Chapter 18 - Abduction

She hurt all over. There were two spots that hurt even more than the rest, her arm and her stomach. It felt like someone had stabbed her in those spots. She was very confused. Wait, a new sensation! On top of the pain she felt cold, more specifically a cold wind. The others followed more quickly; the sound of howling wind, the taste of blood in her mouth and finally the fact that she could not move her arms and legs. Her vision was the last to arrive, first a milky white light then shapes slowly arose from that milkiness and resolved themselves into – a ranger?

Emma tried to talk but all she was able to get out was a croak.

It seemed to be enough to get his attention. He was sitting at a console. By the way that the wind was whipping around and the feeling of movement, she guessed that he was flying some sort of ship and she was on it. He slowly turned and she recognized him as the lieutenant she had beaten at kardaz combat.

“You are awake, what a pity,” he said with a frown on his face. “I was told that if you awoke from the stunner during the trip that you would be too dangerous to transport back. I am so sorry but luckily I managed to retrieve all of the samples from you that we could ever possibly need. That means that your body would have been a bonus but not essential.” He glanced down and Emma saw that he was looking at a small case he had strapped to the floor.

As he got up he winced and his hand went straight for his chest. “You did a real good job on me! You exceeded even my wildest speculations about your potential. It was actually a last minute decision to get you to fight me. You see, my superiors were pushing me for information on any new abilities that you had manifested of late but you were not cooperating. I had to push you and hope that something would happen. It was child’s play to get the captain to agree to it and even help push you into it. You really rubbed him the wrong way. I guess I cannot blame him, though. He worked hard all of his life to get where he was and here comes a child with abilities rumored to be the equal if not greater than his own. A word or two in his ear at the most appropriate times was enough to keep all of his attention on you while I was busy making preparations for this very day. Funny, is it not?”

He moved over to her and unfastened her from the bench she had been laying on. He then picked her up and carried her to the edge of the speeding craft.

“I need to express our gratitude for your participation in our little experiment. Know that your sacrifice will be greatly appreciated by my superiors. Good-bye!”

That said he casually tossed her over the edge. If she thought the wind was bad on the small craft it was ten times worse out here. She started to tumble almost immediately. It was hard to believe that she would die like this after she had survived so much. She didn’t even know if Shnooby or Onalen were alright or even alive. That made her angry, very angry. Who the hell did that ranger think he was anyway? She felt funny again and when that happened it meant another ability would be cropping up. She waited and waited but nothing happened and she could now see the ground racing toward her. Wait, she thought that she heard something. It almost sounded like screeching. Sure enough from out of nowhere something swooped out of the sky and snatched her up mere feet from the ground. She turned her head back as far as it would go and was relieved to see Zeeno looking down at her. It wasn’t just Zeeno, though, Tobok was perched high on his back. He waved then proceeded to say something to Zeeno. They found a clearing not too far away and landed in the middle of it. Zeeno put Emma down on ground as Tobok jumped off of his back.

“Don’t move!” he said as he drew a long knife from his robes. With one quick movement he had sliced through all of her bonds.

“How are you? Does anything hurt? What did he do to you?” Tobok shot his questions out in rapid fire.

“I’m fine. As far as hurting, I pretty much hurt all over. How are Shnooby and Onalen? I saw then shot by that piece of …..”

“They are fine. He used a stunner on them and you. It was an especially strong one since they were still unconscious when I left,” he said as he was checking her over for injuries. “Wait, you seem to be missing allot of blood. What did he do to you?”

“He said that he had collected all of the samples from me that he could ever possibly need.”

“We need to hurry then. Can you walk?”

“Yes, I think so. Why the big rush?” she asked as she struggled to her feet.

“He took samples of your DNA. That means that whoever is behind what happened to you has the results of their experiment. Once they get them they might be able to recreate the process that has been changing you and we cannot allow that!”

Tobok almost threw Emma onto Zeeno’s back. He then vaulted up himself. Once he had seated himself and made sure that Emma was secure, Zeeno jumped into the sky. His speed was amazing! You really can’t appreciate it when you ride in the gondola.

“How do you know where he is going?” she practically yelled into Tobok’s ear.

“The twins were expecting that someone might try to abduct you so they set up a sensor net around Mar Saba. Unfortunately they did not anticipate that the one who would be doing the abducting would be someone who was helping set up the net.”

“So how did you find me?”

