CHAPTER 14: PLAYING GAMES
" That's the Mission colony…but it looks so deserted and lifeless," Magno mused, "I wonder what happened to the people?"
The Nirvana cruised through the field of debris and junk parts that was the main center of what was once the Mission colony, a bustling hive of activity and trade hub. Now though, it resembled a techno wasteland, with heaps of twisted metal and broken fixtures all over the place, devoid of all life. The ship's Vandread escort made several flybys of the colony with no reports of life. Then Ed recognized the insignia on some of the debris.
"Techno Guild…" he muttered, "They've destroyed the place after looting it. Looks like the locals put up some fight, though."
"Who were the Techno Guild, Ed?" Dita asked.
"We thought they were Lunar Colonials like us, simply a rival company. But what we didn't realize that they were saboteurs from Earth. They raided our factories and colonies. While I was gone, Marshall managed to wipe them out with the new VanStrikes . Still, they are nothing but scum. I'm glad they're gone."
"It's kinda freaky. I feel that there are people in there, in spite of my instruments," Pyoro added, sitting in Jura' s cockpit.
Gascgone' s egg carrier moved to the front of the line with several of her subordinate craft in tow. Magno gave instructions to salvage as much as possible, since the Nirvana was still low on many resources , water in particular. Visiting asteroid colonies and desert planets had taken their toll on the H20 storage. Gascgone waved all clear as she docked with the other craft. The fighters turned back to the Nirvana, knowing that there was little or nothing to do now. The pilots quickly docked and went about their business, eating, sleeping or reading a book. Barnett was at her old hobby, firing her gun collection at the holographic targets generated by the ship's practice system. The perfect scores underlined just how good she was at the art of small arms, the undisputed best on the Nirvana. She blew the smoke from the guns and twirled them into her hip holsters. As the range lights switched on to end the session, Jura walked into the gallery clapping her hands.
"Perfect as usual, Barnett!"
"It's getting boring, to tell the truth. I haven't shot anything since we've gone on this trip. "
"Well, it's not like you have anything to shoot at, dear Barnett."
"Cut the 'dear Barnett' stuff out! I'm serious, Jura!" she fired an imaginary bullet at Jura.
"I can call you whatever I want, dear Barnett. Now that I've got a man!" Jura smugly replied, referring to a certain Colonial left behind.
"Man? Ha! Since when?" Barnett grunted, polishing the barrel.
"You saw it at the station! He was screaming his heart out, asking for my name! I yelled "JURA ELDE!" and he ran away!"
"You idiot…he was running from the thruster blocks igniting! That's more lethal than your name!" Barnett sighed.
"Still, I expect him to pick me out again when I go back there."
"Don't count on it…" Barnett paused, wondering what she herself meant by that.
"Barnett…."Jura' s tone lowered, "….TEACH ME HOW TO BAKE!"
Barnett placed the holsters in her cupboard, sticking the guns alongside her old favorites, an old shotgun and an M-600 carbine complete with ammo belt. She had her energy weapons as well, but there was something about the old ones that just made them cooler. Having a military background certainly was an asset to being a Magno Vidan pirate- in fact, only Gascgone could boast of more experience in the Border Patrol. But Barnett had more successful sorties than most, almost downing the other pirate flagship , the Paraiso by herself. It was when she met Magno Vidan herself that she changed her views and subsequently sides. Captured by her pirates, Barnett showed qualities the Old Boss liked. She was strong ,capable and able to motivate others with her tough-as nails attitude and never-say-die resolve. She was more accessible than Meia while being more focused than Dita. When the Magno Vidan took on another new pilot , a young blonde named Jura, she took it upon herself to train this new pup in fighter combat.
