Contingency Plans (Continued)

The second airlock opened, and the two fighters passed through. To their surprise, they found themselves back in the docking bay where Starlighter rested. Several aliens in uniform were climbing aboard the shuttle just to the right of Starlighter. The First Consul, his handlers, and the revenant of Bishop Gumbious were all waiting to board. When they heard the two Algoians barge in, however, they turned their attention away from their ship and onto their opponents.

"Destroy those who would sin against our God!" the First Consul cried at the top of his lungs, pointing a midnight blue scepter topped with a silver cube in the Algoians' direction. At once, the young man and woman who were always with him sprang into action.

The woman scurried forward and then dropped to one knee, her golden braids flying behind her and her lasershot blazing. The man ran at Dash, his own lasershot holstered and replaced by a crimson staff.

The man pointed his staff at Dash and a raging fireball poured forth. Dash ducked and rolled, just scarcely missing the attack as he fired off a few rounds from his sonic gun.

Klek, meanwhile, was busy dodging the onslaught of the blonde woman. His fast footwork had taken him too far away from Dash to tip the scales in their favor with another dose of Sashu. However, he was able to avoid being mowed down where he stood by sealing himself behind a regular Shu technique. The woman's lasershot was too strong to be reflected back or even entirely repelled by the simple Shu, but all the energy that bypassed the Shu could do was fill Klek's protected bubble with an uncomfortable level of heat.

Made much bolder by his increased defenses, Klek broke into a run toward Dash. The Shu sphere continued to get hotter and hotter, and burns began to appear on Klek's hands, but he knew that he and his friend had only once chance. As soon as Dash and Klek were within a few meters of one another, Klek quickly used his last remaining strength to cover Dash in Shift, Shu, and Ner techniques. However, with his energy depleted, the Shu shattered. A lasershot blast was finally able to strike him in the abdomen, and he collapsed, unconscious. Blisters began to mar his smooth green skin as the woman left Klek for dead and went to help her companion.

Dash had been oblivious to Klek's action until he felt a new burst of strength overcame him. Klek's Shift, Shu, and Ner made Dash stronger and faster and protected him from the fire staff the man wielded. Once he no longer had to worry about dodging the fire and only had to concern himself with physical blows from his opponent's weapon, Dash ran to the man and engaged in a fist fight. Fortunately for Dash, the alien man's bulky armor and billowing cloak were ill-suited for close combat. In seconds Dash landed a hard punch to the man's left cheek. The man went down and did not get back up.

By that time his female companion had managed to get behind Dash. She drew out a laconian dagger and stabbed Dash hard in the shoulder. The Palman let out a scream and whirled about, trying to shake the woman off of him. As he did so he caught sight of Klek lying on the ground, barely breathing and with one eye swollen shut. Dash realized that his hope of getting another much-needed blast of Nares was probably gone.

Not knowing what else to do and being in too much pain to think, Dash reached over his shoulder and grabbed the woman by the braids. Using every ounce of strength he could draw on he pulled hard on her hair. He pulled so hard, in fact, that he managed to flip the woman right over his shoulder. She landed half-next to and half-atop her companion. She didn't get up, either. Dash then pulled the dagger out of his shoulder and winced.

Seeing that his helpers were out for the count, the First Consul raised his scepter over his head. The cube atop the scepter began to glow, and a hologram of a woman appeared. She was twice life-size and wore a black body suit bearing the image of Palm, Mota, Dezo, and the moons of the Algo system. Her skin glowed and changed colors like fire; her hair wafted about her head like a halo.

"Say hello to your Mother," the First Consul growled. With that, the hologram laughed maniacally and shot violet laser beams from her eyes. Dash jumped to his left and then rolled to his right, all the while trying to get a shot in at the hologram. Though he was thankful that the hologram of Mother Brain -- and he knew it must be her, for who else could it be? -- was ignoring Klek, he cursed his luck as he realized that a hologram was the kind of thing that couldn't be shot.

