Time Bomb

Chapter 13

by Richard Ryley

"So... Galaxy Ranger Shane Gooseman... once again a guest in my Psychocrypt." The Queen smiled as she regarded Goose, his arms held firmly by two Crown Troopers to either side of him.

"Do not worry... as I told your friend Ranger Hartford, I've no desire to create a Slaverlord, only to have it killed by remote control. I prefer to simply kill you."

The Queen walked over to one of her control consoles, to check an instrument, while Gooseman seethed. Just give me a moment he said to himself. That's all I need

The Queen turned around. "So... Galaxy Ranger. How does it feel to know that you're being destroyed not by one of my creations, but by one of your own?"

Goose snorted. "If you're trying to goad me, it won't work. I never had any illusions about how the Board felt about me. I never trusted them or Senator Wheiner."

"But your friends... you didn't expect them to betray your friends, did you?"

Goose was silent. As the Queen laughed, a second squad of Troops entered the Crypt. They had two prisoners with them, a red-haired woman in a orange-gold space suit, and a wildly struggling Kiwi. The guards weren't holding Daisy's arms, but two of the guards did have their blasters trained on her. The leader of the squad stood beside them, greeting the Queen as she walked over to study the new arrivals.

"Daisy O'Mega, I presume", she said, studying the Irish girl's face intently. "Macross mentioned you to me a few times. I suppose he should have expected you to help out the 'handsome' Shane Gooseman..."

"My Queen..." The Trooper began. It was obvious, from the way he averted his eyes, and the hesitation in his voice, that the guard had bad news to report.

"Yes?"

He paused a moment more. "My Queen, the other Ranger... he is gone!"

The Queen suddenly looked infuriated. "What! That computer hacker is loose in my Psychocrypt! HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN!"

The Trooper winced. "We're not sure, highness. He appears to have escaped the prison pod. Two of the guards were knocked out."

"FIND HIM!" The Queen roared. "And take her to the pod!" She gestured at Daisy. "I want a Psychocrystal made from her immediately!"

Now, Daisy lunged forward, but the two Crown Agents grabbed her immediately. As she struggled, the guards dragged her over toward one of the columns that dominated the room. Goose also tried to pull free, but the guards still held him fast.

"Now... Ambassador Zozo..." The Queen stepped over to face the little Kiwi, who was still trying to free himself from the Troopers holding onto him. "I told you that you would serve me, Ambassador. Your people will be mine again."

"Not if the Galaxy Rangers can help it!" The Kiwi cried, boldly. "And it doesn't matter if your plan succeeds! There will be others!"

"Brave words. But not very reasonable ones. If the humans do not trust these Galaxy Rangers, what makes you think they will recruit more? They are as good as mine. Their own distrust of each other has been their undoing."

Goose snarled as the Queen looked at him. Across the room, Daisy was trying to pull free, but each step was bringing her closer to her doom. Goose steeled himself. If he was going to act, he was going to have to act now...

But before he could move, an alarm sounded, and a red light began to flash on a console behind the Queen. She whirled to look at it, even as one of the techs called out. "My Queen! The sensors have picked up Ranger One! The Rangers are here!"

The Queen turned, her laughter one of triumph, as the sound of a generator powering up rumbled underfoot. A loud, high-pitched whine filled the room.

"Your time is up, Ranger Gooseman! And for your friend as well! He may have escaped my prisons, but he cannot escape the self-destruct signal!"

Goose gritted his teeth against the pain, as a flare of light erupted from his badge, but it was followed almost immediately by an explosion from the console. The tech leaped away as a shower of sparks erupted from his panel, and suddenly the lights in the room flickered and went out. Red emergency lighting came on, and the sound of shrieking metal shook the deck plates underfoot.

"What is going on!" The Queen shrieked, as the high-pitched whine of the self-destruct abruptly cut off. The light from Gooseman's badge faded, but erupted again, as he reached up to trigger his badge. There was a sputtering noise as the jury-rigged charge dissipated without effect. But the two guards, mistakingly assuming that the Ranger's charge had activated, let go of him.

