Heroic Dramatics Chapter Six
Title: Heroic Dramatics
Author:
butterflyslinky
Pairing(s): Eventual Linkara/Spoonette; Spoony/80s Chick; one-sided Linksano/Spoonette
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 17,778
Warning(s): Violence, off-screen character death
Summary: Having been rejected as an actress and with nothing left to lose, Spoonette takes her brother’s place in the US Space Corps to fight off the coming threat of Lord Vyce. Now, she has to deal with army drills, her high school stalker with the ability to hack the Pentagon, and a captain who is both way hot and way annoying. Bogus.
Author’s Note: Inspired by this prompt, though I don’t really know if it qualifies as a fill for it. Special thanks to pompoko and
ladydiskette for beta-ing, and of course
trulyamindlost,
robynred, and
lizynob for their lovely bonus content
“All troops, report to the bridge! All troops to the bridge!”
Spoonette stood beside Linkara as the men came in and fell into formation. She moved to take her place in the ranks, but Linkara shook his head.
As soon as the men had assembled, Linkara began to speak. “We’re moving out,” he announced. “To our knowledge, we are all that remains of the Space Corps, which means we’re going to meet Vyce head on. We will be fighting long and hard, and if we can’t hold them back, we’ll at least give them something to remember us by.” He paused, looking down at his small, ill-prepared army. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s been an honor to be your captain.”
No one moved. No one so much as blinked. Linkara stood for a moment before continuing. “Lieutenant Antwiler, take your men and whoever else you need to the lower decks. Place them as you see fit and make sure they don’t take the bridge.”
Spoonette blinked at her sudden change in title, but then nodded. “Yes, Captain.” She nodded to her unit and a few others and led them downstairs.
Linksano fell into step beside her. “What’s your plan?” he whispered.
“No idea,” she answered. “Any suggestions?”
“Let’s see…” Linksano quickly took stock of their numbers. “Dozen men on each deck, in doorways or corners, best fighters lower down. Keep the fighting as far down as possible. On the lowest deck, start shooting as soon as they hit, on the upper deck, wait until they pass and then flank them.”
“Okay.” Spoonette looked up. “Nimue, report Vyce’s position!”
“Information,” Nimue said. “Currently orbiting over Planet 16-94, in the Seventh Sector of the Milky Way. Planet has Earth-like atmosphere but very low gravity. Mostly desert and mountain terrain. Lord Vyce is approaching and will enter firing range in approximately ten minutes.”
“Right.” Spoonette gave her orders swiftly and continued down.
“You mean you’re going into the thick of it?” Linksano hissed.
Spoonette gave him a hard look. “I will not send my men anywhere where I would not go first,” she snapped. “Get back to engineering.”
“But…”
“That’s an order, Dr. Schlumper.”
Before Linksano could object further, there was a loud blast and the ship shook.
“Information,” Nimue said. “The ship has taken minimal damage, but shields will need reinforcing.”
Linksano sighed. “Be careful,” he said, and then he took off for engineering.
Spoonette rolled her eyes as she took the best fighters down to the lowest level. “Do not break ranks for anything!” she commanded as the men took their positions. “If anything comes near the ship, shoot it down. If it gets past us, let the others kill it. And if we go down, we go down fighting! Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir!” the men said.
Another blast hit the ship and Spoonette struggled to keep her balance, but she found her footing quickly.
“Lieutenant!” Linkara called over the intercom. “They blasted a hole in the shields! Be ready!”
“Yes, Captain!” Spoonette took her position and readied her weapon. There was no time to be afraid as another blast blew a hole in the ship directly in front of them.
A number of black-clad figures were flying towards them on machines that looked like flying motorcycles. Spoonette made a mental note study them further if she lived before she called the command to start shooting.
Then it was all heat and light and noise and Spoonette could never remember exactly what happened. All she could do was shout orders and keep shooting, hoping that she could keep Vyce’s soldiers from reaching the bridge. She had to keep them here, on the lower decks, as far from her captain as possible.
More blasts from the enemy ship hit them and Spoonette could hear cursing coming from the bridge, but so far none of the approaching army had boarded the ship. Spoonette was glad of that, but more kept coming, so many that she knew they couldn’t possibly stop them all.
