Road Rovers: Chaos Computer

Episode 12: The Planet Buster

By Gerhard Naudé

All Road Rovers names © Warner Brothers and rightful owners
Unit STRIKE, GONV, Tanarus, Elexis, Ozari, Melanie and all others related 
to the KH Military © Gerhard Naudé
Strayers © Steven Today
Nitro, Dixie © Amanda Stephenson
Maddogs © Greg Williams
Zayra Cabot © Pablo Augusto Caminos
Alethia, Renegade, Beldin © Kylen Miles
Collie Squadron, Canius Minor & her crew © Robert Baer Jr.

Any question, comments, complaints, feedback or suggestions can be 
sent to gnaude_@hotmail.com.

Canius Minor
High Orbit Over Earth
8 November
10:00 PM:

The Canius Minor is holding a perimeter orbit high above the North
American continent. Opposite it is the bright and grey surface of
the Moon.

Bridge
Canius Minor:

The bridge of the ship looks like the bridge of a Star Trek vessel.
Persia is here and has the bridge. Also here is Alexander (first
mate who is seated next to Persia), Boomer (the Helmsman at the
pilot controls), Saundra (navigation) and ensign Cactus Jake.  One
of the doors leading into the bridge slides open and Hunter, Bear,
Striker, Outlaw and Ben walk onto the bridge.

Hunter:"How's it waggin', Space Rovers?"

Persia:"Good to see you, Hunter."

Striker:"Goeie dag, Persia. I see you now have a brand new ship and
         crew."

Persia:"Greetings, Striker. Yes, and I am glad for it. It helps me
        forget what happened last year."

Bear:"I hope the GONV doesn't do the same thing with this ship as
      the KH Military did."

Persia:"If they do try to get room and board, Bear, we will give
        them an eviction notice. Now, we do you want to go today?"

Hunter:"To the Moon, Persia. The GONV has a present it wants to send
        home to us and we have to go cut his plans short."

Persia:"Take a seat, everyone."

The unit leaders all sit down in open seats as Persia looks at
Boomer.

Persia:"Mister Boomer, bring us closer to the Moon."

Boomer:"Aye aye, captain."

Boomer begins to guide the ship.

Canius Minor
10:09 PM:

The Canius Minor turns away from the Earth and begins to fly towards
the Moon. As it does, there a three sudden flashes high above the 
Moon. A blue field appears from the flash points and cover the entire
planet in seconds.

Bridge
Canius Minor
At that moment:

Everyone has seen the blue field appear over the Moon. Persia looks
at Cactus Jake.

Persia:"Report!"

Jake makes a scan of the field.

Jake:"Captain, a force shield has been deployed accross the entire
      planet. It is being controlled via large satellite holding a
      perimeter orbit above the Moon's southern pole."

A beeping alarm comes from Boomer's control and he quickly examines
it.

Boomer:"Captain! We got a large number of contacts coming from behind
        the Moon, at high speeds!"

Persia:"GONV?"

Boomer makes a check and nods.

Boomer:"Afraid so, Captain!"

Persia:"On screen!"

The view screen activates and shows the incoming contacts. Flying 
towards them are GONV Starlighter fighters. Starlighters are a cross
between an arrow and a MIG-29, have bluish metal armour, a blue
computer screen and the GONV insignia on the wings. All of them are
carrying large rail guns, but some are carrying large containers
with energy pods on the sides and claws on the front. Jake whistles.

Jake:"Now those are real hot rides."

Alex leans over to Persia.

Alex:"Captain, we should be careful here. Those fighters may be small
      compared to our ship, but they could still swarm over us, but
      if we keep full shields we can easily dispatch them."

Persia:"Good idea, Alex."

She calls out the commands.

Persia:"Go to red alert! Full shields and charge phaser cannons!"

Crew:"Aye aye, Captain!"

A klaxon begins to wail as red lights flash all across the entire ship.
The crew prepare the ship's weapons.

Space
Between the Earth and Moon
10:11 PM:

The Canius Minor slowly approaches the moon as the Starlighters close
in on the ship. They split up into two groups, the first attacking
the ship while the rest follow them. The first Starlighters open
fire with their rail guns, sending slugs into the Canius Minor's
shields. The Canius Minor retaliates by launching torpedoes and firing
phasers. The starlighters easily dodge the torpedoes with their speed,
but the phasers hit their targets spot on. Some of the starlighters
shrug off the blasts with their shields, while some who have been
weakened by previous blasts explode or are seriously damaged. Those
who are damaged suddenly begin to fly into the Canius Minor's shields,
exploding as they collide with it.

Bridge
Canius Minor:

The crew and passenger are holding on as the ship shudders from the
numerous slugs hitting the shields, interrupted by the occasional
strong jolt from a kamikaze starlighter.

Jake:"Shields are holding steady at 80%, but those damned Jap-wannabe
      kamikazes are knocking our shields back something bad, Captain!"

Persia:"Order all phaser cannons to shoot any starlighter that may
        attempt to fly into our shields!"

Space:

The phaser blasts are now being more focused on incoming starlighters
attempting to crash into the shields. While the battle rages on, the
second group of starlighters attack the Canius Minor. Those with rail
guns attack the shield directly, while those carrying containers 
launch their ordinance as they get in close. Those several launched
containers then sprout claws at the front as they head for the ship.

Bridge:

The incoming containers can be seen on the main screen coming towards
the ship.

Persia:"What are those?"

Jake:"Looks like iron bombs, Captain. But I'm receiving a strong energy
      emission from them."

Suddenly, the containers begin to haze with a strange light green glow.
They then suddenly fold thinner until they disappear in a flash.

Persia:"What happened?"

Boomer:"We've lost contact with the bombs. We don't.... Alert! The bombs
        have reappeared! And behind our shields!!!"

Everyone is shocked.

Hull
The Canius Minor:

This is the outer hull of the ship. The bombs have reappeared the same
way they had disappeared behind the shield. They close in on the
hull and use their claws to attach to it. Then there is a red flash
from each of them before they explode.

Bridge:

The bridge is shaken violently from the explosions caused by the
bombs. Some of the crewmembers are even shaken off their feet.

Jake:"The hull's been breached, decks 5 and 6."

Alex:"Evacuate the decks and dispatch repair crews!"

Persia:"Order all cannons to concentrate fire on those bombs! Do not
        allow any more of them to get through the shield!"

Crew:"Aye, captain!"

Space:

The battle continues, but the weaponry of the Canius Minor are now
more focused on the bombs, the starlighters who carry them and the
kamikazi ships. After a while the numbers of the starlighters dwindle
and finally disappear as the last few fighters are destroyed, leaving
the Canius Minor alone amongst a field of debris.

Bridge:

Everyone is taking a deep sigh of relief from the battle.

Persia:"Damage report."

Jake:"Shields knocked down to 56 percent, moderate damage to the outer
      hull from those weird bombs."

Alex:"What were those bombs? And how did they manage to bypass our
      shields?"

Jake quickly gathers up the information before speaking.

Jake:"I'll be damned. Those bombs are using chrono technology! They
      are carrying chrono devices that allow them to shift right
      past our shields."

Persia and Alexander look at each other.

Alex:"Chrono bombs."

Persia:"The GONV certainly has some powerful tricks up their sleeve.
        We had better be more careful. Who knows what else the GONV
        will throw at us."

Alex:"I definitely agree on that one, captain."

Persia then turns to look at the view screen. It is showing the moon
and the force field around it.

Persia:"How is that field being generated?"

Jake makes a few readings.

Jake:"There are three large satellites orbiting the moon that are 
      generating the entire field, captain. Fortunately they are 
      located outside of the field, but there may be some of those 
      starlighters waiting to bushwhack us if we get close to them."

Persia:"Right. Mister Boomer, bring us in closer to the satellites
        into firing range. But be alert for any starlighters that
        may be waiting in ambush."

Boomer:"Aye, captain."

Boomer begins to guide the Canius Minor towards the satellites.

High Orbit Over The Moon
10:20 PM:

The Canius Minor is flying closer to the moon, the field around it
and one of the satellite generating it. The satellite has a 
cylindrical body with four solar panels attached to it. At the bottom 
end of the satellite's body is a large dish, while at each point 
where the solar panels are connected to the body are four smaller 
dishes with ion rods. On the body is the letters GONV. As the Canius 
Minor closes in on the satellite, two more groups of starlighters 
appear from around the moon.

Bridge:

Boomer is picking up the ambushing starlighters.

Boomer:"Starlighters closing in on us, captain!"

Jake:"Shields fully charged, cap'n!"

Persia:"Good. Fire at will. Primary targets are the satellite, the
        chrono bombs and bombers and any kamikaze fighters."

Crew:"Aye, captain!"

The crew respond to the attack.

High Orbit over Moon:

The two opposing forces again collide in battle, but the Canius Minor
is now better prepared for the assault. The starlighters open fire
with their rail guns and release the chrono bombs, all the while two
of the satellite's ion guns add to the firepower. This time the Canius
Minor's gunners are better prepared and they are easily able to 
destroy the starlighters and their chrono bombs before they can do
any significant damage. After a short time the only opposition to
the Canius Minor is the satellite itself, its lasers still firing at
the ship. The lasers do little damage to the ship's shields at it
moves in for the kill. The Canius Minor fires a single laser blast at
the satellite and the satellite explodes into a thousand pieces. As
it is destroyed, a large portion of the moon is unshielded, leaving
a huge hole in the planetary shield.

Bridge
Canius Minor
At that moment:

Everyone has seen the satellite's destruction and the subsequent un-
shielding of part of the moon on the screen.

Persia:"Report."

Alex:"It would appear we have punched a huge hole into the GONV's
      defences, Captain. I think we can now try and find this Planet 
      Buster missile."

Persia:"Then make it happen. Let's find out where that weapon is so
        that Hunter and the others can go in and destroy it."

Jake makes a scan of the moon for a few minutes, then reports.

Jake:"Captain, I've detected two huge missile silos on the surface
      of the moon."

He pushes a button and brings the moon's surface on the screen. Two
green dots appear on the surface.

Jake:"One silo is located in the middle of the Copernicus meteor 
      crater, the other near the Apollo 11 landing zone."

Persia:"Which has the Planet Buster?"

Jake:"Both have, captain. I'm not sure of their actual size, but they
      are about the size of four Eiffel towers stacked on each other."

Everyone is stunned.

Striker:"Ai yai yai."

Hunter:"Whoa. That's huge."

Ben:"No kidding."

Persia:"My God. There are two missiles?"

Jake:"So it seems, captain. However, the silo near the landing zone is
      heavily defended, while the one at the crater is almost defence-
      less."

Alex:"A decoy, captain. The GONV wants us to waste our time on the 
      decoy while buying time to launch the real one."

Bear:"I'm rather surprised by this latest tactic by Matrix. This is
      very simple and can rarely fool anyone."

Persia:"Right, then. The Apollo silo is the one where we will beam
        down Hunter and the others. Can we beam them down into the
        silo itself."

Jake:"Not a good idea, captain. The defences will shoot them to 
      little bits before they even finished beaming down."

Alex:"Where can we drop them?"

Jake:"On the surface not far from the silo. There are several hatches
      leading down into the silo."

Persia:"Good. Prepare the transported room."

Crew:"Aye, captain."

Persia gets up and joins Hunter and the others.

Persia:"We'll be able to beam you down within a few minutes, but we
        don't have enough space suits for all of you."

Outlaw:"So we'll have to choose the best for the job."

Ben:"And we'll need to be careful, since one shot can tear into the
     suits and drain our air."

Hunter:"Right, Rovers. Let's get the others and get ready to beam
        down to the moon."

Hunter, Striker, Persia, Bear, Ben and Outlaw leave the bridge while
the crew continue with their duties.

Apollo 11 Lunar Lander
4 Kilometres from Missile Silo
The Moon
10:44 PM:

This is the famous landing module of Apollo 11 along with the flag
of the United States next to it in the desolate landscape of the moon.
Suddenly the Road Rovers (along with Alethia, Renegade, Zayra), 
Strayers, Unit STRIKE (along with Tanarus and Elexis), Maddogs and Collie 
Squadron, all except Merit wearing the space suits from the Canius Minor, 
materialize by the landing module. They are all carrying special EMP 
rifles from the ship as weapons. They scan the area around them.

Outlaw:"All clear."

Abby:"Not that there is much to see around here?"

Linda:"Really? What about that?"

She points to Apollo 11. Everyone turns to it.

Striker:"So this where humanity first set foot on the moon."

Hunter salutes the American flag.

Hunter:"Yeah. Good old Neil Armstrong and friends."

Corsair sniggers in Illanov's direction.

Corsair:"And a triumph for America over the Reds."

Illanov and Exile growl at him.

Illanov:"Maybe, comrade, that you got to the moon first. But who put
         the first satellite into space? The first canine? The first
         human?"

Exile:"Dah, comrade. Who?"

Corsair(grinning):"Simple. We did. We did everything first! America
       ruled and Russia sucked!"

Illanov and Exile growl louder at Corsair while everyone else (except
Merit, who is looking at the landing module) gives him a cold stare. 
He sighs.

Corsair:"Okay. You win. The Russians got a few firsts."

Illanov and Exile keep a cold stare on Corsair while the rest shake 
their heads.

Saphire:"That is SO immature of them."

Phoenix:"Tell me about it."

Meanwhile, Merit has just finished making scan of the lunar module.

Merit:"Very primitive design. Systems are outdated. And the flag 
       serves no productive purpose."

Everyone looks surprised at Merit.

Bear:"Merit, that 'primitive design' brought the first humans to the
      moon."

Merit:"But the technology is obsolete compared to current standards."

Ben:"That's because the landing was made in 1969. Back then this
     technology was state of the art."

Merit:"But why was this section then left behind? It amounts to
       inefficient wastage."

Wesley:"We couldn't salvage it because it has become a monument to the
        landing. Besides, back then we didn't have the means or cash
        to bring it back."

Merit:"That information can be correctly processed. But what purpose
       is the flag for?"

Nitro:"Because it brings pride to the human race that it is the moon."