“Well, we actually had the good fortune to track a small craft that landed not too far from here. They were broadcasting a distress call but it seemed very suspicious that a craft landing in this manner would happen mere moments before your abduction. That was where we were going to when Zeeno here decided to take a detour. I tried to get him back on track but he would not budge. He seemed so determined on his new course. I thought he was going to feed until I saw what he had caught. How he found you I have no idea.”

So the funny feeling she had actually called Zeeno to her, amazing!

“We are getting close. There are rangers heading for the last known location of the ship. If the pilot was smart he would have flown low and landed in another location. It would not have been far, though, from the original spot.”

They zoomed over the forest at breakneck speed until they swooped up and over a tall ridge and landed in a clearing that had fresh burn marks in the center. Emma saw that six other rangers were already there, waiting for them. They both jumped off of Zeeno. She gave him a thank you pat on the nose and joined Tobok who was already talking with the rangers.

“They have determined that the craft went in that direction,” Tobok said as he pointed to a sparsely wooded side of the clearing. “It looks like a one or two person craft, very small and very hard to detect. We will need to go in on foot so as not to alarm the occupants that we are near. Do you think you can keep up?”

“Just watch me!” Emma said eagerly.

“The way you answered makes me think that it will be I who will have trouble keeping up. Come on, let us get started.”

And they were off. At first Emma really had to struggle to keep up. She still had to deal with the lingering effects of the stunner along with the loss of blood and who knows what else that traitor removed from her. These thoughts made her angry and that anger, once again, allowed her to tap into a vast reserve of strength and stamina. Then she had the problem of holding back so she did not out run the rangers who were tracking the craft.

They had been running for a little while before the lead rangers stopped near a much smaller clearing. She could see a glint of metal from that clearing. It looked like they had found their target. Emma started to move ahead when Tobok grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

“What are you doing? They’re right there!” Emma said angrily.

“Yes, they are but there is no sign that our ranger has arrived. We would have seen him land. It appears that he took the long way here to lose any pursuers. We have to wait for him to arrive if we will have any hope of retrieving the things that he took from you. Otherwise, he will just be able to hide until he finds some other way off planet. I am afraid that patience is one of the most difficult things to learn but it is also one of the most important.”

“If you say so, speaker!” she said vehemently. As soon as she said it she wished that she could take it back. She did not know what had come over her. It was almost like there was a rage building inside of her and it would need to be vented or else she would explode.

Thankfully, they did not have to wait long. They heard the noise of the craft, Tobok called it a skimmer, just before it came over a ridge directly opposite of their location. They were well hidden so the ranger would not be able to see them but he was still a Vanguard and he would eventually sense them. They would make their move as soon as the skimmer touched down. Their initial targets were the ships’ engines.

As soon as the skimmer settled onto its landing skids Tobok made some quick hand gestures and the rangers split into two teams. They moved out immediately, one moving to one side of the small clearing while the other one was headed for the far side. The hand gestures made Emma think of the Hunzack. Maybe they were more alike than she had been told. Tobok told Emma to stay put as he vaulted over the tree trunk they were hiding behind. She heard energy weapons going off and then silence. She hadn’t heard from Tobok but it just had to be OK for her to come out.

As she slowly climbed up and over the log she saw that the rangers had succeeded in destroying the engines of both craft. She saw them standing around the lieutenant with their weapons drawn. They were saying something when she came out into the clearing.

“Come out right now! We have disabled your engines, there is nowhere for you to go,” Tobok yelled at the other craft. No one had noticed Emma’s presence yet as she stood just inside the clearing. Suddenly the door to the other craft opened and a figure she knew very well was standing in the doorway but it was Tobok who voiced what Emma was thinking, “You! I presume that I am indeed addressing Dr. Samuels?”

There he stood, the same arrogant posture and the same malevolent tone to his voice, “Ah yes, Dr. Samuels! I like that name. Therefore, yes you are indeed addressing Dr. Samuels! Fancy meeting you here! Where is the little whelp? Could she be dead already?”

“Actually, she is fine. The lieutenant here failed in his attempt to kill her,” Tobok answered back.

“A pity or maybe not! I guess that I have not lost my chance to put her to a painful death. You see, every dark cloud does have a silver lining but I believe we have other business to attend to besides making pleasant small talk. Since I am a guest to your wonderful world please allow me to go first.” Tobok said nothing. “I will take your lack of a reply as an affirmative response. If you will just hand that case over to me I will be on my way. I really do not want to be of any trouble to you,” Dr. Samuels said with a strained politeness.

