Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars: Legacy

Part 2

Tom was aiming a dart at the board on the back of his cabin door. The sharp little missile was between his middle finger and thumb when the door swung open and Lanelle wandered in. Tom's fingers tightened on the dart, which had been a fraction of a second from leaving his hand, and he lowered his arm.

"You oughtta be more careful, lassie."

"I always thought it was daft idea to keep a dartboard on the back of a door."

"Well ye've no business wandering in here anyways," Tom said irritably. "I might'a' been naked."

Lanelle smiled. "So much the better."

Tom did not look amused. Lanelle closed the door and turned to look at the dartboard. Three darts were lodged in it, each an inch or so from the bullseye.

"You're improving," remarked Lanelle.

"Bah! I'll never get it back."

"Never say never, Tom."

Tom turned away from her and looked at his feet. Lanelle, distressed to see her friend like this, walked over to him and placed a hand gently on his top left arm.

"You'll get used to it, and you'll get your aim back," she said. "You're not the first pirate something like this has happened to. Think of Three-Arm."

"I guess that was worse luck than mine," Tom conceded.

"Cap'n Flipper told me he'd train you up again, if I sent you to him. He's been shoot'n' at flying discs with one eye shut all evening so as he can figure out how it's done."

Tom looked at her dubiously.

"Or so he says. Oh, Tom, please stop this!"

Tom raised his head and took a deep breath. "I know you're right," he said, with a new strength to his voice. "I'm just angry. I shouldn't'a' let my guard down – and someday I'll have revenge on those slimy little…" – he apparently couldn't think of a word fitting enough to describe them.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help."

Tom hadn't forgotten why he'd dropped his guard. "Were you in trouble?" he asked.

"Nothing I couldn't handle."

"Right," Tom smiled dryly. "I don't know why Flipper wonders which of us would make a better cap'n. You can handle anything."

"I can't."

"Well you're in one piece, lassie. I should'a' been more careful. I got a short fuse – that's my problem – and yesterday I paid the price." He jerked his head upwards, indicating the upper layers of the ship. "You know what they're calling me up there?"

Lanelle raised her eyebrows. "You don't like it?"

"I don't know," shrugged Tom.

"Well personally," Lanelle went on, "I hope it sticks. More'n half the pirates on this ship ain't known by their real names. You make a sacrifice in battle, that's what you're remembered for. Think of - "

"Three-Arm?" Tom suggested, with a slight smirk.

Lanelle laughed. "Aye. Tom, this short fuse of yours… you're right – it's a weakness. Flipper always says this about you." She took a step towards him and put two hands on his elbows. "You're too good. You care too much."

Tom cocked an eyebrow. "That's possible?"

"You're a pirate."

"Aye, lassie, I know I'm a pirate. Revenge will have to wait. If I leave this ship, and I'm discovered…"

"You hang," Lanelle finished. "Forget about revenge. It's an eye – you can do without it. Now you just have to keep the other one safe."

Tom frowned. "The toads have taken more than my eye."

"Not from you."

"I ain't the only one that matters."

Lanelle, still holding his elbows, pulled him closer. "You are to me."

x x x

"Komplex, please," said Toadborg, in a voice that had once belonged to a living toad warrior, but was now distorted by layers of machinery. "This is not good news."

The huge, digital toad face on the computer screen stopped chuckling and said, in quietly menacing tones, "I am laughing, Toadborg, at the mammals' incompetence. I still find it hard to believe that they were foolish enough to give a highly influential council position to a newt in a large walrus costume, and now Negator tells me that they let his spy overhear something as vital as this."

They were on the toad mother ship, Al Negator standing a few feet away from Komplex with the Toad Air Marshal and his two subordinates, Frix and Frax.

"They are foolish indeed," Al grinned widely. "I wouldn't be surprised if they just told Retina how to access this pink-skinned baboon dimension. He's already working on finding a way in."

"Good," Komplex approved. "That should be very interesting."

"B-but Komplex!" the Air Marshal cut in shrilly. "We don't have access to it yet, and even as we speak that Willy might be sitting somewhere in his pink-skinned baboon home world with your blueprints! He might figure out a way to dismantle you!"

Komplex scowled. "No one will be dismantling me, Air Marshal. Now, if I had access to a parallel dimension…"

"Forgive my boldness, mighty Komplex, but aren't you getting ahead of yourself?" asked Toadborg. "As odd as it sounds, the Air Marshal's point is noteworthy."

"It sure is," Frax chimed in. "I mean, it's a whole nother dimension. It might work on a different timescale or something. A week might have passed for that Willy just while I've been talking."

"Then I suggest you stop talking," snapped Komplex. "Air Marshal, I want you to give your fleet new orders. They are to continue their attempt on Genus, O'Hare, the Indefatigable, the Creators, that vixen that somehow got given a frigate – all of them! But now they have a new priority: I want the hairless mammal."

"He has hair," muttered Frix, to nods of agreement from Frax. "It's bright yellow, and it's all on the top of his head."

