Gall Force Fan Fiction ❯ The Day After ❯ Endgame ( Chapter 12 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Frederick_Herrio 
Anime/Manga: Gall Force Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Romance / Sci-fi | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 09.02.2004 | Pages: 6 | Words: 7.4K | Visits: 507 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Gall Force Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Romance / Sci-fi | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 09.02.2004 | Pages: 6 | Words: 7.4K | Visits: 507 | Status: Completed
Gall Force: The Day After
By Fred Herriot
450 Clare Avenue South, Welland, Ontario L3C 3B3 Canada
gorgo@timebomb.on.ca
**** **** ****
Based on the "Gall Force" series created by MOVIC.
**** **** ****
PART TWELVE - ENDGAME
"What has happened?!" Journey demands.
The Guardswoman catches herself, then looks at her screen. "According to sensors, we have been fired on by the Paranoid battleship in orbit, Leader," she looks at the casualty reports. "The airfield is wiped out. No survivors or surviving equipment."
"What of the auxiliary station?" a senior Guardswoman demands.
"All communications cut off," the younger Solnoid gulps.
"Leader Journey, the commander of the attacking force is hailing us," a communications technician looks over, her voice ashen. "It is Captain Eluza of the 'Starleaf.'"
Journey grits her teeth. It should have been so simple. The Terrans were hopelessly backward. How could her people not see the virtue in finishing their business with the Paranoid? While the base remained relatively loyal...there were cyborg troops around to keep order...no one from the outside had responded to her call to arms. Had Nebulart worked her infernal black magic so much that her people were blind?! "What does she want?" the Leader hisses.
"On behalf of the United Nations of the planet Earth," the technician gulps, "...our immediate and unconditional surrender."
"Traitorous swine!!!" a Guardswoman exclaims. "True Solnoid never surrender!!!"
Agreeing grunts echo from most of the others. Journey licks her lips as she considers her options. It was quite nice to be in a fully organic body again after so long as an imprisoned sentience inside a cyberlife station; a gift from the loyal members of the Central Guard who survived Sigma Narse. Right now, she was on the defensive, a small attacking force controlling the skies and no sign of friendly forces. But to submit to the rule of the natives of this world, to reject what they really were? How could have so many been poisoned? "Leader?" the communications technician looks contrite. "The captain demands your answer."
"A mere starship captain making demands of her Leader?" Journey sneers, standing. "Tell the disrespectful fool to learn her place or be punished!"
"Yes, Leader," the technician nods...
* * *
Eluza shakes her head in disbelief as the response scrolls on the Squirrel's control board. "Idiot!!" she snaps, then smiles. If Journey had lost all sense of reality, this would be a walk in the park! Thumbing the response button, she snarls, "You tell that fool, if she IS Journey, that I nor the Gallant Force respect her as a leader of anything...save an insane asylum! The choice is yours!!"
She shuts off the communications station before the shocked technician could reply, then turns on her tactical frequency. "Starleaf to Gall Force. The bandits are still in their pathetic little world. Time to shake them out of it. Samurai, Picadilly: take top cover. Chaos, Attacker, Vimy, Damia: go in on the first wave. Everyone else follow them down!"
A chorus of confirming messages echo as the Bronzs, Angels, Blowguns and the Squirrel dive for the beach. The two Bats rocket to higher altitude to give them an unobstructed view. From the west, two hundred Drones and two warpsleds soar in towards their own landing zone. Meanwhile, upstairs, the Bats begin a patrol circuit. "I say, Akira, I've got something coming in from the north," Chet switches to a private frequency. "You see that?"
"Confirmed," the Japanese nods. "Approaching at below Mach One. Can't get a fix on her. Stay here. I'll see what it is."
"Yell if you need help," the Englishman advises. "No need to go off half-cocked like you samurai always do!"
"And you Tommies don't?!" Akira laughs.
The second Bat races off to the north as Chet switches back to the main frequency to tell Eluza. Akira's eyes narrow as he sees a black dot racing at him. It turns into a flat boomerang shape with a low hump in the middle. Climbing, the Japanese swings the Bat around to come parallel to the aircraft. Sure enough, the wide arrow shape and the lack of anything resembling normal airplane structural design tell Akira everything. A Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. The American insurance policy in case his friends fail. Cutting to Eluza's frequency, he relays the new information.
Hearing of the bomber's approach over the general circuit, Lufy sits back as the Bronz touches down. As long as a storage depot existed where Solnoid equipment could be seized, trouble like this would always be possible. The people inside this base needed to be shocked so harshly that none would ever again contemplate this course of action. She was prepared for death, but after all she had been through, she could not stomach another massacre. "Hey, Eluza, why don't you call New York and get the captain to lean on the president's ear?! We can make use of those bombs!"
Everyone is surprised. "Lufy, are you nuts?!!" Derek demands.
"The idea of you exploding those things...jeez, they don't deserve that!!" Len shakes his head.
"Relax, you dummies," the Attacker smiles. "I've got a plan!"
"I was afraid you'd say that!" Rabby moans.
Eluza sighs, then shrugs. If the nuclear threat was there, many in the lower decks would see reason and come out. She thumbs the communications toggle, then relays the message to New York...
* * *
A half-hour later, with the island swept clean to ensure that no one was hiding, the Gall Force waits as the American bomber puts down. Fortunately, the runway is relatively clear of wreckage and potholes. As soon as it rolls to a stop, the lower boarding hatch opens and the pilot and co-pilot step out. Eluza hops out of the Squirrel to meet them. "You Captain Rubenstein?" the senior of the two, a major, salutes her.
Eluza blinks, then nods, recognizing her Earth name, Eleanor Rubenstein. "That's me. What goodies have you got?"
"Four Mark 87 fifty kiloton guided tactical nukes, courtesy of Uncle Sam," the captain replies. "Shit, you must have some serious pull to get the President to order us to deliver these things. I've never heard of something like this in all my years in SAC."
Eluza nods to Catty and Mal. "Help unload them!"
The two walk their Angels over to gently carry out the white bombs under the captain's direction. The major stares at the massed fleet of Solnoid and Paranoid equipment, then shrugs, lighting a cigarette. "Shit, you've got to be from CIA. I've never heard of any shit like this being used."
"They're...a special force," the Solnoid smiles, then looks over. "Lufy, what do you want to do with these things?"
The Attacker walks up. The American major stares at the woman, then on seeing her eyes, relaxes. No matter where these people came from, that was a fighter pilot. "Yo, Catty, want to run up a schematic of this place."
Finishing work with the bombs, the android calls up a three-D diagram of the base. Looking at it, Lufy snorts. Typical Solnoid bunker design. One central exit with side chambers leading from all sides, reaching down a couple of hundred metres into the earth. As long as they held the entrance, those inside had no way out save fight or surrender...and with the mass of Paranoid there, fighting their way out was suicide. "One here," she points to under the central control room, "...one here," she indicates the main hangar bay, "...one here," she points to the main power plant, "...and the last one here," she points to the bottom of the elevator well. She then looks to the bombs. "Get them out of those cases!"
Mal cracks the bombs open, gently sliding out each warhead and controlling mechanism. Each is lowered to the ground as Lufy looks at the control console. A typical telephone-like structure with extra buttons: ENGAGE, PROGRAM and CANCEL. Hitting the program button, the Attacker plays musical numbers with each bomb, loading in the sequence that will arm them. Once that is done, she then looks at her watch, then programs two hours for the countdown. Once that is done, she notions Catty, Mal and the captain to the three other bombs. Looking at her watch, she nods. "Now!"
The bombs are made live, the counter 2:00:00.00 appearing on the digital readout, which begins the countdown. "The lady has brass," the major muses.
Lufy stands, walking over to the mass of Paranoid drones. "Who's in charge here?"
One drone walks up. Suddenly, the top hatch opens, revealing to the Attacker's shock a man! However, his beige, white and black robes tell of his true ancestry. "I am Tek, first officer," he stands, walking over to grasp Lufy's hand.
The other Solnoid are stunned. "How?!" Spea gasps.
Tek smiles. "Did you expect us to take residency here without making some alterations?"
Lufy whistles, then wonders why she is so surprised. The Paranoid had to be master geneticists if they could pull off the Species Unification Project. "Look, Commander, I and my friends are going to take those big bang-bang toys downstairs to entice those idiots out. Problem is, some of our people are quite inexperienced. We can use the escort."
"You shall have it," Tek nods. "Four phalanxes will be detailed. The remainder will stay here."
The Attacker nods. "Oh, another thing. If you see Solnoids down there, don't kill them. Grab 'em and haul them out. If they're in armour, pry 'em out. Don't kill if you don't have to."
