Geoffrey Depew <mephron@IDT.NET>
Bill Crawford <ah401@detroit.freenet.org>


     Char Aznable stood at the giant viewport of his quarters, eyes on the
empty vista of space surrounding the planet Earth. It was mostly empty now,
and had been for the last few hours....in the wake of the redeployment of
Fleet Group Center, there were only three capital ships in lunar orbit--his
flagship, the _Destruction_, and its destroyer escorts.
      The fleet was gone, gathering over an insignificant planet named
Sweet Water.  Every capital ship he could muster, sans the _Destruction_
and its escorts, was on its way there...at long last, the plan he had
lovingly crafted for the last two years was finally becoming a reality.
Soon, his wrath would be felt across the entire United Galactica--and it
would fall in ruins, beneath the sheer power of his vengeance.
     The United Galactica...an upstart, ragtag alliance of people who had
forgotten how well off they had been as part of the Federation.  If it
hadn't been for certain... events... they probably would never have seceded
sixty years ago.  Char snorted quietly: the bastard child of the
Federation, which had grown to angry adulthood, and now they would have to
bring it into line by force.
     Now, imagining he could reach out to close Earth in his hand, he said
something to the only other person present in the room:
     "They ESCAPED?"
     Kagato shrugged.  "We hadn't anticipated a direct assault on the
facility, nor their ability to maintain proper cover.  That machine of
theirs was frighteningly effective."
     Char frowned slightly at his reflection in the viewport.  "And Kem is
dead."
     "As a result of his own impertinence."  Kagato shook his head.  He and
Kem had never seen eye to eye.  "However, that's not important.  What IS
important is the fact that Ota sent in his top strike team, and they
failed.  I would think that would send quite the signal to Ota - that his
hand-picked team failed to complete their mission means that we are, in
fact, unstoppable."
     Char frowned.  "Perhaps.  Still, the Chessmen did manage to destroy
the original.  If there's something they could do..."
     Kagato shook his head.  "Nearly impossible.  The Eye is fully
operational, and the fleet is in motion.  And the other project is ...en
route.  Professor Tomoe was quite happy to help us with that.  Especially
since I told him I have a cure for his daughter that will have no side
effects."
     "Really, Kagato?"
     Kagato chuckled softly, shaking his head.  "No, it's a lie," he said.
"But still--after witnessing the depths his daughter's madness has
descended to, the thought of a cure if he succeeds is quite a motivation."
     "The new weapon is complete, then?"
     "Yes.  Its initial firing carved a trench ten kilometers deep into the
planetary crust of Einstein IV from an orbital position."
     Char smiled.  "We can make them helpless, then annihilate their fleet.
Oh, yes, Kagato, I am VERY impressed.  Where is our associate?"
     "Genya?  Aboard the Eye.  It's amazing, but the entire ship can be
controlled by one man, and he wished to do so.  He IS the expert in the
field, after all."
     Char nodded.  "Is my shuttle ready?"  It was time to return to the
_Destruction_, and rejoin the fleet.  Time for him to make his destiny a
reality.
     Kagato bowed.  "Of course...Emperor."


                    C    H    E    S    S    M    E    N
                                     /\
         Geoff Depew <---------------++---------------> Bill Crawford
                                     \/
                   P   R   O   M   O    T   I   O   N   S


     Our shuttle landed on the flight deck of the _Gunbuster_.  As the
atmosphere equalized, the airlock on the shuttle opened, and four people
got out: Youshou, Savashtar, Washu and me.
     I sighed.  "I hate telling people we failed."
     Savashtar patted me on the shoulder.  "Koichi's a bright boy.  He
might have some ideas."
     Washu laughed.  "Bright boy?  I don't think you should say that around
him!" she said.
     The airlock from into the bay opened, and we four Chessmen came to
attention as Admiral Koichi Ota, Rear Admiral Goliath and their assorted
assistants entered.  Koichi said formally, "Report."
     I took a deep (if unneeded) breath.  "The Eye remains operational.
They knew we were coming.  The strike team sent in was captured."
     One eyebrow raised from behind the mirrored glasses.  Then he looked
at me, then at Savashtar, Youshou, and his gaze remained for a moment on
Washu, a faint smile on his face.  Then he turned back to me, all business.
"Status of strike team?"
     "Rescued... one casualty.  The others are in sickbay pending medical
release."
     He responded, in an uncharacteristically soft tone, "Who?"
     "Gally.  She was terminally damaged, and stayed behind to take out
whoever was following us."
     "Hmmm.  That meshes with what I found out..."
     Sav and I exchanged glances.  Koichi's intelligence network, once
again, was proving to be able to keep up with us.  "What did you find out,
Admiral?" Goliath rumbled, curious.
     Koichi managed a brief, rueful smile.  He recited, obviously from
memory, "'Commissioner Tenzil Kem, of the Federation Combat Police, was
killed this afternoon in a battle with renegade covert operations forces at
Luna Base.  Thirty-five members of the FCP's defense forces were also
brutally murdered in the skirmish with members of an as-yet-unnamed
mercenary army, which attacked the base in order to free captured members
of their group.'"  He looked at me, a hint of resignation in his voice.  "A
life...for a life."
     "Gally's for Kem's."  Washu folded her arms and snorted.  "It was a
lousy damned trade."
     Koichi nodded, then turned to Goliath.  "Admiral, you have the bridge.
I wish to finish the debriefing in private."
     Goliath nodded.  "Understood, Admiral."  He turned, with the others,
and departed.  Koichi gestured to us to follow.
     We ended up in Koichi's office.  He gave us each a small glass and
filled it with a little bit of brandy, then poured one for himself.  "Now,"
he said, "what really happened?"
     I gave Koichi the full story from when we originally left on the
mission to destroy the Eye, including the information about Gorozeiar and
the egg he carried with him.  Youshou, Savashtar and Washu added facts
where they could.  Except for what happened on Falas... we were unable to
even talk about it in the most general terms, even though we all could
remember it rather vividly.  Finally I just gave up and said, "Forget it.
We're literally not allowed to say anything."
     He chuckled at that, dismissing it with a wave of his hand.  "It's not
important," he commented, "at least not yet.  But the return of the great
Serpenterans...that would be a welcome sight."  He raised his glass, in a
toast.  "To Gally.  Her sacrifice will be recorded as a military
death--I'll see to it."
     "I'll drink to that."  And we did.
     "All right, Max,"  Koichi said after we'd finished the drink, "what
next?"
     "We need something that the Eye can't do anything to.  I'm thinking an
old lightjammer."
     He opened his mouth to speak, but there was a sudden beep.  He
answered the intercom.  "Ota."
     "Admiral," the deep voice rumbled, "we're now expecting a visitor."
     "Oh, really?  Who?  Perhaps our beloved Grand Admiral?"
     "How did you guess?"
     Koichi's jaw dropped slightly.  "You're kidding me."
     "I wish.  The message sent said that she wants to meet with you,
immediately upon her arrival in 24 hours."
     "I.... see.  Standard orders for this sort of thing."
     "I'll get the cleaning crew working.  We'll be spanking clean by the
time Her Wonderfulness arrives.  Goliath out."  The intercom clicked off.
     Koichi shook his head.  "Wonderful."
     Washu blinked in surprise.  "Since when did Goliath develop a sense of
humor?"
     Koichi shrugged.  "The company one keeps."
     "We'll arrange to be clear by the time she arrives, Admiral.  No need
for you to have us here to clutter things up."  I was about to continue,
but Washu did it for me.
     "After all, the last thing we want to do is spoil your lovely reunion
with your ex-fiancee."  Was that a bit of bitterness I heard in my doctor's
voice?
     Koichi chuckled.  "Oh, no.  No, no, no. I think it's time she saw what
I've been doing.  Besides, I need you here to report directly to her about
this.  What you saw, what you know.  Damn it, direct reports - you have
pictures?"  I nodded and he continued, "Those are what I need to get this
going."
     I nodded, then turned.  "Washu, how are our people?"
     She immediately dropped into doctor mode.  "Ginrei and Kiyone should
be out inside of twelve hours.  Junta required surgery for a ruptured
spleen, but the nanohealers I dosed him with should have him up in two days
and ready for duty in four.  Ryuquir is in some kind of hibernation that I
don't even understand, and I refuse to predict.  Morobo needs at least a
week to be ready for optic replacement, but if you don't mind him with one
eye, he can be ready for a review line tomorrow."
     I turned to Koichi.  "That's our operational status."
     He nodded.  "Dress to the nines, ladies and gentlemen.  VIPs are
coming."
     Youshou sipped brandy.  "Some of us are used to it."  Another thing
that Koichi hadn't been appraised of was Youshou's lineage, and that
remained between Youshou and myself.
     Koichi nodded.  "Dismissed."