“Information,” Nimue said. “Bridge has been breached. Solar converter damaged.”
“Dude, we’ll run out of power!” 90s Kid called.
“Just keep shooting!” Spoonette said. “And if they get here, use your fists! Or a knife! Or…anything, really.” She knew they would lose. She knew it was impossible. But she also knew they had to keep trying…
“Dr. Schlumper!” Spoonette called over the intercom.
“Yes, Lieutenant?”
“Analysis of enemy ship!”
“What?”
“Analysis! Now!”
“…Heavily shielded, no weaknesses immediately evident, can probably only be destroyed from within.”
“Right.” Spoonette looked out over the desert planet where the soldiers of Vyce were coming out. “All of you, keep fighting!” she called, moving toward the opening. “Sergeant Charles, take over command!”
“Where are you going?” 90s Kid called.
“To stop Vyce,” she said. A soldier was flying straight for her. She crouched, waiting…calculating…
As soon as the soldier was close enough to the lower deck, she jumped through the hole in the wall, landing on the front of the motorcycle-like machine and shooting the soldier off. She turned to examine the controls and realized she had no idea how to work it.
“Fuck,” she muttered. She had dated a guy who rode motorcycles once, but he never showed her how to work one on Earth, let alone this. Still, it couldn’t be too hard, right?
She leaned her body hard to the right and miraculously managed to turn around back toward the oncoming attackers. She was then aware of the fact that there were hundreds of soldiers coming from the flag ship towards her and that the ship was only one of many approaching.
She leaned forward, forcing herself to go underneath the other soldiers, trying to figure out which ship was the flagship and if she could get to it without being shot down.
“Antwiler!”
She turned her head to see Linkara leap from a hole in the bridge. He landed on a large rock that was falling fast. “What the hell are you doing?” he shouted before being forced to duck, taking advantage of the planet’s low gravity to fall slowly to another rock.
Spoonette turn the machine toward him. “Jump down!” she called. “It’s safer than boulder bouncing.”
He did so, landing on the machine behind her and getting into a comfortable position. “What are you doing?” he demanded.
“I’m going to destroy the flagship,” she said. “Here.” She handed Linkara her gun. “I’ll drive, you shoot.”
“Do you know how to work this thing?” Linkara asked.
“No,” she admitted. “But how hard can it be?” She hit a button and discovered that the machine was, in fact, equipped with a gun of its own. “Hold on!”
Linkara wrapped one arm around her waist. Spoonette had to focus very hard on driving and not how warm he was.
They flew towards the oncoming fleet, shooting down anything that came towards them. “You are getting a reprimand when we get back!” Linkara shouted.
“For what?” Spoonette called back. “You never ordered me to stay on the ship and no one said you had to come!” They had reached the center of the fleet and were flying underneath. “That’s it!” Spoonette said. She leaned back, steering straight up. “Aim for that hatch!”
Linkara aimed his gun up. “On three!” he said. “One! Two! Three!”
They both fired. The hatch blew apart and Spoonette steered them straight into the ship. The motorcycle slid several feet and hit a wall, sending them both sprawling on the ground.
Spoonette and Linkara got up, wincing from the bruises. “Right,” she muttered. “I’ve seen enough scifi movies…” She dashed to a nearby circuit breaker. The labels were written in letters she didn’t recognize. “Let’s see…”
“Push them all to the right,” Linkara said. “That should overload the breaker…if nothing else, they’ll lose power.”
She nodded and they started moving all the switches to the “on” position. As they did, the ship beneath them started to shake like it was being hit. There were several blasts far away, and then Spoonette threw the last switch.
The floor underneath them gave way. Spoonette grabbed Linkara around the waist and jumped, falling away from the ship as it suddenly exploded. “Or we accidentally found the self-destruct!” she shouted as they fell.
“Right…” Linkara clung to her. “You play a lot of X-Wing Fifty?”
“Yep,” she said. The rest of the ships started exploding. “Enemy ships are always wired to the flagship, which always has one easy to exploit weakness!”
