Based on the second season of Star Blazers 2003 by Vorager Entertainment, Inc. Everything else is mine.
Synopsis: Derek Wildstar has okayed a raid on the enemy base giving the team an hour; The DeSpritz crew is saved but now the Yamato faces a bigger gun and time is running out.
A/N: I know it's been a while. Hope this helps.
Chapter 10
A Few Well Placed Explosives
Nova slowly raised her head to peer through the dusty air. It was strangely quiet. The air concussion served to knock the one-man fighters down leaving the Tigers on their own further up. She shook her head, trying to get a better view. IQ-9 lay in pieces so the Living Group officer reached out to touch his head and move it closer to his body then realized she needed help to fix the robot. From somewhere to her left, she could hear a low moaning. Rising to unsteady feet, the Star Force woman made her way through the debris of the wall.
Not more than twenty feet from her lay two crumpled figures. Nova froze. Both were in black. She whispered, "Oh no." Running to the first one's side, the brunette noted that it was Colleen who was moaning. A quick check proved to be no broken bones but she couldn't tell if there were cuts and bruises as the helmet visor was opaque. Turning her attention to Kathleen, Nova had to turn the twin over to check her over. Here again, she couldn't find anything wrong.
"Oh my stars," breathed Colleen sitting up with a gasp. She looked over at the body and Nova. "Kat?"
"She's breathing," Nova told her, "but she's out cold and there is a dent in her helmet."
From another side, Sandor, Hardy and Knox made their way to where the women were, brushing the dust off their weapons as they did so. The dust was being to settle now but a new rumble reminded them that the base still had more cards to play.
"How is she?" asked Hardy, sitting down on his heels.
"She'll live," Nova told him.
Colleen prodded her twin. "Wake up girl. We've got work to do."
"What are you going to do?" asked Sandor. "We've got to head back to the Yamato. Our time is almost up."
"I know." She stood up and faced him, her visor now clear. "Get back to the ship…."
"What about Kat?" Hardy demanded.
"-we'll take care of that gun." Colleen swung to glare at the pilot. "Give her a few more minutes, she'll be fine."
"You can't stay here," Sandor putting his hands on Colleen's shoulders from behind. As he began to open his mouth, the sky flared again and the shot from the gun raced out to space. He felt her shudder then she turned to him.
"I have to stay here," she told him, her eyes watery, "I have...we have a job to do that you can't. You're needed on the Yamato."
"I can stay here and help," he protested.
Colleen shook her head. "You can't. Please...do this for me."
"I can't -"
Kat sat up with a gasp, her hand clasped to her head. "Did someone get the number of that truck?"
Her twin only looked at Sandor before stepping away from his grasp. Colleen walked over and squatted by her sister. "You okay?"
Kat shot her a look of indignation. "No. My head hurts, my body hurts, and my ears are still ringing."
Colleen had to smile. Kat was still Kat. She helped her to her feet before facing the group. "Get back to the Yamato. We'll take care of the gun. It's what our commander asked us to do."
Nova stepped forward to give them a swift hug. She told Kat, "You owe me a cake." Then her voice broke, "I'm going to miss you both."
They each gave her a pat. "We'll be okay," Colleen told the officer.
Nova nodded, not wanting to trust her voice, she went to IQ-9 and picked up his head. Knox stuck his hand out and told them, "It's been a pleasure ladies."
"Likewise," they answered.
Hardy stepped up and grabbed Kat into a hug. Colleen turned a bit, to hide her smile while Kat tried not to grunt at the abuse on her ribs. The pilot let go without saying a word and started through the gate, heading for the transport ship, Knox and Nova following him.
This left Sandor. Kat walked off a bit, stringing her bow as the last pair said their good byes.
Neither noted the guns speaking again.
Onboard the Yamato
"Derek!" Homer motioned to the Deputy Commander.
"Yes. Brace yourselves, here comes another blast."
The Yamato pulled to the right this time, with Mark grunting at the controls.
"What is it Homer?" Wildstar was finally able to ask.
"The troop transport is on its way back. Sandor says that IQ-9 needs to be put back together again and that the twins are remaining to blow up the gun."
Wildstar nodded in acknowledgement and kept his eyes on the view screen. "How are you holding up Mark?"
"This is nuts," muttered the pilot. "They are firing faster now. I sure hope those girls can do something."
On the asteroid
Commander Rikas stood in the ruins of the hanger his fists closed and balled against his legs. The saboteurs and prisoners had done their job very well. There wasn't a space worthy vehicle flyable to go chase after them or the battleship which hung in the asteroid belt not to far of. And, to add insult to injury, the prisoners had stolen a proto type vehicle he had been asked to test by the Prince.
Thinking of the Zoldar made the Commander worry. Just what would he think? Rikas knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that because of his failure here, there would be no rewards in the foreseeable future. Raising a fist to the star speckled heavens, he swore, "I will get my revenge!"
Plunging back into the ruins of the base, Colleen pulled out a handheld and glanced down into it, pausing at the crossroads of two corridors. Under their feet, the twins could feel the vibration of the guns as it went off again. Kat stood guard, her head in motion as her twin figured out the best way to get to the objective.
"Looks like we need to find the service elevator to the basement level of this complex," Colleen told her a few minutes later. "The main power planet is located there and if we can knock it out, the Yamato will be able to get away." She started off down the right hand corridor, "This way."