     Eighteen hours later, Ryuquir came out of her hibernation.  Washu,
while surprised, let her out of sickbay to join us.  All of us were in our
formal dress uniforms - the ones in dark grey with the slate grey down the
right side of the jacket front.  The men were in slacks, the women in
skirts--even little Ryuquir, who kept poking at hers irritably.  Our unit
logo - the black chess knight's head on the white field - was on the left
breast, and each of our personal ID symbols was on our left shoulder. From
my gauntlet in a fist, to Savashtar's broken circle, to Morobo's fang, each
had a meaning to us.  I held a thick dossier holding the photos, datadisks,
and written reports Koichi had said he would need to show to his superiors.
     The shuttle from Admiral Daitokuji's ship, the _Plowshare_, landed on
the flight deck.  With the appropriate pomp, Koichi walked out to the hatch
followed by Goliath and his senior bridge staff.  I noticed that Koichi's
ever-present sunglasses were comfortably in place on his nose: in all the
time we had known each other, I didn't think I had ever seen him in public
without them.  And then the hatch opened, letting Grand Admiral Biko
Daitojuki emerge.
     She was tall, willowy, with hair that was a pale violet color.  She
wore the Grand Admiral's uniform well, and the hat sat on her head like it
was formed out of her skull.  Something about her expression, though...it
just looked very WRONG, somehow.  She was too cold--that only meant bad
news to me.  The fact that she was followed by what appeared to be her
complete staff, as well as a squad of four UGN soldiers in full armor and
carrying heavy weapons, didn't sit well with me at all.
     They entered the reception room.  My team came to full attention, but
I noticed Ryuquir sniff the air, her tail twitching.  I didn't like that,
and I inobtrusively gave her a reproachful look.  Admiral Daitokuji didn't
even seem to notice us, as her first words cut the silence.  "At this time,
1530 hours, on 16 July 2062, Terran Standard Calendar," she announced
without so much as a greeting, "I relieve Fleet Admiral Koichi Ota and Rear
Admiral Goliath, as well as their senior staffs, of duty and order them
placed under arrest.  In addition"--and now, she turned to look at us with
cold blue eyes--"the team of mercenaries known collectively as the Chessmen
are also placed under arrest. This by order of Grand Admiral Biko
Daitokuji, Commander, United Galactica Navy, and as ratified by the United
Galactica Executive Council."
     Have you ever seen an entire roomful of people in shock?  Even
Daitokuji's staff looked astonished at the statement.  Thankfully, Koichi
responded before I did.  "Grand Admiral," he said stiffly, "under what
grounds is this relief and arrest being ordered?"
     "That is classified," she said in a flat voice.
     I heard a noise, something similar to a hiss, and looked at Ryuquir.
Her teeth were bared, her hands flexed into claws, her tail lashing...  she
looked like she was about to explode.  I decided to let her instincts
follow through; nothing appeared out of the ordinary, though, other than
the actions of Koichi's commanding officer.  I did, however, speak up.
"Grand Admiral?  I am Max Bishop, Chessmen Commander.  On what grounds are
we being placed under arrest?"
     "That is also classified.  You will all be placed into custody for
immediate transport to the nearest Judge Advocate General office, at Point
K."  Her entire staff, even the armored troops, looked a little
uncomfortable at this.  Apparently, we didn't know something going on here.
Then it all went to hell...
     Ryuquir sprang, yowling, at Daitokuji.  Her claws sliced deep into
her...and the wounds reformed themselves immediately, and so did the
clothing!  Then I saw Ryuquir do something I'd only seen a few times
before--she went completely feral.  Even a Malaugrym couldn't take that.
Shredded bits of shapeshifting flesh went everywhere until she found the
neural gel sac.  And ripped it apart with her fangs.  It couldn't
shapechange fast enough to keep itself from dying... and when it did, it
made a messy puddle on the deck.  Then, as the soldiers the 'admiral' had
brought with her reacted after the fact and unslung their weapons, staring
at the mess that had formerly held the shape of Admiral Daitokuji, Ryuquir
returned to sanity...and started bawling.
     In the intervening twenty seconds since Ryuquir had jumped the
'admiral,' the four soldiers who had come with her...it...had unslung their
rifles and were pointing them at the pool of now very dead Malaugrym.
Daitokuji's staff was staring at the mess in obvious shock, and Koichi had
taken some sort of small communicator from a pocket.  He was also bracketed
by five familiar armed guards--his personal security team.  "Bridge!" he
barked into the tiny device.  "Contact New Eden immediately!"
     One of the staff officers who had arrived with the late Malaugrym
spoke up nervously.  "Fleet Admiral Ota?  The ad--the Malaugrym, it had
ordered a full communications blackout for the entire Council building back
on New Eden.  On the authority of the Council itself."
     "And it was CLEARED?" Koichi asked incredulously, glaring at the
officer.
     "Yessir," the trembling man managed to say.
     I looked at Koichi.  "Oh, shit," was my succinct summary.
     He nodded back, already spinning away to face his staff and firing off
a string of orders.  "I want anti-Malaugrym protocols in effect NOW.  All
ships.  Goliath, you're in command until I get back."  He whirled on the
officers who had arrived with the fake Daitokuji.  "And them," he snapped,
pointing.  "Make sure there aren't any other damned changelings that
arrived."
     Goliath wasn't moving.  After Koichi noticed that fact, he explained
why.  "I'm going with you."
     "Goliath, you can't--"
     "With all due respect, Admiral...YOU can't," the gargoyle rumbled.  I
got the implication--this quite probably had all been arranged just to get
Koichi, and possibly us, out of the way.
     Koichi seemed to understand too, because he paused.  After a few
seconds, he pointed at another of his adjutants.  "Get a message to the
_Resolute_ and notify Group Captain Faisel that she is in command of the
fleet until relieved by either Admiral Goliath or myself."  He lifted his
communicator.  "Bridge!  Full speed for New Eden!  We have some cleaning to
do!" he thundered.
     Daisaku was holding Ryuquir, who was crying into his chest.  "Hush,
hush, sweetling," he kept saying to her.  Farmel came over and stood next
to me, an intimately comforting and protective gesture, as Koichi glanced
at me.  "I had no idea you had someone who could detect Malaugrym, Max."
     "Neither did I, Koichi."  I looked over at Ryuquir and Daisaku.
"Neither did I."

     We headed for the _Fischer_, and created a joint hyperfield with the
_Gunbuster_.  It would take us a day to get there, at top speed.  In the
meantime, I had the ship prepped, and everything ready.
     Daisaku came to talk to me in the middle of it.  It was strange how it
happened - I was so busy working on some circuitry, I'd missed him coming
in.  "Max?" he said quietly.
     I banged my head on the console I was lying under, then looked up.
"Oh, Dai.  Donut?"  I offered him one from the box next to my elbow.
     "No thanks.  I need to talk to you about Ryuquir.  And that fake
admiral."
     I slid out from under the console and sat up.  "Okay."
     "I finally got the story from her," Daisaku said.  "She just...she
SMELLED something.  Something that set off things in her that she just
couldn't control.  She just lost all the control she had."
     "I know.  I've seen her feral before," I replied.  "It happened on
that mission we did on Saint Black.  But, for it to happen means things
have really gone downhill."
     "I know that.  But she's always chosen to do it, Max."  Daisaku was
perched on the edge of another console, looking downward with his arms
folded.  "This was the first time she HAD to.  She didn't choose this--it
happened without her ability to control it.  She's just...scared."
     "Dai... what's the problem here?"
     "I don't know how to make her feel better, Max.  And that's what I
need to do for her."  He slapped at the console, frowning.
     "You could try," I said after a moment, "telling her that there are
things that no one can control in themselves.  And that she saved all of us
by doing that."
     Daisaku nodded slowly, looking unconvinced.  "I guess so.  But, it
doesn't seem like enough though."
     "Dai, sometimes it isn't.  Just...be there.  Pay attention to her. I
almost lost Farmel by not doing that."
     He nodded.  "Thanks, Max.  I... I appreciate it."
     "Not a problem."