“This seems really convenient!” Linkara said. “If Vyce is as good as they say…”
He was cut off as an explosion close to them sent them falling faster. Luckily, they weren’t close enough to be blown to bits, though Spoonette could still feel the heat.
They landed on the ground and fortunately didn’t bounce back up, allowing them to roll over and watch the inferno above. The landing wasn’t softened by the low gravity, but they didn’t have time to think about bruising right now.
“Comicron-One, report!” Linkara called into his wrist communicator.
“Information,” Nimue said. “Twenty-seven casualties reported with another fifteen injuries. Laser energy low, shields offline.”
“We can fix that,” Linkara said. “Clean up bodies and get the injured to sick bay. Then come pick us up.”
“Confirmed,” Nimue said.
Linkara turned to Spoonette. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said, sitting up. “I’m fine.”
Linkara opened his mouth to say something else, but a shadow fell over them and he fell silent.
A tall humanoid figure, followed by a number of black-clad soldiers, was coming toward them. Linkara and Spoonette stood up. Linkara moved in front of her, aiming his gun. “Vyce,” he said. “Managed to escape?”
“Of course,” Vyce said. “I beamed off with my personal guard as soon as we realized the self-destruct was going off. You were very clever to find those switches. You will not be so lucky again.”
“Yeah,” Linkara said. “We won’t be lucky. But we will be remembered.”
“I hope that’s a comfort to you,” Vyce said. “Because your lives will end soon. Your army will be crushed and your world will be taken by the greatest conqueror the universe has ever known!”
Linkara’s jaw was set. “Not today.” He fired his gun.
The laser blast bounced harmlessly off Vyce’s armor, but Linkara didn’t pause. He grabbed Spoonette’s hand. “Low gravity, and they’ve obviously compensating for it,” he whispered. “Jump.”
They did so, going higher than normal and landing on a ridge on a cliff. Linkara quickly pulled off his communicator and gave it to Spoonette. “Keep in contact with Nimue and see when she can beam us out.”
Spoonette put on the communicator and called the ship. “Nimue! Do you copy?”
“This unit can hear you.”
“Can you beam us out?”
“Information. All auxiliary power was diverted to the forward lance. Teleportation systems offline.”
Spoonette groaned. “So move the ship over and lower a rope!” she ordered.
“Confirmed.”
Linkara was still shooting, taking the soldiers down, but they were still coming faster than the ship was moving. Spoonette looked at the ridge they were standing on and had a sudden idea. “Nimue, can you patch me through to engineering?”
“Confirmed.” There was a crackled of static.
“Linksano!” Spoonette yelled. “Can you see us?”
“Yes,” Linksano answered. “We’ll be there in a moment!”
“Hold that order!” Spoonette said. “Shoot the mountain right underneath us!”
“What?!” Linksano asked.
“I want you to hit right underneath us with the full force of the forward lance!”
“But…”
“Trust me!” Vyce was starting to climb up now. Linkara moved forward, ready to fight.
“All right…”
The ship moved and fired. Spoonette grabbed Linkara around the waist as the rock they stood on fell as the mountain fell apart.
“Lean with me!” she called over the cacophony as Vyce and his soldiers fell with the rocks.
They moved together, the falling rock moving with them. Spoonette looked toward the ship. “Jump!” she yelled. Linkara obeyed her without thought. They fell, landing on another floating stone. “Forward!” Spoonette called. “To a higher rock.”
He grabbed her hand again as they leaped upwards. He caught the edge of the rock and easily lifted both himself and Spoonette up onto it.
They were right underneath the ship now and a rope was being lowered toward them. Spoonette moved forward and caught it. She smiled at Linkara. “Come on!” She started to climb and he followed.
A sudden blast came from below. Spoonette cried out as her chest burned, but she didn’t fall. She had to keep going…but her arms weren’t working, she couldn’t move…
But the rope was being pulled up, they were moving. She just had to hold on.
She felt a warm hand grasp her wrist and pull her up. She fell on solid ground, the burning in her chest spreading through her entire body. She could hear people talking but they weren’t making sense and she couldn’t see or feel anything but pain and someone was screaming but she didn’t know who…
Then someone picked her up and everything went black.