Fortunately for Frix, Komplex did not hear this. He simply narrowed his eyes and said darkly, "If we can get him here, and have him at my mercy, I don't think it will take much persuading before he shows us a way in."

x x x

"Ye've got some cheek showing your face here, you slimy little varmint!"

"Calm down, matey, it's me," said Deadeye, as he hopped out of the small one-man cruiser fashioned in the style of a toad ship.

"Oh!" Blackbeak, a Corsair Canard, holstered his guns. "You're in disguise?"

"Cap'n O'Hare insisted," Deadeye told him, as he climbed out of his space suit. It had been a long and uncomfortable voyage from Genus to Rigel Seven, but Deadeye would have put up with anything to attend Captain Flipper's wake. "It's gotten so that no mammal ship can leave dock without being swamped by toads."

"Why?" asked Blackbeak. He began leading the way towards the nearby tavern. "Has something happened? Are we close?"

Deadeye nodded. "Closer. But I couldn't tell ye how long we'll have to wait."

"Well," said Blackbeak, "I guess that doesn't matter now. Lanelle's been dying to see you, matey."

Deadeye raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

When they entered the tavern, Deadeye quickly spotted Lanelle with Redjack and a few of their comrades from the Iron Vulture. He approached, along with Blackbeak, and when Lanelle saw him she rose to her feet and embraced him warmly. Deadeye was faintly surprised by this. Pirates didn't make a habit of hugging one another.

"It's good to see you," she said.

"You too, lassie," replied Deadeye, aware of Redjack frowning at him. "You ok?"

"Aye. Come on – I'll buy you a drink."

She led him over to the bar and ordered two mugs of old swamp grass: ridiculously overpriced crushed swamp grass in swamp water, which reminded many ducks of home. None of Lanelle's crew joined them; Deadeye suspected that she wanted to talk about Flipper with him alone, as they shared so many memories of their old mentor.

"How does it feel to be back with your own kind?" asked Lanelle.

Deadeye shrugged. "Good. Not so promising as last time."

Lanelle nodded. "These are grievous times. What saddens me most is the way he died: old, frail, out of his mind… not what he wanted. At the end he was gibbering like a loon."

"You were there?"

"Aye. He… he didn't stop talking about you, Deadeye. I think he thought you were there with us. He kept saying your name."

Deadeye's expression hardened. "Perhaps he forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"What I did. Leaving the Vulture to fight toads, and then luring you into that trap so Bucky could propose the treaty… Flipper must'a' heard about that."

"Aye," Lanelle nodded. "He heard about it. It didn't sit well with him, I'll admit. He was still sore about being retired. He didn't want to – he wanted to go on captaining that ship until he died. But he just wasn't up to it no more."

"You don't gotta explain yourself to me, lass," said Deadeye.

"I shouldn't'a' pushed him to retire. I feel bad about that now."

"Ha. Everyone who knew him could probably find something to feel bad about. He never lost faith in you, lass. He didn't die disappointed with you."

Lanelle shook her head, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "Deadeye, listen – he forgave you. He more than forgave you – he… At the end – the very end – I couldn't make head nor tail of most o' what he said. But he was talking about you. He looked proud. He said…"

Deadeye raised his eyebrows. "What did he say?"

"I think he meant to say that you did the right thing. He was blathering something about 'bringing them all to justice'… I think he meant the toads."

"You think."

"He talked about the war as well. He'd been saying that it started before he hatched, and he never dreamed it would go on until after his death. And then he started talking about you… and he looked proud… and happy. If you could'a' been there…"

"I wish I was," said Deadeye. "Thanks, Lanelle. I feel better."

"He wanted to see the toads defeated," Lanelle went on. "Please, are we any closer?"

"We might be. But don't get your hopes up, lassie. We have the Creators, but they're old, and even they don't understand Komplex as well as we hoped."

Lanelle sighed deeply. "I'm so sick of this war. Flipper wanted to see its end. Well, so do I… so do you… we need to start fighting harder. Damned if I'm gonna lay down and die without seeing this thing through! Deadeye, after Flipper's service, we'll use the Iron Vulture for whatever you need. And this time we're gonna win once and for all!"

"Ye always were ambitious," Deadeye smiled indulgently. "But I'm glad to hear you say it." He raised his tankard. "To ending the war!"

They drank to it, and then sat in silence for some time. Deadeye was uncomfortably aware of Redjack's eyes boring into his back. This was uncannily like the last time he had been on Rigel Seven.

"Deadeye," Lanelle ventured. "What will you do after the war ends?"

"Willy asked me that a few days ago."

"Well?"

"I don't know, lassie. I'm a lot more concerned about what you'll do." He gestured expansively around the room, with all four arms. "Ye won't be able to rob toads no more – and I hope you're planning on honouring the treaty."

"Huh. That will still apply, will it? We agreed to that because of the toad menace, and because you threatened us with the authorities."

"It's liberating," Deadeye said sagely; "being pardoned. You remember how we all used to live in constant fear o' being caught?"

Lanelle nodded mutely.

"For the last few years, I've had the choice to go wherever and do whatever I want – once I carried out the conditions of my pardon, that is. I stuck with Bucky to fight the war, o' course, but when that's over… I can do anything. And so can you. Going back to piracy would be pretty damn stupid, if you ask me."

