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| <p>'''<center><big>Part II - Interlude</big>'''</center></p><br /> | | __NOTOC__ |
| <p><br />Niko threw on an embroidered Japanese robe when the `com buzzed, tossing her wet<br />hair over her shoulder as she dashed for the terminal.<br /> "Hi. Briefing is over. Want to catch some dinner before I'm confined to<br />quarters for the rest of my life?" Karen's smiling face filled the tiny screen.<br /> "I think I'll have to pass." She fought to keep her face calm and betray<br />nothing. "Lunch tomorrow though?"<br /> "Sounds fine."<br /> "Is Goose still in with the Commander?" She tried to sound uninterested<br />and nonchalant, and if Karen noticed any spark in her eye, she certainly didn't<br />comment on it.<br /> "He was when I left, but he might be out by now." Just then the door<br />chimed, and she had to bid Karen goodnight, perhaps a bit too hastily, but then,<br />it had been a long day....<br /> She fastened the robe a bit more securely around her, and then keyed the<br />door. Shane was in his black civies, hat and all, looking the proper cowboy. <br />She was feeling terribly self-conscious in the robe, and knew she was blushing<br />again. He presented her a single half open rose, and she worried at her bottom<br />lip, eyes shining as she took it carefully from his hands.<br /> "If you wait a minute, I'll just change. I'm afraid I just got out of the<br />bath-" He ignored her protests, advancing until she was backed against the wall. <br />"Shane please-" She was blushing furiously, but he kissed her anyway. She<br />stiffened as his arms went around her, catching a sigh before it could pass her<br />lips. "It will just take me a minute, really...Shane..." she murmured against<br />his mouth, knowing if she didn't get dressed right away, pretty soon she wasn't<br />going to care... If it is always this way... The robe began to slip a bit, and<br />she managed to untangle herself from his embrace, ducking under his arm, color<br />high, clutching at the garment and laughing. "You stay here," she warned.<br /> "Aye-aye ma'am." He saluted, still eyeing her hungrily, and she laughed<br />as she disappeared into the next room. Shane flopped down on her coach, smiling<br />to himself. Her hair had smelled of roses.<br /> As she went through her closet, alternately considering and rejecting<br />objects from her scant off-duty wardrobe, Niko thought back to the last twenty<br />minutes of the journey back to BETA, the two of them sitting cross-legged in the<br />tiny cabin of the freighter, her head on his shoulder and they talked softly<br />about it all, from waking up together to how each had responded to the computer's<br />tests, and all the memories the past two years had given them.<br /> "I though Supertroopers only got angry, and got mad." She emerged in<br />leggings and an oversized green sweater. "Since when do they give flowers?"<br /> "When they are visiting the most beautiful woman alive," he pronounced,<br />leaning back on her couch to survey the final effect as she towelled dry her long<br />reddish-brown hair.<br /> "Aren't you the silver-tongued devil all of a sudden. I bet you say that<br />to all the girls."<br /> "You've been listening to Flynn's harem jokes?"<br /> "The entire mountain has heard Flynn's harem jokes."<br /> "I was framed, see-" She cut him off with her mouth, a very effective way<br />of shutting Shane Gooseman up, she mused as he ran his fingers through her damp<br />hair. I could get used to this... His hand slipped beneath her sweater, to<br />caress her back, trace her ribs with one finger. All too quickly, I'm afraid.<br /> "Shane." She pulled back of her own accord, reluctantly. "As much as I<br />want to, hell, two years I've wanted to... But we can't do this."<br /> "Why?" He continued to kiss her neck, nibble her ear.<br /> "Can't we just take this slowly?" She gasped as he found the tender spot<br />where her neck joined her shoulder.<br /> "It took us almost two years to get this far." He rested his forehead<br />against hers, smiling crookedly, lips mere inches from hers.<br /> "Gooseman, please. Humor me in this one small thing. It's been less than<br />twenty-four hours." Her arms were still around his neck, and she toyed absently<br />with the fine hair at the base of his skull while he thought it through.<br /> "Your wish is my desire, fair lady." He laughed, catching her hand and<br />pressing a kiss into her palm. "You hungry?"</p> | | {{HideTitle}} |
| | <center> |
| | <h1>{{PAGENAME}}</h1> |
| | <h2>Interlude</h2> |
| | <h3>by LJC</h3> |
| | </center> |
| | <hr> |
| | |
| | <!-- ######## This is a comment ######## --> |
| | <p>Niko threw on an embroidered Japanese robe when the `com buzzed, tossing her wet<br />hair over her shoulder as she dashed for the terminal.<br /> "Hi. Briefing is over. Want to catch some dinner before I'm confined to<br />quarters for the rest of my life?" Karen's smiling face filled the tiny screen.<br /> "I think I'll have to pass." She fought to keep her face calm and betray<br />nothing. "Lunch tomorrow though?"<br /> "Sounds fine."<br /> "Is Goose still in with the Commander?" She tried to sound uninterested<br />and nonchalant, and if Karen noticed any spark in her eye, she certainly didn't<br />comment on it.<br /> "He was when I left, but he might be out by now." Just then the door<br />chimed, and she had to bid Karen goodnight, perhaps a bit too hastily, but then,<br />it had been a long day....<br /> She fastened the robe a bit more securely around her, and then keyed the<br />door. Shane was in his black civies, hat and all, looking the proper cowboy. <br />She was feeling terribly self-conscious in the robe, and knew she was blushing<br />again. He presented her a single half open rose, and she worried at her bottom<br />lip, eyes shining as she took it carefully from his hands.