     We dropped out of hyperspace over New Eden in a hurry.  Two heavy
assault shuttles dropped, one from each ship, along with an entire wing of
fighters.  Youshou and Junta remained aboard the _Fischer_, which bailed
into a course for the outer system after the shuttle and Robo separated.
Between Robo, an electronic countermeasures drone, and the fighter cover
from the _Gunbuster_, we should have been clear.
     Oh, well.
     "Something's coming at us, Max."  Daisaku's voice was fuzzy through
the cockpit speakers of the shuttle we were coming in on.  "Something
fast."  Robo probably had better sensors than both of the shuttles.
     I hit the com button.  "Admiral?  Are you picking up--"
     "We have it," Koichi replied from the other shuttle.  "It's an orbital
defense fighter...no, two...we're hailing them--"
     And then one of the fighters off to port blew up.  No telltale fire,
no missile track, nothing--just a big red explosion.  As we got rocked by
the shockwave from the explosion, Koichi's angry voice boomed across the
open channel.  "What in the hell--"
     I think I was one of the only people who actually saw the ships blow
past the shuttles, easily doing transatmospheric speed.  Two large,
wedge-shaped black fighters I didn't immediately recognize--but Koichi,
somehow, was right on top of things.  "Dammit," he snapped, "who in the
hell deployed Ghosts?"
     X-9 Ghosts.  Orbital defense fighters, highly experimental and very
much publicized by the UG media machinery.  The problem was, they were
really as effective as they were supposed to be.  "Dai!" I shouted.  "We
have two Ghosts on top of us--take them out!"
     "Right," Daisaku replied simply, as a massive shadow fell over the
shuttle.  Robo was flying over us for the moment.
     "Deploy fighters!" Koichi ordered.  We weren't expecting that kind of
reception.  Thank God for Robo, though.  If we hadn't had him and the ECM
drone as cover, the two Ghosts would have pasted us over the landscape. As
it was, four more fighters were lost before Robo managed to catch the
Ghosts in a classic game of artificially-induced chicken.  They ran right
into each other, trying to blow Robo out of the sky.
     It took all of twelve minutes from orbit to landing, right outside of
the UG Main Hall.  We thought we were fast, but the UG's finest were
faster: as we were jumping off our shuttle a frowning Koichi and Goliath
were standing in front of a short redhead clad in the uniform of a UG
special operations officer. There was a surprising absence of activity in
the plaza--only a field command vehicle and a platoon of black-armored
assault troops.
     Taison whistled in surprise at the small force.  "Black Angels," he
commented. "Koichi's not taking any chances this time, is he?"
     "Do you blame him?" Kiyone shot back.
     Koichi waved us over.  "Okay, people, here's the story: the changeling
posing as Admiral Daitokuji had the entire building sealed off, on the
direct authority of the Council.  Supposedly, they would be running a
lockdown drill.  This was right before it left to arrest me, three days
ago."
     "And," Goliath added, "since Malaugrym typically work in teams of
four, sometimes more, it's obvious that the other three are holding the
Council hostage."
     "There haven't been any communications since the _Plowshare_ left
orbit, Fleet Admiral," the redhead added.  "And no one's been in or out
since, either. Total lockdown."
     "And the Council was in a closed meeting at the time?"
     "Yes, sir.  The good news is that the building was almost completely
cleared out when they sealed it off...virtually zero hostage potential,
except for security, some staff, the resident military complement, and the
Council itself.  They're all here, except for that minister that got
elected last year...Lambert, I think."
     "And it's pretty likely that they're being held in the main Council
chamber."  He looked at me and explained, "The chamber is all but
invulnerable.  Problem is, the data network feeding into the chamber IS
vulnerable--faulty design, which would have been fixed what, next week?"
     "Two weeks, sir," the redhead replied, consulting a readout.
     "Right...anyway, we're going for the main chamber.  We can hack into
it, override the lockdown on the chamber itself--which we can't do from the
emergency command center.  Goliath, you're taking the troops there."
     "Cancel the building lockdown?"
     "Exactly.  Establish contact with the command post, and then send some
troops to the Council chamber after my team."
     "And what about internal security?"
     "Stun weapons only."  Koichi looked up at the massive Council
building.  "We can't afford the time for anything else," he said
thoughtfully.  "We go in, and we stun EVERYBODY."
     "Everybody?" Goliath asked, surprised.
     Koichi nodded.  "Everybody.  Malaugrym don't operate in less than
small groups, and it's a damned good bet that we've got a few more hiding
inside the building.  And, since stun weapons don't affect changelings,
we'll know who to kill."
     The redhead frowned.  "With all due respect, sir, that's--"
     Koichi whirled on her, sunglasses almost blinding in the sun.
"Captain Baker, do you have a BETTER idea?" he spat.
     Baker flinched.  I got the impression she was fairly new at this.
"But, Admiral," she said, "I doubt the Council--and you of all people
should NOT be going--"
     "When they wake up, they can fire me!" Koichi snapped.  "We're going
in in two minutes.  Goliath...go."
     "Yes, sir."  And Goliath was jogging away, the black-armored soldiers
moving into formation behind him and disappearing around the corner of the
building.  I turned and looked at my team, which was already armed with
various types of stun weaponry - they'd heard the exchange between Koichi
and Baker too.
     Four soldiers remained behind, and a moment later they jogged over.
They were all carrying heavy guns of the variety used against armored
emplacements.
     Koichi pointed at them.  "Just in case."  He suddenly produced a short
rifle-shaped weapon of unknown design from under his coat, and primed it
with a touch of his fingertip.  "Let's move."
     "How are we getting in?"  I pointed at the massive arch of the main
entrance to the Council building, which was now slightly hidden by a giant
slab of something that looked like part of the exterior wall.
     Koichi and his team were already moving, weapons out and roving around
the area.  As we moved to flank him, then pass him and form a loose diamond
formation, Koichi replied, "Have a little faith."
     I had already upped the gain on my audio receptors, giving me hearing
superior to even Ryuquir's.  Discounting the few soldiers that had stayed
with Captain Baker, it was deathly quiet now--only our footsteps disturbed
the silence, as we came to the massive UG sculpture that dominated the
plaza we were in.  It was only about a hundred yards to the sealed entrance
from here, and Koichi and his team stopped behind the sculpture.  He waved
us over, adjusting the small headset he had clipped to his ear.  "In sixty
seconds you secure the entrance, Max," he said.
     I started to ask why, since it was still sealed and from the looks of
it we wouldn't be able to blow it open with a missile, but decided not to.
Koichi knew what he was doing, and was not a man given to idle orders.  So,
for the next fifty-seven seconds I hid behind the sculpture, thinking about
how he would open the door...a door no doubt so heavily armored nothing we
could bring to bear on it would even make a scratch.
     Sav read my thoughts.  "How's this going to work?" he asked, under his
breath - but knowing I could hear him.  "If that's what we have to get
through, nothing on this planet can blow it open."
     And then it hit me.  "Oh, God--"
     Koichi spoke softly into his headset.  "Ota to _Gunbuster_.  Fire."
     And, a second later, as Sav and I looked up, there was the briefest
twinkle in the northern sky.  And then there was light, a sudden and
unbelievably brilliant flash of light--the heavens were raining down upon
us, it looked like--and I whirled away, before my optics could be damaged.
Just in time to be deafened by the thunder of the massive energy beam
striking the building and blowing away part of it.  Shrapnel whizzed past
us, and the sculpture itself rocked with the concussion.
     It took a few seconds for the realization of what happened to filter
through to all of us.  I reacted first--thank God for cyberdroid reflexes.
"Let's go!" I shouted, and spun around the sculpture and ran for the gaping
hole where there had once been a sealed entrance.  Footsteps behind me
signaled that my team, although just as surprised as I was, had responded
and was all set for action.
     Though, I did hear Farmel:  "Damn, a little MORE warning would have
been nice...!"
     We swept through the hole in a rush, weapons leveled and tracking.
The blast from orbit had done significantly lesser damage than I had
expected-- though there weren't really walls, the floor was intact and
covered with debris.  I noticed some sparking coming from what appeared to
be half of a security drone, lying on its side in the middle of what had at
one time been a corridor.  We assumed positions to cover the entrance just
as Koichi's security team swept in and rushed past us to secure the far end
of the corridor.  Koichi himself was next, moving slowly--but surprisingly
nimbly--through the  debris to stand next to me, his stunner pointing down
the corridor.  He said, "Sorry about that."
     "Just warn us the next time you call in an orbital strike on our
heads," I retorted, jogging down to bypass the security team, just as
another titanic thunderclap rocked the building.  'Christ,' I thought, 'he
loves doing this to people.'  Guessing (correctly, as I later found out)
that Goliath's team had just entered the building using the same method, I
waved at my team to move forward.  Into the breach.

     "So, Professor, are you ready?"
     Soichiro Tomoe glared at the guard looming over him.  He snapped, "A
few more things!" as he turned back to his task of carefully filing papers
into a large carrying case.
     "Oh, come ON."  The guard looked decidedly annoyed.  "We've got to go,
goddamnit.  The transport's waiting to take you and her out to the fleet."
     "But...but Hotaru--"
     "The kid's okay," the guard cut him off.  "Said she didn't feel like
waiting for you, so she grabbed her things.  She's waiting aboard the
ship."
     The professor frowned slightly, looking up at the guard.  "That wasn't
Hotaru."  It wasn't a question.
     The guard nodded.  He understood the situation a lot better than the
idiots who were guarding Tomoe and his kid.  "Yeah.  It was Nine, all
right."  He shook his head.  "I asked her to wait for you..."
     Tomoe looked up from his papers, meeting the guard's eyes.  There was
a note of sorrow in his voice; Mistress Nine seemed to be becoming the
dominant persona in Hotaru's body as of late.  And that realization broke
his heart, as it always did; that he had to watch his only child, his
legacy, his beloved daughter, self-destruct before his very eyes-- and be
unable to stop it.  "What...did she say?"
     "That she had things to do.  And that you were only her father." The
guard flipped the visor of his helmet up, revealing dark eyes that softened
slightly as he looked at Tomoe.  "I don't know how much longer Hotaru can
hold out," he said softly.
     Kagato...that damnable man had promised a cure for Hotaru.  A
complete, perfect cure for not only the disease she fought, but the
psychosis the vaccine for THAT disease had created.  Tomoe was no fool, and
he doubted that Kagato had created any sort of cure--but, he couldn't
afford to take the chance.  Not with his daughter's life  at stake.
     So he had helped build the two items Kagato and his boss, the
infuriating Char Aznable, had 'requested.'  A second Eye of Fogler--which
repulsed him to no end, but what choice did he have?--and some other weapon
system which he couldn't quite figure out.  He had been brought into that
project for one reason: he was perhaps one of the pre-eminent minds in
dynamic energy physics in Federation space, perhaps in the entire galaxy.
Whatever they had built in orbit had fired some kind of test shot that had
lit up the sky at midnight like the noonday sun.
     Between the Eye and this secret weapon, Tomoe knew, the United
Galactica - the obvious target for both devices--was in danger on a level
possibly never anticipated since its formation.  And he was, perhaps, most
responsible for that besides Kagato and Aznable.  "The things a father does
for his children," one of the guards had joked once, after completing the
Eye; Tomoe had fired back, "If you think you would do any less, you are a
far worse person than I."