Lanelle looked him in the eye. "What are you suggesting?"

"I don't know. Now who's getting ahead of himself, huh?" Deadeye raised his tankard a second time. "To Cap'n Flipper, and ending this war for him."

x x x

The Righteous Indignation was sealed in a secure facility. How the toads enjoyed a challenge – once they had managed to land on Genus, over a hundred storm toads were attacking every sealed entrance they came across. Genus' defences were strong, but the toads were too many and there were more in reserve. They were slowly but surely doing an awful lot of damage.

Bucky and his crew stayed with the ship, ready to fight if they were discovered. They had won battles against several dozen toads before – it was amazing how unskilled Komplex's army often proved themselves to be. Just over an hour into the toads' attack, the crew – such was they were – was joined by Retina. The bush baby had met several toads on the way, but he knew that the crew of the Righteous Indignation would assume he had used some secret walkway undiscovered by their attackers.

"Captain O'Hare," he said. "The council has met, and suggests surrendering the copies of the blueprints we have here to the toads." This was true. Retina went on to explain, "The toads are doing more damage than we can realistically suffer, and we always knew they'd stop at nothing to get hold of those blueprints."

"If we surrender, the toads will demand access to all of your computers," said Bucky. "They will attempt to destroy every copy we have of those blueprints."

"And why not let them?" reasoned Retina. "Remember we only need to be left with one copy, and we have it, in the safest place it can be. I see Engineer DuWitt isn't here. I assume he's in his own dimension with the blueprints?"

"Of course," said Bucky. "Retina, if we surrender suddenly and completely, surely the toads will realise there's something - "

"Then the doorway must be on this ship."

"Don't worry about that. The ship is well protected, and even if we do allow any toads on board, they'll never find the way into Willy's dimension. Now listen."

"We can't just surrender to them toads!" Bruiser interrupted. "We ain't giving up without a fight!"

"Bruiser, there are too many of them," said Jenny. Then she turned to Bucky. "I agree with the council, Bucky. We've put up enough resistance, and we can't take any more. If the security on Genus suffers too much damage, we're sunk."

"First Mate Jenny presents logical argument," agreed Blinky.

Bucky nodded. "All right then. I'm sorry, Bruiser, but it looks like you're outvoted. We'll give the toads what they want, and I suppose we'd better allow them to search or they won't go away satisfied. Blinky, please go up to the cockpit and send a message to Commander Dogstar informing him of the change of plans."

"Aye-aye, Captain," Blinky said obediently, and he hurried to carry out Bucky's instructions. He tuned into the frequency that they always used to contact the Indefatigable, and began his transmission: "This is AFC Blinky calling frigate Indefatigable from frigate Righteous Indignation. Are you receiving, Indefatigable?"

"Eh, what's that? Blinky?" and Commander Dogstar's constantly confused yet resolute face appeared on the screen. "I say, Blinky, what's going on here? We must have over a hundred toad double bubbles on our tail!"

"Toads are seeking blueprints of their leader Komplex. Commander Dogstar has copy of blueprints aboard ship, yes?"

"Well yes, of course we do."

"Sir!" a voice called somewhere in the background of the Indefatigable. "The toads say their guns are locked on our engines and they'll blow us to pieces if we don't give them what they want."

Dogstar puffed out his chest. "Why, don't stand for it, Wolf! Tell those toads that if they wish to destroy our ship and their blueprints with it then - "

"No, no, no!" Blinky exclaimed urgently. "Commander must surrender! You are outnumbered! Toads will destroy you!"

"Now look here," frowned Dogstar.

"Please, Commander, listen to humble android!" Blinky persisted. "United Animals' Coalition has new orders: surrender all blueprints to toads so that they will abandon attack. Genus is also under attack. If toads have blueprints, toads will leave. Meanwhile we still have copy of blueprints safe in Willy's human dimension, see?"

"Hmm… yes, yes, I see," Dogstar finally relented. "Very well then, Blinky, we shall hand over the blueprints. Over and out."

x x x

Komplex, meanwhile, had been monitoring the situation from the toad mother ship, along with Toadborg and the Air Marshal. Frix and Frax were at the communications console, receiving constant updates on the progress of the attack.

"They've been chasing the damn Indefatigable for ages now!" exclaimed the Air Marshal, pacing in front of the giant screen that displayed his master's face. "Soon they'll start running out of fuel! Why don't you just let them destroy the ship and the crew, and the blueprints along with them?"

"Fool!" snapped Toadborg. "We cannot let a single shred of those blueprints be discovered. The only way to be sure of destroying them completely is to force the mammals to hand them over and then dispose of them ourselves."

"But, but - "

"It's all right, Air Marshal," Frix interjected, just having received news of the surrender. "Dogstar has agreed to hand over the blueprints. Three unarmed toads are going aboard to search out any copies."

"Unarmed?" the Air Marshal cried shrilly. "They'll be killed!"

"You little know mammals, Air Marshal," Komplex said shortly. "Besides, sacrifices must be made if we are to ensure my safety. You two!"

