Nowhere To Go But Up

Siege

The night was young. Taranza didn't end up sleeping in the three hours that passed after he spoke to Magolor in the hallway. Feeling more tired than he realistically should after only being awake for three hours, he tried getting up and about to clear his head. Being in the Lor Starcutter definitely wouldn't help, but he wasn't sure if it was safe to leave. He roamed the ship, looking for either Magolor or something that indicated what was happening outside. There was nothing. The Lor didn't say anything to him. All the rooms were dark, and he couldn't tell what was happening outside from what he presumed to be the mist. He knocked on the door of the Captain's Quarters. No response. Over the monitor that showed what was outside, he heard sounds of conflict. He didn't particularly want to join in, but staying inside made him feel uneasy.

Taranza opened the door and went out. He slowly moved closer to where he heard the sounds, being careful not to make any noise. He saw a few lights in the mist, but nothing that looked like Magolor. Still, there was some kind of battle happening right by the Lor Starcutter. Machines were being audibly destroyed, but it stopped suddenly and he heard a horrible scream. It almost didn't sound real. He moved toward the lights and sounds, but stopped cold.

A drone was flying out of the mist as Taranza heard sounds of a brawl behind it. A voice that didn't sound familiar seemed to be calling to take the drone down. It took only a glance to see why. A few metallic tendrils hanging off the drone were clutching someone by the head. He hung limp in the grasp of the drone, and his eyes were devoid of emotion. The only movements he made were shivering. It was Magolor.

Taranza sprung into action, creating a burst of energy that knocked the drone out of the air. It twitched a few times before shattering into scraps of metal. Magolor lay in the dirt, trembling. Taranza wanted nothing more at that moment than to try to help him, but he couldn't figure out how. "Magolor, can you hear me?" The mage only managed to raise his head slightly. "Can you get up?" Slowly, he got up and moved back to the Starcutter. Taranza followed, just to make sure he got there safely. Then, he went to see what the fighting was about.

It looked like a whole bunch of people he didn't recognize were fighting off robots, and Marx was standing off to the side eating an entire box of cookies. Upon seeing Taranza, he pulled a wing out and gave a lazy wave. "Hey, Ranza. Glad you could make it. These guys are gonna try to kidnap and torture you, so you might wanna do something about that."

"LOOK OUT!" At that voice, Taranza lunged backwards as a missile went by his face. He looked up and saw someone mouse-like wearing a red cape and hat. Shortly after, the robot commanding the drones went up in an explosion, and all the drones fell after it. The caped figure blasted what looked like an ice laser where the explosion happened in order to put out the fire. "Is everyone okay? Where's Magolor?"

Taranza approached from behind a tree. "I think he's fine. Seemed a bit distraught about something, though."

"And who the hell are you?"

"My name is Taranza. I'm a friend of Magolor's."

A deeper voice from behind the mouse in the red cape was the first to have something to say to that. "Aren't you the guy they're lookin' for?"

"Er... probably?"

The one in the red cape waved his hand at everyone behind him. "Never mind all that. It looks like we dealt with the problem. Taranza, do you know where Magolor went?"

"I took him back to the Lor Starcutter. Should we go over there?"

Marx hopped onto a ball. "Nah, I'm just here because I wanted to watch a robot blow up. I'm going home." He rolled away.

The mouse in the red cape gave some kind of signal to the other mice behind him. Maybe he was their leader? They all walked off in the same direction. "I should probably introduce myself. I'm Daroach. Just to get it out there, I'm a thief by trade."