Chapter 16

Toom stood back up and growled. He tackled Drill Master, knocking them both on their sides. Drill Master transformed back into his robot mode and shoved Toom to the side. Angered, Toom swung at Drill Master, knocking him over. He tried to repeat his strategy, but Drill Master was able to catch his arms with his drill forks.

“Go, find Xaraxus, I can take care of Toom” Drill Master shouted to Waitstate.

“I can’t just leave you here!” Waitstate shouted back.

Drill Master kicked Toom into a wall. “It’ll just be a waste of time, I’ll be fine!”

“He’s right, let’s not waste any time!” Xaraxus said as he walked up behind Waitstate. Before Waitstate could turn around completely, Xaraxus aimed his photon gun at his head. “Tell me on thing before I blast a hole in your head, how were you able to track us?”

“If I told you, it would ruin the surprise!” Waitstate said with a smile.

Xaraxus scowled at Waitstate’s seemingly in-appropriate demeanor. “You seem surprisingly happy for a dead bot. ”

“Oh, then how about me?” called a voice behind Xaraxus. Before he had a chance to react, Xaraxus was blasted to the ground.

“The spark-less one!” Xaraxus shouted as he worked his way to his feet. “It was you wasn’t it? You allowed LONAC to track us, you took out our shields, and you disabled half of our systems! You’re the only one who could evade our security systems!”

“I can take credit for most of that” Dark Star replied coldly. “Now I shall take credit for your death.” Dark Star raised his guns.

Waitstate stopped him. “This is my fight. Go help the others.”

Dark Star paused. He looked at Waitstate’s optical sensors as if he were trying to read them. After a moment, he went to help Drill Master.

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Waitstate turned to look for Xaraxus. He saw nothing. When he turned to back around, his surroundings had changed. No longer was he facing a hole in the side of a Doom Gaze corridor, but now he was in a dark room. It was huge; its design seemed almost like that of a centrifuge.

Xaraxus came floating down from the ceiling and hovered just above Waitstate. “There was a time when I would have said I was going to crush you with my bare hands. I insisted I had what it took to destroy LONAC without resorting to sorcery. However, The Gathering is much too near and I can no longer waste my time with you. Prepare to die.”

“There has already been one death today” Waitstate replied. “There’s only room for one more, and it’s not going to be me.”

“Fool!” Xaraxus shouted.

Bolts of energy rippled from Xaraxus, splashing against the walls. They eventually surged through Waitstate, knocking him to his knees.

Xaraxus laughed. “This room is the perfect compliment to my powers!”

Waitstate was lifted to the ceiling then dropped to the floor. He winced with pain. It took almost all of his might to stand back up.

“Fight damn you! Fight!” Xaraxus despised the idea of an easy victory with one of his greatest foes.

Xaraxus sent a bolt of energy at Waitstate’s head. He did he best to duck out of the way, but the blast grazed the side of his head. Waitstate immediately clutched the area around his right optic.

Waitstate removed his hand, discovering that his optic had been destroyed. “Awe come on Xaraxus, you can do better than that! Why don’t you come a little closer?”

Xaraxus floated down to the floor. “Is this better?”

Waitstate swung his beamsabre as quickly as he could. Xaraxus’ arm almost seemed to teleport into a blocking position. As the blade came down on Xaraxus’ arm, it almost instantly de-energized. Waitstate seemed stunned.

“Where did your little blade go? Oh, here it is!” Xaraxus mused as a blade of energy formed in his hand. He swung at Waitstate’s right arm, cutting it off at the elbow. It fell to the floor; the handle of his de-energized weapon fell from the severed limb.

“You underestimate me,” Waitstate said as he hobbled over to Xaraxus.

“Pitiful!” Xaraxus scoffed.

Xaraxus picked up Waitstate by his left leg and threw him against a wall. The stress nearly tore the leg off at the knee.

“You are weaker than I expected. Killing you won’t be much of a pleasure, you LONACs die so easily!” Xaraxus laughed.

“Is there- anything more- you’d like to add?” Waitstate was now struggling to speak, though he continued with his wisecracks.

Xaraxus pulled Waitstate over to him with telekinesis and grabbed onto his neck. Waitstate struggled futily; he was almost drained of energy.

“Even now your energy escapes your corporeal body as if you were dead.” Xaraxus paused to reflect for a moment. “You do not understand the power of the Cult. One day when all of its powers are mine, I will return and destroy LONAC, and there will be nothing you can do to save your crew.”

“At first- I wasn’t sure- now I know. You’re totally- nuts!” Waitstate struggled to look Xaraxus in the face.

Xaraxus scowled once again. “What is wrong with you? Why do you continue to add humor to this?”

Waitstate looked Xaraxus dead in the eyes. “It was the only way to get close.”

Waitstate’s left arm panel popped open and Artifice’s short blade popped out. Waitstate caught the weapon, and with all of his might, he thrust it into Xaraxus’ spark. Bewildered, Xaraxus looked down at his chest, then back up at Waitstate.

Waitstate gave Xaraxus a cold stare. “That was for Artifice!”

Xaraxus gave a slight grin. “Perhaps you’re not such a disappointment.”

Xaraxus’ life force left him. His body fell to the floor, and along with it, Waitstate. Everything became dim.

At the other side of the room, a light appeared. Dark Force came rushing in, followed by Admiral Lilwall. Eventually Waitstate was surrounded by his crew.

“We did it Waitstate, we won” Admiral Lilwall said as he picked up Waitstate.

“It has been a long day, let’s go home” Waitstate said simply.