The Places Between the Stars
Well it's been a long, long while since we left you at the end of Chapter 3, huh? We were heading towards Seto Kaibo where Natasha Ranee and Harvey Master were to be turned over for arraignment and then sent to trial at Kurestan where the Grand Council or whatever they called themselves would decide the fate for these two miscreant time jockeys.
I should mention here that our fearless leader, Marshall O'Halloran, balked at allowing any novice TARDIS pilots (like Nyssa or Zoe) to undertake such a long journey in this 'cottage' which was what Harvey's Type 40 traveling machine resembled on the outside now.
After a long argument amongst the Marshall, our Brigadier Angel, our Commodore Donovan, the 'ISSP's John Raven and Rafe Donnelly, Chiefs Garner, Gooley, Gustav, Poporo, Sir Hiram MacDougall, Angie de Roncesvalles, myself and the 'God' of the 'UG' and the 3WA 'Uncle Vito' Galadriel, it was at last agreed that:
1. Zoe Morton would materialize the 'cottage' inside the docking bays of our own 'Lovely Angel 2' K-Class patrol starship.
2. Harvey and Natasha would be transferred to the brig on Surface Level 5 of the 'LA2'; that a dozen triple force beam barriers would be erected around the entire Surface Level 5 brig deck and that the guard mount on that deck would be quintupled!
3. The 'LA2' would proceed with all possible haste to the penal colony on Seto Kaibo where ALL of our prisoners would be offloaded especially the 'Time Jockey Duet'!
4. That afterwards the 'LA2' would return to its home base at the Takachiho Academy in Furool (Foo-Lon) City in Eastern Shimougou after a quick flight to the Girol Mountains to return both Sister Patricia and the Casterlain to the Convent/Monasterial Retreat of St Brigid of Astarkia where the 'Book' of the Time Lords of Gallifrey would be placed within the deepest vaults under Mount Sinisteris where it would remain for all eternity or until some other damned fool decided to come looking for the stupid thing!
5. That all remaining occupants not part of the 3WA, 'UG', 'InterGalactic Space Command' or 'Starfleet', would be turned over to the relocation teams headed up by newly promoted Captain Allison Kurtz, for transfer to various hotels, motels, apartment complexes, etc. until they could be sorted out and sent back home, wherever home might be and whatever time era(s) home might be a part thereof.
6. That all crewmen from the aforesaid organizations with the exception of the 3WA, would return or be returned to their various HQs and duties and ships with all possible speed, and finally,
7. That all 3WA personnel who were not students, instructors or necessary personnel (with the exceptions of the 'Unholy Four' of course) would immediately return to duty or class. The 'Unholy Four' (The Boss, the Brig, Miss D and Kome Sawaguchi) had already been granted long overdue vacations which were effective immediately that they had cleared up all the red tap on their return to the Academy and 3WA HQ in Elenore City and Furool (Foo-Lon) City on Shimougou.
The Boss and Miss D were to have three months; the Brigadier got two and Kome got three weeks' paid leave. Rio and I, being students/trainees/cadets were now 'Acting' Junior Tro-Cons (Trouble Consultants) and would advance to our third terms at the Academy. Mr Garner was nice enough to allow us a few days' leave to visit our folks, Kami bless him!
First things first though. We had to get back home before any of this stuff would happen. OK Rio! I know it's our turn again!
We get to do the DISCLAIMER. First, a big domo arigatou or thanks ever so much to Mr Haruka-San Takachiho for allowing us to use all of his creations and to anyone else like Mr Thomas Beers for allowing us to use their creations as he allowed us to use his 'Ice Road Brigade' truckers. A big thankee goes to the Boss Man KZ and Story Teller Guy for all their invaluable contributions.
What do ya mean by that crack, Rio? How should I know who writes this stuff and it is not drivel, Missy! Anyhow, we did leave ya way, way up in space (Pardon the pun) at the end of Chapter 3 so, without further ado, not doo-doo, Miss DelCroix, here is the long awaited Chapter 4 and thanks for waiting for it, folks!
CHAPTER 4 'Next Stop, Seto Kaibo' or 'Has Anyone Seen John Berringer?'
We had been cruising along at a pretty good clip of 30 Warp on our way to Seto Kaibo to turn over our two prisoners. One morning Hi came in to see us in the Star Room aboard the Master's TARDIS. I had no idea why he was there and neither did Angie. As usual, Rio didn't have a clue. Sometimes I felt that she wasn't even aware of the star date!
