"Time's Full Circle"  - Three
by: Tamy

"Desperate Gamble" 

They had almost made it to the ship when they had attracted the attention of 
the other raiders, who did not take too kindly to one of there best ships 
being taken. 

~So close!~ Lale groaned inwardly.

Laser fire erupted around Ri and Lale and they had to run for cover - away 
from the coveted ship. They ducked behind an old broken down dirt dover and 
looked frantically for a weapon - anything. Lale knew they had to escape and 
there was no doubt about that. 

"There's gotta be ships on this damn heap of a planet!" Lale yelled at Ri 
over the noise of the laser fire.

"There's nothing - wait! There IS one! C'mon!" Ri grabbed Lale's arm and ran 
as quick as she could, pulling him along. Lale could see the whole village 
aflame now as she led him off. Unfortunately, the raiders were closing in as 
well. The ones on the skimmers were coming on fast  Lale knew they wouldn't 
be able to outrun them on foot.

He saw a dilapidated building that had been untouched by the raiders as of 
yet. The raiders behind them slowed, as if they knew that they had their 
quarry trapped now. Lale was beginning to wonder if this girl WAS crazy until 
they ran inside, the rickety door shutting behind them. Lale's eyes adjusted 
to the dimness and he saw that there WAS a ship!  He was about to thank the 
gods when he really saw what shape the ship was in. 

"This isn't a ship - it's an antique!" 

It certainly was. It was a Class D'an'chu'aa Doom fighter ship and it had to 
be at least two hundred years old. It certainly looked it. Lale was not an 
expert on Druul but he did know ship designs and this was or had been a Doom 
ship.

"It runs!" Ri exclaimed, running up the hatchway ramp. She pushed the entry 
button, but it wouldn't open. She banged it with her fist and it came open at 
last.

"Geez.." Lale rolled his eyes. "Are you SURE about that?" 

"Yes!!" Ri said. "I've started it myself." 

A laser bolt came through the wall and narrowly missed Ri. She yelped.

"Looks like beggars can't be choosers!" Lale yelled. "Get in! I'll fly!"

Ri scrambled in with Lale right behind her. Lale winced at the smell coming 
from the ship, but at this moment he didn't care. He just hoped the hell this 
crate could get them out of here. He rather doubted it.

Ri strapped herself in and Lale started pushing buttons indiscriminately. 

"What are you DOING!?" Ri exclaimed. 

"All the freakin' controls are in Drule!" Lale cursed under his breath.

"You can't READ Drule?" 

"NO and I don't have time for - " Lale cut himself off. "Oh hell.." 

Ri looked through the cloudy cockpit. They were cornered!

Ri quickly unstrapped herself, reached over and deftly touched the controls 
to start it. The ship roared to life.

"Okay. I can handle it now.." Lale felt he could anyway. Besides he had to 
get them out of there. He keyed in another button.

"No! Not THAT one!" Ri exclaimed. 

They started to roll backwards..

"Dammit.." Lale cursed under his breath. 

"I think we rolled over something.." Ri said. 

"Good! Would you MIND directing me to GO?" 

Ri said something in Drule which Lale could NOT understand. A scholar he was 
not.

"Voice command only. Forward thrust prepare... " The ship shuddered to a stop 
and then it started to go forward slowly.

"What in the hell are you doing?" Lale asked. He knew there were ships with 
voice command, he just didn't know that Doom ships over two centuries old 
used that technology or that a girl from a backward planet would know how to 
operate one.

A few more commands and then the ship shuddered again, this time preparing to 
take off. The laser fire glanced off of the ship, but Lale knew they'd have 
bigger weapons to use if they had to. 

"Fifty to one this crate doesn't get off the ground.." Lale said, placing his 
hands on steering controls.

"Hush!" Ri said in Standard as she sat back down and strapped herself in. 
Lale did the same. 

But to his surprise, it DID get off the ground and it stayed airborne too! 
Lale was impressed. They shot though the old building like a rocket and they 
were quickly leaving the muddy skies of the planet. Now that it was going, he 
could pilot it where he wanted it to go.

"Manual controls.." Ri uttered in Druule. "It's on manual now.." she said to 
Lale.

"Okay..steering.." he wriggled the steering the controls. "Good, they're 
working."

"Of course they are.." Ri said. "Deridan took care of this ship. The 
Ch'ul'da'Naar was his baby!"

"Uh huh.." Lale said. "I bet. Simonized it every Sunday, right?"

