Subject: [FFML] [C&C][TB] An Ignoble Detriment: Prologue and Chapter 1
From: "FOG3" <mdemouy@mindspring.com>
Date: 6/6/2004, 8:22 PM
To: "FFML" <ffml@anifics.com>


TWH

Presents:

An Ignoble Detriment:

Prologue

Fatal Escape

Inside the disabled alien probe on the dark side of the moon,

You intend to define that ship as merely a probe?  Makes me curious what you
'll define as a Scout Ship let alone the Light Cruisers, Battle Cruisers,
Fleet Carriers, and Dreadnought analogies.

a shadow limped through its hall as quietly as it could. Gunnar, once known
as Fritz Wallace, hissed in pain and held his shoulder. The wounds that he
had received in his last battle were beyond repair. The teknopods no longer
accepted him as one of their own. Worst of all, Darkon, the alien commander
of this ship, had hatched another nightmare like himself. Whoever it was, it
would hunt him down and complete the job Slade had not.

Whether Fritz lived or died mattered little. Being as he was, it was more
of a blessing to be dead. More than a year ago, he had the privilege to call
himself a human, and an ambitious one at that.


I'd have to check again but I thought the Argos had gone missing more then a
year before the invasion began.  There's evidence indicating 3 years time to
have passed since it left from my HK sub anyway.

Now it was all gone. Stolen and replaced with the the cold machinery of a
slave. Now, here he was; near death and with his senses for who knew how
long.

Extra "the" there.



However; there was one more thing he could do. There was someone still
unchanged from the process around here. If he was early enough, he could
help them escape and warn the others on Earth and maybe give them some
warning of the aliens' plans.

He looked up to see her still in one of the pods. With his fleeting
strength, he limped over to the pod, leaned against the glass-like cover and
whispered, between breaths, to the person within, "Can you hear me?"


Nitpick: Those pods are not at ground level.  I'd say they're high up enough
in fact he'd have to hover up some to mess with them much.  Never mind they'
re right around Omega's throne.  Its seems to be much more like an organic
membrane then glass to me.  "Transparent" is probably the word you're
looking for if you're refering to it being clear.


Seeing no response, he looked over the body of what appeared to be a woman
in her early twenties, the base of the neck in particular. If it was there,
it was already too late.

Trying to stay conscious along with trying to concentrate on seeing if the
symbiont was inside her neck took all the little strength that he could
muster. His eyes widened. The symbiont had not yet inserted itself, but it
had entered the pod and was ready to embed itself in her.


I would not define those things as symbiotic personally, but that's just me.

He couldn't just break through the sealing, or else her death would only
happen quicker. The organic control console would not accept his command,
nor would the symbiont retreat from its course. Regardless, it had to be
stopped. If not, she would become a slave to Darkon, like he was at one
time.


Omega or Darkon as you put it is of course nothing more then a puppet
himself.  Speaking of which something about his abandoning him ala Evil's
might be nice just as a comment somewhere.  Breaking the "seal" is pretty
much what happened to Blade and he survived more or less, something they all
probably on some level noticed while hanging there.

His exhaustion began to catch up with him as he leaned against the sealing
with his forearm and put his head against it to at least catch his breath.
He couldn't die now. Not until she was safe.

His activity caused the woman within to stir and awake. Looking to see her
surroundings were different that they were when she had been awake had
almost put her into a panic. Yet, she calmed a bit when she saw him standing
in front of her. She put her hands against the seal that was holding her and
whispered, "Fritz? Is that you?"

He looked up in surprise and replied, "Are you all right?"

She smiled a bit sadly, "I've been better. And you?"

He was about to reply, but he shook his head, "That's not important.
Listen, the symbiont is right behind you. It's trying to get into your
neck."

The woman turned quickly to see the symbiont moving grudgingly through the
glowing green liquid to her, not at all aware that she was awake. "Quickly!
Kill it! There won't be another to take its place for a while."

"But... but how?"

"Remember? The process enhanced your strength to the point where it should
be easy. Just grab the neck and tear off the head. Quick. Before it gets
you." he cried in a panic.