"Good morning, Ladies. I trust that I ain't intrudin'?" Sir Hiram Angus MacDougal was a big and brawny Scotsman well over two metres in height. I offered him a java but he opted for 'tae' as he called it with a generous dollop of good Skotch whiskey added to his cup. Angie decided to send Rio off to pester Nami in the nav room. Then she and I sat down at the table with Hi.
"Let me congratulate ye again, Miss Jordan. Solvin' that riddle when ye did was just what the doctor ordered, if ye get me drift? (I nodded) The reason I drapped by is, well, ye're dinna gonna like it but it must be said. Miss de Roncesvalles?" he began and by now we were both as curious as Hell not to mention a mite worried to boot. Well I was anyway!
"Angie, please." replied the last female member of the Order of the Knights Templar.
"Verra well then- Angie. I finally managed to translate the last of the runes written on the verra last scroll-" he began before I blurted out-
"What runes, Hi? I thought I had translated that last portion of those runes a week ago, man?" Angie looked daggers at me.
"Ye translated the last o' the 'visible' runes, me dear child. Let me show both o' ye something." he said and then Hi unrolled the scroll he'd been carrying under his arm. We anchored it with the sugar bowl and the creamer pitcher. He grabbed at it, upsetting the pitcher which luckily dribbled onto the floor and not the table or the ancient parchment. The sugar bowl's contents scattered all across the other charts, maps and scrolls on the table.
Next thing I knew he had stuck one end of the parchment, papyrus or whatever the darn thing was, into my mitts and the other end into Angie's.
"Please lend me your laser sword, Edie." he said. I fished around in my jacket pocket and tossed the sword hilt to him. He ignited it and our hearts were in our mouths when he very carefully held the laser's ionic beam of light under the scroll. He slowly and carefully moved the flame back and forth until at last strange runic characters magically appeared below the scroll's final paragraph.
I was reminded of that ancient Terran film National Treasure that Angie, Rio, Miss D and I had watched the other night. In it, the hero had used heated hair dryers and lemon juice to bring out hidden characters and figures on the back of a very ancient scroll they called the Declaration of Independence. His girlfriend had been very scared and adamant when the hero's Papa had suggested 'tossing it into the oven'.
"Invisible ink?" cried Angie and the old Scotsman grinned.
"Nae really, Lassie. These runes were written on a separate piece of very thin vellum and then pressed between both sides o' the scroll after carefully lifting off the thin top layer thus imprisoning the secret runes. Yer great-great grand-pappies dinna wanna take any chances in case this scroll found its way into the wrong hands.
"The addition o' heat acted the same way as it would have had this been invisible ink. Y'll notice that these runes are imilar to the others but not quite exactly the same. The reason is that they are not Chaldean like the rest and they were not written in any language that originated on Terra. Well, truth be told, the Chaldean language dinna originate on Terra either. (Angie's mouth dropped open and her eyes popped).
"Instead, the ancient Babylonians originated on the planet 'Baal' in the Phi-Delta-Omega Quadrant. When they reached Terra some twenty thousand centuries ago, they always yearned for their homeworld and longed to someday return there. Over the millennia, however, 'Baal' the planet became 'Baal' the god-idol they worshipped. In all likelihood, the people themselves had long ago forgotten that they had not originated on Terra.
"Therefore, these runes are written not in Chaldean but rather in the more ancient 'Baalan' language. These runes too foretell of a prophecy, me dears and not a very nice one either. In fact, it is quite dire. The disintegration of the 'Decalogue' has hastened the end of creation and there seems to be only one way to reverse it. I ain't got all o' it figgered out yet but this is how it reads." he explained to us and then he began to intone the dreaded prophecy which I have copied here as faithfully as I can remember. It ran:
'When the sword of the Great King be no more which shall be when the Great King be not appeased then surely and swiftly shall come the end for all things in all of the Universes.
'Take heart for there a way, save only one way to reverse this course of events.
'If a maiden born of noble blood whose locks be the colour of the skies over Pluto in springtime can find the three Compasses of Talos and with them locate the Light of the Great King and there release the Horns of Nimon then She and only She can reverse chaos and restore all of the Universes.'
"So? This time the Vacuumhead's gotta save the day huh? About damned time! I'm gettin' sick and tired of doing all the bloody work ya know! Where the Hell is she anyway? Anyone seen her?" demanded our own fearless leader in a voice of thunder.
So sudden had her appearance been that Angie had dropped her sextant and slide rule. Hi gallantly retrieved them for her.
