Outlaw Star: New Journey-- Part Two

OUTLAW STAR: NEW JOURNEY PART TWO

As they look out at the horizon, Gene and Jim watch a hoard of pirate mechs approaching the dock where the Outlaw Star was currently berthed. They have already fought off over two hundred pirates, and now these mechs near the battle. With the crew almost out of ammunition, neither Gene nor Jim can think of any way out of this situation. It's still a few minutes before Aisha is scheduled to join the fight. As the mechs enter the battle, a few of them stagger from being hit by rounds from high powered sniper rifles. Gene and Jim turn around to see Melfina and Hilda in the windows, reloading their rifles. Gene waves appreciatively to them. They wave back, as the mechs approach within fifty meters of the building. The mechs slow down slightly as they reach the perimeter of Jim's drone area, but keep moving. A few rockets fly from the house and the remaining drones, taking out several of the mechs. The rest continue coming, until they reach twenty meters from the home of the Outlaw Star. As they pass this line, a deafening roar is heard. Everything stops, as all eyes turn to the front door. Aisha bursts through, instantly transforming into a large white tiger with three tails. The pirates scream and start to run away, as Keiko yells at them, "Turn around you idiot's. It's only one woman. She can't stand against the fifty of you in mechs." Her minions either don't hear her, or they don't give a damn. They keep running, which only makes them easier for Aisha to take out. They rapidly fall in battle, as Keiko can only stare in horror at the power she faces. As the last pirate falls, however, she starts to laugh. "You think this is over? This is just the beginning. While you were busy with us, my mercenaries have kidnapped Melfina." Gene turns around and runs into the building, just in time to see the MacDougals run out the back into a ship with Melfina. As they stare in horror, Keiko moves to her ship. As she does, she says, "If you ever want to see Melfina again, you will provide me with the means to find the Galactic Leyline." She then takes off, just as another ship lands beside her own. As the new ship opens, Gene and company prepare for a fight, only to see Suzuka walk out, battered and bruised. She walks up to Gene and collapses.
A few hours later, Hilda and Gene are in one of the bedrooms upstairs, watching over Suzuka as she rests. Suddenly, she starts to stir. She wakes up, and immediately looks at Gene. He can tell that something is wrong by looking at her face. She asks him, "Am I too late? Did the pirates take Melfina?" One look in Gene's eyes gives her the answer. "Yes, they took her." answers Gene, "But, how did you know they were coming? We didn't even find out until they got here." Suzuka looks at him and replies, "They were the ones that sent the info on my 'relative' being in trouble. It was just a trap, to get me away from you. The assassin disguised as my great-uncle revealed their plans to me before I did away with him, but it was too late for me to warn you. They had already jammed my communications." Gene laughs a little, then gets a very serious look on his face as he says, "I guess no one told them that we can't get to the Galactic Leyline any more, now that the Maiden of the Leyline program has been removed from Mel. They won't accept that answer, of course. Guess I'll just have to beat them to a pulp to get my wife back." Hilda looks on as her father says this, smiling all the while. "You don't think you're going alone, do you? I know I'm coming with you, and I'll bet even money that Jim, Aisha, and Suzuka here all want a piece of this action. What do you say, guys? Want to go beat the hell out of some asshole pirates?" Gene turns around, seeing everyone but Suzuka standing in the doorway, as they all cheer at the thought of giving the ones who are threatening their family exactly what they deserve. Gene can only smile at this, and looks back to Suzuka just in time to see her stand up and put her bokuto into her belt. When Gene sees her do this, he insists she get back into bed, but she refuses. He gives up after a few minutes, knowing the futility of arguing with the former assain, and allows everyone to join him in the upcoming space battle.
Meanwhile, on Keiko's space cruiser, the Nirvana, Melfina is being interrogated by Harry and Ron MacDougal. "Where is the Galactic Leyline, Melfina? We know you're the Maiden of the Leyline, so you know where it is.", says Harry. Melfina replies, "I already told you, I'm not the maiden anymore. The Leyline took that program out when Gene and I defeated Hazanko thirty years ago." Ron just laughs at this, and says, "You don't really expect us to believe that bull, do you?" He then looks at Harry and tells him to use "the machine" on her. Harry then pulls a vicious looking device from the wall, and looks at Melfina, sorrow written all over his face. "I'm sorry Melfina, but you leave us no choice." Melfina lookes at the device with horror written all over her face. Ron sees this and tells her, "Don't worry. It's just a scanner. This will tell us if you really have lost a part of your programming." As he turns the device on, it begins to emit a soft blue light. Turning a few knobs, Ron narrows the light to a beam, and begins to pass it over Melfina. After scanning her from head to toe and back again, the small scanner lets out a rather harsh sounding buzz. Harry stares at the small display for a moment, surprise clearly written all over his face. When he speaks, it is with a hushed voice that all around him must strain to hear. "It's gone. The part of her programming that leads to the Leyline is gone. And it's like it was never there at all. The Leyline itself must have taken it out." Harry looks at Keiko, and asks her, "Why would it do that? What possible reason could there be for getting rid of the only method of contact with it?" Keiko smirks grimly, walking over to a small computer set in the wall before she replies. "It most likely was because of Hazanko that it did this. The Leyline decided it could no longer risk the wrong people getting it's power."
