"So let me get this straight," Dylan began, "You want to use my ship to launch a nova bomb at a Nietzschean planet for something that happened generations ago, and if we don't comply, you'd rather blow us out of the sky, correct?"
"Essentially, yes," Lucan replied.
Dylan moved toward the shuttle pod. He tapped on various places of the hull. A service panel opened, and Dylan peered inside. "The bird cannot fly because the bird has no wings," he said. "The internal components have been removed."
"Very good, Captain. The distress signal transmitter was extracted and placed outside the compound. It would not transmit through the rock walls. I'll admit, my men were not too familiar with the inner mechanics of your High Guard ships. Otherwise, I would have hoped they could have left at least part of it intact."
Dylan moved toward the nova bomb. He tapped a panel and it popped open revealing an LCD readout. "You do realize," he said, "that you need the codes in order to launch this?"
"That is why you are going to give them to me, Captain," Lucan paused. "Or else..."
Dylan raised an eyebrow sizing up his opponent. "Or else what? You kill me, my crew, and try to take my ship by force? Or destroy it and wait for the next unsuspecting passerby to pick up on your distress signal?"
Lucan said nothing, but merely lowered his head as if in agreement. "I'm afraid that would be impossible," Dylan continued. "When a High Guard Captain gives his ship the command to self-destruct, the ship sends out a signal to all remaining nova bombs on board which renders them useless before it ejects them out into space. Otherwise you'd have a world-destroying explosion on your hands. The bombs are of course rendered functionless so that they do not happen to fall into the wrong hands. The only way to make this bomb work again would be to get the codes from Captain Malcolm, and I'm afraid he's not around for that." Dylan stepped back toward Lucan and Tyr.
Lucan was growling below his breath. His expression had turned sour. "If that is the case," he voiced, "then I'm afraid you are of no use to me." He motioned to the two guards. "Take them and put them with the others." Lucan abruptly turned on his heel and trotted out.
The two guards prodded Dylan and Tyr. They complied and started walking toward another wall at the back of the room. A guard motioned and an invisible door opened. The next room was not as well lit. It had an eerie red glow similar to what the group had witnessed outside when they first landed. The two guards removed their visors. They continued pushing Dylan and Tyr deeper toward the darkness.
"Do you think they actually have a plasma cannon?" Tyr ventured.
"I wouldn't put it past them," Dylan replied. "Look around you. They seem to be doing fairly well for themselves, wouldn't you think?"
"You're implying other than the Teramus Zenith we're not the first ship to fall prey to these scavengers?"
"Electronic doors built into rock walls that open on a gesture? They have to be getting their technology from somewhere." Tyr made a sound in agreement, but said nothing. The two guards stopped them. Again, one made a gesture and a door slid open. They ushered the two men inside. Then the door slid closed behind them separating them from the guards.
"Dylan?" It was Beka's voice.
Dylan looked around. The holding chamber was little more than a storage room. There were four sleeping cots set up and a toilet facility in the back corner. There were no windows, and of course, no doors that Dylan could see. "It's alright," he said. "We're fine. How have you two been?"
"Fine," Beka replied. "They just put us in here and left us. One came by and offered us food, but that was about it. Other than wondering where you two were, it's been rather boring. Oh, and Trance taking core samples of the food was good for a few laughs. So Dylan, mind filling us in on what's going on?"
"It's a long story. The short version is that they want to use the Andromeda to launch a nova bomb at a Nietzschean planet. Otherwise, they will kill us and destroy the ship."
"You know I leave you two alone for twenty minutes and this is what you've gotten us into," Beka remarked sarcastically. "Okay, so bearing all that, how do we get out of this mess?"
"We need to get a message to Rommie. These rock walls are too dense to get any signal through, and the atmosphere warps any transmission that goes through it. There is a signal beacon located somewhere outside if we could get to it. But we have no idea where, and even if we could get out, it's unfamiliar terrain and dark. They would most likely find us before we found the beacon. One of the guards confiscated my force lance, otherwise I could have used it to home in on the beacon."
