Beyond The Edge of Darkness
   By: Tim "Chaing-Ku" Morisson

Part Two

  Niko flicked off the recorder and sat back in her chair, rubbing her burning eyes in an attempt to wake herself up again. Both she and Goose had been running on adrenaline and stimulants since they had landed fifty-three hours ago - and she was at her end; Goose was still cruising, somewhere, outside, checking to see if any of the automated systems had recorded anything of the attackers. She hoped he'd find something, because what had happened here had couldn't just be forgotten - the base had been shredded, as if by a gigantic claw, huge rips in the walls, life support systems sheared and sliced through - the people had been left to die, and all of them had died.

  She felt something odd, and looked down at her hands, they were beginning to shake - Niko concentrated on her inner light, trying to find balance again, but her light was seeming to flicker in and out of focus, just like she felt, and she finally gave herself over to the built-up stress - falling asleep a few minutes later.

  Shane Gooseman entered the ship a few hours later, carrying one of Texton Moon's recorder memory banks. This unit had been hit by whatever had attacked the base, but had still been functional when he got to it, spinning wildly in an eccentric orbit that would have it collide with the moon in only a few hours. He had managed to rip the memory bank out of the large sensor pod, and had jetted back to the ship, hoping Alma could read the data.

  Pulling his helmet off, he walked into the science bay and clumped the memory bank on a table, then hooked the telltales up to it's access points.

  "Alma, try to access this memory system, I want to see whatever it recorded." He told the ship.

  "Right away, Goose." Came the contralto reply, and Goose saw one of the screen light up with a crackly image which quickly cleared.

  "I've scanned the entire memory bank, this point is where it gets interesting." Alma said, and Goose saw movement. A flaming object approached the recorder, almost dead-on - in the last instant before the recorder got hit, and flung out of position, Goose saw what was at the center of the burning miasma, and gasped in shock.

  "That's not possible. Alma, replay the last ten seconds, but slow it down to ten percent speed." He ordered.

  Watching the scene unfold again, Goose recognized sixteen figures in the burning cloud, including the one that was generating the firestorm, and the one producing the energy bubble keeping them all alive.

  "Alma, do you recognize anyone?" He asked.

  "I do not understand, Goose. I see nothing recorded except a distortion wave passing by and intercepting the recorder buoy. I recognize no life forms within the wave."

  Goose looked at the frozen image on the screen, showing the clearly defined figures of his former comrades, and wondered what was going on

********

  "Zach, we have a problem." Doc said as he watched the monitors.

  Captain Fox stepped over to Doc's station, alert and ready to sort out whatever was wrong.

  "What is it, Doc."

  "The cryocrypts are beginning to malfunction. Units four, sixteen, thirty-three and forty are showing signs of power fluctuation. Their diagnostics read fine, but the units themselves are trying to shut down."

  Zach narrowed his eyes. "What does that mean for us?"

  "If the unit powers off, then it automatically wakes up whoever is inside. We'd have four rather angry supertroopers awake and alert. Oh no, now units five, eleven and twenty-three are showing the same error sequence."

  Doc pulled out his CDU and tapped his badge. The illumination from the diamond of light shone a ghostly pale light on him as his super programs activated, swirling around him like animated fireflies - which one of them was.

  "Ok tweakers. Get in there and find out what's wrong; Firefly, see if you can't boost the diagnostics to tell me what's wrong; Pathfinder, go into the system and find me the source of the errors; Lifeline, keep the Supertroopers out cold, I don't care what you have to do. Get to it, tweakers."

  The animated fireflies swirled around for a second then flew into the consoles, which flared briefly as they found their way into the circuitry. Doc watched anxiously as the indicators showed the progress of his troops, while Zach stood nearby, watching the Doctor operate..

  A few minutes later, Pathfinder reemerged and dropped into the CDU - Doc whistled low and long as he looked at the results.

  "What is it, Doc?" Zach asked

  "We've been sabotaged, Captain. The Cryocrypts have all been equipped with power leeches, which have been draining there internal reserves. We can't stop the cycle. Even if we turned around and hi-tailed it back to Earth, the crypts would be out of power before we were halfway there. We got an hour before the units begin to wake up their occupants."

  The other two tweakers reappeared and downloaded themselves into the CDU, which flickered and flared for a while, then Doc shut it down.

  "OK, I've given us some extra time, Firefly has managed to route the leeches into a recursive loop, so now they're leeching each other. It won't last long, but will give us another hour or so. And Lifeline has managed to boost the support systems to keep the cryocrypts active longer. Captain, we've got to set down somewhere. When these people wake up, the one thing they won't want to see is the law, and there are only two of us, Zachary."

  "What systems are close to us, Doc?" The captain asked.

  "Nothing within the range of the ship before the power fails, Captain. Texton is still two and a half hours away, the next closest is Nebraska, three hours away."

  "No, Doc. Not inhabited systems, but systems with habitable worlds not in the League. What is available for us to land this ship... and scuttle it."