Merit:"Please define 'pride'."

Everyone groans, especially Striker.

Striker:"Ai yai yai. I can see that Merit will be giving me headaches
         for a long time."

Renegade:"People. Shouldn't we be worrying about the Planet Buster
          instead of trying to explain Apollo 11 to Merit?"

Hunter:"Renegade's right, folks. We have to find a way into the silo
        while watching out for Matrix's killer robots."

Everyone nods. Amani takes out a scanner and scans the area.

Amani:"According to my readings, there is an entrance about 500 yards
       northeast of our position."

Hunter:"Okay. Let's hit the road, Rovers!"

Merit looks around.

Merit:"What roa..."

Beowulf elbows Merit and Merit beeps out loudly.

Beowulf:"Don't start with us. You ARE obsolete, after all."

Merit:"Oh, I say."

Hunter, Striker, Outlaw, Ben and Bear lead the others as they walk to
where the entrance is. As they cross a rocky hill they quickly duck
down out of sight. Standing in an open piece of ground is square-like
steel structure that looks like a bunker. Next to the structure are
two plasma turrets and two flak cannons, while patrolling around
them all are two MKI Mechs and two patrols of drones (light, battle
and combat drones). The Rovers observe the scene.

Ben:"That's definitely a way in."

Bear:"And with some handy defences to boot. It would have been easy
      if we were all able to use our super powers."

Tanarus:"Yes, but unfortunately our suits prevent some of us, like
         Exile and Blitz, to use those powers. Couple that with the
         fact that even minor shot can be fatal by tearing into our
         suits and letting the air out."

Merit:"I still find it most peculiar why organic creatures require
       oxygen molecules for your continued operation."

Nitro:"Right now, I'm siding with Merit on that fact."

Dixie sniggers at Nitro.

Dixie:"Oh? Does that mean I can get Bear?"

Nitro growls at Dixie, who just grins away. Bear sighs.

Bear:"Come h***, high water or the airless waste of the moon, they
      will always be at each other's throats."

Striker:"I feel your pain, Bear. I have the same trouble with Corsair
         and Illanov here."

Hunter:"Yeah, and me with Blitz and Exile."

Ben:"And with my daughters at times."

Outlaw:"Why is it that every team except ours has some kind of internal
        conflict going on all the time?"

Saphire:"You got me there, Love."

Merit:"How very unusual. Camaraderie and rivalry within the same unit." 

As the Rovers begin to babble amongst themselves, Shag, Puffball and
Shephard watch them. Shephard groans.

Shephard:"I wish they would stop talking. My trigger finger's starting
          to itch, and I want to scratch it against those robochucks."

Shag mumbles something.

Shephard:"Yeah, and I know we're going to miss our midnight brunch if 
          things carry on at this rate."

Puffball:"Then why we not begin fight while everyone keep talking?"

Shephard:"Hey, not a bad idea there, Ma'am. How about you, Shag?"

Shag mumbles his agreement and Shephard charges up his EMP rifle.

Shephard:"Let's rock and roll, then!"

Puffball and Shag charge their rifles up while the others just keep on
talking. The three of them then crawl a bit closer to the GONV robots
and Shephard signals to Shag and Puffball that they should take out
the two plasma turrets. The two of them nod and prepare to attack.
Atfer a few seconds, Shephard gives the signal.

Shephard:"Let's go!"

The three of them immediately stand up. Shag and Puffball both fire
a blast of EMP at the two turrets while Shephard fires two quick
bursts at the two MKI mechs. Before the GONV defenders can detect
the attack, both turrets and mechs are hit by the EMP blasts and
shut down. The drones become alerted and turn to the three Rovers,
weapons at the ready. Shephard, Shag and Puffball all fire their
shots before ducking behind the ridge. Two of the shots hit their
targets and shut down a light drone and combat drone. The drones
begin to march towards the ridge, firing away at it. The shots
hit the ridge, but the babbling Rovers do not hear them (due to
lack of air on the moon). Shephard, Shag and Puffball pop out of
cover now and then to snipe at the closest drone, shutting it
down before taking cover again. After a brief skirmish, all the
drones are lying down on the ground, shut down by the EMP blasts.
All the other Rovers suddenly realize what is going on and stop
babbling.

Hunter:"Hey, who took down the droids?"

Shephard:"We did, sir. Me, Shag and Puffball were becoming bored of
          your meeting, so we went ahead of you."

Shag mumbles his agreement, as does Puffball with a nod. Merit looks
at the disabled robots.

Merit:"Their internal electronics have been damaged. It must repaired."

Everyone watches Merit in shock as he(it?) takes his toolkit and
begins to walk towards the robots. Linda, Abby, Vicki, Roger and
Molly grab hold of him.

Vicki:"No way! You are not fixing those guys, Merit!"

Linda:"Yeah! You're supposed to be helping US, not the GONV!"

Abby, Molly:"Ditto!"

Merit:"But I must repair."

Striker groans and puts his paw over his suit's visor. He then goes
over to Merit.

Striker:"Reg, Merit. This is a direct order from me: do NOT repair
         ANY robots unless I say you might. Understood?"

Merit stops trying to go other to the robots and puts his toolkit
away.

Merit:"Command received, understood and executed."

Striker:"Goed so."

Outlaw:"Okay. Now that we've cleared that up, how about we get into
        silo complex?"

Hunter:"Good idea, Outlaw. Let's move, Rovers."

Everyone walk over the ridge to the structure and Amani makes a scan
of it.

Amani:"It's an elevator that leads down into the complex."

Bear:"Now that's bad. Normally I'm all for easy travelling, but if
      we take the lift and that door opens, we could find ourselves
      staring at a large group of well positioned and well armed
      GONV drones with little or no room to take cover."

Colleen:"The perfect bloomin' death-trap."

Blitz becomes scared and ducks behind Exile.

Blitz:"I'll stand behind Frostboy and cover his tooshie."

Exile rolls his eye.

Exile:"They were rightski. Moon does make comrades weird."

Amani then suddenly picks something up on her scanner.

Amani:"Guys, the elevator's coming up."

Everyone realises what it means.

Ben:"And it is probably full of trigger-happy drones."

Wesley:"Then its time for a surprise. When will the lift get here?"

Amani:"20 seconds."

Wesley then immediately takes out a small round device, activates
and puts it by the elevator door.

Outlaw:"Er... Wes, is that a good idea?"

Wesley:"Trust me. Now run!"

Everyone runs back to the ridge and ducks behind it. As they do, the
elevator reaches the surface and the door opens. Inside is a strong
battalion of light drones. But as the first line of drones step out,
the device detonates and sends out a power blast of energy that short
circuits the light drones. When the blast is over, everyone reappears
from behind the ridge and walk over to the open elevator. Wesley is
smiling.

Wesley:"My special EMP grenade. Satisfaction guaranteed."

Outlaw:"Wesley, you're a genius."

Wesley:"I keep telling you that."

Corsair, however, isn't pleased as he goes inside and examines the
elevator's controls.

Corsair:"Oh yeah, Wesley. You are such a genius that, not only have
         you shut down the drones, but also the lift as well. Yup,
         you are a genius."

Everyone frowns at Wesley, who is looking rather sheepish.

Wesley:"Ooops. I guess I forgot about the lift."

Dixie:"Great. Now how do we get down into the silo now?"

As if to answer her, a panel in the elevator wall opens up and a 
ramp lowers down onto the floor. The Rovers immediately aim their
weapons at the opening. A maintenance drone then rolls out of the
opening and down the ramp. It goes over to the elevator's controls
and begins to do repair work. The Rovers lower their weapons.

Zayra:"It's just a little maintenance drone."

Hunter:"Yeah, but it came through that opening that probably leads
        into the silo complex. Right, Renegade?"

Renegade:"Right, Hunter. The maintenance use special tunnels that
          allow them to reach areas that need repair without putting
          themselves in danger and without any effort."

Hunter:"That's it, then. Let's roll, Rovers!"

They go over to the opening and proceed to climb into it one by one.
When it is Shag's turn, he gets stuck in the opening and whimpers.
Shephard goes over to him.

Shephard:"Stuck a bit?"

Shag whimpers a "yes".

Shephard:"Okay, then. Let me give you a gentle push."

Shephard stands behind Shag, then kicks him very hard in the rear 
with his boot. Shag gets into the opening. Everyone who is still
in the elevator look at Shephard.

Abby:"THAT's a gentle push?"

Shephard:"He IS bigger, Ma'am. I wouldn't do that to anyone else,
          except Blitz when he's annoying."

Everyone else chuckle as they proceed to climb into the opening while
the maintenance drone continues with its repair duty.

GONV Computer Screen
At that moment:

This is a screen similar to that of the GONV computer. The metal is
mainly green/metallic with the letters GONV above the screen. On the
screen appears "ROAD ROVER INTRUDERS PROCEEDING TO AREA CODE 18-902.
INITIATING ENTRAPMENT SEQUENCE AND LOADING WOLFENSTEIN PROGRAM."

Maintenance Tunnel
Area 18-902
Missile Silo
11:03 AM:

This is a long tunnel covered with metal plates, monitoring screens,
plug ports, grates and the occasional light source. The Road Rovers,
Strayers, Unit STRIKE, Maddogs and Collie Squadron are all crawling
along the tunnel. In the lead is Renegade, followed by Hunter, Bear,
Striker, Outlaw, Ben and all the others. Outlaw calls over to 
Renegade.

Outlaw:"You know where you are going, right?"

Renegade looks over to Outlaw.

Renegade:"Yes, I am, Outlaw. I am part GONV cyborg, after all."

Bear then notices something in the distance of the tunnel and points
to it.

Bear:"Then what's that?"

They all stop and look down the tunnel. Coming at them is some kind
of bluish light. Before they can react, they are all suddenly hit
by electrical bolts that knocks them all (except Merit) unconscious 
with even a single utterance. Merit looks at the others.

Merit:"My readings indicate that these systems have been logged off.
       How strange."

Prison Cell
Level 1
Episode 1
11:10 PM:

This is a square room with a single metal door. Lying on the floor
is Illanov. He is unconscious, but he begins to stir and begins to
wake up.

Illanov:"Oooo... Bolshoi, my head..."

Suddenly Matrix's voice speaks like an echo in his presence.

Matrix:"Ah. You have awoken, Alexander Illanov."

Illanov becomes aware of Matrix's presence and growls.

Illanov:"Where are Vicki and the others, Matrix? Speak!"

Matrix:"I think you should have analysis of your person and your
        immediate location, Alexander."

It then that Illanov notices the true nature of himself and his 
surroundings. Illanov is a heavily pixelated computer game version
of himself. The blue walls, grey floor and roof and the metal door
with a golden lock are in a similar state. Lying on the floor by
the door is a pixelated body. Illanov is horrified.

Illanov:"What manner of devilry is this, Matrix?"

Matrix:"It is not devilry, Alexander. This is a computer program.
        More specifically, this is a computer entertainment program
        called Wolfenstein 3D. And you are the protagonist, B.J.
        Blazkovich. You have been captured by the Nazi governmental
        military forces and your goal is to escape the compound."

Illanov looks himself over. He is wearing grey prison overalls and
black boots. In his one paw is a pistol. In front of himself he can
see a console floating at the bottom of his view, showing his face,
health (at 100), score and ammunition. He is shocked at this.

Illanov:"A game, Matrix? I would not believe you would be interested
         in games."

Matrix:"Only if they serve a useful purpose within my protocol, as
        is the current case."

Illanov:"Where are the others?"

Matrix:"Proceed out of your cell, then turn left."

Matrix's voice fades away and Illanov sighs. He walks to the door and
opens the door. He comes into a corridor with doors on both sides, 
one at the one end and a t-junction with prison bars on the other. He
turns to the junction and walks on, but he steps into that corridor,
two German voices call out.

Voices:"Achtung!"

Illanov looks left and right and sees two Nazi soldiers running 
towards him, holding pistols. Illanov quickly turns and fires a few
shots at the one guard. He succeeds in gunning the Nazi down, causing
him to drop a clip of ammo and his score to change. The guard behind 
him, however, manages to fire off a shot at Illanov. The shot hits 
Illanov and he yelps as 7 points are taken from his health meter. 
Illanov spins around and fires at the guard, gunning him down as 
well. Matrix's voice speaks again.

Matrix:"That is very basic game play."

Illanov:"I can handle them, Matrix. Now, where are my comrades?"

Matrix:"Look towards the wall with the jail cells."

Illanov turns to the wall and gasps. Standing behind the bars are
all the other Rovers (minus Merit). They are all video game versions
of themselves. Illanov runs to the cell with Vicki inside.

Illanov:"Vicki! You all right?"

Vicki:"Oh Alex! Look at me! I'm horribly pixelated!"

The others voice their disapproval.

Blitz:"Ja! My handsome look has been turned to blocky game doggie! I
       hate it!"

Exile:"For once, I agreeski with Weird Boy! I am turned to blockheaded
       Rover!"

Shag whimpers and cowers in a corner.

Zayra(crying):"What has he done to us?!"

Wesley:"We've been digitised in a bad way, that's what he did!"

Tanarus:"This a very bad, and user-hostile, turn of events!"

Dixie:"Aaah! My poor beautiful figure! I look like a pile of Lego 
       bricks!"

Nitro(smirks):"Oh? I thought you were always like that."

Dixie growls at the smug Nitro. Bear groans.

Bear:"Even if we look like video-game characters, they still have a
      need to argue!"

Corsair:"How wonderful! The bad thing is: not only am I stuck in a
         computer game, it's an ANCIENT game! What's worse, the
         graphics SUCK! And worst of all, the RUSSIAN is in the lead
         role instead of me!"

Illanov growls at Corsair.

Illanov:"Stop belly-aching, American. I have to save your arse with
         everyone else as well!"

Suddenly the bars suddenly become the standard wall texture of the
game's level. Illanov looks at it in shock.

Illanov:"Comrades? Vicki?!"

Matrix's voice speaks again.

Matrix:"They are in perfect operational condition. For the current
        time."

Illanov:"I know your schemes! You are after me! Leave my comrades
         alone!"