“I am happy to hear that. If you would drop any weapons that you have and deactivate you internal weapons systems we can proceed to take you into custody,” Tobok replied with equal politeness.

“Oh I am afraid I cannot do that for you see my superiors are expecting the delivery of that case and I have much to make up for as you know.”

“There is no way you can defeat all of us so I suggest that you surrender peacefully,” Tobok replied sternly.

“Oh, I believe that there is one way I can defeat all of you,” and in one blindingly fast motion he brought up his hand and shot the lieutenant right in the face. The rest of the Vanguard clutched their own faces and dropped to the ground writhing in agony. Whatever he hit the lieutenant with did not kill him quickly. It took him a long time to die. The Vanguard were more than able to defend themselves but they never thought that Samuels would kill his accomplice.

Samuels’ laugh was an emotionless, hollow, mechanical sound. He made it a point to kick each ranger he passed in the face as he went to pick up the case of samples. He lingered for a longer time at Tobok whom he kicked several times.

Emma couldn’t stand it any longer. As the shock of what Samuels had done ebbed it was replaced with white hot rage! Emma stepped out into the clearing just as Samuels reached the ramp leading to his craft. He sensed another presence and whirled around with his hand outstretched but he refrained from firing when he saw who it was.

“What a pleasant surprise! My dear Emma, it has been just too long! How have you been, my dear? I hope that the changes that you are going through are causing you unbelievable agony,” he said in that same polite voice.

“Tobok should have let me finish you! Now I have another life to avenge!” she said as the air around her started to crackle with the energy build up.

Samuels did not wait but fired at her. Unfortunately for him, he was too late. The green lightning was already dancing around Emma and it easily absorbed his blast. She knew what she was doing now and she pushed it with all of her might. The lightning enveloped Samuels before he could make it into his ship. The case of samples landed just inside the opening as he writhed in agony. The smell of burning plastic filled the air. Samuels jerked to attention and simply stood there as the lightning consumed his artificial body.

Once she saw that Samuels was no more, she willed the lightning to stop. She nearly collapsed from the effort. She stumbled over to Tobok’s side to see if he was alright. He was regaining his composure as were the other rangers. Tobok was still a little woozy when he asked, “What happened? Where is Samuels?”

“He’s dead,” she replied quietly.

“Did you….”

“Yeah, I did the same thing I did to him on Earth except you were in no shape to stop me.” She thought that she would feel good after stopping him but all she felt was empty. “You’d think he would have learned something from last time.”

“Oh but I did!” said a voice that should have never been heard again.

They both spun around to see a second Samuels step out from the shadows of the ship to retrieve the fallen case. “If I wasn’t so late I would take care of you now. Oh well, maybe next time?” With that said, the doors to his ship sealed shut.

“Do not worry, we disabled his engines. He is not going anywhere,” Tobok said confidently.

The ship shuddered and the front of the ship broke free from the section with the damaged engines. It powered up and lifted off of the surface. It spun around and shot straight up and out of sight.

“How did he do that?” asked a shocked Emma.

“He anticipated us damaging his engines! The ones we hit were decoys! Farkus!” cried Tobok in a fit of anger and frustration. “We need to contact Mar Saba immediately! They might be able to notify the Valorr in orbit.”

As one of the rangers went to call Mar Saba, Emma helped Tobok to his feet. “He got the case,” Emma told Tobok.

“I know, I saw him pick it up.”

He walked over to the lieutenant and bowed his head. He then walked over to what was left of the first Samuels and suddenly got a puzzled look on his face.

“You did this right after he killed the lieutenant?” he asked her.

“Yeah, I made the lightning come like last time but unlike last time I tried to make it worse. I was just so angry I wanted to make him pay for my parents and for the lieutenant,” she replied reluctantly. “Why, what’s wrong?”

“You were able to call up one of your abilities right after he killed someone?” he pressed.

“I just told you, yes,” she said, now really confused.

“Emma, do you not understand? As I have repeatedly told you, Vanguard abilities come from an extreme empathy with all life. That is why we were incapacitated when Samuels killed the lieutenant. We all felt his death.”

“Yeah, so did I but I just pushed it out of the way.”

“Emma, no Vanguard can push things like that out of the way. Do you know what this means?” he asked with a worried expression on his face.