<br /> "If you wait a minute, I'll just change. I'm afraid I just got out of the<br />bath-" He ignored her protests, advancing until she was backed against the wall. <br />"Shane please-" She was blushing furiously, but he kissed her anyway. She<br />stiffened as his arms went around her, catching a sigh before it could pass her<br />lips. "It will just take me a minute, really...Shane..." she murmured against<br />his mouth, knowing if she didn't get dressed right away, pretty soon she wasn't<br />going to care... If it is always this way... The robe began to slip a bit, and<br />she managed to untangle herself from his embrace, ducking under his arm, color<br />high, clutching at the garment and laughing. "You stay here," she warned.<br /> "Aye-aye ma'am." He saluted, still eyeing her hungrily, and she laughed<br />as she disappeared into the next room. Shane flopped down on her coach, smiling<br />to himself. Her hair had smelled of roses.<br /> As she went through her closet, alternately considering and rejecting<br />objects from her scant off-duty wardrobe, Niko thought back to the last twenty<br />minutes of the journey back to BETA, the two of them sitting cross-legged in the<br />tiny cabin of the freighter, her head on his shoulder and they talked softly<br />about it all, from waking up together to how each had responded to the computer's<br />tests, and all the memories the past two years had given them.<br /> "I though Supertroopers only got angry, and got mad." She emerged in<br />leggings and an oversized green sweater. "Since when do they give flowers?"<br /> "When they are visiting the most beautiful woman alive," he pronounced,<br />leaning back on her couch to survey the final effect as she towelled dry her long<br />reddish-brown hair.<br /> "Aren't you the silver-tongued devil all of a sudden. I bet you say that<br />to all the girls."<br /> "You've been listening to Flynn's harem jokes?"<br /> "The entire mountain has heard Flynn's harem jokes."<br /> "I was framed, see-" She cut him off with her mouth, a very effective way<br />of shutting Shane Gooseman up, she mused as he ran his fingers through her damp<br />hair. I could get used to this... His hand slipped beneath her sweater, to<br />caress her back, trace her ribs with one finger. All too quickly, I'm afraid.<br /> "Shane." She pulled back of her own accord, reluctantly. "As much as I<br />want to, hell, two years I've wanted to... But we can't do this."<br /> "Why?" He continued to kiss her neck, nibble her ear.<br /> "Can't we just take this slowly?" She gasped as he found the tender spot<br />where her neck joined her shoulder.<br /> "It took us almost two years to get this far." He rested his forehead<br />against hers, smiling crookedly, lips mere inches from hers.<br /> "Gooseman, please. Humor me in this one small thing. It's been less than<br />twenty-four hours." Her arms were still around his neck, and she toyed absently<br />with the fine hair at the base of his skull while he thought it through.<br /> "Your wish is my desire, fair lady." He laughed, catching her hand and<br />pressing a kiss into her palm. "You hungry?"</p> |
| <p>* * *</p> | | <p>* * *</p> |
| <p>The entire mountain was aware, before long, that something had happened on<br />Rishawn that was not in the official report. And of course there was the<br />cheshire cat smile that seemed to constantly be playing about Siobhan Flynn's<br />face as she went about her duties (it apparently had something to do with a rumor<br />of someone finding a certain two someones in a supply closet near the launch bay. <br />Flynn was guarding her sources well. No one knew exactly how much had gone on,<br />and "they weren't gonna find out, neither").<br /> Walsh knew, though no one knew he knew, even Karen. Karen, who was still<br />on probation after following the S5's to Rishawn, had been questioned by every<br />curious tech, staff member, trainee and officer on the whole base. She<br />maintained she hadn't seen a thing, and was secretly thrilled beyond words that<br />she had been there when the other bloody shoe had finally, after almost two<br />years, dropped. She wished she had seen something, and asked after it, but Niko<br />was incredibly closemouthed about the whole thing. Even the official mission<br />report was vague and sketchy as to what the Rishawn "Computer" had been about.<br /> If Doc and Zach suspected their friends had become more than friends, they<br />weren't telling. However, it had become the usual topic of conversation at the<br />Foxx household dinner table. Li'l Zach, who, at the worldly age of sixteen, was<br />protesting the diminutive quite loudly recently, had been hanging around the<br />Commissary, and overheard Flynn, and was dying to know everything. Jessy was<br />afire with questions, all of which usually included the word "romantic"<br />sandwiched in there someplace.</p> | | <p>The entire mountain was aware, before long, that something had happened on<br />Rishawn that was not in the official report. And of course there was the<br />cheshire cat smile that seemed to constantly be playing about Siobhan Flynn's<br />face as she went about her duties (it apparently had something to do with a rumor<br />of someone finding a certain two someones in a supply closet near the launch bay. <br />Flynn was guarding her sources well. No one knew exactly how much had gone on,<br />and "they weren't gonna find out, neither").<br /> Walsh knew, though no one knew he knew, even Karen. Karen, who was still<br />on probation after following the S5's to Rishawn, had been questioned by every<br />curious tech, staff member, trainee and officer on the whole base. She<br />maintained she hadn't seen a thing, and was secretly thrilled beyond words that<br />she had been there when the other bloody shoe had finally, after almost two<br />years, dropped. She wished she had seen something, and asked after it, but Niko<br />was incredibly closemouthed about the whole thing. Even the official mission<br />report was vague and sketchy as to what the Rishawn "Computer" had been about.<br /> If Doc and Zach suspected their friends had become more than friends, they<br />weren't telling. However, it had become the usual topic of conversation at the<br />Foxx household dinner table. Li'l Zach, who, at the worldly age of sixteen, was<br />protesting the diminutive quite loudly recently, had been hanging around the<br />Commissary, and overheard Flynn, and was dying to know everything. Jessy was<br />afire with questions, all of which usually included the word "romantic"<br />sandwiched in there someplace.</p> |
