Exile Of Terror Exile of Terror Deep in the galaxy, above the planet of Triennium, is a prison barge run by Commander Trek. On this barge are the most demonic criminals in the galaxy. The creatures are so evil, that just throwing them in a cell would be risky. So Commander Trek developed what are known as cell balls. These cell balls are eight inches round, and are designed to hold the souls of the demons until their sentence is over. The only way for escape, is if one of these balls are broken. If broken, the demons soul could enter another body and easily take it over. Today, the most feared demon of all is on his way. “ Commander, I have General Zod’s ship on screen” “ Good. Send him to loading dock - B. I will take the Dregs and meet him there” replies Trek. The Dregs are a very large, but obedient creature. They aren’t the smartest, but they make excellent guards. Eight of them follow Trek to meet General Zod, a very successful bounty hunter. As the Commander gets to the ship, he finds Zod already unloading the prisoner. “General Zod, good to see you again” the Commander says. “ We shall see Commander. The bounty on this one is 12,000 megadons” replies the General. “ Of course General, as soon as it is done” Trek assures him. “ So be it my friend. The sooner the better” Zod answers. The Dregs become very nervous, as the prisoner is escorted out of the ship. He is known as Garcon, the most ruthless of all demons. Garcon is the last of the Korelium rebels, a band of killers that show no mercy. As he walks down the corridor he growls at the shaking Dregs. “Are you sure those chains will hold him?” asks Commander Trek. “ The chains alone won’t, but the drug I gave him will keep him weak for now. But, we must hurry. The drug will last only a short while longer” the General warns. They take Garcon into a large room and place him in a chair in front of the Elder. Their he sits and awaits the Elders decision, as a crowd watches from above. “ Garcon you have been charged with numerous counts of murder throughout the galaxy. How do you plead?” asks the Elder. “ I plead death to all in this room. Let me free so you can be first!” Garcon yells. Soon the room is full of angered yells, as the crowd encourages Garcon’s death. The Elder acts quickly to keep the peace. “ Silence my friends, silence” The crowd quiets, as the Elder delivers Garcon’s fate. “Garcon. Since you show no remorse for your actions, you will receive the maximum punishment. Your soul will be placed in a cell ball. That cell ball will be exiled into the galaxy far away, where you will be heard from no more. This is to be carried out immediately.” The crowd cheers its approval, as Garcon is taken away. Commander Trek leads, as Zod and the Dregs take Garcon to the transformation room. Garcon is placed in a three foot round cylinder. The cylinder is about eight feet high, with a small tube leading outside. Commander Trek goes to a small control panel. There he pushes a sequence of buttons, and it begins. The cylinder comes alive in a bright white, as Garcon roars from within. When the roaring stops, all that is left is an eight inch ball containing Garcons soul. With another sequence of buttons, a huge vacuum sucks the ball up and shoots it deep into space. As General Zod joins Trek at the control panel, they both watch the ball disappear from sight. “ Something bothering you General?” asks Trek “ I just hope that your plan works Commander. Garcon is very dangerous” Zod says with concern. “Relax my friend. Even if he escapes I have installed a tracking device. We can follow him anywhere in the galaxy.” “ If he escapes Commander, I pray for those he encounters.” Zod then takes one last look into space and walks away. As the cell ball travels through space, an Earth crew of three fix a broken satellite. When the repairs are completed, they prepare for the return home. As Major Dave Steele is slowly reeled back to the shuttle, the others report back to Earth. “ Eagle One to control. Repairs are complete.” “Copy Eagle One. If that thing works dinners on me.” “Hey, hear that Major? Kick the fire in those boots, I’m hungry for some real food!” “ Coming dear” the Major jokes his comrade. But, as Major Steele continues his return, something is spotted heading for the ship. “ Dave watch your back. You seem to have a small object coming in hard” reports one of the crew. Just then the cell ball containing Garcon, explodes on the Majors suit. As the bright light absorbs inside it, the Majors body goes limp. “ Dave you all right? Major!” “Control, we have trouble up here! Some kind of meteor thing hit the Majors suit and I’m getting no response from him!” “ Copy Eagle One. Get him inside and report back!” The crew works fast, as the Majors body continues to float in space. They finally get him inside to find a shell around his body. “Eagle One! Report!” “Control, he’s got some kind of shell around his body. It’s almost like his body is growing inside it.” reports the crewman. “ Copy that. Strap him in. We’ll hit auto pilot and bring you home.” The crew find his body to be very heavy. As they try to drag him to his seat, the shell starts to crack. They look in horror, as two large arms break through the shell. Suddenly both men scream, as the transformation is complete. The arms grab each man by the throat and crushes them with ease. The crew falls to their death, as Major Steele is no more and Garcon is reborn. Back on Earth, everyone is scurrying to find out what happened to the crew. After several tries to reach them, they start to fear the worst. General Burk enters the control room and is filled in on the news. “ General, I’m afraid we lost contact with the ship” the control lead reports. “ What happened Mike?” asks the General. “I’m not really sure, sir. Something about a small meteor like object hitting the Major. When they got him on board the ship all hell broke loose.” “ Do we have control of the ship?” “ Its on auto-pilot for the moment. We’re