Endgame-Part IV
From Betamountain.org
"Niko?" Goose trailed through the empty suite, his brow furrowing. When he had
arrived upstairs, the waiter had been at the door, about to use his master to
enter the room. He trod on something and jumped. "Ow! Wh...?" He picked a
sliver of glass out of his foot, and stared at the shattered crystal sparkling
in the afternoon sunlight and the bruised flowers.
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 spacenavy
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?"
"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 surf
ace.
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. Lightyears
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 meagre
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 freinds, 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 feircely, 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 squeeked, 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 whispered, 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 focussed. 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 levelled 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.
Epilogue
Sweet Reconciliations
"Ranger Niko, you are on suspension pending an inquiry into the events on
Tortuna." Commander Walsh tried to look stern, but couldn't manage it. "However,
due to testimony from Gooseman and Cody, as well as your commanding officer and
Dr. Leahy, I'm sure you'll be back in uniform in less than a month. Officially,
all you did was disobey a direct order to stay off Tortuna."
"And unofficially? Do they know?" Niko sat in the chair, her back ramrod
straight, and Goose took her hand.
"I have released a copy of the sealed records from Green's World to Zach,
yes." The Commander's brown eyes softened. "He's the only one, and it'll stay
that way, the Board of Leaders be dammed. It was self-defence, and everyone
knows it."
"It wouldn't have had to have been if I hadn't gone off half-cocked." She
looked away. "It was stupid."
"Now you listen to me," Goose stroked the inside of her palm. "I should
have told you everything, instead of trying to protect you from something you
needed to know."
"Damn right you should have," she reminded him. "If you ever lie to me
again..." she waggled a finger at him, cracking a smile.
"I won't." He caught her hand, and held both of hers trapped between his.
"I promise."
"The hearing isn't for another week, and you two still have those rooms
booked on Rees, so get back there. That's an order." Walsh leaned back in his
chair, fingers steepled. "I even covered Cody's tab, so the hotel should have
no problems with you returning whatsoever."
"You paid Wildfire's cheque?" Niko's eyes grew large.
"I take it out of both your salaries. Now get."
* * *
"Uncle Joe?" Karen stuck her head into Commander Walsh's quarters, dark
hair damp from showering after working out.
"Hey, kid." He motioned her inside. "What's on your mind?"
"I saw Niko and Goose leaving, heading back to Rees to finish their
vacation." She settled down next to him on the dark leather couch, shielding her
eyes from the late afternoon sun pouring in through the wall of windows.
"Yes, it took some finagling with the Board of Leaders, but I authorized
the leave. I can tell you're dying to ask."
"What happened? The records are sealed, and no one is talking. I know
Killbane has been put in cold storage in the cryocrypt with bananas for brain
cells."
"Karen, you know I can't tell you." He sighed, ruffling her hair.
"Oh come on, that's what I heard from everyone!"
"It's over, that's all you need to know."
"She's my friend." Karen scowled. "Okay, so maybe I haven't known these
people as long as everyone else, but--"
"I know, munchkin. But that's all I can tell you. If Niko wants to tell
you someday, that's her business."
"I know." She hugged her knees to her chest. "I just hate being left
out."
* * *
Kort eyed them suspiciously, but didn't say a word as he unlocked the
suite, the baggage cart trailing behind him. When he stood there, looking
expectant, Goose growled at him, and he took off so fast Niko swore he may never
accept a tip again.
"You didn't need to scare him," she shook her head, smiling. He put his
arms around her, and she sighed. It took her a moment before she could fully
relax against him.
"Are you going to be okay?" he murmured against her hair.
"It may take some time," she looked up into his clear green eyes, being as
honest as she could, "but yeah. As long as I've got you, I'll be fine."
He smiled, and she kissed him. It was long a sweet, and full of all kinds
of promises. He was still smiling when they parted, and he stroked her hair,
looking thoughtful.
"I think I can get used to this."
"What, us?"
"Us," he kissed the tip of her nose, eyes bright, "and the short hair."
She laughed, then squealed as he swept her up in his arms and carried her
into the bedroom.
They sure as hell lived happily ever after.