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

Part XVIII - Raising Cain

In the War Room of the Draconian Star Fortress Conquest...

Colonel Wilma Deering was on her knees in the center of the octagon-shaped chamber, defiantly staring up at the black-uniformed Killer Kane who had just given the order to execute her to the Draconian warrior standing on her left, who was holding his blaster trained directly on Deering's temple.

The tall soldier slid his gauntleted finger onto the trigger pad and Wilma's eyes slid shut. This is it, I have finally pushed my luck one time too many. I just wish I could have told Buck once and for all that I love him. I had my chance back in Searcher's lift and I completely wasted it. I'm sorry, Buck, I truly am-

The blaster roared and Wilma jerked.

But from surprise, not from the blue bolt striking her head, because the Draconian warrior had swung his aim away from her in a blur and instead had blasted the chest out of another warrior on the opposite side of the room. The remaining two Security Guards inside the War Room gaped in shock and reached for their own pistols, but Deering's former executioner was pivoting fast and gunned them both down with expert shots, finishing his spin with the blaster pointed directly at Killer Kane's amazed face.

"Wha--What?!" gaped the Warlord in fury, "Soldier! What are you doing!"

"Taking control of your ship." replied the Draconian, and Wilma's heart lept to her throat in amazement because she knew that voice! It was

"HAWK!" she shot to her feet and stared into the goggled face mostly hidden beneath the heavy Draconian helmet, "Talk about great timing! So you managed to sneak about using the second captured Marauder?" she shook her head and rolled her eyes, "Well, of course you did, you're here, aren't you? It's so good to see you."

"And it is good to see you as well, Colonel." nodded her eleventh hour savior, "I am pleased you managed to survive."

Wilma turned on Kane and glared him down, "No thanks to this homicidal maniac." and stepping forward she drove a fist into his gut, making him gag and sending him down onto his knees, clutching his solar plexus.

"Strip-search?" she spat down at him, "You're the one who deserves to have all his 'possible hiding places' unturned, you perverted psycho."

Kane glared up at her, then looked to her companion, "Who are you?! How DARE you-"

"Oh, I dare, Earth-Man! I dare!" and Hawk tore off his helmet and pushed the flight goggles off his eyes and to his forehead, revealing his feather-headed nature to the Warlord, "Look upon my visage, Kane, see the face of the one who has defeated you!"

"A...A Bird-Man!" Kane's eyes saucered, "Not possible!"

"Indeed it is, human! For not all of my noble people languish in chains. I stride the corridors of space free as an eagle upon the winds, and while there is but one breath still in my lungs I shall use it fight those who would enslave my kind, and any other peoples!"

"Enslave your kind?" frowned Wilma, "What do you mean, Hawk?"

"While fighting for my life upon the satellite you Earthlings call the Moon, that Draconian Private I faced off against revealed to me that a colony of my people exists somewhere within the Draconian Dynasty, where they are enslaved."

"What?!" Deering was both disgusted by such an injustice and thrilled for Hawk that more Bird-Men still existed. She looked to Kane, "Is this true?"

The Warlord said nothing, only glared up at them defiantly.

"Oh, it is true!" breathed Hawk as he caught hold of Kane's collar and yanked him up onto his feet. He drilled the muzzle of his blaster into Kane's right cheek and glared deeply into his eyes, "The Private had no reason to lie, and he said what species I was without prompting. He knew of my kind because he has seen them with his own eyes."

"Incredible!" said Wilma.

"Indeed." agreed Hawk, and he handed her his helmet, then pushed Kane backwards until the Warlord was braced up against the War Room's conference table, "And do you know what else that Private told me?"

"He told you nothing!" spat Kane.

"Oh, he actually told me a lot, traitor!" railed Hawk, "He told me the name of the clan who enslaves my people. And do you know who that is? Well, do you? DO YOU!"

Wilma looked back-and-forth between them, then her eyes went wide, "What?! No!"

"Yes..." and Hawk dragged the blaster down under the Warlord's jaw and pushed his face up to match his, "Clan Kane. They are the ones who enslave my race. And this scum is their patriarch."

And Kane smiled darkly, his eyes glinting with dark menace, "And if you ever want to see any of them, Bird-Man, then you will kill Wilma Deering for me, right here, right now."

"Oh, I will?"

"Yes! You will! Because that is the only way they will ever be free!" and Kane looked to the Colonel, his face a mask of cold hatred, "You will slaughter Deering the way she slaughtered my son on the Moon! Do this and I will free your people."

"Colonel Deering didn't duel with your son on the Moon, Kane." corrected the Bird-Man, "I was the one who fought and defeated him."

Kane whipped his glare back to Hawk, "What--YOU killed Rohann?!"

"I battled with him, yes, human." grinned Hawk as he fingered the trigger of the blaster grinding into Kane's jaw, "I defeated your son, yes indeed. He tried to kill me and I downed him with a throwing knife. But you are mistaken about two things, Kane."

"I am?" spat the moustached commander, "And what are they?"

"Firstly, there is no way I am going to kill Colonel Deering for you."

"Then your people will die! They will die in chains!"

"And secondly..." Hawk continued, ignoring the threat, "...secondly: who said your son was dead?"

Kane's mouth froze in the middle of preparing another hateful verbal onslaught. His jaw worked and his gaze narrowed, "You--You lie."

"Nope." broke-in Wilma, "If your son is Private Rohann, then he is currently in a medical-induced coma aboard our vessel Searcher. Hawk brought him back with him from the Moon. He had a knife in his gut, but those Draconian flightsuits of yours are pretty good, it auto-sealed around the blade, keeping the air in and preventing him from bleeding out."

"He...He lives?!" gaped Kane, "Rohann is alive?"

"He is, human." and Hawk released his collar and stepped back, keeping the blaster levelled at his chest, "And if you ever wish to see him again, you are going to do EXACTLY as we say. Are we in agreement?"

Kane swallowed hard and smoothed down the front of his uniform, "It seems that we are, Bird-Man."

"Good." nodded Hawk, and he holstered his weapon, "Now, listen closely, human, because I won't repeat this twice-"

"KANE!" shouted a voice from the other side of the room and all three of them whipped around in surprise, Wilma's hands blurring up to thrust the flight helmet back over Hawk's head as they did so, hiding him from the newcomer.

For there, standing in the doorway, ringed by a horde of Draconian bodyguards, hands on her rounded hips, and resplendent in all the glory of her royal station, stood

"Princess Ardala?!" Wilma gaped in shock and dread.

And indeed it was...

To be continued...