“No, what does this mean?” she asked, still utterly confused.

“It means that whoever did this to you is not just trying to make a Vanguard, but they are trying to make a Vanguard that does not feel the pain and death of others. Because of this they can make someone with all of a Vanguard’s power who can use that power to kill!”

Chapter 19 – Conclusions

“Well it looks like this Samuels made a burst transmission to the Valorr that contained an exceptionally nasty computer virus. It shut down the Valorr’s entire sensor array just long enough for him to exit the system. This Samuels seems to have been planning this for a long time and with the lieutenant giving him up to the minute intelligence it is no wonder his plan succeeded,” the twins said, frustration evident in their voices.

They made it back to Mar Saba just under an hour ago and as soon as they landed they were escorted to the Sangha meeting hall. The twins and the ranger captain were already waiting for them.

“The lieutenant had secretly smuggled in pieces of the skimmer over a period of several weeks. He assembled it in the flight simulator bay, hiding it in the back along with the rest of the spare parts. I have rangers working on tracing back the deliveries but he covered his tracks quite well,” the captain reported sullenly.

Tobok shifted uneasily, “If this is a Verrosi operation, they now have a complete listing of the changes wrought to Emma’s DNA. This takes them one step closer to creating a Vanguard of their own.

“A Vanguard that can kill,” reminded the twins ominously.

Emma had never felt more like a bug under a magnifying glass than she did now. The twins and the ranger captain were looking at her like she was some sort of dangerous animal that could rise up and strike them down without warning. It was Tobok who brought everything into perspective.

“This is not Emma’s fault. This was done to her and if it was not for her we would not know that this was going on or to what extent it was being taken to. With proper training she will be no different than any other Vanguard.”

“I sincerely hope so! A Vanguard that can kill using his abilities can be used as a highly effective soldier or even an assassin,” replied the captain.

“And we would be powerless to stop such a being. What I do not understand is how this is even possible? This violates the very nature of our abilities or maybe we do not truly know the nature of our abilities,” mused Tobok.

“It is best not to dwell on such things right now! We must redouble our efforts to find the ones responsible for this,” the twins interjected.

“Before we begin I need to say something,” said the captain ominously. “This would not have happened but for a security breach that was right under my nose. He was one of my most trusted lieutenants and I did not sense his treachery at all. Because of this I do not feel that I am fit to remain as the captain of the rangers. Therefore, I am formally tendering my resignation, effective immediately,” he said bowing his head in shame.

The twins paused for a bit then said, “You have been an exceptional leader of the rangers for these many years and we would not even consider your resignation in different circumstances but, in this regard, we must agree with you and accept your resignation. You allowed your prejudice and fear to blind you. Instead of remaining objective you involved yourself thus diminishing the very qualities that made you a good security chief. We hope that you will learn from this and maybe, in the future, you might regain your position. We must remind you that even though you are no longer captain you cannot discuss this matter with anyone. Thank you ranger, you may leave now.”

The former captain bowed deeply before them and turned to leave. Emma caught up to him at the door.

“I’m sorry,” was all she could say. When the former captain turned to her she expected to receive one of his usual spiteful responses but instead he said, “No, I am sorry. I am sorry I let you and the Vanguard down.” He then turned and left the hall.

When Emma made it back to Tobok and the twins she heard Tobok ask, “What do we do now?”

“We will continue our investigations. That and Emma will continue with her studies.” They then turned to Emma and said, “It is more important than ever for you to strengthen your control over your emotions and, in turn, your abilities. We sense that you will play a central role in this drama and you must be ready for it.”

The twins made their way back to the door leading to the inner chambers. “We do not like where this is going. There are dark times ahead and we hope that we will have the strength to persevere. If not, the freedoms we now enjoy may be lost forever.”

When they had left, Tobok turned to Emma, “You will not be alone in this. I promise I will be there at your side. We will face whatever the future throws at us together.”

“I just hope that you will want to be by my side when all of my abilities show themselves. Will you really want to stand side by side with a monster?”

To this Tobok responded, “I know you and you will never let yourself become a monster. Come let us go see how Shnooby and Onalen are doing.”

The mention of Shnooby’s name lifted her spirits. She’ll worry about the future some other time. For now, she had friends here and she intended to make the most of being with them.

“Yeah, let’s go,” she told Tobok with a smile on her face.