"He used to serve under Old Zarkon!" Ri said indignantly. 

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" Lale raised a brow. "Hm, let's 
see..These controls seem to be self explanatory. At least the scanners are 
anyway.  All right..good, this thing DOES have heads up display..in freakin' 
Druule! Damn! I knew I shouldn't have skipped Basic Druule at the Academy.."
he muttered.

"Are you always this annoying?" Ri crossed her arms.

"Annoying? Me? Never!" Lale grimaced, trying to make out the read outs.

They had broken the planetary atmosphere by now and the ship seemed to be 
holding up well. Lale was surprised that it was doing so well. Of course he 
hadn't opened this beetle bug yet. He noticed that Ri had unstrapped her 
belts.

"You better strap back in. I think we better get the hell out of here before 
they..oh hell.." his heads up display was now blinking. On the display he saw 
another ship coming out of orbit. It was Mato's 'S'uffreyen Skull". Lale was 
pretty sure that there was only a skeleton crew upon it. There was no way 
that they could get all those bozos on that quickly - not in a raid.  Still 
this did not look good.

"Is it them?" Ri asked.

"It's not Triple A.." Lale muttered. "Weapons..I know damn well this ship 
won't have the weaponry to fight them off.." 

The com channel blinked on.

"Incoming transmission.." Ri said softly. "Visual and audio."

Lale was tempted to shut it off but he did not. Perhaps he could buy some 
time - somehow.  A moment later he saw the angry face of Valen, Meto's 
half-brother. 

"Well, well..the Rat has balls, I see!" Valen growled. 

Geez, Lale HATED that name. 

Valen continued, "If it was just you, Rat, I'd disintegrate  you, but since 
you have such valuable cargo.." he grinned at Ri. "I'll give you a minute to 
surrender before we open fire and board you."

"Go to hell!" Lale hissed.

"Been there, done that.." Valen grinned wickedly. "Now be a good rat and 
maybe I'll make your death nice and easy!" 

"S'au cha'pa.." Ri hissed hatefully at Valen's image.

"I heard that insult, 'sula (love).. You'll take that back once I am through 
with you.." Valen's eyes narrowed. "One minute, Rat.." Valen cut off his 
transmission.

"He didn't mention his brother being dead.." Ri said. 

"Valen always wanted to take over.." Lale said. "Damn..not much 
time..Sometimes I wished I hadn't washed out of the Academy." 

"Deridan used to tell me stories..play dead!" Ri whispered. 

"What?" Lale said. 

"Just do it! I'll open the com.." Ri reached over to activate it. 

"Are you NUTS!? Valen wants us to surrender!" Lale thought this girl was 
crazy. He really thought she was crazy when she worked the control for the
slowing of the ship. It shuddered and went to a dead stop.

"Trust me!" Ri activated the com and at the same time pushed Lale down in his 
chair. 

~Geez! I had to get hooked up with this psycho..~ Lale thought inanely as he 
closed his eyes. ~Pearly gates, here I come..~

He heard Ri frantically babble into the com, "Help! Oh please! Anyone! Help! 
My pilot's dead! He dead, oh please! I surrender!" 

Valen came on screen with a smirk, although his gold cat's eyes were 
distrustful. 

"What this you say, 'sula? The Rat is dead?" 

"Yes! Oh yes! I'm so scared to touch him! He babbled something about not 
surrendering and then he bit into something and then the ship stopped and
then- then he stopped moving!! - oh help me! I'll do anything! I can't fly!"
Ri sounded like a hysterical woman indeed.

Lale was beginning to see what she was doing. Valen was a stuck up bastard. 
He, unlike his brother, was rather good looking in a psychotic sort of way 
and he knew it.

"There, there, 'sula..I'll be glad to get you out of there personally. Of 
course you'll have to pay me in kind.." 

"Oh yes!" Ri looked relieved. "I'll do anything!"

"Of course you will, e'sula.." Valen looked pleased. Today he took over his 
fool brother's place and now he would have a formidable if old ship and a 
lovely plaything tp pass his leisure time with. Life was good.

"What must I do? I mean do I have to steer or anything?" Ri tried to look as 
vapid as possible. 

Valen looked alarmed. "Oh no, e'sula. Don't touch a thing. I shall dock my 
ship next to yours and get you out of the Rat's company."

"But I can't breathe in space! How ever will you get me out?" Ri looked 
wide-eyed.