"It would seem so, my dear Reds. Java, Madam?" replied the archaeologist but the Boss lady declined his offer.
"Oro (What) does the rest of that damned bullshit mean, Hi?" she asked very quietly. Uh oh! When the Boss gets quiet, it is usually bad news time for everybody!
"Talos was a Terran Titan a few thousand years ago-" he began.
"Like Robin ya mean?" yelled the firebrand Hellcat. Hi shook his head and continued while Angie whispered to the Boss that the Titans had been the forerunners of the ancient Greek gods on Terra.
"By 'Compass', I believe the prophecy is referring to 'directions', that is, Talos will point the way towards the 'Light of the Great King'. This clearly must mean 'Pharos', the lighthouse on ancient Terra. The Doctors have explained to me that the 'Horns of Nimon' are part of a Minotaur-like creature somewhere in the heavens. Tha's the good news, Love." explained the dour Scot.
"And the bad news, Hi?" seethed Miss O'Halloran while she was igniting a cheroot. Hi looked a lot like Death warmed over.
"Talos is a star cluster that appears only in this present season in the skies above 'Ragnarok' (Re-More-Ah) which is still several hundreds of thousands of lightyears from our present position. Nobody knows where the ancients placed 'Pharos' which had been one of the Seven Wonder of the ancient Terran World. The Terrans thought that it had been destroyed, however, the Templars had merely transported it for safekeeping to some unknown faroff world. Even the Time Lords dinna know exactly where to find the 'Horns of Nimon', however, Doctor #2 is fairly certain that they are akin to the 'Horn of Roland' which was used to summon Charon the Ferryman who ferried the dead to Hades on ancient Terra. So the Duchess has to blow those Horns to reverse chaos and the sooner, the better." said the grave-faced old gentleman.
My heart was in my mouth again and it felt like my stomach was trying to leave my body! Those damned 'Join the 3WA' brochures had never even hinted at this kind of a scenario!
"Where's 'Ragnarok'?" I asked as innocently as I could manage.
"Somehow I don't think it's anywhere near that Asgard shopping mall where I've been banned for life." answered the Boss quietly. Now I was really feeling queasy! Hi rummaged around in the star vidcharts for awhile before spreading out one labeled 'Epsilon-Delta-Chi Quadrant' and indicating a tiny speck in the extreme Southeasternmost corner of the chart. Even under the 10,000X vid-magnifier it was tiny!
"There be where we will be a-findin' 'Talos' and with a wee bit o' luck the way to 'Pharos' as well, me dear children." he said before helping himself to more java and booze. He turned to leave.
"If you will excuse me, I will have Miss Morton (Zoe was our navvie) lay in our new course. By me own reckoning, we should reach our destination in a solar week. Hi left and Angie grinned at me.
"Just as well that Rio didn't hear any of this crap, Edie. She'd have shit herself for certain sure." giggled the last female member of the Knights Templar. I managed a wan smile and then our portals crashed open.
"Damned old fool! Imagine! Instead of takin' our prisoners to Seto Kaibo, we're off on some wild goose chase to find the 'Twilight of the Gods' for Kami's sake!" roared a very irate smuggler/pirate turned rebel leader hero.
Han Solo was livid with anger but he accepted a mug of java liberally laced with Irish poteen.
Do yourselves a favour, folks. If someone offers any 'poteen' to you, politely say no! I didn't and I had a head bigger than a Rykovian boar for a week! That stuff is like 300 proof!
The Boss grinned and joined him. I started to feel sick again.
"I'm just as mad about it as you are, Han but the needs of the many must always outweigh the needs of us few, pirate." she said, butchering the fine words of Mr Charles Dickens.
"Maybe there's a way around it, Reds." The newcomer was good old Lt/Cmdr Revy Roberts, our Academy instructor in weaponry and self defense.
"We got us a fleet of space rigs, right? We got shuttles too, don't we? What say we take our prisoners to Seto Kaibo using a shuttle with the rigs flying shotgun for us? That way the TARDIS can ferry the Airhead, Hi and the other old fogeys in search of this 'Goddammit Dammerung' place (Doctor 4 later told me that 'Gotterdamerung' meant 'Twilight of the Gods' and in old Norse the word was 'Ragnarok') to save all the bloody Universes. Make sense, Boss?" finished an excited Revy.
"Hell! I'm for it! Let's go!" yelled Han Solo.
"I dunno." I piped up.
