EndGame
By: Tara O'Shea

Part Six:
EndGame

  She was gone.

  "I need to put a communication through to BETA," he scowled, and the young waiter nodded, a little frightened. This was a guy he didn't want to ever see angry.

*******

  "Dammit!" Goose paced in front of the comm, Commander Walsh's concerned face filling the small screen. "I was going to tell her."

  "How do you think she got off planet?'

  "Cody, it has to be. He even skipped out on his bill!"

  "I'll tell all BETA ships en route to Tortuna to keep their eye out for her, and have anyone who sees the Buchanan to notify us immediately."

  "That's not enough, Commander! I should have been the one to tell her, she shouldn't have had to find out by accident. I have to go. Killbane is mine, my problem to solve."

  "Shane--"

  "Commander, I'm going. With or without the blessing of BETA and the League."

  "There will be an interceptor at the spaceport within the hour. I don't know about BETA, but you have my blessing. Find her, bring her home."

********

  Niko gathered her hair in one hand, the vibroblade humming in the other. She breathed deeply, remembering how Shane had run his fingers through her hair hours before as they had made love. But the memory of Killbane wrapping her hair around his fist, forcing her mouth to his...

  The blade cut cleanly through the heavy auburn braid.

  "Miss Niko, would you mind telling me just why we high-tailed it out of there so quick--" Cody turned as she crawled into the tiny bridge, and gasped at the sight that greeted him. Her hair now brushed the collar of the old space navy jacket she had fished out of his storage bin, and her eyes were colder than he'd ever seen them. "Miss Niko!"

  "Cody, I need to get to Tortuna."

  "Why, darlin'?"

  "I... It's Killbane."

  "What do you want with that evil bastard?" Cody

  "I want to kill him." She said quietly, and RB and Cody both stared at her in shock.

  "What?" Cody sputtered, confused.

  "Cody," RB piped up. "We're being hailed from Earth, Cody."

  "Who is it?"

  "Commander Walsh."

  "Put him through--"

  "No!" Niko put her hand on Cody's, but it was too late. RB had already made the connection.

  "Niko." Walsh's face filled the tiny screen. "Niko, I've sent Doc and Zach, you don't need to go--"

  "They don't know!" Niko cried, eyes narrowing. "Killbane might get away again because they just think they're hunting a fugitive, not the man... not the man who... No, I'm going commander. And damn you and Shane both for telling me he was dead."

  "Niko, Shane didn't know he was alive, none of us did until he appeared on Tortuna!"

  "Don't lie to me. You let me believe you found that bastard on Green's World. Well, I'm going to end it now."

  "Shane is an hour behind you. I've put him in charge of cleanup, why don't you go back to Rees."

  "Like hell I will. I'll never feel safe again until I know Killbane is put away."

  "Niko, go back. For your own peace of mind, let Zach and Doc handle it."

  "Commander, Killbane is mine."

  "Ranger Niko, I'm placing you on suspension, effective immediately. Should you enter space protected by the League of Planets, all crafts will be ordered to escort you back to Earth. Back home."

  "I won't go back. Ranger or no ranger, I'm going after him." She terminated the comm channel, and sat back in the co-pilot's chair, furious.

  "What did he do?" Cody saw how she was shaking, and it made his blood boil. "If he hurt you I'll tear the no good varmint limb from limb--"

  "It's okay, Cody. I can take care of him. Just get me to Tortuna as quickly as you can."

  "You're not going to tell me, are you."

  "You're a good friend, but this is something very personal."

  "Revenge is never satisfying, Miss Niko."

  "I think this time it just might be."

********

  "Zach," Goose hailed Ranger I from his interceptor, already in hyperspace headed towards Tortuna. "Doc, Zach, come in!" Again, just as with the last eight tries there was no answer. They must have already docked and left the ship. Any transmission he made to Geezie's would be traced by the crown, and the last thing he needed was a Crown reception when he landed, so Shane fumed in silence, and started configuring the com to send a scrambled signal to the surface.

  If anything happened.... anything at all, there wouldn't be enough left of Killbane to fit on the head of a pin.

********

  "How the hell are we gonna find this mother?" Doc whispered to Zach, scanning the smoke filled saloon. The bartender was a Dreen, which looked to any human like a walking, talking hippo. They were famous for hosting in bars across the known galaxy, having pioneered the trading of exotic ales and spirits in the early days of interstellar travel, even before the Crown empire has spread. No planet was complete without a Dreen saloon, and for some reason most of them seemed to be named Last Chance Bar and Grill. If it had any cultural significance, Zach could never figure it.

  "Geezie said he was laying low."

  "There's no place lower than Tortuna City, Tortuna. Where'd our favorite snitch spot him, anyway?"

  "Here. That was a day ago. He could be miles from here by now. Light-years away."

********

  "Miss Niko, you sure you want to be doing this? This ain't no place for a lady."

  "Cody..." She wished that he would have stayed with RB, but once Wildfire got something into his head, wild horses couldn't drag him away from it.

