Mini-Series

Note: These are 2 more short mini stories that occurred during the original 5 books. (One of them will soon be placed here and is now on disk and needs to be uploaded.)

January 21, 2004

Supreme General Victor Voktor was very, very nervous. He had failed. He just couldn’t kill Dart and Rose, the pesky Freedom Leaders, his mortal enemies. Now he was under all sorts of pressure from the Supreme Leader in Washington D.C. On top of that he knew his troops wouldn’t be able to hold off the massive assault the Republic would launch on the Empire in the coming Spring. He needed to think of something and fast. Some sort of miracle to hold off, perhaps even force back the Republic and most importantly destroy its leaders. Victor turned to the map in his HQ in Berlin, Germany. There had to be something here he was forgetting, something he was overlooking, something to exploit. Then he had an idea. He turned to his aide Capt. Christopher Cartwright and said, "Captain, do you still have that ancient mythology book I liked that we found in Rome?" "I’ll have to look for it but I’m sure it’s here somewhere." his aide answered. "Excellent." Voktor replied. He turned back to the map and put a pin in an area still accessible by his men for the time being if he concentrated his feeble resources. "Yes, it just might work." he said as confidently as he could muster.

Rose simply blinked as she looked at the transmission the one of her soldier's had just handed her. "He’s going to Egypt? To search for the," she couldn’t believe she was saying the words, "the lost Ark of the Covenant?" "That is what the transmission says that we intercepted." The soldier replied. "Doesn’t he have anything better to do than dig in the sand for mythical treasures?" Rose said. "He must be joking, he has to know we are preparing an offensive against him in Europe that he should be preparing for." She finished. "What’s all the hubbub about." Dart asked coming up to her. "See for yourself." Rose said handing him the transmission. Dart gasped in surprise. "We have to stop him!" he cried. Rose looked at him like he was crazy. "You can’t seriously be considering wasting our time looking for things that may not even exist, Dart." she said to him. "The Ark is real!" he said as though surprised at her. "And it is said to have incredible power! Who knows what he could do with such incredible power." Rose simply stared at him and he could tell she didn’t believe him. At last she said, "well if you want to go after him so badly so be it. We’ll go. But it’s on your head if this goes sour or if we don’t find anything." she finished reluctantly. "Thank you so much!" he said as he hugged her. "Take it easy there!" she said laughing at him. "Well you heard the man, we’re off for Cairo!" Rose said to the soldiers in the command center.

Victor Voktor looked out at the band he had assembled. A few out of date tanks, some trucks, and a few hundred men with weapons and shovels to dig. "This is the best we can come up with?" he asked his aide. "This and your personal helicopter, sir. But I believe it will be better to have a smaller force if we are going deep behind enemy lines." he answered. "Perhaps you are right." Victor looked at the map in his book. "Now according to the book the Israelites took the Ark to Jerusalem but the Egyptians took it back to Egypt and lost it somewhere in the south years later." he said. "So where in the south was it lost?" Christopher asked him. "Well it’s not in the book but I happen to know that it is in a lost site about 30 miles from the ancient city of Thebes." Voktor said confidently. "How do you know that, sir, if I may ask?" His aide inquired. "I know it because I’m not ready to question the Supreme Leader. Are you Captain?" he snapped at him. "No, sir!" he answered, his eyes filled with terror. "Alright then, let’s get rolling." Victor ordered and the column pressed out of Lybia and into southern Egypt.

Rose stepped off the plane into the sweltering heat of Cairo. "Ugh, why is it so hot here?" she complained. "It’s not that bad." Dart said as he strode down the stairs onto the runway. A soldier came up to him almost instantly. "Sir, we’re glad you decided to come. We just received a report that a strange column of Imperial forces is probing unusually far into the south of the region." he said. "That must be Voktor!" he said to Rose. "We have to hurry if we want to beat him to it." she answered. "Follow me," the soldier said, "we can’t risk taking planes any farther with the Imperial Air Force so active in these parts. However, we are preparing a counter attack and I have arranged for transports to take you to the scene." he finished. "Good work." Rose said. "Let’s go." Dart said eagerly and they ran toward the jeep that would take them to the scene of action.

Victor Voktor eagerly waited to hop out of his helicopter as it landed. There was the ancient city, deserted and unfortified by the enemy so far behind their lines. They had lost a few men to enemy patrols but nothing serious. All they had to do now was find the Ark and get out before those annoying Freedom Leaders showed up. And perhaps leave a little surprise for them Victor thought to himself maliciously. He hopped out closely followed by his aide and body guards. "Get to work!" he shouted at his men as they unloaded the trucks. "We don’t have much time!" he yelled as he ranted at them to move faster. Finally everything was ready. The War Lord looked at the map he had with him and after hunting around the area for some time he finally shouted in triumph, "This is it!" He barked out several more orders and the teams began to dig where he told them to. The rest of his soldiers fanned out and set up a perimeter to fight off the enemy should they have to. Now it was only a matter of time.