"I know if Harper were here, he'd just build something to get us out and find the beacon," Beka said.
"If I had my force lance, I could blast our way out of here," Tyr stated as he reclined on one of the cots.
"You mean this old thing?" Trance piped up. She reached into the shoulder satchel she was wearing and produced the item.
Tyr sat up stunned. "My force lance! Trance, how did you...?"
"A tail has its usefulness," she grinned at him. "I picked it up off the ground when you dropped it during the fight while no one was looking." She gave a perky smile and shook her head. "I thought it might come in handy," she finished.
Tyr laughed. He grabbed the weapon from Trance and looked at Dylan. "It's a start," he said.
"Excellent," Dylan stated. "Now if we can get out of here, we can use Tyr's lance to find the beacon and send a message to Rommie. We can't blast our way out as much as you'd like to Tyr. That would create too much attention. The idea is to get out unseen."
"Dylan, aren't you overlooking one thing?" Beka asked.
"What's that?"
"Our shuttle pod, you know the one we flew down here? Why can't we just make it back to the pod and fly off this planet?"
"Not likely. By now, they would have the pod heavily guarded, and that would be the first place they'd look for us. Besides, if they really do want to take over the Andromeda, that is their only way of getting to it. They can't make the approach on their own. Rommie would notice we were not aboard and never let them get close enough. No, they would need us along in order to board the ship. Right now, the best bet is the beacon."
The group was silent. Dylan looked at Tyr. "It looks like this will require some old fashioned brute force. Are you up to it?"
Tyr grinned.
"Now if we can just find the door," Beka said.
Trance moved closer to the wall. She cocked her head this way and that studying the surface. She placed her hand against the smooth rock and made a gesture. The rock slid open. "Will this do?" she asked.
"I swear that girl amazes me sometimes," Beka said in astonishment.
Tyr glanced out into the corridor. There were no guards. "It's clear," he motioned to the group. The foursome crept along the corridor, Tyr in front with the force lance. Several paces down the hall, the corridor split into two directions. Tyr started to head off toward the right.
"Wait a minute," said Trance. "I think it's this way."
"How can you tell?" asked Tyr.
Trance shrugged. "Because it's pretty?" she replied.
"There she goes again," said Beka.
Tyr looked in both directions. "They both look the same to me."
"Tyr," said Beka, "just follow her. We don't have time to argue."
Tyr rolled his eyes, but complied. They crept along behind Trance trying to stay as close to the wall as possible, feeling for anything that might resemble a door. After several meters, the corridor opened up into a dead end.
"You see?" said Tyr. "I told you. We should have gone the other way."
Trance again walked to the far wall. Again she cocked her head studying the surface. Again she touched the wall and made a motion. Another door opened. Again, Tyr rolled his eyes. "I don't believe this," he said.
Beka let out a short laugh. Dylan smiled and shook his own head. Again they followed Trance. The new room was slightly better lit. Along the walls were rows of flashing noiseless computers. A very large cylindrical object was in the center of the room.
"It's a control room!" Beka exclaimed. "With a communications transmitter. The atmosphere isn't warping transmissions - they're jamming them!"
Dylan studied the large object at the center of the room. "Is that what I think it is?" Tyr asked. Dylan nodded.
"A plasma cannon," Dylan responded. They both gazed up toward the ceiling where they could see a series of panels that could slide open. "If we could get up there," Dylan observed, "we could reach the surface." He turned toward Beka. "Beka, can you open a secure com link to the Andromeda?"
"Their jamming frequencies are encoded. I could send it along the same path that the distress beacon is sending on. If Rommie, can pick that up, then she should get the message too. Just give me one second... Okay, go."
"Rommie, this is Dylan, do you read me?"
There was static, but then a faint response. "I read you, Captain. What's your status?"
"Emergency procedures. Hostiles want to take over the ship. If we are not back on board within twenty minutes, you are to go into slipstream and get as far away from here as possible. Do you understand?"