"Curious, hearing mercy from an Attacker."
Lufy shrugs. "I've had my fill of killing."
"As have I," Tek nods, then barks orders to his troops.
Lufy runs back to her Bronz, mounting the machine and locking up. She walks over, grabs one of the bombs, then turns to Shildy, Rabby and Derek. "Take one. Careful you don't touch the control board."
The three other Bronzes walk over to take a bomb. "Rest of you, take defensive positions around the entrance," Eluza barks, then turns to the two pilots. "Major, Captain, get your plane out of here. You're not needed."
"All the same to you, Captain, we'd like to stick around to see the rest of the show," the major draws a Beretta 93R, cocking the action, then setting the lever to three-shot mode.
"Okay, but wheel that out of here," Eluza points to the B-2.
The captain runs back to taxi the bomber away. Catty walks forward with her Angel, locating the main entrance door control station buried in the scorched earth. The Bronzes find themselves surrounded by forty drones. "Ready, Lufy," she calls over.
Lufy grits her teeth. "Go!!!"
Catty flips the door open, allowing the first ranks of drones to pour into the well...
* * *
"Leader, we're invaded!!!" the Guardswoman screams, her face paling. "Paranoid drones and Bronzs!!!"
"What?!!" Journey cries in disbelief.
The door to the control room shatters as two drones appear. The Solnoids scream as they lunge for weapons, but the Paranoids are swift today...and they are not there to kill. In seconds, the four women who were with Journey are scooped up in the drones' pincers. "Let us go!!!" one screams.
Journey sheds her pale robes, drawing her gun and firing as she races to a side door. One hits the communications technician in the shoulder, causing her to scream out in pain. "Leader, don't leave us...!" she gasps as unconsciousness surges to take her.
The woman blinks as the drone's hatch opens, revealing a human male dressed in the beige jumpsuit of a Paranoid soldier. The man presses his hand against the wound as he draws the technician into the safety of the drone's armour. "You must be brought to a healer's attention," he grits his teeth as he guides his machine towards the surface.
"Am I...dreaming...?" the Solnoid moans. "You're...human..."
"Yes," the Paranoid curtly nods. "A curious existence. I wonder how you solids can stand living your whole lives like this."
The technician finds herself deliriously giggling as the drone flies towards the entrance, his companion right behind him.
Metres below, Lufy hammers away at a squad of Bronz-Xs and older Bronz-Ds who had taken position at the bottom of the elevator well, her target place for the bomb tucked in one hand. Beside her, a half dozen drones keep up a withering fire. "Aim for the head, arms and legs!" the Attacker orders. "Once they're helpless, drag them back to the surface!!"
Confirming messages reply as they alter aim. Soon enough, the rebel bouncers are decapitated, then shed of their limbs. The drones lunge forward as they tear open the carapaces, seizing the pilots and dragging them out. Lufy pops the hatch on her Bronz as she watches the Paranoids drag the Solnoids away. One spots her. "Traitor!!! At least have the courtesy of killing us in battle!!!"
Lufy lifts the bouncer's arm to reveal her deadly cargo. "If you've seen 'Broken Arrow,' you'll recognize this!" a mirthless grin crosses the Attacker's face.
The rebel pilot turns white. "You wouldn't...!!"
"Try me!" Lufy snarls.
The rebels shudder as the Paranoid take them away. Lufy sits in her chair, then guides the Bronz to the bottom of the pit. She slides the bomb into the cockpit of a wrecked bouncer, then adjusts it so that a passing Solnoid would not see the surprise she hid there. "Attacker to Starleaf," Lufy calls to the surface. "Arrow One in place. Coming back up."
"Confirmed," Eluza's relieved voice calls back, then she calls out, "Vimy, Chaos, Damia: report."
* * *
Fanatics should be all lined up and shot! Derek grunts as he stares at the Solnoids facing him. All had weapons, some looking like anti-armour projectiles. The Paranoid who were supposed to be with him were carrying other rebels to the surface. "I'm a little busy here, Eluza. Give me a moment," Derek calls, then turns on his bouncer's external speakers. "C'mon, girls. The fun's over. We all had a big laugh. Let's call it a day and go home, huh?"
"In your dreams, Terran!" the group's leader, a member of the Central Guard, snarls. "We're going to make our new homeworld on Chaos even if we have to lay waste to this one to do it!!"
"Fine, if you want to die, suit yourself," Derek holds up his bomb. "I'll just leave this right here if you don't mind."
"That's an atomic bomb!!" one technician gasps, pointing.
"That's right," Derek places it by a garbage bin. "Now, I wonder how fast it will take you to try to figure out the combination to shut it down...much less find the three others we brought down with us. You've got an hour and three-quarters. Care to test your luck?"
The Solnoids shudder. "Now, given this beauty's capabilities, I could sit here right up to a minute before she goes off," Derek relaxes in his chair. "Any of you so much as approach that little pop-toy, I'll charcoal-broil you. It's no skin off my nose; we've got our own fanatics to deal with and we're not in the mood to deal with imported trash like you."
One of the Guardswomen levels her gun at the Bronz's head. "We can still kill you right here and now!"
"I should warn you not to do that," Derek yawns. "You see, if you kill me, you'll then have to deal with my fiancee. She's Lufy, an Attacker. I take it her reputation has got even to you."
One young technician nearly drops her rifle. "L-l-lufy...?!!"
"Lufy's alive?!" another gags. "The Butcher of Space herself?!"
"That's her," Derek nods, reminding himself to ask Lufy where she got such a disgusting moniker. "Now, Lufy and I were about to consummate our relationship when the woman SUPPOSEDLY saying she's Journey shows up. Lufy, to put it nicely, is now upset. Now, if you kill me, Lufy will become VERY upset. I don't want to even THINK of what she'll do to you when she finds out YOU'RE the ones who killed her lover."
"We'll still be dead!" a technician looks like she is trying to summon her courage.
Time for the kill. "What makes you think Lufy would let you die?" Derek muses.
Blind horror crosses their faces as the rebels try to conceive of what grotesque horrors the legendary Attacker could unleash. "Forget it!!" one throws her rifle down. "I ain't that crazy!"
The others quickly drop their weapons as a squad of drones show up. "Ah, gentlemen, just in time," Derek smiles. "Care to cart these ladies to the surface?"
The Solnoid do not resist as the Paranoid fly them up the elevator shaft. Derek relaxes, then notices Lufy calling in. "What the hell was that shit?!" the Attacker snarls. "What makes you think I'd waste time on them because of you?!"
"Lufy, did anyone ever tell you that you're a horrible liar?" the Canadian winks at her.
The Solnoid sneers, then smiles. "So...I'm your fiancee, am I? Weird way of proposing, huh?"
"I love you, too, Lufy," Derek laughs as he guides his Bronz to the surface. "Vimy to Starleaf: Arrow Two is in place."
* * *
Shildy grits her teeth as she stares at the equipment in the main hangar bay. Most of it is under organic control and they were not in the mood to compromise. Behind her, a dozen drones were ready to grab the pilots. They were waiting for the intelligence officer to talk them into surrendering. "There's no need for this foolishness anymore!" she calls out over her speakers. "Come out of those things and head to the surface!"
"So you can vaporize the equipment and leave us defenseless?!" a rebel snarls. "Not a chance! Not when their kind is here!"
"They're human!" Shildy retorts. "They put themselves through a genetic conversion before coming down. They've got no home to go back to! Why are you still trying to fight a war that's long done, fighting for someone who can't conceive of anything other than to send us all to our deaths?!"
"That's they way things've always been!" another snarls.
Shildy wanted to cry. These people knew no other way to live than making war. "Fine, then!!" she snaps. "If you want to die, go ahead! I won't waste myself on you cowards anymore!!"
She turns, flashing the word DAMIA on her carapace. One rebel jerks. "Wait!! Why do you have that painted on your bouncer?!"
Shildy looks back. "Because I destroyed DAMIA!"
The hush that follows is nearly palatable. "You destroyed DAMIA?!!" one rebel exclaims.
"That's right," Shildy nods.
"Why did you do that?!"
"One, to preserve this planet," the intelligence officer replies. "Two, because Journey was willing to butcher the Lorelei Fleet and heaven knows who else just to get her stupid victory over Born! If any of you were there, you'd probably know how helpless I felt when I realized what she was doing! Destroying DAMIA was the way I saved myself!"
Suddenly, to her surprise, the rebel Bronz goes to one knee, the carapace opening to allow the pilot to emerge. "What are you doing?!!" another demands.