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Author:
butterflyslinky
Pairing(s): Eventual Linkara/Spoonette; Spoony/80s Chick; one-sided Linksano/Spoonette
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 17,778
Warning(s): Violence, off-screen character death
Summary: Having been rejected as an actress and with nothing left to lose, Spoonette takes her brother’s place in the US Space Corps to fight off the coming threat of Lord Vyce. Now, she has to deal with army drills, her high school stalker with the ability to hack the Pentagon, and a captain who is both way hot and way annoying. Bogus.
Author’s Note: Inspired by this prompt, though I don’t really know if it qualifies as a fill for it. Special thanks to pompoko and
ladydiskette for beta-ing, and of course
trulyamindlost,
robynred, and
lizynob for their lovely bonus content
“All troops, report to the bridge! All troops to the bridge!”
Spoonette stood beside Linkara as the men came in and fell into formation. She moved to take her place in the ranks, but Linkara shook his head.
As soon as the men had assembled, Linkara began to speak. “We’re moving out,” he announced. “To our knowledge, we are all that remains of the Space Corps, which means we’re going to meet Vyce head on. We will be fighting long and hard, and if we can’t hold them back, we’ll at least give them something to remember us by.” He paused, looking down at his small, ill-prepared army. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s been an honor to be your captain.”
No one moved. No one so much as blinked. Linkara stood for a moment before continuing. “Lieutenant Antwiler, take your men and whoever else you need to the lower decks. Place them as you see fit and make sure they don’t take the bridge.”
Spoonette blinked at her sudden change in title, but then nodded. “Yes, Captain.” She nodded to her unit and a few others and led them downstairs.
Linksano fell into step beside her. “What’s your plan?” he whispered.
“No idea,” she answered. “Any suggestions?”
“Let’s see…” Linksano quickly took stock of their numbers. “Dozen men on each deck, in doorways or corners, best fighters lower down. Keep the fighting as far down as possible. On the lowest deck, start shooting as soon as they hit, on the upper deck, wait until they pass and then flank them.”
“Okay.” Spoonette looked up. “Nimue, report Vyce’s position!”
“Information,” Nimue said. “Currently orbiting over Planet 16-94, in the Seventh Sector of the Milky Way. Planet has Earth-like atmosphere but very low gravity. Mostly desert and mountain terrain. Lord Vyce is approaching and will enter firing range in approximately ten minutes.”
“Right.” Spoonette gave her orders swiftly and continued down.
“You mean you’re going into the thick of it?” Linksano hissed.
Spoonette gave him a hard look. “I will not send my men anywhere where I would not go first,” she snapped. “Get back to engineering.”
“But…”
“That’s an order, Dr. Schlumper.”
Before Linksano could object further, there was a loud blast and the ship shook.
“Information,” Nimue said. “The ship has taken minimal damage, but shields will need reinforcing.”
Linksano sighed. “Be careful,” he said, and then he took off for engineering.
Spoonette rolled her eyes as she took the best fighters down to the lowest level. “Do not break ranks for anything!” she commanded as the men took their positions. “If anything comes near the ship, shoot it down. If it gets past us, let the others kill it. And if we go down, we go down fighting! Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir!” the men said.
Another blast hit the ship and Spoonette struggled to keep her balance, but she found her footing quickly.
“Lieutenant!” Linkara called over the intercom. “They blasted a hole in the shields! Be ready!”
“Yes, Captain!” Spoonette took her position and readied her weapon. There was no time to be afraid as another blast blew a hole in the ship directly in front of them.
A number of black-clad figures were flying towards them on machines that looked like flying motorcycles. Spoonette made a mental note study them further if she lived before she called the command to start shooting.
Then it was all heat and light and noise and Spoonette could never remember exactly what happened. All she could do was shout orders and keep shooting, hoping that she could keep Vyce’s soldiers from reaching the bridge. She had to keep them here, on the lower decks, as far from her captain as possible.
More blasts from the enemy ship hit them and Spoonette could hear cursing coming from the bridge, but so far none of the approaching army had boarded the ship. Spoonette was glad of that, but more kept coming, so many that she knew they couldn’t possibly stop them all.
