Gaea

Chapter 14

by Baybelletrist

BETA Mountain

8/4, 2316

"Zach? Come on, Captain, wake up. We need you."

"Nn... Yeah, I'm up. What've you got, Doc? Found something on them finally?"

"Maybe. I think you better get up here."

Zachary burst into Doc's quarters to find his three teammates clustered around Doc's comm station. They opened their circle silently as he trotted over.

"What's—" Doc waved him to silence and raised the volume. Zachary cocked his head.

Comm traffic... from a Space Navy base in Texas?

Voices issued crisp orders as Zachary listened.

"An emergency situation at their hazardous materials dump?" he asked Doc quietly. "Why—"

"That's the facility where they've got Gaea," Goose cut in, voice flat.

Zach stared at him. "Facility?" he echoed skeptically. "It's a bunker full of chemicals."

"It's a base," said Doc. "It fits, Zach. All the facts I've presented to you back me up. And now this..."

Zach listened again. An explosion. They're evacuating part of the base, moving everyone to the other side of the facility... He shook his head. "I don't know, Doc. It could be the real thing."

"Or it could be Gaea," Doc said. "Trust me on this one, Zach. I've got a feeling."

"All right, it's Gaea," Zach said, throwing up his hands. "Are we a go, then?"

"Yep," answered Doc.

Goose stood. "See you later." His eyes swept over them, tight-focused, penetrating, and then he turned and strode out the door without looking back.

Series Five Rangers' office

8/5, 0158

Zach folded his arms again and shifted his weight slightly. Niko shot him an ironic look.

"Restless, Zachary?"

He frowned at her before tipping one corner of his mouth in a self-mocking smile. "Once the flag goes up I'd rather move than wait, I guess. I envy Goose."

Pathfinder's piping voice emerged suddenly from the comm system speakers. "Hey, Docko! We've been monitoring all channels like you said, and get a load of what we found!"

A rather scratchy image appeared on the screen. Zach saw people, vehicles, and a cluster of low buildings. One of those buildings, a bunker surrounded by walls, trailed smoke from a gaping hole in the roof. "That's the Space Navy base," Zach said incredulously. "Where are you getting this—No," he interrupted himself, "on second thought, I don't want to know."

From somewhere behind the warehouse, an aircraft rose vertically and circled before the pilot hit the jets and took off. "Pathfinder, what's the heading on that one?" Doc asked.

"Heading north, Boss."

Zach was staring at it. "That's a Peregrine," he said. Doc blinked at him.

"Yeah? So? It's just a troop carrier, standard in the Space Navy."

Zach turned his eyes away from the screen to look over at Doc. "So why are Space Navy troops lighting out for someplace north during a crisis at a Space Navy base?"

Doc looked back at the screen, but the craft had already left pickup range. "I don't know," he answered slowly. A moment later a second aircraft appeared, lifting off from the same location as the first, and took off in very nearly the opposite direction. Zach started.

"That's a Mongoose," he said in surprise. "And with that heading it's not bound for the other side of the base."

"They're headed into the city, Captain," Niko said.

"Yeah," Doc added. "And I'll give you one guess why an assault copter is headed into a major metropolitan area from the base where they had Gaea. They've headed off the base, it's connected to an offworld case we're working on—this just hit our jurisdiction, Zach, and our next move is up to you."

Zachary looked at both of them, hesitated—and nodded sharply. "Let's go," he said.

Doc saluted with more enthusiasm than finesse, hastily locked down his terminal, and then turned on his heel and sprinted for the door mere steps behind Niko. "To the Batmobile, Robin!" he yelled after her retreating back.

Zach rolled his eyes and took off after them.

On board Ranger One

1621 Central Daylight Time

"Zachary?"

Zach started and looked over at Niko, sitting in the pilot's seat.

"Sorry," he answered sheepishly. "Guess I was thinking."

She smiled. "Thinking's fine. We need to let Goose know where to meet us, though."

"Yeah." Zachary opened a comm link to the Nav Bay. "Doc, are you ready with that encryption key?"

Doc appeared on the comm screen, grinning. "I'm one step ahead of you, mon Capitan. I've got the message ready to go already. Gave Elma her half of the key hours ago, of course. But we could re-record it if you want to give the order yourself."

"Not needed," Zach replied. "Go ahead and send it, Doc. Good work."

"Aye aye, Cap'n." Doc closed the link, and Zach looked over at Niko with quirked brows.

"Where does he come up with those lines?"

Niko only laughed.

Aboard Ranger P-38, Near Earth space lanes, inbound

1621 Central Daylight Time

Elma's voice broke into the quiet of Goose's cockpit. "Receiving encoded tightbeam transmission, Goose," she said.

"Decrypt and play record, please, Elma."

"Just a moment, please."

There was a pause. Doc's face appeared on Goose's screen. "My Goose man!" he said cheerfully. "Our little friend has beat feet for someplace warm. Meet up with us in New Corpus Christi, and be sure to bring your flameproof pajamas. We'll be keeping an ear out for trouble of the black O variety, but you've got the secure channel frequency if we end up needing your personal radar to finish the job."

Doc's expression went sober.

"Stay cool, my friend. We want to do the nailing, not get nailed, remember? And I've always been a sucker for happy endings. Out."

"Switching registry data now, Goose," Elma informed him.

He grinned and patted the top of the instrument board. "That's my girl, Elma."

"Vima," she corrected him primly. "Shall I plot a course for New Corpus Christi, Ranger Hellman?"