The rest, they say is known to none but history. People speculated that Jura and Barnett were more than friends. Others even claimed that they were already in the Mejale conjugal stage, when they had agreed to share ovum to carry. But Barnett would have none of it, the career drive she possessed in the military still deeply imbedded in her. Jura was silent on the matter, although she acknowledged that Barnett was her special friend. They were the inseparable couple of the Nirvana, the twin terrors. At least until the men crash landed into their lives. Men who Barnett spent years robbing and even killing were now living beside them, engaged in the three most important roles on the ship- doctor, helmsman and mecha pilot. One eventually gained her trust, though a physician usually is the first to gain such privilege from the injured. The others she wanted nothing to do with at first, but slowly came to appreciate the company of the two pilots. Hibiki and Ed provided a dimension to the men that she thought was nonexistent in their species. Ed was open with his feelings and confident with his abilities while Hibiki was passionate and always came up with morale boosters.
But she bore a secret grudge against them for the new lust for old-style childbirth they had awakened in Jura. All the time they spent together was suddenly usurped by Jura begging any of them for the all-important bambino she so craved. Bart and Duerro were safe in their workstations (Barnett assumed they were protected by women who wanted the pleasure for themselves) while Ed had coldly rebuked Jura during the Green Giant mission. For a while she turned the negative feelings toward Hibiki, the only male not to explicitly refuse. Later on though, even those were gone. She didn't know if it was acceptance or simply saving her energy for the Harvesters. She looked at the picture of her and Jura beside her bed, stroking the glass frame before falling asleep. After a few hours though, the alert beacons were roaring like crazy, sending many pajama -clad crew members to the lockers or straight to their stations.
"Boss, there's a message from the colony!" Ezra gasped. A female voice called out to the bridge.
"We have your friends. " The voice was joined by an image of Gascgone and her Registry crew in chains, "If you want to save them, come on board and meet our leader."
"That's an odd ransom demand…" BC pondered.
" We also want your ship." Everyone on the bridge gasped.
"Do come. We don't guarantee their safety."
The message terminated at that point, loud static emanating from the speakers.
"What do we do, Boss?" Bart asked.
"We rescue them, of course."
"I knew that…but…um...how?"
"I have a plan…" BC grinned.
A single dropship came out of the Nirvana, a blue pimple escaping from the Nirvana. It landed on the scruffy decks of the colony, total silence greeting its passengers. BC strode out first, with Bart in chains behind her. He was stripped of his shirt and hung his head as if he was acting the part of the prisoner of war he actually was. A couple of urchins, probably no older than 15 crept out of tunnels to greet them.
"I've brought our helmsman. The ship won't move without him. Where are the crew members you kidnapped?"
"We'll see our leader now. Come!" they called BC and Bart out. She yanked the chains around his neck, pulling him towards the dark chambers the two boys had already entered.
"Ow!" he squealed, "I shoulda kept my mouth shut!"
"Shut it, Bart! Follow the plan!" she whispered back.
They were led through labyrinth after labyrinth of tunnels, rats running around by the dozen until finally the boys suddenly leaped toward a moving pylon and out of sight. BC looked around and realized that she had been conned. Instead of a leader, she was greeted with dozens of cheering and hooting colonial inhabitants in what appeared to be a circular gladiator ring, whose entrance she had just led herself and Bart through. A figure was seated on a dais above the crowd, observing the events below.
"We had a deal! This guy is the key to the ship! Where are my comrades?" BC demanded.
The figure stepped out of the shadow and revealed herself to be the woman in the message earlier. A tall brunette with dark eyes that glinted in the dim light, she waved to her supporters in the crowd. They cheered wildly, chanting her name. BC read it as Sarah , though she was more worried about the plan. The three burly men she just allowed in simply added to the problem. Taking out her whip, Bosom hoped the others didn't have her rat problem.
"If you win, you can have your comrades free of charge. But if you lose…we take your ship and all your weapons!" Sarah proclaimed.
"Come on then!" BC roared back, snapping her leather whip.
So what was the rest of the plan?
Jura scratched her head as she tried to remember the rest of BC's rescue plan. She took out a notepad and nodded, recalling her instructions. She was to follow Meia and Barnett to locate the kidnapped Registry members. Ed, Hibiki and some of the other pilots would take the lower routes, hoping to do the same. Dita was left outside with the remainder of the Dread pilots. As a precaution, Ed had fused the Black Star with her Dread to make the Dread Wind in case of Harvester attack. The single control system made it possible to control it by herself, though Dita missed being with her Mr. Alien.