"I lost friends in that battle!" the disembarked pilot snaps, a disgusted sneer entering her voice. "I didn't know it was our 'esteemed' Leader who ordered that! Forget it! I'll fight for my people but I won't fight for someone like that!!"
She walks towards the drones. Her defection has a calming effect on the situation. "If Journey succeeds, then you'll be fighting hopeless battles until you are dead," Shildy explains. "Didn't we come to this planet to have a little peace?"
Silence answers her...until one by one, the rebels de-power their armour and disembark. They allow the Paranoid to take them away. In a minute, there is nothing left. Shildy sighs, then deposits the bomb in a hidden corner. "Damia to Starleaf," she signals to Eluza. "Arrow Three in place."
* * *
Rabby grits her teeth as she throws off the cyborg soldiers trying to pin her down. Others were trying to pry the nuclear bomb out of the Bronz's hand, or else get at the carapace to tear her out. Eluza's face appears on the monitor screen. "Starleaf to Chaos. Three arrows are in place. What's your status?!"
"Ah!!!" Rabby screams, a circuit panel exploding. "Little busy here! I'm hip-deep in cyborgs and they're not interested in negotiating!!"
Lufy's and Shildy's faces appear next to the captain's. "Hang on, tiger!" the Attacker calls down. "Help's on the way!"
"Expedite, Lufy!!" Rabby grunts.
"Roger!"
The screen goes blank as Rabby flings the cyborgs against one wall. They hit with such terrific force that they fall apart before the first officer's eyes, sparks, blood and cerebro-spinal fluid showering everywhere. "Mother, forgive me!" Rabby gasps as she turns her attention to another...
...when they start to explode as each are hit with a fusillade of high explosive armour-piercing rounds! The first officer watches with morbid fascination as the cyborgs are shredded before her eyes, then she turns to see who her rescuers are. "Who...?!"
Two Paranoid drones. "Are you alright, Commander?" a familiar male voice echoes from one.
"Commander Dawn!!" Rabby looks relieved, then tries to shift the arm servo to place the bomb down. It does not move. "Oh, no!"
"What's wrong?!" the Paranoid commander demands.
"The arm's stuck!" Rabby grunts, then sighs. "Hell with it!"
She opens the Bronz, swinging herself to the ground, then begins to drag the bomb out of the immobile hand. "Let me help you," Dawn calls out as he disembarks his drone, running over to give the Solnoid a hand.
The second drone remains in place when the pilot spots a cyborg raising a gun in the general direction of Rabby and Dawn. "Dawn, look out!!!" she cries...
...as the gun fires, the round punching through the Paranoid's chest. "Commander!!!" Rabby screams.
The second drone turns to bear on target, disintegrating the cyborg with a rage-driven fusillade of cannon shot! Rabby leaps over to catch the wounded commander. The second drone's hatch opens, allowing Catty to disembark. "Dawn!!" she screams as she runs to her wounded lover's side.
Rabby gasps on seeing the once-android. Impossible! All the Catty droids save Lufy's friend were dead...then who?! "Catty..." Dawn moans as Catty takes him into her arms.
"I'm here, my love," she sobs. "Hold on! We'll get you back to the surface! Help's up there...Dawn...?! Dawn?!"
The commander can no longer hear her. "No...!" Catty gasps as she tightly hugs his body, sobs exploding from her own heart.
"Catty..." Rabby reaches over.
The once-android stares at her former shipmate. "Why, Rabby?! Why?! All Dawn and I wanted was to be human, to be together for the rest of our lives! Why?! In the name of the Mother, why?!"
Rabby stares in disbelief at her as Catty succumbs to her sobbing. This was the Catty from the first "Starleaf," alive and whole. How was that possible? She had killed herself so that the Blossom could be free of the doomed carrier...unless her mind had survived long enough for Dawn to find her and give her a semblance of life. The first officer sympathetically shakes her head. Another tragedy to be added to the insanity her race had unleashed. "Catty, help me, please," she reaches over to her fellow Solnoid. "Help me get the bomb off, then we'll take him up top."
Catty stares at her, anger flashing in her eyes at Rabby's interrupting her mourning. She then realizes the logic of the situation, then after gently placing her lover down, stands to help the first officer unload the bomb...
* * *
"Chaos, this is Starleaf!" Eluza calls over the communications line. "Rabby, respond. What's going on down there?!"
Rabby's saddened features appear on the screen. "Oh, thank the Mother," the captain sighs.
"Sorry, Eluza," Rabby looks down. "The fourth bomb's in place...but Commander Dawn's dead."
"Mother, no!!!" horror crosses Eluza's face.
Unfortunately, she is not the only one who heard that. "The commander...dead?!" Sel gasps from the interior of his drone. "Why?! How?!!"
Several Paranoid angrily turn on the captured Solnoid, their weapons swinging to bear. Simple revenge. An eye for an eye, the Jewish and Christian holy texts demanded. Watching them, Eluza felt more in sympathy towards her former enemies than her fellow Solnoid. Dawn had given his crew the chance to explore a new world, to live in peace...and now, the one responsible for their fortune could not enjoy it. Before they could fire however, a tall, handsome fellow in a green and grey robe steps in their line of fire, his hand held out. "Stop!!!" he barks.
"But, Leader Born, they...!!" Sel growls.
"Stop!!" Born snaps. "In battle, killing is understandable and honourable!! They have surrendered!! Are we now going to succumb to the madness which infected their leaders?!!"
The Solnoid stare in disbelief at the tall Paranoid. That was Born?! echoes on many faces. And he was saving them from those who wanted to avenge their commander's death? Nearby, Patty stares at the Leader who also came back from the dead to fight this final battle. Why did he look like her son? What was going on here?
Ignoring her gaze, Born gazes at Tek's machine. "Commander, grant me your drone. I will finish this business, the way it should have been finished years ago!"
Tek hesitates, then nods, opening his drone's hatch to allow his Leader to step inside. "Good luck," he bows as Born buttons up the drone, then lifts off, flying the craft into the tunnel.
"Hey, wait!!!" Patty hops on her Blowgun, then races off after the drone. "Wait!!"
"What the hell?!" Eluza exclaims. "Patty, get back here! The bombs are down there!! Are you insane?!! Patty!!!"
* * *
In the bowels of the base, Journey checks her gun's magazine. The sounds of Bronzes have faded. Obviously, Eluza and her traitors had succeeded in suppressing the remainder of the base. Now, where was the access tunnel to the auxiliary defense station? Once there, she could send a massive force out to destroy the rebels, then destroy anyone who stood in her way. She could still win, if she was in time! Standing, she runs down a side tunnel.
Nearby, Born lands the drone, scanning the area around him with infra-red sensors. A heat trail, very fresh. Journey would be one of the last down here, with little to call upon to defend her. Smiling, the Leader disembarks the drone, drawing a heavy machine gun. The rest of the hunt would be on foot. There was still over an hour before the nuclear bombs Eluza had laid down here would detonate. Enough time to finally end a war.
"Hold it, you!!" a voice barks.
Born sees Patty race up on the Blowgun. The combat leader hops off her machine, walking up to the Paranoid. "Why have you come down here?!" Born demands. "This is between Journey and I!"
"And I say let her rot down here," Patty points up. "There's no need for you to kill yourself like this, sir. Let's get out of here! The bombs'll do the rest!!"
Born stares quizzically at her. "Why did you follow me?"
Patty catches herself. "Does it matter?" she muses self-consciously, her face heating.
"I am curious."
The combat leader looks down. "Sorry. It's because you looked so much like my son."
Born blinks. "Wait! The 'Starleaf'...of course!! Are you Combat Leader Patty, the contact point for Project: Exodermus?!"
She stares at him. "That's right. How'd you know that?!"
A light smile crosses his face. "Who do you think was the one Galt and Dawn first requested for DNA samples for the Project?"
Patty blinks. "Then he...he's...!"
"Your child...and mine," Born nods.
A hoarse cry of disbelief escapes the Solnoid's lips. She had never sat back and thought about where the Paranoid had got the genetic material so she could have her baby. And he was the child of the leader of all the Paranoid?! Now there was a revelation! "I...I see..." Patty looks down, then tenses. "Who's there?!"
A shot rings out, nearly parting her hair. The two leap in separate directions as Journey's hysterical laughter is heard. "Welcome to my den, Born!!" she cackles as a machine pistol thunders. "Now, I'll have the pleasure of killing you, then after I've laid waste to this world, I'll then destroy your worthless race!!"
Born rolls, cursing himself. He was still unused to being in this body. It had strengths, but he had not the chance to fully explore them. Taking his weapon, he showers the general direction of the hostile fire with bullets. "Lunatic!!!"
