Chapter 8
"What? The UN Forces are attacking?" Berg Katse cried in shock. "But we haven't done anything! Diablica is just standing still! Why are they attacking us?"
"Probably because we're here." the goon who had reported the news mumbled under his breath. Katse heard the snide comment, but didn't have a spare moment to discipline the man as he normally would have.
"I don't have time for this shit!" the Galactor Leader ranted. His forces had just transmitted the data from the last hospitals in the city, and Katse hadn't even had time to fully analyze it. A fight with UN Forces, while eminently winnable, took time, and that was the one thing Berg Katse didn't have. When Sosai realized what was happening, he would recall Diablica immediately.
"Just fire back and hold your ground!" Katse shouted at the goon. "I have to analyze this data!"
"We've been doing that, Sire." the soldier gestured to the main viewscreen across the control room, where exploding UN fighter planes could be clearly seen. "Do you want us to move position?"
"No, that will only make them follow us." Katse spat. "Just get rid of them as quickly as possible, and make sure we continue to send out scouting parties! I'll have the first wave of names for them in a moment."
Quickly, Katse scanned through the last two data streams, seeking out the information he required. He had pulled out the first list of names and had just sent them to the on-ground scouting parties when he heard a cry from one of the green-uniformed soldiers at Diablica's controls.
"It's the God Phoenix!"
"What the hell?" Katse swore. How had that damned Science Ninja Team gotten here so fast? He had counted on at least an hour before they interrupted him, and had been scheduling his troop deployments to accommodate that. Wasn't it a holiday? How had they managed to assemble this quickly?
Clearly this was just another obstacle he had to get past, in order to find his child. But the clock was ticking, and he didn't have time for a full-on encounter with the God Phoenix.
He would have to leave that to these men.
"Soldiers!" he announced in a loud voice. "You have all done well in the service of Galactor. For this, you are all being promoted! You…" Katse pointed at the arrogant goon who had been bringing him reports.
"You are now the Captain of this mecha." Katse grinned nastily. "And all of these men here are promoted to first class rank. Take out the God Phoenix."
"Yes, Lord Katse." the soldier responded, only a slight hint of nervousness revealing itself as he spoke.
"I can see that this mecha is in good hands." Katse yawned. "I'll be leaving now."
"Leaving?" the new Captain's face turned white. "But, Sire, I will require your guidance…"
"I just made you Captain, didn't I?" Katse asked. "And it isn't up to you. I'm leaving."
The Lord of Galactor smirked to himself at the sight of the goon's crestfallen face. His disappointment would be even greater when he realized exactly how Katse was about to leave.
Berg Katse exited the Main Control Room, heading up two decks in the elevator that ran along Diablica's spine. Enroute, he contacted the waiting troops below, asking them to meet him at his destination.
He emerged from the elevator onto the Battle Bridge: a secondary Control Room for Diablica's head, to be used in combat to confuse opponents, when the mecha split into two parts. Of course, Diablica's main weapons systems were housed in its eyes and mouth, which meant that the body was reduced to missile fire and physically grabbing at attacking vessels. This was a perfect compliment to the head's long-range attacks, but of course the Galactor Leader didn't plan to stick around for the fight.
Katse sighed heavily. In the grand scheme of things, the loss of a mecha was a small price to pay for locating his child. And that would be the least of his worries when Leader X discovered what he had done.
And there was a silver lining. That arrogant goon he had left holding the bag now had a life expectancy of about five minutes.
The troops he had been waiting for arrived, and Berg Katse detached Diablica's head, just as the God Phoenix fired a Bird Missile at the mecha's body.
The head shot away into the night, its red demon face laughing at both the Science Ninja Team, and the hapless mecha Captain's remains. Even as Berg Katse watched, Diablica's body burst into flames, the resulting smoke surrounding the cavity where its head had been only seconds before.
It was a fitting end for the demon mecha.
