Chapter 21: Reunion and Departure
Shinji is cruising the interstate near Yuma City when he notices a helicopter flying in low behind him. "That guy is awfully low," he mutters to himself as he checks the traffic around him. Looking in his mirror, he notices the chopper flashing a light in some sort of pattern. "What the Hell?" he grumbles as he swerves in and out of traffic in an attempt to shake the trailing chopper. Unable to shake it, he grins. "So, you wanna chase? Fine with me," he says as he heads for an upcoming tunnel. He spins out after getting ahead of the city traffic in another attempt to lose the pursuing craft. Unable to shake it, he laughs, "Not bad, but I've got you now," he says as he enters the tunnel. "No way he can follow me in here," he says confidently. He reaches the far end of the tunnel to find the chopper coming right at him. "Shit!" he curses and slams on his breaks, as the chopper lowers a ramp and he lands inside the vehicle.
"You could've just called my com, you know. You're damned lucky I didn't assume you to be an Outrider and shoot you out of the sky," Shinji says in a raised voice as he stands in an office within Cavalry Command.
"I apologize for my point of contact, however, what I am about to say is not public knowledge and I want it to remain so for now," a military official states, his back turned away from Shinji as he looks out the window pondering his next words. "Command Eagle has gone missing. We have lost contact with his ship," he finally says quietly.
"Lost contact? How so?"
"Last night we received a partial transmission. It was apparently a distress call. It was cut off and we've been unable to raise the commander since. There is no contact from the ship of any kind, it's trackers and everything have been disabled. I want the Bismarck team to go to and see if you can find anything."
"Does April know?"
The man nods. "She is currently overseeing some modifications of the Bismarck to have it as ready for anything that can come up."
"Of course. I'm sure she's scared to death for her father right now."
April is pacing the hallway in civilian clothes of the mechanics bay where the Bismarck is currently being worked on, when a soldier with a gun spots her and calls to her, his gun pointed at her. She turns and the man recognizes her and lowers his weapon.
"Sorry about that Ms. Eagle. I was told to keep curiosity seekers away from the lab. Didn't recognize you in civies."
"Have you heard any word on my father?" she asks pleadingly.
"I'm afraid not, Ms. Eagle. But I know they have every available ship out looking for him. Him being a diplomat and all."
"They need to work faster!" she says agitated, while grabbing the soldier's shirt. "They have to get this done. We need to be out there looking for him in this ship!" she says frantically.
"I know, , and they are working around the clock to finish up. They're doing all they can."
"I know they are. I'm sorry for taking my frustrations out on you," she says quietly, looking down to the floor.
"Yes, it's been nice to see my family again. Mother hasn't improved much, but my visit has seemed to perk her up a bit. But I get the feeling this isn't truly a social call," Saber says as he speaks to Shinji over the vid-com if his sitting room.
"Right as usual, Saber. We have some trouble," Shinji replies.
"Oh? What kind of trouble?" Saber asks.
"Commander Eagle was out on a diplomatic mission and has vanished," he replies.
Saber has a look of shock momentarily before finding his voice again, "How's April?"
"Focusing on pushing the upgrades through as fast as she can. It gives her something to do to keep her mind occupied."
Saber nods slightly, "Take care of her, Shinji. I'll get there as soon as I can."
"Thank you. See you soon," Shinji replies, flashing a peace sign. "Peace be with you."
Saber returns the gesture, "And you as well. See you soon." The call terminates and Saber gets up and heads to his parent's bedroom and knocks on the door.
"Enter," comes the call from within. Stepping in, he sees his mother is lying down and talking with his father, who is sitting in a chair beside the bed.
"How are you feeling, Mother?" he asks as he approaches the bed.
"I'll be singing with the saints before long, my son," she says with a peace that startles Saber, who is unable to hold back a gasp. "Now, Saber, no need to fret. I've made my peace with this, as has your father."
"Aye, son. All that can be done has been. I'm glad you've had the chance to come home, however brief," his father states quietly.
"Please Saber, come here for me to see your face once more before you go," his mother says and he kneels beside the bed before her. Unclasping a necklace from around her neck she places it around his. "This was given to me by your father, the day we married. It has brought me luck. Please, wear it in my memory and know I am always with you. When you marry after the war, you should give it to your wife, as has been done for centuries in this family."
Saber takes the pendant and looks at it. It is a silver rectangle, with a silver flower and with an amethyst colored jewel in the center of the flower, "Thank you mother. I will treasure it and do as you ask when I marry."
"Be safe and well my son. I wish you peace and happiness," his mother says before embracing him.
"Take care, Mother, Father," he says making an effort to keep his emotions in check. Before slowly getting up and with a bow of respect he heads out the door.
