Chapter Nine

The Super Squad was hard pressed by Princess Posh, their new benefactor, to find two more members for their team. Its captain, Captain Best, along with his right hand co-pilot, Lieutenant Awesome, would not settle for mediocrity, and Sargent Stupendous, would not let another onto the team that she did not like.

This predicament had them arguing for hours over which of the many galaxy-renowned mechanics and communications masters they would invite to fill the empty seats of the Starship Extreme. An interruption broke the argument, leaving them without a conclusion.

“Cadet Chaos here, captain,” said the untrustworthy cadet that caused the Shield Generator to collapse, as he scrambled into the room. He had changed from his previous clothes and was wearing purple jeans and a red top with the gold ‘SS’ symbol on it.

“Chaos, what are you wearing?” Best laughed.

“He must be starting a Super Squad fan club.” Awesome filled in, not laughing at his own joke, but cringing at the thought of verbalizing the captain’s unprofessional squadron name.

“No, captain,” the cadet corrected, ignoring Awesome’s comment. “I bring urgent news – the Maltese Marauder is coming! Our sensors have picked him up just a few minutes away. You are the only GAMMA squad nearby, and you’re not even full! I volunteered to fill in for your communications position, temporarily… only if you’ll accept me, though.”

“It’s an emergency and you have time to get changed?” said Stupendous, looking at Chaos’s outfit with distaste.

“It wasn’t as much of an emergency before, but now it is!” Chaos argued back. ”Gammana has soldiers to defend it internally, but it has no functioning squadrons nearby. You guys need to defend this place from the outside! That means getting into your ship and taking flight! Come, I’ve got the ship readied in the launch bay.”

“You’ve got the ship ready?” Best asked, hysterical. “That’s my job! I am the captain! You can’t just invite yourself onto my team.”

“I apologize, captain, but times are desperate. I am only filling in for the communications post temporarily. Let me, please, for the good of the GAMMA! You cannot go out on a mission without a communications manager!”

Awesome groaned. “Best, let him come with us. He can’t cause too much harm. We need to get into the air now!”

Best jumped back in shock. Awesome actually wanting to get going on a mission! It was impossible! But there was no time to ponder on Awesome’s change of heart, as the lieutenant was right – They had to get moving!

“But Cadet Chaos,” Special K quickly interrupted, her quiet voice hardly being heard. “The Marauder abandoned his ship at the shield generator. We shattered its flight control! How can he reach us here?”

Special K’s mind was always spotting the finer points of transportation and space, as well as of everything else, which is why she was named the squad’s navigator. Nobody else had even thought about this fact,

The cadet’s face became grim. “That… is the other issue.” He paused for a moment, receiving a hurried look on Captain Best’s part. “The Maltese Marauder is not riding a ship… it’s something far more dangerous.”

“More dangerous than a blast laser equipped starship?” Stupendous exclaimed.

Chaos sighed. “…He has a dragon.”