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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>* * *</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>
| |
| <p>* * *</p>
| |
| <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>
| |
| <p>* * *</p>
| |
| <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>
| |
| <p>* * *</p>
| |
| <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>
| |
| <p>* * *</p>
| |
| <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>
| |
| <p>* * *</p>
| |
| <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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| | <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]] |
| [[Endgame-Part I|Back to Part I]] ~ [[Endgame-Part III|Continue to Part III]] | | [[Category:Fanfic-Unrated]] |
| | [[Category:Fanfic-LJC]] |
| | [[Category:Fanfic]] |
Endgame-Part II
Interlude
by LJC
Niko threw on an embroidered Japanese robe when the `com buzzed, tossing her wet
hair over her shoulder as she dashed for the terminal.
"Hi. Briefing is over. Want to catch some dinner before I'm confined to
quarters for the rest of my life?" Karen's smiling face filled the tiny screen.
"I think I'll have to pass." She fought to keep her face calm and betray
nothing. "Lunch tomorrow though?"
"Sounds fine."
"Is Goose still in with the Commander?" She tried to sound uninterested
and nonchalant, and if Karen noticed any spark in her eye, she certainly didn't
comment on it.
"He was when I left, but he might be out by now." Just then the door
chimed, and she had to bid Karen goodnight, perhaps a bit too hastily, but then,
it had been a long day....
She fastened the robe a bit more securely around her, and then keyed the
door. Shane was in his black civies, hat and all, looking the proper cowboy.
She was feeling terribly self-conscious in the robe, and knew she was blushing
again. He presented her a single half open rose, and she worried at her bottom
lip, eyes shining as she took it carefully from his hands.
"If you wait a minute, I'll just change. I'm afraid I just got out of the
bath-" He ignored her protests, advancing until she was backed against the wall.
"Shane please-" She was blushing furiously, but he kissed her anyway. She
stiffened as his arms went around her, catching a sigh before it could pass her
lips. "It will just take me a minute, really...Shane..." she murmured against
his mouth, knowing if she didn't get dressed right away, pretty soon she wasn't
going to care... If it is always this way... The robe began to slip a bit, and
she managed to untangle herself from his embrace, ducking under his arm, color
high, clutching at the garment and laughing. "You stay here," she warned.
"Aye-aye ma'am." He saluted, still eyeing her hungrily, and she laughed
as she disappeared into the next room. Shane flopped down on her coach, smiling
to himself. Her hair had smelled of roses.
As she went through her closet, alternately considering and rejecting
objects from her scant off-duty wardrobe, Niko thought back to the last twenty
minutes of the journey back to BETA, the two of them sitting cross-legged in the
tiny cabin of the freighter, her head on his shoulder and they talked softly
about it all, from waking up together to how each had responded to the computer's
tests, and all the memories the past two years had given them.
"I though Supertroopers only got angry, and got mad." She emerged in
leggings and an oversized green sweater. "Since when do they give flowers?"
"When they are visiting the most beautiful woman alive," he pronounced,
leaning back on her couch to survey the final effect as she towelled dry her long
reddish-brown hair.
"Aren't you the silver-tongued devil all of a sudden. I bet you say that
to all the girls."
"You've been listening to Flynn's harem jokes?"
"The entire mountain has heard Flynn's harem jokes."
"I was framed, see-" She cut him off with her mouth, a very effective way
of shutting Shane Gooseman up, she mused as he ran his fingers through her damp
hair. I could get used to this... His hand slipped beneath her sweater, to
caress her back, trace her ribs with one finger. All too quickly, I'm afraid.
"Shane." She pulled back of her own accord, reluctantly. "As much as I
want to, hell, two years I've wanted to... But we can't do this."
"Why?" He continued to kiss her neck, nibble her ear.
"Can't we just take this slowly?" She gasped as he found the tender spot
where her neck joined her shoulder.
"It took us almost two years to get this far." He rested his forehead
against hers, smiling crookedly, lips mere inches from hers.
"Gooseman, please. Humor me in this one small thing. It's been less than
twenty-four hours." Her arms were still around his neck, and she toyed absently
with the fine hair at the base of his skull while he thought it through.
"Your wish is my desire, fair lady." He laughed, catching her hand and
pressing a kiss into her palm. "You hungry?"
* * *
The entire mountain was aware, before long, that something had happened on
Rishawn that was not in the official report. And of course there was the
cheshire cat smile that seemed to constantly be playing about Siobhan Flynn's
face as she went about her duties (it apparently had something to do with a rumor
of someone finding a certain two someones in a supply closet near the launch bay.
Flynn was guarding her sources well. No one knew exactly how much had gone on,
and "they weren't gonna find out, neither").
Walsh knew, though no one knew he knew, even Karen. Karen, who was still
on probation after following the S5's to Rishawn, had been questioned by every
curious tech, staff member, trainee and officer on the whole base. She
maintained she hadn't seen a thing, and was secretly thrilled beyond words that
she had been there when the other bloody shoe had finally, after almost two
years, dropped. She wished she had seen something, and asked after it, but Niko
was incredibly closemouthed about the whole thing. Even the official mission
report was vague and sketchy as to what the Rishawn "Computer" had been about.
If Doc and Zach suspected their friends had become more than friends, they
weren't telling. However, it had become the usual topic of conversation at the
Foxx household dinner table. Li'l Zach, who, at the worldly age of sixteen, was
protesting the diminutive quite loudly recently, had been hanging around the
Commissary, and overheard Flynn, and was dying to know everything. Jessy was
afire with questions, all of which usually included the word "romantic"
sandwiched in there someplace.
* * *
"I just don't know." Zachary Foxx shook his head, and Doc eyed him
curiously. Goose and Niko were sitting at a table by the holoscreen, completely
absorbed in whatever they were talking about, oblivious to the close scrutiny of
their commanding officer.
"What's not to know, Zach?" Doc was downright amused by the entire
situation. "Our Gooseman appears to have been bitten by the bug." Doc shrugged.
"It's not that I'm not happy for them, but at the same time I have to
worry. We all work so closely together, and BETA usually doesn't encourage
two..." He fumbled, looking for a word other than lovers, then gave up "whatever
they are at the moment, being in the same unit."
"They're professionals, Zach," Doc pointed out. "They may be acting like
horny teenagers at the moment," Zach chuckled at his friend's bluntness, "but
when it comes down to it, they're professionals through and through. And you
can't tell me you didn't see this one coming from a mile off."
"Doc, you're incorrigible."
"I do my best."
"You win anything in Flynn's pool?"
"Nah. Commander Walsh beat me out by two weeks. You?"
"I didn't bet." He shook his head. "I just didn't think it would be
right."
"Really?"
"Well, yes. Of course, now I wish I had, because I was only two days off."
They laughed, and the objects of their remarks remained completely oblivious.
"Do you think they know that we know?" Doc took a sip of coffee, turning
the holo up a little, to drown their conversation.
"Probably." Zach shrugged, trying to remember if he and Eliza were as
blissfully unaware of life around them as Goose and Niko seemed to be.
"Do you think that they know that we know that they know?"
"I don't know."
"Make a guess."
"I'm not sure I understood the question." Zach laughed.