Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet (52 page)

Grohm’s gaze said it all.

“Look, I’m just trying to figure out the situation,” said
Jack testily.  “Do you have any ideas?”

“Battle,” grumbled the Rognok.

“No!” whispered Jack as loud as he dared.  “They’re too far
away, and there are too many of them.  We can’t just rush in there head on. 
They’ll kill us for sure.”

Grohm sneered at Jack.  “There is nothing more glorious than
to die in battle.”

“Oh, no, I’m totally with you on that, dude,” said Jack.  “I
mean, I wake up every day hoping to die in battle.  We are so on the same
wavelength there.  It’s just… I don’t want to die in
this
battle!”

“Then leave it to Grohm,” the Rognok said before taking his
mammoth fist and pounding it against the pillar three times.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

The sound echoed down the hallway in all directions.  Down
near the door they were guarding, the Dark Troopers snapped to attention,
drawing their plasma rifles in alarm.

Jack looked at Grohm in shock.  “What are you doing!” he
cried in the loudest whisper he could muster.

Grohm banged on the pillar again.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

“Stop doing that!” whispered Jack again, panic slowly
gripping his stomach.  Grohm looked at Jack and held a finger to his lips,
indicating the necessity for quiet.  Jack didn’t need to be told twice.

What followed was silence.  Then, a steady –
pat, pat,
pat
– sound echoed toward them.

It was the sound of footsteps.  One of the Deathlords was
coming to investigate the noise.  Jack raised his plasma pistol, ready to blast
the Dark Soldier as soon as he showed his face.  Was this Grohm’s plan?  Take
out one of the guards so they had a better shot with the other two? 
Doesn’t
seem like a very good plan
, he thought fatalistically.

That notion went out of Jack’s mind as soon as Grohm’s giant
hand wrapped around him and pushed him flat against the pillar beside the
Rognok and held him there, destroying his vantage point for any blaster fire
against the Dark Trooper.

Pat, pat, pat
…

The footsteps were getting closer.  Jack wanted to ask Grohm
what the heck he was doing, but he was afraid to open his mouth.  His heart was
racing, and the sound of blood pounding in his ears was quickly giving him a
headache.

Pat, pat, pat
…

Jack could tell the footsteps were almost to them when
suddenly they stopped.  Grohm released his arm from Jack and slowly crouched,
like a cat getting ready to pounce on a bird.

Then, the Dark Soldier swung out from behind the corner of
the pillar, rifle trained right for Grohm’s head.

With speed betraying his size, Grohm’s arm shot out, his
massive reach allowing him to close the distance between him and the Deathlord
and quickly slap the nozzle of the Dark Soldier’s rifle aside, causing its shot
to go wide and miss.

He fired the arm that had been holding Jack back straight at
the Deathlord like a piston, cracking the facemask of the Trooper with a
powerful blow, causing the Deathlord to drop his rifle.

Before the Dark Soldier could stumble back, Grohm dug his
fingers into its armored breastplate.  The Rognok swung out from behind the
cover of the pillar, holding the dazed Deathlord in one hand, and unslinging his
massive plasma shotgun off his back with the other.

The two Dark Soldiers by the entrance began to fire
immediately.  Grohm raised the Deathlord in front of him like a shield, letting
his hostage absorb the blaster fire as the massive Rognok sprinted down the
hallway, firing his shotgun at the two soldiers as his long legs quickly closed
the distance.

Some of his shots went wide, but one hit a Dark Soldier head
on, causing it to disintegrate in a puff of black dust.

Jack swung around the corner of the pillar and took aim at
the remaining Deathlord at the end of the corridor, hoping to give Grohm some
cover fire.  He opened up on the Dark Soldier just as the one Grohm was using
as a shield took its last blast and disintegrated.  However, Jack was too far
away, and his shots weren’t even close to their mark.

Before Grohm could reach the final guard, one of the
Trooper’s blasts caught him in the shoulder.  Grohm grunted in pain, dropping
his weapon in the process.  The Dark Soldier dropped to one knee and leveled
his rifle at the oncoming alien.

As soon as Jack saw this, he ran out from behind his cover
and began firing at the Deathlord, causing the Dark Soldier to dodge his plasma
blasts and giving Grohm the time he needed.

With a burst of speed, Grohm lunged toward the final Deathlord. 
With a powerful shoulder thrust, he slammed into the Dark Trooper with the
force of a mack truck, sending him flying back into the wall like roadkill.

