Blue Skies III
"Are you sure this plan will work Captain?" Niko asked. The Rangers were sitting in the nearby tavern with Annie, Elder Birch and a few members of the local militia.
"We can't just leave these people and we need to shut down whoever's smuggling those weapons," Zach said. "The best way to do that is to follow the Solomon Brothers to their hideout."
"They'll be in tomorrow at latest," Elder Birch said. "Those boys never miss Friday nights at the bar. It's free chicken wings day."
"So when they come in, we'll chase 'em off and track them down," Doc nodded.
"Speaking of tracking someone down…" Niko growled as she saw Shane and Annie walk out of the tavern.
"It's good to see you again Shane," Annie said to Shane as they walked around the town.
"I missed you too, Annie," Shane said. He looked around. "I can't believe how much the town has grown since I was here last. Well the parts that didn't burn down anyway."
"Well ever since offworlders started settling on Ozark we've gotten more people," Annie said. "I hate to admit it, but life here has gotten pretty interesting since more settlers arrived."
"More towns and cities are going to grow but I heard Ozark has already placed several environmental laws and wildlife reserves," Shane said.
"That's one thing everyone on Ozark has in common," Annie said. "We all love this planet's natural beauty."
"It is a beautiful place," Shane smiled at her. "I know it always draws me back."
"Just Ozark?" Annie asked. Shane shrugged and smiled. "It's a pity you don't come to Ozark more often."
"Being a Galaxy Ranger takes me all over the place," Shane said. "You know how it is."
"Not really," Annie shrugged. "I've lived on this planet all my life. I can't imagine being anywhere else."
"I can understand that," Shane said. "It's so peaceful."
A loud shriek assaulted his ears. "What the…?" They looked in the main hall and Shane realized that several people had been watching the new Tri-D set in the community center. "I never did like commercials," He grumbled.
Then he realized half the town was watching a news special from Earth. A special about the war. They saw him and gave him harsh and hard looks. Some women looked at him sadly.
"Why are they looking at you like that?" Annie picked up on it.
"Because they all know…" Shane let out a frustrated sigh. "I guess I'd better tell you what happened. We'd better find someplace quiet because it's a long story and I want you to hear it from me before someone else blabs the whole thing."
"Okay, let's go for a ride in the forest," They got on their steeds and Annie steered them into the woods. "So what happened? Goose how did a civil war happen on Earth? And what does it have to do with you?"
"I guess it really started a little over a year ago," Shane let out a breath. "You remember I told you that I was born by gene experiments?"
"Yes."
"Well it turns out that one of my donors was still alive. Actually two of them are still alive…" Shane let out a breath. "It all started on the Planet Maine…"
Meanwhile Rawhide and his brothers were hiding out on the other side of town. "Are you sure this is a good idea to go back there again?" Whiplash asked. "What about those Galaxy Rangers? They're still there!"
"Look we need more powerful weapons to take them on and the only way to do it is to get more cash!" Rawhide told his brother. "Those diamonds we got will barely cover our other expenses! Heck, it barely covers the food bill for the twins here!"
"But the bank?" Johnny asked.
"Know anywhere else to get cash?" Rawhide asked. "We gotta do it today! Our contact is coming tonight to sell us more weapons!"
"But the bank is closed by now!" Whiplash said.
"Do I gotta think of everything! It's simple! We sneak in, break open the vault with my laser and sneak out as quiet as church mice," Rawhide said. "As long as we don't draw attention to ourselves, those rangers will never know what hit them!"
Back in the woods, Annie was still in shock. "Shane I can't believe you went through all that."
"Now you know why I was reluctant to tell you everything," Shane let out a breath.
"That is a lot," Annie sighed. "Not only to lose a brother like that but your Commander and…"
"I know," Shane interrupted. "I just wanted to forget. Just for a little while. It hasn't been easy being Commander Walsh's son. It's even a heavier burden than being head of my family."
"Head of your family? You mean the other Supertroopers?"
"The ones that aren't totally crazy, yes," Shane smiled. "I think you'd like Cheyenne."
BOOOM!