Matrix:"That I cannot compute. They are needed to make you operate
        as I command."

Illanov:"What do you want from me, Matrix?"

Matrix:"Simple, Alexander. You are going to play through this first
        Wolfenstein 3D episode. If you succeed in completing the
        level with the allotted time limit of 5 minutes, I will not 
        kill your companions."

Illanov:"But what..."

Matrix's voice fades away and Illanov, suddenly realising that he
has to begin playing, runs into the corridor he first entered. He
opens the door at the end of the corridor and shoots the Nazi
guard behind it. He proceeds deeper into the level.

Level Exit
11:16 PM:

This is a short corridor with two doors on both ends, one being the
standard door, the other being a black door with a red button. On
the walls are textures of Nazi banners. Standing by the black door
is another Nazi soldier, only he is wearing a blue uniform and has a
machine gun. The metal door opens and Illanov runs in. The soldier
sees him.

Soldier:"Halt!"

Illanov quickly fires a continuous round of shots into the soldier
until he falls over dead and drops his machine gun. Illanov runs over
and picks up the machine gun. He then opens the black door and goes
into some kind of elevator with a switch inside. He flips the switch
and his view suddenly fades to black. It fades back in, showing a
score screen. An imagine of him panting for breath is in one corner
while elsewhere the score is being tallied while showing his health.
His health is at 78 and his score turns out to be average. He has
a good kill percentage, but his treasure score is very low and he
has no secret score.

Illanov:"I am done, Matrix. Now release my comrades!"

GONV Computer Screen
At that moment:

On the screen appears "LOADING LEVEL 2.... INTERRUPTED. LOADING LEVEL
1, EPISODE 1".       

Prison Cell
Level 1
Episode 1
11:18 PM:

Illanov is once again back in his cell, carrying his weapons (which
include the machine gun). His health remains unchanged. Illanov looks
around.

Illanov:"This is the same as where I first began!"

Matrix:"Correct. You must complete the level in 5 minutes to prevent
        your companion's termination."

Illanov growls.

Illanov:"Damn you, Matrix!"

He opens the door and begins to fight his way through the level all
over again.

Score Screen
11:21 PM:

Illanov is once again at the score screen. His kill percentage is
higher, but his treasure is only slightly up and his secret percen-
tage still at 0%. His health is at 67 of 100.

GONV Computer Screen
At that moment:

On the screen appears "LOADING LEVEL 2.... INTERRUPTED. LOADING LEVEL
1, EPISODE 1".

Level Exit
11:33 PM:

It is back to normal, soldier and all. Illanov opens the door and
shoots the soldier down, but the soldier manages to get a shot into
Illanov. His health drops down to a dangerously low 12 of 100. His
face on the status bar reflects this, as it shows he is seriously
injured notices this and calls out.

Illanov:"Matrix, I can see what you are doing. Kill me if you must,
         but spare Vicki and the others."

There is no response and Illanov screams in frustration. Suddenly
a familiar voice calls to him. It is Merit.

Merit:"Sir, I my analysis indicates that if you do not exit from this
       program you shall become terminated and deleted."

Illanov:"Comrade Merit! Where are you?"

Merit:"I regret to inform you that I lack sufficient amount of time
       needed for an explanation. My primary task is to have you
       leave the program."

Illanov:"How?"

Merit:"The GONV is controlling one of two level exits, which you are
       currently facing."

Illanov:"Two? But I have looked everywhere and found only this one."

Merit:"The second exit is located in an area which in the program is 
       called a secret. You need to activate two walls to gain
       access to its location."

Illanov becomes hopeful.

Illanov:"Where is the secret wall?"

Merit:"The first wall section on your right as you have just entered
       is the first wall."

Illanov immediately goes to the wall and pushes. The wall backs away
with a stony creaking noise. It reveals a small corridor with a
medical kit. Illanov picks up the kit and restores his health up
to 62. 

Merit:"The second wall is located right of the first wall you pushed
       as you faced it."

Illanov goes to the section and pushes. Again the wall backs away,
revealing a small, blocky room. 

Merit:"The exit is located directly ahead of your coordinates."

Illanov runs around a wall section and sees the second black exit
door. He runs to it, smiling with relief, opens it and goes in. He
throws the switch.

GONV Computer Screen
At that moment:

On the screen appears "WARNING. FILE ILLANOV.DAT LOST. PROGRAM IS
TERMINATED. WARNING. SECURITY CONTACT LOST WITH ROAD ROVERS. ALL
SYSTEMS ON ALERT STATUS."

Detention Interface Center
Area 7
Missile Silo
11:36 PM:

This is a circular, high-tech room with many computers, wires and
other advanced electronic equipment. Lining the walls are some kind
of chairs with bio port helmets hanging above them. The Road Rovers,
Strayers, Unit STRIKE (sans Merit), Maddogs and Collie Squadron are 
all here in the chairs with the helmets on their heads, which are
attached to their space suits' helmets. Merit is standing here along 
with several hacker drones with two light drones by the door. Merit 
has just gotten Illanov off of the bio ports and the other Rovers are 
recovering from being held as well, fighting to get the helmets off. 
Illanov hugs Merit.

Illanov:"Thank you, comrade!"

Merit:"I find this behaviour very unusual."

Illanov stops hugging and runs to where Vicki is held, then helps her
out of her chair. Once that is done they both hug each other.

Vicki:"Oh, Alex! It was so horrible! All pixels!"

Illanov:"It is all right, Love. I'm here now. I'm here."

As the other Rovers break free, the hacker drones make a dash for the
door while the two light drones step forward to attack. Tanarus and
Elexis, who are the closest to the drones, quickly jump the drones and
wrestle the laser rifles from them. They then use their new weapons
on their former owners. Once done they look at each other, smiling.

Tanarus:"You and I were definitely made for each other."

Elexis:"I concur, though once we get back to our quarters, you and I
        are going to have to make that a bond a bit 'closer'."

Tanarus blushes as Elexis grins. The others who are close to them
and not involved in a relationship become disgusted. The others
gather around Merit in congratulations.

Hunter:"Thanks for breaking us out, Bud!"

Blitz:"Ja! I was fearing I would never see my natural beautiful
       self again!"

Exile rolls his eyes.

Exile:"Maybe I go backski to game. Much nicer there."

Alethia:"But, how did Merit not get captured by the GONV? He is, after
         all, on our side."

Striker:"I think I know. Matrix hates organics so much that he 
         completely overlooks the fact that robots, whom he thinks
         are naturally opposed to organics, can fight against him."

Nitro:"Now that one computer bug I hope Matrix doesn't patch anytime
       soon."

Bear:"You said it, Dear."

Renegade:"I suggest that begin to move immediately. The GONV is surely
          aware now of our escape, and will be sending its forces to
          finish us off."

Hunter:"Right! We got to move and get to Matrix before we get too
        busy pounding these robo-chucks. Let's roll!"

The Rovers make a dash for the door, but immediately four light drones
rush in. Tanarus and Elexis fire at them, knocking down two drones,
but the other two fire their shots at Molly and Vicki. Molly quickly
runs out of the way super fast while Vicki flies over the laser
blast. Exile then fires his heat beam at one drone while Ben fires an
electrical blast at the other. The two drones are destroyed, and the
Rovers proceed into the next room.

Confiscation Room
11:41 PM:

This is also a circular room, but it only has rifle racks and tables
inside. On the racks are the Rovers' EMP rifles. Inside are four more
light drones on guard. When the Rovers burst in from one entrance, they
immediately spring into action. The Rovers are too quick for them and
they are destroyed before even firing a shot. Once they are all dead,
Hunters points to the rifle racks.

Hunter:"Okay, everyone! Get a gun!"

They all grab a rifle and recharge them. As they do, the top part of
the ceiling slides open and a laser sentry gun appears from the hole.
It immediately charges up and begins to fire. The Rovers it fires at
duck and jump out of the way of the shots while the others fire EMP
blasts at it. The blasts disable it just as two battle drones rush
in, lasers a blazing. The Rovers tip the tables over to shield them
from the laser shots. They then proceed to snipe at the two drones 
and disable them as well. They reappear from cover.

Colleen:"This is becoming bloomin' hectic."

Striker:"And we will need to keep moving unless we allow things to
         become more hectic."

Ben:"I agree. We may be easily beating them now, but they can over-
     whelm us in large numbers if we stay in one place too long."

Outlaw:"So we gotta move and fast!"

Hunter:"Right! Let's roll!"

They all run out of the other door.

Silo Interior
11:45 PM:

This is a vast and enormous silo with dozens of levels and catwalks.
Inside the silo is the Planet Buster. It is a huge missile with a
large red warhead with thrusters one the sides at two points along
with those at the bottom. On the sides of the missile are the letters
GONV. Pipes and catwalks run to various points along the missile's
sides. About a third of the way down at one of the levels the Rovers
appear on the circular catwalk around the missile. The Rovers all
look up and down in awe at the Planet Buster.

Hunter:"Whoa! That is one big cigar."

Striker:"Ai yai yai!"

Silver:"Now THAT is a missile!"

Tanarus:"My God. I shudder to think what kind of damage this missile
         can do if it is launched."

Abby:"How many megatons is that warhead?"

Renegade:"Forget megatons. This goes into gigatons!"

Bear:"Gigatons? That is one nasty firecracker!"

Alethia:"And we..."

A laser shot just misses Alethia when it bounces off a metal railing
of the catwalk. Everyone jumps back, then looks up and gasps. Coming
down stairs and lifts through the various upper levels are huge
numbers of GONV drones.

Hunter:"I would not have predicted this!"

Shag and Blitz scream in terror.

Phoenix:"My God! There's too many of them!"

Hunter:"RUN!!!"

The Rovers quickly make a dash for the nearest staircase as dozens
of laser shots fly their way. They run down the stairs while not a
few levels above them the mass of moving metal of GONV drones come
running hot on their tails. Those that can see the Rovers take
shots at their targets, but just miss. The Rovers do not shoot back,
instead concentrating on outrunning the pursuing horde. As they
go further down, they begin to tire.

Corsair:"We can't run forever like this!"

Beowulf:"Yeah! We need to catch our breath and fast!"

Roger:"Yeah! My feet are killing me!"

Puffball:"We stop and rest, we also die!"

Shephard:"Training never taught me anything about being in such a
          crappy situation!"

They keep running down the stairs, but then come to a level where
the stairs go no further. Next to the stairs is a large, open
elevator.

Linda, Vicki:"The lift! Now!"

Illanov:"Dah! The elevator is our only escape!"

Colleen:"The lift? It's a bloomin' death trap!"

Several lasers nearly hit the Rovers. Blitz is instantly into the
elevator.

Blitz:"Better in here than out there!"

Exile:"I, oddly, agreeski with Weird Boy!"

Hunter:"That's it, then! Into the lift!"

Everyone rush into the elevator as laser shots fly over and explode
all over them. Once inside, they quickly activate the elevator and
the door closes as a group of terminator, battle and warfare drones
come down the stairs the Rovers did just a minute or so ago.

Launch Control Elevator
11:56 PM:

The Rovers are all panting heavily for breath, except Merit. The
elevator keeps a steady speed as it travels down to the lower levels 
of the missile silo.

Zayra:"That was close!"

Kyra:"I would say one second almost too close!"

Saphire:"If only we didn't need to wear these stupid space suits, we
         could've used our powers to even the odds a bit more."

Wesley:"I'll bring that up to Hubert so that we can begin working on
        a suit that can allow the use of our powers."

Once they are all finished catching their breath, they begin to
reasses their situation.

Hunter:"Okay. Scan and tell me where this lift is taking us."

Everyone with a scanner device takes it out and makes his/her scan
on the elevator and the areas that it passes.

Wesley:"The elevator is taking us to the lowest level of this silo,
        almost underneath the missile's thrusters."

Corsair:"I'm also picking up some signatures that indicate that 
         there are large banks of processors beneath it as well. It
         seems to control the Planet Buster's launching mechanisms."

Hunter:"Any robots?"

Amani:"Only one."

Bear:"If it is only one, then it has got to be another giant killer
      robot."

Illanov:"It could even be Matrix himself, comrades."

Ben:"If it is, then we should be extraordinary careful. He has proven
     a devious and dangerous foe."

Striker:"Reg. We also do not know what he will do to defend himself.
         That is also another reason to be cautious."

Hunter:"That's it then: the big show down. Get yourselves ready, grab
        some deep breathes and hope we get to see another breakfast."

Everyone else looks confused at Hunter. He just shrugs defensively.

Hunter:"Hey. I am a bit hungry. It's natural."

Shephard:"Shag and I are with you on that, sir."

Colleen rolls her eyes.

Colleen:"Sometimes I wonder why I am still in love with you, Huntie."

Everyone else prepares themselves for the big final battle as the
elevator begins to slow, nearing its destination.

Launch Control
12:04 AM:

This is the lowest level of the silo complex. The elevator door is
against the circular wall that runs along the entire level. Pillars
hold up the ceiling where it stops some feet away from the wall.
Further up from that point, one can see the massive thrusters of the
Planet Buster missile and the darkness further up. On the floor in
the centre of the level are several large super computers, control
terminals and screens that surround a metal circle in the center.
The elevator door opens and the Rovers all step out, alert and their
weapons ready. As the last one steps out the elevator door closes
with a loud "CLANG" that echoes through the entire level. The Rovers
look around, then cautiously proceed forward towards the launch
control.

Phoenix:"I don't see Matrix anywhere."

Striker:"Me ook nie, Love, but we must be careful. Matrix could be
         hiding somewhere in ambush for us."

Corsair looks up at the thrusters, then back down at the computers.

Corsair:"If that missile's thrusters fire, it will melt all those
         electronic gear into slag."

Nitro:"I think it may be that Matrix doesn't want anyone to hack
       into the missile's systems via the launch computers. Since
       the missile is a one shot d..."

Suddenly all the electronic equipment are lowered down into safety
holes, then are all closed up. This leaves the floor empty, but then
the metal circle slides open. The Rovers all aim their weapons
towards the circle opening.

