Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Far Beyond the World
Part XXX - Four to Go
On the Bridge of the Conquest...
Princess Ardala stood at the front of the command deck, before the floor-to-ceiling bank of tactical display screens, hands on her rounded hips and sandled toe tapping on the deck with impatience.
"What is with the delay, Kane?" she demanded of the armada's Warlord without looking back.
"What do you mean, Princess?" he inquired absently from behind the raised Command tower, as he conferred with the Conquest's commander.
"Where is Colonel Deering?" she asked imperiously, "How long does it take to march her down to the Launching Bay and space her? I should have seen her limp body go floating past on the screens five minutes ago!"
"Perhaps there is a delay of somesort." suggested Kane, doing his best to keep his tone neutral.
Whatever Deering and that Bird-Man are planning on doing, they better do it quickly before all hell breaks loose and I wind up at the wrong end of a blaster pistol. Because then I will be the one floating through space on the screens, more likely then not...
"Delay? What kind of delay could there be?" sniffed King Draco's First Daughter, "Your man Vulture was dispatched under your direct command, it supercedes anything else. Nobody has the right to stand in the way of Deering getting shot out into the vacuum, nobody! Well, except for me of course, but I'm all for it!" she stomped in frustration, "Come on! I want to watch her die already!"
"Patience...is a virtue, Your Highness."
She puffed out her bottom lip, "I'm a Princess, I don't have to be patient. The entire galaxy and all it's citizens are my personal property, and they are supposed to do what I want whenever I want it! Kane, if that devil woman Deering doesn't come twisting across these screens in the next sixty seconds then it's going to be YOU who is going to be spaced!"
Kane sighed at his fears coming to fruition, "I can check on Vulture's progress, if you so wish, Princess."
"I so wish!"
The armada's Warlord reached up and tapped his comlink, glad that he had taken the time to tie into Hawk's comlink the first moment he'd arrived on the Bridge, "Kane to Vulture. Come in, Vulture."
Here's hoping I'm not interrupting whatever operation he and Deering are currently trying to carry out. They can't be planing to destroy the Conquest, that's not how the Colonel thinks, and despite his species warlike nature, the Bird-Man with her appears to be following Deering's lead. I wonder where in the universe Buck and his group actually managed to locate a free Bird-Man? There isn't supposed to be any left, except on Arcannis. There must have been a second colony out there in the fourth corner of the galaxy that the Dynasty has yet to conquer. I shouldn't be surprised, not at all, they are a resilient people. But first chance I get, as soon as Rohann is returned to me, I must kill this rogue Bird-Man, he must not be allowed to survive. The Prophecy must not be allowed to come into-
"KANE!" the Princess nearly shrieked, "Have you reached Vulture or not! Don't keep me waiting!"
Perish the thought, he scowled. Speaking of people who need to be killed...
"He hasn't answered, perhaps something it blocking the signal, Your Highness, there are many things down in the Launching Bay that could be doing that, like an exposed plasma core or the shielding of a Launch-"
"Find him, Kane!" Ardala cut him off shrilly, "Do it now! No more excuses, or it will be YOUR head!"
He frowned and nodded curtly, tapped at the collar stud again, "Kane to Vulture. Come in Vulture, answer me now, this is your master."
But there came no reply, and for good reason.
* * * * *
Nine decks below...
The Warlord's transmission crackled from Hawk's comlink, "Kane to Vulture. Come in Vulture, answer me now, this is your master."
But Hawk was in no position to answer, as he was stretched out on the floor of the Conquest's Computing Bay, knocked completely unconscious by a brutal high-kick to the jaw moments earlier. And the being who had given the Bird-Man his disabilitating blow was currently rocketing across the grated deck toward Colonel Deering, who was meeting their charge with equal power and vehemence.
Tigergirl and Wilma intersected HARD and together went staggering across the chamber, limbs flailing madly as each tried to land a more devastating blow.
"Shrew!" spat the starfighter pilot as she got hold of the felionoid's hair and yanked her head back.
"Human trash!" growled Tigergirl as she fought to get her long-nailed hands around Wilma's throat.
Wilma let go of her hair, got her arms between Tigergirl's and broke her hold, brought up a fast knee and booted her back. Tigergirl deflected off a bank of machinery and sprang back at her, Wilma slid to the side and close-lined her, sending her flailing over onto her back on the deck, Wilma slammed a boot for her chest, but Tigergirl rolled out of the way and the foot slammed down on the hard grill with a clang! Wilma spun and kicked her other boot into the alien girl's gut, making her double-up and gasp, the Colonel crouched and rammed a fist into her jaw, drawing blood.
