Here's Ch 142-Pt 3-K&K
"While it's true I didn't get a real good look at her 'cause she was wrapped in a blanket, I did see she was a short blonde and I did see her feet- clearly!" said Goat.
"So?" demanded Nat impatiently.
"They were dark green and had an 'FA' stamped on their sides- in gold." he replied.
" 'FA' as in Flay Allster. Like the ones that Fayesie repped up for the kid." explained Jamie.
"Oro's on the holo thingy?" asked Goat.
Nat stuck the small cylinder into the skysled's power receptacle and activated it. Instantly a 3-D hologram of the frightened 'EA' ensign wrapped in a white blanket materialized in midair. She was trying hard not to cry and losing the battle miserably.
"Help me, guys! I'm really s-s-scared this time! The big dumbbell says that if ya ever wanna see me alive again ya gotta meet him tonight at twenty hundred hours er eight o'clock at the coordinates on this holocylinder thingy! Oh yeah and ya gotta be sure and bring Auntie Kei with ya too! Then he'll do a trade- me for her! If ya don't then I'm a goner for sure! Please save me, gang! Please! Please! Please!" whimpered a sobbing Flaysie. Her image winked out and her voice was replaced by a stern male one instead.
"May I suggest that you do as you've been told! It goes without saying that you must not go to the 'ISSP' nor the local police or the kawaii young lady will be killed. Just give me oro I want and I shall give you oro you want. A fair exchange, nai? Don't do anything stupid or else! Here are the coordinates. Until twenty hundred tonight- sayonara, children!"
They waited but only silence answered them.
"Captain Starwind? Come in, please. This is--" trilled Caggie Before Nat painfully yanked off her comlink earrings.
"Shut the Hell up, you moron! Didn't you just hear him? He's more than likely monitoring these shimatta things!" said the lieutenant and pointed to her own comlink earrings.
Goat was perplexed. "Wonder why he wants 'Reds'? She had to have died decades ago! Right?" wondered the Jersey junkman.
"Not Keisie, dummy! The other one- the lush! O'Halloran! For the reward from Berringer! Christ! This baka idiot dunno that the little shit's been nabbed and there ain't no more bounty no more!" yelled Jamie.
"Get in! We're wasting time- precious time! We've got to get back!" yelled Nat, yanking on parka, gloves and helmet. The two New Jerseyites piled in the back while Cagalli took the seat beside Nat who snapped the roof shut and hit the thrusters. "Hang onto your shorts! We're gonna see just how fast this thing can go!" she cried and tramped the speed pedal to the floor. A skysled's maximum speed is subwarp twelve or 270 kilometres per hour and Nat soon reached it!
"Slow down, Nat honey! The last thing we want is the 'ISSP' or the locals stopping us for speeding!" yelled Jamie, punching her in the shoulder. The brunette nodded and decreased to subwarp four or 75 kph and then to subwarp two or 40 kph by which time Dewey's bridge was in sight.
Nat landed, taxiied and then spun to a bone-jarring stop next to the 'Gammeran Prince'. Elda Saavik was the first of them to reach the skysled.
"Where the Hell have you guys been? Oro took you so long? Where's Flaysie?" she cried and Cagalli began snivelling while Goat and Jamie looked away from her. Nat stared into the Vulcan's aizu and spoke quietly.
"Get the others, Saavie." she ordered and Saavie scooted away. "Goatie, Cag, Jamie- start loading that stuff onto the 'Prince'. Fill the fuel cylinders on that sled and break out a couple of more. We're going back out!" commanded Nat. Gene and the rest of the away team came rushing over closely followed by Miles and Dewey.
"Where is Flay, Lt.?" demanded Gene Starwind. For answer she tossed him the holo message cylinder.
"Play that, Cap. She's gone. Disappeared." said Nat quietly. He obediently plugged it into the 'Prince's' power receptacle and punched it on. All of them crowded around to see and hear the message. Afterwards-
"Who the Hell 'is' that? His voice is so damned bloody familiar!" wondered Rally.
"It damned well should be, Vincent. That's Luthor. Lex Luthor, one of Johnny Berringer's goons. Guess he didn't get the word that Johnny boy won't be paying off on any more bounties where he's headed." said Keisie from the doorway. She'd just come up from supervising the final testing of their new warp core. Cy and Robbie were dogging her heels.
"How are we ever gonna f-f-find her?" sobbed the usually calm and cool Cagalli.