Journey ducks as beams above her head shatter. One of them comes down on her back, knocking the wind out of her and forcing her to let go of her pistol. Grunting, she drags herself over to seize the pistol anew...when a boot falls on it. She looks up to see Born gazing at her, his blue eyes like ice. He levels his weapon on her, his intent all too clear. "No...!"
He suddenly lifts the weapon, then tosses it aside. "Why?!" he hisses. "Why didn't you people come to your senses?!"
Kicking her pistol away, the Paranoid reaches down to throw the beam off the Solnoid's back. Patty approaches...then tenses as she sees a gleam in the darkness. Knife! "Look out!!!" she screams as she lunges at Journey.
Born dodges as Patty slams into Journey's side, the force sending the two sprawling. Patty finds herself atop the screaming Journey, both her hands keeping the knife from plunging into her own heart. "You traitor!!" Journey snarls as she tries to throw the combat officer off her. "How dare you protect the enemy from your own Leader?!! Why?!!"
Patty cocks her fist. "Because he's my mate!"
Journey hesitates, stunned to hear that...then her head snaps as Patty's fist connects solidly with her jaw! The Solnoid Leader moans as the pain overwhelms her, her hand letting the knife go. Patty gasps as she slowly staggers to her feet...then falls back into Born's arms. "Well struck, Patty," the Paranoid Leader muses.
Patty smiles, then finds herself laughing. At his questioning glance, she shrugs. "I just had a weird idea, that's all."
"That being?" he inquires.
"Why don't we have another child?" she sighs, a tear flowing down her cheek. "And this time, we raise him on our own."
"What's wrong with your eyes?" he reaches to her face.
She wipes her cheeks, only to have fresh ones replace them. "I'm thinking about the one we left behind, three million years ago, that's all."
"He lives on in all the Terrans alive today," he reminds her.
She thinks about that for a moment. "He does, doesn't he?"
* * *
"Well, it's about time you got out of there, you idiot!!" Lufy snaps as Patty guides the Blowgun out of the tunnel, Born and a tied-up Journey riding behind her. "What the hell took you so long?! We've got less than an hour left to go!"
"Sorry," Patty disembarks her machine. "Just had to make sure this piece of refuse would live to see her dreams blown to radioactive dust!!" she grunts as she drags Journey to the ground.
Some of the rebel Solnoid howl on seeing the combat officer handle their Leader so disrespectfully. "Bitch!!!" a Guardswoman snaps. "How dare you abuse the Leader like that?!!"
"Oh, shut up!!" Patty snarls back, her pistol coming out to bear on target. "Next joker that talks bites a bullet!!"
The rebels clam up, seeing how serious Patty is. "We've done our mission," Eluza sighs as the drone of a Hercules is heard, then turns to the rebels. "All of you will be taken and separated from each other. You will never be permitted to contact each other, nor have access to anything which could give you the chance to pull something like this again! And, I was told by Captain Nebulart, the surviving Paranoid will become your guardians!!"
"Kill us and be done with it!" a Guardswoman sneers. "We'll never submit to their kind!!"
By then, the Hercules, bearing United States Air Force markings, lands. As it stops, its rear boarding hatch opens and a company's worth of Green Berets storm out. One of them, a colonel, comes up to Eluza, saluting her. "Captain Rubenstein?"
"Yes," Eluza nods.
"Ma'am, we're here to take your prisoners off your hands."
Eluza stares at the rebels. "They're all yours, Colonel. Could you transport their guardians as well? I have no transport of my own to get them safely off before the bombs explode."
"It's our pleasure, ma'am," the colonel nods. "The whole world owes you people quite a debt, or so I'm told."
"Just doing our job, Colonel."
He nods, salutes her again, then waves to his men. The rebels and their escorting Paranoid are herded to the Hercules. Dawn's would-be mate and Born refuse to go with them. "Why?" Rabby stares quizzically at Catty, who still holds Dawn's body in her arms.
"I want to take him to a place where I can still visit him," the once-android smiles, staring at the peaceful face before her.
Her still-mechanical sister comes up to comfort her as they proceed to the arriving Hercules from Greenwood bearing Amy and the others. "Let's get out of here!" Eluza sighs.
Everyone nods agreeingly...
* * *
Within twenty minutes, the Gall Force and their friends lift off, heading towards Tahiti. As the famed vacation spot comes into view, Chet's alarmed voice is heard over the channels. "I say, old sports, there seems to be a group leaving the island behind us!"
Lufy calls up the image on her Bronz's tactical screen. Hundreds of little powered suits, all painted the dark red of the Solnoid Central Guard. "Oh, shit, not now!!" she gasps. "Where'd they come from?!"
"The bastards must've been lying low while everyone else was taking the heat!" Len exclaims. "Let's nail the creeps!!"
"No!!!" Lufy snaps, looking at her watch, which was matched to the bombs' timers. "We've got no time!! The bombs'll go in ten minutes! Pick a beach and let's put down!!"
"Lufy, what are you talking about now?!" Eluza demands.
"Captain, in heaven's name, don't argue about it!!!" the Attacker snaps back. "DO IT!!!!!!"
Everyone, Solnoid, Terran and Paranoid alike, shudder at her scream. "There's a beach!" Miti looks ahead. "It's empty!!"
Lufy power-dives her Bronz, coming to a skidding landing on the beach. The other equipment put down, even the Bats. Everyone leans out of their vehicles to watch as the Attacker shuts everything down in her machine, then calmly disembarks. "What are you doing?!!" Spea demands. "We've got the rest of the Central Guard coming after us and you're shutting your machine down!!!"
"Shaddup!!!" Lufy yells back, the bite in her voice scaring everyone, even Miti! "Now, shut everything down in your machines!! Not a thing's to be on!!! DO IT!!!!!!"
Their sheer terror of Lufy overcoming their attempts at trying to make sense of this situation, everyone quickly deactivates their gear. "If those Guardswomen show up and we're defenseless, it's your fault!!" Len protests.
"SHADDUP!!!!" Lufy screams.
In a minute, everyone's machines are inactive. Lufy checks her watch. Four minutes. She then looks at the android Catty. "Her, too!!" she thumbs at her, looking at the organic Catty, having rode with Patty.
"What?!" the former looks incensed. "I protest this...!"
The latter comes up, reaching to a point below the back of her skull, then presses in. The android lets out a squeal as power to her systems are cut, slumping forward as her eyes dull. "Relax," the once-android sighs. "I think I know what's happening."
Lufy looks south. The black dots were becoming more discernable. She looks to her watch. "Three minutes."
Derek stares at her, then remembers a scene from a movie he had recently seen, one which had inspired Lufy to use nuclear weapons on the Solnoid base. Walking up to her, he gently draws her into his embrace. "I hope this works," he quietly intones.
Rabby, Shildy, Chet and Akira stare at them, then look south. "They're getting rather closer," the Englishman tenses.
"It might be too close," Shildy adds.
The minutes tick away. By the time there are thirty seconds left, the first of the Central Guard have begun their power dives, their pilots not believing their sudden stroke of good luck. Lufy watches the seconds tick past, then slips a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. "Almost time..."
"For what?!" Mal shudders fearfully.
Everyone tenses as the ten second mark passes. Lufy begins to call the countdown as the first waves of Guardswomen reach wave-top level, a kilometre away and closing fast. At three, she turns her head away from the direction of the rebels' island. Everyone quickly looks away, most praying.
Zero!
A titanic flash bursts from the south as enriched uranium and plutonium unleash themselves in a torrent of energy that vaporizes the island and everything on it!! Due to the distance, there is no heat felt, but in less than a minute, the sonic blast passes over them. "Whoa!!" Len screams as he looks south, squinting to see the familiar mushroom cloud beginning to boil over the Pacific Ocean.
"Look at their armour!!!" Miti points.
Everyone stares as the Guardswomen find themselves faltering, all power cutting out at the same time. They scream in helpless rage as they drop into the ocean, unable to break themselves free until they are underwater. No one is unaffected. Staring at this, everyone gazes in disbelief at Lufy, wondering how the Attacker pulled this out of her magic hat. "How did that cartoon character say it again?" Lufy muses, then nods. "Ah, I remember now!" She then drops into a Mel Blanc-like voice as she gives the Central Guard a parting wave. "Th-th-th-th-th-that's all, folks!!!"
"How?!!" Patty demands.
Derek chuckles. "Patty, don't you think that after all the advances your people made, that you'd learn to protect yourselves from something as simple as electromagnetic pulse?!"
Everyone gasps in shock, then burst out laughing. Lufy looks at her fiancee. "Hey, what say we find a hotel and go crash out for a bit?!" the Attacker muses. "I want to sleep before heading back home!"