"I don't like the sound of that!" Annie shouted.
"It came from the town!" Shane realized. "Come on!"
They both rode into town and saw absolute chaos. "YOU CALL THIS BEING QUIET?" Rawhide screamed as he ran out of the bank that was on fire. He held a money bag in one hand and a blaster in the other.
"Give me a break! I got the setting confused!" Johnny ran out carrying a large futuristic bazooka. "Could have happened to anybody!"
"Anybody without a brain!" Whiplash screamed as he carried some money bags out with the twins.
"YOU WEREN'T EXACTLY ANY HELP EITHER!" Rawhide screamed. "YOU ENCOURAGED HIM TO BLOW UP THOSE LIGHTS!"
"JUST SHUT UP AND RUN!" Whiplash shouted as the Galaxy Rangers started to shoot at them.
"Hold on Partner!" Doc whipped out his lasso and attempted to lasso Whiplash. However one of the twins blocked the lasso with his arm. "Uh oh! WHOA!" Doc was flung around by the twin wildly.
"WHEEEEEE!" Ted, the twin that had Doc whooped as he threw him around.
"Put him down!" Shane charged and tackled Ted. Soon all three of them were in a melee. Fred rushed in to help his brother.
"Boys let's get out of here!" Rawhide screamed as he got on his horse and saw that there was an open path out of town. "Forget those rangers! Let's go! AND DON'T FORGET THE MONEY!"
The brothers broke away and ran out of town. "It stinks that we just let them go like that," Shane growled as he got up.
"Let them go…right…"Doc groaned as he stood up.
"Are you sure this plan will work?" Elder Birch asked as he and his militia ran up to them.
"We need to find out where they're getting their weapons," Zach said. "This is the only way!"
"I managed to place a tracker on one of the Gruesome Twosome," Doc said taking out his CDU. "We can find them anywhere on the planet now!"
"I know these hills better than anyone," Annie said. "You'll need my help!"
"The rest of us will stay here to guard the town in case," Elder Birch agreed. "And put out the fire!"
"Galaxy Rangers! Ho!" Zach shouted. Soon all five of them were riding fiercely through the mountains.
"So how did she take it?" Niko asked Shane as they rode together.
"Take what?" Shane asked. One look told him that he had screwed up again. "Uh I haven't exactly…NIKO!"
Niko rode ahead of him. "Niko wait! I…Oh man!"
"What did you do now?" Doc asked as he rode up to him.
"It's what I didn't do that she's worked up about," Shane grumbled.
"Oh that," Doc chuckled. "My Gooseman, my Gooseman how do you get yourself into these messes?"
"Keep it up Doc and the next time I'll just let those two goons squash you!" Shane barked.
It was dark by the time they got to the Solomon Brother's camp. They saw a large starship land next to it. "Just in time," Zach said seeing a large dark haired human come out with several robot henchmen. "Looks like he's making a sale."
"I recognize that guy from the wanted posters," Doc said. He touched his CDU and a picture came up. "Name's Cornelius Fargo. He's wanted for illegal weapons trades and gun smuggling in three solar systems. On top of that he's an AWOL sergeant from the Earth Defense forces. Took off about five years ago when he didn't get a promotion he wanted."
"So he decided to go into business for himself," Zach growled. "We've seen enough! Let's go!"
"All right I'll take two of the neuron whips because my brother keeps misplacing them," Rawhide was looking at the merchandise. "Three flame throwers and some of those lasers…On second thought Johnny doesn't need something else that causes more fires. Just give me the neuron whips and the lasers. Oh do you have this in different colors?"
"Hold it right there!" Zach and the others appeared. "You're all under arrest!"
"I thought you said no one could find us?" Fargo snapped at Rawhide.
"No one with half a brain!" Annie said. "The people here are fed up with you Solomon Brothers!"
"Uh oh! We're in trouble!" Ted and Fred gulped.
"You ninnys! We're gonna be just fine!" Whiplash shot out his whip and Johnny shot out his flame thrower. "We're the ones with the superior firepower!"