Frix and Frax turned obediently towards Komplex.

"When our storm toads have alighted with the blueprints – assuming the mammals let them live, that is – tell the troops to destroy the Indefatigable."

"I like your style," Al Negator announced his presence, as he strolled in. "I've just heard the latest from my spy. We have all the copies that were being kept on Genus, and all trace of your blueprints, Komplex, has been wiped from their computers. The duck and that other mammal – Willy – are missing. Willy is in his own dimension, with his copy of the blueprints, and my spy is working on finding a way in. He knows that the doorway is somewhere on the Righteous Indignation."

"An intelligent guess would have turned up the very same, but I suppose it's something," said Komplex. "What of the duck, Negator? Where is it?"

"My spy wasn't told."

"Curses," muttered Komplex. "He must have taken a copy of my blueprints to some other location. You're going to have to find him."

"Me?" Al raised his hairless eyebrows. "And what is this job paying?"

"Whatever you like," said Komplex. "I don't care how you find out. Use whatever tracking equipment you need. Just track down those blueprints!"

x x x

At first, Willy felt extremely awkward having the original blueprints of a malevolent artificial intelligence from a parallel dimension in his bedroom. However, when he got down to the task of studying them, this feeling was soon forgotten, and gave way to total amazement and fascination.

This is incredible! he thought. A computer that can do anything! These aren't the plans for an evil dictator – they're for a machine that serves people and makes their lives easier. I see why they did it. If you have the knowledge and the tools to build an amazing machine like this, there's no reason not to "Willy! Come in, Willy!"

Jenny's voice cut into his musings, which came as something of a relief. As Willy pulled the Alderbaran Memory Stone out of his jeans pocket, he realised what a dangerous turn his thoughts had been about to take.

"Hey, Jenny. Are you guys in trouble?"

"We're not. Not anymore. We've received a distress signal from the Indefatigable, but we're too far away to help. Fortunately they're not so far away from Rigel Seven. We've told them to head towards it, and we've sent a message to the Iron Vulture to meet them halfway."

"That is lucky," remarked Willy, "considering the size of the Aniverse."

"I know. Still, we have friends in most corners. Willy, we can't talk too long like this – I need my energy. But Bucky has asked me to tell you to keep studying the blueprints, and more importantly, keep them safe. The toads have taken all of our other copies."

"All of them?"

"Yes. Willy, I have to go. Just keep studying them, try to come up with something and don't open the doorway unless it's absolutely necessary. Komplex has spies everywhere. Goodbye for now, and good luck."

x x x

"I see them, Cap'n Lanelle!" exclaimed Blackbeak. "They look in a bad way. And there be at least fifty toad vessels on their tail!"

"Don't just sit there – fire!" Lanelle shouted to her gunners. "Avoid the frigate! Blackbeak, open the airlock!"

There was a large airlock on the starboard side, leading into a hold that housed a small collection of what can only be described as airtight, motorised longboats. The Iron Vulture was a sizeable vessel, and this airlock was plenty big enough to admit a frigate. As the Indefatigable approached, Deadeye hurried down to the hold and waited anxiously until the inner airlock opened.

Once she had landed, the Indefatigable, most of her outer components either dented or missing, lurched alarmingly towards Deadeye, and he took a step back. The ship then rocked for a few moments, and finally decided to stay more or less upright. Deadeye took a cautious step forward, dreading what he might find. He stopped when the door flew open and Dogstar staggered out. He swayed for a moment, and then seemed to pull himself together, puffing out his chest as though nothing had happened.

"Deadeye! Good to see you!" he exclaimed. "No fatalities, but Wolf is hurt. Have you a surgeon on board?"

"Don't worry about it, Deadeye, it's just a scratch," the voice of the ever calm Wolf cut in, as Dogstar's first mate struggled out of the ship. His right arm was practically hanging by a thread, and the fir was matted together with blood.

Deadeye's eye widened. It was a nasty injury, but under the circumstances he supposed they had been lucky. "He's the only one?" he asked.

"Mercifully, yes," Dogstar nodded, as the rest of the crew emerged. "Others of us have minor injuries, but nothing like this. Well, our ship has taken quite a beating, but we'll soon fix her."

Deadeye nodded. "We'll help you with that. Wolf, matey, you'd better get to the medical bay. Come with me."

He directed the rest of the crew towards the bridge, where they would receive an update on the situation, and led Wolf away in a different direction. Dogstar went with them, anxious to see his ally passed into safe hands.

"Don't worry, matey – Scarbill might look a little rough around the edges, but he's a competent surgeon," said Deadeye, as a particularly unsavoury looking pirate duck ushered Wolf towards an unsteady and unclean looking table. "He did me eye," he added encouragingly.

Wolf looked dubious. "How did that turn out?"

"I'll show you later, matey, but you really need that looked at." He turned to Dogstar. "He's in good hands here, Commander – I'll take you to the bridge."

"So how was your captain's memorial service?" asked Dogstar. "They can be painful to experience, I know."

Deadeye was touched, though he didn't let it show. "It was what Cap'n Flipper would'a' wanted," he said. "We launched his ashes into space."