"Hope they'll take Canadian currency," the university student sighs as he allows Lufy to drag her towards their bouncers...
* * *
To be concluded...
By Fred Herriot
450 Clare Avenue South, Welland, Ontario L3C 3B3 Canada
gorgo@timebomb.on.ca
**** **** ****
Based on the "Gall Force" series created by MOVIC.
**** **** ****
PART TWELVE - ENDGAME
"What has happened?!" Journey demands.
The Guardswoman catches herself, then looks at her screen. "According to sensors, we have been fired on by the Paranoid battleship in orbit, Leader," she looks at the casualty reports. "The airfield is wiped out. No survivors or surviving equipment."
"What of the auxiliary station?" a senior Guardswoman demands.
"All communications cut off," the younger Solnoid gulps.
"Leader Journey, the commander of the attacking force is hailing us," a communications technician looks over, her voice ashen. "It is Captain Eluza of the 'Starleaf.'"
Journey grits her teeth. It should have been so simple. The Terrans were hopelessly backward. How could her people not see the virtue in finishing their business with the Paranoid? While the base remained relatively loyal...there were cyborg troops around to keep order...no one from the outside had responded to her call to arms. Had Nebulart worked her infernal black magic so much that her people were blind?! "What does she want?" the Leader hisses.
"On behalf of the United Nations of the planet Earth," the technician gulps, "...our immediate and unconditional surrender."
"Traitorous swine!!!" a Guardswoman exclaims. "True Solnoid never surrender!!!"
Agreeing grunts echo from most of the others. Journey licks her lips as she considers her options. It was quite nice to be in a fully organic body again after so long as an imprisoned sentience inside a cyberlife station; a gift from the loyal members of the Central Guard who survived Sigma Narse. Right now, she was on the defensive, a small attacking force controlling the skies and no sign of friendly forces. But to submit to the rule of the natives of this world, to reject what they really were? How could have so many been poisoned? "Leader?" the communications technician looks contrite. "The captain demands your answer."
"A mere starship captain making demands of her Leader?" Journey sneers, standing. "Tell the disrespectful fool to learn her place or be punished!"
"Yes, Leader," the technician nods...
* * *
Eluza shakes her head in disbelief as the response scrolls on the Squirrel's control board. "Idiot!!" she snaps, then smiles. If Journey had lost all sense of reality, this would be a walk in the park! Thumbing the response button, she snarls, "You tell that fool, if she IS Journey, that I nor the Gallant Force respect her as a leader of anything...save an insane asylum! The choice is yours!!"
She shuts off the communications station before the shocked technician could reply, then turns on her tactical frequency. "Starleaf to Gall Force. The bandits are still in their pathetic little world. Time to shake them out of it. Samurai, Picadilly: take top cover. Chaos, Attacker, Vimy, Damia: go in on the first wave. Everyone else follow them down!"
A chorus of confirming messages echo as the Bronzs, Angels, Blowguns and the Squirrel dive for the beach. The two Bats rocket to higher altitude to give them an unobstructed view. From the west, two hundred Drones and two warpsleds soar in towards their own landing zone. Meanwhile, upstairs, the Bats begin a patrol circuit. "I say, Akira, I've got something coming in from the north," Chet switches to a private frequency. "You see that?"
"Confirmed," the Japanese nods. "Approaching at below Mach One. Can't get a fix on her. Stay here. I'll see what it is."
"Yell if you need help," the Englishman advises. "No need to go off half-cocked like you samurai always do!"
"And you Tommies don't?!" Akira laughs.
The second Bat races off to the north as Chet switches back to the main frequency to tell Eluza. Akira's eyes narrow as he sees a black dot racing at him. It turns into a flat boomerang shape with a low hump in the middle. Climbing, the Japanese swings the Bat around to come parallel to the aircraft. Sure enough, the wide arrow shape and the lack of anything resembling normal airplane structural design tell Akira everything. A Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. The American insurance policy in case his friends fail. Cutting to Eluza's frequency, he relays the new information.
Hearing of the bomber's approach over the general circuit, Lufy sits back as the Bronz touches down. As long as a storage depot existed where Solnoid equipment could be seized, trouble like this would always be possible. The people inside this base needed to be shocked so harshly that none would ever again contemplate this course of action. She was prepared for death, but after all she had been through, she could not stomach another massacre. "Hey, Eluza, why don't you call New York and get the captain to lean on the president's ear?! We can make use of those bombs!"
Everyone is surprised. "Lufy, are you nuts?!!" Derek demands.
"The idea of you exploding those things...jeez, they don't deserve that!!" Len shakes his head.
"Relax, you dummies," the Attacker smiles. "I've got a plan!"
"I was afraid you'd say that!" Rabby moans.
Eluza sighs, then shrugs. If the nuclear threat was there, many in the lower decks would see reason and come out. She thumbs the communications toggle, then relays the message to New York...
* * *
A half-hour later, with the island swept clean to ensure that no one was hiding, the Gall Force waits as the American bomber puts down. Fortunately, the runway is relatively clear of wreckage and potholes. As soon as it rolls to a stop, the lower boarding hatch opens and the pilot and co-pilot step out. Eluza hops out of the Squirrel to meet them. "You Captain Rubenstein?" the senior of the two, a major, salutes her.
Eluza blinks, then nods, recognizing her Earth name, Eleanor Rubenstein. "That's me. What goodies have you got?"
"Four Mark 87 fifty kiloton guided tactical nukes, courtesy of Uncle Sam," the captain replies. "Shit, you must have some serious pull to get the President to order us to deliver these things. I've never heard of something like this in all my years in SAC."
Eluza nods to Catty and Mal. "Help unload them!"
The two walk their Angels over to gently carry out the white bombs under the captain's direction. The major stares at the massed fleet of Solnoid and Paranoid equipment, then shrugs, lighting a cigarette. "Shit, you've got to be from CIA. I've never heard of any shit like this being used."
"They're...a special force," the Solnoid smiles, then looks over. "Lufy, what do you want to do with these things?"
The Attacker walks up. The American major stares at the woman, then on seeing her eyes, relaxes. No matter where these people came from, that was a fighter pilot. "Yo, Catty, want to run up a schematic of this place."
Finishing work with the bombs, the android calls up a three-D diagram of the base. Looking at it, Lufy snorts. Typical Solnoid bunker design. One central exit with side chambers leading from all sides, reaching down a couple of hundred metres into the earth. As long as they held the entrance, those inside had no way out save fight or surrender...and with the mass of Paranoid there, fighting their way out was suicide. "One here," she points to under the central control room, "...one here," she indicates the main hangar bay, "...one here," she points to the main power plant, "...and the last one here," she points to the bottom of the elevator well. She then looks to the bombs. "Get them out of those cases!"
Mal cracks the bombs open, gently sliding out each warhead and controlling mechanism. Each is lowered to the ground as Lufy looks at the control console. A typical telephone-like structure with extra buttons: ENGAGE, PROGRAM and CANCEL. Hitting the program button, the Attacker plays musical numbers with each bomb, loading in the sequence that will arm them. Once that is done, she then looks at her watch, then programs two hours for the countdown. Once that is done, she notions Catty, Mal and the captain to the three other bombs. Looking at her watch, she nods. "Now!"
The bombs are made live, the counter 2:00:00.00 appearing on the digital readout, which begins the countdown. "The lady has brass," the major muses.
Lufy stands, walking over to the mass of Paranoid drones. "Who's in charge here?"
One drone walks up. Suddenly, the top hatch opens, revealing to the Attacker's shock a man! However, his beige, white and black robes tell of his true ancestry. "I am Tek, first officer," he stands, walking over to grasp Lufy's hand.
The other Solnoid are stunned. "How?!" Spea gasps.
Tek smiles. "Did you expect us to take residency here without making some alterations?"
Lufy whistles, then wonders why she is so surprised. The Paranoid had to be master geneticists if they could pull off the Species Unification Project. "Look, Commander, I and my friends are going to take those big bang-bang toys downstairs to entice those idiots out. Problem is, some of our people are quite inexperienced. We can use the escort."
"You shall have it," Tek nods. "Four phalanxes will be detailed. The remainder will stay here."
The Attacker nods. "Oh, another thing. If you see Solnoids down there, don't kill them. Grab 'em and haul them out. If they're in armour, pry 'em out. Don't kill if you don't have to."
"Curious, hearing mercy from an Attacker."
Lufy shrugs. "I've had my fill of killing."
"As have I," Tek nods, then barks orders to his troops.