Instead, he turned his weapon on the First Consul's scepter. The hologram saw what Dash was trying to do and grew even more agitated. It took everything Dash had to avoid her bombardment of laser fire. But, after several exhausting minutes, one of Dash's audiobullets connected with the cube on the First Consul's scepter. The cube shattered; the hologram scowled and vanished.

"Enough of this!" the First Consul shouted. His shrill voice echoed again and again within the confines of the hangar. Dash knelt down to tend to Klek, though he did not take his gaze entirely off of the First Consul. As his hand touched the back of his friend's blistered head, Dash saw the First Consul turn to the Bishop and whisper something. Dash couldn't hear what it was that the First Consul had said, but it didn't take a Biosystems engineer to know that, whatever it was, it wasn't good.

As the First Consul scrambled aboard his shuttle, the Bishop took a few steps forward. His mouth opened slowly; his bones creaked and his skin ripped as he did so. Slowly he began to raise his arms.

"Klek, get up!" Dash ordered in a harsh whisper. He shook his companion violently. "Damn it, get up!"

"He's...going to...take shuttle...the Bishop...destroy Palm..." Klek said amid his panting. "Don't let...shuttle...take off."

Dash frowned, but nodded. He stood and turned to face Bishop Gumbious, who had managed to raise his hands up in front of him. As Dash watched in amazement, the amber eye in the Bishop's forehead began to glow.

Dash had to mentally shake himself out of his trance. And although time was of the essence, he had to aim carefully. He raised the sonic gun up before his face, and he watched the Bishop's mummy-like face in the targeting scope. His finger caressed the trigger--!

But before he could fire, a wave of what felt like volcanic heat swept over him. Dash cried out in agony as his fibercoat was incinerated. He fell to the ground and writhed and rolled until the flames were out, but he had several painful scorch marks on his shoulders, arms, back, and chest. When he was able to stagger up on his knee, he saw the Bishop painfully and laboriously climbing the gangplank into the First Consul's shuttle.

"Klek, get up!" Dash cried, shaking his companion again.

The Dezorian doctor was able to raise his head, but winced. "By the Torch, I feel like owl dung!"

Dash smirked and lifted the hurt Dezorian. He flung Klek over his shoulder which hadn't been stabbed and made a mad run for the Starlighter. He was just sealing the Starlighter's primary airlock behind him as the Noah's massive docking bay door slid open. Immediately the hangar was depressurized; the First Consul's unfortunate attendants, who were still lying prone on the hangar floor, were sucked out into space. In his rage and fear, Dash hoped they'd still been alive enough to enjoy the experience.

Dash set the weary but mercifully conscious Klek down in the copilot's chair and started the Starlighter's engine. The ship took off just seconds behind the shuttle carrying the First Consul and Bishop.

"Just...contact Algo Control on Palm," Klek said. "They can send their fighter ships to shoot the First Consul out of the sky."

"They're not headed for Algo, not yet," Dash said. "They're circling back around."

That made Klek sit up straight. "What?"

"They know they couldn't get all the way to Algo without us alerting Algo Control, or without us catching up with them. Or maybe they could. God, they control Mother Brain! But whatever it is, our dear First Consul is coming right for us. He's seriously pissed, and he's going to use his new toy to wipe us out."

"Does this ship have a teleporter?"

Despite his agitation, Dash had to smirk. "Of course! What do you think this is, a Motavian slagship?"

"You've got to beam me over to the Bishop's shuttle," Klek said, painfully standing up and grabbing an acidshot that, along with several much larger guns, was mounted on the wall of the cockpit.

"What are you going to do?" Dash demanded, quickly maneuvering the ship out of its collision course with the shuttle.

"You've got to teleport me over to that shuttle so that I can use Rever on the bishop."

"But the bishop is...complete. Won't Rever actually bring him back to life?"

Klek sighed. "....no. I don't think so. Nobody's ever been able to bring a corpse that long dead back to life. Once a certain level of decay has set in-- But, so what if it does? At least he won't be under the L-Elm-Gan's spell anymore."

"No, forget it," Dash said. "I'm not having you, and possibly an innocent ancient bishop, stranded on that madman's ship. We're teleporting the Bishop here!"