“Information,” Nimue said. “Bridge has been breached. Solar converter damaged.”
“Dude, we’ll run out of power!” 90s Kid called.
“Just keep shooting!” Spoonette said. “And if they get here, use your fists! Or a knife! Or…anything, really.” She knew they would lose. She knew it was impossible. But she also knew they had to keep trying…
“Dr. Schlumper!” Spoonette called over the intercom.
“Yes, Lieutenant?”
“Analysis of enemy ship!”
“What?”
“Analysis! Now!”
“…Heavily shielded, no weaknesses immediately evident, can probably only be destroyed from within.”
“Right.” Spoonette looked out over the desert planet where the soldiers of Vyce were coming out. “All of you, keep fighting!” she called, moving toward the opening. “Sergeant Charles, take over command!”
“Where are you going?” 90s Kid called.
“To stop Vyce,” she said. A soldier was flying straight for her. She crouched, waiting…calculating…
As soon as the soldier was close enough to the lower deck, she jumped through the hole in the wall, landing on the front of the motorcycle-like machine and shooting the soldier off. She turned to examine the controls and realized she had no idea how to work it.
“Fuck,” she muttered. She had dated a guy who rode motorcycles once, but he never showed her how to work one on Earth, let alone this. Still, it couldn’t be too hard, right?
She leaned her body hard to the right and miraculously managed to turn around back toward the oncoming attackers. She was then aware of the fact that there were hundreds of soldiers coming from the flag ship towards her and that the ship was only one of many approaching.
She leaned forward, forcing herself to go underneath the other soldiers, trying to figure out which ship was the flagship and if she could get to it without being shot down.
“Antwiler!”
She turned her head to see Linkara leap from a hole in the bridge. He landed on a large rock that was falling fast. “What the hell are you doing?” he shouted before being forced to duck, taking advantage of the planet’s low gravity to fall slowly to another rock.
Spoonette turn the machine toward him. “Jump down!” she called. “It’s safer than boulder bouncing.”
He did so, landing on the machine behind her and getting into a comfortable position. “What are you doing?” he demanded.
“I’m going to destroy the flagship,” she said. “Here.” She handed Linkara her gun. “I’ll drive, you shoot.”
“Do you know how to work this thing?” Linkara asked.
“No,” she admitted. “But how hard can it be?” She hit a button and discovered that the machine was, in fact, equipped with a gun of its own. “Hold on!”
Linkara wrapped one arm around her waist. Spoonette had to focus very hard on driving and not how warm he was.
They flew towards the oncoming fleet, shooting down anything that came towards them. “You are getting a reprimand when we get back!” Linkara shouted.
“For what?” Spoonette called back. “You never ordered me to stay on the ship and no one said you had to come!” They had reached the center of the fleet and were flying underneath. “That’s it!” Spoonette said. She leaned back, steering straight up. “Aim for that hatch!”
Linkara aimed his gun up. “On three!” he said. “One! Two! Three!”
They both fired. The hatch blew apart and Spoonette steered them straight into the ship. The motorcycle slid several feet and hit a wall, sending them both sprawling on the ground.
Spoonette and Linkara got up, wincing from the bruises. “Right,” she muttered. “I’ve seen enough scifi movies…” She dashed to a nearby circuit breaker. The labels were written in letters she didn’t recognize. “Let’s see…”
“Push them all to the right,” Linkara said. “That should overload the breaker…if nothing else, they’ll lose power.”
She nodded and they started moving all the switches to the “on” position. As they did, the ship beneath them started to shake like it was being hit. There were several blasts far away, and then Spoonette threw the last switch.
The floor underneath them gave way. Spoonette grabbed Linkara around the waist and jumped, falling away from the ship as it suddenly exploded. “Or we accidentally found the self-destruct!” she shouted as they fell.
“Right…” Linkara clung to her. “You play a lot of X-Wing Fifty?”
“Yep,” she said. The rest of the ships started exploding. “Enemy ships are always wired to the flagship, which always has one easy to exploit weakness!”
