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

Part Two

  "What on earth is happening out there?" He asked to nobody in particular.

  "Shane, wait up!" Niko called as she hurried after her angry young man.

  Shane slowed, but not by much, Niko caught up to him just as he slammed through a set of doors and into a nearly empty lounge. He looked around, then gripping her by the arm, walked to a couch far from the other couple of people and sat down.

  Niko looked at him, then slowly sat down beside him. She put her hand on his shoulder, afraid to do more - the anger and frustration was radiating from him in almost visible waves.

  After a few minutes of silence, Shane covered her hand in his own, then turned to her. "I'm sorry, babe." He began. "I just get so angry when Walsh wants me to ... to ..." He turned away again to look at the blue sky and flocks of birds flying around the mountain.

  Niko leaned into him, resting her head on his upper arm. "I won't even try to understand, Shane. But, you know that I am here for you, we all are. Doc and Zach - they don't like the situation any more than we do. Actually, I'm surprised that you managed to not put Stingray and Darkstar into cryo and get away with it."

  "I'm not a bounty hunter, Niko." Shane said. "I am, was, will be, a supertrooper, and am now a Galaxy Ranger. I don't like the idea of hunting down Supertroopers for permanent frozen sleep. Knowing that they can never be woken up again, because they're too dangerous."

  "It's not our fault that we're dangerous. We didn't ask to be made as soldiers. We didn't want to be warriors. Why must I always be forced to hunt down my friends?"

  "Come here, come here." Niko said, and hugged him. She could feel the tension in his back, and began to give him a deep rub using the heels of her hands to knead the hard muscles. After a few minutes, she felt him begin to relax. He pulled away, then kissed her softly. They pulled back from the kiss, and looked into each others' eyes.

  "So, the Lady mystic has finally tamed the wild warrior." They heard a voice and both turned to see Walsh standing behind the couch.

  "Commander!" Both said, then Shane began to stammer out an explanation, while Niko turned redder and redder in embarrassment and concern.

  "Wait, save it for less public ears." Walsh said, holding up a hand. "Both of you, My office, now."

  Not a word was spoken between the three of them as they walked back to Walsh's office. He stopped at the door and waved them both in, then followed and closed the door, locking it to ensure privacy.

  Walsh walked behind his desk, while both Niko and Goose stood at fairly stiff attention in front of it.

  "How long has this been going on?" He asked in his most gruff voice.

  "C-close to a year, sir." Niko replied.

  "Well it's about bloody time." Walsh said and sat down heavily.

  "Sir?" They both said in unison.

  Walsh looked from one to the other. "You both rehearse or something?"

  Goose and Niko looked confused. Walsh barreled on.

  "As I said, it's about time you two finally got together. You've been mooning over one another for years, It's good to see you finally decided to stop fooling around and get serious." Walsh sat back in his chair, and clapped his hands. "So, when's the wedding?"

  "Commander?" They both asked, again in unison.

  "What is this, is there an echo in here?" Walsh commented.

  "Look, I'm glad for both of you! But can you make sure you don't let it become common knowledge. BETA's full of gossipmongers as with any place. I'd hate to have to explain to Whiney why two of my special force of Rangers have become emotionally and romantically involved."

  "I understand, Commander." Niko said, and Shane nodded.

  "I'm not sure you do, Niko. Both of you, sit down. We've got a lot to discuss." Walsh waited for them to both get settled before he continued.

  "BETA, whether we act like it or not, is a military operation. Now, we all know what the military normally thinks about it's officers becoming involved. But, then, you two are the odd ones out here. Both of you are orphans, in different senses of the word. Both of you are from different backgrounds, and you both have more than enough reasons to seek out companionship. I'm ... very happy that you chose to seek out each other. You know that I consider all of you to be a surrogate family, just as Zach considers both of you two to be his surrogate kids - though for the life of me, I don't know why!" He finished, eyes twinkling with mirth.

  Both Shane and Niko still remained stiff and worried, concern radiating from both of them. Walsh suddenly leapt to his feet and slammed both hands on his desk, making both of them jump. "Will the two of you relax!"

  "I am not chewing you out!" He thundered "I am happy for the both of you, and I know you are happy for each other. And god knows it's taken you both long enough"

  "Sir?" Niko asked in the pause.

  "What?" Walsh grumbled.

  "Why are you yelling, if you're happy for us?"

  "Because, Niko, the next offices have ears, and if they think I'm chewing you out, like I normally do, then there'll be less questions."

  "Can I give you two some fatherly advice?" The commander asked after a bit.

  Niko and Shane nodded, still twisted around by his reactions.