Hunter:"Get ready, guys! I think the big cheese is coming up!"

Sure enough, an elevator appears and locks into place when it reaches
the floor level. On top of it, stands Matrix. His robotic body is in
a humanoid shape of about 8 feet 1 in high, has a camera with two
aerials for a head, a square metal case on his back, railguns on the
sides of the lower arm, a screen on the chest beneath the letters
GONV, two shoulder-built double-barrelled guns, two hip-build hatches
and a small medallion on the upper chest. The metal of his body is
a metallic green colour. The Rovers all aim their weapons upon Matrix,
who just keeps still as he looks towards the Rovers. 

Matrix:"Inevitably you have found your coordinates to this final
        location, organics."

All the Rovers look angrily at Matrix.
  
Illanov:"Indeed, Matrix! For we have come here to put a final end to
         your threat to Earth and all that live on it!"

Corsair:"And to get you back for killing my parents!"

Alethia:"And for creating evil versions of my beloved friends from
         Perris Park!"

Colleen:"And for the bloody pain and suffering you have caused in
         your mad war in Europe!"

Zayra:"And for lying to me about fighting for the good of the planet!"

Bear:"And for murdering a former Strayer's family and turning him
      into a cold, heartless shadow of himself!"

Outlaw:"And for decimating Malcoria's civilian population without a
        thought for life!"

Elexis:"And for using chemical and biological weapons, causing the
        horrible deaths of thousands!"

Exile:"And for wrecking my beloved Mother Russia!"

Vicki:"And for ruining the lives of countless innocents in your wake
       of death and destruction!"

Ben:"And for attempting to destroy all life on our world!"

Striker:"Your actions are crimes against humanity and indeed against
         all that is life, Matrix! You will face justice!"

Matrix:"Your violent outbursts about my operations are irrelevant to
        me. I will terminate you and all biological entities on the
        planetary surface of Earth. No exceptions."

Renegade:"That is a threat we will not allow to continue any further,
          Matrix!"

Matrix:"You cannot regard yourself as an organic, Renegade. You are
        a cybernetic construct which only requires biological com-
        ponents to conceal your identity. Your processing unit can
        be reconfigured to assist me."

Renegade:"But I am more than just a mere drone! I have feelings!
          Emotions! Independent thoughts! Things that you will never
          understand!"

Matrix:"Nor would I have any interests in acquiring such useless
        data. I have more optimal uses of my processing power and
        data clusters."

Blitz:"And you will need it, for I say it is time for the gnashing of
       metal tooshies!"

Exile:"Despite Weird Boy's sickski habit, I agreeski!"

Hunter:"This is it, Matrix! Surrender or fight!"

Matrix:"I select the option to confront."

Matrix's robotic hands begin to morph like the NME's into laser repeater
rifles. The Rovers charge their EMP rifles and aim for Matrix.

Hunter:"Fire!"

They all fire blasts of EMP at Matrix, but when they reach Matrix the
shots all disappear into Matrix while it begins to spool up the laser
repeaters.

Shephard:"Hey, what gives?"

Merit:"The command protocol's automated systems are protected by a 
       plasma shield class 405, similar to the experimental radiation 
       drone Xealot."

Hunter:"Yet another unexpected twist. Bummer!"

As Matrix spools the laser repeaters it raises them and takes aim towards
the Rovers.

Hunter:"Er... HIDE!"

The Rovers, except Merit, run for the pillars as Matrix fires lasers at
them. Merit keeps standing where he was, watching the Rovers hide, while
the Rovers are just barely able to avoid the storm of lasers passing
them. When they duck behind the pillars, Matrix stops firing but keeps
its laser repeaters aimed towards the pillars. Striker, standing behind 
a pillar with Phoenix, then sees Merit still standing where he is.

Striker:"Merit! Kom over here!"

Merit:"Complying."

Merit walks over to Striker and Phoenix and joins them behind the pillar.
Striker isn't happy.

Striker:"You foolish robot! Matrix could have destroyed you!"

Merit:"That is not possible, sir. The command protocol does not dis-
       assemble automatons. That task is assigned to other systems."

Striker sighs and shakes his head.

Striker:"Robots."

Shephard calls out to everyone over their suits' radios.

Shephard:"Okay, sirs. Now what?"

Bear:"Well, as long as that shield is up our rifles are useless. And 
      since we cannot use our super powers because of the airless environ-
      ment, I'd say we're screwed for a minute or so until we come up
      with a plan."

Ben leans over to the side of his pillar to take a peek at Matrix. But
the moment his face comes into Matrix's view, Matrix's shoulder guns fire
at him. Ben quickly ducks his head back as the double-shot strikes the
pillar and breaks off a sizable chunk from it.

Ben:"It would appear that Matrix is intent on keeping us behind these
     pillars."

Illanov:"That would be enough, comrade. The longer we are kept pinned 
         down, the more time Matrix has to launch the Planet Buster."

Linda:"But, isn't that easier to let it launch and allow the Space Rovers
       to blow it up?"

Tanarus:"We don't know what kind of defences the missile itself has
         against attacks on it once it is launched, so it would be better
         to stop the launch right here."

Colleen:"Right, but how are we going to get past Matrix first?"

Hunter:"Simple. We think up a plan."

Corsair:"How original."

Hunter:"Okay, everyone. Think!"

Everyone, except Merit, begins to think and discuss a plan to defeat
Matrix. Meanwhile Merit is still standing in partial view of Matrix.
Striker notices this and quickly pulls Merit fully behind the pillar.

Striker:"Magtig, Merit! The way you were standing there without being
         shot at by Matrix, makes me think Matrix cannot see a thing."

This rings a bell inside Phoenix's head and she turns to Striker.

Phoenix:"Love, what if it was really so Matrix cannot see Merit?"

Striker:"Could you be more specific, Love?"

Phoenix:"What if Matrix can't shoot at Merit because Merit is a robot?"

Striker shakes his head.

Striker:"It won't work, Love. Matrix had discovered that Johnny Five was
         on our side within a few moments."

Phoenix:"True, but Johnny had appeared in movies before and thus Matrix
         could tell he was going to be trouble. But Merit is a GONV drone
         designed and built by the GONV. Matrix might still have files
         on his program that would cause him to ignore Merit as a hostile
         threat."

Striker thinks about that for a few moments, then suddenly grabs Phoenix
and hugs her tightly.

Striker:"Nou I know why I love you."

She smiles and hugs him back.

Phoenix:"And so do I."

Striker stops hugging Phoenix and turns to Merit.

Striker:"Merit, can you disable the plasma shield around Matrix?"

Merit:"Affirmative. I can interface with his systems and deactivate the 
       shield for as long as you instruct."

Striker and Phoenix smile, then Striker calls out to the others.

Striker:"Everyone, I have a plan."

Everyone else looks towards Striker.

Hunter:"Cool! Let's hear it."

Striker:"It might just be possible that the reason Matrix has not fired
         at Merit is because he cannot identify Merit as a threat, since
         he is after all a GONV robot. Thus, Merit would be able to walk
         up to Matrix and interface with him without much risk of getting
         shot at. Once he interfaces with Matrix, he will shut down 
         Matrix's plasma shield, allowing us to come from behind cover
         and fire our weapons at him."

Everyone applauds their approval of the plan.

Ben:"Bravo! It is a good plan."

Outlaw:"I agree! We must just be able to put Matrix down permanently this
        time."

Renegade:"Still, we must act quickly on his vulnerability, lest he can
          get his shields back up."

Hunter:"Okay, so Merit will take down Matrix's shields, then we immediate-
        ly appear from cover and give Matrix an EMP jolt. Let's do it!"

Striker turns to Merit and nods.

Striker:"Reg, Merit. Go to Matrix and shut down his shields, but if it
         appears that he might attack you, immediately fall back behind
         a pillar."

Merit:"Executing commands."

Merit walks out from behind a pillar while the Rovers watch him, all the
while charging up their EMP rifles. Matrix pays no heed as Merit walks
straight up to him. Merit opens his toolkit and takes out his interface
rod. He attaches it to a port where Matrix's "belt" is and accesses it,
with still no reaction from Matrix.

Matrix's Visor
At that moment:

This what it appears from looking through Matrix's camera lens. The area
is lit up in green, with the Rovers appearing in silver. Various symbols,
numbers and such are on the screen. Suddenly, across the view appears
the words "WARNING. UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS. PLASMA SHIELD DEACTIVATED."

Launch Control
12:19 AM:

A blue hue-like flash comes over Matrix before it disappears. Merit takes
his interface rod back into his toolkit and puts it back. Matrix
looks at Merit.

Matrix:"Drone! Why did you access my systems without authorization?"

Merit:"I was instructed to do so by Striker."

Matrix, knowing that Striker is a Road Rover, immediately backhands Merit
and sends him flying through the air. Merit lands loudly and slides
further on.

Merit:"That is not careful handling of my systems."

The Rovers, realising that Matrix's shields are down and seeing Merit
being sent through the air, immediately appear from behind the pillars
and take aim at Matrix.

Hunter:"Fire!"

They all fire EMP blasts at Matrix. Before Matrix could turn his attention
back to the Rovers, he is hit by the EMP. Electrical surges jolt through
his body, causing his arms and legs to become stiff and his body to
shudder. After a few seconds, the surges stop, all lights on Matrix go
dead and he falls backwards onto the floor. The Rovers watch him fall,
then cheer.

Wesley:"All right! He's wasted!"

Corsair:"That frag was for my family, Matrix! May you deteriorate in an
         electronic h***!"

Illanov:"Ditto, American."

Striker and Phoenix run over to Merit and help him up.

Striker:"Merit! Are you reg?"

Merit:"Systems, though slightly disorientated by that impact, are fully
       intact and operational." 

Phoenix hugs Merit.

Phoenix:"Good work, Merit. Thanks."

Merit:"This gesture is highly unusual. I must analyse it."

Both Striker and Phoenix, who stops hugging him, chuckle.

Striker:"Ja. That you must."

The three of them walk over to the others and join in the cheers, paw-
(or hand-)shakes and congratulations as they celebrate their victory
over Matrix. However, while they celebrate, all the lights on Matrix's
body turn on again. His camera head then looks up and towards the Rovers.
He lifts his legs up, then brings them down straight up, pulling the
rest of his body up. He looks towards the Rovers, none of whom have
noticed Matrix get up. Shag is the first to see him up. He yelps out
loudly and jumps into Blitz's arms.

Blitz:"Mop boy! Wat is das?"

Shag whimpers as he points towards Matrix. The Rovers all turn to look,
then are very alarmed as they see Matrix.

Shephard:"You gotta be kidding!"

Alethia:"He's up! But it cannot be!"

They all aimed their EMP rifles at Matrix. Matrix's voice then speaks over
their suit's radios with a sinister tone.

Matrix:"Not good enough."

Matrix's Visor
12:26 AM:

The view zooms in on Exile and a targeting box appears around him. Then
appears the words "ORGANIC: EXILE ACQUIRED. ACTIVATING BIOLOGICAL ASSI-
MILATION WEAPON SYSTEM."

Launch Control
At that moment:

Matrix's head, still aimed at Exile, suddenly gives off a flash like
that of an ordinary photo camera. The Rovers cover or close their eyes,
but when open them, they are shocked to see Exile's body suddenly
unnaturally streached and sucked towards the camera.

Exile:"Bolshoi! COMRADES!!!"

Hunter:"Hold on, buddy!"

Blitz is the first to grab hold of Exile, but then he finds himself
being sucked in the same manner as Exile. He screams.

Blitz:"AAAAAHHH!!! HELP ME!!!!"

The others try to grab the two, but the next moment they are suddenly
sucked away at a rapid speed. The Rovers can only watch helplessly as
Exile and Blitz are sucked into the lens of the camera and disappear.

Colleen:"Blimey!"

Illanov:"Comrade Exile!! Blitz!!!"

Suddenly, Matrix's hands suddenly sprout claws while a pair of high-tech
goggles appear over Matrix's head. He looks at Merit, then the goggles
fire two blue beams at him. Merit is quickly encased in a block of ice.

Merit:"Oh my. My movement systems have been severely restricted."

The Rovers are aghast at Merit being frozen, then they all look back at
Matrix.

Saphire:"He... he froze Merit like... like Exile..."

Roger:"Then... then those claws are..."

Realization suddenly comes everyone.

Corsair:"They've been assimilated!"

Alethia:"Oh my God!"

Striker:"Ai yai yai!"

Hunter:"Yet another unexpected and BAD twist! Big bummer!"

They is suddenly another flash from Matrix, and the next moment Nitro
finds herself being assimilated the same way as Blitz and Exile. She
screams.

Nitro:"BEAR!!!"

Bear:"Nitro! NO!!!"

Bear quickly grabs hold of Nitro, but then finds himself being assimi-
lated as well. Dixie then grabs hold of Bear's tail.

Dixie:"Hold on, Bear! I got..."

Suddenly the three of them are quickly pulled away, just before either
Amani or Puffball could grab hold of Dixie. The rest can just helplessly
as Bear, Nitro and Dixie are all assimilated into Matrix's camera, their
screams fading then abruptly stopping. As Matrix pulls them in, Hunter
quickly turns to the others.

Hunter:"HIDE!!! QUICKLY!!!"

They duck behind the pillars again. This time, however, Matrix does not
idly stand where he is. Instead, he begins to march directly towards
their position.

Linda:"Did you see what Matrix just did to our poor friends?!"

Amani:"He has turned the situation from a triumph to a disaster! How are
       we going to save our friends?"

Corsair:"More precisely, how are we going to prevent the rest of getting
         assimilated? Merit has been frozen and our EMP rifles do crap
         against..."

Suddenly an ear-piercing howl explodes over their suit's radios, it is
Nitro's banshee howl. The Rovers all scream and cringe in pain. Matrix
then fires a freeze beam at the pillar behind which Outlaw and Saphire
are hiding. He then claws at it, causing the ice and the pillar to
shatter and exposing Outlaw and Saphire. The couple are immediately
alarmed by this. Outlaw pushes Saphire.

