"I’m telling you, Captain," Payton said, "Robbins has taken Schwirian’s death pretty hard. I mean, it’s been three days since the battle, and she hasn’t eaten or slept at all in that time. I’m getting worried about her."
"I know. I’m just glad we got some time off, after all we’ve been through in the last couple of weeks. And I’m especially glad for it now that Robbins seems to have lost the will to live--"
"She loved him."
"Yeah. We need to find some way to...lift her spirits."
"Like I said, I’m worried. Let’s go see her."
Stewart knocked on Robbins’ apartment door.
"Robbins," he called, "it’s me."
After a few seconds of silence, he called again.
"Let’s just go in," Payton said. He opened the door with the spare key Robbins had given him several months previous. Upon entering the apartment they saw the bathroom light on and its door ajar.
"She must be crying in there again," Stewart said. He went over and opened the door. "Robbins, we--" He stopped short and gasped as he saw her lying unconscious on the floor. There was a two-inch gash on her forehead which was oozing blood.
"What’s wrong?" Payton asked. He then saw Robbins and turned pale. "Oh, my God..."
Stewart paced nervously in the hospital waiting room.
"Will you calm down?" Payton asked. "She couldn't have been down for very long, and there were no marks on her besides the cut on her head."
"But what if she attempted sui--"
"Uh-uh. You will not say it."
"Yeah, but--"
"No. Don't even consider it."
"Mr. Stewart?" a doctor asked. "You can go in and see Alicia now."
Stewart and Payton stepped into Robbins' room and looked at her lying on the bed. She turned her head to look back at them and managed a weak smile.
"You're okay," Stewart said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"I feel so stupid," she said. "I had just gotten up to use the restroom and, because I hadn't eaten, I just passed out."
"It's okay. And it's not stupid to grieve over the loss of someone."
"I know, but I should have eaten when you guys told me to."
Milligan came into the room, out of breath and red in the face. "I came here as soon as I heard," he gasped. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Robbins said weakly.
"That's good. Well, guys, it seems there's a problem. Remember Coyote? Apparently he was about to be indicted on charges of embezzlement before he died."
The next day, after Robbins was released from the hospital, the foursome began to gather evidence from the case against Schwirian.
"These are the journal records of the transactions that took place," Stewart said. "And there are three videotapes from security that 'saw' him taking money illegally."
"But that's impossible," Robbins said, looking at the journal. "Two of these transactions came after Coyote's death. No one that I know can do anything like this after he's dead."
"But there's video evidence," Milligan said. "Three times that Coyote was caught red-handed."
"Schwirian can't possibly be guilty," Payton said. "Even on the earlier ones, before he died. He's a very moral person."
"You never know," Milligan said.
"I do. I've known him for longer than any of you three. Besides, the records of the transactions show that most of them were made on Alphegus. He lives halfway across the galaxy, on Oxellan."
"The Alpha Centauri system."
"Right. So I think the first place to start searching for answers is Alphegus."
"Remember the last time we were here?" Milligan asked when they landed on Alphegus.
"Yeah, it was only a month ago," Stewart said. "The ship nearly got ripped to shreds. Please don't remind me about it."
"I know, this ship is your baby."
"Now, Milligan--"
"I'm sorry--it was uncalled for. I apologize."
The four watched one of the tapes of the transactions. "We've been over these things three times already," Stewart said to Payton. "Forget it. There's no way you can clear his name, and it doesn't matter now anyway."
"No, Captain, I'm sure--" He cut off, noticing something on the tape. His eyes grew wide. "There!" he said, pointing to Schwirian's neck.
"What?"
"Doesn't his neck look a little...thick to you?"
"Thick?"
"I'm going to close-image that thing," Payton said, adjusting the focus. "There! See, the back of his neck is swollen."
"That can't be natural."
"Not for a human."
"What are you saying?" Milligan asked.
"There is one way for him to appear guilty even if he isn't."
"Wait--do you mean--"
"A shape-shifter can assume any form it wants to."
"A Scimitarian! That's why there's a bulge at the neck!"
"Precisely."
"But how can that be?" Robbins asked as they made their way towards their ship. "Scimitaria is even farther away from Alphegus than Oxellan. Why would a Scimitarian travel halfway across the galaxy to frame someone?"
"Maybe he's just covering his tracks," Milligan offered. "I mean, if I were him, I wouldn't be so blatantly obvious as to commit a crime like this on my home turf."
"Yeah, but why go so far out of your way? It would take forever to get from there to here."
"I seriously doubt that the Scimitarian who is shown in the videos is living on his home planet," Payton interjected.