"Hi seems pretty determined to get going without any more delays, guys." I added, earning me a frown from both Angie and Han. The Boss, however, was very angry. So what else is new huh?
"First of all, Sub-Ensign Jordan, you have got no say in anything. Second, I think it's a damned good plan and third, this is my ship not that Scot's! Old man MacDougal will do what I tell him to do if he knows what's good for him! Angie, go find Hi, Jimmy Moriarity and Johnny Raven and tell 'em I wanna see 'em now." commanded our fearless leader in a tone which said quite clearly that she'd brook no interference. Angie fled.
The Boss Lady turned to face me and I admit it, I cringed.
"Jordan, go and find our Ice Road Brigadiers. They'll be driving those space rigs. Move yer ass, girl! That's an order, dammit!" she howled and I split.
Maybe Rio would be allowed to travel to Seto Kaibo and then back home but I sure as Hell wouldn't. Not since I'd managed to translate that bloody scroll anyhow. The Boss had to finish this new mission so she wasn't heading for home anytime soon either so I guess that was something anyway.
"Hullo there, Lovey. Why so glum today?" I did a double take!
"Mr Lupin? Are you guys still aboard?" I yelped.
The 20th Century Terran rogue, Arsene Lupin III and his gang of miscreants had come aboard about a month ago but I thought sure they'd hitched a ride back with Bulma Brief and her pet Saiyaan kooks aboard the 'Time Lady', Bulma's time ship. Guess I was wrong huh?
"Where else would we be, kiddo? I can drive cars, trucks, SUVs, motor homes, trains, boats, choppers, cycles and airplanes but I never did learn how to fly through time even if 'time' is what my name means, Miss Jordan." said Daisuke Jigen. He was the gang's 'wheelman' or 'getaway driver' in the ancient vernacular.
"Lupin, are we going back to Seto K with the Icemen or are we gonna hang around and go with Reds?" demanded Fujiko Mine. She was what Rio had called Lupin's 'moll'. Rio was watching too many 'Untouchables' TV shows these days.
It was simply amazing that so many of our passengers knew so damned much about our business.
"Yo! Guys! The galley's outta sake (sock-ee)!" yelled a giant of an ancient Terran Samurai warrior. Goemon was a real Samurai descendant and a guy that half of our crew was terrified of because of that bigass sword he carried.
"Have any of you guys seen the Ice Roaders anywhere?" I asked courageously.
"They're all at the bar except for Father Alex. He's holding a 'Bible class' in the armoury, Miss Jordan." replied the warrior. I thanked him and scurried down the corridors to the bar.
"One more for the road, Cat!" slurred the big polar bear to our barmaid Rally Vincent. Seated beside him was Rick. Drew and Bear were sitting at a table while Eric was trying to sweet talk the Bjorn yeoman Ro Laren at another table.
"Belay that final round, Cat. The Boss wants to see these guys pronto." I commanded. Nobody had ever spoken like that to these dudes before, well, just acertain female that is. Me? I was quaking in my boots.
"You heard the lady, boys! Eric! That means you too, Casanova!" shouted Hugh the Polar Bear. I smiled my thanks to him.
Next stop was the armoury prayer session.
"And the Lord did sayeth unto Moses-" The minister of the Ice Roads stopped in mid-sentence when I entered and promptly tripped over InuYasha and crashed into a bench. The big hanyou was stretched out prone on the floor with the rest of his gang around him. Kagome must have ordered them all in to get some religion I supposed.
"Ssh! Father Alex is tellin' us a story, Edie." said Shippou, their young 'kitsune' or youkai fox demon.
"Would you do me the honour of bearing my children, dear lady?" asked Miroku the amourous monk while he helped me to my feet. I ignored him of course. He asked that same question of every girl he met.
"Pervert." whispered Sango, our resident teenaged demon slayer. She was the priest's girlfriend but she would never admit it.
"Did you want something, Jordan?" growled Alucard who was acting as altar boy even though he was a vampire. I had seen a lot weirder stuff since I'd joined the Force way back when, folks. Anyway I nodded to him and walked over to the podium.
"Alex, the Boss wants to see you and the guys up in our star room on seven. It's best you don't keep her waiting, sir." I blurted out and the minister nodded his understanding.
"Oro (What) about Moses?" howled Kouga, the youkai wolf demon.
"Next time, son. Duty calls." said Alex and he left, trailed by Alucard who was toting the Bible for him.
"Al, doesn't it hurt you carrying that Bible?" I asked like a baka idiot and he grinned.