"Dylan," came Rommie's voice, "what's wrong?"
"No time to explain. They have a nova bomb and a plasma cannon. This world is a sitting time bomb. We are going to try and make it back to our shuttle. If you do not hear from me within the next twenty minutes, vacate the area."
There was silence, then Rommie's voice again. "Understood, Captain." The radio went dead.
"Very good, Captain," came Lucan's voice from behind them. They had not heard him enter. He had a gun trained on them. On his hip hung Dylan's force lance. "So you managed to escape. This does not change anything. If you will not take us aboard your ship, then we will destroy it."
"My ship has orders now to vacate the area if I do not respond within twenty minutes," Dylan said. "You cannot board without my help."
"Then you, your ship, and your crew will die," responded Lucan. He raised his gun. Tyr was ready and jumped into action. He extracted his force lance and knocked the gun from Lucan's hand. The two guards with Lucan responded and fired their own guns. Dylan and Beka jumped to safety. The shots ripped into the communications console. "NO!" Lucan shouted. "If any of those shots hit the plasma cannon, we're all dead!"
As if in slow motion, the two guards got the message and lowered their guns. This gave Beka enough time to train on them. She lunge kicked one to the stomach, then side stepped and kicked the other. The first guard recovered quickly and tried to grab at her. Beka dodged instead, grabbing him by the arm and swinging the guard into his companion.
More guards were entering the room, all with weapons. Tyr busied himself with the new regime, while Dylan made for Lucan. Lucan drew the force lance from his hip. Dylan stepped back and drew himself up. "Do you really know how to operate one of those things?" he asked. As if in response, the lance extracted itself. Lucan grinned. "But do you know what the green button is for?" Dylan countered. Lucan pointed the tip of the shaft at him. Still grinning, Lucan nodded.
"Goodbye, Captain," he said. He pressed the green button. Dylan jumped. The plasma bolts streaked past him and took out another row of computers. Instantly, Lucan shrieked in pain as several hundred volts of plasma electricity raced through his body. He fell to the ground dropping the force lance.
"Yep, that's what it's for," Dylan remarked. He casually leaned over and retrieved the weapon. He looked around the room. Tyr was just finishing up with a guard while Beka went about tying up several others with bits of rope Trance had produced from her shoulder pack. Trance was sitting on one of the few undamaged consoles with her tail wrapped around a guard's throat obviously choking him. She still had that same perky smile on her face, acting nonchalant. "Trance," Dylan said. The tail quickly unwound itself and the guard collapsed to the floor unconscious. The purple blonde popped up and said "Now what?"
"Now we get out of here," Dylan replied.
"About time," Beka chimed in.
Dylan looked at Beka. "Think you can find something to open that shaft above us?"
Beka began scanning the undamaged consoles. "How about this?" she asked hitting a button. The panels above the plasma cannon slid open revealing the red night sky above them. Dylan looked around. He saw one of the guard's discarded weapons. It was a pickaxe. "Trance, let me see some of that rope."
Trance handed over the rope she had left, and Dylan tied one end of it to the pickaxe. He steadied himself and took a practice swing. Then he let loose. The pickaxe flew up the ceiling and out the shaft. They could vaguely hear a soft metallic thud as it landed in the brush outside. Dylan pulled on the rope. It was secure.
"Tyr you go up first. If the rope holds then the rest of us should be fine." Dylan smirked.
Tyr shot a snide glance at Dylan, but said nothing. He grabbed the rope and began to make his way up. His Nietzschean muscles were up to the task, and in no time, he had made his way to the top. "That was easy," Dylan remarked.
"Trance, you're next."
Trance stepped up. Without saying a word, she grabbed the rope in both hands, then literally ran up it like a monkey. At the top, her tail shot out, hooking the side of the shaft, and she swung herself out. Beka and Dylan's mouths both dropped in disbelief as the pointy tip of her tail disappeared from sight.
"Top that," Beka said.