The Galactor Leader cut off all light sources, landing Diablica's Head in the darkness on the opposite side of Utoland. He turned, addressing the soldiers who had accompanied him.
"I took all of you with me, because you are the best Galactor has to offer." he lied smoothly. "We are searching for a specific child. I will distribute lists to each unit. The hospital records have yielded results, which have been used to generate search lists. You will visit every residence on your list and test the infants at their locations."
"Excuse me, Lord Katse…" a young Sergeant stepped forward, a fanatical and reverent expression on his face. Kate knew the type. This was one of those men who had been raised within Galactor's embrace, who would follow orders without question.
"What is it, Sergeant?" Katse asked impatiently. He was eager to get back to work.
"Are we certain that the child is at a private home?" the Sergeant asked. "If the mother left the child behind, wouldn't she have left it at an orphanage, or adoption agency?"
Damn it, he had a point. Inwardly, Katse cursed. If Victoria had left their child at such a place, he had wasted his time searching the hospitals. He should have gone directly to these organizations for abandoned infants.
"I will be creating another set of locations for your units to investigate." Katse replied loftily. "These will include the organizations you mention."
"Of course, Lord Katse." the Sergeant bowed respectfully. "I should have known that you would already have thought of this."
The man was right. Katse should have thought of this. But he had been too flustered, too caught up in the necessity of finding his child. If he had been able, he would have used his female persona to command this mission. Onna Taicho was much calmer, more logical, than Berg Katse. But his troops didn't always recognize her authority, and he had required the ultimate, unquestioned control that came with being Berg Katse.
The Galactor Squadrons ran out into the chilly Christmas Eve air, while the Lord of Galactor began to search for Utoland's orphanages.
*****
"Katse abandoned the mecha at the first sign of trouble." Ken reported to Dr. Nambu. "It only took a couple of Bird Missiles to destroy it."
"I still don't understand why he would leave it so quickly." the Doctor commented. His stern gaze seemed to jump out of the computer monitor at the front of the God Phoenix, demanding answers that Ken didn't have.
"I'm also confused about Galactor's objective." Ken admitted. "Joe and Jinpei found the same results that Jun and I did: the troops were taking over hospitals and stealing data regarding women who have delivered babies in the past week."
"I have a little light to shed on that." the Doctor replied. "We were just notified that the Utoland Police Department has received a large number of calls regarding home invasions in the past twenty minutes. In each instance, the invaders were described as men wearing green, who demanded access to an infant residing at the home. The men apparently withdrew blood from the infant, tested it, then left the premises."
"The infants?" Princess gasped. "So Galactor wasn't looking for a woman who had given birth… they were looking for the babies?" Blood drained from the Swan's face as she contemplated what Galactor could possibly want with newborn infants.
"Apparently so." Nambu confirmed. "And just now we have received reports of troops invading the Central Adoption Agency, and two small orphanages on the western edge of the city."
"Orphanages… Stephen…" Jun whispered, her hands shaking.
"Who is Stephen?" the Doctor asked, confused.
"It's not important." Ken replied, shooting a look at Jun that warned her to agree with him. The Swan bowed her head.
"These troops have to be coming from somewhere." Joe pointed out. "Galactor goons don't stick around when their mecha has been destroyed. They've got to have some other base of operations."
"I agree with your analysis, Joe." Nambu replied. "I want you all to find this base of operations and find out what Galactor hopes to accomplish with these infants."
"Roger!" shouted everyone, saluting in unison.
When the Doctor's image had faded away, Jun placed a soft hand on Ken's shoulder.
"Ken… do you think Stephen will be okay?" she asked quietly.
"You heard Hakase." Ken replied. "They're testing the babies. Not taking them. They're leaving them where they find them."
"I hope so…" Jun sounded worried, despite Ken's words.
"We have to locate wherever those troops are coming from." Ken reminded the others. "It's likely some kind of base."
