Read The Cagliostro Chronicles II: Conflagration for Free Online Page B

hands.
    “Whoa!” Dan barked in surprise.
    Aboard the Cagliostro everyone on the command deck immediately snapped into action.
    “Eddie , do you have a clear shot?”
    “Not yet , Mark. I don’t wanna vaporize Dan.”
    “ To hell with it! Get out there with a blaster rifle and take that thing out. If the ships guns are too big for something like this we’ll do it man to monster.” 
    “Wait , Mark,” Red interrupted.
    “What?” Mark was now riveted to the view screen.               Dan brought both his hands down on the towering behemoth’s own red furred hands, with such shattering force that the creature instantly dropped him. Howling, the monster rubbed its wrists as it backed up.
    Dan shouted, “You ain’t goin’ nowhere , you crazy lookin’ ape. Now you’ve gone and pissed me off.”
    The ape continued to back pedal but Dan was immediately upon it . This time he grabbed its leg and heaved upward, tossing the creature off its feet, to the astonishment of the natives who were now cheering Dan on.
    The great ape brought its hands up and slammed them down toward Dan’s head. Dan instantly ducked beneath them and leaped again, balled up both his fists together , and swung for all he was worth from right to left in mid-air. The blow connected with a loud crack to the ape’s jaw that reverberated throughout the dense woodland. The ape-thing fell over, poleaxed and unconscious. The ground shook with its fall.
    “Watch them now ,” Mark cautioned to Eddie and Red.
    The natives swarmed all over Dan, patting him on the back and cheering.
    “Lori, is the translation program getting any of what they are saying? Is it able to latch on yet?”
    “Just now , Sir. They’re saying…’God-killer’. Yes that’s it, ‘God-killer’ over and over.”
    “Is that thing really dead?” Eddie queried.
    “Naaah, it’s out cold, that’s it.” Red looked at the ships sensor display and confirmed, “According to the sensors its unconscious.”
    Mark smiled. “Good. Let’s go meet our new best friends, but before we do let’s bring their companions out to them as a measure of good faith.”
    “I’ll have a security crew bring them up right away Mark,” Red announced.
    Mark nodded. “Good, have them meet us out there. We’ll await their signal that they’re on their way.”
    “You got it , Boss,” Red acknowledged.
     
    ***
     
    Five minutes later Mark, Red and two security men with hand blasters exited the ship on the entryway ramp with the five natives who had tried to sneak onto the ship in front of them.
    The former captives chattered incessantly with their cohorts while Dan walked back up the ramp toward his companions.
    “How’s it looking , Danny?”
    Dan turned back toward the group of natives and spoke. “They seem ta be lovin’ me for takin’ that thing down. It musta been a grade ‘A’ pain to them.”
    “Have they been talking?”
    “Yeah, Mark they have, but I got no clue what they’re sayin’. Hopefully the translation program can do its job now.”
    “Let’s give it a shot .” Mark tapped his sleeve and a hologram image of a control panel sprang up. He tapped the virtual keys and typed a few commands. He finished off with a sequence that collapsed the holographic control panel. An instant later the alien’s voices were being translated by the tech suits the crew wore and the ship’s powerful computer systems.
    “ Hhhmmm, we should be able ta communicate with ‘em now,” Dan announced.
    “ Should be, Dan. By the way, none the worse for the wear against Kong over there, right?” Mark nodded toward the unconscious ape-like giant.
    “Naaah , Mark, I’m fine.” Dan smiled and flexed his right bicep.
    Red grimaced. “I still don’t trust them.”
    Mark slapped him on the shou lder as he walked down the ramp. “That’s what I pay you for, big man.”
    The group moved back toward the natives who seemed to grow less wary of them with each second.
    “Hello ,”