The woman was scared; nevertheless, she followed Fritz' instructions. The
small spider-crab shaped symbiont screeched its last and dissolved into
nothing between her fingers.


Why would it dissolve?  Blade thoroughly stomped on Evil's and it showed no
sign of dissolving.

"Good," he said with a sigh of relief.

She turned to him, "What now?"

"Wait until the end of the process. Once you can, get out and let Slade
know what's going on. Tell them about Ax, Lance, and Sword, the ladam pods,
everything while there's still time!" he said quickly.

Seems how Radam or Ladam is the specific name of the alien race shouldn't it
be a proper noun and capitalized?  Lets see you go from saying tell Slade
what's going on to a plural 'them', probably should just have had it as 'him
' the Space Knights will find out from him if Fritz actually took them into
account.

Let see canonically Tekkaman Rapier ala Miyuki ala Shara is like their
father, Kouzu, a "excluded" Tekkaman not to be mixed up with a rejected
Tekkaman.  The reason she was dying off and Kouzu were dying off is seems to
be for some reason at the stage where they'd be bent to the Radam's will
with one of those little mind parasites they weren't chosen.  Maybe their
will was to strong, I don't know why, your guess is as good as mine.  I do
know it has nothing to do with someone from the outside interfering as Kouzu
was freed first and he was an "excluded."  Unlike Takaya's "incomplete"
Tekkaman state no one freed them and the pods just spitted the "excluded"
ones out.  It appears the Radam use the Tekka-system to destroy the person's
body for "excluded" Tekkamen.  As evidenced by the greatly increased
destruction of their bodies as compared to say Blade and it doesn't seem to
really matter whether they transform or not.  Here you're implying Miyuki
has been able to take another option complete and free but not excluded
somehow.

"But what about you?" she asked as he began to turn.

"It doesn't matter. If you see any of the other teknomen, just pretend
you're asleep," he said before reaching the exit. "Stay alive... please."
She nodded once, which satisfied him as he exited as quietly as he entered.

He's only going to try to free one of them?  Your call I suppose.

After he had left, she whispered through the liquid, "Good-bye, Fritz."

Now that she was safe, the only thing left for Fritz was to find a place
to rest. Leaning on the wall inside the >passageway, he rubbed his eyes in a
futile attempt to try and get a clearer view. Judging from where he had come
from, the exit must not be far from where he was. It was only another five
to ten meters until he could reach the >exit and to find a place to die in
peace.

"Rubbing his eyes" so he's untransformed and knows he's going to die, not to
mention accepting it, but isn't about to hand over his crystal to Miyuki?
Well I guess seems as how Blade did find out about that accidentally, it
might not be in the Radam knowledge file imprinted into their minds.  Either
way your story, your call.


The injuries he had sustained were only getting worse and slowing him down
more. Nothing could stop his death >from occurring. For the most part, it
was Slade's fault. Yet, when he reflected on that last battle, a smile
started to >develop on his face and were it not for the blood that was
slowly seeping into his lungs, he would have chuckled.

Somehow, what Slade did to him in that last fight... he was actually
grateful.

In an odd way, Fritz wanted to thank Slade for doing that. Now, his
suffering would end much quicker. The thought of dying after one was already
'dead' in this sense, was more of a tedious thought than fearful.

Taking another deep breath, he pushed himself to his feet and attempted to
make for the exit.

Another voice intruded, "How nice. The failure seeks to escape before he
dies." Fritz turned to see a much more >menacing and powerful, red and black
armored giant with a lance that rivaled his own. Without any hesitation, the
newer warrior stomped over to Fritz and kicked it out of the ship. Even
knowing Fritz' helpless and doomed state, >the attacker would not relent.

Fritz is an "it"?  Why not "him"?  So let's see Fritz is outside the ship
ala on the surface if the moon, untransformed, and not in a space suit.  I'm
sorry but I think asphyxia would be a slightly bigger problem to him then
whatever Evil is doing to him.  Really up till now everything indicates
Fritz is walking around without the armor on and now he's on the surface of
the moon with no indication of being transformed.  Excuse me but I think
this might need to be addressed.