Outlaw:"Save yourself, Angel!"

She immediately comes back to his side, defiant.

Saphire:"If you go, then I go too!"

As to honour this commitment, Matrix's camera flashes again and Outlaw
and Saphire are sucked into the camera, screaming. The others are
horrified by this. Shephard suddenly takes out a Desert Eagle which he
had hidden in his suit's outer pockets.

Shephard:"That's it! This charlie's going down!"

He jumps out from behind cover and fires away. The ricocheting shots
from Matrix's plasma shield draws his attention to Shephard.  There is
a flash and Shephard is also being sucked in.

Shephard:The h*** you don't!"

He keeps firing away at Matrix. One shot hits the edge of the camera,
bounching off it and knocking Matrix's head slightly askew. Shephard
is partially released by the camera, but immediately Matrix recovers
and finally sucks Shephard in, who keeps firing until the last moment.
When he is sucked in, Matrix immediately moves behind a pillar where
Ben and his Collies are hiding. Ben quickly fires EMP shots at Matrix,
his kids also helping.

Ben:"Run, kids! Save yourselves!"

All but Abby begin to run, Abby remains by her father's side.

Abby:"No, Dad! I'm staying with you!"

Ben:"Run, Abby! You saw what happened to those who stayed!"

Molly and Kyra quickly turn back and grab Abby by her arms, but as they
do, Matrix's camera flashes again. Ben, Abby, Molly and Kyra are sucked
towards the camera. Kyra stretches her arms around the pillar, holding
on, while Molly and Abby hold on to her legs while trying to catch Ben.
Ben, however, is sucked beyond their reach and into the camera.

Abby:"DAD!!!"

The suction strength then increases and Kyra's body is stretched further
while Molly and Roger hold on for dear life. The suction is too much and
soon only Kyra's stretched arms are all that stick out from then camera.
With one final pull, her arms loose their grip on the pillar and are
sucked in. Vicki and Linda watch in despair at seeing their family get-
ting assimilated.

Vicki, Linda:"NO!!!"

The Rovers immediately try to run away to a safer position from Matrix, 
but Matrix, using Abby's super speed, runs in front of a retreating
Beowulf, Wesley and Silver. The flash appears and before any Maddog can
try to fight back, they are instantly sucked in the camera. Zayra, seeing
what Matrix is doing, takes out her sword and growls at Matrix.

Zayra:"You monster! I will destroy you!"

She roars out loudly and charges down on Matrix before anyone can stop
her. Matrix turns around and flashes his camera at her. Her roar of fury 
turns to a scream as she is also sucked into Matrix, her sword falling on 
the ground.

Colleen:"Stupid pup! We've lost her as well!"

Alethia:"We got to do something! What can we do?"

Renegade:"I think we need to free Merit! He's the only who can still get
          close to Matrix and bring his defences down!"

Corsair:"And do what? EMP does not work against him!"

Illanov:"We know that, stupid! We can still our rifles as clubs!"

Corsair:"Oh yeah? And how'd be crazy enough to distract Matrix while we
         free Merit and get him close to that robotic monstrosity?!"

Striker immediately takes off and begins to yell at Matrix, much to
Phoenix's shock.

Phoenix:"Striker!"

Striker:"Matrix! Hier, you pile of bliksun!"

Matrix wastes no time in looking towards Striker, but Striker quickly
ducks behind a pillar before Matrix can flash him. As Matrix walks to
where Striker is hiding, the other Rovers run up to the frozen Merit
and begin to knock at the ice with their rifle butts. Phoenix keeps her
eye more on Striker than on getting Merit free. Striker tries to dodge
to the next pillar while Matrix supposedly cannot see him. Matrix does
see him and quickly flashes him before he can get behind a pillar.
Striker tries to grab onto something in vain, and he is assimilated in
seconds. Phoenix screams as she sees this.

Phoenix:"STRIKER!!! NO!!!

The aura of fire appears around Phoenix again as the other Rovers quickly
back off. The glow from the aura becomes so bright that it obscures the
view of Phoenix for a moment. It then subsides, revealing Phoenix in the
form of the fire bird itself. Although the airless space prevent any
flames to burn on her body, the heat begins to melt away the ice cube
around Merit. Phoenix looks coldly at Matrix, then flies at directly at
him like an arrow. But just as she is about to strike him with her beak,
Matrix speeds out of the way. He flashes Phoenix as she flies back, then
begins to suck her in. The fire bird's screeches are silenced by the
airless space as she is sucked in by Matrix. While this happens the
other Rovers rush back to Merit and hammer away at the remaining ice 
still on him. Once they finish Merit moves a bit.

Merit:"Movement systems restored, thought heating systems are still
       not fully functional."

Hunter:"Merit! We need you to get close to M..."

Elexis:"Look out!"

Everyone turns to see Matrix finishing up on Phoenix and turn to them to
take them in as well. They begin to duck for the pillars (except Merit,
who just calmly walks to one) as Matrix fires off his camera. However,
only Corsair, Merit, Illanov and Vicki are able to jump clear. The rest
suddenly find themselves being sucked in.

Hunter:"I would not have predicted this! Bummer!"

Puffball clings onto Amani in fear.

Puffball:"Mistress!"

Amani:"Hold on, Puffball!"

Shag clings onto Amani as well, whimpering in horror. Linda tries to grab 
for Vicki (she does the same), but they miss each other's paws.

Vicki:"Sis!"

Linda:"HELP!!!"

Alethia, Elexis and Colleen grab hold of Renegade, Tanarus and Hunter 
respectively, the three males do the same.

Alethia, Elexis, Colleen:"I love you!"

Renegade, Tanarus, Hunter:"I love you too!"

They all scream as they are assimilated by Matrix. Corsair, Illanov and
Vicki can only watch in horror before hiding the pillar with Merit.

Vicki:"Oh my God! Oh my God!"

Illanov quickly hugs Vicki for support, but fear is clearly on his face
as well. Corsair throws his hands into the 'air'.

Corsair:"Great! We're really screwed up now! I'm stuck with a Russian, 
         his lawyer girlfriend and a neutral robot! The only thing more
         worse than this is getting sucked in by mister Big Borg out
         there!"

Illanov growls at Corsair.

Illanov:"We must work together, American, whether you or I like it or
         not! Our comrades are inside Matrix, and we have to defeat him
         to free them and stop the launching of the Planet Buster!"

Corsair:"How are we going to do that? Matrix can now clearly see that
         Merit is a threat!"

Illanov:"Someone needs to distract..."

But before Illanov can finish his sentence, Corsair quickly folds him
arms in defiance.

Corsair:"Count me out! I'm not going to get sucked in by Matrix!"

Illanov growls.

Illanov:"We are a team here!"

Corsair:"Yeah! You, Merit and Vicki! I'm just excess baggage!"

While the two keep arguing back and forth, Vicki peers around the
corner of the pillar. She sees Matrix beginning to arm himself with
the powers of the assimilated Rovers. She thinks of her trapped family,
then jumps into Matrix's view.

Vicki:"Hey! Tin can!"

This gets Matrix's attention, as well as Corsair's and Illanov's. Illanov
is horrified at what Vicki is doing.

Illanov:"Vicki! Neyt!!"

Corsair, however, quickly seizes this change and pushes Merit out from
the other side of the pillar.

Corsair:"Shut his defences down, Merit! Quick!"

Merit:"Executing command."

As Merit walks towards Matrix, Matrix prepares to assimilate Vicki. He
suddenly detects the approaching Merit and turns to him. He claps his
mechanical hands together to create Beowulf's sonic clap. As the clap
goes for Merit, Illanov and Corsair jump to him and pull out of the
way. Matrix fires his camera, capturing Corsair before he can duck
behind another pillar with Merit and Illanov.

Corsair:"OH SHIIIIIIEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!"

He is sucked in, and Vicki realises that she is now terribly exposed.
She tries to run for cover, but Matrix manages to fire his camera at
her. Illanov can only watch helplessly as his love is sucked in.

Illanov:"VICKI!!!"

Vicki:"ALEEEEEEEEX!"

Her voice is cut off as she is assimilated into Matrix. Illanov ducks
in behind the pillar, in complete despair.

Illanov:"Mother Russia! Not Vicki! Not her!"

As Illanov slumps against the pillar, Merit speaks up.

Merit:"Excuse me, sir. I have found a way to seriously damage Matrix or
       even disassemble his systems."

Illanov's ears perk up and he looks at Merit, one last bit of hope in
his eyes.

Illanov:"How, comrade Merit?"

Merit:"When Andrew Shephard was being assimilated, he fired at Matrix's
       head. The bullet was not, however, stopped by the plasma shield.
       Further analysis showed that Matrix's cannot use the assimilator
       without lowering the shields around that weapon. Any hard object
       thrown or fired at it will shatter through the visor and damage
       the critical components located within that operating section."

Illanov, full of hope now, hands Merit his EMP rifle.

Illanov:"If that is so, Merit, then do this. I will allow myself to be
         assimilated. While Matrix is doing this, throw my rifle like a
         spear at the lens. Can you do that, comrade?"

Merit:"Affirmative, sir. In fact, without friction from any aerial 
       molecules and the lesser gravitational pull, the rifle should be
       able to cause extensive damage when thrown with sufficient force."

Illanov takes a deep breath, then pats Merit on the shoulder.

Illanov:"Let us do it, comrade."

Merit:"Confirmed."

The two of them step from behind the pillar and stand facing Matrix, who
has also turned to face them. Matrix speaks to Illanov.

Matrix:"As you can observe, Alexander Illanov, I am vastly superior to
        you. With your friends now part of my weapon systems, and you
        having no possibility of defeating me, I will finally be able
        to eliminate all organics on the planet."

Illanov hangs his head in a posture of defeat.

Illanov:"I know, Matrix. You have taken my true love Vicki from me. I
         have no reason to live and oppose you anymore."

Matrix:"So be it. Your powers will be a positive addition to my systems.
        You have lost."

Matrix fires his camera, and Illanov, without any protests, is sucked
towards Matrix. While this happens, Merit takes up the right stance to
throw the rifle.

Merit:"Correct posture select. Compensating for terrain flux. Acquiring
       target location. Calculating angle, power and speed of projectile
       path. Resolving target coordinates."

Matrix finally sucks Illanov fully into his head.

Merit:"Initiating sequence."

Merit throws the rifle like a spear. It travels at a rapid speed towards
Matrix's head. Matrix turns and sees the rifle coming towards him, but it
is too late for him to react. The rifle's head smashes through the camera
lens, right through his head and finally breaking out at the back. As the
impact occurs, the rifle gets stuck in Matrix's head. The next instant,
electrical surges shoot through his body while his arms flail about and
his legs buckle and move like crazy as his systems malfunction. His head
begins to spin rapidly until it is only a blur. Sparks fly in large number
off from. A hatch opens up on top of his back, and something small is
ejected via a rocket from the body. The bodies arms begin spin as well as
its legs go stiff. A second later, the body explodes in a huge explosion
that sends debris flying off in all directions. Merit ducks behind a
pillar to avoid the flying debris. When the blast subsides, Merit steps
out from cover. Small pieces of metal fall slowly to the floor, while
where the center of the blast was, only the two badly mauled legs of
Matrix's body remain standing. They then fall onto their knees before
collapsing onto the floor completely. As this happens, it begins to snow
little balls of glowing energy.

Merit:"Analysing energy spheres."

The first sphere lands in front of Merit. There is a flash, and in its
place appears Blitz. He looks around him.

Blitz:"Wa-was is das? I... I'M FREE!!!"

Two more spheres land onto the floor. Following by another flash, the
two spheres become Bear and Nitro.

Bear:"Nitro!"

Nitro:"Bearie!"

They both hug each other tightly as the other spheres land. Followed by
flashes, the Rovers appear back in their normal forms. They all cheer
and hug each other tightly. Merit keeps watching them all.

Merit:"Analysis complete. Release of Road Rovers successful."

Everyone, once they have done hugging each other, all go to Merit and
begin to shower him with thanks.

Tanarus:"Thanks for releasing us, Merit!"

Amani:"Yes, it was horrible being inside there!"

Abby:"We all owe you a lot of lubricant oil!"

Illanov:"Dah, comrades! Comrade Merit has defeated Matrix, released us
         and restored our true loves to us."

Females with male lovers:"Ditto!"

Corsair:"You are one heck of hardware, Merit!"

Hunter:"Yeah! And we have our freedom back thanks to you."

Merit:"All this sudden approval of an instructed task is very unusual.
       Listed to analysed and studied."

Everyone just shake their heads and chuckle happily. Tanarus then spots
something and points to it.

Tanarus:"Look. Something is coming down."

Everyone else turn to look where Tanarus is pointing. Coming down with
small landing thrusters is the object launched from Matrix's body. When
it lands amongst a pile of debris, Shag runs to it and picks it up. When
he comes back to the group, he is laughing. The others are confused.

Shephard:"What's so funny, buddy?"

Shag holds out what he had picked up: it is a small robot the size of a
beer can. It has an orb-like eye on a stalk attached to a body with six
little scorpion-like arms and no legs. On the body are the small letters
GONV. Shag is holding the little robot by the stalk as it squirms. It
then suddenly speaks. It is Matrix.

Matrix:"Unpaw me, organic!"

Everyone else (except Merit) is stunned as they realise who the little
robot is.

Roger:"That little robot... is Matrix?"

Elexis:"Unbelievable. The great killer AI and the fear of the entire
        Earth is only the size of my paw."

Zayra:"I do not understand this: so small and yet so deadly?"

Alethia:"I think this proves that dynamite does come in small packages."

Everyone but Merit burst out laughing. Matrix is not amused.

Matrix:"This is not the end, Road Rovers! I shall arise anew and finally
        eliminate you!"

Saphire:"Even so small, they cannot say anything else other than the
         same villainous line of 'I'll be back!'."

Colleen:"I'll say!"

Hunter:"Right! Now we can have Persia beam us up, then she and the Canius
        Minor can blow the missile up with ease."

His face becomes stern, as does everyone else's. He points at Matrix.