"How do you like it, honey!"
"Just fine!" Tigergirl caught her by the wrists and flipped her over onto the floor, then whipped on top of Wilma and tried again to strangle her. But Deering recovered fast and caught one wrist, bent it back, while she drove a fist into Tigergirl's stomach as hard as she could. The girl gagged and jerked, Wilma threw up a foot and kicked her in the back of the head, sending Tigergirl's face hinging down to meet Wilma's rising forehead and WHAM! the head-butt sent her see-sawing backwards and out of her straddle, the now freed Wilma staggered up and looked around fast for Hawk's fallen blaster.
There!
She sprang for the pistol but only got halfway as with a furious yowl Tigergirl sprang onto her back. She clawed and kicked at Wilma, who staggered about the chamber drunkenly with her berserk passenger, parrying blows to her face as best as she could.
Have to get her off of me!
She saw a break between the banks of computing machinery and spinning around 180 degrees she charged backwards. Tigergirl caught on and tried to throw up her arms but she wasn't fast enough and Wilma RAMMED her into the solid bulkhead with everything she had, crushing her brutally against it, Tigergirl's head swung back and struck the wall hard, she cried out and lost her grip on Deering, who swung around as she slid to the deck on her haunches and plowed her across the jaw with a haymaker Buck Rogers would have been proud of.
Tigergirl's head snapped to the side and the eyes rolled up into her head, she pitched over and fell on her face unmoving.
"And STAY down!" Wilma growled.
She reached down and not in a gentle way extracted the data crystal from the unconscious girl, then staggered around and made for Hawk's side. He was just starting to come around and was groaning, she crouched beside him and helped him to a sitting position, "Are you okay?"
"I--I will be, Colonel." he rubbed at his aching jaw, blinking hard to focus, "What happened?"
"Tigergirl." Wilma glared across the deck at the prone felinoid, "She ambushed us and knocked you cold."
"So she did." Hawk scowled as followed her stare, "But I see she was no match for you."
"Nope! Nobody messes with my friends and gets away with it."
The Bird-Man gripped her shoulder warmly, "Many thanks, Colonel."
"It was my pleasure, Hawk, trust me." Wilma helped him to his feet, handed him the blaster, then smoothed down her handmaiden's outfit and turned back to the computing bank, "Okay, where was that receptacle? There!" and stepping up she reinserted the crystal and it glowed back to life.
"Hopefully most of the download was completed before we were rudely interrupted."
"It seems that is was." smiled Hawk grimly as he crystal's inner light winked out and all the bank's blinking lights froze.
Wilma plucked the crystal out and sticking it in her vest she planted hands on her hips and took a deep breath.
"Computer!"
The million tiny points of light strobed green, "Computer responding." echoed a harsh male monotone all around them.
"Recognize Colonel Wilma Deering!"
"Recognized."
"What is my command authority?" she demanded.
"Alpha-One, Colonel." replied the Conquest's computer.
"Nice!" she grinned.
"Command not understood." said the computer.
"Nevermind! Okay, computer, transmit the program 'Crichton Omicron' to the rest of the Star Fortress armada."
"Transmitting, one moment please..."
While Hawk kept Tigergirl covered with his pistol just in case she moved, Wilma waited with baited breath for the emotionless voice to reply. And after ten seconds it finally did.
"Program 'Crichton Omicron' has been uploaded to all Star Fortresses, Colonel."
"Excellent!" Deering thrilled, "Patch me into them all simultaneously."
"Connecting...you are connected."
"Computers!"
The sentence "Computer responding." reverberated across the Bay in a chorus fifteen voices strong.
"Recognize Colonel Wilma Deering, Command Authority: Alpha-One." and they did so, "Shut down all access to command systems except to those persons identified with Command Authority by the 'Crichton Omicron' subroutine."
"Command accepted." came the unified reply.
"Lock down all decks and deactivate all Weapon Systems."
"Command accepted."
That arrogant ass of a robot is brilliant, Wilma mentally transmitted reluctant praise back to Crichton down on Earth.
"Close the link to the rest of the armada." she commanded and the channels to the other fourteen Star Fortresses broke.
And with a deliciously satisfying smile, Colonel Wilma Deering declared her next sentence, "Computer, connect me to the Bridge."
To be continued...