  Doc looked at Zach for a moment, than turned to the console. "The closest habitable world is in the system of Ophiuchus Epsilon - it's cold, but has a breathable atmosphere, and the seeder probes from Andor sprayed it with active seed over a thousand years ago, so there will be lots of plants and some basic animals. If we have to exile them, this is a good world."

  Zach sat back, nearly slumped in his seat by the weight of his decision. It took Doc's prompting to bring him back into focus ... `Captain, if we are to land and safely disable the ship, we have to make the course change now, or we won't have enough time."

  Zach nodded. "Do it, Doc - I can't see any other safe way to resolve this, set course for the Ophiucus Epsilon system, and prepare to scuttle this transport."

********

  "What is the status of repairs?" Came the voiced behind him, making First Lieutenant Frodor jump. He spun around to face the commander of the ship, and made the sign of respect.

  "C-commander, the repairs go well, we estimate one more hour until full power is restored, and another six until all systems are fully repaired, sir."

  He gasped as he was hauled off his feet to dangle half his body length in the air, nose to nose with the much feared Commander. "Not ... good ... enough." Came the voice, and Frodor nodded, closing his eyes.

  Seconds later, a dull thud echoed, something hit the deck with a boneless thump, like a sack of wet potatoes, and the clumping of footsteps echoed into silence, leaving the remains of a loyal officer to be removed by his suddenly energized subordinates.

  Fifty minutes later, Riker Killbane stomped onto the bridge of the ship and sat in the command chair, gazing onto the emptiness of the void laid out before him. His great plan had failed, failed, FAILED! Even with that annoying gnat Brainchild's help, he had not only failed to take out BETA, but couldn't even rescue his people from the clutches of their warders.

  A nervous officer walked up to stand slightly behind the chair, and then cleared his throat.

  "What do you want?" Killbane asked in a deep, dangerous voice.

  "Repairs are complete to the primary systems, Sir. We can move out whenever you feel. And, Sir - this communication arrived for you, from an automated system on a League transport near the Ophiuchus Eridani system."

  Killbane sat up. "Excellent, set a course for that system - I have an idea, and ... find Brainchild, I want to talk with him."

  The huge starship shuddered visibly as it's engines fired, but it then began to smoothly accelerate, sweeping through space at increasing velocity, until it's hyperdrive engines flared, and it shot into the non-Einsteinian void of hyperspace.

  Brainchild walked onto the bridge some fifteen minutes later, to find that it was totally dark, except for the ghastly reddish light from hyperspace filtering in through the windows. Walking up to stand behind the huge Supertrooper, the hyper-intelligent dwarf was slightly concerned.

  "What do you want, Killbane?"

  "What would you do if you had a ship full of cryostasis tubes, and were fleeing a potential war zone?"

  "Go to another system capable of taking care of the cryostasis equipment, if that was the important thing... Why?"

  "Because I'm sure that's what Walsh and N'Gata have done - when they knew we were coming, they launched a transport filled with all the Supertroopers." Killbane replied, gazing into the red-streaked nothingness of hyperspace.

  "How can you be so sure - Longshot and BETA are the safest place for the cryocrypts. You take them into space without adequate power, and their occupant will wake up."

  "Because, you little dwarf - I had someone on the inside do some work on the cryocrypts. Using some of Slade's contacts, I managed to get to somebody deep within the Medical section, somebody who'se now going to be rather dead when she arrives at her `safe' House, but who installed a bunch of equipment on the supertrooper's cryocrypts that will drain off their power in a few hours once the crypts are disconnected from the main power."

  "So?" Brainchild asked, amused that Killbane had even thought of something more original than how to put on his own shoes.

  "They're going to be waking up, Brainchild - and I know where they are - Not on Earth, and this is where we are going!" Killbane pointed to the coordinates on the screen, and Brainchild took a close look, his near-sightedness making sure he didn't notice Killbane moving up behind him.

  He gasped as he felt Killbane's incredibly strong fingers around him, and struggled, to no avail as Killbane wrapped a long arm around his chest, then grabbed his head in the other huge hand.

  "You see, Brainchild - I don't need you any longer, none of us need you - We don't need a general - we need our freedom!" Killbane finished with a vicious twist. A loud crackling snap echoed in the deathly quiet bridge.

********

  "All systems ready, Captain. We're coming in to land on the largest plain we can easily find. Touchdown in thirty seconds. We'll have ten minutes to disable the ship and get clear before the first cryocrypt opens up."

  "Good, that's more than enough time, Doc." Zach said, watching his consoles as he prepared to guide the huge transport to a soft landing on the rough planet unfolding beneath them.

  With a roar of it's huge engine pods, the transport settled onto it's immense landing gear amidst a chorus of metallic groans and shrieks. The Bridge swayed roughly, and the two human crew were almost thrown out of their seats.

  "What happened?" Zach cried.

  "We landed on an uneven surface, the port forward landing gear is three meters higher than any other set, and at an angle, it's sheared off, Captain. We're listing at thirty-six degrees."

  Zach got up, as did Doc, and they powered down their consoles.

  "Can we still launch the interceptors, Doc?"