     Mihoshi's powersuit took point, as the most heavily armored thing we
had.  As was the tendency when this happened, she took out most of the
drones we encountered.  And two lavatories.  I don't care, the universe
hates us like that.
     We encountered two men early on, and stunned them before they had a
chance to do anything.  One of them didn't drop.  Savashtar breathed fire
at him, leaving a coating of phosphorus that burned cheerfully as the
changeling died painfully, keening.
     A dozen more security troops fell quietly, mostly surprised.  We met
up with Goliath's team, which was half a dozen men shorter.  Even Goliath
himself was wounded.  "We met up with a Malaugrym that thought it was part
of the architecture," he told us.
     "Koichi, we're going to go ahead and try to get into the Council
chamber."  I glanced at my team.  "I'd suggest checking personal chambers
for hostages.  Just in case."
     He nodded. "Good call. Goliath, take these men and do it."
     We ran ahead.  As we did, I called Dai.  "Status report."
     "I've set down.  Air Defense has been called off - they found a
Malaugrym in the control tower and smoked him.  He was posing as the
Planetary Security general."
     "Ota.  Understood," Koichi cut in from a few paces ahead of me.  "New
orders for Captain Baker's troops and Air Defense--keep ANYONE from
departing this building without my or Admiral Goliath's say-so.  That
includes any escape shuttles.  Stop anyone trying to leave, and shoot down
any ships that try to get away if you have to."
     A familiar voice echoed across the open com channel.  "Baker here,
sir.  Confirm orders:  no one leaves."
     "Confirmed.  Authorization Lavender four-one-seven.  No one leaves."
     "Understood, Admiral.  Baker out."
     "Goliath here, Admiral.  Acknowledged, and out."
     I left the comm on just in case.  As we reached the doors, we stopped.
"Again, people, stun EVERYONE.  Sav, Ryuquir, take down anyone who's not
down.  Ryuquir... if you feel you have to destroy something, go ahead.
It's right."
     Ryuquir nodded. "Okie," she said quietly.  "Not like, but will."
     The one thing that we hadn't thought of was the area quaintly referred
to as "the Gauntlet".  It was the area just in front of the doors.  It was
live.  I tossed a smoke grenade into the Gauntlet, and it was vaporized
immediately.  Farmel glanced at a datapad she had with her.  "This is bad,
Max.  If their security is on full - and we'd better assume it is--there's
no way I can see us getting in.  Robo, maybe, could do it.  But no other
way.  Triple titanium security doors, the locks, the Gauntlet itself, not a
chance."
     I nodded, thinking.  "Kiyone."
     Kiyone glanced at me.  "Yeah?"
     "Geists?"
     Her eyes got wide.  "Two."  The rest of the team was looking at me
like I was insane.  I probably was.
     "One on each wall.  Timers.  Twenty seconds."
     She nodded, and loaded.  We pulled back around the corner.  We heard
her fire, then she scrambled around the corner, counting, "seventeen..."
     At five, we all crouched down.
     At one we closed our eyes and opened our mouths.
     A Geist is, basically, a half a dozen atoms or so of contraterrene
iron in a magnetic field.  The smallest antimatter explosive in existence.
The entire Gauntlet, in effect, Went Away.  Each of them cost easily a
million Standard from the factory, and we didn't get these on the open
market.  We peered around the corner, to see the walls completely
shattered, weaponry hanging off, and rushed the door.  Then I punched the
door, activating my Gravity Cannon as I did so.  The doors FLEW off their
hinges and we piled in.
     A more violent being than I might have called it beautiful.  The stun
blasts, from Kiyone's twin pistols to the cannons on Mihoshi's powersuit to
the huge combined blaster/halberd that Morobo wielded knocked down half the
room.  The other half was pure Malaugrym, easily the largest covert team we
had ever come across.
     Ryuquir twitched, then went immediately feral, turning the first one
she encountered into a spray, as Savashtar flamed two more.  The other
three tried to run, only to find that Kiyone had prepared for them.  A pair
of small shells containing liquid helium hit them, freezing them solid
instantly.  The last one slipped under the door on the other side of the
room, and was gone in a  flash of wet black.
     Koichi came in after us, looking at the two burning Malaugrym and the
two frozen in mid-change.  "Good Lord, Max...I think you're more dangerous
than Aznable is."
     "We'll find out face to face someday."  Then I headed for the door,
smashing it.  Even now, one of the Rashani Council ministers was stirring.
As we'd planned, Farmel and Savashtar came with me.
     We found ourselves at another door.  That didn't stop us.  We found
ourselves facing two Admiral Biko Daitokujis.  A loathsome appearance,
indeed.  The only thing that stopped me from knocking them both into the
wall was the fact that one was holding the other in a headlock.  "Stop
right there, Bishop," the Daitokuji who was executing the headlock snapped.
"One move, and the Admiral here becomes a bit...  shorter."
     "And you are?"
     "Tanarath."
     I smirked.  "The head of the agency."
     The form began to shift, becoming a jagged and oily-looking humanoid
form.  "Indeed," Tanarath hissed.  "And you, Mr. Bishop, are going to
escort me out of here - or else the admiral here will die in a VERY messy
manner."
     My mind worked furiously, trying to figure a way out of this.  I
admit, I had no idea.  Then I heard Kiyone's voice.  "Bioseeker."
     A mechanical voice repeated:  "Bioseeker."  I glanced over my
shoulder.  Kiyone was standing in the doorway, and she had a massive black
pistol in both hands, one I hadn't ever seen before, and was pointing it at
the two.  A beam of red light came from the barrel of the gun, striking
Tanarath.  She smiled.  The gun said, "Pattern locked."
     Farmel let her gun hand drop.  Tanarath didn't quite appear to
understand, but tightened its grip on Admiral Daitokuji's throat.  "Drop
that gun," it hissed at Kiyone.
     "It's not a _gun_," Kiyone whispered.  Her arm dropped.  As it did,
she pulled the trigger.  There was a loud whoosh, as the round flew from
the gun and sunk into the rippling flesh of the changeling.  It blinked
incomprehendingly, yellowish eyes gleaming.  Then, as Tanarath brought its
arm up and prepared to literally sever Daitokuji's head from her body,
there was a quiet thumping noise.  It suddenly let out a bloodcurdling
scream that shook the walls, fell to the ground, and just as abruptly
dissolved into a small pool of dark liquid.
     As Farmel, Sav, Admiral Daitokuji and I looked on in shocked surprise
at what had once been the Federation's most infamous covert agent, Kiyone
replied, "It's a Lawgiver."  She smiled, almost sweetly, into the stunned
silence.
     I went to assist Admiral Daitokuji to her feet.  She glanced up at me,
her face looking decidedly more uncomposed than her Malaugrym duplicate had
made her seem back on the _Gunbuster_, then over my shoulder.  I glanced
back and saw Koichi entering, his team of everpresent guards ahead of him
with weapons drawn.  Koichi looked around, then to the spreading black mass
on the floor, then to the admiral.  "Biko," he said simply.
     "Koichi," she said breathlessly, brushing her hair back from her face.
     Koichi said, "Sakaguchi, secure the area."  As his security team
withdrew from the office, he made a gesture at Farmel, Sav, Kiyone, and I.
"Meet the Chessmen, Biko.  The first Ranger Team."
     Daitokuji drew herself up slightly, a frown suddenly visible on her
face.  "You disobeyed direct orders," she said.  I had been expecting a
polite 'thank you.'  "Again."
     "If I hadn't," Koichi replied without missing a beat, "you'd be dead.
And the Council along with you."
     "Perhaps."
     "We'll be withdrawing now," I said.
     They two of them stared at each other, as we walked out.
     "Wow.  Tension," Sav quipped.
     As we reentered the main chamber, I saw Morobo chopping one of the
frozen Malaugrym to shards with his halberd.  Washu was busy examining one
of the revived ministers.  I didn't recognize him.  I did, though,
recognize the Rashani minister coming our way.  That strange gait that they
had from the strange wiring of their legs struck me again.
     "Max Bishop are you.  Assisted the military with your team you did.
Grateful are we."  He made a complex motion with his hands and head,
interlacing fingers and bobbing the head in some formation.
     "Your gratitude appreciated.  Our apologies offered for the stunning."
I tried to match it as well as I could without six-knuckled fingers and a
neck that wasn't a foot long.
     "Apologies unnecessary.  Rest of moments ever better than rest
eternal."  He walked off to speak to some of the other ministers.  As he
did, I checked the rest of the team.  We were lucky.  Everyone was unhurt
on our side.
     What the hell.  We were due the luck.

     The enormous ebon globe seemed to drift through space, a marble in the
ocean at night.  The four screening ships that bracketed it kept a
noticeable distance from the machine, which resembled exactly what its
predecessor had been to its creator: an eye, revealing all.
     Or concealing all in its dark aspects, as it were.  The Eye of Fogler
had originally been built for just such a purpose, and this far larger
version would accomplish the same tasks on a monumentally larger scale...
     "Come to me, my mistress.  COME TO ME!"
     The giant spherical chamber bounced all his words around, causing a
reverberating echo effect.  Proper soundproofing would have negated that,
but the man sitting at its center had decreed it so.  There was a certain
perfect symmetry in something so silent containing such noise.
     Various displays lined the inside of the sphere, showing sensor
updates and views of the outside of the machine.  It was traveling through
deep space, a small cluster of heavily armed ships surrounding it.  From
the floor, or what passed as such, a single smooth white column rose like a
pointing finger; it stopped in the exact center of the sphere, where a
large chair had been placed atop it.  And it was in this chair where the
man known as Genya--Emmanuel von Fogler--sat with one leg balanced across
the other, a gentle but sharp-edged smile on his face.  His father's work
was alive once again...his father's legacy would soon be brought alive to
bring the stars to a standstill once again.
     Bashtarelle.  The site of his father's greatest triumph--the site of a
world's greatest disaster.  A hint of things to come.  Now, with this
second and more powerful Eye, Emmanuel knew, he could finally destroy his
father's enemies in the United Galactica, who had conspired as a whole to
drive Franken von Fogler insane and into self-imposed exile in Federation
space.
     And there was Farmel, as well.  His dear sister, who had betrayed him
and their father.  DAMN her!  She had no right to turn her back on family,
on the only family she had ever had!  But, now, she had chosen her bed--he
would make sure she lay in it.  Forever.
     Inside the massive black sphere, Genya tapped at controls.  "Yes, yes.
Oh, Father.  Your dream of the beautiful night will be brought to life
now.  My sister would not listen to me, oh, no.  She chose the ugly light.
But now... now, I have the tools at hand to bring forth the beauty of my
beloved, the magnificence of my mistress Night!"
     His laughter filled the cockpit.