Goose quickly slugged one of his guards and grabbed his blaster. With a well-placed shot, he took out one of the men holding Daisy. She kicked the other, then grabbed HIS gun. Gooseman and Daisy charged in different directions, firing, as the guards opened up on them.

The Queen grabbed Zozo, holding him as a shield. "Get them!" She yelled to her Troopers. "And get that transmitter back on line!"

"Sire!" One of the techs yelled. "Fires in level 15, 18, 25... and now level 12!" He paused a moment. "Gunfire in hangar bay 3! Troopers report a squad of Galaxy Rangers attacking! Wait, there are more in the Central Control!"

"It's a false alarm, you morons!" The Queen roared. "That hacker's in the system! Shut down those alarms, and track him down!"

"Right behind you, Queenie!"

Doc charged into the room, slamming into her. He grabbed Zozo, pulling the little Kiwi behind him, as he leveled his blaster at the Queen. She stumbled away from the Ranger, gesturing with her hands as he fired, only barely managing to summon a shield in time. Doc's laser blast bounced off the field of purple energy, as it wrapped around to protect her from Goose and Daisy's fire as well.

But as the Rangers made a break for the door, the Queen found her own troops trying to duck behind the shield. "Get back out there!" She berated them, shoving the Troop leader out in the open to accentuate her point. "I don't buy you that Powered Armor for its looks you know!"

As the Troopers took off down the passage after the Rangers, the Queen turned back to her techs. "Get that transmitter back on line! I don't care if you have to use the last reserves of our battery power, and transmit the signal through your headsets to do it, but TRANSMIT THAT SIGNAL!!!!!"

The Rangers charged blindly down the hallway, Goose and Daisy firing at their pursuers as they ran. "Not bad, Doc," Goose commented. "You're timing could not have been better."

"Well, I had the transmitter set to blow the moment it detected Zack and Niko's ship. But I didn't program the security alarms, I didn't have time..."

"Must have been Buzzwang, then." Gooseman grinned. "I left him in the Communications Center."

Doc laughed, but then doubled over, stumbling, pressing a hand to his temple. Daisy managed to grab him before he could fall. "You okay?" She asked, helping the hacker with a supporting arm as he ran alongside her.

"Yeah..." He said tightly, grimacing as if in pain. "I can... handle it. We need to get outta here..."

"Not so fast," Goose said. "My biodefences protected me from the charge again. But you might not have been so lucky..."

Doc waved him off. "No, it's not that..." He stumbled again, but managed to keep the pace. "It's... it's Pathfinder. I didn't have enough charge to bring him back out, but I sent him into the machine anyway. He's... he's gone."

"Tha' little will-o-the-wisp thing?" Daisy asked him. "But he's just a program... isn't he? Can't ya make another one?"

Doc grimaced, putting his hand to his head again. "Part of him is code, yes... but part's in here." He tapped his skull. "Was in here."

He sighed. "I felt it... when I lost him. Since then I've been feeling a little dizzy... it'll probably pass."

Goose glanced back behind them. The Troopers were falling behind, and had stopped firing at them, but they were still in hot pursuit. "In that case, then, we need to get you back to Daisy's ship, and get you out of here."

"An' I don' care what you say, Shane, tha' implant looked like it burned you a bit," Daisy added. "We need ta get the BOTH of ya outta here..."

"And Buzzwang," Doc added. "I'm not leaving without Buzzwang, he's the most valuable member of this team..."

Goose looked back at him, amused. "What makes you say that?"

Doc grinned. "Because right now, he's the only one of us that doesn't have one of these things in his head." He tapped his temple again. "Which means, as soon as we get back, he's the one who gets to punch Wheiner in the nose!"

The foursome took off down the passage for the Communications Center. Anyone overhearing them as they passed by would wonder, given the seriousness of the situation, why they were all laughing.

Time Bomb - Chapter 13

From Betamountain.org

Time Bomb

Chapter 13

by Richard Ryley