| <p>* * *</p> | | <p>* * *</p> |
| <p>"I just don't know." Zachary Foxx shook his head, and Doc eyed him<br />curiously. Goose and Niko were sitting at a table by the holoscreen, completely<br />absorbed in whatever they were talking about, oblivious to the close scrutiny of<br />their commanding officer.<br /> "What's not to know, Zach?" Doc was downright amused by the entire<br />situation. "Our Gooseman appears to have been bitten by the bug." Doc shrugged.<br /> "It's not that I'm not happy for them, but at the same time I have to<br />worry. We all work so closely together, and BETA usually doesn't encourage<br />two..." He fumbled, looking for a word other than lovers, then gave up "whatever<br />they are at the moment, being in the same unit."<br /> "They're professionals, Zach," Doc pointed out. "They may be acting like<br />horny teenagers at the moment," Zach chuckled at his friend's bluntness, "but<br />when it comes down to it, they're professionals through and through. And you<br />can't tell me you didn't see this one coming from a mile off."<br /> "Doc, you're incorrigible."<br /> "I do my best."<br /> "You win anything in Flynn's pool?"<br /> "Nah. Commander Walsh beat me out by two weeks. You?"<br /> "I didn't bet." He shook his head. "I just didn't think it would be<br />right."<br /> "Really?"<br /> "Well, yes. Of course, now I wish I had, because I was only two days off." <br />They laughed, and the objects of their remarks remained completely oblivious.<br /> "Do you think they know that we know?" Doc took a sip of coffee, turning<br />the holo up a little, to drown their conversation.<br /> "Probably." Zach shrugged, trying to remember if he and Eliza were as<br />blissfully unaware of life around them as Goose and Niko seemed to be.<br /> "Do you think that they know that we know that they know?"<br /> "I don't know."<br /> "Make a guess."<br /> "I'm not sure I understood the question." Zach laughed.</p> | | <p>"I just don't know." Zachary Foxx shook his head, and Doc eyed him<br />curiously. Goose and Niko were sitting at a table by the holoscreen, completely<br />absorbed in whatever they were talking about, oblivious to the close scrutiny of<br />their commanding officer.<br /> "What's not to know, Zach?" Doc was downright amused by the entire<br />situation. "Our Gooseman appears to have been bitten by the bug." Doc shrugged.<br /> "It's not that I'm not happy for them, but at the same time I have to<br />worry. We all work so closely together, and BETA usually doesn't encourage<br />two..." He fumbled, looking for a word other than lovers, then gave up "whatever<br />they are at the moment, being in the same unit."<br /> "They're professionals, Zach," Doc pointed out. "They may be acting like<br />horny teenagers at the moment," Zach chuckled at his friend's bluntness, "but<br />when it comes down to it, they're professionals through and through. And you<br />can't tell me you didn't see this one coming from a mile off."<br /> "Doc, you're incorrigible."<br /> "I do my best."<br /> "You win anything in Flynn's pool?"<br /> "Nah. Commander Walsh beat me out by two weeks. You?"<br /> "I didn't bet." He shook his head. "I just didn't think it would be<br />right."<br /> "Really?"<br /> "Well, yes. Of course, now I wish I had, because I was only two days off." <br />They laughed, and the objects of their remarks remained completely oblivious.<br /> "Do you think they know that we know?" Doc took a sip of coffee, turning<br />the holo up a little, to drown their conversation.<br /> "Probably." Zach shrugged, trying to remember if he and Eliza were as<br />blissfully unaware of life around them as Goose and Niko seemed to be.<br /> "Do you think that they know that we know that they know?"<br /> "I don't know."<br /> "Make a guess."<br /> "I'm not sure I understood the question." Zach laughed.</p> |
| <p>Part III<br />Shattered</p>
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| <p><br />Goose and Niko weren't given a mission together for three weeks, and hadn't spent<br />much time together until they got assigned to deliver an ambassador to Boru in<br />sector 23. It was a quiet trip out, with Ambassador Ramos, a two meter tall<br />Southern Bell with a brilliant sense of humor, telling anecdotes most of the way,<br />and sleeping the rest. Still, Shane didn't dare even touch Niko, because he knew<br />if he did, the Ambassador wouldn't be asleep long, and he'd probably crash into<br />something like a planet when he wasn't looking. The little shuttle was pretty<br />different from the interceptors he usually flew, being a new design just recently<br />put into effect by BETA.<br /> They would have taken Ranger I, except it was due to be serviced and Flynn<br />had pretty much told Walsh he had better give her enough time to do it properly,<br />or the old ship would probably blow his precious Rangers to hell someday just<br />`cause they worked her so hard. In the face of that kind of determination, what<br />could the Commander do but find an alternative? Flynn had hurumphed, flipped her<br />braid over her shoulder, and stomped out of the office, feeling very pleased with<br />herself, and went back to her bay to play around with poor Geebee some more.<br /> Once the Ambassador was safely settled in at the BETA embassy in Boru's<br />largest city, Pekin, she offered her escort a room for the night, and a dinner<br />that would surpass anything they'd ever seen before as Ramos had shipped her<br />favorite chef over from New Orleans a month earlier.