     "You still haven't thanked me, you know."  Koichi stood at the window
facing out of Biko Daitokuji's office, looking out over the skyline of New
Eden's capital city, North Riezel.  The sun was just setting.  "For coming
to the rescue."
     Sitting at her desk, Biko glanced up at him.  "No, I guess I haven't.
Should I have?"
     Koichi chuckled softly.  "You're welcome, Biko," he said.
     "I'm surprised you're not outside, soaking up the praises of the rest
of the Council."
     "You know that's not my style.  I just do what I think is right--"
     "Even though it usually means defying orders?"
     "Only because I'm usually on the right track, Biko."  Koichi turned a
moment later to face his superior officer, sunlight shining off the lenses
of his sunglasses.  "You know it's different out on the front line."  In
his head, he corrected that: 'You KNEW, once.'
     "That's not the point, and you know it."  Biko leaned forwards, eyes
narrowing as she rested her arms on her desk.  "You have made it a point,
Koichi, to defy higher authorities at nearly every turn--"
     "Only for the right reasons."
     "The right REASONS?" Biko asked sarcastically.  "You've disobeyed the
direct orders of the Council at one time or another ever since you managed
to get the _Gunbuster_ built.  Why?  Do you enjoy doing that?"
     Koichi paused.  The old problem was reasserting itself.  "Biko, I get
things DONE out there," he said evenly.
     "With virtually no respect for the chain of command.  Minister Magami
tends to bring that to my attention--"
     The door to the office opened.  Biko rose from her desk, then quickly
saluted as a tall red-haired woman in a simple blue dress walked in.  "Ah,
Biko...Admiral Ota," the woman said.  "I was looking for you."
     "What can we do for you, Minister Magami?" Biko asked.
     Eiko Magami turned her smiling face towards Koichi.  "I wanted to say
how much we appreciate what you've done here today, Admiral," she said.
     "Minister, all I did was my job."  Koichi nodded briefly.  "Nothing
more, nothing less."
     "That's not what the Council thinks," someone said from outside the
office.  Koichi and Biko saluted again as another person, a portly man this
time, entered the office.  "What you have done here, Admiral Ota, was above
and beyond the call of duty - and the Council is grateful to no end."
     Koichi shook his head.  "Thank you, Minister Lambert," he said.  "But,
with all due respect...it simply HAD to be done.  I was just the man who
wound up having to do it."
     "Nonsense," Lambert replied.  "You're the man of the hour, Koichi...
and you should be respected as such!"
     Koichi noticed Biko out of the corner of his eye.  She looked, as she
usually did at times like this, decidedly displeased - but was keeping it
contained only to her narrowed eyes and a toss of her hair to hide that.
"Minister Lambert," she said quietly, "Koichi isn't exactly the type of
person who soaks up accolades."
     "This isn't exactly an ordinary situation, Admiral Daitokuji," Magami
countered.  "Koichi, you and your officers should be commended for the
mission you performed today--"
     "With all due respect, Minister Magami...Minister Lambert..."  As he
brushed irritably at his hair with one hand Koichi removed his sunglasses
and stared at the two Council members.  "It HAD to be done.  The Council
has to be protected, doesn't it?" he said brusquely, taking his
communicator from a pocket.  "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get
back--"
     A face Koichi didn't recognize peered into the room.  "Admiral Ota?"
he said.  "Ah, excuse me, Admiral Daitokuji...Ministers...I need to speak
to Admiral Ota."
     Koichi looked up at the young man, a UGI captain, as he entered the
room and briefly saluted.  He returned the salute.  "Yes, what is it?"
     The captain handed him a data microwafer.  "A priority relay, sir,
from the Frontier.  Intelligence report."
     Koichi took the microwafer and walked over to Biko's desk.  "Pardon
me, Biko," he said, sliding it into an access slot built into the desk's
surface.  Almost instantly, a holographic display shimmered into shape over
the desk, a cubical representation of a stellar map, with clusters of
multicolored dots here and there.  Each cluster was bracketed by two lines
of Standard text--a threat potential listing, and a list of names of ships.
     Federation ships, Koichi realized, eyeing the block of symbols and
text that marked where this information had been sent from.  It had
originated from one of the smaller UGI observation stations on the
Frontier.  "Damn," he muttered.
     Behind him, Lambert and Magami stared at the holomap and then at
Koichi and Biko.  "What exactly does that mean?" Lambert asked softly.
     Biko, who had been staring at the map along with Koichi, looked up at
Lambert.  "It means," she replied, "that there are ships massing at some
sort of staging area, across the Frontier.  UFP ships."  She aimed her
index finger at the star map.  "At least a third of their fleet has
assembled near Station 142, in sector A-23."  She looked at Koichi.  "I
would think that they would deploy the Eye as well."
     Koichi nodded grimly, sliding his sunglasses back on.  "Admiral," he
said formally, "I think I've got another job to do..."
     "An invasion?" Lambert said, the color draining from his face.  "Does
the Federation think that they can--"
     "With the Eye of Fogler, they can," Koichi said.  "Which brings me
back to something...Biko?  I need official authorization to implement,
fully, the Ranger Team concept."
     "And divert forces from other crucial areas?" Magami said.  "With an
invasion fleet gathering across the Frontier from UG space?  I think not,
Admiral!"
     Koichi opened his mouth to object, but closed it.  She did have a
point - when Aznable's fleet swept into United Galactica space, they'd have
their hands full.  And God forbid he used secondary forces to divert some
of his troops from the main field of battle... "Then, allow me to
officially authorize the Chessmen as a Ranger Team.  They're not UG
troops," he said after a moment.  "No one to divert."
     "Considering how effective they were in infiltrating the building to
stop those shapeshifters," Lambert said thoughtfully, "they'd be an asset
to you out there..."  He nodded at Koichi.  "One Ranger Team."
     Magami frowned slightly at Lambert, but he didn't notice.  She added,
"And that's ALL we can give you.  If that fleet does in fact come across
the Frontier, we'll have our hands full."
     Koichi wasn't even looking at her any more.  "Captain, get word to the
observation stations in A-23.  Track any ship movements across the
Frontier, all activity in the sector itself.  Simultaneous encrypted
reports to here and to the _Gunbuster_."
     Daitokuji interjected, "As of now, all United Galactica forces are on
alert status.  Move the fleet to Sector A-23 immediately."  She eyed
Koichi.  "Your orders: if that fleet comes across the Frontier...stop it
then and there."
     "I'll need to divert forces from non-critical areas--"
     "Like you did when you stormed Eve White?"  Magami shook her head.
"In this case, though, you WILL need all the ships you can get...fine.  You
have authorization to draw whatever forces you need from the nearby
sectors."
     Koichi nodded, picking up his hat from the desk.  "Thank you," he said
over his shoulder as he disappeared out the door.  His voice could be heard
for a few more seconds, firing orders at unknown people, and then it too
was gone.
     As he left, another man entered the office.  He was of moderate
height, with dark hair, a beard with no moustache, and burning eyes behind
shaded glasses.
     "Doctor Ikari," Daitokuji greeted the man.  "What brings you here?"
     "Have you considered my proposal, Admiral?"
     Lambert looked from the man to the admiral.  "What proposal is this?
We weren't informed."
     Magami smiled.  "YOU weren't informed, Lambert.  This is rated Black.
You'll have to leave."  Lambert grumbled, but departed anyway.  Magami
turned to the to people in the room.
     "Now, Doctor Ikari... do you have a stable prototype yet?"
     "Of both pilot and machine.  MAGI gives them power levels equal to the
Chessmen's robot."
     Grand Admiral Biko Daitokuji smiled.  "Then you are go, Dr. Ikari.
SEELE is currently operative."
     Dr. Ikari smiled thinly.  "Thank you for your forbearance, Admiral."