  "Keep your affection for one another from getting too visible around here. God, I'd hate to have to explain to the League Council why my rangers are seeing each other. I have enough trouble fighting with them whenever budget time comes up, I don't want to give this relationship to them as fuel."

  He stood up. "Ok, enough small talk. Shane, this is really for you, but considering Niko's part of your equation, she's going to be involved as well. Listen to this."

  He replayed the comm message from Sheriff Ladd.

  Shane stood up. "I've got to go to Frontier, Sir."

  Walsh nodded. "I know. Take Ranger-4, we just got her commissioned. And Shane..."

  Goose looked back at him as Niko and he headed for the door ... "Don't crash it, she's a brand new ship."

  Walsh sat back down, as a beep indicated a new status report, which he read with ever-growing anger. `Damn and blast it!" He growled, then punched a button. "Find Rangers Foxx and Hartford, Liz. Send them in."

  Zach and Doc walked back in as Walsh finished throwing some paper across the room. In the blizzard of paperwork, Doc said `Gee, I didn't think it was winter this early."

  Walsh looked at them from beneath his shaggy brows. "People, we have a real problem, Killbane's just eliminated Slade. And he's on the way here with six battle cruisers. He'll be here in eight hours."

  "Commander, our fleet is in no shape for any sort of battle. Our battleships are still patrolling the border, or in dry-dock! How in hell can we withstand any sort of attack?" Zach pointed out.

  Walsh nodded. "I know, Captain Foxx. That's why I'm going to instigate Operation Omega." "Omega?"

  "What's that, Commander?" Doc asked.

  Walsh flicked on the main screen, which detailed the Operation. "Operation Omega is a plan designed to use BETA's very existence as a target, to enable us to use the solar lasers. As you know, they take eight minutes for fire, but nothing we know of can withstand a 130 terawatt beam of laser energy." He turned to look at the two Rangers.

  "Operation Omega was thought up during my time at Wolf Den, and is a plan known to the Supertroopers. It is, in essence, a slash and burn battle. We appear to fall back under the onslaught, allowing the enemy to penetrate our defenses, even to land and attack BETA mountain directly. While that attack is concentrated on BETA mountain, the backup BETA stations around the world; Longshot, Vladivostok, and Samui are activated. We transfer control to Longshot, and evacuate BETA through the underground travel tubes. To an outside observer, it looks like BETA is still coordinating the attack, transmissions and all other efforts are maintained." Walsh sat back.

  "But, to pull this off, BETA must withstand a massive attack, and fight back. Doc, you know how good the computer systems are, here. Can they take over from the human controllers?"

  Doc, looking uncharacteristically stunned, nodded. "Yes, the AI systems are fully capable of doing the job. In some cases, they can do it better than the people, because they don't need rest ... why?"

  "Because, Doc. the final stage of Operation Omega may result in the destruction of BETA mountain, once the Invasion force has landed and entered the mountain." Zach explained.

  "... oh." Doc finally said.

  "Very few people actually know about this operation, Doc. Myself and Zachary, Q-Ball and Admiral Blake are the only people who know about it. Shane and the other Supertroopers know of the original operation plan, which results in the atomic sterilization of a planet. It was meant as a last ditch effort to ensure that an enemy could never take one of our worlds. A strictly military solution. Destroy what you can't keep - to ensure the enemy can't keep it either."

  "There's no other option?" Doc asked.

  "I don't see any." Walsh said. "We don't have time to bring any ships back to defend Earth. In this sort of situation, the decision rests with me. Initiate Operation Omega. And, Doc. Evacuate the Cryocrypts. I want the other Supertroopers safely away from Earth when this goes down. I've already arranged for a transport."

  "Where will they go, Commander?"

  Walsh shrugged. "I don't know, Doc. You and Zach will be on that transport when it launches. You choose the destination between yourselves, and tell no one."

  "Aye, Commander." Both Zach and Doc said as they left the office to begin loading the transport with it's sleeping, but deadly cargo.

********

  "Ranger-4 to BETA Launch Control. Requesting launch clearance."

:  "Ranger-4 please stand by." The launch control officer said as he noticed the signal board shift to indicate alert status Omega. Checking with the Operations book, the Launch Officer clicked the mike back on, "Ranger-4, your launch clearance is de-"

  Walsh put his hand over the mike. "Let them go, Lieutenant." He said.

  "Aye sir." The launch officer leaned back on the mike. "Ranger-4, you are clear for launch, good luck, Rangers."

  Goose and Niko looked at each other. "What was that all about?" Niko asked him.