"A Galactor base in Utoland." Joe snorted with disgust. "There's nothing those bastards won't do."
"If we find it and destroy it, there won't be a base any longer." Jinpei said gleefully. "We have to protect our turf!"
"And how is 'our turf' different from anywhere else on the planet?" Jun asked hotly, her hands on her hips. "We have to drive Galactor out, no matter where they are!"
"You're right, Jun." the Eagle said calmly. He knew the Swan's emotions were running high, because she was worried about Stephen. She had developed an attachment to the infant, even during the brief time she had been in charge of his welfare. Gatchaman turned to address his Team.
"I think our best bet is to find these troops and follow them back to their base." Ken said. "We may never find it, otherwise. We're all familiar with Utoland, yet we've never had a hint of anything like a secret base in the area."
"But once we get to that base, all bets are off." growled Joe, slamming his fist into his other hand.
"Joe, you go with Jinpei, and I'll go with Jun." Ken ordered. "We'll report in with each other when we find something."
"Roger!"
And so once more, Ken found himself riding behind Jun on the G-3, searching for any sign of Galactor soldiers. But this time, when they located a trio of the green-uniformed men, they pulled back into the shadows.
"They're going into that apartment building." Jun noted.
Silently they dashed over to the building, jumping up the walls and using their wings for lift. Even looking through windows, it was relatively easy to follow the goons, who were more interested in their computer pad than their surroundings. It appeared that they were getting directions from the pad, as they entered the elevator.
Ken and Jun alternated monitoring the elevator stops, and before long the Swan waved the Eagle over at the 12th floor.
"They're going down that hallway." she said, pointing off to the left.
Carefully, the two ninjas melted into the shadows, checking each apartment window they passed for any sign of the Galactor soldiers. The fifth window was open slightly, and they could hear voices inside.
"What do you want?" asked a frightened female voice.
"We can give you some food." said a calm, voice, that sounded as if it belonged to an older man. "It's Christmas. No one should go hungry."
"We don't want your stinking food!" came a harsh shout. There was the sound of breaking ceramics. "We need the baby."
"No…" the female voice moaned. "You can't take my baby…"
Ken and Jun edged closer, until they were able to see the scene in front of them. A grandfatherly-looking man had his arms held protectively around a young woman, who was doing her best to shield the infant in her arms from a pair of guns being held in her face. The third Galactor soldier was pulling at the child, and after a few moments was able to rip the now-squalling babe away from its mother.
"We'll give it back." grinned one of the goons nastily. "Probably…"
The soldier holding the baby pulled out what looked like a hypospray syringe, and withdrew blood from the screaming child. He attempted to deposit the sample into his computer pad, but was clearly unable to do so with only one hand available to him.
"Here, one of you, take this thing!" he cried, thrusting the child out toward the other two guards. One of the goons grabbed clumsily for the infant, nearly dropping it.
Ken grabbed Jun's hand, squeezing it firmly. He knew that she longed to rescue the small family, but right now it was more important that they see what the Galactor soldiers were up to, and follow them back to their base. If the Science Ninja Team couldn't stop Galactor, it was likely this scene might be played out many more times this evening.
He felt Jun shiver next to him, and he squeezed her hand again. This time she returned the gesture, albeit with a sense of reluctance.
The goon had pressed the hypospray syringe into the computer pad, and after a few moments a series of beeps emitted from the device.
"Negative." the green-uniformed soldier muttered. "Big surprise."
"Here." snarled the goon holding the infant, as he tossed it into the air. With a scream, the young women dove beneath the child, her body slamming into the floor and acting as a cushion for the baby to land upon.
"Nice catch!" laughed the third Galactor nastily, before the three soldiers exited the apartment.
"Are you all right?" asked the older man, rushing to the woman's aid.
"I think so." she replied weakly, "But we should take Jennifer to the doctor. Who knows what those sickos did to my little girl?"