  "Of course, Captain. You don't think I'd land us so badly that we couldn't get off again, did you?"

  "Of course not, Doc - just checking is all." Zach said as they walked up the sloping deck. They climbed up an awkward ladder shaft, until they reached a sturdy airlock, which was opened and they climbed onto the upper hull of the transport. Sitting nestled against the hull, two Ranger Interceptors, powered up and ready for launch.

  "Get going, Doc. I'll be with you as soon as I've made sure this transport will never lift again."

  "Don't take any time to play with the natives, Captain. We got less than five minutes left." Doc said as he carefully walked over to his ship and prepared to climb aboard.

  Zach nodded, and walked gingerly over the sloping hull until he stood near one of the four huge drive pylons. These held the huge engine pods, and were designed to take a huge amount of stress from the engine to ensure that it didn't rip free of the ship under full thrust.

  Zach tapped his badge, and made a fist with his left arm as he extended hit to point at a point near the junction between the pylon and the main hull. A surge of energy made him slightly dizzy, and he felt a rush of tension as a bolt let loose from his fist to scream across the space and impact the support pylon.

  The huge pylon began to slowly bend under it's own weight, and Zach backed away as the huge engine pod broke free and fell fifty meters to the ground with a huge crash. Turning, he faced another of the engine pylons and repeated the gesture. As he backed off, Doc's ship roared to life and lifted off the transport's hull. It was time to leave.

  Making his way to his ship, Zack climbed aboard and clipped on his helmet.

  "GV, lift off." He ordered.

  "Right away, Sir." Came the AI's voice as the small ship roared to life and VTOLed off the hull to join Doc's ship hovering above the transport.

  They took one last look at the transport, two of it's four engines blown off the hull, and white steam rising from the venting fuel tanks, ensuring that the vessel would never fly again; then both interceptors left the ruined ship, arcing towards deep space and an uncertain future.

********

  "Sir, we have settled into a retrograde orbit, and as you suspected, sensors have picked up two Galaxy Ranger ships leaving the area. The transport has been crippled." Killbane nodded slowly as he listened to the report, and smiled. "Wait until the Ranger ships have left the system, then proceed to land. We want them to think they've done the right thing in exiling my people - how wrong they shall be."

  He turned and smiled widely at the figure on the rear bridge wall; a macabre scene was beginning to unfold, with organic stains, swirls and pieces encircling the vacuum - preserved remains of Brainchild.

  "Well, old comrade," Killbane said, "I have surpassed you, and soon I shall surpass everyone, I am the first, best, and only leader of the Supertroopers." He turned to face the main windows even as an aide rushed up to report "The Ranger ships have entered hyperspace, sir."

  "Land us, and prepare to welcome my people into our family!"

*******

  "You offer us freedom, when you instill within us a genetic enzyme that kills us without treatment?"

  "You are warriors, first and foremost." N'Gata protested. "We have to keep some measure of control. Why else do you think we didn't try to really stop you leaving Earth once you broke free of Wolf Den?"

  "You couldn't stop us - no human can stop a Supertrooper. We're the perfect fighting machine." She replied.

  "That is crap, Darkstar." Walsh snapped. "We could have blown you out of space as soon as you left the atmosphere. The four ships you were in were no match for the combat ships already in orbit. But our orders were specific. Let you leave, and see what happens."

  "So you let us go?"

  "Yes." Walsh said. "We let you go."

  "Why?" She demanded.

  "Because we wanted to see if you could survive outside of Wolf Den, without killing too many people."

  Darkstar squinted at him. "Why turn Shane into a bounty hunter and send him after us?"

  "You proved to be unable to stop killing and hurting people. We had to try and control you. Shane Gooseman was our only chance. He remained behind while the rest of you ran. He remained loyal to Wolf Den and the ideals of the Supertroopers. Remember, Darkstar, you and Shane are from the final batch of Supertroopers. You are the best of the best. Killbane and Gravestone are first-batchers - they are unfinished, rough-cut. You, Goose, Chimera - all of you are finished jewels, finely tuned and ready to take on the universe."

  "You sound like you're selling a product." Darkstar snapped. "We're living, breathing human beings. You may have built us in a vat of chemicals and nutrients, but we still have rights!"

  Walsh sighed. "Yes, you do. I know this, and N'Gata knows this. But the rest of the League thinks your biological weapons, Designed by BETA for war, and to be used in war. The fact that once you escaped you went on a rampage through the inhabited worlds didn't help your cause any."

  "I had no control over the others. I stayed with Stingray and tried to ensure he didn't do too much damage."

  "I know, and I thank you for it. Why do you think I allowed you to remain on Frontier?"

  She blinked. "Why?"

  "Because I trusted you, Darkstar. I trusted your instincts to know what was right and wrong, and to ensure Stingray would try and follow the line."

  "What are you going to do now?"

  "Wait for my people to contact me. I sent them off with the supertroopers still in stasis. They will contact me when they are about to return. Then we'll decide what to do."

  Walsh walked out, N'Gata floating behind him, and they closed the door, leaving Darkstar with her own thoughts and council.

______________________________________________________

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