Heading out to the countryside, a cowboy is watching their herd when gunfire erupts and spooks them, causing the animals to stampede past them.
"What the?" the younger man says looking back where he sees two men in cowboy hats with guns firing into the air in an effort to scare off the horses and cattle.
"This here land is mine!" the largest of the two men yells. "We're fencing this off and you'd best keep your animals out or we'll keep 'em for ourselves."
"Oh yeah?" says the cowboy defiantly, his hand going to his sidearm.
"Yeah," the big man replies as he points his gun to the other man.
Just then, three shots ring out. Two blasts causing the large man to drop his weapon and the other to pull away from his gun.
"What seems to be the trouble here, fellas?" Colt asks as he comes up from the top of a nearby hill, his blaster drawn.
"These guys are saying they have taken over this land!" the younger cowboy says.
Colt looks to the large man. "This land is free range land, Mister. Ain't no one here that owns it."
"Not anymore it ain't," the large man says as he and two others surround Colt and draw weapons aimed at him.
"We'll see about that," Colt says with a smirk before shooting the weapons out of all three men's hands before one could get a shot off. He dismounts and stares down the group. "Get outta here," he says coldly. The large man starts to protest and he fires off another warning shot, causing the man's horse to rear up.
"Okay, Okay," the guy says, his arms held up submissively. Colt continues to glare at them and they turn to leave. The third guy goes to turn back and Colt fires a shot, hitting the man and getting him thrown from his horse.
"I told ya to leave," he says firmly, his blaster still pointed at the guy on the ground. My patience is out, Mister. You have to be a fool to try and piss me off," Colt says coldly.
"You callin' me a fool, Buddy?"
"I am. And this is your final warning. I'll give you to the count of three before I start shootin. One-"
"You ain't no normal cowboy. What - who are you?" the man says frantically.
"Two," Colt says staring the man down. "I'd run if I were you," he says coldly.
The man jumps up, holing his arm, "Okay, okay I'm going!" he says and takes off in the direction of the other men and his horse.
"Thanks Mister," The remaining cowboy says.
"Glad I could help. I hate it when idiots like that think they can own land that is for everyone. There's more than enough room to share, Colt replies looking out over the horizon just a chopper appears. What the?" he mutters before spying the Cavalry Command logo. "Guess my vacation is bein' cut short. He says as the chopper lands not too far away.
"I apologize for cutting your vacations short, but this is of the utmost urgency. Ms. Eagle has been over seeing some upgrades to the Bismarck ship while you had some downtime. During this, her father had gone to meet with an Outrider leader in an effort to begin peace talks between us and them. He was on his way to a rendezvous point when his ship went missing after sending a distress call. I want you to first head to the Navigation Command Center near Ganymede," he states. "There you will be updated on any new information they may have found. I don't want Commander Eagle's disappearance to become common knowledge. You have your orders, I suggest you head out," the officer says and salutes them.
The four return the salute and reply with an affirmative answer before heading to the ship and taking off.
A couple of hours later, they are cruising in space.
"Approaching Ganymede, Fireball. Going to have to cross through the heat-field before breaking the atmosphere," Saber says.
"Affirmative, Saber. I hate the heat-field. Turning on our thermal shields now."
"The heat-field is leftover from when the Outriders first attacked. They basically nuked the place. Levels are low enough now that the surface is livable, but not much can get through the atmosphere. So they built the Navigational Command here, as it can use the heat to their advantage as a power source. It should disperse eventually," Saber replies.
"I hope our shields will hold."
"Me too," Colt says before turning to April. "Any clue why your dad would do this alone?"
April shakes her head, "Not at all."
"Don't worry April, we'll find him," Shinji states giving her an encouraging smile. "All the way to the ends of the universe if we have to."
"Thanks, Shinji," she replies quietly.
"Anything for you April," he replies. "Now, let's land this baby and get some answers."
"Right," April replies putting on her helmet and returning to her saddle unit.
"Everyone ready?" Saber asks. Getting affirmative replies, he turns to Shinji, "Let's do this."
Shinji nods and they begin their decent through the heat field. After several minutes of increasing heat, they break through the field into sunshine. "And we're clear," Shinji states with a sigh of relief.
"Aye, and I've just received our landing clearance. Coordinates sent to you, Fireball."
"Got 'em," he replies.
"Look how much they've rebuilt here. It's like the nukes never happened," Colt says as he looks around at a modern city.
"Indeed," Saber replies. "The people here are resilient. Fortunately, the heat field means that the Outriders think this place is still uninhabitable, so let's try and be brief."
"Yeah, don't need them destroying all of this again, that's for sure," Fireball replies.
They go to the landing bay and disembark. They are met by a soldier who guides them to where the head of the center is waiting in his office along with his assistant. They turn when the four enter, along with their guide.