"Sticks and stones, Jordan. The words won't hurt me or the book. Just the crucifix or the sign of the cross." he chuckled and followed the minister to the lift banks.
Iquickly raced back to my room when I realized that I had left 'Flo' (My ion cannon, a Mark IV) in my bureau drawer. I passed John Raven, Trace Edwards and Jim Moriarity along the way and told 'em that the Boss needed to see 'em tout sweet. They doubled timed to the lift banks.
I had just snapped the holster cover over 'Flo' when I noticed that Rio was sitting at her vidscreen shopping again. Honestly, she was in for a rude awakening when she got her next vidpay voucher. Heavens knows where she was gonna keep all the junk she was buying. Our dorm room wasn't that damned big.
"Better pack up, Honey. You're probably gonna go on the rigs to Seto K with the Icemen, you lucky ducky. I gotta stay for the long haul to Talos and Kami (God) knows where else before I get to come home." I grumbled.
Then I remembered that Rio had not been privy to any of this crap. She did understand 'pack up' though and she was hauling out her footlocker when I left.
"See ya." I called and jogged towards the lift banks. As it turned out, the Boss gave everyone a breather and delayed taking any action until the morning which worried poor old Hi to no end. I was bushed and went to bed earlier than usual. I heard the wall chromo bong 2230 hours, OK that's half past ten PM for you civilians, as I slid into my bunk in one of the rooms on the command deck, Level 9. Rio was right next door to me but she never rolled in until almost 0300 or 3 in the morning.
When I awakened next morning, I was amazed to hear that we had a visitor! When I say 'hear' there was a regular cacaphony of voices coming from the 'war room' or as it was usually known, the 'ready room' which was behind the 'Angel's bridge on the command deck, Surface Level 9. Rio and I had taken the two bedroom suites behind the 'war room' last night when our shift had ended around 2200 hours or 10 PM for you non-military types.
I peeped out my portal and all I could see was a tall dark-haired stranger of about 40 or so standing in the doorway down the hall. I didn't recognize this dude at all! He seemed to be in earnest conversation with Sir Hi because I could hear his stentorian roar all the way back here! Then I heard the dull growl of the Boss; the demure dulcimer tones of the Commodore; the quiet, calm, cool and collected voice of reason from the Brigadier and the lilting song of our own Templar gal Angela de Roncesvalles.
Rio was still snoring away like a grampus in the room beside mine. Not even World War 600 could ever disturb her slumber, it seemed! I dressed quickly and, I am sorry to have to admit, I was yawning my head off when I sauntered into the 'war room' a few minutes later to meet this new guy.
"Och! Me dear Edna! I dinna believe that ye have ever met Mr Wells, hae ye, lassie?" asked Hi and I shook my head.
"Harold George (H G?) Wells, at your service, my dear lady. Just call me Harry, Love. As I was just explainin' to your comrades, my dear Miss Jordan-" he bagan before I blurted out:
"How the devil did you know that my name was Jordan, dammit?" I was wide awake now and realized that I had just made a terrible blunder. No matter whom this gentleman might be nor the fact that he knew my family name gave me the right to yell at a guest like that! Then the significance of his name hit me like a Lycordian Damarongth! That's a 4 metres tall thing like a Terran lion from the Moon of Lycord.
Harry Wells chuckled and then explained.
"I have been to this particular era of time before and Whitey told me all about you, me lovely." he replied and then everyone was laughing as well.
Finally the fog lifted and I too got the point! I recalled how 'Whitey' or Mr White, the White Guardian of the Universes, had invited several diverse persons, aliens, animals and other things, all big brain types, to have a good old-fashioned 'think tank' session to solve a major dilemma during our 'Angel Wings' adventures which had concluded a year or two ago.
I suppose that 'Harry', that is, this Mr H G Wells (Could this be THAT Mr H G Wells from late 19th Century Terran England I wondered?) had been one of those invitees to that pow-wow in the Garden of the Guardians. I had no more time for recollection because the Boss shoved a chair towards me with her foot and ordered me to "Siddown Jordan and shut the Hell up!" in a low growl. I sat.
"So like I was tellin' you good folks, I seem to have, ahem, accidentally reopened a rift in that old continuum while I was testing my time machine." he explained and for the first time I noticed the thing behind him that was blocking our back hallway!
It looked for all the world like one of the roller coaster ride carriages that I had ridden in the last time that Rio, Angie, Kome and me had visited 'FunTown' on Worlds' Worlds in the Epsilon Quadrant!