about to log in the landing coordinates.” “ Set the coordinates for this location. We’ll find out what happened when it gets here” the General commands. A few hours later, the ship breaks through the atmosphere. But, when the ship gets into view, something goes wrong and it lands several miles away. The General immediately sends a rescue party to retrieve it. They get there to find a gruesome sight. “Leader one to base. We found the ship and recovered two bodies, but something's not right. The two bodies we found look as if their throats were ripped out and there's no sign of the Major anywhere.” “ I want that third body found Sgt. Set up a perimeter and start looking. I’ll send another squad to secure the ship” orders the General. Just as the Sgt. is about to reply, a roar can be heard over the radio. The next few minutes would prove to be a sickening display of gun-fire and screams. “ What the hell is going on out there?” the General demands. After several attempts to reach the search party, no response is heard. The control room is filled with an eerie silence, as all thoughts are with the crew. Suddenly the radio operator would report more disturbing news. “ General,still no contact with the rescue team, but there's a strange radio transmission coming in.” “The way this days going, how strange can it be? Put it on speaker!” “On speaker sir” “ This is General Burk, of the U.S. army, to whom am I speaking? “ “ Greetings General. My name is General Zod. I am a galactic bounty hunter and I believe you could use my help.” “ Pleased to meet you General, but what makes you think I need your help?” “Moments ago, you had a small ship crash on Earth. On this ship was the evil rebel known as Garcon. Give me permission to enter your atmosphere and I will rid you of him” “ And if I refuse?” the General asks suspiciously. “ You are facing one of the most feared criminals in the galaxy. Refusal would mean the death of many Earthlings.” The General is quiet for a moment. As he tries to make since of it all, a special forces unit returns from maneuvers. After a discussion with the units Capt., he makes his decision. “Alright Gen. You may enter our air space. Meanwhile, I will have a special forces unit meet you at the crash site. Anything other than retrieving this Garcon, will be considered an act of war.” “ I mean your planet no harm, General Burk. Garcon is my only business there. When I have him I will leave, you have my word. As for your men, send who you like, the distraction could be of use.” A short while later, an odd ship appeared and headed straight for the crash site. The special forces unit, led by Capt. Mears, wasted little time to join them. When the Capt. arrived, the fate of the rescue team was evident. What once was a small detail of the U.S. army, was now a carnage of body parts. The team met up with General Zod and would soon meet the demon Garcon head on. “ General, I’m Capt. Mears of the special forces unit” “Of course you are Capt” Zod says as he looks around. “ By the look of things, this Garcon won’t be coming peacefully. Good, my men can use the exercise” Capt. Mears says with excitement. “ Foolish human. Do not joke of what you know little about” Zod replies with a glare. “ Relax General. My men and I are the best at what we do” the Capt. says as the rest of the bounty hunters exit the ship. “ Brave words Capt., but Garcon is not to be taken lightly.” “ You just let him show his...” But before the Capt. can finish, a light from a ray gun hits him in the head. Zod can only watch, as the Capt’s. body falls to the ground. He quickly tells the others to spread out, as he sees Garcon is already armed with a blaster from an eager bounty hunter. He then takes cover himself, as the battle with Garcon begins. The woods are full of explosions, as the bounty hunters exchange fire with the evil Garcon. At first the earthlings are mesmerized by the power of the aliens weapons. They watch as the blasts separate large limbs from nearby trees. But, the army has never backed away from a fight and this one was no different. When one of the aliens is dropped from Garcons blaster, the second in command of the special forces unit joins the fight. With the dead bounty hunters blaster in his hand, he quickly proves why he’s part of the elite unit. His first shot hits Garcon in the shoulder. The demon roars in pain, as he grabs his wound and retreats into the thick of the woods. He stops behind a big oak tree to examine the damage. His shoulder runs with a river of blood, out of a huge hole. “I see you’ve recruited some new help General” Garcon yells. “ And already they’ve proven themselves worthy, demon!” Zod yells back. “ They will know soon enough that I don’t capture easy bounty hunter. I will see them dead before I leave this pitiful planet” Garcon threatens. “ I spoke to the Elder before I left Garcon. You won’t be leaving alive. Now come out and lets end this.” Realizing that his capture was not in the plan, Garcon prepares himself for a final attack. He roars with revenge and then charges the group. Two more humans and another of Zods crew are killed, before Garcon’s reign comes to an end. After several rounds are fired, the most feared rebel in the galaxy falls to his death. After Garcon’s body was loaded onto the ship, General Zod showed his newfound respect for human-kind. “ You must thank your leaders for their cooperation. As I promised, we will leave your planet.” “ It’s good to know there’s someone like yourself guarding the galaxy General. Maybe someday we will meet in the stars” replies the soldier. “ Perhaps. The galaxy is full of evil. If you ever need my help, feel free to call.” “ Thank you General. We’ll keep that in mind.” And with that, the soldiers watched Zods ship lift off and then disappear into the skies. Earth had met a new ally. And sooner than they think, Earth would require the service of the bounty hunter known as General Zod.
Copyright © 2003 Robert E Tadlock |