I Do not own Saber Rider or Seijushi Bismarck, so don't sue me.
Chapter 5: The Cowboy
"C'mon now. Let's go," the young man says to a group of cattle he's working on corralling. His horse moves comfortably in a circle around the small herd, paying no attention to the dog that runs in and out from under it's legs. The man and the horse move with ease. After some time, the herd is led to and let loose into a pasture with a small lake and a few shade trees. The young man dismounts and goes and stretches out beneath the shade of a nearby tree, allowing his horse and himself a break from the heat of the day. He relaxes and starts to doze, tipping his hat to shade his eyes from the hot sun. A few hours pass and he herds the cattle back towards the ranch.
"Welcome home, Colt," A woman says as he leaves the stable. "Dinner's just about ready."
"It's nice to be home for awhile, ma. I'm sure you can use the help since pa broke his leg," Colt replies.
The woman laughs. "Yep. It sure does make him ornery. He hates not bein' able to herd the cows and hide out in the pasture all day," she says, obviously amused.
"Well, I know I'd be a might unhappy about bein' cooped up for so long. I'm not sure I'd be as nice as pa's bein'," Colt replies. He sniffs the air and grins. "Steak and potatoes?" he asks.
The woman nods. "Thought it's the least I could do for ya, since you left your job to come and help us, Colt," she replies with a smile.
Colt leans down and kisses the woman's cheek, making her smile widen. "It's why ya had me, right?" he asks. She nods and he turns and walks with her towards the house. "I was kinda getting bored with the job anyways. It was nice to travel, but …" he falls silent, as his mother looks at him with a worried expression. "Hey, it's not all bad. I've gotten some nasty varmints thrown into jail," he says flashing a reassuring smile as they enter the house.
"I know you're good at what you do. I can tell by how the gov'ment keeps askin' you to take jobs, but I'm you're ma and I worry about you," she says quietly, as she starts setting the table. "But you're still my only child and I'm afraid of loosin' ya to some crazy guy you try and bag for police."
Colt shakes his head. "I'm not crazy. If I feel like I'm in danger, I don't get too close. Pa taught me to shoot from afar. He was a sniper once. A goodun too," he says trying to sound nonchalant.
His mother sighs, knowing there's no point to arguing. "Could ya go and help your pa come to the table. I think he'd like to eat with us t'night," she asks, trying to move on to lighter conversation.
Colt nods and heads into the other room, where his father is sitting, his leg propped up. They talk for a little before he helps his father to the kitchen to eat. They chat about various things and several hours later, Colt finds himself in his room.
He's just about asleep when a strange noise wakes him. Instantly, he's alert and awake, blaster in his hand. He gets up soundlessly and heads for his door, leaving his light off. Carefully, he opens the door and starts down the hallway towards the stairs. He hears strange voices downstairs, someone speaking in some sort of foreign language. He hears a strange raspy gasp, then several shots from a blaster. As quick as the flash from the gun, he is down the stairs and has shot the four intruders. They fall to the ground and appear to slowly melt, leaving a gel substance in their wake. He then turns to see his parents in a heap. His father dead, and his mother gasping for air. He rushes to her and cradles her head against him. She starts to speak, and only manages to cough up blood, then has a look come across her features of pain and releases her last breath. Colt chokes down a sob of pain and rage and gently reaches up and closes her eyes, then lays her against his father. He goes to stand when he senses another presence just outside the house. Slowly he turns and works his way towards the door, blaster ready in his hand. He is almost to the kitchen when he spots movement near the entry door and turns, ready to fire. In the doorway stands what appears to be a man, although something about his stature is different. Colt catches a hint of blue to the strange man's hair, his skin is almost the same hue in the moonlight coming in from the doorway behind the him.
"Save it human. If I'd wanted you dead, you'd never have seen me," the stranger states as he lowers his weapon.
Colt stiffens, still not letting his guard down and shifting his gaze to look for others, but finding none. "What d'ya want?" he asks.
The man scoffs. "My men," he replies amused.
"Those monsters that killed my parents?" Colt asks, forcing his grief back from his voice. The stranger nods. "I shot 'em. All that's left of 'em is a puddle. Get it if ya want," he says nodding towards where he shot the intruders, his blaster still pointed at the stranger.
"You shot them?" the man asks. Colt nods slightly. "Impressive. They were my best troops."
