall. Both bugs attacked him.

Seemingly from nowhere, a blade stretched out and deflected the sword that was near to penetrating Tee's chest. Rugen had recovered and had parried the blow. He then knocked the opponent's blade away and struck. Rugen's thrust penetrated the armored carapace and buried itself into the bug's innards. It fell to the ground.

The other bug turned and engaged Rugen. Their swords struck against each other, throwing off sparks into the otherwise still corridor. The bug was too strong, though; its blows kept forcing Rugen back. It beat aside Rugen's blade and raised its sword for a death blow.

Suddenly, there was a sickening crunch as two robotic hands grabbed the bug's skull and crushed it into a pulp. The bug's torso fell lifeless to the ground.

"Thanks, Tee!" gasped Rugen.

Our heroes continued down the corridor. They reached another security door. After a few minutes of delicate work, Tee bypassed the protocols and opened the portal.

Just then a voice echoed from Rugen's comm link.

"See ya, suckers!"

Rugen checked the link and saw Captain Nat Crowe.

"What?" began Rugen, but Crowe cut him off.

"I'm on yer ship, priest. And we be headin' outta this system."

"How did you manage. . ."

"Never ye mind, priest. There's never bin a jail that can hold me! Anyway, enjoy yer permanent stay on bug central!"

With that, the screen went dark.

"Blasters!" swore Rugen, "When I get a hold on that pirate. . . "

"Hold on," Tee responded, "we have more important duties for the time being. Let us continue our mission."

Although still steaming, Rugen agreed. They made their way down the corridor, eventually arriving at a door marked "A Wing Docks."

"This is it," stated Rugen. "We don't know what's behind the door, so get ready."

Our heroes gripped their weapons. Tee punched the keys of the control panel, and the door slid open.

Learn what they find on our next episode!