  Goose shrugged and hit the throttle. "I have no idea, babe. We're out of here." The new Cruiser leapt from it's launch cradle, out the tube, and arced up in a high-altitude climb that soon had it out of the atmosphere and accelerating towards hyperspace range. ALMA soon announced

  "Ready for hyperspace, Goose." Shane nodded, and thumbed the control. The ship leapt into the nether region of hyperspace, leaving a rapidly fading ring of plasma energy in the wake of it's passage. Behind the cruiser, BETA Space Station was a hive of activity, as equipment was shifted in preparation for Operation Omega.

  "How long until we get to Frontier?" Niko asked.

  "Four hours, Niko." ALMA replied.

  Niko looked at Goose, then glanced at the controls. "I'm going below to check the rest of the systems. We may as well make sure this new ship's not going to fall apart on us."

  Shane nodded as she got up, and went to the lower command deck. Shane watched the ship fly itself for about ten minutes, then handing control to ALMA, he went to the lower command deck. "Niko, you busy?" He asked.

  "Hmm? Not really. "She said, switching off the archeological text she was reading.

  Goose sat down beside her. "Niko, there's something I'd better tell you before we land."

  Niko sensed this was something important, so she gave Shane her complete attention.

  "It's about Darkstar." He began "You see, back at Wolf Den, Darkstar and I, well, I thought that Darkstar and I were an item. But I never actually told her. When the breakout occurred, I couldn't tell her how I felt, and she left with Stingray. Then, about two years ago, Walsh sent me on a mission to find out who was helping Jacob Laramie burn down houses and generally muscle for him. It was Stingray. I fought him, and won, but

  Darkstar reappeared, and told me that she would take care of him, make sure he didn't commit any more crimes."

  "Commander Walsh agreed, as he told us, and I left Frontier. I kept in touch with them, and Sheriff Ladd, who had been assigned to watch them, kept me and Walsh advised of the developments. But now ..."

  Niko was surprised. This was a side of Shane she'd never seen before. He was normally tight-lipped about anything to do with the other Supertroopers. He seemed to care about these two much more than he wanted to admit. "What can Stingray do, Shane?" She asked him.

  "He's uncontrollable. The only thing keeping him in line was Darkstar. He can blast things with his eyes, they channel photonic energy with enough force to blow through a concrete wall. He's completely lost it, Niko. Darkstar could keep him in line because her powers can cancel his, enabling him to look at things with his own eyes without blowing stuff apart. If she's gone, what happened to her?"

  "You think Stingray did something?" Niko asked, her eyes narrowing.

  "I have to assume that he's involved, Niko. Darkstar, Aurora; is strong enough to take me on, hand to hand, and beat me. We sparred against each other back at Wolf Den."

  Niko smiled wanly. "Goose, how do they feel about you?"

  Shane watched out the windows for a while before answering, as if seeking an answer in the red-shifted miasma of hyperspace. "I didn't really care about what Stingray thinks, but Aurora thinks I betrayed them. In some ways, I have."

  Niko didn't know what to do. Shane knew she supported him, in all things, and he, in turn, supported all of her decisions. But this rift was well beyond even their deep relationship. She knew that it hurt him to think about what the other supertroopers thought of him as. But, she didn't know what to do, except to offer him comfort. After a few minutes, Goose stood up.

  "C'mon babe, let's take a tour of this new ship."

  With relief evident, Niko stood up and joined him as they stepped out of the command deck and into the main cabin of the cruiser.

  "Updated display systems, not bad." Niko said, running her hand over the new touch screen control surface, seeing the lights play under her fingertips. Goose walked over to the ordinance panels.

  "Jeez, babe. This ship is built for bear." He said, pointing out the upgraded laser gatling cannon, one per sponsor, and the primary rainbow laser cannon in the nose.

  "Goose, this ship is much more powerful than Ranger-1." Niko said.

  Goose joined her at the main systems display board. The ship was about twenty percent larger than the old Cruiser, but had almost twice the power available. Most of it in shields and weapons, but it's engines were more powerful, giving the ship good long legs. They looked at each other.

  "This ship isn't a cruiser, it's a pocket destroyer." Niko said finally.

********

  Aurora stepped into the darkness of the other room, feeling a presence, but not actually seeing anything. She spun around as the door slid shut, but felt no fear, only an odd sense of curiosity. "I don't know what you are, but if you like darkness, then you're going to love this!"

  She triggered her abilities, and her bioenergy field expanded, creating a zone of artificial darkness around her that inhibited any organic life form from receiving signals sent from it's retina through the optic nerves to it's brain.