Lufy runs back to her Bronz, mounting the machine and locking up. She walks over, grabs one of the bombs, then turns to Shildy, Rabby and Derek. "Take one. Careful you don't touch the control board."
The three other Bronzes walk over to take a bomb. "Rest of you, take defensive positions around the entrance," Eluza barks, then turns to the two pilots. "Major, Captain, get your plane out of here. You're not needed."
"All the same to you, Captain, we'd like to stick around to see the rest of the show," the major draws a Beretta 93R, cocking the action, then setting the lever to three-shot mode.
"Okay, but wheel that out of here," Eluza points to the B-2.
The captain runs back to taxi the bomber away. Catty walks forward with her Angel, locating the main entrance door control station buried in the scorched earth. The Bronzes find themselves surrounded by forty drones. "Ready, Lufy," she calls over.
Lufy grits her teeth. "Go!!!"
Catty flips the door open, allowing the first ranks of drones to pour into the well...
* * *
"Leader, we're invaded!!!" the Guardswoman screams, her face paling. "Paranoid drones and Bronzs!!!"
"What?!!" Journey cries in disbelief.
The door to the control room shatters as two drones appear. The Solnoids scream as they lunge for weapons, but the Paranoids are swift today...and they are not there to kill. In seconds, the four women who were with Journey are scooped up in the drones' pincers. "Let us go!!!" one screams.
Journey sheds her pale robes, drawing her gun and firing as she races to a side door. One hits the communications technician in the shoulder, causing her to scream out in pain. "Leader, don't leave us...!" she gasps as unconsciousness surges to take her.
The woman blinks as the drone's hatch opens, revealing a human male dressed in the beige jumpsuit of a Paranoid soldier. The man presses his hand against the wound as he draws the technician into the safety of the drone's armour. "You must be brought to a healer's attention," he grits his teeth as he guides his machine towards the surface.
"Am I...dreaming...?" the Solnoid moans. "You're...human..."
"Yes," the Paranoid curtly nods. "A curious existence. I wonder how you solids can stand living your whole lives like this."
The technician finds herself deliriously giggling as the drone flies towards the entrance, his companion right behind him.
Metres below, Lufy hammers away at a squad of Bronz-Xs and older Bronz-Ds who had taken position at the bottom of the elevator well, her target place for the bomb tucked in one hand. Beside her, a half dozen drones keep up a withering fire. "Aim for the head, arms and legs!" the Attacker orders. "Once they're helpless, drag them back to the surface!!"
Confirming messages reply as they alter aim. Soon enough, the rebel bouncers are decapitated, then shed of their limbs. The drones lunge forward as they tear open the carapaces, seizing the pilots and dragging them out. Lufy pops the hatch on her Bronz as she watches the Paranoids drag the Solnoids away. One spots her. "Traitor!!! At least have the courtesy of killing us in battle!!!"
Lufy lifts the bouncer's arm to reveal her deadly cargo. "If you've seen 'Broken Arrow,' you'll recognize this!" a mirthless grin crosses the Attacker's face.
The rebel pilot turns white. "You wouldn't...!!"
"Try me!" Lufy snarls.
The rebels shudder as the Paranoid take them away. Lufy sits in her chair, then guides the Bronz to the bottom of the pit. She slides the bomb into the cockpit of a wrecked bouncer, then adjusts it so that a passing Solnoid would not see the surprise she hid there. "Attacker to Starleaf," Lufy calls to the surface. "Arrow One in place. Coming back up."
"Confirmed," Eluza's relieved voice calls back, then she calls out, "Vimy, Chaos, Damia: report."
* * *
Fanatics should be all lined up and shot! Derek grunts as he stares at the Solnoids facing him. All had weapons, some looking like anti-armour projectiles. The Paranoid who were supposed to be with him were carrying other rebels to the surface. "I'm a little busy here, Eluza. Give me a moment," Derek calls, then turns on his bouncer's external speakers. "C'mon, girls. The fun's over. We all had a big laugh. Let's call it a day and go home, huh?"
"In your dreams, Terran!" the group's leader, a member of the Central Guard, snarls. "We're going to make our new homeworld on Chaos even if we have to lay waste to this one to do it!!"
"Fine, if you want to die, suit yourself," Derek holds up his bomb. "I'll just leave this right here if you don't mind."
"That's an atomic bomb!!" one technician gasps, pointing.
"That's right," Derek places it by a garbage bin. "Now, I wonder how fast it will take you to try to figure out the combination to shut it down...much less find the three others we brought down with us. You've got an hour and three-quarters. Care to test your luck?"
The Solnoids shudder. "Now, given this beauty's capabilities, I could sit here right up to a minute before she goes off," Derek relaxes in his chair. "Any of you so much as approach that little pop-toy, I'll charcoal-broil you. It's no skin off my nose; we've got our own fanatics to deal with and we're not in the mood to deal with imported trash like you."
One of the Guardswomen levels her gun at the Bronz's head. "We can still kill you right here and now!"
"I should warn you not to do that," Derek yawns. "You see, if you kill me, you'll then have to deal with my fiancee. She's Lufy, an Attacker. I take it her reputation has got even to you."
One young technician nearly drops her rifle. "L-l-lufy...?!!"
"Lufy's alive?!" another gags. "The Butcher of Space herself?!"
"That's her," Derek nods, reminding himself to ask Lufy where she got such a disgusting moniker. "Now, Lufy and I were about to consummate our relationship when the woman SUPPOSEDLY saying she's Journey shows up. Lufy, to put it nicely, is now upset. Now, if you kill me, Lufy will become VERY upset. I don't want to even THINK of what she'll do to you when she finds out YOU'RE the ones who killed her lover."
"We'll still be dead!" a technician looks like she is trying to summon her courage.
Time for the kill. "What makes you think Lufy would let you die?" Derek muses.
Blind horror crosses their faces as the rebels try to conceive of what grotesque horrors the legendary Attacker could unleash. "Forget it!!" one throws her rifle down. "I ain't that crazy!"
The others quickly drop their weapons as a squad of drones show up. "Ah, gentlemen, just in time," Derek smiles. "Care to cart these ladies to the surface?"
The Solnoid do not resist as the Paranoid fly them up the elevator shaft. Derek relaxes, then notices Lufy calling in. "What the hell was that shit?!" the Attacker snarls. "What makes you think I'd waste time on them because of you?!"
"Lufy, did anyone ever tell you that you're a horrible liar?" the Canadian winks at her.
The Solnoid sneers, then smiles. "So...I'm your fiancee, am I? Weird way of proposing, huh?"
"I love you, too, Lufy," Derek laughs as he guides his Bronz to the surface. "Vimy to Starleaf: Arrow Two is in place."
* * *
Shildy grits her teeth as she stares at the equipment in the main hangar bay. Most of it is under organic control and they were not in the mood to compromise. Behind her, a dozen drones were ready to grab the pilots. They were waiting for the intelligence officer to talk them into surrendering. "There's no need for this foolishness anymore!" she calls out over her speakers. "Come out of those things and head to the surface!"
"So you can vaporize the equipment and leave us defenseless?!" a rebel snarls. "Not a chance! Not when their kind is here!"
"They're human!" Shildy retorts. "They put themselves through a genetic conversion before coming down. They've got no home to go back to! Why are you still trying to fight a war that's long done, fighting for someone who can't conceive of anything other than to send us all to our deaths?!"
"That's they way things've always been!" another snarls.
Shildy wanted to cry. These people knew no other way to live than making war. "Fine, then!!" she snaps. "If you want to die, go ahead! I won't waste myself on you cowards anymore!!"
She turns, flashing the word DAMIA on her carapace. One rebel jerks. "Wait!! Why do you have that painted on your bouncer?!"
Shildy looks back. "Because I destroyed DAMIA!"
The hush that follows is nearly palatable. "You destroyed DAMIA?!!" one rebel exclaims.
"That's right," Shildy nods.
"Why did you do that?!"
"One, to preserve this planet," the intelligence officer replies. "Two, because Journey was willing to butcher the Lorelei Fleet and heaven knows who else just to get her stupid victory over Born! If any of you were there, you'd probably know how helpless I felt when I realized what she was doing! Destroying DAMIA was the way I saved myself!"
Suddenly, to her surprise, the rebel Bronz goes to one knee, the carapace opening to allow the pilot to emerge. "What are you doing?!!" another demands.
"I lost friends in that battle!" the disembarked pilot snaps, a disgusted sneer entering her voice. "I didn't know it was our 'esteemed' Leader who ordered that! Forget it! I'll fight for my people but I won't fight for someone like that!!"