"Why did you come here?" Colt says.
"We want the land. The humans didn't seem to be much of a hindrance, so we came to take it."
"This land belonged to my parents. You had no right-" Colt starts to say, but is cut off by the sound of breaking glass and flames bursting from whatever item had been thrown through the window. Instinctively, he turns towards the flames, they are spreading through the house quickly, having already enveloped the room his parent's bodies were in. "Damn it!" Colt swears as he turns back to face the man, only to find him gone. Having nothing else to do to stop the fire from spreading, Colt runs out the door and to the barn and into his Bronco Buster. Flipping on the radar he picks up a signal and goes after it, casting one last glance towards his childhood home as it burns to the ground. He tries to follow the signal, only to have it vanish suddenly from the radar. "You'll pay for this, whoever you are. I won't stop until I've killed you," he mutters as he continues on a route towards a city known to be a good spot for information.
He heads for a hotel that he has been known to frequent. After parking his vehicle, he enters and heads up to the counter.
"Ah, Mr. Wilcox, I thought you were going home for a while. I didn't expect to see you here for some time," the purser says in greeting. "Would you like your regular room, sir?"
Colt nods. "Yep, if it's available, I'd be much obliged, Carson," Colt replies.
Carson types a few things into his terminal. "It appears that the previous guest left this morning. I must say, he was a strange one. Glad to be rid of him. He looked ill to me, and I don't care to have paperwork to fill out for a guest dying in my hotel."
"You say he looked ill?" Colt asks, suddenly interested in the room's previous occupant.
Carson nods then looks around and doesn't see anyone so he motions for Colt to look at his screen.
Colt comes around as if he were just chatting and casts a glance to the screen and gasps. There before him is a picture of the very person he was after. "Do you have a name, Carson?" Colt asks quietly.
"Now, sir, you know I can't give out such information," Carson replies a bit loudly.
"That man killed my parents," Colt practically hisses.
Carson looks at the screen, and turns it ever so slightly so that Colt can see the information that is displayed. "You seem to be rather tired, Mr. Wilcox, if you aren't concerned with the appearance of the room, I could go ahead and let have the room and we can clean it when you go to dinner."
Colt nods. "That would be much appreciative, Carson. I'm dead tired," Colt replies, casting a look of thanks to the man.
"Very well, sir," Carson says as he types a few things, then swipes a card in his terminal before handing it to Colt. "Here you go. Just let me know when you leave, so we can clean the room , and don't forget to click the 'Do not disturb' switch on the terminal, so that housekeeping doesn't wake you."
"Thanks," Colt says with a nod as he takes the keycard and heads for the elevator. After arriving on the seventeenth floor he uses his key to open the door and steps into the room, locking the door behind him. Looking around the room, he heads to the terminal and notices a message from Carson. 'Thought you could use this' He clicks on it, to open it and sees a video feed of the room, the strange man is there, with two other odd looking creatures.
"So you think this will be easy, sir?" the one creature says.
"Yes, I do. We've had that place under surveillance for months. It is only the two older people there, and the man is injured from where we scared his horse and it threw him. He shouldn't give you any trouble. I'm sending Gustav and his team in. We should take the land tonight," the blue-haired man replies.
A third one steps into the picture and Colt tenses. He recognizes him as one of the creatures he shot and killed. "My team is ready, sir. We will go when the moon reaches it's highest point, so we know they will be asleep and least likely to resist," the creature says. "I just hope you're right about the humans, Jesse. We need a place far enough out to not be detected. I don't want to have to wear this stupid disguise in our own base."
"Jesse," Colt mutters coldly, committing the name to his mind along with the face.
Jesse laughs. "These humans are so dumb. Don't worry. You will be able to be in true form most of the time, once we get our camp set up. It is why I chose the spot, nothing else is close to it."
"You'd better be right, Blue," the first creature says. "Nemesis won't be pleased if this fails. We could all be killed if it does."
"That's the beauty of this plan, it can't fail," Jesse replies with an air of confidence that makes the others relax a little. "Now, we leave here this evening to take the land, then tomorrow, I'll check out of this room and we can move our operations there before we report back to Nemesis."
"Yes, sir!" the other two say before pulling on human-like masks and leaving the room. After they leave, Colt watches as Jesse goes to the very terminal that he is on and connects something to it, a minute later a very strange voice comes out, speaking in a foreign language he can't decipher. The conversation continues for several minutes before the connection terminates and Jesse goes and sits in a chair, looking out over the horizon chuckling to himself.
