Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Far Beyond the World

Part XIV - Never Say Die

Aboard the Conquest, lead Star Fortress of the Draconian Earth invasion force...

With a hiss of exhaust and a clanking of landing legs, the disabled Marauder settled onto the Launching Bay.

Techs swarmed forward, but were pushed back by the eight Security Guards who shouldered their way in to surround the fighter, pistols drawn and ready. They lined up in two equal groups on either side of the darkened cockpit, then their leader, the Conquest's Man-at-Arms, waved one of the deck hands forward, he propped a loading ladder up against the fuselage and at the prodding of the Guard closest to him he crept up the rungs and peered fearfully through the canopy.

"What do you see!" demanded Dreiger, the Man-at-Arms.

"I-I..."

"WHAT!"

"Nothing, sir! Nothing!"

"What do you mean: nothing?"

"The glass is p-polarized, sir!"

"Then open the cockpit, you fool!"

The tech blinked in terror, "But-"

"If you are afraid that whoever is in there might blast your head off, fool, then you should also be aware of my own pistol which is levelled at your back right now. If you don't do what I order right now then I will spray your carbonized entrails across the deck!"

The deck hand gulped and nodded, pulled a decoupler from his toolbelt and pressed it to the canopy's seal. There was a buzz-hum and it slid open, the deck hand shrank back, fully expecting a bolt of energy to carve the top of his head off, but that didn't happen. But a blast from Dreiger's pistol smacked into the fuselage two inches from his right hand, making him jerk in terror.

"What...do...you...SEE!"

The tech rose up a half-foot and peered inside the cockpit, "I-I see a...it's a-" BOOOOM! the pilot's chair ejected in a flare of blue jets, catching the deck hand on the jaw as it shot upwards in a blur, he was knocked backwards off the ladder and crashed to the deck dead, the rocketing chair roared up towards the high ceiling and SHATTERED against it, breaking into three pieces which rained down on the Launching Bay deck, sending the Security Guards staggering and stumbling in all directions.

Back in the cockpit, Colonel Wilma Deering crawled from her crouch beneath the Marauder's flight board, fighting not to cough from the toxic smoke swirling around her, she scrambled up-and-over the side of the cockpit and slid down the fuselage face-first, landing on her splayed hands and rolled into a somersault which ended with her rising up on bent knees, pulsar pistol at the ready.

The first Guard to recover got a blue bolt drilled into the center of his chest, he staggered back as Wilma rushed toward him, and as he fell she snatched the pistol from his loosened grip, he didn't need it anymore, then she was racing down the length of the Launching Bay toward the nearest exit, her own long-barrelled Type-6 Directorate pulsar pistol blazing azure death at anybody that moved on the right, while the purloined Draconian blaster spat yellow destruction at a row of fuel drums. The center one blew and the resultant orange-gold fireball detonated the rest of the drums and the left half of the Bay went up in a blaze of flame that ripped five Marauders to shreds and sent deck hands screaming in all directions, most of them lit-up like human torches.

"KILL HIM!" roared Drieger, the Man-at-Arms, who had managed to claw his way to his feet using a cargo container, and he glared with scathing hatred through his one remaining eye at the receding intruder.

But he needn't have bothered, because just as Deering reached the exit, a shape rose up out of the corridor's shadows and sprang at her, tackling her about the waist, and the two of them went down in a tangling of limbs.

Wilma rolled over-and-over down the deck, struggling mightily with her attacker, the two energy pistols long gone.

What IS this thing! her mind raged as she kicked and punched at the shadowy body atop her, while the being in turn hissed and bucked like it was half-animal.

Wilma managed to get her knees up and between them, kicked out with all her mite, sending her opponent flying backwards off of her. She flipped over and staggered up, but gaped in shock as she saw that her attacker hadn't hit the wall, instead they had landed on it and now clung there like a spider.

"What-What are you?" the Colonel staggered back, then was halted by her shoulder-blades thumping against the firm chest of somebody behind her.

Before she could react, a strong arm encircled her throat and the muzzle of a blaster ground into her right cheek hard enough to draw blood.

"So good to see you again, Colonel Deering." snarled the last voice she'd ever wanted to hear again in her left ear.

Oh no! Killer Kane!

"I see you have made acquaintances with my personal bodyguard." said Kane, "May I present Tigergirl, I believe you knew her father."

And her lithe combatant dropped to the deck on all fours and grinned savagely up at Wilma with a mouth full of needle-sharp teeth. There was no mistaking the three claw-like markings slicing down from the girl's thrown-back mane of jet-black hair to encircle her left eye.

Tigergirl, gaped Wilma, and then Kane swung his blaster high and struck her on the back of the head with the butt. Her eyes rolled back into her skull, she slumped in his grip and knew no more...

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Later...

Wilma soared up toward the conscious world, borne on artificial wings, and her eyelids fluttered open, she gasped at the migraine pounding between her ears, then slowly sat-up.

Uhhhh, I keep getting knocked-out, I have to find a way to end this cycle before I end up with brain damage. She rubbed at her forehead, that helped lesson the headache somewhat. I think I must have neural trauma already, because I could swear I just saw...

"...Kane!" she gasped as her gaze focused and the rogue Earthling himself loomed over her, sneering down at her.

"Colonel." he nodded, "Welcome back to the land of your birth. You know, I never believed the Defense Directorate records that said you had perished during our absence from the Sol System."

Perished? the brunette pilot blinked rapidly as she crabbed away from the dark-uniformed traitor and banged up against a solid bulkhead a meter back.

Huer! Dr. Huer must have altered the data banks before they could get to them. Our mission aboard Searcher was top-secret, so only he and the Computer Council would have know the truth about where we went. And you can't interrogate an AI...

At least, I don't think you can, she frowned as she rose to her feet and smoothed down her stolen Draconian flightsuit. It was fitted for a larger male and clung to her trim and shapely female form oddly.

For a moment she wondered if Dr. Theopolis and the rest of the brilliant Quads still existed, or if they had been destroyed by the Draconian invasion force when they had taken New Chicago. Wilma wanted desperately to ask her captor about their fate, especially Huer's, but knew she couldn't trust whatever answer Kane would give her. No, her first priority was to escape.

She looked back-and-forth and scowled at the cell she was in, then looked back to Kane who stood on the other side of the rust-walled chamber, blocking the exit. A pair of burly Security Guards stood at attention on either side of the doorframe, and on Kane's left crouched the toned form of Tigergirl, down on all fours, her hands splayed against the grilled deckplates, showing off her two-inch long fingernails, each of them razor-sharp and eager to tear and slash.

That one is more tiger then girl, I think, Wilma's eyes narrowed.

"Where did you get that flightsuit?" Kane demanded, and her gaze whipped back to his.

"What?"

"It belonged to a Private Rohann, Colonel Deering."

"Did it?" she shrugged as if bored, then folded arms across her chest, "So what if it did?"

"Is he dead? Did you kill him?"

"You know, Kane, I don't really recall."

He stared back at her silently, studying her neutral expression, then with a click of his heels he turned away.

"Take the suit from the Colonel and search her completely." he commanded of his bodyguard as he headed out of the cell.

"Understood, Warlord."

"She may be carrying hidden weapons or contraband. Don't take any chances, be thorough, leave no possible hiding place unturned."

Then the door slid shut and locked, Kane was gone, leaving Colonel Deering alone with the two huge Guards and Tigergirl. With cruel sneers the two Draconian soldiers stalked toward Wilma to begin the search...

To be continued...