  The presence felt stronger, and more confidant, now. But even with her vision now enhanced by her own darkness field, Aurora could see nothing. She felt as if the tension in the room just rose another notch, as if it was building up to something, and took up a combat stance. Her darkness field expanded until it covered almost the entire room, which she could sense as being more than fifteen meters across, with a ceiling at least that high, or higher.

  A sudden flash of ghost light illuminated the chamber, burning through her darkness field as if it was crepe paper being hit with a blowtorch. She attempted to strengthen the field, turning it almost solid as it rapidly contracted to become a body-hugging blackness. The ghost light burned through it in nanoseconds, and pierced her to the very core. She felt herself being torn apart, but, there was no fear, only curiosity and wonderment, as the light consumed her entire being.

********

  "Coming up on Tortuna system, Killbane." The pilot reported.

  Killbane nodded. "Drop us out of hyperspace and move to the rendezvous point. I'll be in the landing bay." He commanded.

  As the huge battleship dropped out of hyperspace, leaving an enormous ring of plasma energy expanding and fading in it's wake, a small transport craft arced to life and moved to intercept.

  Tractor beams lashed out, encircled the small ship, and brought it into the main landing bay. As the beams faded, the ship's hull streamed water as it's chilled surface came into contact with the much warmer and relatively humid air of the starship. A hatchway opened, and Brainchild stepped out, onto the battleship's deck.

  "Killbane, what in blazes happened to you?" He snapped in his usual whiny voice.

  Ryker Killbane stepped forward, his six foot eight form bulking heavily, muscles rippling beneath the skintight uniform he wore. On the breast of the uniform was an odd symbol, A wolf's head, torn asunder by a lightning bolt. "Brainchild, how good to see you again." Ryker said as an introduction. "Come on, we have work to do."

  Brainchild knew better than to argue with the front-line trooper, so he shut up and followed Killbane into the heart of the starship. They walked back onto the bridge in silence. Once on the bridge, Killbane barked orders, and the ship accelerated back into hyperspace; destination: Earth.

  "Now, Brainchild." Killbane said, settling down into the reinforced captain's chair. "Tell me exactly how we can take out BETA, and return our comrades to life."

********

  "Ranger-4 on final approach. Frontier Control, Where are we landing?"

  "Ranger-4, you are cleared for landing on field three. Welcome to Frontier."

  "Understood, Frontier Control." Shane replied as he piloted the cruiser to a near-perfect touchdown.

  As they came down in the lift, with the two cybersteeds, they saw a hovercar sweeping towards them with two figures in it. Sheriff Ladd and another man neither of them recognized.

  "Ranger Gooseman, good to see you again. That was a quick flight. I only got off the comm system an hour and a half ago." The Sheriff said as he strode forward, shaking Goose's hand warmly.

  There was a pall of smoke, and the bitter taste of burnt wood alloy in the air. Niko looked towards the town, where streamers of smoke were still rising from the smoldering remains of burning buildings.

  "Follow me, Rangers." The sheriff said as they began to walk towards a hanger set apart from all the rest, and which looked hastily constructed.

  "What happened, Sheriff?" Niko asked.

  "We have no idea, Ranger. One minute everything's normal, the next, Stingray walks into town and starts blasting everything in sight. I finally had to take him down with that special energy pack Ranger Gooseman left me a year or so back."

  "Is he still alive?" Niko wondered.

  Goose replied for the Sheriff. "A blaster hit won't kill one of us, Niko. We've all got enhanced healing and rapid regeneration. It's only myself and Killbane who have active defenses. The energy pack I gave the Sheriff was supplied by Cueball - specifically designed to shock the neural synapses of a supertrooper. Ray would have gone down like a sack of wet potatoes."

  They came to the door of the hanger, two townspeople with carbines stood at attention, but visibly relaxed when they saw who was with the sheriff. One of them opened the door, but kept his carbine ready, just in case.

  "After you, Rangers." The Sheriff indicated.

  Goose walked in first, followed by Niko, with the Sheriff and the technician following them, at a safe distance. The interior of the small hanger was dimly illuminated, but a single projector glowed in one corner, projecting a standing wave tractor beam which surrounded the hanger's lone occupant.

  Stingray stood up as they approached, his eyes were still unshielded, but the color pattern of the tractor field ensured that the energy blasts were absorbed by the field, which flared in response.

  "Gooseman, I should have known they'd send you." Stingray growled.

  "You've gone too far this time, Ray." Gooseman said. "I've got to take you  back."

  "Not until you help me find Darkstar!" Ray snarled.

