To the Last Syllable of Recorded Time - Part VIII

To the Last Syllable of Recorded Time - Part VIII

"Niko!" To her annoyance, someone shook her. She mumbled something and waved a hand aimlessly about. She just wanted to sleep some more, was there something wrong with that? Especially since the darkness around her was shapeless and soothing, and much too comfortable to leave easily.

"Come on, babe, wake up!" She knew that voice - and she liked it, as well as its owner, if she remembered correctly. More than she should have, actually. Her thoughts slowly consolidated into something remotely coherent. Goose sounds really desperate - it's so unlike him. Maybe I should do him the favor and open my eyes?

One turquoise eye slid slowly open, cautiously. As a result, the room insisted on spinning around her in a disorienting blur. What the hell?

Slowly, her vision cleared to the impressive sight of Gooseman's jawline as seen from beneath. She suppressed the urge to run a hand along the hour-old stubble of his beard and gradually forced the second eye open. His gaze immediately returned to her face and a faint smile replaced the worried expression.

"Hey, it's good to have you back."

"Same to you, Shane," came the cryptic response, "same to you." She wiggled a little on his lap and groaned involuntarily as the motion sent intense pain burning through her left side.

"Don't try to move. You're hurt." Shane admonished. "Blaster wound," he supplied at her inquiring look.

"Now I remember." And I wish I didn't. This is a suicide mission if I ever saw one. Nevertheless, there was no point in panicking - she could save that for the moment they got dragged into the psychocrypt. She looked Goose over, noticing that his badge was still in place. The Queen had delighted in letting the Rangers keep their useless badges. With their charges depleted, it was a symbolic gesture, designed to humiliate them further and emphasize the hopelessness of the situation.

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"About twenty hours, I believe." It was Zach's distinctive voice that answered her this time. She turned her head slowly towards him, frowning at the dizziness the motion caused.

"Hi Zach." She looked him over, taking in the sorry state of his uniform, which was torn and dirty in most places, as well as the injuries on his chest and legs. The left side of his face was covered with blood from a deep gash just below his cheekbone. Nevertheless he looked composed, almost serene. Niko couldn't help but admire that much willpower. There was a reason why he had become the team leader of the most powerful and unpredictable wildcards BETA could come up with.

Even now, he tries to keep appearances up. Oh, Zach, how I wish for this to end, at least for your sake. Nobody should have to go through that much pain on his own.

"Are you all right?" he inquired. She managed a weak smile.

"I'll survive. I believe you're in worse shape than I am."

"Yeah, and Doc is in even worse shape, or we would have heard some bad joke by now," Goose drawled out. Doc just groaned something unintelligible in response without bothering to raise his head from his updrawn knees. The fact that his colleagues, with the exception of Goose, weren't in much better shape didn't comfort him in the least. Goose's biodefenses also worked without the implant, though slower, and his wounds were almost healed.

Nevertheless, it was strange that they could still find the strength to make jokes, although the situation was almost hopeless. Niko knew that they wouldn't give up without a fight. They would rather go down heroically, dying completely pointless deaths. She had to prevent that.

*It is not only the level of your power that makes a difference - it is also the way you use it. Learn to look beyond technique and the energy supply of your implant. Especially in desperate situations, leave the beaten paths and let yourself get carried away by the inspiration of the moment. It might save your life, and, more importantly, that of your friends.*

"Hell, how I hate the inactivity! We can't stay here like sheep waiting to be slaughtered. We have to do something!" She had never heard Goose sound so annoyed.

"My feelings exactly," she answered, pulling herself up into a standing position. He threw her a puzzled look - it was then that she realized that he hadn't said a word of what she'd heard aloud.

"I guess something has changed..." she murmured, feeling for the first time a faint hope that their escape was indeed possible. Without a word, her teammates gathered around her in mute attention. The energy pumped through her veins, fresh and exhilarating. The pain in her side had almost faded into nothingness.

"Guys, I believe I have an idea..."

The noises that came out of the Galaxy Rangers' cell didn't sound healthy at all. On the other hand, the Troopers guarding the imprisonment area knew that you didn't get near that particular cell unprepared. It was a woman crying for help - as always - and all the male Rangers had been tortured thoroughly enough to ensure severe injuries. Nevertheless, one had to be careful around those particular four.

"Well, Commander, what shall we do?" The Trooper in charge, one of the more experienced ones, rubbed his chin in an absentminded manner.

"The Queen wants the humans healthy enough for the psychocrypt. She'll have our heads on a platter if one of them dies. The same applies if they escape." He motioned to five of his older subordinates. "You five come with me. Watch all of them - even severely injured they are extremely dangerous."

