Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Far Beyond the World
Part III - Chink in the Armor
Aboard the Draconian Hatchet-Fighter designated Marauder-94...
The swarthy lead pilot shrunk back into his heavily-padded seat as the lean rust-colored attack craft banked at a fantastic rate, it's upgraded engines pushing it to the extreme limits of acceleration, even as the powerful port thrusters blasted at maximum strength, keeping the trim ship in it's all-out loop.
His radio chimed and he pressed the control on his dash console to connect the channel, spoke into his comlink, "Lieutenant Bonengel here. Go ahead."
"Report!" came the demand from his distant star fortress.
"We have engaged a vessel that penetrated the boundaries of the system."
"They did not transmit proper Draconian protocols?"
"They did not transmit at all, sir." he replied.
"Have you destroyed them yet?"
"Possibly."
"What do you mean: possibly! Explain, Lieutenant!"
"We disabled their defence shield with a missile barrage, and then two more projectiles got through and appear to have damaged them severely. They are listing, their engines are down, and they have multiple hull breaches."
"Serious?"
"Very."
"Good. Have you been able to identify the ship?"
"No, sir. It doesn't match any configuration in our data banks. But it could be human."
"Of Earth origin?"
"Again, too hard to tell." Bonengel brought up an image his Marauder's nose camera had snapped during the initial attack and transmitted it back to the star fortress, "I managed to capture this image of text upon it's forward hull."
"Receiving image now and processing. ...Searcher?"
"Yes, that appears to be the vessel's name."
"What are these words beneath the name? Per Ardua Ad Astra? What language is that? It's not English."
"I have never seen it before, sir." and the Lieutenant's Marauder came out of it's loop at last and he levelled out, the enemy vessel sprang into view, a tiny grey object in the far distance.
"We are prepared to make a second attack run, sir. Shall we proceed?"
"Yes. Finish them off. Atomize the invading craft allowing for no survivors. All glory to the Draconian Dynasty!"
"Vengeance for Draconia!" Bonengel shouted into the comlink, then broke the connection and signalled to the other three fighters.
They formed up into a wedge-formation and set off back to their target, readying their remaining missiles for the kill...
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Ten seconds earlier...
Captain William 'Buck' Rogers finally succeeded in rerouting the Emergency Thruster controls and the auxiliary panel lit-up, but the rising g-forces battering him at last increased beyond his threshold of resistance and with a final agonized gasp he slumped over the Helm board, eyes rolling back in his sockets.
His hand twitched once, an inch from the controls that might have saved Searcher from her imminent destruction, then went limp, Buck dropped into unconsciousness, the last hope for the ship and crew halted before he could complete the titanic task he had fought so hard to achieve.
Or, nearly the last hope.
With a roar of raw will, the alien being called Hawk thrust himself up beside the temporally displaced American and with his last ounce of amazing Bird-Man strength he slapped the pulsing button, then collapsed down onto the console beside Buck.
And on the exterior of the ship, the port thrusters fired, blazing to alabaster life all along the left side of the hull! They blasted into space, tearing into the rocketing turn they were banking into, unleashing all their power to fight the terrific pull, and for an endless moment the ship's hull was pulled in opposing directions, as natural inertia fought the man-made version. But then artificial gravity won out and Searcher came out of the bank and ground to a quivering halt, flipped half-over on her starboard side, completely out of Azimuth with the rapidly approaching Draconian fighters.
Buck's eyelids fluttered open and he dragged in a deep breath of precious oxygen, he rose up groaning from the Helm and stared at the feathered head of the alien beside him.
"H-Hawk? You-You did it!"
"We...we did it...Earth-Man..." moaned his friend, as Buck helped him to stand.
"Talk about a last-second Hail Mary Pass!" grinned Buck and he slapped the Bird-Man heartily on the back, "You saved our bacon, Hawk!"
"Then award me a medal later, Rogers. B-But right now we have greater problems."
"Tell me about it." scowled Buck as he regarded the Master Screen.
It was flickering badly, crisscrossed with lines of interference, but it was still active. And on it the four Draconian Marauders were expanding rapidly.
"They're coming back for a second pass!" he growled.
"There will not be a third." observed Hawk.
"Yeah, no need. Those new missiles of theirs pack a Godzilla-sized wallop, pal, and we won't survive another strike. We're DOA without the Defence Shield." he looked to Tactical.
"I am on it!" and Hawk bolted for the Station.
"You'll need power!" replied Buck and he staggered to his feet and made for the Engineering console at the back of the Bridge, stepping round the prone crew members as he went, trying with all his mite not to check to see who was alive and who was...
...dead...
Wilma? he glanced toward the starboard bulkhead as he reached the Engineering Station and stepped behind it's controls, which were thankfully still lit.
The lady Colonel was where he had left her and for a long agonizing second Buck stared at her slumped, face-down body in trepidation, as it appeared she was completely still, which could possibly mean-but then Deering quivered slightly and her left foot twitched! Buck thrilled internally and thanked God Almighty for the miracle.
I owe ya big-time, Big Guy, Buck grinned, then focused all his attention on the console, his hands darted across it in a rush, searching for any power he could find anywhere aboard their disabled starship.
Are Hawk and I the only ones left awake? he scowled to himself, Yeah, probably-
"Unbelievable! Just unbelievable!" intoned the last voice he wanted to hear at the moment, and Crichton levered his long contoured body up on his smaller arm appendages and extended his broom-shaped head, "Why have I not received assistance? Am I not the most essential member of this crew? Why have I been rudely ignored!"
"Maybe 'cause everybody was enjoying not hearing your annoying voice for once." snarled Buck, and the robot's head rotated in his direction.
"Captain Rogers," the orange and green bars of light that denoted Crichton's vocalizations strobed, "that is not the Station assigned to you."
"Yeah, well, the guy who's supposed to be running it is taking a nap. Why don't you follow his example, chrome-dome? Hawk and I are trying to prevent our total destruction."
"No need to be curt, Captain." and Crichton finally managed to stand, an impressive feat, and he panned his artificial gaze back-and-forth.
"The Bridge is in shambles! What has happened to the crew?"
"Will you please be silent!" snapped Hawk as he fought with the Tactical controls.
"I am only making a logical assessment." replied the imperious robot as he stared at the Master Screen, "I have determined that your current course is futile. We three should abandon ship in the life pods."
"The rat wants to flee the sinking ship, huh." Buck shook his head in disgust.
"The situation appears hopeless, Captain. And there is only time to save ourselves."
"The operative word in that statement is 'appears'." said Hawk, "We are attempting to improve our situation, automaton."
But perhaps the cloying robot is correct, the Bird-Man scowled, because I cannot get the Shield to reinitialize. So even if Buck finds enough power to feed into it, there won't be a field to put it in...
He pounded the controls in frustration, "It's not working!"
"Can't get it up, Hawk?" asked Buck.
"No!"
"But you have to! I think I've located enough power!"
"I wish I could, Rogers, but the Shield buffers will not respond."
Buck looked back to the screen and his eyes went wide.
"No!"
But it was true, the Draconians had reached maximum firing range and with a quartet of flares they unleashed the last of their missiles.
Buck shut his eyes and swallowed hard, "Oh well, it was a good try."
"Indeed." replied Hawk, and together they watched the devastating projectiles swarm in...
To be continued...