Across the front of the safety rail were several weird looking dials and gauges and in the centre was a long pole resembling the Staff of Rathelon! I guess that was what Harry used as a steering bar. But if it was a 'time' machine, how had Harry managed to move it through space as well? In answer to my unspoken question, Mr Wells explained.
"When I warmed up 'Bessie' and pulled back on my throttle, we accelerated forwards to this 23rd Century again and, wonder beyond wonders, 'Bessie' and I suddenly found ourselves here on your marvelous soaring contraption! Then I remembered about 'Whitey' and his problem with the space/time continuum and I realized that I must have inadvertently created a new rift in the blasted thing." he chortled away merrily.
"You did WHAT?!" yelled our Brigadier, Marlene Angel who had just arrived on the scene. Hi dove and grabbed her java mug a split second before it would have upended itself all over Miss Donovan.
"It's only a little, tiny hole so I don't really believe that there's anything to worry about myself." Harry replied reassuringly.
The Boss pointed her cheroot at him.
"Then how the Hell did you and 'Bessie' get here, Harry?" she growled.
"Apparently my machine and I did come through the rift we created Reds, but-" he answered.
"If that little, tiny hole was big enough to let you and 'Bessie' come through, what's to prevent that tiny hole from letting other people and other things come through it?" the Brigadier wanted to know. The Boss crushed out her cheroot in the ashtray for a change because, as a rule, she just threw it on the floor and stamped it out.
"We finally get this messed cleared up after five years and what happens? You show up, Wells, and decide to screw it all up again for us!" she roared, scaring the dickens out of poor Harry Wells. Sister Trish chose this moment to fly in.
"Sorry to disturb you guys but we got more visitors." apologized the airborne nun.
"Where?" cried Miss D anxiously.
"The 'star room' on Seven." answered Trish nervously.
"Whom is it or them?" demanded Sir Hiram. Light Yagami and his pet Shinigami, Ryuuk, had followed in Trish's wake. The 'Death Note' book 'kira' (killer) consulted and read from his PDO's vidscreen.
"Jack the Ripper; Giles de Retz (The 'Bluebeard' of Terran France); Dexter Morgan (The TV guy?); his sister, Deborah (Yup. That must be him); the spectre of Harry Morgan, Dexter's adopted Daddy; a Mr Zodiac; a whiny little guy who calls himself 'M' and an older gent, Professor James Moriarity." finished 'Kira' Yagami.
"You forgot Gramps, Prince Greed, that bratty kid and the Ninja gal in the black jammies with a face even uglier than mine, Light." added Ryuuk, the Terran Shinigami death god.
"You can't possibly mean Fu, Ling, Lan Fan and May?" yelped Angie.
"Yeah, only Ling is insisting we call him Greed now for some strange reason." replied Light. There was a tap on the doorway.
"Excuse me but I have a very urgent messagefrom Seto Kaibo, Boss." said Nyssa who was this shift's bridge comm officer.
"What is it?" snapped the redhead.
"John Berringer has just escaped. That's all I got before the comm relay went dead." replied the Trakken girl.
"Again?" howled Suba (Subaltern) Kome Sawaguchi. Apparently she had just woke up and heard all the commotion. Her room was next to Rio's so her snoring had, more than likely, awakened the 'pink freak'. The Boss touched her comlink earrings.
"Kei to Ari. Transport all occupants of our 'star room' to the brig immediately. I want a Level 9 force beam barrier around all of Level 5 and ya better quadruple the guard on the brig and I mean now, elf hunter." trilled our fearless leader.
"You got it, Boss Lady." trilled Ari.
"Nyssa, try and raise Seto K again. Pipe it over to the bridge when ya get 'em." commanded the Boss and then she left for the bridge with Miss D, Angie, Kome, Harry, Hi and me in her wake. Nyssa had already fled back to her comm station in the nav room.
"Did you have to bring all those killers with you from Terra, Harry?" yelled the Brigadier and Harry simply shrugged his shoulders.
"Sorry. I didn't do it on purpose, Contessa. It all just sorta happened." he apologized and Hi MacDougall whistled.
"No way o' knowin' how stable that rift may be and where any others may soon open up. We'd be a devil of a lot better off with all o' that lot in the Doctors' 'zero room', don't ya think, Reds?" he suggested.
"Do it!" yelled the Red Marshall.
"We'll dump the lot of 'em at Seto K when we drop off Harvey and Natasha." she added.