     The comm system activated, and I activated the screen to an image of
Koichi's face.  "Koichi?"
     "She approved it, Max."  Koichi smiled briefly, the smile not quite
reaching his sunglasses.  "Effective immediately, you're the first Ranger
Team--and, unfortunately, the only one."
     I grinned.  "Thanks."
     "But..."  The corners of Koichi's mouth turned downwards as he spoke.
Bad news always followed good.  "Now, we've got reports of the Federation
fleet assembling across the Frontier, getting ready to move in.  We need to
take the Eye out, before it can tip the scales in Aznable's favor."
     "I know, Koichi.  Which is why we need an old lightjammer."
     "A solar yacht?" Koichi asked, puzzled.  "Why, for heaven's sake, do
you want one of those?"
     "Accelerate it with the _Fischer_, and an assault team rides it, right
into the Eye," I explained.  "It's the only way I can figure out how to get
aboard without worrying about power shutdowns."
     "All right, I think I can get one somewhere.  Max... we don't have
much time.  We're preparing to rejoin the fleet near the Frontier."
     "I know.  Bishop out."
     I turned to Savashtar, who had been standing behind me a pace or two.
"Datalink with the _Gunbuster_ computers, get everything you can.  Junta
and Morobo stay aboard - Junta's not in good enough shape yet and Morobo is
without an eye.  They stay."
     "They won't be happy."
     "Too bad.  Tell Washu she's coming on the assault too."
     "WHAT?"
     "We need her expertise on this."
     Sav nodded.  "Understood, Max."
     The next ten hours we spent frantically, preparing.  Then Koichi
called--he had commandeered a solar yacht from a nearby museum.  It had,
once, belonged to one of the United Galactica's first First Ministers...
and it was delivered an hour later.  Ten more minutes with Robo to attach
it to the _Fischer_'s nose with the explosive bolts, and we were off and
running.
     To destroy the second Eye... or die trying.

     The moment of breakout into realspace came suddenly, and when it did,
I heard Dai's cry of pain through the intercom as we punched the engines up
to places they weren't meant to go.  The entire ship shook, so we could
barely hear each other over the rattling, but the view in front of us said
it all: directly ahead of the ship, bracketed by three ships, was what
appeared to be a giant spherical void in space.  Only the occasional
flashing light--and the massive eye-shaped impression at its center,
visible even from this distance--revealed it to be otherwise.
     "Three ships?" Sav said, amazed.  "Where the hell's its cover?"
     Farmel shook her head.  "Who cares...Max, two minutes!"
     I nodded, springing out of the captain's chair.  "Everyone to the
assault craft - eight minutes to breakaway!"
     I was last off the bridge.  Youshou would be piloting, and he had
already had the brilliant idea:  the jammer gets detached, and then the
_Fischer_ just jumps right back into hyperspace.  Wait five minutes and pop
back out, then wait for our pickup signal.  Simple.
     The solar yacht, the _Angel's Wing_, was definitely not what I had
been expecting.  The accomodations, though they did include full
accel-stress chairs, were right out of some kind of luxury hotel.  We took
our ridiculously plush seats, strapping in.  "Thirty seconds," Farmel said.
     The comlink crackled to life, and Morobo spoke.  "Seize victory with
your fangs, my friends," he rumbled.  "Feel the blood of our enemy wet your
throat."  Then it fell silent.
     "Time."  Farmel braced herself in her chair.  We all followed suit.
     The bolts blew.  And we were set free.  Seconds later, the lights went
dead, and seconds after that, there was the shrill sound of metal shearing
as we crashed through the outer hull.
     As soon as it screeched to a halt, a slightly dazed Karin muttered,
"Baggage claim to the left.  Please let others out  Thank you for flying
Chessmen."  It drew, thankfully, only a few weak snickers as we managed to
unstrap ourselves, check our weapons one last time, and pick our way
forwards into the crushed cockpit of the yacht and from there into the Eye
itself.
     We pulled out into, thankfully, atmosphere.  Apparently, the entire
thing was pressurized, with low-power fields keeping the air in.  The only
thing that wasn't apparently an emitter or a reactor was the sphere sitting
right on top of the reactor.  We headed for it, climbing across beams and
girders.
     I punched the door in, entering a fairly large room.  An enormous
ninety-degree area of wall was covered with a large screen, displaying the
residue of a hyperspace entry.  Good, that meant that the _Fischer_ got
away clean.  The center of the room held a tall pillar.  It looked as if a
chair sat atop it.
     And then I heard the voice.  The voice I hadn't heard in over two
decades.  That voice, damn him.  "So, my sister... you've brought your
friends to worship at my feet, as you have come..."
     Farmel paled.  "Emmanuel!?" she said in a whisper, her eyes narrowing
to slits.
     He stood up, and we could see him now.  The spotless white suit, the
green hair that fell around his shoulders, the resemblance to Farmel.
Emmanuel von Fogler.
     Genya.
     I pulled back my hand, ready to release a blast which would have blown
Genya into the ceiling, when suddenly I heard a voice.  It was Farmel's.
She was standing a few feet away with her blaster aimed at her brother's
head.  "No, Max.  He's MINE," she snarled.
     Genya snorted disdainfully.  "Ah, the traitor to the name of von
Fogler has come," he proclaimed.  "You will challenge ME, sister?"
     "Get your ass DOWN here, Emmanuel," Farmel snapped, her gun never once
leaving his face, "and I will KICK it."
     He leapt down from the pillar, almost casually landing in front of us.
Farmel tossed me her gun, then turned around and hit her brother--not a
slap, as I almost expected, but a closed-fist right that snapped his head
back.  He put his hand to his cheek and stared at her, genuinely
surprised--and furious.  "Bitch!"
     "It's been a while," Farmel said in a low rasp.
     I quietly stepped aside, waving everybody else back.  This was
Farmel's fight, and I had no intention of letting anyone interfere.  Unless
Genya, in his infinite arrogance, tried to pull something...he backhanded
Farmel hard, all but catapulting her backwards.  She landed on her feet,
then ran at him.  Punches and kicks flew, almost faster than the eye could
follow, as the fight continued; his strength was getting the best of her,
even though she was giving as good as she got.  Genya's right eye was
bruised, swollen almost closed from Farmel's blows, while she was bleeding
from the mouth and nose.
     And then he grabbed her around the waist, hauling her up in a bear
hug.  You could hear the sounds of weapons readying; I swept my hand up,
waited for a clear shot...and something happened.  Farmel snapped her head
down, staring into his eyes.  Then her eyes glowed green.  Green sparks
started to encircle them both, orbiting them like insanely loud hornets.
His brow furrowed in concentration, but then his eyes widened.
     "NO!" he yelled.  "You DARE--"
     "It's OVER, Emmanuel!" Farmel shouted, her voice breaking as the
energy around them began to form a glowing sphere.  "Your craziness is
OVER!"
     Then she teleported the both of them.
     Moments later they both reappeared.  Savashtar and Washu stared,
speechless, while Kiyone and Karin both threw up.
     Farmel von Fogler was just fine.
     Emmanuel von Fogler was half-merged with the bulkhead.  The look of
sheer horror on his face was frozen there for all time... part of his torso
projected from the wall, most of both his arms and one leg extended in some
grotesque kind of reaching gesture.  Farmel slipped from his now-dead arms,
amazingly intact, and I ran to catch her.  She was unconscious, her body
slightly cold, but still breathing.  I turned to the rest of the team and
ordered grimly, "Okay...Washu, shut this thing down the best you can.  Set
the self-destruct or whatever.  Sav, the pickup signal--they should be out
of hyperspace by now."
     Washu and Daisaku climbed up to the platform, with some help from
Mihoshi's armor, and started working with controls.  The rest of us took up
positions at the door, waiting for the inevitable attack, until Washu
yelled down, "Got it!"
     And Genya said, "One minute to drive implosion."  I snapped my head
around to look at him: he was still embedded in the wall, and still dead.
Daisaku and Washu were brought back down to floor level by Mihoshi; Washu
explained briefly, "The computer has his voice.  How fitting."  Suddenly, a
door slid open at the base of the pillar, revealing what appeared to be
some kind of elevator.  Daisaku shouted, "Evac boat, all aboard!"
     We scrambled in, as the countdown rang in the small ship.  Even as the
doors closed behind us, we could see displays on the inside of the main
chamber begin to spark and explode.  It was going to be close--the sudden
gravity loss meant the elevator was moving downwards, at a fairly high rate
of speed.  Genya's voice intoned serenely, "Fifty seconds," as the elevator
slowed and came to a halt; the doors opened on some kind of launch bay.  A
single arrow-shaped craft carefully balanced on a launch pylon, was all we
saw...and all we needed, as we tore out of the elevator and rushed towards
the escape ship.  There was an open hatch on the starboard side, near the
engines, and we used that to climb aboard.  Washu and Sav dashed for the
ship's cockpit, while the rest of us did our best to make ourselves as
secure as we could in a tiny corridor.  The ship was designed for one or
two people, not an entire assault team, but we managed.
     Sav's voice echoed around the metal bulkheads and filtered back to us.
"Hang on, people, it's go--"
     "Just PUNCH IT!" I bellowed.
     Someone (Washu, as I later found out) punched it.  The tiny ship shot
out of the bay, narrowly missing the still-opening bay hatch, and abruptly
rolled ninety degrees and arced away from the Eye, from its escort ships
which were moving to cut us off.  The ship rocked to the thunder of
near-misses from the frigates' guns, then to Washu's tender ministrations,
as we evaded fire and tore towards the rendezvous point--and then Savashtar
shouted, "The cavalry's here!"

     Aboard the _Fischer_, Morobo was chanting a Vargr battle song loudly
from the weapons chair.  Even as the ship screamed through a tight turn, he
cut loose with one of the underside batteries and destroyed two of the UFP
fighters that one of the frigates had launched in pursuit of the tiny
escape ship that had left the Eye.
     Youshou, piloting the ship with the quiet precision that was part of
his essence, let it pass.  As they came into a narrow trajectory past one
of the UFP ships, Morobo peppered it with weapons fire; crippled, it slid
away and into a limping retreat course.  The other ships (why did Aznable
only provide light frigates to protect his prize, Youshou wondered) broke
away to cover it, putting out a steady curtain of suppressive fire.  In a
moment he had pulled the _Fischer_ up and away, following the vessel he
knew his compatriots were on.
     Seconds later, the Eye just...disappeared, appearing almst as if it
had collapsed in on itself.  Then space itself exploded, a tiny supernova
forming in a beautiful flare of light.  The retreating ships, which had
withdrawn behind the Eye, briefly showed up as red glowing
silhouettes--just before they disintegrated in the blast, which expanded
into a giant sphere.  The _Fischer_, under full thrust, was safe--but
rocked by the enormous energy backlash from the explosion.
     Morobo only sang louder.