To their surprise, there was hardly anyone around when they found a visibly upset Gascgone and her crew. Getting captured by a 13 year old girl wielding little more than a three foot stick was hard for her to take, though Hibiki' s resultant giggling was quickly snuffed out with a right hook from Madam Registry. Gascgone simply hurt her hand trying to KO Ed in the same place, cooling down shortly after. Meia proposed that the other Dread pilots take Gascgone and her crew back to the safety of the Nirvana while they linked up with BC and Bart to escape. Gascgone agreed, though she wanted to stay with the away team herself.
The teams were again divided. Ed was to go with Jura and Barnett while Meia took Gascgone and Hibiki along. They mainly carried the energy forks of Mejale, though many had their own weapons just in case. Meia had a pair of knives , Hibiki a long knife and Gascgone simply pulled a pipe out of its fittings. Jura carried her miniature version of the forks, four rings she wore like brass knuckles while Ed had his twin Berettas handy. Barnett opened the case she was lugging around and took out the M-600 , hurling the ammo belts over her shoulders. The weight of the gun was no problem to her in this reduced gravity atmosphere, though its size was rather disproportional to hers. She looked like an over-stocked gun shop than a rescue commando.
"Well…? " Barnett scolded everyone as their worried faces emerged. "Let's shoot something!"
BC moved aside, easily sidestepping the gladiator's clumsy club attack. She wrapped her whip around his ankle and dragged him down, kicking him in the teeth to make sure he was really down. She turned to Bart, who was squirming away from another gladiator, rolling endlessly to avoid his mace. But before she could help Bart, the third gladiator took advantage of her second of hesitation and put her in a bear hug, forcing her to drop her whip. The other gladiator ignored the cowering Bart and picked up the whip, eager to finish the stronger of their opponents quickly. BC faced the ignominy of being hit with her own whip when he raised his arm to raucous cheers. What she didn't count on was Bart bull rushing him from behind and dropping the whip right at her feet. The impact sent Bart tumbling towards the walls, while the gladiator seemed only stunned. Bart got up again and grabbed the chains BC had bound him in before, seething in anger and blood.
"Let…her…go!" he growled as he rushed the gladiator holding BC with his chains, circling his neck with the chains. BC leapt free, grabbing her whip and slashing the other gladiator until his blood was dripping to the arena floor from her whip.
"Bart!" she yelled, turning round.
Bart was riding the other gladiator, a full two feet taller than him, the chain around his neck slowly choking the life out of his massive lungs. BC picked up the other gladiator's club and hit him in the ribs, letting more air out of his exhausted body. He eventually threw Bart off his back, gripping his bruised collarbone. Before she could react, BC was kicked to the arena wall beside Bart, both curled up with the pain of broken ribs and strained joints. Sensing victory, the lone gladiator lifted his comrade's club and raised it high, the very image of murder. The crowds were baying for the aliens' blood, banging loudly on the fences surrounding the arena. Suddenly, BC and Bart linked arms and jumped, clotheslining him smack on the joint of neck and body. He fell flat on his back, only to be elbowed by both of his opponents. The man's elbow was sharper, digging into his stomach and breaking ribs. The woman's elbow felt like the blunt end of a baseball bat, thick and solid. The combined efforts of both finally made him lose consciousness.
BC and Bart hardly had time to celebrate when Sarah angrily stood up and pointed a gun at BC, a red dot skimming her forehead. BC looked on in horror as Bart leapt in front of her as a single gunshot rang. She instantly kneeled to examine him, only to find that there was no bullet hole or blood. She looked up to see Rabat holding a smoking gun with his partner Utan by his side, standing among the crowd. Sarah cursed, holding her wounded wrist and bemoaning the damaged firearm Rabat had shot out of her hand.
"That's not fair, is it? How much fun is cheating?" the one-eyed swindler grinned.
"Yeah, yeah!" Utan repeated.
On the bridge, there were more problems. Ezra reported that there were strange readings of life now manifesting near their positions while Dita was screaming Harvester as another set of cube warriors appeared in nearspace.
"Oh, shit." Magno gritted her teeth.