         Back on Heifong, the crew of the Outlaw Star was just finishing the report of the attack to the authorities. Having been detained for three days while dealing with the after math, as well as the repairs from Hilda's last mission, they were anxious to launch and rescue Melfina. Unfortunately, Jim pointed out one small flaw with their current plan, that being a lack of one. "Gene, you saw what those pirates were capable of. We barely survived, and that was on OUR home turf. How do you plan to save Melfina if we don't have the weaponry to hold our own." Jim was walking with Gene, trying to talk some sense into his partner. Gene frowned, looking at his friend before replying, "I know, that's why we're gonna go see our old benefactor before we do anything else." At that, Jim looked around, realizing Gene had led him to Luo Enterprises, corporate headquarters and home to Fred Luo. Fred had been the one to outfit them for all their adventures thirty years ago, and Gene hoped he'd be able to talk Fred into helping them again.
         Inside the building, Fred's butler and bodyguard ushered them into a top floor office. The room was by no means small, yet neither did it feel overly large.The decor had been picked out by Fred himself, to exude both luxury and comfort, helping to put his many busniess assosiates at ease, before he dove into their wallets.The business mogul was sitting behind his walnut desk, looking as if he knew exactly why his old friends had come to him. Naturally, this was simply because he did know. Part of Fred's sucess was that he made sure almost nothing happened within the realm of his businesses, without him knowing about it as soon as it occured. "Gene, Jim, it's been ages. You don't call, you don't write! You might almost forget I was part of both your weddings. I'm rather hurt." Fred stood up, walking over to the two men, both now a little nervous for fear of recieving no help after their inadvertent slights. Then, the CEO of one of the biggest interplanetary empires known to man laughed and spread his arms, enveloping his old aquiantances in a hug as he whispered, "But, I'll forgive you, so long as you agree to my terms for our deal today."
         At these words, both Gene and Jim gulped, knowing they were most likely about to be fleeced for all they were worth. Slowly, the two of them nodded, realizing that this was their only hope of getting their dear friend back from the Ban Pirates. As they were handed a contract by Fred, their faces blanched from reading the terms of the agreement. To put it simply, Fred was to get all the profits from anything they found or stole while searching for Melfina, along with any bounties collected off of the pirates they caught or killed. If the Outlaw Star was damaged in any way, Fred would pay to fix it, and the crew would repay him with an exhorbitant intrest rate unless paid back in full within three months. Gene looked up at his old friend, glaring as he slammed the papers on the nearby desk, "You damn leech! Melfina is in danger, and you're still going to fleece us on a trip that might not ever see a profit?!!" Fred looked at the two outlaws, shaking his head slowly. "Gene, read the last clause please." Fred simply requested. Gene took the document in hand once more, and found the final paragraph, where it stated that if anything untoward were to happen to th Outlaw Star, its crew, or Melfina, then the entire might of the Lou Enterprises board would fall upon the Ban pirates and eradicate them from the galaxy. Gene's expression changed immediately, and he couldn't seem to sign the paper fast enough. Once Jim saw his partner's change in attitude, he also signed the document, making it official, Fred was once again sponsering an adventure for them.
         Back on the Nirvana, Keiko was on her terminal in her personal room, pulling up old Kei pirate files on the Leyline Project, looking to find any clues to it's new location, when she stumbled upon a copied file of the Maiden program that had formerly been embeded within Melfina. As she looked at it, an evil smirk tugged at her face and a slight chuckle emenated from her throat. She had found the missing key to tracking and obtaining the power to rule the universe, but now she had to get it implanted into a willing host. Her wicked mind turned straight to Harry MacDougal, and she went in search of him. As it turned out, he was with Melfina in the prison area, still lovestruck after all the years, even with her marriage to Gene.Keiko grinned malisciously at the sight, knowing she could easily use it against her ally to make him do as she pleased. "Oh Harry!" she called out to him, "You'll never believ what I just found. The old Maiden program. Now we just have to replant it into Melfina's system, and she can take us right to the Leyline again." Mel started squirming and shaking as soon as she heard this, just as Keiko had planned. Harry looked at the pirate, confused as to Melfina's reaction. "Why is she acting like that? And, wouldn't that mean we'd have to erase part of her programing, since her program memory was shrunk by the Leyline?" Keiko put her arm around Harry, not sure if the robotic body would even feel it, "Well, yes, we'd need to delete some of her unimportant programming, but we don't really have a choice. It's not as if one of us is a cyborg with a massive internal memory that is nearly empty..."