<br /> They accepted, gladly after the ten hour trip, but protested that they<br />certainly didn't have their dress uniforms with them.<br /> "Don't be silly. Pekin has one of the biggest malls in the universe, and<br />I wouldn't be a lady if I didn't extend y'all credit. You just pick out whatever<br />your heart desires." She winked at Niko. "I personally shall accompany you, my<br />dear. I know exactly the right store to pick out something to match those eyes."<br /> Niko blushed, feeling silly. But Ambassador Ramos was not to be<br />discouraged. She was a lady through and through, and loved the chance to dress<br />somebody up. "I do the same thing for my grandchildren whenever I'm in New<br />Dallas," she confided as she swept her out the door, followed not so discreetly<br />by several guards, and headed for the biggest old-style limousine Niko had ever<br />seen. Shane watched, chuckling as the girl sent him a pleading look. Somehow<br />he knew visions of Gone With The Wind were running through her mind. He waved,<br />and went back inside to contact the Commander and tell him they'd be running a<br />bit late.</p>
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| <p>"So how long have you and the big cowboy back there been sweet on each<br />other?" The ambassador led the way through a huge glass and steel shopping<br />arcade reminiscent of the late twentieth century to a small shop on the<br />seventeenth floor.<br /> "Ma'am, I really don't know what-"<br /> "Oh, don't bother and lie to me, sweetie. They way you two were lookin'<br />at each other, I had it pretty much figured out before we ever left the Solar<br />System. Has he figured it out yet?"<br /> "Just last month." She laughed.<br /> "And just how long did it take?"<br /> "Two years."<br /> "Well, that's men for you. Took my husband a mite less time, 'course I was<br />encouraging him along the way. A well placed hint will do wonders for a<br />blossoming relationship. I put y'all in separate bedrooms though. I'm just an<br />old fashioned gal at heart. Hope you don't mind."<br /> "Ambassador!"<br /> "You blush real easy, don't you now?" She laughed, and patted Niko's hand<br />affectionately. "How do you look in green?"</p>
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| <p>Goose whistled appreciatively when he met Niko at the door of her room. <br />She twirled around for his benefit, laughing. The ambassador had chosen a forest<br />green taffeta gown with a full skirt that rustled when she moved. The sleeves<br />were puffed, and off the shoulder, revealing a great deal of creamy white skin. <br />Around her neck was a green silk ribbon, and her hair was braided and tied with<br />a matching silk cord. Goose whistled in approval.<br /> "I look like Scarlet O'Hara." She frowned. "I couldn't stop her, she was<br />out of control. It would have created an interstellar incident--"<br /> "Green is definitely your color."<br /> "You're just saying that because I hardly ever wear any other!" She liked<br />the way he filled out the dark suit, and for once, no cowboy hat.<br /> "We're going to be late for dinner."<br /> "It doesn't start for another quarter of an hour." She was puzzled.<br /> "I know." He smiled, and took her in his arms.<br /> "Oh," she murmured against his mouth. "That sounds good to me."<br /> "Excuse me." A small furred humanoid cleared his throat, and tapped Goose<br />on the shoulder. Niko blushed furiously, hiding her face in his shoulder, and<br />Goose sighed.<br /> "Ranger Gooseman, Ranger Niko, you have a communication in the Ambassador's<br />office. A Commander Walsh." Then the furry embassy staff-member scurried away,<br />leaving the two of them muttering under their breath as they headed for the<br />Ambassador's office.</p>
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| <p>If Walsh was curious about his rangers state of dress, he wasn't going to<br />waste time talking about it. He had more important things to be worried about.<br /> "Rangers, Ryker Killbane was sighted in sector 27, heading in your<br />direction. He stole a class 47 miner's tug from Starbase 12, that's how we are<br />able to track him. Class 47's don't have Andorian drives, but they do have<br />cutting lasers and tractors. I want you to try to intercept and capture."<br /> "On our way sir." Goose cut communications while Niko scrawled a note to<br />the ambassador.<br /> "Killbane owes us dinner." She sighed as they raced back up to their rooms<br />to change.</p>
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| <p>In orbit around Green's World in sector 27, the two rangers kept a sharp<br />eye out for their adversary. They didn't have to wait long.<br /> "I have him on our scanners." Niko locked the on-board computer on to the<br />stolen ship's ion trail. "Broadcasting on all frequencies."<br /> "As if he'll stop just because we asked him to," Goose muttered, arming the<br />blasters.<br /> "There's your answer," she snapped, bringing up the defenses as the miner<br />ship fired lasers at their underbelly. "Shields up at maximum. Didn't even graze<br />us."<br /> The comscreen flickered, and after a moment of chattering to itself,<br />Killbane's scarred face appeared.<br /> "Think you can catch me, Runt?" He snarled.<br /> "It's for you, dear." Niko jerked her head towards the screen.<br /> "You're under arrest, Killbane." He fired a warning shot across the 47's<br />bow.<br /> "Come and get me, Gooseman." Lasers fired again, and this time the shuttle<br />shook with the impact.<br /> "Shields at 60% and dropping." Niko frowned at the tactical screen.<br />"Something tells me these weren't built for combat."<br /> "So we put him out of commission before he gets another shot at us." Goose<br />brought the shuttle around for another pass, finger paused on the trigger. <br />"Killbane, this is your last warning!"