Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Far Beyond the World
Part XXXVII - Bigger is Better
On the Bridge of the crewless Conquest...
"We have to get this shield down! We have to get through and DO SOMETHING!"
Colonel Wilma Deering, formerly of the starfighter wing of the Earth Defense Directorate, pounded on the energy barrier seperating the back half of the command deck from the forward section, which contained only one crewmember, the Warlord Killer Kane, who was unable to pilot his vessel due to the fact that he had been shocked into unconsciousness twenty seconds earlier.
Leaving the Conquest on her collision course with New Chicago.
Hawk was at the Engineering console, staring down at the sea of controls and buttons, dearly wishing he could spontaneously manifest the ability to read Draconian. Tigergirl, Kane's personal bodyguard and go-to girl, had dropped to the deck and was in spiritual repose, offering prayers to whatever god or gods a Felionoid prays to, Wilma had no idea.
Which just leaves me, the Colonel realized as a cold chill raced up-and-down her spine, because unlike Hawk I can actually read Draconian so why exactly am I just standing here punching a force field?
And she spun on her heel and bolted for the command tower and ducking behind it searched madly for the Security override controls, spotting them a second later and started hitting buttons, all of them, her eyes on the shimmering barrier cutting them off from the front of the Bridge, she pressed them all, then unpressed them all, then tried a different sequence, then tried KICKING THE CONSOLE!
"Work, damn you! WORK!"
But the Security system ignored her angry pleas and the energy barrier stayed up and through the canopy the Inner City expanded until that's all you could see, Wilma could even make out the scooped pinnacles of the Defense Directorate Building, then it vanished under their prow and she shut her eyes and
and the Conquest roared to a halt forty-one meters above the EDD Building's roof!
All was silent on the Bridge...
Wilma slowly opened her eyes and stared out through the forward pressure glass at the blue sky of noon which glowed above the skyline of the still uncrushed Inner City. With a vast sigh of relief, Hawk released his white-knuckled hold on Enviromental.
"What...what happened?" asked the Bird-Man, "Did Kane-"
"Nope," Wilma shook her head as she eyed the Warlord splayed prone over the Helm, "he's still out of it."
"Then...?"
Tigergirl raised her head and smiled smuggly, "All you need is faith."
Wilma chuckled wryly, "You think your nine-tailed panther god or whatever it is you follow saved us? Seriously? Maybe I hit your head a little too hard down in the Computing Bay, huh?"
"Do not mock my belief, Earth-Woman!" and Tigergirl rose up dangerously.
Hawk rolled his eyes in supreme annoyment, "Oh, by the Soaring Place, we do not have time for this." and he drew his blaster and stunned her.
"Thank-you for that." said Wilma as she returned her gaze back to the Security controls.
"It was my supreme pleasure, Colonel." replied Hawk as he watch Tigergirl once more collapse to the deck unmoving.
"These won't respond, and they should!" Wilma slapped the override keys but again got no result, the shield stayed up, "It's like something is blocking my access."
"Not something, Colonel, somebody." intoned a voice all around them, and Hawk's face twisted with rage.
"Crichton!" he spat, while Wilma sighed miserably.
"I guess we know who stopped the ship."
"Indeed." replied the Ambuquad, "While the subroutine I tricked you into uploading to the Conquest gives me command authority over all ship's systems, I still lack the finesse required to bring a capital class cruiser into the atmosphere."
"Which is why you needed Kane." scowled Deering.
"That was one of his minor uses, yes. But once he got the Conquest through, I was able to access it's braking systems and finish the job the Warlord was obviously incapable of completing." the robot sniffed in disgust, "Really, you organics have no follow through, as Captain Rogers would say in his painfully sardonic fashion."
"Buck!" Wilma's heart lept, "Is he still alive? Crichton! If you did anything to him, I will personally hunt you down and turn your casing into a salad bowl!"
The robot chuckled over the channel, "Not to worry, the Captain is alive, but quite distracted at the moment. He is in no position to interfere with my plan, not at all-" there was sudden burst of static over the line that made Hawk and Wilma wince, then Crichton's voice returned, suddenly furious in a way they had never heard before.
"What? How!"
"What is it?" demanded Wilma.
"I do not believe it! It's
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Captain Buck Rogers charged across the rooftop toward the shinning hourglass shape of the Nexus Core, Draconian blaster rifle hot in his grip as he pumped shot-after-shot into the device. It sparked and jerked in the grip of the Ambuquads who were carrying it, they staggered, then the left half of the group dropped their side and it thudded down onto the tiles of the roof.
"Outa the way, boys!" yelled Buck as he swung his aim for the rest of the drones and blasted the chest out of one of them, forcing them to abandon their hold as well.
With a loud clang! the Core slammed the rest of the way down and Buck jerked to a halt before it and with a dark grin jammed the muzzle of his rifle into the imput receptacle mounted on it's front.
"Cianara, chrome-dome, I hope you burn forever in robot hell!" and he pulled the trigger.
But the rifle clicked dry.
Buck yanked it free and pulled it's e-clip, glared down at the zero charge light, then swore an oath and chucked it. Was bound to happen sometime...
He reached for his blaster pistol and then remembered he'd lost that destroying Crichton's shell down on the Building's first floor, then looked toward the nearby edge of the roof and grinned. Yeah, that would be so much cooler!
"Okay, nuts-and-bolts, let's see if you can fly." and he reached for the Core.
"I think not." intoned Crichton from within in a shimmer of green-orange energy, and the pack of Ambuquads sprang for Buck!
"Wha-get off of me!" he staggered back, one on his left leg, another hanging onto his side, while two more raised their corruscating gaspers and moved in.
It was then Buck remembered he still had the smaller pulsar he'd taken from the shuttle's emergency kit and ducking he yanked it out of his boot and whipping it up he blasted one of the drone's with his pistol, then twisted his aim to the side and shot the Ambuquad on his leg away. The one on his side jabbed him with it's grasper and shocked him, he grunted in agony and fell to one knee, and another drone rose up before his face, Buck couldn't move, the charge had paralyzed his muscles.
"Give it your best shot!" he growled at the drone.
"Will do, Buck!" replied the robot, and Rogers realized it was wearing Dr. Theopolis, it was "Twiki!"
"That's my name! Bidi-bidi-bidi! Don't wear it out!" and the drone zapped the other bot off his shoulder, ducked under a punch from another and blasted it in the chest with a charge, sending it staggering backwards in a shower sparks, then Twiki waded into the pack charging towards them and his graspers flew madly in all directions, moving at incredible speed, far too fast for his enslaved brothers and sisters to deal with, and ten seconds later he was the only Ambuquad standing amidst a pile of sparking casings and severed mechanical limbs.
"Way to go, buddy!" Buck staggered up onto his feet and moving forward patted the victorious drone on the head.
"Nobody messes with my pal!" and Twiki spun around 180 degrees, "And that goes for you too, Turkey!" he glared at the Nexus Core containing Crichon's essence, "Bidi-bidi-bidi! You're goin DOWN!" and to Buck's shock the drone lifted Theopolis off his neck and setting him down on the roof he then charged forward and JAMMED his armature into the Core's imput receptacle!
"TWIKI!" Rogers shouted, "What are you doing!"
"Putting an end to this once and for all!" and the drone spasmed, his eyes blazed golden, then went dark and his body slumped.
"NO!" Buck charged up to him and gathered the drone up in his arms, but he was cold and unmoving.
"I detect no neural activity within his casing." said Theopolis.
"Then where is he?" demanded the Captain.
"In there. With him."
And Buck gaped helplessly at the Nexus Core...
To be concluded...