"Where he was happiest, hmm?"

"Aye, matey, he sure was. I feel bad about it, but I shouldn't. We all gotta go sometime, and he was old. I mean, think o' Bucky – his father and four brothers cut down in the prime o' their life. That's a tragedy."

Dogstar nodded. "Indeed," he said grimly. "Those toads have taken more than enough. Countless races' freedom, your engineer, Bucky's entire family, your eye…"

"It was just an eye, matey."

"Well it wasn't theirs to take! And now Wolf may be… It has gone on long enough, I tell you!"

He said this just as they entered the bridge. Lanelle was firing orders at her gunners, and frowning doggedly at what remained of the toad fleet.

"What's happening?" asked Deadeye.

"Most of them have fallen or retreated," Lanelle said officiously. "We've taken a few minor hits, but it ain't nothin' we can't fix. Hello, Commander," she added. "As soon as we've seen off the last of these varmints, we'll take you back to Rigel Seven. Any casualties?"

"One, dear girl," said Dogstar. "My first mate. He's with your surgeon."

Lanelle nodded approvingly. "Good. He has the best chance with Scarbill."

"Hmm." Dogstar looked dubious. "Well I hope you're right, my dear."

x x x

Retina stared about him with interest. This wasn't so different from civilian homes in the Aniverse. There was a bed, bookshelves, a primitive looking computer… The bush baby wandered over to the window and stood up on tiptoe. His forehead was level with the windowsill, so he jumped up and down a few times, hoping to catch a glimpse of the outside world. It was just a street with houses, and a few automobiles cruising past. The weather was nice: calm, and very warm, a little like his own home planet, Ginasia, though not nearly as hot.

How uninteresting. Still, the novelty of being in a new world had made him forget his mission for a good minute. Retina pulled himself together and began pulling open the drawers. Al Negator had warned him not to make a mess; if he didn't find anything, it was better that the pink-skinned baboon didn't realise that his world had been accessed by anybody else. And, as Negator pointed out, it was unlikely that Retina would find what he wanted; the pink-skinned baboon wasn't stupid enough to leave those blueprints unattended, and so near the portal between worlds.

After several minutes of fruitless searching, Retina whipped out his handheld communications device.

"Negator, come in! Are you receiving me?"

Nothing happened. Retina was about to curse the thing and throw it to the ground, but then he realised what the problem must be. He stepped through Willy's bedroom door, and onto the Righteous Indignation.

"Good news, Al," he said, when he had established contact. "I got into the pink-skinned baboon's dimension, but there's no sign of the blueprints."

"As I anticipated," Al reminded him. "Retina, what frequency are you on? Komplex wishes to speak with you."

Retina had only a few moments to wait before Al's face was replaced on the small screen by that of Komplex.

"A bush baby," the computer remarked nonchalantly. "Interesting. Well, bush baby, you have done well. How did you gain access to this other dimension?"

"The photon accelerator on the Righteous Indignation," explained Retina. "You just have to flick a switch – it's easy. No sign of your blueprints, though – he must have taken them with him."

"Undoubtedly. You have seen his dimension. What is it like?"

"Like walking into the past. I've only seen a very small fraction of it, but it looks like some of the planets in our dimension used to look – ooh, centuries ago."

"Interesting. Did you see a computer?"

"Yes. The pink-skinned baboon has one in his room."

"Interesting," crooned Komplex. "What removable drives does it have?"

"Um… hold on, I'll go check." Retina laid down the device, wandered back into Willy's room through the open doorway and returned a few seconds later. He picked up the communicator and said, "Looks like a floppy disk drive."

"A floppy disk drive?" Komplex echoed incredulously. "It is a primitive world indeed! Floppy disks were on the way out when I was created over a hundred years ago! Still, they were in use, and fortunately such a drive was installed in me. Very well, Retina. I am pleased with you… and I must admit a little curious. Did the mammals leave their ship so poorly guarded?"

"No one outside Genus can reach it, sir, and we're all trusted here," said Retina. "Besides, they're distracted. I'm sorry, I should have told you this straightaway: Dr. Wartimer died today."

The image of Komplex's face widened into a smile. "That is excellent news. The other Creators cannot last for much longer, and of course now they don't even have my blueprints. The only threat now, it appears, is the pink-skinned baboon – unless the duck is up to something. Perhaps it would be better not to wait… No, we will wait. The danger is not imminent, and it will be worth the delay. I have an urgent mission for you, bush baby. Make an excuse and go to Orwell immediately. Negator will be waiting for you with further instructions."

x x x

Wolf was up and about, his pain having subsided to a sharp, nagging ache. A day and a half had passed since he was heavily sedated and his right arm amputated. The Indefatigable was still in a bad way. The Corsair Canards had allowed the ship's engineer access to any spare parts they had, but she was still not fit to leave the safety of the Iron Vulture, which was docked on Rigel Seven.

"It's an interesting ship, sir," remarked Wolf, as Commander Dogstar showed him around. "No frills: built purely for practicality. No wonder she saw those toads off."

"I'm sorry we couldn't have gotten here sooner, Wolf," said Dogstar.