"The Bismarck team has arrived, Sir," the guard states.
"Thank you, you are dismissed," the Commander replies and the guard takes his leave of the room.
"Thank you for making the treacherous trek out here. I wish we could have met under better circumstances," the Commander begins. "Let me give you what little information we have," he says as he hit's a button and the screen to his computer comes to life, displaying a navigational chart. "This here is the last place we received any feedback from Commander Eagle's ship, near the CERES moon. Our thought is that he was going to meet with an Outrider named Vanquo, who stated that he spoke for the Outriders who want peace. His flight plans said he was headed to Leto. Of course this all seems suspect now, but your father was our leading proponent to fight for a peaceful ending to this war. It is imperative that we get him back quickly and safely. Things could get very ugly, very fast for all sides if we don't. That being said, you should know that you would be risking your very lives, as there are several dangerous electrical and magnetic fields out there, so if you feel the risk is too great to your team, we would understand if you refuse to take this mission."
"You obviously don't know of our commitment to the Commander. We've lost enough people in this war. We will do anything we can to save him, even if it means our lives," Saber replies firmly.
"And the longer we wait, the less chance we have of finding my father," April replies with concern.
"Then I bid you Godspeed, and pray for all of you to return safely, with the Commander in tow."
"Let's go then," Shinji says and the four go back to their ship to take off.
"Looks like they weren't kidding about the magnetic asteroid fields," Saber states ruefully.
"Do ya think it'll mess with our weapons, Saber?" Colt asks.
"Not sure, Cowboy, I've got it set to manual override, just to be sure," Saber replies as he types furiously into his terminal. There, that's done, now here's a curious reading," he mutters.
"What is it?" Shinji asks, glancing his direction.
"A spacecraft," Saber states with a worried expression.
"My father's ship?" April asks hopeful.
"Where is it?" Shinji asks.
"Hold on a moment while I shift to the large viewer," he says while hitting a succession of buttons. "There it is," he says as the vid screen comes to life.
"That's definitely his ship, it's got our logos on it," April says with a mix of relief and worry.
"It's apparently taken some damage," Saber states quietly.
April turns from the group and goes to her unit in an attempt to raise the ship, "Bismarck to Peacekeeper convoy ship, this is April Eagle, come in." A minute of silence.
"Looks abandoned," Shinji says looking at the ship.
"Kinda eerie, if you ask me. Out in the middle of nowhere," Colt adds.
"No reply, Saber," April says in a nervous tone.
"Let me see if I can pull up any kind of life readings," Saber says as he hops into his unit and runs a few scans. "No signs of life, or any type of machine activity. It's like it was abandoned."
"This doesn't look good, does it?" Shinji says quietly to Colt.
"Shhh!" Colt says quickly.
"What?! What did you say, Shinji?" April says suddenly back in his face.
"Um…uh…nothing, April. Look, we can't be making assumptions yet," he says in an effort to calm her. He places a hand on her left shoulder as a show of support. "Colt and I are going to go over there and check it out. If you're father isn't there, maybe he left us some clues, okay?"
"What if you don't find him or any clues?" she asks nearly in tears.
"Then we will keep looking. We won't give up until we've got him back, I swear."
"You know how stubborn the two of us can be," Colt adds trying to lighten the mood. If anyone can find him, it's us."
"Thank you both," she says allowing a small smile of thanks.
"You bet. I'd do anything for you," Shinji says before he and Colt head out and over to the other ship. They enter the ship and after looking through the majority of it, they head to the bridge. "Something's not right here. It's like no one was ever here."
"I know whatcha mean, this just reeks of Outrider trap," Colt says as they are both suddenly cornered by Outriders who burst onto the bridge and open fire, causing the two men to scatter.
As this is happening, other ships appear out of nowhere and begin firing on the transport ship.
"Bloody Hell!" Saber swears as he starts trying to fire back while contacting Shinji and Colt.
"It's a trap," April mutters.
"They lured us here with your father as bait. We're on our own, as no other ships can get here, we have to fight back now."
"Right," April replies with a nod and rushing to her unit.
Shinji and Colt fire back at the Outriders and manage to break out of the bridge area, taking off down a corridor. They have almost made it to the exit of the ship when they spot a battleship and see it aiming towards them.
"Shit!" Colt curses as the two take back off into the ship again just before the place they just were is hit. "This is bad, Race boy."
"No kidding, they were well prepared this time," Shinji mutters.
They come under fire once more and Colt shoves Shinji out of the way of a blast and returns fire, hitting one of their attackers.
"And fire!" Saber calls as they use the Bismarck's laser cannons to hit the battleship, causing it to take heavy damage, the force of the blast shaking both their ship and the transport ship.
"I can't raise Saber or April on the communicators, it's like they've overrode the ships systems," Shinji says as he hits several buttons.
