Seeran stood at the East Gate, watching Travis pace back and forth like a caged animal. Tavis's arms were folded, his face red as he yelled at his men outside the trap to get him out of it. Those outside the plasma barrier circled it, looking for a way to neutralize it so they could free their leader. Seeran knew they would never find a way out of the trap.

The power had to be shut off completely to neutralize it. There was no other way that they knew of to escape the barrier. The device that would shut the power off was inside the main dome. There was no way for those trapped inside the barrier to get to the power source. They were definitely trapped.

The man who had touched the dome, becoming unconscious, had revived and was now keeping a healthy distance away from the barrier. He didn't want to be thrown again by the high voltage pulsing through the plasma barrier. Even from the distance from the east gate to the trap, Seeran could see the scorch marks on the man's body. Even his clothes had tattered from the burns. Black marks riddled his body.

Seeran watched as Travis shot at the barrier with one of his human firearms. The bullet ricocheted off the barrier and bounced several times, pinging each time it made contact with it and nearly hitting one of his men as it ricocheted from one side of the barrier to the other, ping ponging back and forth.

Travis's anger escalated as he watched it bounce. With his eyes flashing, he pulled out a blaster; he tried it next. The same thing happened. The blaster's energy beam bounced off the barrier, ricocheting around the inside of the barrier before hitting him in the shoulder; it was too quick for him to move away in time. The others inside had quickly ducked down, trying to avoid being hit by the blast.

Behind him, Seeran heard a snicker. "If he keeps that up, he will do himself in. It would do us all a favor." Seeran turned around to see Niki holding her own set of binoculars, Aleigha right behind her. "So, what are we waiting for?" she asked him, still looking at Travis trapped in the barrier. His anger had turned to rage the longer he was trapped inside.

"I don't really know. I think we're waiting for Council Leader Vorik to decide what to do with him, since he's trapped. We still have to worry about the ones that aren't trapped inside, though," he told her.

"They're all armed. We can't even open the barrier to get them out one by one. I'm not sure what we can do. We can probably deal with the ones outside the barrier, but not the ones inside of it." Niki Continued.

"We can't really deal with them either unless they run out of ammunition for their human weapons. They have blasters, too. Those won't run out," Seeran complained, still looking at Travis, watching him pace in anger. One of his hands held his injured shoulder. Blood seeped out of the wound and spilled between his fingers.

Behind them, Council Leader Vorik rushed up, taking the binoculars from Seeran. He peered through, seeing Travis pace in anger. "We need to find a way to finish this," he stated evenly.

"How are we going to do that?" Seeran asked. He could think of no way to do exactly that. "I can only think of three ways. One would be to attack after they all sleep or suck the oxygen out of the barrier, killing all of them. The other option is to let them out, but we're going to have to fight all of them if we do that."

Niki spoke up, still looking through the binoculars. She had been clearly listening. "Don't you have some sort of body shield to prevent getting injured if they shoot at you?"

"Not to be a bitch," Aleigha began, cutting her sister off. "But you guys killed nearly every human on the planet in a matter of hours. Can't you find a way to pinpoint these assholes?"

Vorik's face paled. He didn't like being reminded of what he had done following the order of Council Leader Tosh. He was doing his best to save the remaining lives on the planet. He looked over at Aleigha. "Do you think there is even the smallest chance that some of his men are only fighting for him out of fear of him?"

"I don't know. Maybe I should go over there and talk to the group you just brought in. What was their leader called?" Aleigha asked.

"Julian Cooper," Vorik stated.

Aleigha sighed. "I'll be back. I'm going to see what he has to say."

Vorik watched Aleigha disappear around a building, then turned back to keep an eye on Travis. He wasn't convinced that Travis wouldn't figure out a way out of the barrier. Given enough time, he would eventually figure out a way that even the designers couldn't.

Niki turned to Vorik. "I'm going to ask again. Don't you have some sort of body shield to prevent getting injured if they shoot at you?"

Vorik shook his head. "No, we don't."

"How about a shielded transport so someone can go out there and face them without getting injured?" Niki persisted. Clearly, she had a plan, but wanted a way to stay safe while implementing it.

Vorik turned to Niki. "You have an idea. What is it?"

"I don't really have an idea. I just wanted to go out there and see for myself if all of his people are 100% on his side." Niki started. "I also think that if someone took out Travis, it might change the outcome of this situation. They all might just be scared of him."

Seeran looked over at Vorik. "She may be right. Unfortunately, I don't know how it could be done in a way to guarantee her safety."

Niki thought about it for a moment. "So, can the outside of the barrier be penetrated?"

"What do you mean?" Seeran asked before anyone else could speak.

"I watched Travis shoot a blaster and a handgun. The bullet bounced off the barrier. If the barrier is shot from the outside, will it enter the barrier? Like, can things go in the barrier but not out?" she tried to explain.

"It's the same either way," Vorik answered for Seeran.

Aleigha came walking up to the gate. She had also heard the conversation. She had a long-range sniper rifle in one hand. She shrugged as they watched. "I had an idea and came back. I'll talk to Julian after I try something," she said, then looked over at Seeran and Vorik. "What if you let the dome flicker off long enough for me to get a shot?" she asked, then went to stand next to her sister. "I need it to flicker off long enough for the bullet to go through, but close up again before they realize it opened."

The sentry at the gatehouse heard what she said. "I can do it. Take your aim; when you're ready, I can open this section of the dome and the trap at the same time as you described. I can make it flicker off and go back into place before they realize it has been shut down."

Aleigha quickly loaded the sniper rifle. There were only magazines that held four shots. She wanted a bigger one, but none were available. She had pulled all the magazines she could find and loaded all of them.

Aleigha quickly stood next to the sentry, lining up the magazines in front of her, and aimed. Taking a deep breath, waiting for Travis to give her a good shot. He finally did. He stopped, then, scratched his head, trying to think of what to do. At least, that's what he looked like he was doing.

"Ready," Aleigha told the sentry. "On three."

The sentry nodded, letting his hand hover over the dome's and trap's activation buttons, and waited for Aleigha to count down.

"One," she started, taking another deep breath. "Two," another breath. "Three," she said, then shot the rifle.

The loud bang echoed through the dome. The sentry had deactivated the dome and the trap simultaneously. The bullet went flying into the air, heading for Travis. Aleigha shot a second shot right after trying to compensate if the barrier didn't shut down at the exact time. It was rapid fire. One of the bullets hit the barrier, bouncing off. The second made it through, hitting Travis in the head with a thud. His body went flying from the impact, smashing into one of the army vehicles behind him. He slid to the ground in a limp heap with blood pouring out of the hole in his head. He was dead.

Aleigha smiled, then turned to Council Leader Vorik. "The head of the snake is cut off; now what?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.