For the next several minutes, Fritz' pain increased as the stranger
mercilessly beat his already weakened body to a >bloody pulp. Holding up
Fritz' body by the collar, the stranger grumbled, "Now I can see why the
master decided >to abandon you, Gunnar. You're just as weak willed as Slade
is."

Kind of hard to put up a fight when you should have asphyxiated already.
Oxygen depravation can do things like that.

In a blaze of red light, the warrior carried him from the surface of the
moon and at a course away from both the >moon and earth. From Fritz' only
working eye, he turned to see where his torturer was planning on doing.

"Don't be surprised, Gunnar. It'll be less painful this way." With a
powerful heave, his assailant threw Fritz straight towards the sun. With
what little strength he had left, Fritz tried to move himself, but the pain
had all but ruined his connection to his armor's boosters. "Farewell Gunnar,
your agony will be horrible, but brief."


So now he's in armor?  How pray tell does one rub their eyes in one of those
suits?  So pains the only thing stopping him from using his thrusters?  I
guess he's not one of those guys who work better under pain then.

With the speed of a comet, Fritz flew away with no hope of controlling his
trajectory. When Earth and the moon vanished from his sight, all hope of
rescue was gone. On top of that, the pain Saber had inflicted on him was too
much as he began to lose consciousness. As he began to slip away for the
last time, he whispered, "Good-bye, Shara.


Need to close the quote.

End of Prologue

Notes:

It's sad when death happens to characters you like, isn't it? But oh well,
it makes you appreciate them all the more. Gunnar's voice had a certain
aristocratic quietly to it that I rather liked, so I figured I could give
him a slight homage with this prologue.

Well, with any hope, you'll enjoy the rest of the story as all of its
material belongs to Tatsunoko Productions.

-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: An Ignoble Detriment..txt



TWH
Presents

An Ignoble Detriment
Chapter 1:
Shifting Tides

***

"Though the last few months of Shannon Carter's life were not as dramatic
as some Shakespearian drama, it was certainly worth knowing what happened,
what she did, and why."
-Anita Brannigan
Author of Cursed Blessing: Accounts from survivors of the Lahdam Wars.
Copyright of Bookcraft; 2106.

*****

Are you using Ladam or Lahdam?
In the medical facility of the Space Knight Research and Development Command
Center, Shannon Carter, known most by her nickname Shara, stared blankly at
the ceiling, lost in thought.

She had just gotten out of surgery after another reaction had forced the
doctors at the facility to operate.

She remembered seeing their horrified faces when they saw the red lines
streaming through her skin, as she cried in pain beyond what they knew.

Oh I see your trying to use Dagger to explain Rapier's excluded status.
Personally I disagree with this idea based on what I've picked up when
watching my HK DVDs, but it's your story and thus author's prerogative.

She couldn't blame them. It was a horrific sight to see someone writhing in
pain and being unable to help. Her cries of agony couldn't be calmed, even
being held by her brother. Regardless, the commander called for the medic
and she was whisked away to the emergency room. She felt the wounds on her
stomach reopen and spill fresh blood onto the medical gown she had on. Soon
enough, the pain in her system caused everything in her sight to fade as the
operation began.

By all rights, she should be dead, but fate had let her live for a while
longer. However, living in this condition made even breathing difficult. It
was so tempting just to find a secluded spot on the planet and sleep until
her body shut down for good.

However, holding information that could hopefully save Earth was not
something she had to keep to herself. >Besides, she owed it to Fritz. He
told her about the pods and the newer teknomen that would soon arrive. Were
it >not for him, her conversion process would have been nearly complete by
now.

Why use "newer" as opposed to "new" as you aren't really comparing as such?

She wanted to cry at the very thought of that awful place. Its only purpose
was to change humans into those soulless, armor covered monsters that were
attacking Earth. Her escape remained fresh in her mind.

*****

After Fritz had left, she had fallen asleep for who knew how long. Being
inside that chamber itself was draining, due to the process changing their
body chemistry so drastically. She wanted out, but it wasn't time yet. She
had to wait, just a little longer.

"It's so cold," she mumbled below her breath, curling herself as much as
she could.

From nowhere, a reply comprised of multiple voices responded gently, "Yes,
it is."

She looked everywhere, but found no source for the voice she heard.