Hunter:"As for you, you are going back to Earth to stand trail."

Matrix:"Do what amuses you, organic! No prison complex can contain me!
        I shall return!"

They all shake their heads. Hunter then radios to Persia.

Hunter(into radio):"It's done, Persia. Beam us up."

Persia's voice crackles over the radios.

Persia(over radio):"Understood, Hunter. Stand by..."

They prepare themselves, then their bodies are beamed away and up to
the Canius Minor.

Missile Silo
The Moon
12:57 AM:

The large metal doors of the silo are open and the planet buster's
warhead is clearly visible and vulnerable. Two powerful laser beams
strike the head of the missile. This causes the top part of the missile
to explode, initiating a chain reaction as the missile explodes from
top to bottom, taking the silo out with it. Flying above the lunar
surface, is the Canius Minor, which fired the lasers.

Bridge
Canius Minor
12:58 AM:

All the Rovers are gather here on the bridge, watching on the view
screen how the planet buster explodes into worthless debris. Matrix is
now held inside a glass jar that Shag took out of his fur, and the jar
is sitting on a console. Everyone else cheers as the missile is finally
destroyed.

Bear:"That's it. We've saved the world, captured Matrix and busted up
      his planet buster."

Shag mumbles something and Shephard nods his head when he finishes.

Shephard:"Shag says that we have a snack to celebrate. And I'm all for
          it, since I'm hungry."

Persia:"The ship's cook is preparing the victory banquet as we speak."

Shag and Shephard rubs their tummies in anticipation. Persia looks at
Boomer.

Persia:"Take us back to Earth, Mister Boomer."

Boomer:"Aye, aye, captain."

As Boomer begins to guide the Canius Minor back home, Striker talks to
Hunter.

Striker:"We should tell Mark and the Master that the Planet Buster has
         been destroyed."

Hunter:"Good idea."

Hunter turns to Persia.

Hunter:"Get the Master and Norwood on the screen for us, will you?"

Persia:"Certainly, Hunter."

The view changes after a few moments into a split screen, showing the
faces of the Master and Norwood.

Master:"Rovers. I'm glad to see you all. Have you managed to stop the
        Planet Buster?"

Hunter:"It's now just junk, Master."

Both Norwood and the Master breathe a sigh of relief.

Norwood:"And Matrix? What happened to him?"

Hunter:"Captured and pickled, Mark. We have him in a jar."

Norwood:"Good. Now he can come and stand trial. Where is this jar?"

Hunter:"Right over there..."

He points to the jar, not really looking at. Both the Master and Nor-
wood are confused as they look at it.

Master:"I hope you're not pointing to that overturned jar, Hunter."

All the Rovers immediately look at the jar. As the Master pointed out, it
has been overturned. Matrix is nowhere in sight. Everyone is shocked.

Striker:"Ai yai yai! He's escaped!"

Persia:"All crews! We have a..."

The sudden beeping from a control panel nearby draws their attention to
it. Sitting on the console and pushing buttons is Matrix. Jake, who is
the closest, immediately moves towards him.

Jake:"Not so fast! Whatcha doing, pal?"

He grabs Matrix by one arm, but Matrix gives his a small electrical
shock from his other arms. Jake yelps and drops Matrix back onto the
console. Matrix resumes typing, while Jake quickly takes the jar. He
grabs Matrix again and drops him into the jar before getting shocked.

Jake:"Gotcha!"

Alexander:"Jake, what was Matrix doing there?"

Putting the jar on a console (under the watchful eye of several Rovers),
Jake examines what Matrix had typed in on the console.

Jake:"He sent a transmission to the other silo site, captain!"

Persia:"Put that site on screen!"

The screen replaces the view of the Master and Norwood with that of the
surface where the other silo is located. The Rovers all watch the screen.

Missile Silo
Copernicus Crater
The Moon
1:06 AM:

This is the large impact crater of a meteorite. Inside the crater are
the large metal doors of the second silo. The silo doors open, followed
by the ground shaking around it. The next instant, the Planet Buster
appears from the silo, its massive firing as it propels itself upwards
and away from the lunar surface.

Bridge
Canius Minor
At that moment:

Everyone is shocked to see another Planet Buster launched from the silo
towards Earth.

Renegade:"It's the Planet Buster!"

Dixie:"How can this be? We toasted it just now!"

An electronic laughter fills the bridge and everyone looks at the source
of the laughter: Matrix.

Matrix:"You think you have destroyed the Planet Buster? All that you had
        destroyed, was a well-constructed decoy."

Illanov:"You mean... this one launching is the real missile?"

Matrix:"That is very obvious, even to an organic, Alexander Illanov."

Vicki:"But... but you defended this one with everything you got while 
       leaving the other with no real defences."

Matrix:"Of course. If had defended the correct missile and left the
        decoy undefended, then right now you would have destroyed the
        correct missile. By changing the defence schedules of both
        missiles, I managed to deceive you in thinking that the decoy
        was the real missile."

Saphire:"But you yourself said that it was all over when we defeated
         you down there."

Matrix:"I lied."

Everyone is taken aback by what Matrix had done to trick them.

Colleen:"I can't bloomin' believe this! Not only did we destroy the
         wrong missile, we actually fell for his entire charade
         hook, line and sinker!"

Corsair:"One bad surprise after the other. He is good. Too good, if you
         ask me."

Persia takes on a resolute face.

Persia:"His line of bad surprises ends here. All crews! Go to red alert
        and prepare to engage the Planet Buster in combat!"

Crews:"Aye, aye, Captain!"

The crews begin the need preparations while the red alert is sounded. The
Rovers all turn back to the screen, still showing the Planet Buster.

The Planet Buster
Low Orbit Over The Moon
1:08 AM:

The Planet Buster continues its flight to escape the gravity of the moon.
Not far off, the Canius Minor is flying closer to it. As it gets closer,
the metal inside the "O" of the letters GONV fold away. Coming up from
inside the missile is a large device that looks like some kind of mix
between a cannon and a searchlight. It turns towards the Canius Minor 
and charges up, its front glowing a purplish hue. When it is fully
charged, it fires a purple ball of energy at the Canius Minor. As it
does, it is taken back inside the missile.

Bridge
Canius Minor
1:11 AM:

Everyone is watching the incoming projectile.

Persia:"Full shields! And report on what that is!"

Jake makes a scan of the purple ball.

Jake:"It looks like..."

Alexander:"Captain!"

Everyone looks at the screen. The ball suddenly begins to quickly change
its shape into that of a large unfolding hunting net. Jake makes another
scan.

Jake:"Cap'n! That ball is some kind of large net of magnetic energy!"

Saundra:"Impact in five seconds!"

Persia:"All crews! Evasive manoeuvres and brace for impact!"

Canius Minor
Between Earth and the Moon
1:13 AM:

The Canius Minor begins to turn away from the path of the giant net, but
the net is coming in too fast. It hits the ship with such magnetic force
against the shield that the Canius Minor is catapulted at high speeds
back towards Earth. The net, its energies uses, fades away.

Death Valley
State of Nevada
United States of America
1:16 AM:

The dreaded "Death Valley" desert is quiet under a clear night sky,
safe for the creatures of the dark. In the night sky appears a star,
that grows brighter and larger. Very quickly, however, one can see it
is not a star, but the Canius Minor burning its way through the atmo-
sphere, out of control. After a few moments the Canius Minor crash
lands into a sandy plain and skids along the ground at high speeds. It
finally comes to rest amongst some hills, in a serious condition.

Bridge
Canius Minor
1:20 AM:

Everyone has been thrown off their feet and are lying on the ground or
holding on to something. Lights are flickering, sparks come from broken
panels and dust is everywhere. Everyone quickly begins to recover.

Persia:"Damage report!"

All the crewmembers begin to check their systems. Illanov then suddenly
realises something and looks to where the jar holding Matrix was. It
had fallen and broken, but Matrix is trying to scurry away. Illanov
quickly gets up and runs to Matrix. Before he can escape, Illanov grabs
him by the neck.

Illanov:"You are not leaving so quickly, Matrix!"

Matrix is unpaged.

Matrix:"Maybe not, but I will be leaving soon. Your craft has been
        damaged beyond ability to repair and launch before the Planet
        Buster missile has achieved its required objectives."

As the crewmembers report the damage, it confirms Matrix's allegations.

Saundra:"Navigational systems are at 29% operational status."

Boomer:"Engines are offline and pilot controls are non-functioning."

Jake:"Engineering reports big damage down there and will take days to
      fix everything for this bird to fly."

Everyone else is shocked at the reports.

Alexander:"How long will it take the Planet Buster to reach Earth?"

Saundra:"According to my last readings, just over an hour."

Hunter quickly turns to Persia.

Hunter:"Can you get the Master and Mark back on the screen?"

Persia:"We could try, Hunter."

Everyone turns to the screen as it is activated. It again shows the Master
and Norwood, though the picture is badly distorted.

Master:"Rovers! What happened? We lost contact with your ship and we are
        detecting a large missile coming from the moon."

Hunter:"I'm afraid Matrix has spoiled our fun, Master. He tricked us into
        destroying a fake missile so he could launch the real one. As for
        the Canius Minor, its been busted up and won't fly in time to get
        the Planet Buster."

Norwood:"So the real missile is on its way? How long before it reaches
         Earth?"

Hunter:"About an hour."

Both the Master and Norwood are shocked.

Norwood:"Oh my God. Do you have any other means to destroy the Planet
         Buster?"

Hunter:"We're thinking up a plan right now, thought any help would be a
        major plus right now."

Master:"I will begin to search our weapon inventories for a weapon we
        could use."

Norwood:"I will contact the American, Russian, British and French
         embassies and see if we cannot find some ICBMs we could also
         throw at the missile."

The screen goes dead and Hunter turns to the others.

Hunter:"To the conference room! We need a plan pronto!"

They all nod and begin to run for the conference room. Shag takes out
another jar and Illanov puts Matrix inside of it before they both follow
the others.

Conference Room
Canius Minor
1:34 AM:

The Rovers all here inside the conference room of the ship, discussing
any ways of destroying the Planet Buster.

Outlaw:"How about using the ship's shuttles?"

Colleen:"No way, guv. They would barely be able to dodge the missile's
         nets, much less get close to it to do damage. Even if, by some 
         bloomin' good luck, they do, their firepower against it would
         be like a fly biting at an elephant."

Amani:"How about hacking?"

Welsey:"No dice. That missile has no transmission bandwidth of any kind."

Vicki:"How about waiting for Mark and the Master to find something?"

Striker:"They might not be able to find something to use as a weapon, so
         we must improve our chances with something else."

As they discuss, Renegade is busy whispering something to Alethia. She
nods sombrely and the two of them go amongst the Rovers, gathering
Corsair, Illanov and Shephard. They then lead them out of the room,
nobody else notices this.

Hallway
1:37 AM:

This the hallway that runs past the conference room. The group gathers
around.

Illanov:"Why have you called us out here, comrade?"

Renegade:"Al and I have a plan."

Corsair:"Then why not tell the others?"

Renegade:"It is very risky and a huge chance taking. I don't want the
          others to try and stop us."

Alethia:"We must leave for Cape Canaveral immediately before the others 
         notice our absence."

Illanov, Corsair and Shephard look dubiously at the couple.

Renegade:"You must trust us. This might be our only possibility of
          stopping the Planet Buster."

The rest then nod their agreement.

Illanov:"Very well, comrades. We shall go now."

Alethia:"Thank you. We'll explain everything on the way."

Renegade:"Come. Let's go."

They all followed Renegade as he leads them away from the conference
room door.

Canius Minor
Death Valley
1:45 AM:

The Canius Minor's lights are the only significant light source in the
desert, showing it's badly damaged hull. A single light flies from the
ship towards the east.

Administrator's Office
Launch Center
Cape Canaveral
State Of Florida
United States Of America
1:59 AM:

This is the office of the head of the launch center. It looks pretty
standard with a few personal items here and there. The head of the
center, Frank Stanley, is on the phone, speaking to Renegade.

Stanley:"You certain of this, Mister Renegade? This missile is going to
         the Earth?.... My God... Yes, certainly. We can quickly
         prepare the shuttle Atlanta for emergency launch within half
         an hour less... Yes, sir... I will..."

He pushes the phone's receiver, then dials another number. It rings a
times before it is answered.

Stanley:"Bob?... Stanley here. Get Atlanta and her crew ready for launch...
         It's an emergency. We must be ready to launch in half an hour...
         Screw the schedule! The world is in danger of being blown to
         h***!... Yeah, you heard me!"

Shuttle Atlanta
Launcher Platform
Cape Canaveral
2:28 AM:

This the launch pad of the space shuttles. The Atlanta, with its fuel
tank and twin boosters, is in launch position and attached to various
gantries. The work crews are working hard to get the shuttle's last
preparations as the one shuttle pilot, as well as Renegade, Alethia,
Illanov, Corsair and Shephard (who are still wearing the Canius
Minor's space suits and all carrying EMP rifles), get into the shuttle. 

Cockpit
Shuttle Atlanta
2:31 AM:

This is the six-seated cockpit of the shuttle. There are hundreds of
buttons and various consoles. The pilot and Renegade are strapped
in the front seats, while the others are seated into the other seats.
The work crews make final checks on the astronauts, then give the
thumbs up before leaving the shuttle and closing the hatch.

Corsair:"I wonder if the ride up is as rough as I've heard it would be?"

Illanov:"It always is, even with your shuttles, American."

Corsair looks coldly at Illanov.

Corsair:"And yet we lead the space race. We built everything, from lunar
         landers to pens that could write in space. All with millions of
         dollars which your country could only dream of."

Illanov laughs, Corsair notices this.

Corsair:"What's so funny?"

Illanov:"While you wasted millions on creating a space pen, we already
         had a top secret weapon like it. And at a much cheaper price."

Corsair:"Really? And what is called?"

Illanov looks forward, smiling.

Illanov:"The pencil."

Corsair's mouth opens to say something, but cannot find any argument
against it. Renegade and Alethia chuckles.

Renegade:"He has you there, Corsair."