As they trotted down the corridor, their gear making very little noise, Kat asked, "So, since we've got a plan to get in, what's the plan to get out?"
Colleen snorted. "I guess we'll have to see if they have anything else we can use when we get the chance."
"Oh," Kat was disgruntled. "My brainy sister has no idea how to get out of this mess."
"We'll find a way," Colleen assured her, as she passed through a door.
"Yeah, right," snapped Kat following her.
Rikas had his aids find everyone they could find and have them assemble in empty hanger on the lower level of the base where the saboteurs hadn't been too yet. He still wasn't convinced that they had quit the base, irregardless of reports of a landing craft taking off and heading for the battleship which was beginning to noise its way from the base main gun. He was determined to not let this happen. He would take that battleship out and make Prince Zoldar happy.
"We have the chance to knock a powerful enemy of the Empire from the galaxy," he roused his beleaguered troops. "I want all power to be switched to the main gun. We will wipe them out of our glorious sky!"
The rousing cheer reached the ears of the twins who were perched high in the scaffold overhead. Neither spoke but stayed very still as the troops dispatched to go their ways.
Once everything was clear, they inched their way to a maintenance ladder which shielded them from anyone seeing them. Kat giggled, "It wouldn't be long before they find out we fixed the elevators."
"We have to get to the next level before they do," puffed her sister, "elevators or not."
"Gee, you're no fun."
There was only the sound of their booted feet on the rails before they dropped through a hatch and continued down to the floor below. When the twins reached the bottom, they made a sweep of the large room below the hanger before heading for a large door, which was standing open, on the opposite side of the room.
After carefully crossing the open space, Kat stopped at the doors. Gesturing at them, she told her sister, "Rather careless of them don't ya think?"
The other twin nodded and looked into her handheld. "The main gun is in here. I bet if we shut the door, the enemy won't get in here to fire the gun."
"Then what are you waiting for?" asked Kat as she dodged in to hit the control panel to the door. "A written invitation?"
Colleen sighed and shot the controls on the outside of the door before dashing in after her sister. "Always the comedienne."
As the door slid shut at loud claxon sounded, startling both girls, causing them to whirl and study the now shut door.
"I certainly hope there isn't another override on this," commented Kat.
"Agreed." Colleen turned, "We go this way and should get to the main gun. My readings suggest that they are powering it up."
Kat grinned and started off down the corridor before them, "Well, let's get cracking."
They came out to a large gun, whose muzzle pointed upwards through a force field designed to let the energy out but not in. They hadn't found anyone on their journey there and the girls were beginning to get edgy. They split; Colleen to the gun, her sister to the power controls.
Colleen reaching the platform climbed the short ladder and walked along the length of the gun before deciding upon a course of action. She paused as the sound of ringing metal reached the gun area. The young woman pulled out a fuzzy stuffed rat and positioned it along the carriage before setting a dummy charge near the muzzle. She finished and jumped down the survey the way out.
When Colleen found they would have to climb down the well which was in front of the gun, she groaned but set out to secure the climbing ropes to the railing which kept people from falling down into the well. She guessed they'd have to drop at least a hundred feet before reaching the next level down and there was no telling what lay there. "Hurry up back there!" the young woman called when she had finished.
On the Yamato
Sandor and Nova dashed up to the bridge, breathless, each heading for their station.
"What's happening now?" asked Derek to Eager.
"Looks like they've stop firing the small guns and are running up power on a bigger gun," answered the officer.
"Just what we needed," muttered Mark from his seat, "another monster gun aimed at us."
The Deputy Captain turned his attention to his XO. "Sandor? What is going on down there?"
Sandor swiveled in his seat, "The O'Flanagon's are going to destroy the main gun along with the power supply to allow the Yamato get slip by."
"Get ready everyone," Derek told the crew, "when they blow that gun up, we may get tossed a bit."
On the base
Colleen couldn't find Kat. She looked all over the small staging area, getting more worried as the noise from the door got louder then softer, then a ping, and she could hear the wheels of the door opening. "Where are you?" the woman growled.
"Here," Kat popped out of the tube towards the back of the staging area which was in shadow. Colleen hurried over and hauled her sister out of the tube then began to hustle the twin to where the ropes were tied.
"What in blazes were you doing?" she scolded as they climbed over the railing, after securing the ropes to their belt.
"Leaving a few explosives where they won't be found," answered her sister. Then she looked down. "I hate heights you know."
"The repelling down shouldn't be that hard for you," quipped Colleen as she bounded down the cliff face.
When Commander Rikas' men finally made it to the gun platform, the girls were done. While the Commander paced, furious, the gunners checked the main gun over. Tense moments came when one man found the rat and nearly had an heart attack before finding the dummy explosives. When nothing else was found, the Commander ordered, "Fire when ready."
The bridge crew was the audience to the spectacular explosions when the gun blew, taking with it a sizable chunk of the asteroid with it. The ship was rocked by the blast and pelted with pebbles before charging out the other side with a rousing cheer.
Amongst the cheers on the bridge, the back slaps, and high fives, Sandor sat rooted in his seat, staring at the over head view screen, his face ashen, his lips whispering, "You better have gotten out."