  Niko took a deep breath, and sought her badge beneath the heavy layers of clothing. Cody had a veritable costume shop in the back of The Buchanan, quite a change from the last time she had to disguise herself from his meager belongings. She never did ask him why he had a dancehall girl's outfit in his storage cupboard. It probably had something to do with the real Louise and Cody's relationship.

  She emptied her mind and began to feel along the edges of her consciousness, searching for Killbane. She hated doing it, but it was all she could do. If she talked to Geezie, he might tell the others.

  *You should let them know...they're your friends, they just want to help you...* a little voice reminded her, and she squelched it.

  She brushed past something.... her mind skittered away from it, a reaction no different than snatching a burned finger away from a hot stove. She forced herself to probe a little deeper, and clenched her teeth. It was him, and he was nearby.

********

  Zach started as his writscom beeped. Doc glanced around the taproom for a corner table where they wouldn't be observed.

  "Captain." Goose's face filled the tiny screen.

  "Gooseman?" Zach whispered fiercely, surprised. "I thought you were on Rees."

  "I'm in orbit. This is a secure channel. Niko's on Tortuna with Wildfire Carson."

  "What?"

  "If you see her, you have to stop her--"

  "Explain yourself, mister."

  "She's looking for Killbane. I'm coming down there. Have you got a line on him?"

  "Still looking. Get down here, we'll meet you at Geezie's."

*******

  "Crazy hummings!" Geezie was so frazzled, Goose thought he might burst a blood vessel. "Was only supposed to be two of you!"

  "This wasn't planned, Geezie." Zach said for the third time. "Ranger Niko is here against orders."

  "The Queen is suspicious! Rangers on the Queen's world... I'm doomed."

  "Shut up, Geezie." Goose lifted the mewling pedulont two feet off the ground. "And listen to me. You're going to help me find her. And if you don't, this place will be teaming with crown troopers, and you'll be looking at life from the wrong side of the Queen's psychocryopt. Got it?"

  "Got it." Geezie squeaked, and Goose dropped him. "Crazy hummings...."

********

  "Cody, I wish you had stayed with RB." Niko sighed as they tried to look inconspicuous, wandering through the streets of Sorry End.

  "And leave you on your own?" Wildfire winked. "I wouldn't be no gentleman if I did that."

  "If any man calls you a gentleman, I'll spit in his eye." Niko shook her head. "You're a good friend, Carson." She looked up at the darkened windows of a Corellian boarding house. "He's here."

********

  Geezie fretted, the rangers trailing behind him. "You hummings, you think you can just come here and run everything. The Queen will have my trunk if she finds out you're here."

  "She will, if you don't shut up about it." Zach snapped. "If you don't want us here, why do you keep tipping Beta off?"

  "Retirement fund."

********

  Niko and Cody slipped inside the boarding house, glancing at each other at the sharp smell of smoke, unwashed bodies, and all together too much liquor. The Corellian woman at the concierge's desk didn't even look up as they started up the stairs.

  "It's here." Niko stopped before the last door. "He's here."

  Cody checked the charge on his blaster and cocked it. Niko took a deep breath, and turned the knob.

  The room was dark. She reached to touch her badge when a hand shot out of the darkness. She bit back a cry, and Cody squeezed off a shot before a corellian, probably the concierge's son, locked all three arms around him. Killbane's smile was feral in the darkness. Dragging her into the center of the room, he turned up the lantern.

  "Well well, what have we here? The little ranger-girl."

  She tore her arm out of his grasp, shaking. "Ryker Killbane, you are under arrest for attempted murder, crimes against the League, and rape."

  He laughed. It was a rasping sound, choked and above all, mad. "What's with you, girl? You back for more?" He circled her, brushing her cheek with a callused fingertip. "Isn't the Runt able to... satisfy you the way I did, is that it?" His breath stank of cheap scotch, one eye raking her body with lust.

  "You can't hold a candle to him." She clenched her fists, fighting back the desire to bolt. His being so close... his hate spilling over, battering at her defenses. She had a hard time catching her breath.

  "Get away from her!" Cody exploded, straining against the restraining arms of the Corellian.

  "And you old man, what are you? Her father? You goin' to stop me?" Killbane sneered in the outlaw's general direction.

  "Stay out of this, Cody." Niko snapped before the blustering old outlaw could let lose a string of curses that would have blistered the ears of even the most experienced pirate in the Galaxy. She held her head up, refusing to give into the terror that threatened to overwhelm her. 

  "You took something from me, and I don't mean just the violation of my body. You made me afraid of everything, of my own shadow. Of the touch of the man I love. I'm not going to take you in so you can be frozen in storage like so much garbage until they decide to have a trial, if they decide. That's too good for you, Supertrooper or no."

  "Niko." Cody started at her, eyes wide.

  "You raped me." She cried, her voice cracking. "And I'm going to kill you."

  "I'd like to see you try, little girl." He ran his thumb along her jaw and let it slip down her neck to the hollow of her throat where the beating of her heart betrayed her.