"We're all alive, sir."

"Indeed. Ah, there's Deadeye – he'll want to enquire after your health."

Deadeye, oddly enough, was sitting on the ground with Lanelle, his head hanging down, while she talked quietly but animatedly to him. Dogstar gave a slight cough as he and Wolf approached. Deadeye looked up sharply, and then rose to his feet.

"Wolf!" he exclaimed, holding out two hands in welcome, and then hastily withdrawing the right. Wolf shook the left, and smiled warmly. "I'm so sorry about what happened to you, matey."

"Aye, 'tis a terrible loss," added Lanelle.

"It was only an arm," Wolf said stoically. "I've got another one. I was just admiring your ship, Captain Lanelle. She's most impressive."

"Aye, she is," the captain agreed proudly. "And I've been away from my crew long enough. I'll see you soon, Deadeye." She put a hand on his shoulder and added gently, "Don't be discouraged."

She headed for the bridge, leaving Deadeye with his two allies.

"Discouraged?" Dogstar raised his eyebrows. "That isn't like you, Deadeye."

"Well." Deadeye looked at the floor. "I was. You heard about the toad professor?"

"Wartimer." Dogstar nodded stiffly. "A shame, I know, but he was over a hundred years old."

"He was one of the keys to pulling that oversized wart apart," Deadeye pointed out. "He's gone, the other two can't last, and now with what's happened to you, Wolf, and your ship… and the toads are so many! We're losing, mates."

"The toads are weak," Wolf pointed out. "They only have one advantage: Komplex. Once he's destroyed they'll fall apart; we'll soon get our noses in front."

Deadeye nodded. "That's pretty much what Lanelle said, and more. She reminded me of… of a lot o' things, I guess, like why I have to stay determined to see this through. She's a fine lass," he added wistfully.

"Sounds to me like you're still in love with her," remarked Wolf.

Deadeye frowned. "I was never in love with her. She's a friend. A good friend. I guess it could'a' been more, but…"

Wolf was not prepared to let him stop there. "But what?"

"Things changed."

"You left," provided Dogstar.

"Aye," Deadeye nodded slowly. "That might'a' had something to do with it."

x x x

"Cap'n!" Tom exclaimed urgently. "I'm getting a distress signal."

"From what?" asked Captain Flipper.

"It's a mammal ship. A one-man cruiser, I think – it won't stand a chance!"

"A mammal ship? What's it doing in this sector of space? It more'n likely belongs to the United Animals' Coalition, Deadeye – we can't help it."

"But cap'n…!"

"Whoever is in that cruiser will arrest us and take us to the council as soon as look at us, and you know what'd happen after that."

"Even if we save his life?" demanded Tom.

"He or she has friends and allies," Flipper insisted. "Help is probably on its way."

"And if it ain't?"

Flipper scowled. "Ye be a stubborn lad, young Tom."

"Cap'n, it's a one-man cruiser. What can one mammal do against all of us?"

Flipper sighed. "All right, Deadeye, you win. Follow the signal. We'll see what we can do to help."

"Thank you, Cap'n," Tom said quietly, as he began to punch the new coordinates into the control panel.

"You're too good, lad," Flipper sighed reproachfully.

It wasn't long before the Iron Vulture encountered a small fleet of toad double bubbles pursuing a one-man cruiser. The small vessel was billowing thick smoke from its rear engine, and heading towards a wrecked commercial ship that was drifting in space. The cruiser's pilot obviously had very little chance of survival, but still the toads kept shooting at it.

"Varmints," muttered Flipper. "You gunners – fire at will! And anyone asking me which one's Will can mop the cabins for a week. Deadeye, you… where is he?" Flipper looked around for his young apprentice, but Tom was nowhere in sight. "Lanelle, where is he?"

"I didn't see him leave, sir," said Lanelle. "I'll find him."

"I'll go with you," said Flipper. "Keep on at those toads, mates."

Lanelle found him first, down in the hold, preparing a longboat for takeoff.

"Deadeye, what are you doing?"

Tom looked away from her. "You weren't supposed to find me. I hate goodbyes."

"What?"

"I can't do this no more, lass. I can't stand by and watch… that!" He gestured towards the airlock, and the vast expanse of space beyond it. "I have to try and help."

Lanelle shook her head vigorously, her eyes wide with alarm. "You can't! You… you'll hang!"

"I'll plead for leniency."

"Deadeye!"

"What's going on here?" demanded Flipper, at that moment making a dramatic entrance. "Deadeye, get out of that space suit! That's an order!"

Deadeye shook his head. "I don't take orders from you no more. I'm sorry, cap'n, but I'm leaving."

Apart from a slight frown of disapproval, Flipper's face registered no emotion. "You'll hang," he said simply.

"I have to try."

"Deadeye, you'll die!" exclaimed Lanelle. "Please see sense!"

"I'm going," Tom insisted.

"You're a fool, Deadeye," said Flipper.

The captain's eyes were filled with anger and disapproval, and Tom had to look away. He hated to let his mentor down, but he just couldn't keep on living like this when there was so much suffering going on around him.