"We'll see about that!" Shane pulled out his blasters and shot the whip out of Whiplash's hand. Niko used her powers to protect the team from Johnny's fire blast. Zach then used his thunderbolt to scatter the brothers.
"Dang fools!" Fargo snapped. "I'll handle this! Robots! Attack!"
Fargo's robots started to fire on them. "Hyperion battle droids!" Shane barked. "Those things are banned from the league!"
"And so is this!" Fargo laughed as he pushed a button on a hidden remote control. A giant battle droid appeared from the ship and started firing at them.
"That's an X-29 Damager!" Shane shouted. "They're used for destroying cities!"
"That could be a problem," Doc gulped.
"SCATTER!" Niko shouted as the robots opened fire.
"WHO! WE GOT 'EM ON THE…" Johnny whooped. Then he saw Shane get hit and change form. Immediately Shane started to tear the robots apart in his silver form. "Run?"
"Let's tear these suckers apart!" Annie picked the head off of one battle droid with her blaster. It ran around like a chicken with it's head cut off.
"I'm with you!" Zach made a smaller thunderbolt and blew up several more droids while Niko and Doc blasted at the other robots as best they could.
"What are you two waiting for? An engraved invitation?" Rawhide yelled at the twins. "Get in there and fight!"
The brothers nodded and yelled in a charge. Shane whirled around and roared at them. The twins then screamed and hid behind a rock. "Oh for crying out…" Rawhide groaned. "Fine! I'll do it!"
He tried to shoot a laser at Shane but it bounced harmlessly off him and the beam hit another robot. Shane shoved Rawhide down as the X-29 loomed over them.
"My charge is almost gone! I just need one good shot!" Zach focused.
Suddenly the X-29 sputtered and stopped moving. "What?" Fargo yelled as he tried to push the remote control buttons. "It's not working!"
"This puppy is shut down Doc!" Tripwire sang as several tweakers emerged from the robot into Doc's CDU.
"Or I could just do that," Doc gave him a look.
"That'll work," Zach blinked.
"I'm out of here!" Fargo tried to run into the ship but was grabbed by Shane.
"Going somewhere?" Shane growled as he changed back into human form. With one punch he knocked out Fargo. "Oh by the way, you're under arrest."
Rawhide had gotten up and as the battle droids had gotten decimated, he came up with another plan. "Get the girls!"
Whiplash and Johnny had managed to sneak around and grab Annie and Niko from behind. "Stop or the womenfolk get it!" Rawhide snarled.
"Imagine! Thinking they could take us on with just a couple of girls?" Johnny laughed.
"What were they gonna do? Put makeup on us?" Whiplash shouted.
"How about this?" Niko easily threw off Johnny and tossed him to the ground.
"Girls huh?" Annie stomped her foot hard on Whiplash's boot, then elbowing him in the chest. She got free and started pummeling him. "Why don't I show you polecats what girls can do?"
"Come here!" Niko used her powers to drag Rawhide to her and then both women started pummeling all three brothers.
"OW! OW! OH MOMMA THAT HURTS!" The brothers screamed. "THIS IS POLICE BRUTALITY! OW! FRED! TED! DO SOMETHING! HELP US! OH FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY PLEASE HELP US!"
"Uh uh," Fred shook his head, still hiding behind the rock.
"No way man," Ted gulped.
"Smart move," Shane held his blaster on them. "Hands up!"
"We surrender!" The twins said, complying.
"Uh should we do something?" Doc asked as Annie and Niko beat up the three brothers.
"Nah I think those two have got it under control," Shane said.
"You boys had enough?" Annie snapped at the beaten brothers.
"YES! YES!" Rawhide screamed. He had two black eyes. "I swear I'll never ever say anything bad about women ever again! Even my own lying two faced mother!"
"Take us to jail! Please!" The Sherman Brothers pleaded.
"I think we can arrange that," Niko smirked as she and Doc tied them up.
"Fargo we'll take back to Earth," Zach said. "There's an outstanding warrant for his arrest. We can take the Solomon Brothers too if you like."
"As much as I'd love to kick them off the planet they're local," Annie snorted at the pathetic brothers. "Without their fancy weapons, these chickens are nothing!"
