Melvin, the Grand Zombie Master and King of Crawk was sitting in his escape pod, giggling away to himself. Yes, his wife had just died, but it had been quite an amusing death from a neutral perspective. Yes, he was drifting down towards Imdor, a dusty and desolate planet he had never heard of. He’d have no means of getting home - but that was kind of funny too. And yes, it did mean that the whole war effort was currently in the incapable hands of his son, Green_Turtle_Boy_367 and his suicidal wannabe traitor, Jake. That would result in many funny tales, he was sure. Think of the rich history that the kids in Crawk would be taught in later years - if any of them ever turned up to school, of course.

Melvin fell off his chair as the parachute opened and jolted his escape pod. Of course this made him laugh even more. He had just about regained his composure when his pod touched the ground. Picking himself up, he walked outside and saw a huge spaceship lying dead ahead of him. Two uniformed soldiers were walking towards it. Unable to believe his instant luck, he followed them and snuck inside the doorway as it closed.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Joel. “We’ve never flown a spaceship before.”

“Well what other option do we have? We could stay here forever if you like. I can’t see there being anyone else on this planet who could help us.”

Gaz was right. The Ildor was a notoriously ferocious beast, and as they had seen it had the power to keep a planet uninhabited indefinitely.

“Ok,” Joel shrugged. “Let’s try.”

“Come on Joel, be a bit more enthusiastic! I thought we joined the army to do stuff like this.”

Joel grinned, Gaz was completely right.

“Fine, but I’m driving. So which one do you think turns it on?”

Behind them, the Grand Zombie Master had a silent snigger and went off to explore the ship. He could see the next few days being very amusing.