Chapter 37

"Commander Kane! Subspace disturbance! It's another superfortress!"

"Comm; get word to the Princess' party!"

"Sir, I can't get through! We're being jammed!"

"Commander; the superfortress; it's the Draconia!"

Kane's eyes widened. "What? The Emperor's ship? This isn't good."

Buck jumped off the platform and headed for the new opening. "Buck, wait up," Ardala said as she turned toward the bridge across the moat. Suddenly a blue laser shot through the air and hit the wall above Buck's head. He whirled around to see Emperor Draco and Rapel coming down the path. He reached for his pistol, but Rapel was too quick for him.

"That's far enough, both of you," Draco announced loudly. The contents of this pyramid belong to me and the Empire of Draconia."

Rapel stepped up to Buck and eased his pistol from its holster while Draco held his own pistol toward his head. She ran her fingers across his chest slowly and smiled.

"Too bad you had to be on the wrong side," she said softly. "I really did like you, Buck!"

"Enough!" Draco bellowed. He turned to face his daughter still standing on the platform. "Ardala, you disappoint me. Aligning yourself with a foreigner is bad enough, but to align with an Earthling to overthrow me? That is something I can not forgive."

"Father, I'm not trying to overthrow you!"

"Then what do you call it? You are standing in my way of getting this weapon."

"Because you don't need it!" she cried. "You have already enslaved three fourths of the galaxy! I can't allow you to continue to rule as you have! Entire worlds hate us, hate me, just because of who we are, who you are! What you are doing is wrong, and someone has to stop you!"

"What I've done is wrong? I've conquered three fourths of the galaxy! I have the biggest empire the galaxy has ever seen!"

"At what price?" Buck asked. "You've murdered billions of innocent people. You've extinguished entire races and civilizations. Destroyed entire planets! It's time somebody stands against you."

"And you think you can stop me? A descendent of Adomalovus?"

Buck's eyes widened beyond belief. "What?"

"Oh, haven't you figured it out yet?"

"Are you trying to say that Earth is nothing but a Draconian penal colony?"

Draco laughed maniacally. "You've figured it out! Bravo!"

"Is that why you've been trying to destroy Earth?" Buck asked hesitantly.

"I need to finish what my ancestors started!"

"I don't understand, Father! Why destroy Earth?"

"Our ancestors were too scared to destroy their enemies. But I'm not!"

"So you add the death of another planet to your resume?" Buck asked.

"Unless you think you can stop me." He turned to Ardala. "Can you?"
"Yes! Buck and I will stop you."

Draco shook his head, then the gun. "I don't see how. I am armed and you are not. I am about to obtain the ultimate weapon that sits inside this pyramid. Ardala, my daughter. Do you still plan on getting in my way of obtaining this weapon?"

She stood tall and nodded. "I am not afraid of you anymore!"

"You should be," he sneered. He raised his weapon toward Buck slowly. "Ardala, are you watching? I am about to kill your lover and collaborator. Once the elusive Captain Rogers is dead, he will no longer be a cancer to you or to me. You can then return to your place on my right hand as heir to my empire, after you have been… retrained, of course."

Rapel gave Buck a kiss on the cheek, then stepped to the side. "Goodbye, Captain Buck Rogers," she said softly.

In one motion Ardala unholstered her pistol and fired at her father just as he released his trigger. The laser pierced right through the old man's chest and he fell to the floor. Buck instinctively ducked as Draco's laser fire shot three feet over his head. Rapel dropped Buck's gun and raced to the old man's side.

"Draco!" she cried. "NO!"

Buck picked up his pistol and deliberately walked up the spiral path to the altar where Ardala stood in a state of shock. He slowly took her pistol from her death grip.

"Wh-what have I done?" she stammered.

"You've murdered your own father!" Rapel screamed. "You've killed the best ruler the galaxy has ever known!"

"I…I wasn't… trying to…"

Draco's eyes fluttered and focused on Buck and Ardala. "You! I'll be damned to hell if I let you ruin my empire!"

"Depending on who you ask, you're already damned to hell," Buck replied coldly.

Draco grabbed Rapel's gun and tried to aim it at Buck. In a quick instant, Buck drew his pistol from its holster and shot the pistol from the old man's hand. The pistol went flying against the nearby wall.

"Give it up, old man. Your reign of terror is over."

"Never!" He tapped a hidden transceiver near his ear. "This is… Draco! Fire all lasers at the target!" He turned to Buck. "If I can't have this weapon… no one gets it!"

"Commander Kane! The Draconia is powering up its lasers!"

"Fortify shields!"

"They're firing!"

"Brace for impact!"

The laser flew right past the ship. Kane looked up at the screen. "They missed?"
"No! They're firing at a point on the planet. They're firing at the temple!"

The temple rocked slightly. Suddenly the altar began to glow a reddish color. Buck looked at it briefly before grasping Ardala by the arm. He pushed her across the bridge and then jumped across the moat himself. The entire altar glowed a bright red. Seconds later a giant laser shot out from the altar toward the ceiling.

"Sir! Laser coming from the planet!"

"Helm, get us out of the way!"

The laser passed the Antithesis and struck the side of the Draconia. The superfortress began to glow a pale red as the shields tried to deflect the massive laser. Within seconds, the shields failed and seconds later, the entire superfortress exploded in a supernova burst of light.

"NO!" Draco screamed.

The altar stopped glowing and quickly returned to normal. Buck stepped up the dying old man. "There's your ultimate weapon," he said. "Too bad it backfired against you."

He reached out a hand and pulled Rapel to her feet. "Ardala, you watch after your father. You, come with me."

Reluctantly Rapel let Buck drag her down the path and into the new passageway. They walked down the path for only a brief minute before entering another chamber. The room was filled with shelf after shelf of books. The circular walls were lined with bookshelves. Nearly every square inch of the room was filled with bookshelves separated by narrow paths between them. Buck glanced at Rapel and shook his head.

"There's your ultimate weapon," he pointed to the interior of the room. "Knowledge. It's a library. Knowledge is the ultimate power."

Rapel tiptoed into the room. "Is this a joke?"

Buck shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I'm heading back."

He returned to the inner chamber where Ardala was kneeling over her father. Tears poured from her eyes onto the still body. She looked up at Buck and sobbed. He reached a hand down and she accepted it. He pulled her up. She wrapped her arms around his back and buried her face into his chest.

"What have I done?" she sobbed.

He sympathetically ran his fingers through her hair. "Come on. Let's go."

"What about the weapon?" she asked.

He shook his head. "It's a library. We can come back later."

Slowly they headed back up the path toward the exit. Just as they were about to place their hands on the glyphs, Rapel ran up the path to meet them.

"Hey, what about me? You're not going to leave me here, are you?"

"Sorry," Buck shook his head. "I can't help you."

"And don't look at me," Ardala sobbed.

They placed their hands on the glyphs and quickly disappeared. "NO!!!!!!!!!!!" Rapel screamed.

Buck and Ardala rematerialized to find the Draconian soldiers holding Wilma and the others captive. They raised their weapons toward Buck and Ardala. She stepped forward and raised her hand firmly.

"Emperor Draco is dead," she announced. "The rule of the Empire now falls to me, Princess Ardala. As your new Empress, I order you to stand down and retreat to the Antithesis."

"But we're stationed on the Draconia," the squad leader argued.

"The Draconia has been destroyed. Stand down now. I command you."

One by one the Draconian soldiers laid down their weapons at their feet. Ardala nodded once, then turned to Buck. "Let's get out of here. I need to… I just need to go."

Buck nodded knowingly. "Of course. Come on, everyone. Let's go home."