Rose clung to her seat as the jeep she and Dart where in sped through the desert at speeds that had to be deadly dangerous. Then a transmission came over the radio from a scout jeep they had sent ahead of the main force. "Imperial forces in control of city. Scouts forced back. Requesting reinforcements to drive out the enemy." it said. Dart swore. "He beat us to it!" he yelled at Rose. "Don’t worry, we have to have more soldiers and better equipment. We’ll force him out of there and then you can claim your prize." she answered him calmly. "The Ark is more than just a prize, Rose." he said. "This could mean life or death for everything we have fought for." he continued. She only nodded at him but still couldn’t muster the faith to believe that the Ark was really here if it existed at all.

Machines guns chattered as the Imperial soldiers struggled to hold off the Republic. Victor nervously stared over the barricade at them then glanced back at the diggers. They were getting close, both the enemy and the diggers, he could feel it. "Sir!" a soldier shouted as he ran up to him. "We’ve found something!" he shouted over the gunfire. Victor seemed to jump with glee and ran over towards the pit. Then his excitement was crushed as he was flung aside by Republic artillery fire. He slowly pulled himself together and then became angry. "Where did they get artillery from?!" he roared. "I don’t know, sir." Capt. Christopher shouted. "But they are tearing apart our delaying force. Whatever the men found we have to load it on the chopper and get out now!" he yelled over at Victor from a crater a few yards away. Victor finally made it to the edge of the pit where the team was waiting with a large stone container. As the shells burst all around him Victor and the soldiers removed the top and there it was! The lost Ark of the Covenant! "Ha! I knew we’d find it! Get it onto the helicopter! Now!" he shouted at his men. "Hold it right there!" an all too familiar voice shouted at him. Victor spun around and drew his sword and there was a jeep holding Rose and Dart. They had broken his lines while he was busy with the Ark. Rose seemed beside herself and shocked but Dart stepped out of the jeep sword drawn. "Hand over the Ark and give up Victor. You can’t escape." he said. "Never!" Victor screamed at him. "Get it out! I’ll hold him off!" he ordered his men. "Take care of Voktor. I’ll get the Ark." Rose said to him as she recovered. Dart hesitated for a moment then agreed as the War Lord charged at him.

Dart dodged another blow from Victor and returned one of his own. Victor parried and thrust forward at him knocking Dart off his feet. As the Republic began to overrun the area, Victor calmly placed his sword at Dart’s throat. "You can’t beat me," he said as bullets whizzed around him, "and with the Ark the world belongs to the Empire." He finished as he began to press the sword harder to finish Dart off. Just then there was a massive explosion that threw Dart out of the way and knocked the War Lord down into the pit his men had dug. As Dart began to lift himself up he didn’t realize how badly hurt he was and collapsed into the dust again. Then darkness.

Rose shook Dart and shouted his name to wake up. Slowly he came to and tried to push her away. "It’s me!" she shouted at him. As soon as he sat up his eyes nearly popped out of his head as he asked, "Where’s the Ark?" She shook her head, "I don’t know, nobody does. As Victor’s men ran towards the helicopter with it we killed one of them and they dropped it. The lid flew off and then there was a massive explosion. The Empire used the time to escape and after they left we couldn’t find it anywhere." she explained. Dart stood once more and nearly fell again but Rose caught him. "I’m sorry I didn’t believe you." she said as she looked away. "It’s alright." he sighed. "I guess we aren’t ready for power like that of the Ark," he began, "maybe someday we’ll find it" he finished. "I’m sure we will." Rose said and smiled at him. They got back onto the jeep and prepared to head back to Europe to continue preparing for the big attack on the Empire. They had narrowly survived yet again.

Victor Voktor rubbed a large bruise on the side of his face from being thrown by the explosion. "We almost had it!" he shouted angrily. The blades on the helicopter made his voice almost inaudible as they headed back towards Imperial territory. "Well at least they didn’t get it either." his aide said to him. "Yes, but we need it. How will we stop the Republic now?" he asked no one in particular. "I’m sure we can, sir. We have better troops and better weapons." his aide said, trying to console him. Victor only nodded nervously. It was a wild beginning to the year. He could only hope the rest of it wouldn’t be as disastrous...