     We matched up with the _Fischer_ and headed back to New Eden.
     As we relaxed on the way back, Sav looked at me.  "Two without a
hitch."
     I punched him in the arm, gently.  "Don't jinx us."

     I'd been having problems sleeping on the way back.  That usually means
there's something on my mind.  Farmel was still in sickbay, unconscious
from her teleportation, so I took a walk around the ship, avoiding the
bridge, to think.
     I didn't want to count the days. After our rebellion...my rebellion...
failed, my calendar shifted until AD 1 was on the day we took arms. When I
applied for my Freelancer's license, that day became AD 1.  Now, it seemed
like my calendar was off floating in space somewhere, like a ball of dust
and gas waiting to become a star.
     Gally had loved me; I could deal with that knowledge now. She loved me
enough to respect my own wishes, and to let me grow close to Farmel. She
loved all of us, she loved what we stood for, and she died so that we could
keep on living. I admired her, and I loved her like I would have loved my
own sister; but it wasn't until it was too late that I realized how truly
noble she was, how gallant she was. Maybe she hadn't realized it either.
     Nobody was nearby as I stole into her old quarters. I palmed the
light, and it lit up her living/bedroom. Gally had shopped more on impulse
than with any one thing in particular in mind, but somehow everything
contributed to a single, subtle theme.  There was a black bean bag chair on
the floor in front of the entertainment center. Her mahogany writing desk
was in a well-organized and fairly neat state. The white tile floor had
been swept days before....days before she left. Books. She had books on the
desk, books on shelves, books mixed in with her CDs, books in the bathroom,
books at the foot of her bed where she tossed them when she was up late
reading.
     I took the time to glance over them. Gally had been an omnivorous and
avid reader. Walt Whitman, Hans Henny Jahnn, P. G. Wodehouse, the Talmud,
exornithology--the study of birds that had evolved from stocks on other
planets--a biography of John Kennedy V, Leo Tolstoy, Dorothy Parker, and so
on, all in an almost-organized state. There was a sturdy wood lacquer
rocking chair next to a floor lamp and an end table. A copy of the Bible
was on it, beside Gally's gun. It looked like a replica of a Colt .45, but
with a longer and smaller barrel.  She had only used it for target
practice, never in combat. She liked the gun very much; it looked pretty
and deadly, "kind of like a cobra", she once said. I seated myself and idly
thumbed through the Bible. After a few seconds, a particular passage caught
my eye:

To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, a time to die; a time to sow, a time to reap.  A time
to kill, and a time to know suffering.

     That didn't quite sound...like I half-remembered it. I read on.

     Don't worry about me, Max.  I'm not sad now.  I'm not really happy, to
be honest.  I feel like I'm beyond that now. I just am, and this is the way
things are going to be now.  You're probably thinking, "Gally, you did
something incredible, I'll never forget you."  Max, I did what needed
doing.  I analyzed the situation, chose my action, and carried it through.
If that's exceptional, we're in worse trouble than I thought!  Just a joke.
     I did a lot of things with you guys, and I don't regret even one thing
I did.  I killed people.  I'm at peace with that now.  We always had a
greater cause in mind.  That doesn't change the fact that we killed real
people with real souls.  But people can forgive you for killing them. It's
in their hearts.  Real people don't like to hate.  It takes them some time
to work out the hate, but it will come out in the end.  But I didn't just
kill.  I also helped out as the counselor.  I really, really liked bringing
people together, because it's an easy way for them to resolve their
problems.  I think communication is a beautiful thing, don't you?
        I was in the prison, dying; and I realized how much I wanted that
beauty, and that love.  If I went on, maybe I'd be tempted to take revenge;
or, even worse, you would all be captured, and I couldn't stand to see you
suffer.  That's where the torture for me would be. If, on the other hand, I
gave up my life, you would be able to escape. The Chessmen-- my
family--could still be alive. I chose to die. It didn't matter that it
meant I couldn't live again. What mattered is that _you_ could. You all
mean so  much to me, that's a small price to pay.
     But Max, _I'm_still_alive_.  Everywhere you go, I'll be like a battle
angel out in front of you, watching your every move.  I'll be the one
looking out for the group in your days of trouble.  If you just close your
eyes, and look with your heart, you'll find me as easy as pie.
     Give everyone a big hug and a kiss for me. If you want a memorial for
me, that's fine; every step you take from now on is testament enough for
me.

                              Walk in faith,
                                  Gally

     With a jolt I woke up, almost letting the book slip from my hands. The
dream had been so vivid, I could have sworn that I was reading the literal
words of Ecclesiasticies a moment before.
     I moved to set the book on the table. The gun was gone.

     Tsunami smiled at the table.  A huge hole had appeared in Tokimi's
defences, and the trap placed within her own section had been destroyed.
She raised her eyes from the board.
     Tokimi's eyes held a reddish glow as she glared back at Tsunami, her
face twisted into an expression of rage.  "Impossible!" she hissed.  "BOTH
of those were impregnable positions!  Nothing could have done that!"
     Tsunami smiled.  "Oh?  Then how are they gone?  Are you willing to
surrender now, Tokimi?  Since your position is so weak?"
     "Weak?" Tokimi's voice began to get shrill.  "I still have pieces to
play!"
     'Interesting,' Tsunami thought.  'I was saying that a little while
ago...'

     Char sat at the center of the _Destruction_'s cavernous bridge, his
eyes on one of the larger viewscreens.  On it was displayed the worried
face of a minor ship captain.  "Admiral," he was saying, "we've confirmed
it.  The Eye has been destroyed, along with its entire escort force."
     Char, amazingly, looked perfectly calm.  Inside, he was seething--he
had almost expected the Eye to be lost, but part of him still didn't want
to see it happen--he just refused to let it show.  "Thank you, Captain," he
said neutrally.  "Resume your course to Sweet Water."
     "But, Admiral, the ships that attacked the Eye may still be--"
     "No, they're not."  It had to have been the Chessmen...Bishop's team
had gotten their revenge, surely.  "The people that did this," Char said,
"are long gone by now.  It will be impossible to catch them...proceed on to
Sweet Water."
     The captain nodded, then saluted sharply.  "Yes, sir!  _Belancia_
out!"  The viewscreen went dark.
     Char hit a button on the arm of his chair.  "Aznable.  Status?"
     A quiet voice sounded from a hidden speaker.  "Sir, it is operational
as of one hour ago.  Enroute with full escort to Sweet Water."

     As we stepped off the shuttle, this time there was elation on the
faces of the people around us.  Only Koichi didn't look as elated as the
rest, and I took my cue from him.  "Chessmen reporting, Fleet Admiral. The
Eye has been destroyed."
     He nodded.  "Excellent.  One of our problems is over."
     "Just one?  Do I want to know what else is wrong?"
     "We're still bringing intel in at this point.  There's a large ship
coming towards the front, and they seem rather put out about not remotely
having the defenses they expected.  Chairwoman Peacecraft, on the other
hand, is talking about the need to bring an order to the galaxy, and how
she's going to do it."
     Junta and Karin snorted in unison.  Relena Peacecraft was one of their
least favorite people in the universe: the super-opinionated, very
outspoken leader of an organization called the Spiral Foundation, which
ostensibly stood for a reunified galaxy.  The problem was, the Foundation
had had at various times dealings with extremely questionable covert
groups...like GORGE.  "WONderful," I muttered.  "That's the rationalization
for this, then?"
     "No, the rationalization for this is that we've been sending in covert
teams to kill off high-ranking members of the UG.  Now, you and I both know
that Kem was an accident, but they don't seem to agree."
     "What sort of time frame do we have for downtime, Koichi?"
     He thought for a moment.  "24 hours maximum."  I nodded, and turned
back to the shuttle.  The rest of the team - Farmel, Sav, Yoush and Washu -
followed me.  Then Koichi cleared his throat, and we all looked back.  "Dr.
Hakubi... would you do me the honor of dining with me this evening?" he
asked.
     You could have heard a pin drop, as Washu said, "Of course, Fleet
Admiral."  Then she smiled, almost...sweetly?
     The shuttle was utterly silent on the way back.  Even Sav, resident
comedian, was quiet.  As we docked with the _Fischer_, Farmel looked at me
and said, "Max...that's one of those bad things in the universe that we
pray never happens, isn't it?"
     All I could do was nod silently.