"Was she wearin' her earrings? Those ones that the Boss gave to her?" demanded Keisie coolly.
"Yeah. At least she was when we left her with the sled anyway!" answered Jamie Wilson.
The redhead grinned. "Vincent, hit that panel next to the scanner controls. The one marked 'CRT' for 'Comlink Relay Tracker'. I had Saavik install it yesterday- just in case Flaysie did a walkabout. Unfortunately its range is a mere five hundred kilos but since those coordinates he gave us are only 150 kilos from here he must have Allster stashed somewhere nearby. Well, Vincent? Got a fix on her signal yet?" yelled Keisie impatiently.
"Yeah, gimme a minute and I'll put it onscreen for ya! There it it- see it? About seventy kilos West of the meeting spot. Some sort of old military complex. Anybody recognize it? Looks really ancient, man!" said Rally. All of the team looked blank and Miles shook his head. Dewey Doohan frowned.
"That's gotta be the old abandoned 'Taurus' missile silo base. It's deserted and has been for over eighty years or so. I know a shortcut there that we can use without being seen by Luthor." said Dewey.
"Can we trust these two, Spike?" whispered Keisie and the cowboy grinned.
"Safe as houses, Reds. We going after the kid then?" whispered Spike.
"Damned right we are, boyo!" seethed the redhead. "I'll teach Lexie boy he can't grab my tomos and get away with it, man!" she added vehemently.
"How are we gonna get her outta there safely, gang?" asked Rally and all aizu turned towards Keisie.
"Don't look at me, kiddies! Yuri er Yuyu's the brains on our team, man!" she said.
"I er have a plan of sorts if you're interested?" offered Robin quietly.
"We're desperate, kiddo. Let's hear it." chortled Gene.
"OK. Here goes. Luthor wants Kei, right? So we give her to him--" he began and several members of the away team looked daggers at the poor Titan!
"Wait! Hear me out first! Please! The only one of you er ladies tall enough to pass off as the real Boss Lady is the lieutenant here. (He pointed to Nat) We put her in a red wig and a commander's flightsuit and well- from a distance she'll look like Miss Kei, won't she? While Gene, Jimbo and Keisie are er negotiating with Luthor using Miss Nat as the Boss, Spike, Jett and Miss Faye will have already surrounded the complex on skycycles using those cannon things to provide cover fire when the other team makes a break for it with Miss Flaysie. Meanwhile Rally, Saavie, Dewey and Miles here will have been hovering in the 'Gammeran Prince' ready to teleport us all up after we accomplish our mission. While all of this is going on, Cyborg and myself will be making enough racket to make Luthor think that the entire 'ISSP' fleet is attacking him. During all of that confusion we will nab Mr. Luthor and teleport him up to the ship. Then we all beat it back here to Dewey's place and drop off him and Miles. Then we hightail it over to this 'Kagura' place stat." siad Robin proudly and waited for their reactions which were not slow in coming.
"I like it! Let's do it, man!" yelled Cyborg.
"Oro do we do if Luthor's got more guards there?" demanded the cowgirl.
"Lex boy is a loner. He prides himself on not needing help from anybody. Besides that- Miss Vincent's scan showed only two heat trace/DNA signatures anywhere on that base. Once Lex is occupied with Gene's parlay group at the front gate, Miss Vincent will trill Miss Flaysie's location to Miss Cagalli, Jamie and Goat. They will go in and get her out." answered Robin.
"Another problem, kid." said Dewey. "You're expecting to run Allster across the base airstrip in the open, right? (Robin nodded) Wellkids, 'Taurus' is protected from assault by automatic machine gun fire coverage. I have a better solution. Take her to this point here. (Dewey indicated a sewer opening inside of a building on the chart- the same building where Flaysie was supposedly being held) Get her below ground as soon as you can and hustle her ass down this sewer tunnel a couple of hundred meters. You'll come up here behind these silos. They'll provide ample cover for your final fifty meter sprint to safety. Tractor beams and teleports won't work inside the base's boundaries. Inside the fences I mean. Why? Because there's a jamming signal activated in there still. You've all gotta be outsie the fence perimeters to teleport or tractor out. Sorry." said Dewey.
"No problemo. We just use our stunners (stun guns) on Lexie and then drag his fat ass outside the perimeter lines of the base before we beam him up." said Keisie.
"We'll need to bring Flaysie a flightsuit and some cold weather gear or she'll freeze to death outside." warned Rally and Cagalli sped off for her rooms.
Cont in Ch 142-Part 4