She walks towards the drones. Her defection has a calming effect on the situation. "If Journey succeeds, then you'll be fighting hopeless battles until you are dead," Shildy explains. "Didn't we come to this planet to have a little peace?"
Silence answers her...until one by one, the rebels de-power their armour and disembark. They allow the Paranoid to take them away. In a minute, there is nothing left. Shildy sighs, then deposits the bomb in a hidden corner. "Damia to Starleaf," she signals to Eluza. "Arrow Three in place."
* * *
Rabby grits her teeth as she throws off the cyborg soldiers trying to pin her down. Others were trying to pry the nuclear bomb out of the Bronz's hand, or else get at the carapace to tear her out. Eluza's face appears on the monitor screen. "Starleaf to Chaos. Three arrows are in place. What's your status?!"
"Ah!!!" Rabby screams, a circuit panel exploding. "Little busy here! I'm hip-deep in cyborgs and they're not interested in negotiating!!"
Lufy's and Shildy's faces appear next to the captain's. "Hang on, tiger!" the Attacker calls down. "Help's on the way!"
"Expedite, Lufy!!" Rabby grunts.
"Roger!"
The screen goes blank as Rabby flings the cyborgs against one wall. They hit with such terrific force that they fall apart before the first officer's eyes, sparks, blood and cerebro-spinal fluid showering everywhere. "Mother, forgive me!" Rabby gasps as she turns her attention to another...
...when they start to explode as each are hit with a fusillade of high explosive armour-piercing rounds! The first officer watches with morbid fascination as the cyborgs are shredded before her eyes, then she turns to see who her rescuers are. "Who...?!"
Two Paranoid drones. "Are you alright, Commander?" a familiar male voice echoes from one.
"Commander Dawn!!" Rabby looks relieved, then tries to shift the arm servo to place the bomb down. It does not move. "Oh, no!"
"What's wrong?!" the Paranoid commander demands.
"The arm's stuck!" Rabby grunts, then sighs. "Hell with it!"
She opens the Bronz, swinging herself to the ground, then begins to drag the bomb out of the immobile hand. "Let me help you," Dawn calls out as he disembarks his drone, running over to give the Solnoid a hand.
The second drone remains in place when the pilot spots a cyborg raising a gun in the general direction of Rabby and Dawn. "Dawn, look out!!!" she cries...
...as the gun fires, the round punching through the Paranoid's chest. "Commander!!!" Rabby screams.
The second drone turns to bear on target, disintegrating the cyborg with a rage-driven fusillade of cannon shot! Rabby leaps over to catch the wounded commander. The second drone's hatch opens, allowing Catty to disembark. "Dawn!!" she screams as she runs to her wounded lover's side.
Rabby gasps on seeing the once-android. Impossible! All the Catty droids save Lufy's friend were dead...then who?! "Catty..." Dawn moans as Catty takes him into her arms.
"I'm here, my love," she sobs. "Hold on! We'll get you back to the surface! Help's up there...Dawn...?! Dawn?!"
The commander can no longer hear her. "No...!" Catty gasps as she tightly hugs his body, sobs exploding from her own heart.
"Catty..." Rabby reaches over.
The once-android stares at her former shipmate. "Why, Rabby?! Why?! All Dawn and I wanted was to be human, to be together for the rest of our lives! Why?! In the name of the Mother, why?!"
Rabby stares in disbelief at her as Catty succumbs to her sobbing. This was the Catty from the first "Starleaf," alive and whole. How was that possible? She had killed herself so that the Blossom could be free of the doomed carrier...unless her mind had survived long enough for Dawn to find her and give her a semblance of life. The first officer sympathetically shakes her head. Another tragedy to be added to the insanity her race had unleashed. "Catty, help me, please," she reaches over to her fellow Solnoid. "Help me get the bomb off, then we'll take him up top."
Catty stares at her, anger flashing in her eyes at Rabby's interrupting her mourning. She then realizes the logic of the situation, then after gently placing her lover down, stands to help the first officer unload the bomb...
* * *
"Chaos, this is Starleaf!" Eluza calls over the communications line. "Rabby, respond. What's going on down there?!"
Rabby's saddened features appear on the screen. "Oh, thank the Mother," the captain sighs.
"Sorry, Eluza," Rabby looks down. "The fourth bomb's in place...but Commander Dawn's dead."
"Mother, no!!!" horror crosses Eluza's face.
Unfortunately, she is not the only one who heard that. "The commander...dead?!" Sel gasps from the interior of his drone. "Why?! How?!!"
Several Paranoid angrily turn on the captured Solnoid, their weapons swinging to bear. Simple revenge. An eye for an eye, the Jewish and Christian holy texts demanded. Watching them, Eluza felt more in sympathy towards her former enemies than her fellow Solnoid. Dawn had given his crew the chance to explore a new world, to live in peace...and now, the one responsible for their fortune could not enjoy it. Before they could fire however, a tall, handsome fellow in a green and grey robe steps in their line of fire, his hand held out. "Stop!!!" he barks.
"But, Leader Born, they...!!" Sel growls.
"Stop!!" Born snaps. "In battle, killing is understandable and honourable!! They have surrendered!! Are we now going to succumb to the madness which infected their leaders?!!"
The Solnoid stare in disbelief at the tall Paranoid. That was Born?! echoes on many faces. And he was saving them from those who wanted to avenge their commander's death? Nearby, Patty stares at the Leader who also came back from the dead to fight this final battle. Why did he look like her son? What was going on here?
Ignoring her gaze, Born gazes at Tek's machine. "Commander, grant me your drone. I will finish this business, the way it should have been finished years ago!"
Tek hesitates, then nods, opening his drone's hatch to allow his Leader to step inside. "Good luck," he bows as Born buttons up the drone, then lifts off, flying the craft into the tunnel.
"Hey, wait!!!" Patty hops on her Blowgun, then races off after the drone. "Wait!!"
"What the hell?!" Eluza exclaims. "Patty, get back here! The bombs are down there!! Are you insane?!! Patty!!!"
* * *
In the bowels of the base, Journey checks her gun's magazine. The sounds of Bronzes have faded. Obviously, Eluza and her traitors had succeeded in suppressing the remainder of the base. Now, where was the access tunnel to the auxiliary defense station? Once there, she could send a massive force out to destroy the rebels, then destroy anyone who stood in her way. She could still win, if she was in time! Standing, she runs down a side tunnel.
Nearby, Born lands the drone, scanning the area around him with infra-red sensors. A heat trail, very fresh. Journey would be one of the last down here, with little to call upon to defend her. Smiling, the Leader disembarks the drone, drawing a heavy machine gun. The rest of the hunt would be on foot. There was still over an hour before the nuclear bombs Eluza had laid down here would detonate. Enough time to finally end a war.
"Hold it, you!!" a voice barks.
Born sees Patty race up on the Blowgun. The combat leader hops off her machine, walking up to the Paranoid. "Why have you come down here?!" Born demands. "This is between Journey and I!"
"And I say let her rot down here," Patty points up. "There's no need for you to kill yourself like this, sir. Let's get out of here! The bombs'll do the rest!!"
Born stares quizzically at her. "Why did you follow me?"
Patty catches herself. "Does it matter?" she muses self-consciously, her face heating.
"I am curious."
The combat leader looks down. "Sorry. It's because you looked so much like my son."
Born blinks. "Wait! The 'Starleaf'...of course!! Are you Combat Leader Patty, the contact point for Project: Exodermus?!"
She stares at him. "That's right. How'd you know that?!"
A light smile crosses his face. "Who do you think was the one Galt and Dawn first requested for DNA samples for the Project?"
Patty blinks. "Then he...he's...!"
"Your child...and mine," Born nods.
A hoarse cry of disbelief escapes the Solnoid's lips. She had never sat back and thought about where the Paranoid had got the genetic material so she could have her baby. And he was the child of the leader of all the Paranoid?! Now there was a revelation! "I...I see..." Patty looks down, then tenses. "Who's there?!"
A shot rings out, nearly parting her hair. The two leap in separate directions as Journey's hysterical laughter is heard. "Welcome to my den, Born!!" she cackles as a machine pistol thunders. "Now, I'll have the pleasure of killing you, then after I've laid waste to this world, I'll then destroy your worthless race!!"
Born rolls, cursing himself. He was still unused to being in this body. It had strengths, but he had not the chance to fully explore them. Taking his weapon, he showers the general direction of the hostile fire with bullets. "Lunatic!!!"
Journey ducks as beams above her head shatter. One of them comes down on her back, knocking the wind out of her and forcing her to let go of her pistol. Grunting, she drags herself over to seize the pistol anew...when a boot falls on it. She looks up to see Born gazing at her, his blue eyes like ice. He levels his weapon on her, his intent all too clear. "No...!"