"Who's that?" she asked quickly.

"Friends that sympathize with your situation."

She shook her head slowly, "Now I'm hearing things... what could you
possibly offer me?"

"An avenue of escape, perhaps?"

She blinked once and frowned, "You lie!"

"Do we?" the voices asked with a hint of humor in them, "were we lying to
you, would we even bother with the offer in the first place? No, the Lahdam
are not that subtle."

"You could try and lull me into a false sense of security and subvert me!"

There was disappointment. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. It appears the conversion
process is already affecting your judgment. Yet, we believe there's still
hope for you yet."

"Sure it's affecting my judgement, I'm hearing annoying voices that are full
of themselves and think anyone who isn't gullible enough to just take their
word on something is having problems in their judgement.  I know I should
use my better judgement and ignore you as you aren't really there."

Shara was starting to get aggravated, "This isn't funny. Whatever you have
to say, say it!"

"Very well, not only can we give you a means of escape, but information to
aid your people."

"Yes I'm sure my people and your people can discuss this over lunch.  Who
exactly are your people supposed to be anyway and why should I trust you?"

Shara considered their words. Yet, something still nagged at her. "What do
you want in return?"

"What else, but the traitor's elimination? Trust us, my dear, you and your
kin are not the only ones to suffer loss at Darkon's hand."

"It all seems too good to be true."

"It is, that's why the price for this will be... quite steep."

"I knew it..."

"The information we will transfer to you will interrupt the conversion
process. Naturally, the Lahdam are quite specific to things they corrupt.
And unless it's to their exact specification, they discard it."

"In other words?"

"Suffice it to say, your body's systems will degrade at a much faster
rate."

"And there's no way around this?"

"We're afraid not..."

She remained silent, hating the choice she would have to make. Live in
slavery or die free, and no third option.

So much for Fritz's little idea then, I guess it doesn't count as an option.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Names are such a bulky and cumbersome thing... though we'd prefer not to
have one, we are referred as something."

"What?"


"The Proverbial Overbearing Elder Race, POER for short.  For some reason
many of the races we contact say they're POed at us."

"Should you accept, you will know."

Shara sighed openly, inhaling the oxygenated fluid in and out of her
lungs. Resigned to her fate, she nodded slowly, "Alright. But I want to see
my brother one last time."

Gone was the arrogance and condescension from before, replaced with
something warm and sympathetic. "We understand...."

In front of her, a small blue light appeared and thinned out into a single
thread. Its brightness suddenly flared until it practically blinded her. The
brilliance was so overpowering that she only felt the strand of light
entering into her forehead and a massive amount of information placed into
her brain.

At the same time, the forces holding the pod in place were being
interfered with, but not by any source the Lahdam knew. Several times, the
light inside the pod flashed, until it could not take the interference
anymore. With that, it burst, freeing its prisoner.

Filling her lungs with recycled air, Shara stood outside the pod;
exhausted, but free.

Doesn't really seem the Lahdam had the time to react to the foreign object
and switch her over to "excluded" status in response.  Gives the impression
of being more of an incomplete case like Blade.

"Ah, I felt something was amiss," a dark and foreboding voice rumbled from
behind her.

Twirled around to see the holographic, yet no less imposing, figure of
Darkon looming over her.

Stumbling backward as his image approached, she struggled for the
concentration to activate her power. But his red and golden eyes temporarily
paralyzed her with fear. She could hear him in her mind, invading her
thoughts and with words that chilled her.

"No... Stay away from me!" she screamed as a dull red glow appeared around
her and in an explosion, she escaped through a hole her escape created.

More like neon pink then dull red, but it's your story.

She didn't notice his lack of pursuit, or the self-satisfied smirk beneath
his visor before he vanished.

As the moon became smaller, her heart gradually calmed. The immediate
danger out of the way, she studied the >information that she had received
and found it to be correct as far as she knew concerning the Lahdam and the
mysterious 'collective' that had helped her. Turning from her thought to
the journey, she looked to the earth where >her brother was, and whispered,
"Hold on, Ness. I'm coming home."

"We are Tekkacutus of Borg, resistance is futile you will be assimilated."