  "What's wrong, Killbane? Are you afraid to fight a woman," she growled, slapping his hand away. "On equal terms?"

  "Wasn't once enough?" He laughed. "I ain't afraid of no slip of a girl."

  "No, of course you're not. You're very good at fighting women, aren't you? Maybe because you know they are the only ones you can bully. You know you couldn't beat Goose in a fair fight, so you took the cowards way, and he still almost killed you. You hate him because you fear him."

  "Lying bitch." Killbane spat out, raising his hand to strike her, but she kneed him in the groin, kicking him in the head as he was doubled over, howling.

  "Come on," she forced her way through her fear with a lance of white hot anger, spurred on my Cody's laughter at the bleeding and groggy Killbane. Even with his biodefences, he was still vulnerable. "Come on, I dare you. You want to fight me?"

  "Get him, girl!" Cody whistled as Killbane tried another swing, growling in fury.

  But this time she had enough room to maneuver, and easily ducked and spun away, getting in a kidney punch. She stayed at least three steps away from him, wary and focused. This time, he wasn't going to hurt her. She was going to make him pay. In pain and blood, and fear.

  "What's the matter, supertrooper? Having a little trouble?" His blind fury was transmitted across the tenuous mental bridge she had established and not yet closed. It telegraphed his every move before he made it, and she allowed the anger to just wash over her as she circled him.

  When he tried the gas, she was waiting for him. She jumped back, and produced the small hand blaster Cody had given her, firing off three shots in quick succession. He dropped like a stone, his twitching body glowing weakly red as his biodefences tried to ward off nervous system shock. She held the blaster aimed at his head, breathing hard. Her finger spasmed on the trigger.

  "Niko, there's a line. You told me once you'd never join me on this side of it." Cody's voice, loud yet gentle, came from across the room. The Corellian, aware that he had picked the losing side, was glancing nervously from the gun in her hand to the door. She pointed it in his general direction, and he bolted. She set the power level up one, and aimed squarely for Killbane's head.

  "I was wrong, Wildfire. I was wrong. He deserves to die."

  "Maybe." Cody placed his hand over hers. "But you're not the one to do it, little lady. You're too good for that. Bring him in instead."

  She swallowed tears, and let Cody take the blaster from her.

  "Call Zach and the others. Tell them they have a prisoner to take in." She removed a pair of handcuffs from the pocket of the jacket and set about locking them around Killbane's wrists.

  Cody kept the gun leveled at the unconscious supertrooper as he activated his wrist com. "Zach, this is Wildfire. We're at Mama's, in Sorry End."

  Niko got the cuffs around one wrist and was about to secure the other when the seemingly lifeless hand snapped up to lock around her throat.

  "We copy Cody, we're five minutes away." Zach reined in Brute and turned back towards Sorry End.

  "Dammit!" Cody's voice suddenly squealed from the line.

  "Cody?" Goose barked, straining to see what was happening on the tiny wrist com screen. "What's happening?" But there was the sound of blaster fire and the line went dead.

********

  "Dammit!" Cody yelled, firing again and again at the enraged Killbane, who didn't even seem to notice.

  "Stupid bitch, it takes a lot more to kill me." Killbane growled, putting both hands around her throat and squeezing. Niko clawed at his arms, tears welling up as she fought for breath. "You never learn, you just never learn."

  Cody broke a chair over his back when the blaster was empty, and Killbane just shrugged it off, throwing the old cowboy with one hand across the room to careen into a table where he lay, silent.

  "No." Niko rasped as Killbane's fingers dug into her throat, and the fear threatened to engulf her. He pinned her arm to the floor, and the edges of her sight began to grow dark as she shrugged to reach her badge under the jacket with her free hand.

  Everything went white.

********

  From the street, the rangers saw a brilliant flash of light from the upstairs window of the boarding house. Goose took the rickety wooden steps three at a time, not caring if the entire Crown armada noticed them. He broke down the flimsy wooden door, Zach and Doc, weapons raised, following him into the room.

  In the center of the floor lay Killbane, eye wide and blank, drool creeping from the corner of his mouth to trail down his neck. Niko was in one corner, coughing and drawing in great gulps of air as she tried to see how badly Wildfire was hurt.

  "Niko!" Goose put his hands on her shoulders, and she buried her face in his chest, still coughing with tears streaming down her face. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

  She shook her head, still straining for breath. Doc waved his medical scanner over Killbane, frowning at the results.

  "I'm reading barest minimum of brain activity," he said to Zach, sotto voce. "This guy won't be doing anything for a long time. Massive shock to the nervous system, and brain damage. His mind is gone."

  Cody moaned, and sat up, rubbing the back of his head where it had struck the wall. "I'm gonna have a lump the size of a goose egg." he muttered, too happy to note that Niko was whole, and breathing.

  "He was trying to kill me..." Niko choked out, trying to explain. "I was so afraid he was going to kill me..."

  "It's okay." Goose glared at Zach over her head, as if challenging him to say different, and the captain nodded.

______________________________________________________

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