"The ship we can put a lock on so we can tow it before we leave this planet," Doc said as he searched Fargo and pulled out a CDU type machine. He started to go through it. "And there's enough information on this to not only put this guy away but to shut down a few dozen other of his clients and suppliers."
"Not bad for a day's work," Zach smirked.
It didn't take long for Annie and the Galaxy Rangers to get back to town. "You know Goose we gotta wrap up pretty soon and get back to BETA," Doc pulled his friend aside. "Which means you'd better wrap things up with Annie and fast before they both do another fighting bout on you!"
"I know it's time to tell her," Shane sighed. "I just have to phrase it right to let her down easy!"
"Well Shane, it's been fun," Annie said as she walked up to him. "Shame it had to end so fast."
"Look Annie, there's something I have to say…" Shane let out a breath. "You see…"
"Annie! You're all right!" A handsome cowboy with brown hair rushed up to her.
"Sean! I told you I'm fine!" Annie laughed as those two embraced and kissed passionately. "Take more than losers like the Solomon Brothers to take me down!"
"Huh?" Shane blinked, clearly stunned.
"Uh Gooseman, now might be the right time to let her down easy," Doc snickered.
"This your friend? Hey! Sean O'Malley," The friendly cowboy gave Shane a very jovial handshake. "Nice to meet you! I'm Annie's fiancé."
"Fiancé?" Shane did a double take.
"I was going to tell you, Shane," Annie said. "Really I was. It just…Well so much time passed between us and…Sean and I really connected. We both have a lot in common and love this planet."
"And you love him don't you?" Shane asked.
"Shane we both know that deep down our hearts are housed in very different places," Annie smiled. "Mine is tied to Ozark. Yours is tied to the stars. Neither one of us would be very happy for long if we tried to live in each other's world permanently."
"He makes you happy, that's what's important," Shane said. He looked at Sean. "Take good care of her."
"Like she'd let me do anything else?" Sean smirked.
"Take care Shane," Annie smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "You'll always be my friend."
"You too," Shane smiled before they walked away.
"Well I see you finally told Annie where you stand," Niko said in a teasing voice.
"You knew about this didn't you?" Shane asked her. "I can tell by that smug look in your eye!"
"Found out when you went off on your little ride," Niko smirked. "Met her fiancé. He's a nice guy."
"And you just let me…" Shane was stunned.
"Yes," Niko smiled.
"You are going to make me suffer for every girl I met aren't you?" Shane groaned.
"Not every girl," Niko said. "Okay Daisy O'Mega. But other than that I think we're good now. Until we meet up with her of course."
"Wonderful," Shane moaned. "I can't wait."
The town elders had gathered with the equipment and met up with the Galaxy Rangers in front of the town hall. "We want to thank the Galaxy Rangers for all they've done," Elder Birch smiled broadly. "Not only have they helped protect our town, they have given us much needed equipment to help our growing city."
"Not to mention shut down a weapons smuggling ring," Doc added. "Captured a criminal from Earth's Most Wanted list."
"And kicked the butts of those Solomon Brothers!" Another townsperson whooped.
"Those boys are gonna cool off in the county jail for a while," Elder Birch smiled. "It'll be a long time before they bother us again. And now without further ado…"
He took out a small box. "What's this?" Zach asked.
"Our part of the deal," Elder Birch opened up the box. "Twenty seven million dollars worth of Blue Sky Ozark diamonds."
Shane did a double take at what he saw. "That's twenty seven million dollars worth of diamonds?"
"Yes it is," Elder Birch smiled. "Check any pricing guide and jeweler."
"Twenty seven million dollars for just…Three diamonds?" Zach's jaw dropped.
"Three diamonds smaller than a penny," Niko was surprised.
"At least they'll be easy to transport," Doc quipped.
"It's a pleasure doing business with you," Elder Birch smiled. "Tell your commander we'll be happy to oblige any time he wants to sell us more stuff."
"We went through all that…" Doc moaned. "For three diamonds?"
"And we were worried about Cain ripping them off ?" Shane groaned.