  Goose's eyes narrowed. "What happened to her, Ray?"

  "These people took her is what happened, Gooseman. They can't be trusted!" Ray growled. "Laramie and his boys were boasting about it at the mine site, until I took care of them. They won't be coming out of that shaft anytime soon."

  "What are you talking about, Stingray?" The Sheriff asked.

  "I arrived at work this morning, to help refine the ores we pull out of this blasted planet's guts. Laramie and his boys, all on the chain gang, arrive. A couple of hours into the shift, during a break, one of them begins talking about what he'd do with Darkstar if he ever got a hold of her."

  "Ray, how stupid are you?" Goose snapped. "Darkstar'd level any normal man who tried to lay his hands on her. Hell, she could knock me clear across the field during practice!"

  "I know that, Gooseman. So I didn't take any notice. Until they began whispering among themselves at the lunch break. Seems one of their friends on the outside went to our house and grabbed her while she was sleeping. She'd been doing that an awful lot lately." Ray looked a bit distracted, now.

  "What happened next, Ray?" The sheriff asked.

  "I walked over to them, hauled one up, and told him to repeat what they'd said." Ray snapped.

  "...And..." Niko prompted.

  Ray glared at her for a second, then looked at Goose. "They wouldn't tell me. So I collapsed the mine shaft on them and came here."

  There was silence for a moment then "...How many?" from the technician.

  Ray shrugged. "Ten, fifteen - who cares, I want Darkstar!"

  "Niko, get on Mel and go to that mine, Sheriff, you get some men and meet her there. We've got to see if any of those men are still alive." Goose ordered.

  Niko and the sheriff nodded and were out the door in an instant, heading for the collapsed mine. Goose turned back to Stingray. "You know what I've got to do, Ray." He said.

  Stingray nodded. "I know, traitor." He said, but there was no venom in the words, just a tired acceptance.

  Goose looked at the field, then touched it, there was a slight flaring at the point of contact, but nothing more. "How do we move him to our ship?" He asked the technician.

  The other man shrugged. "It's a static field, Ranger. I can't move it more than about five feet. You'll just have to take him there on your own steam."

  Goose looked at Stingray. Stingray looked back at Gooseman. "Would you mind leaving us for a minute?" Goose asked the tech. The other man nodded and stepped outside.

  As the door slid shut again, Goose walked up to the field control, and looked at Stingray expectantly. The rogue supertrooper sighed, then reached into his overalls, pulled out a pair of sunglasses, and put them on. Goose flicked the field control off and Stingray stood up.

  "C'mon, Ray. Let's go." Goose said.

  Stingray slowly walked over, and when Goose held the door open, stepped outside. If the tech was concerned, he showed no signs of it. They began the long walk back to the cruiser in silence. "Why did you do it, Ray?" Goose asked. "You and Darkstar had a good thing here - Walsh had made a deal. You two were being left alone, as long as you didn't screw up. What happened really?"

  "I told you, Gooseman." Stingray said.

  "I don't believe that story about Laramie and the mine, Ray. It's too easy. A Supertrooper doesn't just let somebody take them, even if they are sleeping. What really happened?"

  Ray sighed. "She left me, Gooseman." He paused. "We had a fight a couple of days ago, when I came back home, her stuff was packed up and she was gone. I haven't seen her since."

  "That's no reason for you to go kill anybody!" Goose snapped.

  "You idiot, Gooseman! don't you see. Without her I'm nothing! I got no reason to live without Darkstar, mate. So, when I knew she wasn't coming back, I decided to end it with glory. Remember mate, no guts, no glory? I got the guts." He staggered, visibly weakening, even as Shane watched. "I got the guts, and I guess I got my glory now, too." Stingray crumpled to the ground.

  "Ray?" Goose asked, then crouched over the other man.

  He rolled Ray over, and noticed a thin trickle of blood coming from the other man's nose. Lifting him up, Goose ran the last twenty or so meters to Ranger-4 and up the lift. "ALMA, power up the medical bay." He said as he carried Ray into the small medical lab. Putting Ray down on the biobed, Goose closed the cover.

  "Diagnosis, ALMA?" The scanbar passed over Ray's prone form twice, then ALMA displayed an internal display.

  "There is hemmoraging in the cerebral cortex, Goose. As well as massive inflammation along the optic nerves. My equipment is unable to treat this sort of damage. Only option is cryogenic suspension pending return to Earth."

  Goose flipped a few switches, and the biobed chamber sealed, then frosted over. "Stingray, You'll be alright. Even if you never do wake up again, you'll be all right now."

______________________________________________________

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