Valen laughed condescendingly. "Little 'sula. It's quite technical for a girl 
like yourself. Don't worry now. Stay put!" 

Ri smiled. "Oh I will! Thank you so much!" 

"Of course.." Valen smiled as he cut the com transmission. She'd be so 
grateful to him - the poor little backwater lovely..

Lale opened his eyes and smiled. "You're such a bait. Now what? You seem to 
know this ship pretty well." 

"Deridan taught me. He had no sons to pass on his knowledge. Here.." she 
pointed to a set of controls. "This is the hyperdrive system." 

"So I thought." Lale said. "And if I remember correctly, can only be used 
when the ship is in motion. If we power up, they'll know it instantly.

Ri smiled. "Deridan told me about a trick he had pulled once at the Battle of 
C'hoyen. He was about to be boarded and - " 

Lale's eyes widened. "And he engaged the hyperdrive while the ship was dead 
in the water!"

"Yes!" Ri cried. 

"The thrusters were situated near the airlock of the ship where the others 
were boarding.." Lale said, thinking back. "And the 'umbilical' was in use. 
When the thrusters kicked in, it went through the 'bilical' .." 

"And caused the other ship to explode.." Ri finished.

"It's risky as hell and we might get toasted.." Lale said. 

"Do we have a choice?"  Ri asked.

"Did I say no?" Lale raised a brow. "It's a matter of timing and freepin' 
luck.."

Ri looked to the heads up display which always remained on, even when the 
ship was on minimal power. 

"They're opening our airlock by remote." Ri said. 

"They can open anything.." Lale said disgustedly. "Damn good thing they don't 
have transports. Too damn expensive and since lazon is so hard to come by 
anymore..hey look, they're activating their umbilical. Keep on your toes, 
sweetie."

Ri eyed the display and then the com came on, audio only.

"'Sula.." It was Valen. "I am sending a few of men aboard to fetch you. Ne?"

"Yes.." Ri tried to sound relieved. "I'll be waiting! Oh hurry, please! I am 
so frightened!"

"Don't worry, 'sula. Stand by." 

"I forgot how paranoid Valen was.." Lale grimaced. 

"Well?" Ri craned her neck to see the heads up display. "Look! It's bridged!" 

"Yeah..wait one more minute for the indicator.. there!"  Lale slammed the 
level for hyperdrive forward, activating the thrusters.

On board the other ship, Valen's new right hand man, Dui, looked alarmed. 

"Hyperdrive engaged on the opposing ship, Lord Valen!" 

"WHAT!?" Valen cursed. 

Klaxons blared as the ship registered damage. 

"Disengage and draw away from that ship!" Valen yelled. 

"Airlock has been vaporized, sir! It's only a matter of time! Shall I evacu - 
" Dui looked. Valen was gone!  

And if Valen was gone, that only meant one thing - he was toast...

A moment later, the ship exploded, waves of matter drawing from it's core. At 
the moment that they had engaged the hyperdrive on their ship, Lale and Ri 
had taken off. However the waves buffeted the ship and threatened to catch 
them in the core's explosive grip.  However the Ch'ul'da'Naar was built in 
the days of Roebeasts and the mighty Voltron. It could withstand quite a bit.

"We did it!" Ri said with a relieved smile.

"Barely closed that damned airlock in time too.." Lale groaned. He wondered 
if he wet his britches yet.

"But we did it!" Ri said. 

"Yeah we did." Lale finally ventured a smile. "Now, to get away from here.." 

Ri sat in her co-pilot's chair, a bit bruised from not being strapped in when 
the ship took off. In all the excitement, she had forgotten about Duacha. A 
tear slipped from her eye as she thought about Duacha lying out there in the 
open, unburied and unshriven.

"Hey, you okay?" Lale asked.

"I - was just thinking.." Ri didn't want to say that she had regrets about 
leaving Duacha. Not even a proper burial, just left out for the animals to 
worry and gnaw over. She shuddered at the thought.

"Well, we gotta think about where we're going. Can't fly this ship on air.." 
Lale took a deep breath. He didn't know where the heck they were going, but 
by god, he felt free - more free than he had in a very long time.  
Suddenly it occurred to Lale that he didn't even know this amazing girl's 
name..

As if they both had the same thought at the same time, they turned to each 
other and asked simultaneously, "What's your name?" 

They both stopped in embarrassment and then they laughed. 

The orb on Duacha's staff glowed a warm green for a moment for a moment and 
then returned to it's former dull color..

[CONTINUED]