"But where would he live?" Robbins asked. "I mean, almost all Scimitarians live on or relatively near the home world. There aren't that many that live around here."
Stewart gasped, then muttered something under his breath.
"Charlie? What's wrong?"
"Emperor Mostafair," he replied.
"Mostafair? Why does that name sound familiar?"
"That was the name of the Scimitarian ruler here."
"But he's dead. He doesn't live around here anymore."
"We don't know that. We saw him land, but we didn't see him die. Scimitarians are tougher than one would think. He may have survived long enough for some of his lackeys to repair the damage."
"But if Mostafair's alive, then--"
"Someone here would know about it," Stewart finished for her. "Which is what we're going to find out."
The cops were in the city of Arichton, which was the town nearest to the Scimitarian emperor's castle. Milligan and Robbins ate lunch and waited impatiently as Payton and Stewart talked to local acquaintances of theirs, trying to dig up some information.
"I can't stand this sitting around and waiting, Mark," Robbins said. "I want to do something!"
"Don't worry," Milligan said.
"I'm not worried. I just hate sitting around when I could be doing something useful."
"But Payton and Captain Stewart know people here. We don't."
"Yeah, I know. I just need some action, you know?"
"I know. Be patient, you'll get your wish."
A half hour later, Stewart and Payton rejoined Milligan and Robbins.
"Well, it seems Mostafair is alive," Stewart said. "And he's living in the same castle as before."
"I'm getting this deja vu feeling," Robbins said.
"Yeah, let's hope it turns out as well as last time."
The quartet rode a pair of Turbo Wings to the castle occupied by the Scimitarian emperor. Upon arriving at the palace, they saw a similar quantity of guards as before.
"Nothing's changed," Robbins said.
"This is true," Stewart replied.
"This is going to be exactly the same as before."
"No, it isn't. I know the exact location of the throne room, and the Turbo Wings are flying low enough that even if he does detect us, he can't hit us with his cannons."
"So we'll just fly in and say hello."
"Precisely."
"Here it is," Stewart said. "This window."
"Great, Charlie. But it's locked and triple-sealed. How are we going to get in?"
Wordlessly Stewart pressed a button on the control panel. A small rocket blazed out of the vehicle and struck the center of the window; the rocket exploded and shattered the window.
"Impressive."
They magnetically attached the Turbo Wings to the castle wall and leapt through the now-open window. Greeting them was the same room they had seen before, with Mostafair sitting on the throne as before. This time, however, he was in his true-form.
"You again?" the Scimitarian said. "Why can't you leave me alone?"
"We heard you pulled a little stunt before and after your 'death,' something about framing Coyote Schwirian," Stewart said. "We want some answers."
"You really think it was me?"
"Could you be any more obvious? We know you did it."
"What are you talking about? I've never taken any money illegally in my life."
"What money?"
Mostafair looked at him strangely. "The money you think I stole."
"You know, it seems strange that you knew what the crime was without us having to tell you. Maybe that's because you did commit it, eh?"
The emperor's eyes grew wide as he gasped. "You tricked me!"
Milligan displayed a recording device. "You just basically confessed to the crime. And we have it all on tape."
Mostafair growled at the quartet. "Yeah? Well, we'll see who has the last laugh." He picked up an intercom and yelled, "Escape plan 3! Evacuate immediately!" He then turned to the four and snarled. "See you in hell." He leapt off the throne and jumped through a trap door embedded in the ground, and then a metal panel slid over the opening.
"He can only go one place if he wants to get away," Stewart said, racing over to the window. "Into space." He grabbed the communicator off one of the Turbo Wings and spoke into it. "Stewart to Base 1. We need you to lock on to this signal and track a ship leaving from this point. We also need our ship ready when we return to base. We'll be there in a few minutes."
"Will do," came the reply from the base.
Payton grabbed a printout from a desk jockey as the four raced to their ship. He read it aloud as they got in and prepared for takeoff. "There were twelve ships that took off from the castle. They were heading straight for the planet Nixstein."
Stewart fed the information into the navigational system as the ship took off. The computer performed some calculations and realigned the ship according to the results. Stewart gunned the throttle and they escaped the atmosphere of the planet.
Minutes later, halfway between the two planets, the police craft caught up with the emperor and his escorts, who had detected them and turned around to engage them.
"Oh.........shit!" Payton gasped. "The readout said those escort ships were passenger ships. They're fighters."
"Turn on the shields!" Stewart shouted. But before the words could be put into action, the Scimitarian's fighters' cannons struck the ship three times.
"Captain!" Payton said. "Our hyperdrive's just been wasted!"
"Looks like we have to fight them."