"Not everything, buddy. I've rewired some boosters. Let's try and get outta here," Colt says as he activates some booster that start moving the ship. "it's working!" Colt whoops as they start drifting away from their precarious location.
"I knew these idiots would come running to save the girl's father. Too bad he's not here," he says with a laugh as he watches the battle going on before him. "Fire at will! Kill them all!" he barks as several troops start firing on both the transport and the Bismarck. "The transport ship is moving concentrate on it!"
"Colt! Shinji!" Saber and April call as the transport ship takes a hard hit, causing severe damage.
"Hello there, Star Sheriffs," Vanquo calls as his image comes alive on the vid screen of the transport ship. Colt and Shinji turn in the direction of the screen.
"What do you want?" Shinji asks.
"Simple, do as I say or die here," the Outrider replies.
"Oh yeah? You afraid to fight fair?" Colt challenges.
"You're in no position to get what you want presently. I also know the whereabouts of your precious Commander, now what's it going to be? I'll give you your life, for the Bismarck ship. An even exchange. Call your Captain and tell him my conditions, you only have a few minutes, humans."
"Is he outta his mind?!" Colt asks looking to Shinji.
"Looks like we're beat,Cowboy."
"What?! You can't be serious?"
"He's obviously got the upper hand, Colt. He wants us to call Saber, but we can't do that since he's blocked the com links."
"I'll open the line for you," the Outrider replies.
Once the line opens, Shinji hit's the com and hails the Bismarck, "Saber, can you hear me?"
"Shinji!" April says with relief.
"Hey! We've got a little problem here, Vanquo has us, but is willing to release us if we agree to a trade."
"What do we have to trade?" April asks.
"He wants to trade us, for the Bismarck."
"And what is your take on it? Saber asks casually.
"I think we should go along with this ducky plan of his, it's not like we have much choice," Shinji replies.
"As you like it, my friend," Saber replies and closes the connection.
"You can't be serious. And what does he mean by something being 'ducky'?" April asks in confusion.
"It's a bit of a inside joke. Ducks are always working harder than they appear to be, so we should appear to be submissive and complacent until we find an opportunity to strike," Saber replies turning towards her.
"I see. So we pretend to do as we're told?"
Saber nods, "Exactly, and just wait for the time to strike." He sets the course to follow directive and the pair wait to see how things progress.
"Now, they're trying to move the transport. Let's pull them in before they can get away," the Outrider says to his troops. They activate a beam that starts pulling the ship towards the command ship. "We can't have our pawns get away before we can trade them."
"Shit. If we get pulled into the ship, we're as good as dead," Shinji mutters. Got any ideas, Cowboy?"
"Lemme see if I can get the weapons system up and running," Colt replies as he starts messing with a terminal off to the side of the bridge.
"Sir, it appears the Star Sheriffs are attempting to mess with the ships electrical system," one of the Outriders says.
"Fire a warning shot! We can't have them armed, that isn't part of my perfectly executed plan!"
"Yes sir!" the trooper replies and he gives a signal and a shot is fired near the hull of the transport ship.
The shakes violently as it's hit.
"I don't think they like what we're doing? Have you got it yet?" Shinji asks as he braces himself for another hit.
"Almost…" Colt replies as he continues hitting buttons in rapid succession. "Got it!"
"Then hit 'em with all you can, Cowboy!" Shinji calls and Colt complies, causing the command ship to shake violently as he lands a solid hit. "Whoohoo!" Colt whoops while continuing his onslaught.
"And Fire!" Saber says as he hit's the weapons and and starts firing upon the ship, the two attacks setting off a chair reaction of damage.
During Saber's attack, Colt and Shinji exit the transport and head for the Bismarck. Thinking it's over they gasp in shock as an escape pods takes off from the ball of fire, just as Shinji and Colt re-board.
"There he goes!" April calls out.
"Can we track him?" Shinji asks.
"I'm afraid not, Fireball. He's jumped already," Saber replies.
"Damn," he mutters.
"Well, I am glad to see you two made it back in one piece," April states eyeing her two friends.
"It'll take more than one lowly Outrider to do us in, April," Colt retorts.
I know we haven't found your father yet, but I have the feeling that we're on the right track now April. We won't give up until we do find him," Shinji promises.
"I know that we can find have the best chance, it's why they keep trying to stop us. They know we won't give up until we find him," April replies as they all stare at the vastness of space ahead of them on the vid-screen, debating their next move.
A/N: I am wrapping this up. I am entering the final stretch of the series, and will bridge it to another story, "The Price of Peace." I have temporarily removed it, as I am revamping it and fixing some consistency errors and such. Let me know if anyone is still reading this. I hope to update again in a week (maybe two).