Klek smiled and readied the acidshot to fire. "Then in the name of D'zris, what are you waiting for?"

Dash began to pound furiously on the teleporter controls, but nothing happened.

"What's the problem?" Klek asked, still readying his acidshot.

"I can't get a lock on the Bishop," Dash said. "The First Consul's ship has some kind of teleporter block on it."

"Can you break through?"

"Yes, but it will take time! And right now I'm busy trying to not be rammed or shot down by the First Consul's shuttle!"

Klek sighed, dropped the acidshot, and took the copilot's seat.

"What are you doing?" Dash asked, sweat pouring down his creased forehead.

"You may have noticed that I'm not a young man, Dash."

Dash shrugged. "No offense, but all Dezorians look alike to me."

Klek glared. "Anyway, when I was younger, I was in the Pai'tekkan's Dezorian Space Corps. I was never much of a pilot, but I know how to work a cannon."

Dash asked, "You want me to let a middle-aged Dezorian who hasn't been a gunner for decades to take control of my weaponry in the middle of a dog fight?" As soon as he'd spoken, he was once again forced to veer the Starlighter violently to the left, nearly throwing him out of his captain's chair. He did not have a chance to retaliate with a blast from the Starlighter's weapons array. So, with a sigh he said, "Fine! Do it!"

Klek's lipless mouth set itself into a tight horizontal line as his green four-fingered hands flew over the ship's armament controls. Laser beams, gravity bombs, neutron explosives, and torpedoes of numerous types were at his disposal.

"Don't you have any nuclear warheads?" the Dezorian asked, clearly irritated.

"Forgive me, Klek, this isn't a government warship!" Dash angrily replied as he narrowly dodged a torpedo from the alien shuttle.

"Oh, fine," Klek responded as he engaged the Starlighter's own torpedo launcher. "Ready...aim...fire!" he shouted. At his command, a red rocket burst forth from the turret beneath the Starlighter's nose. The alien shuttle tried to evade the attack, but five seconds after it was launched, the torpedo struck its target along its port side. The First Consul's ship bucked and rocked, and part of its hull was blown away. A handful of hapless alien crew members were sucked out into the void and lost.

"Woo-hoo!" Dash cried as loud as he could. He slammed his fist against the control panel and said, "Give it to 'em again!"

Klek narrowed his eyes and readied another torpedo. "And...fire!" he said. Once more the First Consul's ship veered but was ultimately hit. A force field shimmered into place aboard the shuttle, sealing off its now numerous hull breaches. But as the ships passed, narrowly missing one another, Klek and Dash could see numerous fires burning within.

"These torpedoes you've got are something else, Dash," Klek said. "Wherever did you get them?"

"The Kinson Republic and Danzimm Dictatorate, about a dozen light years from here, are in the middle of a very nasty war. You wouldn't believe the stuff they've got. And they've made so much of it that they're practically giving it away! Wait, what's that?"

Klek's narrow red eyes went round as he watched the First Consul's shuttle become engulfed in a golden light that seemed to emanate from deep within. "Are they going to blow?" he asked.

"No," Dash muttered. "It's our friend the Bishop again. They're going to fire!"

"Damn! Have you been able to break that teleporter lock yet?"

"No, not yet! Oh boy, here it comes!"

The amber glow that surrounded the shuttle suddenly shot away from the shuttle and toward the Starlighter. It hit the ship's starboard face. Sparks flew out of the ship's control panels and explosions rocked the rear cabins and hold.

"We're in trouble," Dash said. "I'm getting reports of major damage from all over the ship."

"Dash, the Bishop is getting ready to fire again!"

Dash looked up and, sure enough, the golden light was coalescing about the First Consul's shuttle again.

"Hurry up with that teleporter!" Klek cried.

Dash's teeth were gnashing against one another as he said, "Almost...got...it--!"

Aboard the Stheno, the alien shuttlecraft, the First Consul nervously squirmed in his chair. His ship was falling apart, but he knew that another blast of the Bishop's awesome magic might be enough to blow Dash Galow's ship out of existence.