As the Dark Trooper struggled to his feet, Grohm descended
upon him.  With one sweep of his arms, he knocked the weapon from the soldier’s
hand.  A massive fist landed squarely in the Deathlord’s gut, and a swift kick
to the back of the Deathlord’s legs brought the soldier to its knees.  Grohm
then grabbed the Deathlord’s head between his two massive hands and squeezed
until the Dark Soldier’s helmet crushed together like an aluminum can.  The
soldier’s body erupted into black grains of dust as it disintegrated between
Grohm’s fingers.

Jack ran down the hallway just in time to see the Deathlord’s
body waft away.  “Dude!”  cried Jack.  “That was the coolest thing I think I’ve
ever seen in my life!  I mean, a head’s up would have been nice, but… WOW!  You
totally crushed that guy’s head!”

Grohm sneered and inspected his shoulder.  Jack saw that the
blast had torn through his armor and there was blackened and scorched skin
underneath.

“Are you okay?” asked Jack.

“Fine,” grumbled Grohm as he picked up his fallen plasma shotgun. 
Grohm quickly checked the weapon and then moved toward the entrance the
Deathlords had been guarding.  Jack followed behind as they made their way into
the narrow hallway.  Grohm walked quickly, with Jack rushing to keep up.

“Grohm!  Big guy!” cried Jack, trying to get his companion’s
attention.  “Hold up!  Wait!”

The Rognok didn’t slow down.  Finally, Jack ran past him and
stood in his way, a few feet from the final entrance.

Grohm stopped and looked down at Jack, a deep grunt escaping
from him.

“Look, all your awesomeness aside, before we head down
there, we need to get on the same page.  We’re a team, we need to communicate
if we’re gonna make it out of here, okay?”

Grohm glared at Jack in a way that made him a bit
uncomfortable.  But Jack soldiered on.

“Okay, so remember the plan we came up with earlier,” said
Jack, unstrapping the grenade belt from his waist and holding it out to Grohm. 
“We wait for Anna to open the seal, then sneak up on the Deathlord.  You strap
these grenades to him and toss him as far away as possible before he gets a
chance to react.  We grab Anna, and run for it, and hope to God the blast is
enough to destroy him or at least to slow him down.”

Grohm’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the grenade belt. 
“No,” he replied.

Jack hesitated a moment at Grohm’s response.  “Look, I know
it’s not the best plan, but at least it gives us a chance to get out of there.”

“Earthman take the Regal Princess,” Grohm said.  “Grohm will
stay behind.”

Jack gazed at Grohm, taken aback.  “But… but he’ll kill
you.”

Grohm snorted.  Somehow, Jack knew that’s what the massive
alien seemed to be expecting.  “No,” Jack replied.  “You don’t have to.  We can
still make it out, all of us.”

“Grohm doesn’t want to make it out,” the Rognok replied. 
“Grohm wants to fight.  Grohm wants to face Deathlord Supreme.”

“But… but why?”

“Revenge,” said the Rognok, simply.

Jack gazed into Grohm’s narrow red and black eyes, and
suddenly it all made sense.  His time with the alien in the Pit, why he had
agreed to Jack’s crazy, suicidal plan… it became clear that Grohm hadn’t backed
Jack because he thought he would succeed, but rather because Jack was the best
chance he had at getting to the Deathlord Supreme.

“The Deathlords,” said Jack.  “They destroyed your planet. 
So you’re trying to get revenge on the ones responsible?”

Grohm nodded.

“That’s why you were in the Pit,” continued Jack.  “You
tracked them down…”

“Grohm was in exile,” the Rognok said.  “Far from Rognok
planet when destroyed.  Searched for the Deathlord fleet.  Was captured when
Grohm found them.”

“And you came with me… why?  So they could kill you, too?”

“Rognoks do not fear death, Earthman,” grumbled the alien. 
“Grohm will face Deathlord Supreme, and Grohm will make him suffer.”

“But you saw how powerful he is!” pleaded Jack.  “He can’t
be killed!”

“Everything can be killed.”

“Listen to me,” said Jack.  “Pounding on him for a little
while and letting him kill you is not the way for you to get revenge for your
planet.  You really want revenge?  Let’s get Anna out of here safely and all of
us get away to fight another day.  That’ll drive the Supreme bonkers!”