"Don't go," Lanelle begged quietly, drawing up beside him.

"I gotta."

"You don't."

"Bye, lassie. Have a nice life. Hey, do me a favour. Activate the airlock."

"No," Lanelle said simply.

Tom frowned. He then looked up, and saw that Captain Flipper had left. He felt a slight tug inside his chest, but it soon subsided when he returned to his task. He went over to the inner airlock and opened it himself. He then returned to the longboat and climbed inside.

"You can't open the outer airlock from in there."

"Please, Lanelle…"

Lanelle sighed. "All right. You're cruel to do this to me, Deadeye."

"So come with me."

"Are you crazy? You're going to die!" There were tears in her eyes. "When I open that airlock, I'll be murdering you."

"I'll be fine."

"Just go," Lanelle said sharply. "You're a fool, Deadeye Duck."

These were the last words they said to each other before Tom launched his longboat into space. All around him, toads were heading goodness knows where in escape pods; clearly the Iron Vulture had made short work of those double bubbles. There were still a few around, though, firing at that poor doomed cruiser. The cruiser itself was heading for the shipwreck, apparently attempting a controlled crash landing. Glancing behind him, Tom saw that the Iron Vulture was already retreating. He knew how his shipmates – he ex-shipmates now – feared the United Animals' Coalition, and this pilot was likely to have friends on the way. Tom idly reached up to his throat, and his hand tightened around the neck of his space suit. He imagined the noose around him, and realised that he had been extremely rash.

The cruiser had made its crash landing on the deck of the wrecked ship, and the pilot was crawling quickly away from the smouldering pile of metal. Tom quickly spotted a stray storm toad on the pilot's tail, and instinctively aimed his guns towards it. Then it all happened very quickly. Tom didn't remember it at all afterwards, but he knew what must have happened. He hit the storm toad on the wreck with two powerful blasts from his canons in the exact same moment that his engines took a hit from a double bubble. For a few moments he was hurtling towards the shipwreck, the pilot hurrying to get out of his way. As he was falling, he swivelled his canons round and saw off the last of the double bubbles. Then he braced himself for the inevitable crash. He closed his eye, and blacked out.

It could only have been a few moments. When Tom came to, someone – presumably the ill-fated cruiser pilot – was pulling him away from the alarmingly smoking longboat. Tom took control of his own body, gently urging the pilot to let go of him. The pilot, he now saw, was a green rabbit, or perhaps a hare – it was so hard to tell the difference.

"You're all right," the hare remarked.

"Aye," Tom agreed. "And you?"

"I'm fine. You saved my life, friend. Thank you." He looked at the mutilated corpse of the toad, adding dryly, "That was harsh."

"Quick," corrected Tom. "And it was all I could do."

"Was it your vessel that helped me?"

"Aye."

The hare nodded. "You're a pirate. Now there's a turn-up." He was silent for a few moments; then he began to look at the devastation around him. "Ah, and wouldn't you know it – it was a wasted trip."

"What were you after?"

"Survivors. What else?"

"What happened here?"

"Care to hazard a guess?"

"Toad raid?" asked Tom.

The hare nodded. "Exactly. So, pirate, what do I call you?"

"Deadeye Duck," Tom provided.

"All right. I am Captain Bucky O'Hare."

"Cap'n o' what?" asked Tom. "That cruiser?"

Bucky looked resignedly at his utterly useless vessel. "Well, not anymore. I don't have a ship just now. I'm trying to deal with that, but in the meantime… well, I'm a fully qualified captain with no ship and no crew. It's not ideal for fighting a war."

"It stinks! No wonder the toads are winning."

"Toads," Bucky said darkly, and his expression seemed to cloud over. "Look at what they did to these innocent people. It's bad enough that warriors who make enemies of them…" he tailed off.

"Are you all right, matey?" Tom asked with concern.

"They nearly had me too," said Bucky. "That wouldn't have done. Who else will make the council listen? We need a fleet to use against these toads, and no one else is asking for one. There were six of us, you know: I had four brothers, and a father."

Tom raised his eyebrows. "Toads got 'em?"

Bucky nodded mutely.

"I'm sorry, matey." Tom at once felt guilty. His own sacrifice of his left eye seemed to pale in comparison.

"Their sacrifice won't be in vain, Deadeye. It's made me more determined to win this war, but to do that… well, first I have to get out of here. Since you saved my life I can't very well hand you over to the authorities. Our vessels are useless; let's get below deck and see what we can find."

Tom suspected that Bucky had hoped to find a survivor or two below deck, but any bodies still on the ship were quite dead. Besides this there were very few crafts left in working order – just a single one-man escape pod, in fact.

"Take it," said Bucky. "I can still send out a distress signal – my allies will come for me. But your ship has flown – I think you should assume it won't come back. You'll have to find it yourself."

Tom shook his head. "No good, laddie. Even if I could find my ship they wouldn't have me back. I disobeyed a direct order coming out here."

"Take it anyway," Bucky insisted. "When my allies come here for me, you'll be taken as their prisoner, and you know the penalty for piracy."