<br /> The comscreen stayed blank, and he fired. The shots grazed the side of the<br />ship, causing enough damage to slow him down. The miner's tug shuddered, but<br />righted itself and fired at the shuttle again.<br /> "Damage to airlock two and guidance systems." Suddenly the little shuttle<br />lurched. "Goose, he's locked his tractor on us!"<br /> "Firing main engines." He frowned as the shuttle shook, but did not break<br />free. "Tractors on that thing are strong..."<br /> "Firing again, damage to hyperdrive and engine two." She targeted weapons<br />again and fired on Killbane's stolen ship. "His life support is going. We're<br />supposed to arrest him, not kill him."<br /> "What are the conditions on the planet down there? Can we try to force him<br />down?"<br /> "Mostly marsh with a few mining settlements, half of them empty." She<br />gritted her teeth as the shuttle lurched again. "His tractor is tearing us apart<br />at such close range."<br /> "I'm aiming for the tractor controls." He fired, and Killbane's leering<br />face came back up on their screens.<br /> "If I'm going down, you are going with me, Runt." He laughed, and fired<br />lasers at their underbelly. Smoke filled the cabin as circuits fused.<br /> "Main engines off line. We're caught in the planet's gravity. Orbit<br />decaying." Niko grabbed an extinguisher from behind her seat to use on the<br />flaming control panel.<br /> "Killbane is going down. I'm tracking him." He buckled the safety straps<br />of the seat.<br /> "Shane, we're going to crash!"<br /> "Don't worry. I do it all the time." He smiled. "Buckle your seatbelt.<br />This might get a little bumpy."<br /> "You're crazy."<br /> "That's why you love me." He called up a map of the area they were headed<br />for, and caught a quick glimpse before the computer's memory turned to<br />gobbledygook and the screen went blank. "As soon as we hit the atmosphere,<br />activate your implant to shield yourself."<br /> "What about you?"<br /> "I'll be fine. Do it!" He wrestled with the controls, keeping Killbane's<br />tug, now flaming in the planets atmosphere, in his sights. They cut through the<br />heavy cloud cover, and barely avoided crashing into the side of a mountain. Niko<br />sucked in air between her teeth, but the faint glimmer around her outline assured<br />him she was shielded. He kept his own fingers hovering over his badge, just in<br />case. They managed to come down in the middle of a thunderstorm, and he couldn't<br />see a thing. Including land. Hence, they set down in a lake.<br /> "Damn." He unbuckled his harness as they settled on the bottom of the<br />lake. The on-board systems began shorting out as the water got in through holes<br />made by Killbane's lasers, and hull breeches from where entering the planet's<br />atmosphere had widened the rips and tears. The lights flickered and went out,<br />and he heard Niko swear in the darkness.<br /> "Temper, darlin'." He found her hand in the darkness. "Activate your<br />implant. We've got some swimming ahead." She became outlined in yellow fire,<br />and he touched his own badge as he blew the airlock. Water rushed into the cabin<br />as he hooked an arm around her waist and kicked towards the surface with newfound<br />fins.<br /> They broke the surface, Niko gasping for breath but otherwise all right,<br />although she began to wonder why she bothered with her badge at all, when she was<br />immediately soaked through to the skin in seconds by the rain.<br /> "We need to find shelter. Fast," he shouted above the wind. It wasn't a<br />thunderstorm, it was a bloody hurricane...<br /> "Don't need to tell me twice," she shouted back. "Any idea where we are?"<br /> "There should be some abandoned miners' cabins about half a kilometer north<br />of here."<br /> "Lay on, MacDuff." She pushed wet hair back from her eyes, saw him<br />illuminated in a flash of lightening, and grasped his hand as they started off<br />in what she assumed was a northerly direction.</p>
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| <p>They stumbled into the cabin almost two hours later, slamming the door<br />against the wind and rain. Niko felt around until she found a lantern, and lit<br />it from the lighter in her supply pouch. In its glow, she surveyed the cabin.<br /> One room, a table and chair in one corner, stripped bed in another. She set<br />the lantern on a shelf and rummaged around for some blankets while Goose broke<br />up the table to use for firewood. She clenched her teeth to keep them from<br />chattering, and found a rifle and the remains of a blanket under the bed.<br /> "Home sweet home," Goose muttered as the furniture finally caught and she<br />crouched down next to him in front of the fire. She held up the laser rifle for<br />his inspection.<br /> "Found a powerpack too. Never hurts to be armed." She smiled brightly,<br />running her fingers through her dripping mass of hair. They wrapped themselves<br />up in the moth-eaten blanket.<br /> "How romantic," Niko muttered, pulling what looked like seaweed from her<br />hair and tossing it on the fire.<br /> "I'm going to have to go out after him." Gooseman frowned.<br /> "Maybe he died in the crash." She looked hopeful.<br /> "I'd never get that lucky. Even if he did, I have to make sure." He and<br />Killbane had never been friends, and both knew one would have to kill the other<br />some day. It was a foregone conclusion, no matter what BETA and the Council of<br />Leaders had to say about it. It could end no other way. Goose wasn't exactly<br />looking forward to their final fight. However, he did just want it all to be over<br />someday. Well and truly over.<br /> "My scanner isn't too waterlogged. It should be able to find the remnants<br />of his ship in this mess." She pulled the little device out of her belt pouch,<br />wiping the swamp scum from the controls with a grimace.<br /> "I want you to stay here." His mouth was a firm line.