Jack held up the grenade belt to Grohm again.  Grohm reached
out and gently pushed it back toward Jack.  “Earthman saves Regal Princess. 
Earthman part of Grohm’s revenge.  Cannot blow up Deathlord Supreme.  Deathlord
is too powerful.  Grohm will face him while Earthman flees.  It is only way.”

“You’re going to sacrifice yourself, so we can escape?”

“It is the way Grohm chooses to die.”

“In battle,” said Jack, sadly.  “Against a worthy foe.”

“A glorious death.  One every Rognok lives for.”

“But it’s still death,” said Jack.  “Can’t you—”

“No.”

Jack looked at Grohm helplessly.  He thought he could see a
hint of sadness in the alien’s eyes, but Grohm had made up his mind, and Jack
knew there was nothing he could say to get him to change it.  Jack could feel
tears welling in the corners of his eyes.  He did not want to see his friend
die, but deep down, he knew their plan was risky.  If Grohm could hold off the
Deathlord Supreme long enough, it was his best chance to get Anna to safety. 
Jack choked back his emotion and quickly rubbed away the tears.

“You’ve wanted this showdown for a long time, huh?”

Grohm nodded.

“Okay,” he said.  “We’ll do it your way, big guy.”

Jack strapped the grenade belt back around his waist and
gazed toward the opening before them.  “But I want you to do me one favor,”
said Jack.

Grohm looked at Jack questioningly.  Jack turned to him and
smiled.

“There’s something I want to say to this jerk before you
kick his butt.  Can you give me that chance?”

Grohm’s lips curled into a hint of a smile. 

“Grohm can do that,” he replied.

Scallywag paced back and forth nervously, his fingers
brushing the handles of the pistols at his sides.  He kept looking toward every
possible door into the room, as if at any moment one could open to unleash a
flood of Deathlord soldiers upon them.

Green stood at the nearby console, a cheery smile on his
face as he happily typed away at it, doing whatever it was he was doing. 
Scallywag wasn’t an expert at computers, but he wished that whatever it was the
Professor was doing, he’d hurry up and get it done.

“Care to speed it up any?” the pirate muttered.

“I am going as fast as I can,” replied Green.

“Figure out how to go faster,” grumbled Scallywag.  “More
Deathlords could be here any moment.”

“I know we’re not that familiar with each other, dear
fellow,” said Green.  “But I think I should point out I do not work better
under pressure.”

Scallywag rolled his eyes.  It hadn’t taken the two long to
find what looked like a control room attached to the hanger bay they had
entered.  It had an overview of the entire hangar, but in addition to a doorway
that led up to it from below, it also had a second entrance in the back of the
room, and the hangar itself had three or four doorways that appeared to lead
back into the ship.  That was far too many entrance points for Scallywag’s
liking.  He’d narrowly escaped the Deathlord mothership before, and being back
on it didn’t make him feel comfortable in the slightest.  The sooner the
Professor was able to do what he needed to get done, the sooner they could be
on their way.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like the Professor was making
much progress.

“Listen, mate,” said Scallywag.  “I don’t know how the
Deathlords do things, but if they sent an escort ta this hanger, that means
they’re gonna start wondering what happened to ‘em eventually, and we’ve
already been here far too long.  What is the hold up?”

Green let his smile turn upside down with frustration. 
“This task might be a bit more difficult than I’d anticipated.”

Scallywag raised an eyebrow.  “Ya saying ya can’t do it?”

“No, no, I can do it,” replied the Professor.  “It’s just…”

“Just what?”

Green sighed.  “Anything I do here can be undone by the
Deathlord’s on the ship’s bridge.  As soon as I start fiddling with anything,
they’ll know where we are, shut us down, and come for us.”

“Can’t ya lock ‘em out?”

“Not from here.  The bridge controls can override any other
system.  I’m afraid we won’t be able to activate the main weapon before they
have the chance to stop anything we set in motion.”

“There must be something ya can do,” growled the pirate.  “Yer
supposed ta be smart!  Ya said you knew the system.  Can’t ya hack in, or do
something to freeze their controls, or anything computer-savvy like that?”

“I wish I could.  I did not anticipate the Deathlord’s
central control of their systems,” said Green.  “My guess is they may have
changed protocol after our escape.”

“Ya telling me we’re completely browned here?  That we broke
into a Deathlord mothership for no reason?”