"First Consul Terrick!" the helmsman said. "We must return to the Noah! Our life support and artificial gravity are on backup power and failing! We have numerous hull breaches and our force fields will not hold for long!"

The First Consul turned to the specter of Bishop Gumbious, who stood at his right hand. The jeweled eye at the center of the corpse's head was glowing brilliantly. Its light was beginning to fill the entire bridge.

"Yes, that's it, my dear Bishop," the First Consul hissed. "Use your power...."

From deep within the Bishop's throat, an agonized groan emerged.

"I've got it!" Dash shouted! "I've got a lock on the Bishop!"

Suddenly the Starlighter shook and spun over. The ship's power failed and the red emergency lighting came on. The artificial gravity field was weakened and Klek could feel himself floating a few millimeters off of his chair. Warning buzzers wailed and klaxons blared.

"He hit us again!" cried Dash. "Primary power is down! Weapons are down! Communications are down!"

"What do we do?" Klek asked.

"There's only one thing left to do."

He activated the teleporter.

"First Consul Terrick, we are receiving a transmission from a third ship! It's the Dezorian starfighter Aukba. We are being hailed by Rez'tekkan D'zkot!"

"What?" the First Consul boomed. "Why isn't he firing? Why isn't D'zkot helping us?"

"Because I am taking this opportunity to thank you for all of the help you have given to me, Terrick," D'zkot's voice said over the Stheno's comm.

"What do you mean?" the First Consul asked, a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead.

"Do you really have such a low opinion of the Dezorian people?" D'zkot asked. "Do you think I would willingly hand over such a priceless Dezorian treasure to one of my competitors in the race for control of Algo?"

"First Consul!" the helmsman cried. "The Aukba is powering its weapons!"

"It is a pity I never had a chance to learn more about you or your plans," D'zkot went on. "I rather wanted to learn what planet you aliens come from and what your intentions were for Algo. But you walked into my trap a little earlier than I anticipated. Now, I fear, is the time for you to die like the fools that you are. It is indeed a pity that you, unlike me, never learned how to properly control the amber eye. You should have read our holy book, Terrick."

The First Consul stood. His white face turned to the Bishop, who was staring back up at him. The Bishop's mouth was agape. His hands were raised and the amber eye was glowing brilliantly. Only he wasn't preparing to fire on the Starlighter again. His eye was focused squarely upon the First Consul.

"Noooooo!"

But then the yellow glow of the Starlighter's teleporter beam fell upon the Bishop, and chaos erupted.

"What in the name of the Torch is that?" Klek asked, grabbing Dash's bloody shoulder and pointing out the view port. "It's a Dezorian starfighter!"

"What is it doing here?" Dash asked.

But then, suddenly, Dash was talking to himself. The Aukba had teleported Klek aboard, and Dash was alone.

Aboard the Stheno, the Bishop of Gumbious was still bathed in gold as the teleporter on the Starlighter attempted to latch onto him. But then the gold turned to crimson as the Aukba struggled to establish its own teleporter lock.

"But Rez'tekkan!" the Aukba first officer wailed. "We can't transport the Bishop aboard until he has destroyed the First Consul!"

D'zkot grabbed his subordinate by the collar and pulled him in close. "Don't you think I know that, you fool? Have you forgotten who made these plans? But we can't allow a weapon like Gumbious to fall into the hands of a Palman pirate! Get that teleporter lock now!"

The Stheno joined in the tug of war as it worked to keep the Bishop where he was. The three teleporter beams had struck within seconds of one another, and the First Consul knew that the results could potentially be disasterous. He watched, terrified, as the Bishop began to slowly fade out, but then reappeared, his deadly amber eye charging all the whole. For a moment the Bishop's image was stretched and distended as the three ships fought over him. But then, in a final, brilliant flash of white light, he disintegrated, and was gone. The First Consul knew what it meant; the Bishop of Gumbious had been destroyed.

"What happened?" the Stheno's first officer asked.