<br /> "Shouldn't both of us-"<br /> "If something should happen, one of us should concentrate on getting back<br />to earth in one peace."<br /> "That's stupid." She bristled, eyes flashing and he had to admit she<br />looked gorgeous...<br /> "Killbane is my fight."<br /> "Of all the egoistic, machismo, bloody stupid-" She sputtered angrily. He<br />put a hand over her mouth.<br /> "You are staying here if I have to tie you up. And that is the last I'll<br />here of it."<br /> "Is it because I'm a woman?" She was really getting angry. "Don't you<br />think I can hold my own in a fight?"<br /> "Don't be silly. I know you can. It's because you're my woman." He<br />smiled at her outraged expression, and cut off any protest she could have made<br />with a long, passionate kiss. She was still angry when they parted, but the fire<br />in her eyes was no longer all fury. It made him smile. When they got back to<br />earth, Killbane or no Killbane, he was going to put in for some vacation time. <br />God only knew, they'd been racking it up over the past two years. Someplace<br />warm, romantic, out of the way where they had never even heard of Andorian<br />drives, Crown troopers or even telephones...<br /> "Just promise you'll check in every fifteen minutes, and call as soon as<br />you find the ship. The comms seem to be working fine..." She was still<br />frowning.<br /> "Yes, mother." He laughed, and opened the door. She went to hand him the<br />rifle, but he shook his head. "Keep it here, next to you. It never hurts to be<br />armed." He kissed her on the forehead, and then on the mouth. She held him<br />tightly, suddenly afraid, and kissed him back thoroughly before he disappeared<br />into the damp darkness.<br /> "I'm gonna kill him," she muttered as she shut the door against the chill.</p>
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| <p>* * *</p>
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| <p>Shane found the wreckage of Killbane's ship, half sunk in the mud of the<br />swamp. No body, so he must be still lurking about somewhere. He tried to<br />remember the details of the map that had flashed before they crashed, and failed. <br />He had no idea in what direction the nearest town was. He had never even been<br />to Green's World before. It was a common enough joke that Green's was the most<br />backwater of the backwater planets, too far from the shipping lanes to really<br />live there comfortably, and all the mining had petered out about a decade<br />earlier. In another twenty years, it would probably be abandoned.<br /> No wonder no one wants to stay, with weather like this. He raised the<br />collar of his uniform as another light drizzle began. He was about to raise Niko<br />on the com when he suddenly caught a flurry of motion out of the corner of his<br />eye.<br /> He turned too late, and the rusted shovel caught him on the forehead. He<br />saw Killbane in the planet's dim dusk, waving the shovel, and he jumped back,<br />hearing it whistle through the air where he had been standing. Blood from the<br />gash in his eyes, he could barely see the next strike. He reached for his badge,<br />but the other man slammed into him, knocking them both to the ground, knowing if<br />he activated his bio-defenses, who would be the victor. And Killbane was taking<br />no chances.<br /> The badge was ripped away first thing, though Goose got in one good punch<br />right after, seeing with satisfaction Killbane's head snap back from the impact. <br />He leapt up, ready for a fight, and ended up with the shovel jammed hard into his<br />stomach. Killbane had snatched it from the mud, and now laughing gleefully,<br />kicked Shane hard in the ribs with his booted foot. The wind knocked out of him,<br />he still rolled out of the way so his opponent couldn't strike again.<br /> Gooseman got to his feet, wiping blood from his eyes, but Killbane was<br />armed, albeit with a shovel, and that tool had a longer reach. It whistled<br />through the air again, grazing his shoulder as he jumped back. Killbane laughed<br />as Goose went down, tripping over a tree root half buried in the muck, and took<br />advantage, slamming the handle of the shovel into the side of his head, knocking<br />him out.<br /> Killbane wanted to kill him, but he was too intrigued by the game that was<br />forming in his mind. Besides, killing an unarmed man was no fun, and he wanted<br />to face Gooseman on equal terms, to prove he was the Runt's better. He needed<br />time through. This attack had given him time. And he was also curious. He had<br />seen the Runt leaving one of the abandoned cabin's along the river. He had also<br />seen the woman in the cabin, knew her to be another of the S5's, and wanted to<br />have a little surprise waiting for the traitor when he got "home". He snickered<br />again, and headed back the way he had come.</p>
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| <p>* * *</p>
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| <p>Niko began to get nervous as complete darkness descended on Green's World. <br />She turned up the light of the small lantern, resisting the urge to pace. Besid<br />es, it was getting cold. She picked up the remains of the chair, and threw it<br />on the fire, knowing it would go out soon, and not caring. A noise outside drew<br />her to the door.<br /> "Shane?" She called out into the darkness, reluctant to leave the warmth<br />and light of the tiny cabin. Another snapped twig, this time closer. "Goose, is<br />that you?" She backed away, reaching for her rifle when someone crashed through<br />the window. She leapt for the gun as the intruder straightened, revealing Ryker<br />Killbane's leering face as he shook back his mane of black hair. He laughed,<br />stepping between her and the weapon, and she stepped back, eyes narrowing as she<br />touched her badge.