"Understood." With weapons ready, the five guards advanced towards the cell. Through the flickering of the force field they could see the kneeling woman, holding the head of that damned captain of theirs in her lap. His body shook in what had to be an extremely unhealthy manner, blood trickled down his chin and the colour of his skin, or what they could discern in the semidarkness of the cell, didn't look well at all. One thing was certain: nobody could fake an attack like that.

"He needs help, you idiots! Do something!" The guards eyed each other dubiously. The Supertrooper and the other one were in very bad shape, barely able to move; at the moment, the woman was nothing more than a whining nuisance, and the captain had a very big problem. It could become their problem too, if they didn't do something about it soon - everybody knew about the special relationship between the Queen and the Ranger captain.

The Trooper Commander took the initiative. "Shut off the field, and call a med unit. Immediately!"

The field flickered and died. The Troopers advanced into the cell, blasters pointed at the captives. Surprisingly, though, suddenly one of them turned and started to fire at his comrades. The commander was the first to go down. He crumpled to the floor with a muffled groan. The others reacted, but it was too late to effectively dodge the shots of the incredibly accurate shooter, or to seriously injure him. In mere seconds the Trooper team was reduced to a heap of motionless bodies on the floor.

As soon as she had made sure that the Troopers at their feet really were out cold, Niko exhaled a long-held breath and allowed the projections around them to gradually flicker and die. The remaining Trooper again assumed Gooseman's familiar form, and the blood disappeared from Zach's face, who had stopped shaking, and whose skin colour went through the same miraculous improvement. The slumped forms resting against the walls disappeared, except for the only real one; Doc pressed a hand against the wall and pulled himself up with visible difficulty, while Goose was already helping Zach and a tired Niko to their feet.

"Nobody has heard anything, I've made sure of that," Niko whispered.

Blasters were picked up in a hurry and thrust into waiting hands. Gooseman and Zach both took two, one in each hand, while Niko and Doc had difficulty carrying one.

"Let's go," Zach said, already rushing out of the cell and into the open corridor. The wide, open hall didn't offer any protection whatsoever, so many of the guards immediately fell prey to Gooseman's outstanding marksmanship. Zach and the rest were not as accurate, mostly due to their injuries, but it wasn't even necessary. Gooseman's speed was formidable, without in the least affecting his aim. He cleared a path for them in no time at all, and then motioned them to follow.

Zach complied, dragging a dizzy Niko and a half-dead Doc along in his wake.

"We have to reach Ranger One if we are to make it out of here alive," Goose said, after peeping around a corner to see if there were any guards. "They've sent for a med unit and with a whole hall full of senseless Troopers they'll notice soon enough that the've got a bunch of loose and dangerous Rangers strolling around the palace."

Zach nodded. "Right. We've pulled that off once, so why not twice?"

Niko leaned on Zach, coughing. "Because our charges are depleted, and the badges are just so much rubbish without an energy supply. We'll have to shoot our way free."

"Not necessarily. We're close enough to the docking bay now. We can make it. Doc, do you think you can get the surveillance cameras disabled fast enough without your AI's?" Zach asked.

Doc groaned. "I can try. It will take a few minutes, though. You'll just have to keep those damned Troopers away." He turned to the wall, looking for a suitable console. The smoking remains of most of the technical equipment in the corridor didn't bode well. "If I find a functioning terminal, that is. Goose, just try to restrain yourself a bit next time, will you?" With that remark and a mumbled curse he made his way to a half-intact looking screen near the entrance. "Let's see what we can do..."

The others positioned themselves even closer to the big sliding door, so as to be able to intercept incoming Troopers. Niko leaned against the sleek red surface of the wall, sighing. Doc will get it, I'm sure. But I've got a bad feeling about this - it just worked too well until now. I can't help thinking that the Queen has something else down here sleeve except for dumb Troopers who can't even shoot properly. And I have a feeling that we'll find out at the worst possible moment.

For about a quarter of an hour, the only sounds to be heard were Doc's muffled cursing and the occasional Trooper slamming to the ground. Goose volunteered to drag the bodies of the unconscious inside the hall, and was therefore busy most of the time. Zach leaned against the wall supporting Niko, whose legs had grown rather weak. He was brooding.

"Gotcha!" Well, this was a sufficiently different tune from the obscene cursing of the last few minutes to get the attention of all three.

"Ready, Doc?"

