By David C. Daoust
Hugo yet sat on the bridge of the rover, where he was left after his interrogation. Where the old jinn had blurted out what information he could muster to appease the Captain of the Dirty Damsel. He was not actually left there alone. The captain had left a guard in his wake—as he ordered what thugs he could to search the vehicle and then went off, Hugo assumed, on his ‘merry way’.
Hugo was cut off from the rest of the crew. He did not like being left in the dark, but there was not much he could do. His plan was to show these men that neither he, nor the rover, were a threat. To try and get them to move on their way with as little resistance as possible. There proved to be a lot more to it, however. And it would appear to Hugo, from his position on the bridge, that the rest of the crew went ahead with a different plan; one that Hugo could only puzzle about.
Hugo sat tight in his chair, as the guard walked back and forth watching the chaos below. The guard had a clear view of the fray through the curved glass that wrapped the front of the bridge. He seemed to get more and more tense as the battle around them progressed. Hugo could only guess at what the guard was witnessing.
It was not until the sheer amount of battle drones was made clear, when a swarm of them suddenly passed -eyelevel- in front of the bridge, that Hugo suspected that this was actually another Drone Wave and not the rest of his crew.
A wave like they had been battling before they managed to get the Rover operational again. The lizard-man did not know what this entailed, he was pretty much guessing. He was tempted to shove his head back in his visor, try to get an idea of what the others might be doing. The guard though, gave him pause. Hugo did not want to call their attention to the visor at all. He did not want them to know that he was able to control the Rover through the visor. And not, in fact, from the nearby helm.
It would seem the guard had at last ‘had it’– The man straightened his holster at his hip and left.
Or maybe left?
Hugo sat for a moment, tempted to crane his head around and watch the man stalk off the bridge. He dare not move. As the seconds ticked by, Hugo realized the man really had abandoned his post.
Finally, Hugo craned his head around, as he suspected he was all alone on the bridge.
The chaos outside stole his attention; putting his weight on his cane he lifted himself from the chair.
The view below was spectacular as the small wing of starfighters seemed to chase the swarm of Battle Drones out of the hold.
Hugo rushed back to his chair, plopped back down. Collecting his visor, he took a quick look back at the bridge door. He got back up again with an old man grunt. He quickly sealed the door out into the corridors and used the keypad to lock it behind him. That would give him some time, at least, if the thug returned.
The old jinn plopped back down again as his knees protested his rushed movements, he shoved his head into the visor…
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