"Yeah, 'Vima,'" he said with a chuckle. "And while you're at it you can figure out how we're gonna get back at Doc for sticking me with a name like that."

New Corpus Christi, Texas, Earth

1705

Gaea flinched as a heavy assault copter roared over the city somewhere to the east of her. She choked back a whimper. Shut up, she told herself savagely. You can't screw up this time. No one's going to help you.

Never leave a trace...

Shut up! She screamed inwardly, and the voice went still. She half-trotted down a street in New Corpus Christi's business district. Evening commuters hurried along the sidewalks all around her, dressed in elegant suits or crisp uniforms in the fading heat of the day. In all the bustle it wasn't hard to keep people from noticing her, even dressed as she was in patient's tunic and loose trousers from the training base. She could feel every seam in the sun-warmed pavement through her thin slippers.

I need to find different clothes... Don't I? Where should I go? Maybe I should have stayed... No!

Nearby a stand offered packaged meals. At the smells her stomach growled, reminding her she hadn't eaten enough that day for the level of energy she'd been using. She gravitated toward the stand, careful not to attract the attention of the proprietor. Her stomach growled again.

She waited until a customer approached the stand and spoke to the proprietor before she sidled to the counter. As casually as if she were about to buy, she picked up three meals and, without even stopping to see what she'd gotten, turned and strolled away.

In her head a man's voice said coolly, Good girl. She bit her lip and walked on.

New Corpus Christi

1721

Gaea paused, staring across the busy street before her. A small park waited there, relatively unpopulated during the busy commute hours. She caught sight of a low fountain and a bench shadowed by trees, and clutched her dinner to her chest.

Taking advantage of a changing light, she darted across the street.

The bench was unoccupied. She sank down on it and set two of the meals down against her leg. She couldn't remember having been so hungry since—

When? Maggie? Did I know someone named Maggie? But I never lived on the street—did I?

Yes—no—

It took all the strength of her shaking fingers to tear open the seal.

The sound of a copter engine roared overhead, and Gaea nearly dropped the half-empty package containing her third meal.

That's the same copter as before. They're looking for me. I've got to hide...

She glanced fearfully up, relaxing only slightly as she realized the foliage of the tree overhead concealed her from above. Quickly she stuffed the rest of the food into her mouth. The package followed the first two into the trash bin nearby.

I've got to hide... Where?

Gaea wrapped her arms around herself and sat, shaking in fear and confusion.

On board Ranger One, New Corpus Christi airport

1737

Zach stretched and looked across the cockpit at Niko.

"Doc's still monitoring the comm traffic?" he asked.

"Yes." She rose. "In fact, I think I may go join him if you don't mind."

He smiled. "Beats sitting in here. I think I'll go back to scanning through the legal codes, not that we're likely to be bringing a case against OPS anytime soon."

"Knowledge is never a waste," Niko replied with an air of someone quoting.

"Who said that?"

She smiled down at him and turned. "Ariel, of course," she said over her shoulder and stepped through the hatch into the Nav Bay.

"Of course," Zachary said dryly in GV's general direction, and he chuckled and picked up his datapad.

7th and Peel Streets, New Corpus Christi

1811

"Hey, birdie, nice outfit."

Gaea's head jerked up. A young man, dark-haired and unshaven, leaned against the back of the bench where she sat. Behind him she saw a second youth, taller, blond, and as scruffily dressed as his friend.

"You going for that mental institution chic or somethin'?" he asked with a smirk. "I like the slipper look, too."

She hunched her shoulders and stared down at her lap. "Go away, please," she mumbled.

"She don't like us, Aller," the dark young man said to his friend in mock dismay.

"Looks like not, Fitz," the blond answered cheerfully. "Why'n't you like us, birdie?"

"Leave me alone. Please, just go away."

Fitz loomed over her. "Why? Why don'tcha come with us? We can show you a good time, maybe find you something nicer to wear..." He ran the side of his hand softly down her cheek with another smirk.

At his touch Gaea sprang to her feet and away from him, eyes huge and terrified. "Go away!" she wailed, and began to cast about her for a new place to hide.

Fitz frowned. "Hey, birdie, what's your problem?" he demanded irritably. "I ain't hurtin' ya or nothin'." He took two swift steps forward and put one hand on her shoulder, just at the base of her neck.

Gaea shrieked, put her hands over her face, struck blindly, and felt her mind connect with his. She heard him grunt and collapse to the pavement at her feet.

From somewhere not too far away she heard the sound of the copter again.

"Holy shit! Fitz!"

Fitz groaned. She wrapped her arms around herself and stared down at the two, shivering. Aller looked up at her from where he squatted at his friend's side.

"What the hell did you do, woman! His nose's bleedin'!" He stood, glaring at her, mixed anger and fear in his eyes.

She backed up, still staring down at Fitz' face. He lay on the pavement, blood dripping from his nose. From a nearby sidewalk a woman yelled shrilly, "Oh my God! He's bleeding!"

Never leave a trace of your presence...

Can you do that for Mama?

Gaea screamed.

As Aller fell to his knees, she turned and fled.

New Corpus Christi

1812

Goose twitched in the seat of his rental car, losing a little speed.

"Sir, your heart rate has changed," the onboard AI informed him. "Do you require assistance?"

"No," he muttered. "No." His eyes moved, scanning the intersection ahead. The portable scanner in the seat beside him fed a constant stream of radio chatter into the audio clip on his right ear.

Gaea... where are you?

Around him the traffic flowed on.

Gaea - Chapter 14

From Betamountain.org

Gaea

Chapter 14

by Baybelletrist