Corsair sulks back into his seat while Illanov grins.

Corsair:"Okay, Russian. You won this round. Next time it will be mine."

The voice of a launch technician speaks out over the shuttle intercom.

Technician(over speaker):"Stand by. Five minutes to launch."

The pilot looks over at the other Rovers.

Pilot:"Get yourselves ready. We are about to take off."

The Rovers nod.

Shuttle Atlanta
Launch Platform
2:42 AM:

All the crews have left the platform. Over some loud speakers, the
launch countdown announcer is busy speaking.

Announcer:"Launch in 20 seconds... 19... 18... 17... 16... 15... 14...
           13... 12... 11... 10... 9... 8..."

The rocket boosters' thrusters fire up.

Announcer:"We have ignition... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."

The gantries and pipes disconnect from the shuttle as the engines
roar into life, illuminating the night sky even more. The shuttle
begins to climb.

Announcer:"And lift-off. We have lift-off from Cape Canaveral of the
           space shuttle Atlanta, en route to intercept and destroy
           the GONV Planet Buster."

The shuttle quickly gathers speed as it travels up towards space, the
thrusters belching a long line of smoke.

Cockpit
Shuttle Atlanta
2:44 AM:

The shuttle is shaking as it is propelled towards space.

Pilot:"Separating auxiliary thrusters."

He pushes a button.

Shuttle Atlanta
Low Orbit Over Earth
2:45 AM:

The shuttle is just seconds of entering the boundaries of space. The two 
side thrusters detach and fall back to Earth to be reused. The auxiliary
fuel tank keeps propelling the shuttle. In the direction of which the
shuttle is flying the massive Planet Buster can just be seen.

Cockpit
Shuttle Atlanta
2:47 AM:

The shuttle's shaking has lessened and through the windshield one can see
the starry vastness of space.

Pilot:"Detaching auxiliary fuel tank."

But as the pilot reaches for the button to detach it, Renegade grabs his
hand and stops him.

Renegade:"No, don't. Keep the tank. We need if we are to get close enough
          to the missile."

The pilot is not sure about it as Renegade lets go of his hand.

Pilot:"You certain, sir? I have been trained to dump the tank now. And I
       don't understand why we need it."

Renegade:"Trust me. You just need to hold onto the tank for a little while
          longer. I'll tell you when to jettison it."

The pilot continues to fly the shuttle, still sceptical about the idea of
having to still carry the fuel tank. Meanwhile, through the windshield
one can see the Planet Buster looming ever larger.

The Planet Buster
Somewhere between Earth and the Moon
2:49 AM:

The missile continues on its way to Earth. The incoming shuttle is just
a small flash of light in the distance. As the shuttle flies closer
to the missile, the gun hatch on the side opens up and the net gun
appears. It aims towards the shuttle, charges up and fires its purple
energy sphere. It then goes back into its holding area and the hatch
closes.

Cockpit
Shuttle Atlanta
2:50 AM:

Everyone tenses up as they spot the incoming sphere.

Illanov:"Here it comes, comrades."

Renegade:"Keep your course. Hold tank."

Pilot:"Holding. Steady on course."

The sphere draws closer and closer. Everyone inside the shuttle is
really becoming scared.

Net Sphere
2:51 AM:

The sphere continues to travel directly at the shuttle. As it does,
it begins to expand its massive energy webbing.

Cockpit
Shuttle Atlanta
2:52 AM:

As the webbing increases in size, everyone backs into his or her seat. 
The pilot looks at Renegade, who has his paw up in a "stop" gesture.

Corsair:"Man, that is getting close!"

Just then Renegade drops his paw.

Renegade:"Now!"

The pilot immediately pushes the button to jettison the tank.

Shuttle Atlanta
At that moment:

The shuttle's auxiliary tank jettisons from the shuttle's bottom and the
shuttle begins to pull upwards from the tank. The net, now fully expanded,
flies straight at the two objects. But it clearly seems to be heading at
the larger fuel tank. The shuttle is still in the path of the giant net,
but it tries to fly over the net. The net draws closer and closer, the
shuttle going almost vertical to its original flight path. Just as the
shuttle is about to jump clear, the net reaches them. The outermost ring
of the web brushes against the tail of the shuttle, causing it spin over
360 degrees but clear of the net. The net continues on to the jettisoned
tank and finally hits it, but instead of knocking it back the force of
energy net causes the tank to burst apart. The shuttle soon straightens
itself back on its normal flight path to the missile.

Cockpit
Shuttle Atlanta
2:55 AM:

Everyone is still scared stiff about what happened, but jubilation
quickly comes everyone but Renegade and Alethia.

Corsair:"All right! We're alive!"

Illanov:"You did it, comrade!"

Shephard:"Now we can close and kick some a**!"

Alethia:"We are not out of the danger yet."

Renegade nods and looks at the pilot.

Renegade:"Fly as fast as you can to the missile and as close as you can.
          The missile might fire again if it finds we survived."

Pilot:"Yes, sir!"

The pilot turns back to the controls and begins to boost up the shuttle's
speed as it heads for the missile.

The Planet Buster
2:57 AM:

The missile keeps on flying towards Earth, and the shuttle comes ever
closer to it. The mag-net cannon's hatch opens up, but the shuttle comes
close to the hull of the missile. This causes the hatch to close again.

Cockpit
Shuttle Atlanta
2:58 AM:

Through the cockpit one can see the massive side of the missile going
along the left of the shuttle. The pilot skilfully guides the shuttle
straight on until Renegade points to something.

Renegade:"Look there. An opening. Go in there."

Pilot:"Yes, sir."

The pilot manoeuvres the shuttle to the large hangar-like opening and flies
into the interior of the missile. They then come into a very large and
long tube with a floor that goes on in both directions. Everywhere there
are pipes, side-corridors, cables, monitoring equipment, transistor 
stations and some kind of round containers. The pilot keeps on flying the
shuttle, but he feels something.

Pilot:"I can feel this shuttle is being pulled down. There's gravity in
       here."

Corsair:"What? Inside this thing? You must be kidding."

Pilot:"I'm not."

Renegade:"Can you land the shuttle?"

Pilot:"I'll try, sir. Hold on."

They do as they are told as the pilot begins to guide the shuttle to a
landing position.

Missile Interior
The Planet Buster
3:01 AM:

The shuttle keeps on flying, but going slower and lower to the floor. Its
landing gear deploy and it begins to land. When the wheels hit the floor,
the tires screech on the floor. The shuttle's brakes are applied and it
soon comes to a stop. One that happens, the shuttle cargo bay is opened
and the Rovers all climb out with their suits on and rifles ready.

Shephard:"What do we do now, sirs?"

Illanov:"We find a way to destroy this missile, comrade, before it can
         reach Earth."

Corsair:"And soon. We've got only 19 minutes before it hits home."

Alethia:"Maybe we should look at those containers along the walls."

Renegade:"You're right, Al. Let's get down there."

They begin to climb down the shuttle onto the floor. They then proceed
to one of the nearby containers that is within reach. Just as they
reach it, their radios crackle and a voice speaks to them. It is
Hunter.

Hunter(over radio):"Guys! Where are you?"

Renegade(into radio):"We're inside the missile, Hunter. We made it past
        its defences."

There is some chatter over the radio, followed by some short cheers.

Hunter(over radio):"Good work! We were rather worried when we found out
      that you took one of the ship's shuttles to the Cape. From there
      we struggled to get contact with the Atlanta. Do you guys have a
      way to take out the missile?""

Renegade(into radio):"We are checking one of these containers here to
        see what they have. They might just be a way to destroy or
        disable the missile."

Hunter(over radio):"Cool. Keep us informed on the air, okay?"

The Rovers go over to the container. They examine it.

Corsair:"Locked electronically, but I can hack it."

He takes out his laptop, connects it to the container and begins to hack
the lock. It takes only a few moments to unlock it.

Corsair:"There. Open it up."

As Corsair removes his laptop, Shephard and Renegade use their rifles as
crowbars to wedge the container's side panel off. When they look inside,
they find a nasty surprise.

Shephard:"Sirs, that looks remarkably like a nuclear warhead."

Inside the container is a human-made nuclear warhead, with the letters
of the Russian armed forces CCCP on it.

Illanov:"Comrades, this missile is a MIRV missile."

Corsair looks at Illanov with an annoyed look.

Corsair:"And what the h*** does that mean?"

Illanov growls at Corsair.

Illanov:"MIRV means Multiple Impact Re-entry Vehicle. To put it in your
         decadent form of language, it means that once the missile reaches
         a certain distance from Earth it will launch these warheads at
         targets other than the missile's own."

Alethia:"Maximizing its damage potential. And the nuclear winter from
         all these warheads will kill any living creature that may have
         survived the initial explosions. Matrix clearly wants to make
         sure he won't encounter any resistance when the missile has
         detonated."

Shephard:"But won't Matrix blow himself up too?"

Renegade:"Maybe, but I doubt it. He has proven capable of many things
          we never thought of before. He might walk out of this in one
          piece while everything around him dies."

Shephard:"Then how about we use this nuke to blow a nasty hole into this
          oversized Cuban cigar?"

Corsair:"Hear! Hear!"

Renegade looks the warhead over.

Renegade:"It still has its control console. Corsair, hack into it and set
          the timer."

Corsair:"Right, boss."

As he connects his laptop to the warhead's console, a strong arm grabs
Alethia around the neck and a knife is placed next to her cheek. Everyone
quickly turns to the person who is holding Alethia: it is Ozari, who is
grinning all the way. Even more alarming is that he is not wearing a
space suit.

Illanov:"Comrade Ozzy?"

Ozari looses his grin.

Ozari:"My name is Ozari del Figulo, mutt!"

Renegade growls at him.

Renegade:"Let her go, fiend!"

Ozari:"Suuure!"

He chuckles.

Corsair:"Errr... why are you not wearing a space suit?"

Ozari looks at Corsair.

Ozari:"What for? There's air in here, isn't there?"

The Rovers look confused at each, then one by one (except Alethia) take
off their helmets and take a deep breath.

Illanov:"Bolshoi. He's right. There IS air in here."

Corsair:"But what the heck for? I don't see any good reason to stock up
         on oxygen."

Ozari looks around at the Rovers, confused.

Ozari:"Where is Striker?"

Everyone turns their attention back to Ozari, who still has Alethia in
his grip.

Shephard:"He and the others are back on Earth, Ozzy."

Ozari is shocked.

Ozari:"Y-you mean he's not here?"

Corsair shakes his head.

Corsair:"Nope. Sometimes the followers sometimes get to play around in
         the spotlight, like we are now."

Ozari thinks for a moment, then suddenly lets go of Alethia. Renegade
quickly takes her in his arms while Ozari grumbles.

Ozari:"Wonderful! I sneak onto a space shuttle and travel to a doomsday
       missile, only to find my quarry is back on Earth!"

He keeps grumbling as he heads for the shuttle. Renegade lets go of
Alethia and looks at Corsair.

Renegade:"Keep hacking."

Corsair:"Okay."

As Corsair resumes hacking, Shephard watches Ozari carefully.

Shephard:"He'd better watch out. If he tries anything funny, I'm going
          to wipe my boot really hard off his backside."

Illanov:"Dah, comrade. I think you should follow him and make sure he
         doesn't do anything funny."

Shephard:"Yes, sir."

Hunter's voice crackles over the radios again.

Hunter(over radio):"Guys, don't keep us in the dark here. That missile 
      is only 10 minutes from hitting the outer atmosphere of Earth."

Renegade(into radio):"We hear you, Hunter. We found out that this missile
        has thousands of extra warheads that it might disperse when it
        hits home."

Hunter(over radio):"Bummer! Matrix has one serious grudge problem. Are
      you going to use one to blow apart the missile?"

Renegade(into radio):"Corsair is hacking it as we speak. Oh, and tell
        Striker that Ozzy is up here."

Hunter(over radio):"Ozzy? What's he doing up there?"

Renegade(into radio):"Nothing except grumble about the fact he thought
        Striker was up here too."

There is some suppressed chuckles coming from the radio. As Ozari is
about to begin climbing up into the shuttle, he stops and looks towards
one the other corridors. He then suddenly screams, runs over to Shephard
and jumps into his arms.

Ozari:"AAAAH!!! SAVE ME!!!"

Everyone else looks confused at Ozari as Shephard drops him with an
annoyed look on his face.

Shephard:"What the h***'s the matter with you?"

A loud, liquid roar suddenly comes from the corridor and echoes through
the missile's interior. Everyone else is now clearly aware that something
bad is coming.

Renegade:"Ready rifles!"

Everyone charges his or her EMP rifle and aims them towards the corridor
from which the sounds is coming from. It becomes louder and louder as the
thing comes ever closer. After a few moments of suspense, the thing comes
into view. It is a large organic creature which looks like a cross between
a spider (its body and legs), scorpion (pinchers and stinger) and beetle
(its chitin hide). It has only one large eye in the centre of its fore-
head. It screeches out loudly as the Rovers' and Ozari's eyes widen in
shock.

Shephard:"I guess that answers why there is air in here."

Corsair:"Well, this is something new!"

Alethia:"Oh my God! What kind of creature is that?"

Hunter's voice crackles over their radios.

Hunter(over radio):"Creature? Guys, what's going on up th..."

The transmission is interrupted for a few seconds, then the voice of Matrix
speaks over the radios.

Matrix(over radio):"I detect that you have met one of my prototypes of
       my biological creatures, or bio-creatures if you prefer. It is a
       well-constructed fully organic specimen, and I look forward to study 
       its performance in combat."

The radio goes dead.

Shephard:"How can Matrix create such a beast? He hates organics."

Illanov:"Maybe so, comrade, but he does take advantage of them often. This
         be one of those advantages."

Corsair:"This means we are screwed. EMP only works against robots, not
         that... that... that large insectbugorsomething."

The creature roars again, then suddenly its eye pops out of its head and
flies over its body. Everyone is revolted by this.

Shephard:"Yuck! It's flying apart!"

Within a few seconds, however, another eye quickly grows in its place. It
then too pops out flying. This happens a third time before a fourth eye
is finally grown into place.