*

Shara laid drifting in and out of consciousness from the anesthesia. For a
while, she was drifting in thick darkness.

She felt nothing. It was frightening to feel nothing when she should be
feeling pain. Through void, she began to notice the information she had been
given.

The images frightened her when she discovered more hideous appearances of
the aliens called Lahdam. The ones that Darkon had once fought vehemently,
he now swore allegiance to.

Wait... Darkon had fought 'against' the Lahdam? And what's more... he
wasn't alone. He had friends, compatriots (the : they) called themselves...
tekkamen?
Her fear allowed the darkness to fade out the memories. And soon enough,
two spheres of gold and red appeared in front of her. Along with them, came
the deep, and unsettlingly gentle voice of the enemy.

"You cannot hide from me, my dear."

Horrified to the point of tears, Shara wailed in agony and resisted his
overwhelming presence as much as she could. The harder she tried, the sooner
her consciousness left her.

*

At that same time on the dark side of the moon, Darkon, sat in meditation
in the bridge of the ship he commanded. He had contacted Dagger, but the
correspondence on her end was quite lacking.
It came to no surprise really, given their respective situations. He would
have other opportunities. However, he could tell by the amount of distress
she was in, she must have found her brother and the humans that had assisted
him.

"Dagger must surely have disclosed what she has learned by now. This
cannot bode well for us." She, along with Slade, had to be subdued as soon
as possible. However, since Saber was still recovering and his other three
soldiers were not ready, he was at a clear disadvantage at the moment. It
was slightly frustrating when he had held the upper hand for the better part
of a year.

There were measures he could take to speed along the process of his other
four soldiers. However, the second the idea came, he rejected it. "No. I
cannot speed the process any. I must be patient."

By "other" you imply other then the active ones including Evil especially
with "process" in there.  So who is this other person beyond Axe, Lance, and
Sword?

He turned to the window where the endless sea of stars were, narrowed his
eyes, and grumbled, "How ironic, old friend. Even when I am far away, you
still haunt me. No matter what, you are still there."


Poor Kengo, not only did he never get a chance to resist, his personality
seems to have been erased, and his body possessed.

He offered his hand to the stars, as if he were holding the hand of the one
he at one time called his best friend, clenched it. "You never could
understand, 'old friend'. Your naivet� is what did you in, yet I will not be
so foolish. Wherever you are, you will see my success, even if I will not be
there to witness it."

If one looked at any purpose the right way, it could be considered mad.
Unification of any sort was a fool's ideal to him. He had seen everything
from empires to republics to monarchies to tyrannies fall. It was always the
same reason. There had been people within that strengthened the skin of the
beast, yet the heart had grown weak and perished under the strain.

All that remained were his plans to assist in redefining the universe as
it was. Through force and words, he had >come thus far and every setback
only made the ambition burn stronger.

Even with his personal 'delusions of grandeur', he continually had to ask
himself why.

Justice. Yes, that's what it was for, but justice for whom? Himself, of
course. His head lowered in memory of the reason why. What he was determined
never to allow to happen, yet it had happened despite his effort.
"...never..." he said, his anger rising once more, "...I will never let it
happen again."

His breathing calmed as he regained his control. He could not allow his
emotions to defeat him at such a critical point in time.

Darkon considered himself a warrior in every sense of the word, and he
would live up to such a standard by overcoming his personal obstacles. He
recalled a saying the one of the Argos passengers often recited to
themselves. "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that
ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city."

"How true," he said to himself. Complete control over one's self enabled
total control over others.

His focus shifted when he felt the three new warriors emerge from their
chambers. His astral form faded from the bridge and into the main room where
they stood, awaiting his orders.

What happened to number four?

With an internal sigh, he wondered sardonically if he would ever have a
moment for his meditation.

"Ax, Lance, Sword." His three new servants turned to their master and
knelt. They didn't see the frown on Darkon's face, but even if they did,
they wouldn't acknowledge it. The Lahdam did their job a little too well
evidently. Mindless slaves were what he wanted and the Lahdam had given them
to him.