<br /> Killbane was lifted off his feet, surrounded by her mind, and she heaved<br />him against the far wall. He slid down, shaking his head, and she went for the<br />gun again. She got it, and raised it to fire, but it was a small room, and he<br />was too close. She couldn't squeeze off a shot in time. He leapt forward and<br />grabbed at long muzzle of the rifle, her shot going wild. He yanked it out of her<br />hands even as she went for her badge again.<br /> Before she could activate her charge, he blew a cloud of vile green gas in<br />her face, and she was forced to her knees, coughing and gasping for breath. He<br />pinned her arms behind her with one hand and removed the badge from her belt with<br />the other.<br /> "Won't be needing this, now will we?" He dragged her to her feet, and<br />tossed the gold badge through the air. Niko heard it strike the wall, then the<br />wooden planks of the floor. She struggled, trying to free her arms, but he held<br />them so tight, they would be torn from the sockets if she continued. She kicked<br />out, cursing, and he dragged her back, slamming her up against the wall. To her<br />horror, he had her handcuffs in his hand, having torn them from her beltpouch,<br />and, one hand on her throat, grasped her hands and secured them behind her.<br /> He let her go, giving her a push towards the wall, laughing as she<br />struggled to maintain her balance. She growled, and then tried another<br />roundhouse kick at his head, but he ducked with ease, and, getting under the arc<br />of her kick, backhanded her, sending her reeling to fall against the wall. Then<br />he kicked the legs out from under her, and she slid down to sit half against the<br />wall, half crouched on the floor. He had the rifle now, muzzle under her chin,<br />raised her face to look at him.<br /> "Series Five Ranger. You're not so hot." He sneered down at her, prodding<br />her throat with the gun. "You think the runt is coming after you? Think he'll<br />come for you? Think again." He laughed, kneeling down, pinning her legs at the<br />knees beneath his hand, held them still so she couldn't kick him by putting his<br />full weight on her kneecaps. She flinched, and then spit in his good eye.<br /> He wiped the spittle from his cheek, then got a handful of her hair,<br />pulling her off the floor, level with his eye. She did not cry out, but glared<br />at him.<br /> "So you're the runt's woman." He leered, and her expression faltered.<br />"Maybe I'll just take you along for the ride then, even the score." He ignored<br />her renewed struggles, and forced her mouth to his. She turned her head, feeling<br />sick as he painfully grabbed her jaw, nails scoring her cheek, turning her face<br />back to him. He only laughed, and sudden grabbed the neck of her uniform in both<br />hands, ripping it down to her belt. She heard the cloth give, felt the cold<br />draft against her skin, but couldn't believe it was happening. She squeezed her<br />eyes shut, swallowing painfully as he pulled her closer.<br /> "It's no fun if you're not looking." He slapped her, making her face him. <br />She only glared. He suddenly snarled, and slammed her against the wall. This<br />time she slid down unconscious, his laughter echoing in her ears.</p>
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| <p>* * *</p>
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| <p>Goose felt the world rushing back painfully, every heartbeat accented by<br />his throbbing head. He did not move at first, but felt the cold mud and muck<br />beneath his hands, water seeping through his uniform, chilling him to the very<br />bone. It was raining again. He sat up, head swimming. All the wetness on his<br />face was not rain, but blood as well. There was an ugly gash at his hairline,<br />where Killbane's shovel had struck its mark. He could taste it, metallic and<br />salty on his lips and tongue. He spat once, then rose. His badge was nowhere<br />in sight. Probably taken as a souvenir, if he knew Killbane....<br /> He stumbled back to the abandoned cabin, knowing from the pain of each<br />breath that his ribs were likely bruised, maybe broken.<br /> As soon as he saw the open door, he knew something was not right. Dread<br />clutched at his chest as he near fell inside, and saw the objects scattered about<br />the room, the table overturned, the fire out and shards of window glass catching<br />the light from lamp still burning on its shelf, casting odd shadows around the<br />empty room. Empty.<br /> He began swearing inbetween labored breaths, kicking the fallen cups and<br />bowls across the floor, needing to vent his anger somehow, and regretting it<br />immediately as he was answered by a stab of pain in his side. He eye was caught<br />by something gleaming on the far wall.<br /> Her badge, a hunting knife shoved through the delicate circuitry, pinning<br />it to the scorched wood of the wall. Blood on the blade. A challenge then. <br />Damn him. Shane's fist slammed into the wall and he tore the knife from the<br />wood, a dangerous gleam in his eye.</p>
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| <p>* * *</p>