"Yep." He waved demonstratively towards one of the cameras. The effect was somehow spoiled by the fact that there was not one intact camera left in this particular corridor, courtesy of Gooseman. "And their tractor beam is disabled as well. They won't even notice until it's too late."

"Then let's go! We've wasted enough time here."

They continued the slow advance through the maze of corridors leading to the hangar area. The red walls glimmered menacingly in the subdued light, and the purple illumination made concentrating difficult. Niko's eyes hurt, and Zach's were mere slits of blue fire. Doc blinked often and a little owlishly. Only Goose didn't seem affected.

Niko grimaced. Strange. I've lost all sense of direction in this damned corridors. "How far?"

Zach suddenly released her, spinning around with blaster ready. The light beam connected with its mark, a scant fraction of a second after Gooseman's identical beam. The hit Trooper sank to the floor, his armor clanking as it connected with the stone tiles.

"We're almost there. Next turn to the right, I believe," Zach answered.

"Let's hope your sense of directions is better than mine," Doc muttered. "I could get lost in this damned corridors."

But after the next turn to the right the huge sliding door entrance to the hangar was there, sure enough. It looked massive and threatening, at least to the amount to which a door, however huge, could manage to look forbidding. In this case, it was less the door and more the masses of battleready Troopers lurking right behind it.

"Niko, are you ready?" Goose inquired, throwing her a worried look over his shoulder.

"I'm fine. Let's go in."

The door hissed slowly open, revealing fifty expectant Troopers and a Slaverlord -- who paused in their forward rush as they realized they were facing an empty corridor. Disbelieving murmurs resounded as the first Troopers stormed through the door, unconsciously leaving just enough room for the four Rangers to pass, whose presence registered only as a blind spot in the Trooper's minds.

The Slaverlord did not have such misgivings, however. Nor did the queen, who had just entered the hangar, accompanied by her guard. Doc, who had been busy working on Ranger One's entry authorization code looked up just as the hatch lifted and the gangway started to roll down. It was fortunate that the Queen's people hadn't been able to crack the access code so soon. They had been very careful too, knowing that a wrong move could trigger the inbuilt self-destruction mechanism.

"Well, well, Galaxy Rangers! I must admit you've made it quite far." The four rangers froze, halfway up the steps to Ranger One's now open hatchway. "The journey ends here, however. Except..." she smiled horribly and motioned to the Slaverlord in the corner, "...except your captain is willing to leave without trying one last time to rescue the crystal of his dear little wife."

Niko saw Zach hesitate and blanched. No, please, no. This can't be. That's just too much for him! He's exhausted, he's been tortured for hours on end, and now this. It's just not fair! It was obvious that Zach's self control had almost reached the snapping point, as he turned to face the Queen.

"There is no Eliza Slaverlord," he hissed. "There is only her crystal, and this can't be it."

"But you're so wrong, my dear captain. May I present my new and improved Slaverlord, able to run perfectly on Eliza's lifeforce... even without her body. Well, it needs more energy than your usual Slaverlord in order to function properly, but that's to be expected. See how the crystal flickers? It's Eliza's lifeforce draining away even as we speak..."

Zach's body jerked forward of its own volition, trembling with the need to hurt that horrible creature who seemed to enjoy feeding on other's people pain. For that one moment, the controlled captain was lost to rational thought.

No. I can't let this happen.

"Zach, stop!" He had almost reached the bottom of the stairs as Niko rushed after him, catching hold of his wrist in a clawlike grip. As he turned to look at her, she felt like she almost drowned in the whirlpool of agony showing in his eyes. I have to do this! I know I can.

"Zach, do you trust me?"

He almost moaned aloud. "You know I do!"

"Then let us leave. Now."

"Niko, you don't understand! I can't! I can't leave her again!"

Niko's right hand came up to caress the side of his face with a featherlike movement. "If you trust me, you can."

The following sigh seemed to be wrenched from the innermost recesses of his heart as his vision cleared and he realized what he had been about to do. He knew he couldn't risk the lives of his people like that and yet he had been about to get them all killed by behaving so damned irresponsibly.

He motioned to Doc and Goose, who were busy holding the advancing Troopers at bay. "Let's move!"

Ignoring the sounds of the fight around her, Niko closed her eyes and concentrated. God, I hope this works... The red crystal flashed once, unnoticed in the commotion and Niko went suddenly limp. Goose's startled gasp mixed with the Queen's enraged screams as they dragged Niko's body into the ship, allowing the hatchway to close behind them.

All the while, the Slaverlord in the corner was oddly quiet.

To the Last Syllable of Recorded Time - Part VIII

From Betamountain.org