So we're redefining how the mind-control system works from canon so we can
declare them mindless.  Then we have someone practically acting out
meglomania who's not Kengo like he's the big bad guy despite being stationed
on a mere "probe."  Then he expects them to see him frown when even if his
head was in the armor's head in order to see his mouth you'd need the be
able to see through opaque armor plate?

Moving on, he said, "Now that you are prepared to serve, I have an
assignment prepared for you all. What you are to do is join Saber at the
Orbital Ring. Then, you shall accompany him to the base where Slade and
Dagger hide and defeat them. They are weakened now and their resistance will
be slight." He raised his bladed staff high and proclaimed, "Why do you
hesitate?! Now is the time to strike! GO!"

His three new slaves bowed to him, stood, and in a flash of red light,
left the ship and sped their way towards Earth.

Drawing himself back into the incubation chamber, he allowed himself to
watch the events unfold. Without doubt, Slade and Dagger would resist. And
if it proved to be more trouble than it was worth, his minions would kill
them. A small part of him would have regretted seeing Slade die. The good
fortune of the aforementioned would have been a valuable asset, among other
things.

I hate to point it out but Evil has defeated Blade or brought it to a
standstill every time they've ever fought on anything approaching equal
grounds.  Blade's few victories were all the result of an unfair advantage
on his part or a freak fluke at the very end of their final fight, the
Blastor part of which Evil won.

*


Elsewhere in the base, Commander Jamison and Tina Corman worked on battle
simulations for assaults on the moon.

One must wonder where they're getting the data to make an acceptable
simulation for that.

Shara: "And this port here is a 500 gigawatt phased energy emplacement."


Not looking up from his console, the commander said, "The result?"

Tina's eyes remained on her screen, "Thirty-five percent chance of success
with a ninety-percent chance of fatal retaliation."


Jamison frowned as he rubbed his chin. Unacceptable. "Very well...
increase efficiency factors six through eight."

"Calculating," she said typing as quickly as her fingers could go.

Behind them, the door opened and Jamison could smell the scent of coffee
from the cups brought to him and Tina.

"Here you go, sir," said Mac McKelroy handing the cup to him before
placing the other cup by her side.

Jamison nodded in appreciation, took his cup and took a sip before
sighing, "Mac, what's the prognosis?"

The elder mechanic sighed and shook his head, "They're not sure, but at
best she's got about a month or less. At best a month and a half."

"Unfortunate, and so young too." Jamison's eyes narrowed at the digital
approximation of the enemy's base on the screen. All the time, the enemy was
right there and with them so close, they could end this wretched war sooner.
However, with the Orbital Ring under their control, it seemed so far away.

I think "Lahdam" would work better then "their" I personally feel uncertain
about what "their was referring to when I first read it.

Above both their consoles, Xeres Galt appeared on the top most screen.

"Well Jamison, hard at work?"

The commander didn't meet the infamous general's sneer. "We're making
plans at the moment, sir. Sorry we don't have time for more banter."

"Oh, i think you'll want to hear what I have to say, Commander. Because it
involves you too."

Jamison cocked an eyebrow, "How so?"

"Just to let you know, Jamison, we've completed the Thunderhawk."

"Again, what does that have to do with us?" Jamison asked, knowing the
missile in question could only lead to trouble.

"With all the Phrenium we've produced, we've been able to increase the
missile's potency by three hundred percent. And if we use it to attack the
Orbital Ring, we'll be able to eliminate the aliens in one fell swoop."

Phrenium?  I've seen Feylumian and I seem to remember Z-tron supposed to be
what it's called in Teknoman used to refer to the stuff, but Phrenium?
Where's that one from?

"Teknoman! What's the meaning of this? Why have you come here?" Galt said
in shock as Slade fell through a hole in the glass ceiling.

"General Galt! You have to call off the launch!" Slade, in his armor said
to Galt and the rest of the military council.

A communications officer, noticing the exchange, spoke up, "Awaiting your
orders, sir, shall we call it off?"

Galt screamed back, "Call it off? You must be out of your mind!"

Slade stepped forward, clutching the handle of his lance tighter; "I was
about to say the same about you! This scheme of yours is madness!"

"Madness?! To want to save the planet and destroy the enemy? I do this for
the Earth!" the general replied, showing Slade a foul hand gesture.