“This seems really convenient!” Linkara said. “If Vyce is as good as they say…”
He was cut off as an explosion close to them sent them falling faster. Luckily, they weren’t close enough to be blown to bits, though Spoonette could still feel the heat.
They landed on the ground and fortunately didn’t bounce back up, allowing them to roll over and watch the inferno above. The landing wasn’t softened by the low gravity, but they didn’t have time to think about bruising right now.
“Comicron-One, report!” Linkara called into his wrist communicator.
“Information,” Nimue said. “Twenty-seven casualties reported with another fifteen injuries. Laser energy low, shields offline.”
“We can fix that,” Linkara said. “Clean up bodies and get the injured to sick bay. Then come pick us up.”
“Confirmed,” Nimue said.
Linkara turned to Spoonette. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said, sitting up. “I’m fine.”
Linkara opened his mouth to say something else, but a shadow fell over them and he fell silent.
A tall humanoid figure, followed by a number of black-clad soldiers, was coming toward them. Linkara and Spoonette stood up. Linkara moved in front of her, aiming his gun. “Vyce,” he said. “Managed to escape?”
“Of course,” Vyce said. “I beamed off with my personal guard as soon as we realized the self-destruct was going off. You were very clever to find those switches. You will not be so lucky again.”
“Yeah,” Linkara said. “We won’t be lucky. But we will be remembered.”
“I hope that’s a comfort to you,” Vyce said. “Because your lives will end soon. Your army will be crushed and your world will be taken by the greatest conqueror the universe has ever known!”
Linkara’s jaw was set. “Not today.” He fired his gun.
The laser blast bounced harmlessly off Vyce’s armor, but Linkara didn’t pause. He grabbed Spoonette’s hand. “Low gravity, and they’ve obviously compensating for it,” he whispered. “Jump.”
They did so, going higher than normal and landing on a ridge on a cliff. Linkara quickly pulled off his communicator and gave it to Spoonette. “Keep in contact with Nimue and see when she can beam us out.”
Spoonette put on the communicator and called the ship. “Nimue! Do you copy?”
“This unit can hear you.”
“Can you beam us out?”
“Information. All auxiliary power was diverted to the forward lance. Teleportation systems offline.”
Spoonette groaned. “So move the ship over and lower a rope!” she ordered.
“Confirmed.”
Linkara was still shooting, taking the soldiers down, but they were still coming faster than the ship was moving. Spoonette looked at the ridge they were standing on and had a sudden idea. “Nimue, can you patch me through to engineering?”
“Confirmed.” There was a crackled of static.
“Linksano!” Spoonette yelled. “Can you see us?”
“Yes,” Linksano answered. “We’ll be there in a moment!”
“Hold that order!” Spoonette said. “Shoot the mountain right underneath us!”
“What?!” Linksano asked.
“I want you to hit right underneath us with the full force of the forward lance!”
“But…”
“Trust me!” Vyce was starting to climb up now. Linkara moved forward, ready to fight.
“All right…”
The ship moved and fired. Spoonette grabbed Linkara around the waist as the rock they stood on fell as the mountain fell apart.
“Lean with me!” she called over the cacophony as Vyce and his soldiers fell with the rocks.
They moved together, the falling rock moving with them. Spoonette looked toward the ship. “Jump!” she yelled. Linkara obeyed her without thought. They fell, landing on another floating stone. “Forward!” Spoonette called. “To a higher rock.”
He grabbed her hand again as they leaped upwards. He caught the edge of the rock and easily lifted both himself and Spoonette up onto it.
They were right underneath the ship now and a rope was being lowered toward them. Spoonette moved forward and caught it. She smiled at Linkara. “Come on!” She started to climb and he followed.
A sudden blast came from below. Spoonette cried out as her chest burned, but she didn’t fall. She had to keep going…but her arms weren’t working, she couldn’t move…
But the rope was being pulled up, they were moving. She just had to hold on.
She felt a warm hand grasp her wrist and pull her up. She fell on solid ground, the burning in her chest spreading through her entire body. She could hear people talking but they weren’t making sense and she couldn’t see or feel anything but pain and someone was screaming but she didn’t know who…
Then someone picked her up and everything went black.
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