"Reds! Ya sure ya want that 'Amestris' gang in there with all those freaks?" drawled Han Solo who was piloting the mammoth Angel. The Boss keyed a vidmike.
"Ari? Lock onto Lan Fan, the brat, her big brother, the old geezer with 'em and Professor Moriarity and transport all of 'em to my quarters on Three. Erect a Level 5 barrier around my quarters and post a guard and do it now, kid." barked our fearless leader, once again impressing me with the efficiency being shown by this 20 something commander of ours!
Meanwhile in the transporter room, Ari had accidentally followed Milady's first orders to the letter! The elf huntress had sent every one of the newbies to the brig on Leevel 5 and then she'd erected a Level 9 force beam barrier field around that entire level.
Of course that meant that she could not transport anyone out of the brig, not with a Level 9 still in place anyway.
"Boss? I accidentally sent all of our new visitors to the brig and now there's a Level 9 around all of 5. Should I remove the field and carry out your later orders, Kei?" trilled Ari.
"Negative! We can't risk losing any of that sorry bunch. I'll send in a security team to escort those Amestris lunatics and that dotty old professor down to my quarters on 3. Don't lift that field until they trill you the OK, kid." trilled Kei.
"Roger that." trilled Ari who was very surprised that the Boss hadn't yelled at her for screwing up.
"Find Dog Boy and Wolfie (InuYasha and Kouga) and have 'em pick up Cat (Rally Vincent), Kitten (Minnie Mae Hopkins aks the 'Blonde Bomber') and Kome. Send 'em down to the brig on 5. They are to escort our 4 friends from Alchemy-Land and Professor Moriarity to my quarters on 3. Now listen up. Tell Dog Boy to trill Ari to lift that barrier field on 5 when they get there. As soon as they exit that Level with their charges, I want that Level 9 field restored. After they dump our visitors at my place, I want a Level 6 barrier around my quarters. You got all of that crap, Nyssa?" yelled the Boss from the bridge into the nav room.
"Roger that, Boss." yelled back Nyssa.
"Nyssa to Dog Boy. Get that wolf pal of ypurs and hunt up Cat, Kitten and Kome. Get yourselves down to Level 5 brig. When you get there, trill Miss Ari to lift the barrier field so you can get Ling, Fu, Lan Fan, Mae and Professor Moriarity out of the brig. Take 'em down the Boss's digs on 3. When you're done on 5, trill Miss Ari again so she can restore the field. Trill her again after you secure your charges at the Boss's pad and she'll erect a Level 6 barrier field around the Boss's digs. You got all of that stuff, Doggie? Over." trilled Nyssa the Trakken girl.
"Yeah, I got it. Any idea where 'Pinky' (Kome) and the two gunny cats (Cat and Kitten were the Gunsmith Cats back in Terran Chicago where they lived) might be, Elf Hunter Lady? Over." howled InuYasha, nearly deafening poor Nyssa. The big hanyou just never seemed to get the hang of our 'trillers'. It was probably because he hailed from the Sengoku Jidai Era on Terran Japan.
"Either at breakfast in the dining hall or the rec room. If they ain't there, try the break room on 7. You're a dog, so- fetch, boy!" trilled the comm officer.
"C'mon, ya mangy wolf. We gotta find 'Pinky' and the Cats." growled InuYasha.
"OK! Ya don't gotta yell, ya dumb mutt!" grumbled Kouga and the two of them headed for the lift banks.
An hour later Nyssa reported mission accomplished and we all breathed a big sigh of relief. And in the Boss's pad:
"Excuse me, my name is Moriarity, Professor james Moriarity." said Sherlock Holmes's nemesis from Terra's Victorian England.
"Pleased to meet ya, Jim. My name's Greed and I want everything! No! My name is Ling, sir." replied Greed/Ling who was both Xian prince and the Homunculus Greed as well.
Lan Fan extended her hand after she had removed her Ninja mask.
"Lan Fan, sir. This is my grandfather, Fu and that's Mae. She's Ling's sister, well sorta. It's a long story, sir. We all hail from Xian but we've been helping out in Amestris. I fear that our planet is quite far from yours, sir." explained Ling's female bodyguard who was totally devoted to her young master.
"hi there. I'm Mae, sir. Are you really a bad man like Mr Greed told me?" the 10 year old Xian princess asked innocently.
"Mae! It is not polite to ask such a question to a person whom you only just now met!" scolded Lan Fan while Fu looked thoughtful and Ling/Greed laughed heartily.
"She sure does speak her mind, Lan!" he chortled merrily. Fu bowed to the older gentleman.
