[FFML] [TB] An Ignoble Detriment: Prologue and Chapter 1

A little prenote: I'm labeling it as TB(Tekkaman Blade) since a lot of the material in the story comes from TB instead of the US/UK versions.

-Warhammer

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TWH

Presents:

An Ignoble Detriment:

Prologue

Fatal Escape

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

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.

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?"

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.

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.

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.

"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.

"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.

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.

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.

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."

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."

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.

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.

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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.

*****

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.

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.

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."

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."

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.

"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?"

"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.

"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.

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."

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 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."

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."

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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."

Tina was the first person that had seen shock on his face, "Sir! You can't be serious!"

"Quite, Jamison. Our scientists predict that if the Orbital Ring is taken out, the alien forces on board will go with it. And here's where you come in, we need Teknoman as a distraction to keep the enemy from intercepting the missile."

Jamison stood up from his seat, "But sir, did you consider the amount of human life lost when the ring falls? The Orbital Ring is held by a delicate balance of gravity and if the plan goes through like you said, then it cause a chain reaction that will destroy the balance holding the ring together and all the large sections of the structure will fall down on the planet like giant bombs."

"Of course we've taken that into consideration, but what's the cost of a few million when the human race is at stake?"

He was about to argue the point when Tina stood up, "But that doesn't make it right! How can you say that when you have millions of people depending on you for their safety? How can you think to play God with people's lives?"

Jamison watched with no small amount of respect at the young officers' bravery. Very few every looked at the general eye to eye, let alone try to argue with him.

Jamison leaned closer to the screen, silently hoping that the General would see reason. "Sir, I will not stand idly by and allow this to happen. Not only would you be killing millions of people, but also you still wouldn't achieve your objective. The enemy's base is..."

He was interrupted when a rumble took their attention away from the console.

"Preposterous. Besides, judging by our scanners, it looks like you're doing your part rather well. Best of luck, Jamison," Galt said.

"But the aliens aren't even in the..." he was cut off by another explosion and Galt severing the signal.

"Tina, get to the bridge and order emergency stations!"

"Yes sir!" she said before leaping from her chair, through the door, and down the hallway.

When she left, the Commander sat back down at his computer and after closing the simulation program, typed furiously to send a message to a few people that would not be happy at learning this new development.

***

The mechanics crews of the Space Knights were putting the finishing touches on a chamber in the loading bay when the compound began to shake. After receiving the specifications from Maggie, Mac and the other mechanics worked feverishly to move the chamber out of the blueprints and into reality.

A tremor shook the crews from their jobs and to the ceiling when they saw small indents on the ceiling.

"Attention all personnel, we're under attack! All crews get to the underground passages."

The crews looked to Mac, who only nodded and ordered everyone in earshot to head towards the tunnels that ran several miles out towards a safer location.

A short while later Jamison, Tina, and the rest of the bridge looked on in despair as the invaders tore apart the base as relentlessly as a force of nature.

"Cameras seven through twelve are down. Defensive perimeter shielding has been lost. Base sustaining heavy damage in sections A through F," Tina announced tapping the pad as fast as her fingers could go.

"And what of casualties?" The commander said, not moving his gaze from the screen.

"We've got reports of fires in sections C and E. Fire control is underway to provide help in the evacuation."

"And how are Slade and Ringo doing out there?"

He didn't notice Shara, holding one of her arms over Star's shoulders, walking in from the entrance.

"Judging by what we have left, they've been able to draw the enemy forces away from the escape route. Slade has been out there for nearly twenty-four minutes and counting. Also, he's seems to have encountered Saber and the other three teknomen that Shara warned us about."

"Take a good long look at the Command Center, everyone. I think this is the last time we'll be seeing it."

With a frown, Jamison was about to order the evacuation of the bridge when the main screen changed from the layout of the compound to that of a military officer.

"Commander Jamison, this is Lt. Colonel McMillan at UEG military command. Can you read me sir?

"Loud and clear. What's wrong?"

The officer sighed and continued with a look of fear in his eyes, "Thank heavens. Listen, General Galt has initiated the Thunderhawk's enabling system. The final countdown has begun!"

Tina held her hands to her face in fear, "Oh no... he's really going to do it!"

Nodding, Jamison nodded, "As of what time?"

"Moments ago. I called you as soon as I found out, sir. I'm breaking every regulation in the book, but someone has got to stop him while there's still tim... UGH!" the officer cried before collapsing.

Behind him, Galt stood with a vicious smirk and a smoking gun in his hand. "Really, Commander. Instigating insubordination? I'm shocked."

"Galt! Stop the countdown."

"Don't be a fool Jamison, I don't take orders from you. Besides, once the countdown's begun there's nothing that can be done to stop it. In twenty-five minutes, the missile will be launched. All you have to do is keep distracting the enemy until then."

"It's madness. It'll never work."