The First Consul collapsed back into his chair. "It's over, helmsman," he said. "The late Bishop's atoms are strewn from here to Copt by now."

"What shall we do now, First Consul?"

Terrick's face fell into his hands. "Get us out of here."

"We have lost the Bishop, Rez'tekkan, but Dr. Klek is aboard," the first officer of the Aukba said to D'zkot.

D'zkot nodded. "Very well. If the New Order cannot possess the eye weapon, it is best that no one can."

"What shall we do about the Starlighter?" the first officer asked. "This Galow fellow has seen too much...."

The Rez'tekkan of Dezoris smiled. "Take him out. And then bring Dr. Klek to me."

Dash, still puzzled by the sudden disappearance of Klek, was startled when he heard the teleporter reactivate. He looked over his shoulder to see only the amber eye of Bishop Gumbious, suspended in mid air, appear above the cockpit teleporter pad behind him. Dash realized that, having locked onto the Bishop first, he had managed to teleport a piece of the Bishop aboard. But only a piece. And that piece was the deadly eye.

Dash was mesmerized as he stared into it. He knew that it saw him, understood him. Its golden glow intensified.

Just then, the weapons aboard the Aukba fired upon the Starlighter. But the explosion they caused was secondary and unnecessary.

And there was nothing more after that.

"Then, Dr. Resa shall be fine?" Klek asked his supervisor as they marched down the cold halls of Guaron Morgue.

Dr. Oja nodded gravely. "Yes. It was very curious. Although the Palman shot her at point-blank range, her wounds were only superficial. She will make a complete recovery." Dr. Oja stopped walking. He placed a green hand upon Klek's shoulder and said, "But I am afraid I still do not understand what, exactly, happened to you. When you were brought back from space, the Rez'tekkan took you directly to his office and nothing more was said after that."

Klek smiled and resumed walking. "The Rez'tekkan explained everything to me. The Palman pirate who took me hostage was a dealer in Algoian antiquities. He would steal priceless treasures and then sell them on the galactic black market. The Rez'tekkan informs me that many alien cultures are interested in items from Algo. Our isolation has made us quite a curiosity to the rest of the sector."

"You were not harmed?" Dr. Oja asked.

"It's strange," Klek said. "It is difficult for me to remember. I do recall telling the Rez'tekkan about all that had happened to me...but it is difficult to remember what happened before that. I must not have been harmed, though. I show no signs of injury."

"Some of the men from the Aukba claimed that the Bishop's body had been destroyed. It was such a relief to find out that such was not the case."

The two Dezorians turned a corner and entered a small back room of the Morgue. The airtight casket of Bishop Gumbious, which had been resealed, sat upon a slab in the center of the room. Armed men stood guard all around it.

"It was kind of the Palman authorities to station these agents from Zosa here," Klek said. "And I appreciate that all of the agents they sent are Dezorian. There would have been a scandal if the people knew that Palmans had been inside Guaron!"

"The Palmans are very embarrassed over the entire situation, seeing as one of their citizens was responsible," Dr. Oja said. "They were eager to help out. But Dr. Klek, there is one thing that still puzzles me...."

"Yes, Dr. Oja?" Klek asked. "What would that be?"

"You seem different since your meeting with the Rez'tekkan. I understand how matters of government secrecy can affect one's behavior, but.... I don't know. It almost seems as if you are a different man."

Klek's face wore a smile, but it was not Klek who felt amusement. It was D'zkot. Thousands of miles away, in the Presidential Building at Aukba, Rez'tekkan D'zkot, the only Dezorian telemental in all of Algo, sat behind a desk and controlled what remained of Dr. Klek with his mind. How fitting, the Rez'tekkan thought, that his newest animated corpse should be, by profession, a mortician!

"Now really, Dr. Oja," D'zkot replied through Dr. Klek. "I assure you, the incident hasn't changed me at all."

The two colleagues walked out of the room, talking and smiling. They left behind them the room guarded by the agents, and the sealed casket of a legendary Bishop which, unbeknownst to all but D'zkot, housed nothing more than the remains of one very unlucky Palman pirate.

Fin.