Galt is many things but stooping to a vulgar hand gesture?  No that does not
strike me as like him at all.


"General, if you do this, millions will die and you still won't have
achieved your objective!"

"Stop wasting my time," the general sneered turning to the control
officers, "Countdown will continue!"

"Your plan will solve nothing, General. Don't you understand? The Orbital
Ring is just an alien outpost!"

"Of course you'd say that, they're your friends, aren't they?"

"Darkon's base is located on the far side of the moon!"

"You think I'd trust to anything you say, traitor?!"

"So that's the way it's going to be, huh? Then you leave me no choice," he
turned and raised his weapon to smash the control panel in front of him.

"Don't touch that control panel!" Slade turned his head to see the general
holding a remote, "In the final sixty seconds, the countdown cannot be
terminated. Any attempts to do so will result in the destruction of this
missile base. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the fireworks with the rest of
us." The general's boast was soon followed by a mad laughter.

"Galt..." Slade growled as he turned to face the general as the last ten
seconds counted down.

"I won't let anyone interfere with my victory!" Galt said amid his
laughter as he reached to push the button.

"No!" Slade screamed, trying to reach for the trigger in Galt's hand, but
it was too late. Shaking with the force of an earthquake, the gargantuan
missile flew out from the silo and into the air. The only other thing heard
was Galt's mirth.

Turning back to the General, Slade yelled, "You maniac!"

The General raised his arms and laughed, "Maniac, you say?! I'm the savior
of all humanity! The greatest soldier in the history of the world!"

"I could beg to differ... PEGAS!" Slade cried, leaping into the air and
onto the back of his robotic partner. With only seconds before the missile
accelerated out of range, he would have only one chance.

"Pegas! Charge the reactors and prepare to fire!"

"AFFIRMATIVE." his partner said, altering his shape to fire the pherenium
based energy bolt to augment Slade's own attack.

Slade's pauldrons opened to reveal the set of eight crystals that emitted
the Tekno Bolt, and with Pegas' anti-matter warheads, it would be enough to
destroy the missile from where he was.

Well not so much destroy persay as cause it to go off prematurely.

When the energy on both of them reached threshold, Slade was about to fire
when a pair of intruders knocked him and Pegas off course.

Regaining his balance, Slade and Pegas knew they were in for more trouble
when Saber and Sword blocked his path.

"High Coat Voltekka!  Alright, I get to save the world from the Thunderhawk
and make Saber and Sword regret interfering with me.  My day is looking up."


"Out of my way!" Slade growled and with his bladed lance, swung at both of
them. As he expected, they (doged : dodged) and gave him way to chase the
missile, but to his despair, it was already starting to enter orbit.

He was about to fire a tekno bolt by himself when he felt both of his foes
attempt to skewer him with their own weapons.

"This isn't going to work!" Slade growled, holding back Sword's attack.

"Ah, I see. So that insane fool down there thinks that taking out the
Orbital Ring's going to help?" Saber asked casually. "Well, we hate to
disappoint you, brother, but that's how it is."

"Saber!" Slade screamed as he tossed Sword away and charged his brother.

He was within arms length when a stream of light blue pherenium screamed
past him, Pegas and his two assailants. Around them, several more streams
joined the first at speeds none of them could match.

Within seconds, the blue streams surrounded the missile and converged on
it like a pack of predators. The missile changed into a large sphere of
green before imploding and blowing up, creating a massive vacuum and a small
tornado. Amid massive whirlwind of pherenium, Slade got on top of Pegas'
back and flew him out of the vortex and back to the base as fast as the
robot could.

"Pegas! What was that?!"

"BASED ON ANALYSIS OF PAST RECORDS THERE IS A 90% CHANCE THAT WAS A
PSY-VOLTEKKA.  IT DOES NOT MATCH THAT OF EVIL.  SOURCE UNKNOWN."


"ANALYSIS DENOTES IT AS MULTPILE PHERENIUM BURSTS ORIGINATING FROM THE
GROUND."

"Is there's anyone down there?"

"SCANNING... NEGATIVE. THERE ARE NO SIGNATURES IN THIS VICINITY THAT WOULD
ALLOW SUCH A WEAPON TO EXIST."