The video ends and Colt releases a breath he didn't realize he was holding, as he stares at the blank screen. "I'll stop him and this Nemisis, whatever he is," Colt says coldly.
Nearly a year passes with no sign of the man named Jesse or any sign of his other teams, Colt is heading back to what is now his permanent room when Carson stops him. "Mr. Wilcox, there are some men here to see you. They say they are from the government," Carson says quietly, as he leads him around a corner, away from the lobby.
"Where?" Colt asks quietly.
"They are in the sitting area past the elevators. I think they are hoping to corner you there," Carson replies, looking around to make sure no one has noticed the pair talking.
Colt nods. "Thanks for the heads up," he passes some cash to his friend. "Can I take the staff elevator upstairs? I'd like to freshen up before I meet these guys."
Carson takes the cash and suppresses a startled look at the amount and nods. He pulls out a keycard. "Use this. It's the security card. I trust you to give it back before you leave the building," Carson says.
"Of course," Colt says before taking the card. "I'll bring it when I come back down the back way and then make it look like I just arrived, okay?" Carson nods. "Good. See you in a few," Colt says and heads upstairs. He showers and changes clothes, then takes his cash and hides it in the back of the computer terminal before heading back down the staff elevator and passing the card to Carson. "Good afternoon, Carson," Colt says as if he hasn't seen the man all day.
"Ah, good afternoon, Mr. Wilcox. You have a couple of guests that have been awaiting your return," Carson replies with a nod towards two men in military uniforms that stand up when they hear his name.
Colt turns in the direction of the two men and nods. "Let's talk upstairs, shall we? That way we have more privacy."
"As you wish, Mr. Wilcox," the man who appears to be in charge says.
They turn and Colt leads them up the elevator to his room, and after opening the door, he takes them to the sitting area. "Would ya'll care for a drink?" Colt asks as he opens the mini bar and pulls out a beer, popping it open and taking a sip.
"We're here on business, Mr. Wilcox," the leader says firmly.
"Suit yourself," Colt replies with a shrug as he pulls up a chair from the desk near the terminal and sits in it. "Now, what can I do fer you fellas?" Colt asks with a smile.
The two men look between each other, after a minute, the man who seems to be the leader goes to speak. "We understand that you are good at finding people. Would that be correct, Mr. Wilcox?" the leader asks.
Colt looks between the two men debating his answer for a minute before nodding slowly. "Yeah, I can find most anyone," Colt replies casually. "Who ya huntin'?"
"A former soldier of Cavalry Command."
Colt doesn't bother to hide his surprise. "You havin' trouble huntin' down one of your own?" he asks, not bothering to hide his amusement.
The man hands him a folder and Colt opens it to a dossier and begins reading it aloud, "Hikari, Shinji. Age 16. Hair, brown, eyes, brown, Asian descent. AWOL three months. Wanted to stand trial for desertion and insubordination," Colt chuckles. "Why would you want someone back so bad that obviously doesn't want to be there?"
"That is not your concern, but we want him alive. With all of the attacks that are happening through the New Frontier, we can't afford to waste our manpower searching for him. We need our soldiers available to protect and defend the citizens from these Outrider 're willing to pay you very well for your efforts, Mr. Wilcox."
"And just who do I deliver him to?" Colt asks.
"To me," the leader says.
"And just who are you?" Colt asks, starting to feel edgy about the whole situation.
"My name is Commander Charles Eagle. This young man was good friends with my daughter as a child. I told her I would try and find him, and she has promised to make him face up to his charges."
Colt nods. "I suppose I can try and find him for you. I'll keep track of my expenses, of course," he replies.
Commander Eagle nods. "As I expect you would. His last known location is listed in the dossier. I would suggest starting there."
"Thanks for the info. Now, if ya don't mind. I'd like to do some research on this fella," Colt says as he stands up to show the two men to the door.
The other two stand up. "My number is in the folder. It's a direct line to me. Call me when you find him and I'll tell you where to deliver him," the commander states.
"You got it. Have a good evenin'," Colt replies as he ushers him out the door. After they are gone he goes and pulls up his terminal and starts researching his latest mark. "This promises to be interesting," he says to himself as he clicks through several information links.