"Venerable sir, please forgive my granddaughter's young charge for asking such an impertinent question." said Fu, while bowing to the older gentleman who was still a good many years Fu's junior. The professor smiled and bowed to Fu in turn.
"No offense taken, my dear sir. However, I suppose, to persons like yourselves, I would be considered, as Miss Mae puts it, a bad man. Enough unpleasant talk. Where exactly do I find myself? Do any of you good people know?" asked Moriarity.
Greed/Ling guffawed. Greed has no manners at all!
"Sure, Pop. We're on a starship in deep space and we're on our way to Seto Kaibo. I think, from what Dog Boy said that we've been aboard before (Ling had indeed been aboard before but not with his resident Homunculus Greed after he'd swallowed a Philosopher's Stone) but I guess you ain't been, right Gramps?" mouthed off Greed and the taller gent nodded his head.
"We have been paid a great compliment, my dear friends. Apparently, the captain of this fine vessel deems us dangerous enough so as to confine us to this luxurious apartment and then post a guard upon us." explained the professor who was holding a glass in his hand and searching for a bottle.
"Not us, Jimmy. You. Ling says that the last time we were aboard, we had the run of the entire 'Angel'. This ship is the 'Lovely Angel 2' and if the Boss has got you in here with us, she more than likely wants us to keep an eye on ya." chuckled Ling.
"Did you forget that we're locked in here with him, Dumbass? Maybe she doesn't trust us either, Ling." retorted Lan Fan who was repping up milk and cookies for Mae, java for Fu, Ling and herself and a large whiskey and soda for the professor.
"Capital, my dear Miss Fan. Excellent whiskey indeed." complimented the older fellow.
"we can rep up whatever we want, Mr Moriarity, sir." replied Lan, wiping milk off of Mae's face.
"Most ingenious invention, to be sure." observed the professor approvingly.
"Well, this IS the 23rd Century, Jimmy." chortled Greed and the older gent choked on his drink, his fourth.
"You mean you can travel through time on this contraption?" he cried incredulously.
"Not exactly, sir. You and us sort of slipped through a hole in the space/time continuum." explained Lan Fan and the Victorian gent got very red in the face.
"That, my dear young lady, is a sheer impossibility! I have done extensive and exhaustive research and I have even written a book on the subject called 'Dynamics Of An Asteroid'. It is simply not possible to penetrate the fabric of space and time." he cried.
"It is, Pops, if ya got a big enough gun to make the hole." laughed Greed and poor Lan did her best to try and explain things to him. Problem was that she didn't know that much about the subject herself. You guys already know all about this stuff from 'Angel Wings' so I won't rehash it all over again, OK?
Now wehad the brig chock full of killers and the Boss's pad filled with Alkahestry freaks, a couple of Ninja and one very confused elderly gentleman. The Boss again decided to put off any new decisions until tomorrow but we continued to distance ourselves from Seto Kaibo.
"Yuri and I are gonna bunk in a couple of the back bedrooms up here tonight." growled our fearless leader when the Brigadier asked her about the exec and commander's sleeping arrangements. Miss D and Angie were sharing the Brig's rooms while while Rio and I were in adjoining bedrooms just aft of the ready room (war room). This level was the command deck, Level 9 and this was the highest section of the ship.
Meanwhile, a few decks below us on Level 3, Gene Starwind had run into the big hanyou and his wolf youkai compadre.
"Hullo there, Dog Boy, Wolfie. What are you doing on this deck? I thought you were patrolling 4 this shift?" asked the master of the 'Outlaw Star' who'd been returning from sick bay. He'd needed some Hydroxylein for his headache.
"We was until that bunch in the brig on 5 showed up. Then that elf hunter dame (Ari) ordered us to escort the Amestris nuts and the old geezer to Red's dump." grumbled InuYasha.
"When can we get some food? I'm starved, man!" howled Kouga the youkai wolf demon.
"Pipe down, ya mangy wolf. Didn't ya just eat 20 minutes ago?" yelled Dog Boy.
"Yeah but I gotta keep up my strength, ya dumbass mutt!" he replied.
"I wonder-" mumbled Gene.
"Huh?" InuYasha asked abstarctedly.
"How come the new rift let so many things from so many different time eras through at the same time?" replied a puzzled Gene.
"I wondered when someone was going to notice that fact." piped up a new voice.
END OF Chapter 4. Chapter 5 soon. Happy Thanksgiving Day to all- Jack/K&K