     We shuttled across to the _Gunbuster_ for briefing again.  In the
briefing room, Koichi stood in front of a podium, changing the graphics on
the screen as he did so.  Washu was there already, looking rather chipper.
     "Einstein IV.  The center of arms research for the Federation.  One of
our agents - you remember Mr. Masaki - has determined that they have
developed a new superweapon there, for fleet and planetary assault alike.
The type of weapon is a reflex cannon."
     He paused there to let it sink in.  Reflex weapons technology was
supposedly the sort of thing lost several thousand years ago.  If someone
had recovered it... well, let's just say that our lives would become vastly
more complicated.  And significantly less fun.
     "However, we're not asking you to destroy it."  You could hear the
sound of relief in the room.  "What we're asking is somewhat more
dangerous." Click.
     The face of a man appeared on the screen.  He was thin,
pointy-chinned, white-haired, and his right eye was obviously cybernetic.
"Soichiro Tomoe.  Expert in high-energy physics. You should all remember
him.  We have learned that he's being moved from Einstein IV.  And we have
decided we're going to grab him.  That's your mission."
     I nodded, then looked around the table.  No one seemed to have
objections.  We'd done extractions before.  "We'll need as much as you can
give us as to where to go..  What's there."
     "He's in transit to the fleet."
     That sound of relief got very ugly.
     "However, we've learned that he's going to be stopping at a way- point
along the way." The display changed again.  "Ksh'ak Sh'an.  A Nesh'hazar
outpost.  The entire planet has been reshaped to Nesh'hazar preferences,
except for the atmosphere.  They're stopping at this planet to pick up some
cargo that was left there by another ship.  In addition, the plant life on
this world is the only naturally occuring source of the treatment for
Telant's Syndrome."
     "So we know what's going on with the stop.  When are they going to be
there?"
     "In 24 hours, for a twelve hour layover.  It's a thirty hour flight
from here."
     "Six hours. It's going to be tight..."
     Dai grinned.  "No, I think it'll be juuuust fine, Max.  Admiral, do
you know if the professor is going to go down to the planet?"
     "We're certain of it.  And probably bring his daughter with him."
     Dai started chuckling.  "Bingo."
     I looked at Dai fairly severely.  "What do you have planned, Kusama?"
     "A snatch and grab.  In the most literal sense.  It works like this,
Max..."

     Soichiro looked at his daughter.  Her dresses had been getting more
daring lately, as Mistress Nine had become more and more dominant.  But she
was alive.  That was the only thing that kept him going now...  that she
was alive.  Even if it was just her body, not her mind.
     He heard a commotion from the cockpit, men yelling.  Then the entire
ship shook.
     "What the hell is that?"
     Mistress Nine calmly looked around.  "Whatever it is, I'm certain
nothing will come of it."
     The ship shook again.  Then he felt the direction of the ship change.
Two of the guards came back and took positions around the door.
     One of them looked at the passengers.  "Hold tight, folks.  We got our
engines disabled, and now something's got us.  We're sitting ducks right
now."
     The ship shuddered, then the pilot's voice came out of the speakers.
"We're inside a bay of a Hawk.  No idea what's waiting - be ready!"
     The two men racked back their guns, getting them ready to fire.
     The door slid open.
     They didn't even warn, just opened fire.  A small baseball shaped
object came through the hatch between them.  One dove for it, grabbing
it... and when his hand touched it, it flashed red.
     Soichiro Tomoe's world went black.

     When he awoke, he heard voices.  It took him a few moments for his
vision to clear, so he listened while he waited.
     "...you sure about this, Washu?"
     "Max, trust me. I studied up on this. Telant's Syndrome is not a
genetic disorder. It's a combination of rare genetic traits and birth
environmental factors.  I did the research to find those out for her, and
now I've identified the interaction in her.  Give me a week to get the gene
therapy ready, and two weeks after that."
     Then Soichiro sat up.  He looked at us, where I sat across from Washu
at her desk. He'd recovered from the stun grenade a little before we'd
expected, but still only managed to mumble something unintelligible at us.
     "Hello, Dr. Tomoe.  Welcome aboard the _Bobby Fischer_. I'm the leader
of this group, Max Bishop, this is my physician, Dr. Washu Hakubi. You are
currently our guest on our way to the United Galactica."
     "My daughter...Hotaru," he croaked.  "Where is Hotaru?"
     "Your daughter is fine," I replied.  "Doctor Hakubi here is taking
good care of her."
     Tomoe managed to get out, "But...but...she has been taking a special
medicine."  He blinked a couple of times, obviously shaking off the last
vestiges of the stun grenade's effects.  "She has Telant's Syndrome--"
     Washu took over.  "I can cure her.  Not that ridiculous thing that
she's been taking, a true cure," she explained.
     "Im... that's impossible."
     "No, it's NOT impossible.  I have information on her background
environment. I have genetic scans.  And I already have the gene therapy
coded up, I just need to complete it."
     "She... she's free...?"  A light had appeared in Professor Tomoe's
organic eye; Washu and I both could see that for the first time in God only
knew how long, hope was no longer a painful luxury to him.  And it felt
good to see that happen.
     "Free of that drug, yes.  Free of what happened to her under it...
no."  Washu smiled reassuringly, placing a hand on Tomoe's shoulder and
squeezing gently.  "She's going to need time, and love, and help from
professionals, to get out from that.  And once the gene therapy is over,
she's going to start remembering things that her other personality did.
THAT is going to be the hardest part."
     Soichiro Tomoe looked into the eyes of Washu Hakubi... and broke down
and wept tears of joy and release.

     Koichi looked over the table at me.  "HOW did you do this one, Max?
I'd have said it was impossible."
     I grinned.  "We dropped out of hyperspace just outside the Limit, and
Robo was ready to launch.  He flew out, holed their engines and grabbed the
ship, literally.  Tossed it in our bay, and we dove back in. Stunned them,
brought out the doctor and his daughter, closed it up, popped out, tossed
the ship out with the beacons screaming, and hauled ass."
     "Amazing."
     I leaned back, feeling somewhat smug.  "We're good, Koichi.  We're
good."
     "Let's hope you're good enough."
     I let my eyebrow rise.  "For what?"
     "We've debriefed the professor.  And Mr. Masaki has given us more
information.  Char is en route to his new flagship, whose name we don't
know yet."
     "The reflex cannon-equipped ship, obviously."
     "I don't need to tell you how dangerous this could be.  We need that
ship destroyed."
     I looked askance at Koichi.  "Koichi, I don't know if it can be DONE.
This is a capital ship we're talking about.  Who KNOWS how large it is?"
     "Three thousand meters."
     "I really didn't need to hear that."
     "Max, this is your next assignment.  We need that ship disabled or
destroyed."  Koichi rubbed gently at the bridge of his nose--a habit he'd
had since before we ever met.  "That's the bottom line, Max."
     I nodded.  "I'm going to confer with my team on this.  This is going
to be HARD."
     Koichi nodded back at me.  "I know, Max.  But, if things go
poorly--it's our only hope."

     "So, Admiral, how goes the operation?"
     Char Aznable smiled proudly, making a sweeping gesture around the
gargantuan command center of the _Destruction_.  "The evidence is around
you.  The pieces are coming together, and very soon we shall be ready to
move."
     "Excellent, excellent!" the man in the slate-gray suit enthused.  He
was of average height, with graying black hair brushed back from his face;
quite an unassuming picture for the President of the United Federation of
Planets.  "Now, at long last, we should be able to do what we should have
done fifty years ago...bring the UG back into the fold."
     "My sentiments exactly, President Adenauer," Char said smoothly.  "I
have no doubts that this will go down in history as the greatest patriotic
action ever taken by the Federation."  That was a facade, and he knew it.
     Adenauer smiled.  "The Council has given the go-ahead, Admiral.  You
may proceed with the operation as soon as you are ready."
     "Thank you."  Char turned around slowly, gazing around the enormous
chamber.  The entire room was enclosed only by a huge viewport that showed
the dozens of ships moving around the _Destruction_--the entire Federation
fleet, for the first time, was assembled in one place for one very specific
mission.
     To destroy the United Galactica.

----------------------------------------------------------
Author's Notes.

Geoff:
  Hey, again.  Here we are on the home stretch, one more to go till the
finish.  And despite the occational disasters, we're still on track. Yeah,
there's some plot holes, but some of them are there for a reason.  (More
stories?  Foreshadowing?  Moi?))
  Bill is great to work with.  Expect to see us having a film at A-kon 10 -
the majority of which showed up in a late-night conversation at A-kon 8.  A
bunch of us sitting there, chatting, talking, Bill comes up with this idea
and we started to get in on it.  Ideas flying... and somehow keeping it in
a sane way.  And hey, anyone who you can make wreslting jokes about while
watching USA's Monday wrestling (with him in Detroit and me in New Jersey)
is someone you know you can get along with.
  To the readers:  thank you.  Without you, we wouldn't be doing this.
  See you people soon for "Checkmate and Sacrifice", the final chapter.

Bill:
  Okay, so there are some big plot holes.  We'll fix them later.
  I have to admit, Geoff thinks BIG.  _Chessmen_ itself, as it exists in
his head, is testament to that.  But there's nothing wrong with that. Me, I
just try to make it coherently big.  He's sprawling concepts, I drive the
car.  And I like it that way, and it WORKS.
  To those of you who made it this far (come on, I know we have to have
SOME fans out there):  thanks.  We need cola, and new keyboards, and send
in a cute brunette or I'm wasting somebody!
  Coming up next:  nearly every major plotline to date is wrapped up in
grand anime tradition ("Wha?  When did THAT happen?").  Stay tuned...or
else.

+------------------------------------------------+---------------------------+
|   Bill Crawford - ah401@detroit.freenet.org    |      Gunbuster Project    |
|  -------------------------------------------   |  -----------------------  |
| "In the name of the Moon...we're TAKING OVER." | http://www.geocities.com/ |
|                       - The Moon World Order   |      TelevisionCity/9997  |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Geoff Depew				mephron@idt.net
Personal email address - work-related email deleted unread.
"They're all waiting for the Hammer To Fall."