"You mustn't be such a pessimist. I'm sure if we all play our parts, everything will work out perfectly. Keep up the good work," Galt gloated, giving Jamison a salute and a condescending smile.

"General, listen to reason. You can't possibly think..."

With that, he cut the signal.

Jamison, hearing Shara gasp at seeing Galt shoot his own man, had a feeling that she echoed the sentiment shared by many others, "He's mad."

Jamison was racing for ideas in his head when he overheard Tina note that Ringo and Slade had returned from their fight.

Perhaps there was a way to stop the missile, even if Galt couldn't be talked out of it.

***

In the infirmary, Star helped Slade's sister to her feet as she noticed Ringo carrying Slade in on his shoulder. If what she heard was true than their problems had just gotten worse.

"Ringo, have the aliens pulled back?"

The teknosuit pilot looked from the floor to her and shook his head.

Another tremor added to his assurance that the Command Center would soon fall.

"Bad news!" Mac said to the assembled Space Knights, "That mad man Galt's going to knock the Orbital Ring down. And we got less than a half hour to do anything."

Ringo sighed, "Great. As if the guys outside rubbing the salt on our wounds weren't bad enough. Isn't there anyway we can stop him?"

"There is one." Jamison said stepping into the room with them, "If Slade can reach the UEG's launch site and stop the countdown, that is."

All eyes turned to Maggie Matheson as she did the math in her head out loud and spoke up, "Say, Mac, is there any way to augment Pegas' speed?"

Catching on, the mechanic replied, "Sure, we could just retrofit a spare booster rocket to the back of Pegas' thrusters and Slade'd have time to spare."

Jamison nodded, "Then get to it, we've not a moment to lose."

"Sir!" Mac and Maggie said rushing out of the lab.

Star then turned to the commander, "But wait, aren't we forgetting something? Our guests outside wouldn't be too happy if Slade just left at a time like this."

Ringo then put Slade on a nearby chair, "Well, then, it looks like we'll have to provide a distraction."

Seeing what he was leading to, Star was about to protest when Ringo cut her off, "Look, I know what you're going to say. But I'd be happy as a clam if we had a better idea, but since we don't we may as well."

Reluctantly, Jamison nodded and Ringo was out of there before anyone else had the chance to protest.

As planned, Saber and his newly recruited companions noticed the Blue Earth exiting the compound on the catapult. Not wanting to let their prey escape, they ran through the support beams, causing the structure to collapse.

"GO!" Ringo urged the Blue Earth as the support beneath his ship began to waver. However, his timing was good enough to allow his ship to leap off the catapult and into the air with a sizable distance on his attackers.

Switching on the rear-view screen, he noticed all four of the enemy Teknomen were in hot pursuit. "Ha! Suckers."

Opening the channel to one of the few remaining recievers on the station, he said to the commander, "Is Slade away?"

"Looks like they didn't notice. Good work, Ringo."

"Thanks, sir. I..." he was interrupted when Saber had thrown his lance through the starboard wing, sending the ship careening out of control. Despite his best effort to achieve some sort of stability, the Blue Earth was starting to fall towards the valley outside the Command Center's vicinity.

Regardless, he held onto the controls, trying to keep the wing up as the ground and the base of the ship collided quite violently. Twice his ship bounced off the ground and eventually skidded to a halt at the foot of a mountain. Ringo, injured as he was, tried in vain to get out of his seat, but the blood seeping out of a gash over his eyes made seeing hard.

"Strange..." Saber mumbled atop his alien steed, noticing the lack of activity from the Blue Earth. "Why won't he come out?"

Turning back to the ruined compound, he mumbled, "Perhaps he never left there in the first place..."

No sooner had his companions caught on did they resume the attack. Yet, when the last layer of plating was about to be torn out, the spider crabs stopped. Saber wondered why until he heard the mental commands of his master.

"Ax, Lance. Stop the assault and return to me at once. Saber, Sword: Head to the north. Slade has slipped past you!"

Looking to the ocean in the distance, Saber growled, "What?!"

"Do not hesitate! Go!"

"But master, what of the traitor and the humans?" Lance inquired.

Darkon's voice turned dangerous, "You dare question my orders?"

Saber heard both of his companions answer in the negative as he and Sword flew at much higher speeds in pursuit of one of their quarry. Leaving the Space Knight's base behind, he and Sword noticed the smoke trail heading towards what was supposed to have been an abandoned base for the humans. Yet, it looked like there was a lot of activity going on at the moment.

Speeding over the ocean, he heard Darkon's idle thought,"I understand the purpose, but why is it called the Thunderhawk?"

Truth be told, Saber was curious as well.

"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.

"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.

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.

"Out of my way!" Slade growled and with his bladed lance, swung at both of them. As he expected, they doged 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?!"

"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?!"

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?"

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. 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.

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.