Chapter 25: Death, death, everywhere, but not a life to live.
---Main Power online---
Jedi opened his eyes. It was dark all around him. He was floating in space!!! Had the effects of the explosion thrown him this far out? The moon and the earth looked nearly the same size. That meant that he was closer to the moon. Jedi looked around him. The sword that the Inuta promised would be there was no where to be seen! So it was a trick after all. At least I got a systems repair out of the deal. It was true. All systems were fully repaired and ready to go.
"..tion....Attention," A voice buzzed into his mind. A radio message was coming in. "Attention all remaining Human Forces, the USSF Base in Nevada is under attack by Android 001, Jedi. We wish that as many people as possible try to run away from this threat. It is more than likely that this will be the last broadcast from this base. We do not know as to the disposition of the Phoenix, or if even the missiles have been launched. Good-bye, and good luck in your efforts. General Redding, out."
What had that been about? Jedi was right here. He wasn't attacking the base. And what about those missiles? Jedi scanned the space around him. Debris was everywhere, the scanners said that the fragments were mostly made of a metal alloy used in ballistic missiles. So that answers that question. As for the attack on the base....
Then it hit him. The Inuta had told him that he was the clone of Jedi Rilet. The original was down on the surface. He was probably the one attacking the base! Jedi brought up the navigational menu. Selecting the maximum speed setting, Jedi plotted a course to the surface. Jedi had to get ready. There was some antimatter along the course, so Jedi turned his right arm into a Bussard collector. If nothing else, he would have an ace up his sleeve. The only limit to the amount he would collect would be his speed. He was currently traveling at about 1,200 miles per second. This meant that he was really zipping along.
A message flashed in the middle of his sight. "Atmospheric interface in 30 seconds. Do you wish to raise shields?"
Jedi selected yes. He was going to be coming in nice and crispy.
"Jedi, you don't have to do this! We can talk. You know me, I am General Redding. I was there the first day after your cryo pod was opened. Remember?"
"That designation is not valid. I am Black Ghost. You must surrender to me now. As a show of my power, I will now lower your shields." Black Ghost was floating in midair just outside of the base's shields. Raising his left arm, he straightened his fingers and fired. Instantly alarms went off.
"Alert! Base shielding is offline. Defense Turrets one, two, and three also are offline. Major damage to the runway."
"Computer! Shut up! Silent alerts until I give further orders."
"What should we do?" One of the technicians asked, looking up from the main console.
"The only thing we can, surrender."
"Black Ghost. We....surrender. Attention all Base personell, stand down. Take all weapons offline and stand down. This is General Redding. My security code is Alpha Pi Nine, use it to secure your stations and relocate in the main hanger."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" On the horizon appeared a giant fireball
"Identify yourself!" Black Ghost yelled.
"Identify this!!" From the fireball came a giant blast of black energy. The blast engulfed the cyborg Black Ghost, and began to eat away at his uniform.
"What is this! I am all powerful! I control the planet before you! How dare you defy me!"
"You are nothing. You are merely the original gone bad. You have no control over that which is not yours." The fireball slowed and then stopped thirty feet in front of Black Ghost. "See, I know all about you. How you are the original Jedi Rilet. How you were corrupted by the first Black Ghost. And how you are not going to let anything live in the galaxy. My sole purpose now is your demise!"
"That cannot be! I am unable to be defeated! There is no other like me! I am destined to rule the universe!" Black Ghost pulled from behind him a small sphere. "Let's see who you are really. Are you Android 002 perhaps? Or are you that pathetic copy 001?" Pressing a button on the sphere, Black Ghost wound up, and threw the sphere into the fire.
"SIR! That device has a high concentration of..."
BOOOM
The light produced from the explosion instantly destroyed all of the sensors on the base. The intense heat melted the doors together. The personnel that had been outside were instantly incenerated, their ashes being blown to the four corners by the pressure wave that followed.
---Restarting main sensors---Protected mode power down---
"You think that that will work? As you can see, I have not revealed myself to your evil."