Deadeye nodded slowly. "Aye. But I'd be caught anyway in that thing. It's just an escape pod – it ain't practical for living out a life as a fugitive. If I try to escape, as soon as I'm caught, there'll be no chance of leniency."

Bucky raised his eyebrows. "Leniency?" he echoed.

"I left my ship because I couldn't go on watching this war without trying to help," explained Tom. "I want to help you, Bucky. I want to bring those slimy wart bags down a peg or two!"

Bucky shook his head. "You can't stay with me. You'll hang."

It was a terrifying thought, but Tom tried to see beyond it. "Does it have to be that way?" he asked. "You can help me. Tell your people what I did for you."

Bucky's brow furrowed in thought. Tom watched his face, his one eye begging for an answer that would let him live. Finally Bucky said, "We always need more fighters, and you're obviously a very fine marksman – that might help – and under the circumstances you may be eligible for a pardon. But it's a risk, Deadeye."

"Whatever I do now is a risk," said Tom. "Please, Bucky. I saved your life – now you can try to help me save mine."

Bucky nodded. "You're right – I do owe you my life, and you won't get far in that escape pod. All right, Deadeye, I'll see what I can do. But when we're picked up, you'll have to come with me as my prisoner. You really don't want anyone else taking you away from me. I'm the only witness to what you did today, and you need to stay in my care. Do you understand?"

Tom nodded. "Fine. And then…?"

"And then your case will go to trial, and I'll do my best to persuade the council to pardon you and let you join the fight."

"Right," Tom nodded approvingly, a faint glimmer of hope surfacing inside him; though it was not nearly equal to the fear for his life, which he tried to push from his mind. "Well then, Cap'n O'Hare – we'd better send out that distress signal."

x x x

Bucky, Jenny and Bruiser were beginning to grow tired of cooling their heels on Genus. The two senior members of the crew had attended countless board meetings and conferences that merged into one in their memories; the toads were unnaturally quiet, they must be planning something, it was best for the Righteous Indignation to stay on Genus indefinitely, blah blah blah… Bruiser and Blinky, meanwhile, kept a constant watch on the ship – the cause of much complaint for the former.

"What's keeping us here anyways?" the baboon demanded, standing outside the ship with Bucky and Blinky, struggling with the bowtie that Bucky had insisted he wear. It was an awkward, fiddly little thing, and extremely difficult for his large fingers to negotiate. "After this thing, can't we go and croak us some toads?"

"It's best not to go looking for trouble at a time like this," Bucky said levelly. "Wolf is still recuperating on Rigel Seven, and the Indefatigable won't be going anywhere for a while – we don't want to risk that happening to us."

"Especially with Righteous Indignation being home of only portal into parallel universe where vital blueprints are being kept," Blinky added helpfully.

"Right," nodded Bucky. "We'll at least wait for Deadeye's return before making any plans. Ah, speaking of parallel dimensions…"

Jenny emerged from the Righteous Indignation, and was greeted by two enquiring glances and Blinky's ever inquisitive eye.

"Hey, Jenny – no Willy?" asked Bucky.

Jenny shook her head. "He's sorry he has to miss it, but it's all in a good cause. He thinks he's about to make a breakthrough on the blueprints. He's not there yet, but something seems to be happening – he says he can't stop now."

"Of course not." Bucky raised his eyebrows, not daring to hope. "Well, this is good news… hopefully."

"I knew he'd figure something out," remarked Bruiser.

"Well let's not worry about that now," said Bucky. "Come on, crew – time to go pay our respects to Dr. Wartimer."

"I would have thought they could wait to do this until Deadeye came back with the Indefatigable – and maybe Willy too," said Jenny.

"Yeah, well," replied Bucky. "I think Hopkins and Croakley want to get it over with – this is very hard for them. And besides, by the time Willy's back with us we hope to be busy again."

x x x

Inevitably the time came when Willy just had to leave his room for a glass of water and a breath of fresh air. He went, and returned minutes later much refreshed and eager to get back to work. He was so close now. His hand closed around his bedroom doorknob and he felt a short, sharp shock of electricity. He withdrew his hand slightly, and then tried the door again. It was stuck fast. After shaking vainly for a few seconds, Willy was tempted to lose his temper, but instead he took a deep breath and walked up and down the landing until he had counted to ten. Then he tried the door again, and it gave him no trouble at all.

Weird, thought Willy, but he didn't dwell on it. He sat down at his desk and pulled the sheet of blueprints out of his belt, where he kept it rolled up whenever he wasn't in his room. Evidently the break had done him good. He had been staring at the blueprints for barely five minutes when a thought struck him. He peered more closely at a small section of the blueprints, and then sat back in his chair to think. He was almost sure he had found what he was looking for, although he was not yet completely au fait with Aniverse technology. Yes, it was very similar to, though far more advanced than what was in his world, and beyond that he knew the basics, but… he realised he was going to have to talk to the Creators about this.

Willy hurried over to the photon accelerator and tugged firmly on the lever that would convert his bedroom doorway into a trans-dimensional portal. His heart was racing so fast that he didn't hear the burst of power that this action normally invoked.

To be continued…