Looking downward, he looked at the mountain range where the outside fire
had saved more than people would ever know. He would wonder how it happened
and how he was to explain this to the Commander.

*

Far below them, an Arabian man draped his izar over the light brown tunic
he wore, gathered his pack, and walked to nearby cave, leading to another
passage.

Taking one last look at the sky, he noticed the shape of Slade and Pegas
flying south. Retreating into the cave, he took one last look at the white
armored hero and smiled.

"Very soon, Ness. Very soon," he said in his native language as he entered
the underground passageway.
*

Back at the blast site, Galt and the military command looked in surprise
at the slowly dissipating whirlwind above. As impressive as the display was,
Galt was not impressed. In fact, he was quite furious.
"Oh no you don't... you can't make a fool out of me THAT easily! If
there's anything left of the Space Knights command center, I want Jamison
arrested at once!"

"You will do no such thing, Galt," a new voice said behind him.

The general turned to see the President, Johan Trier, and his bodyguards
filing into the room. If there was a man that Galt hated more than Jamison,
it was this Rhinelander that was practically the only obstacle from having
himself placed as the next commander-in-chief.

"Why, Mr. President? He stopped our one chance of saving the Earth!"

Trier frowned. "Which may be a good thing since there's still an Earth to
fight for! And while we're at it, care to explain to me why you did this in
the first place? And without the consent of me or the Congress?!"

On the defensive, Galt replied, "There was no time, the enemy..."

The president then exploded in Galt's face, "...is on the other side of
the Moon, you idiot! Did you ever notice that whenever one of the enemy
teknomen emerged, it was always from the Moon before they came to the
Orbital Ring? Well? Did you?!"

With what pray tell?  They're advanced but not that advanced and the Orbital
Ring is obviously not under their control to use it's sensors if he's going
to blow it out of the sky.  There's plenty you can rip on Galt for but that
isn't really one of them.

Galt's frown grew more and figuring this was as a good a time as many, he
reached within his coat and yanked out the same gun he shot McMillan with.
However, he froze when he felt the barrel of another gun poking the back of
his skull.
"Tut, tut, General. It wouldn't be proper to try and do the president in,
now would it?" a woman's voice with an English accent said casually.

Galt dropped the gun and held up his hands as Trier smirked, "Really,
Galt. If you really wanted me dead, you should have tried to be more
creative. Take him away."

As Galt was accompanied by two of the president's bodyguards, the
president asked the woman that had somehow snuck up from behind him,
"Victoria, how's McMillan?"

The woman replied, "I thought he was dead, but it looks like he'll pull
through. The doctor's say he was only hit in the shoulder."

Trier turned to Galt and frowned, "Seriously, Galt. If you can't even kill
a small time traitor, what hope do you have of killing me?"

Good Grief with so much material to rip Galt on if you wish, you decide to
ignore it in favor of making up things like he can't even kill someone
properly?  I think that's not exactly good form, but you are the author.

Galt only glared at his political rival as he was restrained by the
bodyguards and led out.

End of chapter 1

Notes:

All things Teknoman related belong to Saban.

Who now belongs to Disney.

All things Tekkaman Blade belong to Tatsunoko Productions.

As a side note; finally! A draft of this story that I'm actually satisfied
with!

And for all two of you out there that had the misfortune of reading and
understanding 'Shara's Last Gift', just pretend it didn't happen. Deal?
Deal.

I've read that pretty much, but I doubt I'm being counted.


What brought this next draft was seeing Liquid Anime's fansub of the
Tekkaman Blade saga. Thanks to that and the HK DVDs of the series, my
fanaticism for Tekkaman Blade/Teknoman received a much-needed shot in the
arm. And with a little thought, I'm slowing blending both the separate
stories from Tekkaman Blade and Teknoman into my own hideous, slithering,
disgusting... thing. Why? Not sure. But what I do know is that I like it.

Big thanks go out to elisteran and zaitcev from the Mirc for the
proof-read.

Finally; helpful and constructive C&C is requested and appreciated.

Hopefully this qualifies.  Otherwise I need to refine my C&C skills more.



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