Ken tugged on Jun's wings. The two people and the infant were fine, and they had to keep following the Galactor soldiers. Jun turned and nodded reluctantly, following Ken down the side of the building and into an alley. They caught sight of the goons moving off in a different direction.
"How many more places do we have to go?" yawned one.
"We only have three more on our list." said another, who was studying the computer pad. "But the last one's a doozy."
"Can't we just take a break, and just say that we've been to all of these places?" whined the third.
"The computer pad holds all of our data!" lectured the man holding the device. "If we don't put the samples into it, Lord Katse will know that we haven't been doing our jobs!"
"But this is boring." complained the first goon. "Can't we even have any fun with these women?"
"There's no time for that." the third soldier explained. "We have to be back within the hour, or Lord Katse will leave without us. He wants to get out of here before the Science Ninja Team locates our ship."
A ship! Of course! Ken mentally smacked himself on the forehead. The Science Ninja Team hadn't overlooked Galactor building a base in their own backyard: these troops were coming from a ship!
Now all they had to do was find it.
"I want to get my hands on that computer pad." Jun whispered. "It would answer a lot of questions."
"Let's let them finish their work and lead us back to their ship." Ken replied. "After that, it's all yours."
The next two stops the Galactor soldiers made were very similar to the one the two ninjas had just witnessed. The goons broke into private homes, forcibly taking young babies away from their mothers and testing blood samples. In both cases, the infants tested were 'negative'.
Negative for what? For the life of him, Ken couldn't figure out what Galactor would want with an infant.
Unlike the previous locations, the Galactor soldiers' final stop was not a private residence.
It was the Utoland City Orphanage.
Jun gave a sharp cry when she realized where they were headed. Ken held her hand, doing his best to reassure her.
"It will be like the other places." he told her. "They'll test the babies there, and they'll all be negative."
Whatever that meant.
Jun nodded silently, but she refused to look at Ken. Her hand felt limp in his, almost as if she didn't even notice his presence.
When the Galactor soldiers entered the orphanage, Ken and Jun did their best to listen at the windows as they had done before. But the Utoland City Orphanage was housed in a newly constructed building, and the glass was virtually soundproof. So they merely watched as the goons threatened the nurse at reception, two of them leaving the area to go into another room. Ken and Jun were unable to locate these guards through the windows, and so they returned to watch over the reception area.
One soldier was still there, pointing a gun at the sobbing nurse's head. The green-uniformed man appeared to be bored. But that all changed when his two companions came running back into the room.
They were holding a small, white bundle.
The goons' faces lit up with excitement, and they rushed out of the building, barely taking notice of the nurse who had leapt for the phone the moment she was no longer under their surveillance.
Ken and Jun were on the move as well, following the three men more closely than before. But the guards didn't notice in their eagerness to return to their ship.
"I can't believe we found it!" one was saying. "This will be a promotion for sure!"
"I never thought we'd be the ones." said a second goon. "This is the first thing that's gone right for me since joining Galactor!"
"I wonder what Lord Katse wants with this stupid kid?" asked the third, who was holding the white bundle. His face bore a somewhat dubious expression.
"Who cares?" laughed the first. "It tested positive, didn't it? That's good enough for me." He suddenly appeared nervous.
"It did test positive… right?" he asked.
"Yes." the second goon nodded vigorously. "We checked the results again. Two out of two."
"Good." the first goon sighed in relief.
"Let's just get back quickly." said the third. "Then we can get our reward and I can dump this smelly brat."
As quickly as they could, the three men ran to the edge of the city, where they appeared to hotwire a small car that had been left in a strip-mall parking lot. Jun and Ken followed some distance behind on the G-3, barely remaining in sight of the vehicle. After a quarter of an hour, the car pulled up next to a large, stylized devil head that looked to be about the size of a house.
"I think we've found where they're coming from." Ken grimaced, initiating a communication on his bracelet.
"Joe, Jinpei, we've located their ship. Rendezvous immediately at our location."
