A True Hero

39 - Of Monsters and Men

The ship that came to retrieve us, and the only working ship aboard the Enterprise, was none other than the Lor Starcutter. Magolor came and picked up the remaining twenty-eight of us, and a group of Waddle Dees was there to help the wounded. With a quick flip of a button, the interdimensional transporter brought us right back to the Enterprise.

"I'm so sorry," Magolor said, "I would have been here sooner, but I had to fix the interdimensional transporter. NME's monsters damaged it when the Enterprise was attacked. It's almost like he purposely damaged our ships so we couldn't come to help you guys...Anyway, Arthur wants to meet with all of you when you are able."

We were taken directly to the infirmary and given the care we needed. Amai treated us, but her movements were mechanical. She was going through the motions, her emotions hidden behind a wall of hurt.

After a few days, we were allowed to leave the hospital. None of us had said anything over the past few days, but we received several visits from the soldiers aboard the Enterprise who had survived NME's attack. Joanna, who recovered quickly, held Detriment yesterday for everyone who had fallen. Arthur had been there, as had I, Amai, and Nicolette, but Arthur seemed agitated and retreated to his office right afterward. No one had seen or spoken with him since our arrival.

Now, the twenty-eight of us who had survived the ninja battle and NME's attack were standing in front of Arthur's quarters once again, knocking on the familiar wooden doors. They opened immediately and Arthur was standing with his back to us. He was leaning on his sword, staring at the ground. Papers were scattered everywhere, and the room was a mess. Every glass display case was shattered, and the maps on the walls were slashed. The group hung back nervously, and I alone approached Arthur.

"Commander?" I asked hesitantly and touched his arm.

He didn't move, but instead, he said, "This war is at its end."

I sighed and closed my eyes. "It seems that way, Sir, but NME-"

"-is doing everything he can to destroy us," Arthur interrupted, and when he turned around, fury spewed from his maskless face. "He's too strong for us now. We've lost every planet we had an alliance with due to betrayed loyalty or defeat in battle. They're in NME's hands, so we have no more sources of incoming soldiers. The day NME attacked the Enterprise, he also attacked every Starfighter we had, and we lost ⅔ of our Starfleet - The Centurion, Millenium, Torus, Venus, and Galadon have all been destroyed. Huge battleships came from NME, Destrayers, we think, and obliterated them and all of the soldiers on board. The only two starfighters left are the Enterprise and the Vul."

Suddenly, the doors opened and Captain Vul stepped in, grief and anger flaming in his eyes.

"All of my men are ready aboard my starfighter, Commander," he said with a salute. He looked at me, and I felt his pain. His daughter Val had been killed in the monster raid that killed Jecra.

"Good," Arthur said. "We'll need them for our attack."

"What?" Amai asked, blinking her eyes like reality was suddenly coming back to her.

"Didn't you just say we're down to two starfighters?" Nicolette asked. "You expect to launch an attack on Nightmare with only a few thousand soldiers?"

"Yes," he said, his blue-purple eyes flashing. "We cannot sit around and wait any longer. We are launching a sneak attack on his two base planets. They are not far from here."

"We've tried these before, Arthur," I said tiredly. "These sneak attacks almost always end badly for us."

"You would rather sit here and wait for Destrayers to show up and defeat us, too?" Arthur snapped. "Not me! If I'm going to die, then I want to die fighting the enemy. We need to show him that we are not bugs to be squashed, that we are a force to be reckoned with. If we don't act now, he will come and destroy us. Vul will take his starfighter to NME's grassland base planet a few thousand lightyears away. We will move the Enterprise over the other planet and airdrop in."