Draconian War: The Rescue

As Skye flew closer to the island, she watched to see if the defense cannons would shoot at her. When they didn't fire, she radioed Pearl.

"No response from perimeter defense. We're inside Draconian airspace.", she reported.

"YES!", cheered Callie and Marie in a loud whisper.

As Skye flew over the island, Ryder joined her and Chase in the cockpit for a few minutes. They couldn't see much with only the headlights, so it was time to switch viewing modes.

"Switching to night-view.", said Chase as he flipped a switch.

The headlights shut off and the windshield began to show outlines of all of the buildings on the island. Checking a compass, Ryder confirmed they were flying northeast. A pointer appeared on the left side of the window that identified the holding complex's domed roof.

"There it is.", he said.

Skye looked over and spotted the pointer. Then she started to turn left as Ryder turned around to rejoin with his crew-mates.

"Command, this is Skye. We have a visual on the holding complex. Beginning final approach.", she said over the radio.

"Masks on.", said Ryder as he rejoined the other crew-mates.

Everyone took off their helmets and started putting on their gas-masks. Once they had tightened the straps and the masks were snug, they put their helmets back on and switched on their headlamps. Skye put the craft on autopilot so she and Chase could put on oxygen receptors and then she took manual control again. In the rear, Mickey pulled a lever to open the hatch as they started getting closer to the dome. As they came over the dome, Skye slowed the craft to a stop and switched on a light under the craft while Ryder called to the base camp after picking up his gas gun.

"Command, this is Ryder. I'm about to deploy the sleep gas. We'll confirm once we're inside."

He shot three canisters which smashed through the dome and dropped out of sight. Then he started a timer that counted down until the gas had taken effect before swapping out his gas launcher for a laser rifle that was set on stun. At the same time, Mickey unhooked tether lines on winches from the craft's ceiling. When Ryder's timer reached zero, he spoke to the crew.

"Get ready to drop.", he said as everyone started clipping the winches to their harnesses.

Once everyone was tethered to a winch, Mickey counted down from three on his fingers. When he reached zero, he opened his hand back up and waved it as if he was giving a salute. Then, two at a time, everyone jumped out of the door in one-second intervals and started dropping through the smashed window. After touching down on the floor and unclipping from the winches, they started looking around to make sure the guards were out cold.

"Clear!", said Minnie as she looked and saw that the guards near her were all down and motionless.

"Clear!", said Agent 8 as she looked around and saw the same thing.

"Command, we're inside. All guards are down.", said Ryder.

Mickey looked around and saw they were on the lowest floor in the complex. A sign on the wall said they were on level 3-S. There were four levels above, but the sign said that the next two sub-levels were 7-G and 4-R. He motioned for everyone to split up into three pairs. He and Minnie were saving Taylor and Lizzie, Agents 3 and 8 were saving Iris and Michael, and Agent 4 was teamed with Ryder to save Sally and Jerome.

"We're splitting up. Proceeding to targets.", said Minnie over the radio.

As she and Mickey started searching for Taylor and Lizzie, everyone else ascended to the higher levels. On sub-level 7-G, Agents 3 and 8 made their way to cells 8-P and 9-L. After cutting open the doors with lasers, they found Michael and Iris chained to their beds. Pulling out lockpicks, they broke open the shackles and picked up the two inklings. Struggling with the weight, they carried Michael and Iris down to sub-level 3-S. The plan was for everyone to meet back up where they touched down and then Chase would drop a gurney for Callie and Marie's parents.

"Marie, this is Agent 8. Your parents have been extracted and they're secure."

"Good work, Agent 8.", replied Marie.

On sub-level 4-R, it was another story. When Ryder and Agent 4 arrived at cells 1-Q and 2-E, they saw that the cells were empty. However, they saw footprints on the floor and followed them up to sub-level 5-T, which was the complex's cafeteria. They spotted Sally and Jerome at one of the tables and face-down in trays. Giggling, Ryder radioed Callie.

"Callie, it looks like we spoiled your parents' dinner. They're face-down in their meal trays.", he said.

Both Callie and Marie cracked up laughing. Nevertheless, Ryder and Agent 4 pulled Sally and Jerome up and cleaned their faces off before carrying them down the stairs to the meetup point. To Ryder's surprise, Sally and Jerome hadn't fully passed out. When he and Agent 4 laid them on their backs to clean the food off, he saw that Sally's eyes were wandering a bit. When she saw the word "Rescue" on Ryder's suit, she smiled and spoke quietly to Jerome. Agent 4 heard what she said.

"We're saved, my dear.", she said before they fell asleep completely.

"Callie, your mom just saw us and realized they're being rescued.", said Agent 4.

"YAY!", cheered Callie as she clapped her hands.

After reaching the meetup spot, Ryder radioed Chase and Skye.

"Chase, both Callie's parents and Marie's parents are secure. Drop the gurney.", called Ryder over headset.

"Here it comes.", said Chase as he started the winch.

"Mickey, Minnie, this is Callie. How is the search going for our kids?", asked Callie.

Mickey said the search was going well. Luckily for the two of them, Taylor and Lizzie's cells were right next to each other. They had just gotten to the doors when both of them picked up a bad stink and started to gag. This startled Callie and Marie.

"MICKEY, MINNIE! Are you two alright?", asked Callie.

Mickey coughed for a second and then he radioed back.

"We're okay, but we just caught a whiff of something that stinks really bad.", he said.

"If the stink is coming from the kids themselves, we may need to change their diapers. It's a good thing we brought special tools to trace odors to their point of origin.", said Minnie as they pulled out two wands.

These wands were called "Smell Trackers". Once they were switched on, they started beeping intermittently. As they entered, the wands started beeping faster. Once the wands were aimed straight at the kids, the intermittent beeping became one continuous beep that didn't stop. Mickey and Minnie turned their wands off, covered their cameras with their hands, and paused the footage.

"It's as we suspected. Taylor and Lizzie need to be changed. It's a good idea you sent the supplies with us.", said Minnie.

A few minutes later, Mickey and Minnie resumed their live footage. At this point, Lizzie and Taylor were still fast asleep, but they were now swaddled in warm blankets and had pacifiers in their mouths. They reached the meetup spot as the gurney was reaching the floor. In concern that Taylor and Lizzie would slip out of the gurney, Mickey and Minnie just held them in their arms. Once Callie and Marie's parents were strapped in the gurney, everyone reattached their tether lines and Ryder radioed Skye.

"All clear, Skye. Bring us up!", he said.

Everyone was on-board the rescue craft and closing the door when Marina heard a crashing sound in the backup generator room. Looking at the camera, she saw that the technicians had managed to get the hatch open. Frantic, she radioed Skye.

"Base to Rescue-1. The Draconians are about to power up the reserve generators. You need to get out of there. HURRY!", she said.

"Don't worry, Marina. This craft has a cloaking device that will make us invisible.", said Minnie.

Skye engaged the cloak before the Draconians turned on their spotlights to look for intruders. The cloaking device also silenced the engines, which allowed them to escape without being heard.