"ARRGH! HOW CAN YOU BE CAPABLE OF SURVIVING THAT!??!? Not even the android test simulations proved that you could survive that! You should be a pile of dust in my universe!""It's this easy. You have emplanted yourself into Jedi's original body, and have taken it as your own. With that body, you sent yourself to the Dortde, and began to get them to attack the Earth. As their leader, you used Jedi's body to destroy people, buildings, entire cities! But something that you never had control over was Jedi's soul. The original Jedi hasn't given you permission to use his body! For that reason, and that reason alone, you will not succeed in defeating me! You will always be one step behind me, no matter how much power you can channel into a weapon, how much an explosion can destroy, you will never be able to conquer me, for you have no soul of your own!"
"That is not true! I am implanted into this body, yes. But there is no traces left of Jedi in here!" Black Ghost took off his mask. It was true. Despite the years that had passed, all the stresses laid down, the face was exactly as Jedi remembered it being that last day fifty years ago.
"What you say is a total lie! There is still traces of Jedi in there. Those pieces of him are what is limiting you. As long as you are inside that body, you will never defeat me." Jedi extended his right arm outside the now transluent fire surronding him. "Now it is time for you to let Jedi rest in piece." The arm began to form a cannon. This cannon was covered in black. It shined like it was covered in tar. "This weapon was designed specifically for your demise. Despite all of the improvements that you could have made, you can't defend yourself from this blast. Dark afterimage blaster, FIRE!"
From the dark blaster emitted a blue glow, then a single ball of light, not even three inches in diameter was shot out. Slowly it made it's way to its target. It would engulf him, and give the original Jedi's soul a chance to get even for the last fifty years. By now, the shielding around Jedi no longer glowed from reentry. All he had to do was stay here and make sure that the job was done.
That is, until Jedi detected missiles coming in from the right side! They were fast, travelling from the horizon to where he was in a second. Jedi had no time to brace, he took the hit without the full protection of the armor suit.
"Hey you! Stop being so hard on our hero!" Areana radioed. As the dust cleared, Jedi could feel the effect of the fusion missiles. Main shields were at half power, and wouldn't stand another blast, his sensing quipment had been overloaded again, and the polymorphic arm was on the fritz, for now it was stuck in the normal mode.
"Were here to help General Redding!" Julie appeared nearby where Black Ghost had been. The Dark Afterimage attack was still underway! It would be a good five minutes before it fully took effect. Until then, Jedi appeared to them just like what Black Ghost did. That was the downside to the weapon. He had to hold on until the weapon did it's work.
"Hey! Mind if we lend a hand?" Jet flew by, the other cyborgs were rematerializing on the ground. With their own new improvements, Jedi couldn't hold both them and Julie off forever. And with the Phoenix still flying around, that was that, he was going to be destroyed by those he loved the most. That is, unless the sword could possibly...? Jedi reached down to his side. The sword wasn't there! Where could it be!? The sword was the key to surviving! Where was he during the time he was with the Inuta? Where had his body been? The external power source! That had to be the key. The only power sources that were present at that time were on board either the Dortde vessels, or the Phoenix.
That had to be where it was! Jedi knew that he had to get on board, but how! With him being seen as the Evil One, he would be attacked on all sides. Was there anything he could do to stall the cyborgs? Anytime he gained would be invaluable.
"All right people! Fire!" Ivan produced a laser pistol and took aim at Jedi. Julie charged her antimatter beam, and also let loose.
"AHHHH!" Jedi could feel the energy from the blasts dance across the shields. They buckled, then failed. As hard as he could try, Jedi couldn't keep the attacks from reaching his body. Now would be a good time to throw out one of his few tricks left. "Super accelaration mode!" Fading from sight, Jedi soon found that he could see nothing around him. He hadn't wanted to use this. Going at a speed compared to the fastest thing known wasn't safe. Technically he could fly off into space and forever drift at the same speed. But as long as he didnt' move too much, he would be okay.
---Real-world time passing at ratio of 150 accelorated seconds to 1 real world second. Calculated time until Dark Afterimage wears off......... 675 accelorated minutes.---
"Can't hold it that long. I guess this is it. At least I killed Black Ghost, for good."