He suddenly lifts the weapon, then tosses it aside. "Why?!" he hisses. "Why didn't you people come to your senses?!"
Kicking her pistol away, the Paranoid reaches down to throw the beam off the Solnoid's back. Patty approaches...then tenses as she sees a gleam in the darkness. Knife! "Look out!!!" she screams as she lunges at Journey.
Born dodges as Patty slams into Journey's side, the force sending the two sprawling. Patty finds herself atop the screaming Journey, both her hands keeping the knife from plunging into her own heart. "You traitor!!" Journey snarls as she tries to throw the combat officer off her. "How dare you protect the enemy from your own Leader?!! Why?!!"
Patty cocks her fist. "Because he's my mate!"
Journey hesitates, stunned to hear that...then her head snaps as Patty's fist connects solidly with her jaw! The Solnoid Leader moans as the pain overwhelms her, her hand letting the knife go. Patty gasps as she slowly staggers to her feet...then falls back into Born's arms. "Well struck, Patty," the Paranoid Leader muses.
Patty smiles, then finds herself laughing. At his questioning glance, she shrugs. "I just had a weird idea, that's all."
"That being?" he inquires.
"Why don't we have another child?" she sighs, a tear flowing down her cheek. "And this time, we raise him on our own."
"What's wrong with your eyes?" he reaches to her face.
She wipes her cheeks, only to have fresh ones replace them. "I'm thinking about the one we left behind, three million years ago, that's all."
"He lives on in all the Terrans alive today," he reminds her.
She thinks about that for a moment. "He does, doesn't he?"
* * *
"Well, it's about time you got out of there, you idiot!!" Lufy snaps as Patty guides the Blowgun out of the tunnel, Born and a tied-up Journey riding behind her. "What the hell took you so long?! We've got less than an hour left to go!"
"Sorry," Patty disembarks her machine. "Just had to make sure this piece of refuse would live to see her dreams blown to radioactive dust!!" she grunts as she drags Journey to the ground.
Some of the rebel Solnoid howl on seeing the combat officer handle their Leader so disrespectfully. "Bitch!!!" a Guardswoman snaps. "How dare you abuse the Leader like that?!!"
"Oh, shut up!!" Patty snarls back, her pistol coming out to bear on target. "Next joker that talks bites a bullet!!"
The rebels clam up, seeing how serious Patty is. "We've done our mission," Eluza sighs as the drone of a Hercules is heard, then turns to the rebels. "All of you will be taken and separated from each other. You will never be permitted to contact each other, nor have access to anything which could give you the chance to pull something like this again! And, I was told by Captain Nebulart, the surviving Paranoid will become your guardians!!"
"Kill us and be done with it!" a Guardswoman sneers. "We'll never submit to their kind!!"
By then, the Hercules, bearing United States Air Force markings, lands. As it stops, its rear boarding hatch opens and a company's worth of Green Berets storm out. One of them, a colonel, comes up to Eluza, saluting her. "Captain Rubenstein?"
"Yes," Eluza nods.
"Ma'am, we're here to take your prisoners off your hands."
Eluza stares at the rebels. "They're all yours, Colonel. Could you transport their guardians as well? I have no transport of my own to get them safely off before the bombs explode."
"It's our pleasure, ma'am," the colonel nods. "The whole world owes you people quite a debt, or so I'm told."
"Just doing our job, Colonel."
He nods, salutes her again, then waves to his men. The rebels and their escorting Paranoid are herded to the Hercules. Dawn's would-be mate and Born refuse to go with them. "Why?" Rabby stares quizzically at Catty, who still holds Dawn's body in her arms.
"I want to take him to a place where I can still visit him," the once-android smiles, staring at the peaceful face before her.
Her still-mechanical sister comes up to comfort her as they proceed to the arriving Hercules from Greenwood bearing Amy and the others. "Let's get out of here!" Eluza sighs.
Everyone nods agreeingly...
* * *
Within twenty minutes, the Gall Force and their friends lift off, heading towards Tahiti. As the famed vacation spot comes into view, Chet's alarmed voice is heard over the channels. "I say, old sports, there seems to be a group leaving the island behind us!"
Lufy calls up the image on her Bronz's tactical screen. Hundreds of little powered suits, all painted the dark red of the Solnoid Central Guard. "Oh, shit, not now!!" she gasps. "Where'd they come from?!"
"The bastards must've been lying low while everyone else was taking the heat!" Len exclaims. "Let's nail the creeps!!"
"No!!!" Lufy snaps, looking at her watch, which was matched to the bombs' timers. "We've got no time!! The bombs'll go in ten minutes! Pick a beach and let's put down!!"
"Lufy, what are you talking about now?!" Eluza demands.
"Captain, in heaven's name, don't argue about it!!!" the Attacker snaps back. "DO IT!!!!!!"
Everyone, Solnoid, Terran and Paranoid alike, shudder at her scream. "There's a beach!" Miti looks ahead. "It's empty!!"
Lufy power-dives her Bronz, coming to a skidding landing on the beach. The other equipment put down, even the Bats. Everyone leans out of their vehicles to watch as the Attacker shuts everything down in her machine, then calmly disembarks. "What are you doing?!!" Spea demands. "We've got the rest of the Central Guard coming after us and you're shutting your machine down!!!"
"Shaddup!!!" Lufy yells back, the bite in her voice scaring everyone, even Miti! "Now, shut everything down in your machines!! Not a thing's to be on!!! DO IT!!!!!!"
Their sheer terror of Lufy overcoming their attempts at trying to make sense of this situation, everyone quickly deactivates their gear. "If those Guardswomen show up and we're defenseless, it's your fault!!" Len protests.
"SHADDUP!!!!" Lufy screams.
In a minute, everyone's machines are inactive. Lufy checks her watch. Four minutes. She then looks at the android Catty. "Her, too!!" she thumbs at her, looking at the organic Catty, having rode with Patty.
"What?!" the former looks incensed. "I protest this...!"
The latter comes up, reaching to a point below the back of her skull, then presses in. The android lets out a squeal as power to her systems are cut, slumping forward as her eyes dull. "Relax," the once-android sighs. "I think I know what's happening."
Lufy looks south. The black dots were becoming more discernable. She looks to her watch. "Three minutes."
Derek stares at her, then remembers a scene from a movie he had recently seen, one which had inspired Lufy to use nuclear weapons on the Solnoid base. Walking up to her, he gently draws her into his embrace. "I hope this works," he quietly intones.
Rabby, Shildy, Chet and Akira stare at them, then look south. "They're getting rather closer," the Englishman tenses.
"It might be too close," Shildy adds.
The minutes tick away. By the time there are thirty seconds left, the first of the Central Guard have begun their power dives, their pilots not believing their sudden stroke of good luck. Lufy watches the seconds tick past, then slips a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. "Almost time..."
"For what?!" Mal shudders fearfully.
Everyone tenses as the ten second mark passes. Lufy begins to call the countdown as the first waves of Guardswomen reach wave-top level, a kilometre away and closing fast. At three, she turns her head away from the direction of the rebels' island. Everyone quickly looks away, most praying.
Zero!
A titanic flash bursts from the south as enriched uranium and plutonium unleash themselves in a torrent of energy that vaporizes the island and everything on it!! Due to the distance, there is no heat felt, but in less than a minute, the sonic blast passes over them. "Whoa!!" Len screams as he looks south, squinting to see the familiar mushroom cloud beginning to boil over the Pacific Ocean.
"Look at their armour!!!" Miti points.
Everyone stares as the Guardswomen find themselves faltering, all power cutting out at the same time. They scream in helpless rage as they drop into the ocean, unable to break themselves free until they are underwater. No one is unaffected. Staring at this, everyone gazes in disbelief at Lufy, wondering how the Attacker pulled this out of her magic hat. "How did that cartoon character say it again?" Lufy muses, then nods. "Ah, I remember now!" She then drops into a Mel Blanc-like voice as she gives the Central Guard a parting wave. "Th-th-th-th-th-that's all, folks!!!"
"How?!!" Patty demands.
Derek chuckles. "Patty, don't you think that after all the advances your people made, that you'd learn to protect yourselves from something as simple as electromagnetic pulse?!"
Everyone gasps in shock, then burst out laughing. Lufy looks at her fiancee. "Hey, what say we find a hotel and go crash out for a bit?!" the Attacker muses. "I want to sleep before heading back home!"
"Hope they'll take Canadian currency," the university student sighs as he allows Lufy to drag her towards their bouncers...
* * *
To be concluded...