"Go on," he countered. "You're next."
Beka rubbed her hands together then latched on. Slowly she made her way up the rope. Dylan watched after her. He tried not to think about the view he had of the leather pants she was wearing. "You're almost there," he said to rid his mind of the thought.
Beka continued climbing. "Aren't you coming?" she asked as she reached the top.
"Uh, yeah," Dylan hesitated. "I was just, uh," he paused, "admiring the view." He grinned up at her as her head peered down through the shaft.
"I should leave you here for that," she grinned back at him.
"You could, but you won't." Dylan grabbed the rope and started to make his own way up.
---------
Several minutes later, they had made their way undetected back to the area surrounding their shuttle pod. As Dylan had assumed earlier, it was indeed surrounded with guards. Most of them were asleep.
"This is too easy," Tyr commented under his breath as the four hid in the bushes.
"Good. Let's keep it that way," Dylan replied. "When Lucan wakes up the first thing he'll want to do is fire that plasma cannon at us. I'd rather not be here to wait around for that."
"Leave it to me," Tyr said. He made his way off to another part of the bushes. Dylan, Beka, and Trance watched silently. Tyr emerged from the far side of the clearing behind one of the guards. Quickly and silently, the guard disappeared into the brush. Tyr emerged again in a different location. Again, another guard disappeared.
"I think he's having fun with this," Beka stated.
Dylan said nothing. They continued watching as one by one the guards all disappeared into the bushes. Within minutes, Tyr had the perimeter cleared and walked straight on toward the ship. Dylan could see from his viewpoint, they were off to Tyr's left side. He could see them, but the few remaining guards were facing away from their spot in the bushes. As the guards saw Tyr approach they instantly came to alert and drew their weapons. Tyr reacted by putting up his hands.
Dylan saw it as a motion to come forward. The three stepped out of the bushes and behind the remaining guards. Dylan tapped one on the shoulder. As the guard turned around, Dylan caught him with a left punch to the jaw. Tyr took his cue and disarmed two other guards, knocking them out.
"You didn't save one for me," Beka exclaimed.
Dylan rolled his eyes. "Let's go," he said.
"Ooo, pretty!" commented Trance. They all stopped to see what she was looking at. They looked up again. The sky was beginning to turn a brighter shade of red and grew steadily lighter.
"The sun's coming up," Beka said.
"Then we need to leave now. That sun is hot enough to scorch the surface of this planet."
"That explains why everything is black," Beka observed.
"Dylan, look," Trance intervened. She pointed. In the distance they could all see it; not one sun, but four suns, all blazing, and all moving fast. They could already see fires developing in the distance.
"What about the guards?" Beka asked.
"Wake them up. If they don't get inside soon, there won't be anything left of them to worry about."
Trance ran about trying to revive the guards. The rest of them began boarding the ship and making take off preparations. When the guards saw their predicament, they immediately began running for various places of shelter. Trance quickly boarded the ship, the hatch closing behind her. Dylan fired the rockets and the ship began its ascent away from the four blazing suns. Dylan made a quick call to Rommie to inform her of their status.
"Not enough to destroy the world, but enough to make them very unhappy for a very long time," Dylan said. "They'll be fine as long as they remain underground for awhile."
--------
Back on board the Andromeda, Tyr and Dylan were again engaged in another round of Go. "There is something I don't understand," Tyr explained.
"What's that?" asked Dylan.
"On the planet you said that the nova bomb was useless; that the only way to get it to work again, was to get Malcolm's codes. How did you get the nova bomb to launch itself?"
"It is true," Dylan started. "When a ship self-destructs the nova bombs are rendered useless before ejected into space, but the part about needing Malcolm's codes to set it off - I lied."
"You lied?" Tyr asked. "That is so unlike you."
"Well, a lesson I once learned from a great friend of mine; sometimes it is necessary to cheat in order to win."
Tyr laughed. "That's thinking like a Nietzschean," he said. "I'm proud of you."
"Yes, Rhade was proud of me too."