Payton turned on the shields and sent a general distress call into the surrounding space. "If anyone is around," he said to Stewart, "then they'll receive this and come to our aid."
"How long will it take for the base on Alphegus to respond?"
"Too long," came the ominous reply.
Milligan blasted one of the fighters. "There's too many of them, Captain," he said. "I can't take them out."
"Get as many as you can," Stewart said as another burst rocked the ship. "We've got to beat them--for our own sake, and for Coyote's, God rest his soul."
"It's going to be either us or them," Robbins breathed. Stewart nodded at her.
The fighters swarmed around the ship. Stewart and Milligan, acting in synch, skillfully avoided and countered most of the blasts which were aimed at them. However, the fire was too thick to effectively avoid, and the ship continued to be blasted.
After a few moments, Payton assessed the damage. "We're badly damaged, Captain," he said. "A few more hits and we'll be little more than space dust."
"All right," Stewart said. "Push our remaining power--all of it--into the shields, and throw up the armor plates too."
"But--then we won't be able to see to get out."
"That's not my main concern."
"Captain--"
"Okay. Leave just enough to throw up the armor as a last-ditch effort; don't do it yet."
"Aye, sir."
The plasma bursts continued to rock the ship, though it was in relative safety behind the force field and attempting to escape. The ship's power continued to plummet.
"We're almost to zero," Payton said calmly.
Stewart nodded, then said, "On my mark, put up the armor...and pray. Three, two, one--" He saw another fighter heading towards them and stopped his countdown.
"We're dead," Milligan whispered.
"Wait!" Robbins said. "That looks like an I.P.F. fighter!"
The four looked closely as they could. "It is," Stewart said. "Turn the ship around. I want to see this."
The I.P.F. fighter sped by them as they turned around to watch. The fighter quickly let fly several bursts, causing three of Mostafair's fighters to spin out of control and smash into each other.
"Quick, Milligan," Stewart said. "There's only two left. Blast them while they're distracted!"
Milligan fired two bursts before the cannon shut down. He hit and destroyed one of the ships.
"Just the Scimitarian himself now," Stewart called over the communicator. "Can you take him out, friend?"
"Sure," the pilot of the I.P.F. fighter grunted.
Robbins gasped. "That sounds like--" Then she shook her head. "Never mind."
The fighter swept around the emperor's ship and blasted it from behind. The ship's engine blew out, and the ship began to careen out of control. The fighter continued to pursue it and fired at it until it exploded.
"Can you identify yourself?" Stewart called to the other pilot. "I mean, we'd like to know who it is that just saved our lives, so we can thank you properly."
"Oh, I'm just an old friend."
"Coyote?!"
"The one and only."
"But you died!"
"Not as such. But it's a long story, and one best told back at home base--do you need a lift?"
"Yeah. We're running on empty right now."
Schwirian fired a tow cable from the back of his fighter which attached itself to the badly crippled ship. He then gently accelerated towards the divisional HQ on Alphegus.
"I tell you," Robbins said, "if anyone else comes back from the dead today--"
"So tell us," Stewart said when they had landed on Alphegus, "how did you survive the battle last week?"
"Well, you see, as soon as I heard you tell me that the fortress was going to blow up, I high-tailed it back to my ship. Now I knew I couldn't go back the way I came once I made it into my fighter, so after I detached I accelerated away from headquarters. I didn't get very far before the fortress exploded, and I was hurled out at a rapid pace. The explosion also penetrated my shield, ripped through my drive system and damaged my communications equipment and my shield generator.
"The only things remaining were my life-support system and my weapons systems--and even those didn't have much power left in them. Now, since space has nearly no matter to cause friction, I knew I was going to continue spinning out of control indefinitely. I cannibalized power from the weapons systems to the life-support, since I figured that I wouldn't need the weapons and I would need the life-support. Even if I did find a need for the weapons, I wouldn't even be a match for a Turbo Wing.
"I'm just glad I had a small water supply aboard. About two days later, I crossed the path of a cargo vessel. They say they saw me and attempted to call me, but my equipment still didn't work. Then they saw the I.P.F. logo on the side of the ship and used their tractor beam to pull me into one of the cargo holds.
"After they brought me in, I explained the situation to them. They said that they would fix the ship but that they wouldn't--couldn't--take me back to headquarters. I understood, but I waited impatiently as they repaired my fighter. When the repairs were complete, I fueled the thing up and headed for HQ. I was going through this area of space when I heard the distress call."
"You really are alive," Robbins murmured.
"Yeah. You want to go cruising?"
Robbins looked at him quizzically, and then a broad grin of recognition appeared on her face. "Well...sure."
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