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| <p>Niko came awake slowly, dreading it. She was in another abandoned miner's<br />cabin, not too unlike the first one. Rope had been knotted around her ankle, and<br />then strung through a iron hoop embedded deep in the wall, probably meant to hold<br />a hammock once. It cut into her skin when she tried to move, but she managed to<br />tuck her legs under her, to regain some balance, though she could not get far. <br />Her arms were still shackled, the cuffs threaded through the other hoop on the<br />other wall that made up the corner where he had tied her, so that they were<br />suspended above her. She was sore all over, and the right side of her face was<br />stiff, her lip swelling. Her hair, streaming again from the rain, was plastered<br />to her head.<br /> She shivered, and realized for the first time that her uniform was in rags,<br />little of it left at all. It only served to remind her why she was still alive. <br />She looked up.<br /> He was in the opposite corner, watching her from his chair. A lantern hung<br />on a hook next to him, turned low, and his face was in shadow. Suddenly he leaned<br />forward, and in the half light she caught the wolfish smile and gleam in his<br />remaining seeing eye. He got out of the chair, and she shivered again, but not<br />from the cold, as he approached, her laser rifle still in his hands.<br /> "He's not dead, you know." He smiled down at her. "It wouldn't be any fun<br />unless there is some risk. I left him bleeding, but he still might make it in<br />time for the party. After all I didn't hit him that hard." She noticed for the<br />first time Goose's badge pinned to his shirt, put there, no doubt, to prove to<br />her that he had beaten Shane. To prove it was not just an idle threat.<br /> She thought of using the shackles to lift herself up, strike out with her<br />free leg. But he was expecting it, and prodded her ribs with the gun. She knew<br />it was loaded. She had loaded it herself that afternoon. She did not strike,<br />uncoiled her legs. He smiled again, and she turned away, feeling angry tears<br />forming behind her eyes. And she would not let him see her cry.<br /> She screamed when he forced her legs apart. Screamed Shane's name, one<br />last attempt. The cry was cut off by his fist, and she lay there, stunned, as<br />he began laughing, tearing at the remains of her uniform, and his own clothes. <br />She opened her mouth to cry out again, but was stopped by the knife he suddenly<br />pressed to her throat. Helpless tears of rage coursed down her cheeks, and she<br />wondered if she shouldn't let him kill her. Anything was better than this.....<br /> He laughed when he took her. Laughed as she cried. She was Gooseman's<br />woman, and he had stolen her. He thought it a grand joke, laughing as she curled<br />into a ball, shaking with her silent weeping. He even laughed when the door was<br />broken into splinters, and a bloody Gooseman stumbled inside, rage burning in his<br />eyes.<br /> "Told you he'd make it in time for the party." Killbane was still<br />laughing, the rifle pointed at her head, the muzzle at her temple. Shane stopped<br />in mid-lunge, green eyes burning with hatred and fury. Killbane started to laugh<br />again, that insane mad sound rising over Niko's quiet sobs. The loudest sound in<br />the cabin, louder even than the rain outside, hitting the tin roof. Suddenly it<br />stopped, and the gun fell away from her temple<br /> She did not look up. She couldn't look up. Had she, she would have seen<br />Shane throw the knife, seen it bury itself deep in Killbane's chest. Wide-eyed,<br />he stumbled past Goose and out the door, where he collapsed in the mud and was<br />still. She knew only that hands were touching her again, and she screamed. But<br />there was no answering blow. Only someone holding her as she screamed and<br />screamed, someone whispering to her until the cries died in her throat. She<br />opened her eyes, knowing that the arms that held her now were familiar, caring,<br />gentle. She buried her face in Shane's shoulder as he rocked her back and forth,<br />still murmuring It's okay. He can't hurt you any more. It's okay... Soon her<br />sobs quieted, and she clung to him for warmth. He had cut the rope, tore the<br />handcuffs from the wall. Destroyed them with his own hands. He took a moth-eaten<br />blanket from the tiny bed in the corner, wrapped it around her. Held her still.<br /> He looked outside the open door as the rain started again. Killbane was<br />gone. The bloody knife lay in the muck where he had fallen. The door banged<br />against the wall, caught in the wind, but Shane didn't move to close it yet. He<br />just sat in the corner, holding Niko till her tears dried.</p>
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| <p>* * *</p>
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| <p>There was an old transmitter in the cabin. It worked, after a few<br />adjustments and jury rigging, and he called for help from the nearest town. Men<br />in flitters arrived quickly, the doctor informing Gooseman that ships from Earth<br />were on the way, having been searching for the past seven hours for the missing<br />Rangers. He insisted on checking Shane out, seeing how badly beat up the two of<br />them were. Niko was quiet, still shaking, and the doctor couldn't give her a<br />sedative for fear she would go from shock to a coma. He wished he could erase<br />the next five hours. Let her not wake until they were safe in a hospital<br />somewhere far from the cabin. *The blood on the floor? Not ours. The man who<br />did this. He should be dead. Chest wound. Tell me when you find the body*. <br />And then Shane turned his back on the doctor and his questions, and moved to<br />Niko's side in the back of the ambulance.</p>
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| ----
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| * [[Endgame|Endgame - Prologue]]
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| * [[Endgame-Part I]]
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| * [[Endgame-Part II]]
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| * [[Endgame-Part III]]
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| * [[Endgame-Part IV]]
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| | <hr> |
| | * [[Endgame|Endgame:Prologue - Karen]] |
| | * [[Endgame-Part I|Endgame-Part I: Pawns ]] |
| | * [[Endgame-Part II|Endgame-Part II: Interlude]] |
| | * [[Endgame-Part III|Endgame-Part III: Shattered]] |
| | * [[Endgame-Part IV|Endgame-Part IV: Rain]] |
| | * [[Endgame-Part V|Endgame-Part V: Dreams]] |
| | * [[Endgame-Part VI|Endgame-Part VI: Epilogue - Sweet Reconciliations]] |
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| [[Category:GRCD1]] | | [[Category:GRCD1]] |