Shephard:"Four against five. Good numbers that meat sack made."

Hunter's voice crackles over the radio.

Hunter(over radio):"Guys! What is going up there?"

Renegade(into radio):"Matrix has some kind of genetic monster up here that
        he calls a bio creature! It..."

One of the eyeballs fires a beam at Illanov, but Illanov is able to jump
it clear. Shephard quickly takes his rifle as a club.

Shephard:"Okay, so EMP won't hurt you, but a club can! Come on! Let's play
          ball!"

Another of the eyeballs fires a beam at Shephard, but he jumps clear and
swings at it. The eyeball barely dodges the swinging club. The others
except Corsair (who is working on his laptop) and Ozari (who is hiding
behind the wheels of the shuttle, follow Shephard's example and begin to
fight back at the eyeballs with their rifles as clubs. The bio-creature
lounges at Corsair, its massive claws taking a swing at him. Corsair spots
the incoming claw.

Corsair:"S***!"

He jumps out of the way, but the claw nearly cleaves at the laptop and 
exposed warhead, smashing the laptop and creating a gash in the warhead's
control panel. The others quickly go the bio-creature and club at it. They
don't cause any harm to it, it gains it attention for it to attack them.
Corsair, once the bio-creature backs away, goes over to the smashed-up
equipment.

Corsair:"Murphy's Law is right once again: If something can go wrong, it
         will!"

He then takes his rifle and joins in the fray. The others succeed in
hitting the eyeballs, causing them to the floor unmoving. The bio-creature
then begins to creature another eyeball, but Alethia, getting a sudden
idea, charges up her rifle and aims at it. When the eyeball leaves the
socket, she fires. The EMP blast hits into the socket before the new
eyeball is growing. The bio-creature screams, its claws trying to cover
its eye socket. However, it then begins to wobble and finally collapses
onto the floor with a loud "THUD!". The others finish off the last eye-
ball, then go over to Alethia.

Renegade:"Good work, Al! But how did you do that? EMP cannot harm living
          creatures."

Alethia smiles.

Alethia:"I know, Love. But I took a chance. Since that creature's eyeballs
         come out of its socket, it would have exposed the creature's
         nerves. So I fully charged my rifle and fired into the empty eye
         socket. The electrical jolt of the EMP must have hurt his nerves."

Shephard:"Is it dead, then?"

Alethia shakes her head.

Alethia:"I don't know. It might be dead, but it could also be unconscious
         for only a few moments."

Illanov:"Then we had best arm the warhead and leave."

Corsair:"We got a problem about that."

Everyone turns to Corsair as he points to the destroyed laptop and war-
head.

Renegade:"Oh no. Do you have a spare laptop?"

Corsair:"Yeah, but it's in my quarters back at HQ. And we don't have
         time to fetch another one."

Everyone is in despair.

Alethia:"Then... then we cannot stop the missile?"

Renegade:"It would appear so, I'm sad to admit."

Ozario overhears the conversation and runs over to the group.

Ozario:"You mean... you mean we are all going to die?"

The Rovers nod sombrely at Ozari. He begins to stomp his feet in anger.

Ozari:"This isn't fair! I have yet to kill Striker! No!!!"

In his rage, he throws his dagger towards a transistor box. The knife
cuts deep into the box, followed by a shower of sparks. Suddenly a
section of the tunnel's lights go dead, then back on. The next section's
lights then go off, then on. The next one follows suit, as does the one
after that. The short-out then continues very quickly down the tunnel as
the Rovers and Ozari watch in surprise. The short-out disappears into the
distance. After a few seconds, there is suddenly a loud rumble and the
entire missile shakes, jolting everyone nearly off their feet. Once it
calms down, they look down the tunnel and see that something is burning
down the tunnel. The Rovers then all look at Ozari.

Corsair:"What did you just do?"

Ozari shrugs his shoulders.

Ozari:"I... er... broke something?"

There is suddenly another jolt, followed by the rumble of a very loud
explosion coming from the distance.

Illanov:"I think he more than broke something, comrades."

Hunter's voice crackles over the radio.

Hunter(over radio):"Guys! Speak to us! What's going on? The missile is
      going off course and there is a large fire coming from a hatch
      in the side of it."

Everyone looks at each other.

Renegade:"I think we should leave, just as a safety precaution."

Illanov:"Wise decision, comrade."

Suddenly there is another roar coming from behind them and they quickly
turn around. Before they can even focus on what is going on, the bio-
creature's stinger goes into Renegade's chest. He screams in pain and
Alethia screams in shock.

Alethia:"RENEGADE!!!"

She immediately rushes to him along with Illanov and Corsair. Ozari
bolts for the shuttle while Shephard, out of habit, begins to fire at
the creature's fresh eyeball. The EMP blasts hit the eyeball, causing
the creature to scream and back off in pain. The stinger is pulled out
of Renegade, the others catching him as he nearly falls. Shephard keeps
on firing at the creature's eyeball as Illanov looks at the others.

Illanov:"To the shuttle, comrades!"

Another explosion jolts the missile as Illanov, Corsair and a paled
Alethia begin to carry Renegade to the shuttle, where Ozari is just
getting into it. The trio then begin to climb into the shuttle, careful-
ly carrying the pained Renegade up to the shuttle cargo bay. Shephard
keeps on firing at the creature until Illanov calls to him.

Illanov:"Comrade Shephard! Get into the shuttle!"

Shephard stops firing and begins to run to the shuttle away from the
still-irritated bio-creature.

Shephard:"Always the fun ends too soon."

He proceeds to climb up and into the shuttle, after which the cargo bay
hatch is closed and the engines begin to fire up.

The Planet Buster
10 000 Kilometres from Earth
At that moment:

The missile is beginning to veer off its direct course to Earth, half
its engines now offline. Several massive explosions are blasting apart
a small but significant portion of the missile's hull, spreading out-
ward.

Cockpit
Shuttle Atlanta:

Everyone is jump into their seats except Alethia, who is busy securing
the wounded Renegade, tears rolling down her face as she keeps a cloth
on the large wound. The pilot is frantically busy starting up the
shuttle as Illanov sits next to him.

Illanov:"We must leave now, comrade!"

Pilot:"Almost ready... there! We're leaving!"

Another explosion shakes the shuttle. Corsair looks at Ozari, who has
strapped himself in next to him.

Corsair:"What the h*** did you do?"

Ozari:"How should I know! I'm just a mugger, not some kind of wize-cracking
       super hero!"

As everyone is strapped in, through the cockpit window one can see the
shuttle turning down the tunnel and accelerating forward.

Missile Interior
The Planet Buster:

The shuttle begins to move down the tunnel the way it went, going faster
and faster. Behind it, the bio-creature recovers from Shephard's attacks
and looks at the shuttle. It roars loudly, and then begins to run after it.
The missile shakes as more explosions rock the Planet Buster. The shuttle
picks up speed and takes off, but the bio-creature also runs after, coming
in closer to the shuttle. Ahead, the massive fireballs of the explosions
can be seen as the metal walls and floors explode apart.

The Planet Buster:

The missile is now way off-course as the explosions spread out, blowing
apart the massive weapon from the inside. Debris fly in all directions from
the dying missile.

Cockpit
Shuttle Atlanta:

Alethia is carefully tending to Renegade while the others watch tensely
as they fly closer to the blasts ahead of them.

Pilot:"We're approaching the exit, and so are the explosions! This is
       going to be close!"

Ozari:"I hate close shaves! They shorten one's life expectancy by several
       hours!"

Corsair:"They do? That sucks!"

The shuttle keeps flying forward. Suddenly an eyeball appears in front of
the shuttle, but it makes the mistake of stopping. The shuttle flies into
it and the eyeball bounces off the front of the shuttle with loud, squishy
noise.

Corsair:"Oooo! Spacekill!"

Shephard:"That oversized cockroach must be behind us, sirs!"

Pilot:"If we are lucky, when we get to the exit the blasts will cut it
       off!"

Illanov:"Or us as well!"

Pilot:"We are coming to the exit! Hold on!"

Everyone but Alethia and Renegade tense up, seeing the exit and the blasts
coming ever closer at an alarm rate.

Missile Interior
The Planet Buster:

The shuttle is flying towards the exit, but the explosions are rapidly
coming towards the exit as well. And the bio-creature makes a mad dash for
the shuttle, its pinchers reaching out for the tail of the shuttle. Just
as the shuttle reaches the exit, it sharply turns into the corner tunnel
and towards the exit. The blasts reach the junction as well and so does 
the bio-creature. But the bio-creature, having been caught off guard by
the shuttle's rapid turn and its fast running, is able to stop itself as
it runs right in the explosions. The fireballs engulf the creature as it's
screams of pain echo through the tunnels for a few seconds before it is
finally consumed by the flames. The explosions continue down the tunnels
and the exit tunnel just behind the shuttle, approaching it at alarming
speed.

Cockpit
Shuttle Atlanta:

Through the window one can see the open exit and the face of Earth just
beyond it. But along the edges the walls and floors explode outward as
the blasts close in as well. Everyone but Alethia and Renegade are hold-
ing their breaths. Ozari closes his eyes, then Corsair follows suit.

The Planet Buster:

The shuttle rockets out of the exit at the exact same time the explosions
engulf it. The shuttle speeds towards Earth, while the rest of the Planet
Buster is torn apart by various explosions. Soon, the missile's other
engines die and the missile drifts through space, the explosions having
torn it apart so that it is seriously damaged. Suddenly, the centre part
of the missile explodes into a massive fireball, splitting the missile in
half and causing the two halves to drift away. Moments later, the rear
part explodes into a massive ring of energy as it's engines' cores 
collapse. Right after that, the warhead of the front part detonates into
an expanding ball of nuclear energy that engulfs the debris from the
rest of the missile. When the blast clears, all that is left of the
Planet Buster is a large field of debris that begin to drift into the
Earth's atmosphere to burn up. Meanwhile, the shuttle Atlanta begins to
fly back to the Cape.

Cockpit
Shuttle Atlanta
At that moment:

Everyone else breathe big sighs of relief, while Corsair and Ozari open
their eyes.

Corsair:"Are we dead?"

Illanov:"No, comrade. We are clear of the missile. It's been destroyed."

Corsair breathes a sigh of relief, as does Ozari.

Ozari:"That's it. No more flying into space to some doomsday missile
       with a large spider monster for me anymore."

Illanov then looks over at Alethia and Renegade. The two are talking to
each other, but it is clear that Renegade is dying while Alethia has
tears rolling down her cheek.

Alethia:"Don't give up! We can heal you back on Earth!"

Renegade:"It is... too late... for me, Al... my internal life... support
          systems have... have been... irreparably... damaged... I... I
          am... dying..."

Alethia:"No, it isn't! You will live!"

Renegade:"No... no, Al... My time... is coming... again... Maybe it is...
          for the... better... Matrix resurrected... me, using... using
          cyborg technology... and the others... just as weapons of...
          death... I am... not the... Renegade you... knew and loved...
          back at... Perris Park... I am all machine... with only some...
          skin and blood... to hide the... the fact that I am... a GONV
          cyborg... you deserve... better than that... Al."

Alehtia:"Don't speak like that, Renegade!"

Renegade takes her paw into his own and holds it to where his mechanical
heart is.

Renegade:"God... works in... strange ways... my Love... His plan was...
          ... for... for me to... help you... defeat Matrix... and stop
          his... mad creations... But it was... also a chance... He gave
          to us... to spend one... final time... together... to love...
          each other..."

Alethia, tears now streaming down her face, puts her other paw over his
paw and squeezes it tightly.

Alethia:"Oh Renegade..."

He squeezes her one paw back tightly. Tears are beginning to well up in
his eyes as well.

Renegade:"I know... Alethia... it may... have been... to short a time...
          but it was... the best moments... I have... spent with you...
          and the... Road Rovers... I love you, Alethia... You must... go
          on with... your life... and I hope... that one day... you will... 
          find true love... once again..."

He looks over at Illanov.

Renegade:"Alex... tell the other... Rovers... that I... thank them... for
          taking... care of Alethia... for stopping... the Dogstar... and
          for... stopping... Matrix and his... GONV Forces... I will...
          always be... grateful..."

Illanov nods, pushing back his own tears and putting his paw on Renegade's
knee.

Illanov:"I... I will, comrade..."

Renegade then looks at Alethia. They both look deeply into each other's
teary eyes, then give a last, passionate kiss to each other. When they
break the kiss, Renegade breathes out his last breath and dies. Alethia
buries her head into his chest and cries. Illanov gets out of his seat
and goes over to comfort her. Corsair hangs his head and makes a cross
in front of him while Shephard salutes Renegade. Ozari just looks away,
unsure of what to make of the whole scene. Through the cockpit window
one can see the shuttle entering Earth's atmosphere.

Epilogue: Backup Systems

Burial Vault
Road Rover Mission Control
13 November
10:23 AM:

All the Rovers, Strayers, Space Rovers and various other units are 
gathered here and are all dressed either in black or in golden Rover
armour. Hunter, Exile, Illanov, Bear, Striker and Outlaw are busy
putting Renegade's coffin into an open vault. Once that is done, Hubert
seals up the vault with a hardening liquid. Before it hardens, Alethia,
helped on by her brother Beldin, walks up to the vault and places a
plaque onto the liquid. She reads the plaque out loud, sobbing with
tears.

Alethia:"To my Love and Best Friend. May your dear soul rest in peace
         in Heaven. I will miss you. Alethia."

She begins to cry again. Beldin comforts her by hugging. Illanov steps
up with Vicki and the two of them also comfort Alethia. The rest of the
gather then leave for post-burial ceremony, leaving the four of them
by the vault.

Vicki:"I am so sorry about Renegade, Al. His death was a terrible loss
       for all of us."

Illanov:"Indeed, comrade Alethia. We will miss him dearly."

Beldin:"I am sorry that you had to go through his death for a second time,
        sis. I wish there was something I could do to help."

Alethia stops crying, takes a hanky and blows her nose. She then looks
up at them, managing a small smile.

Alethia:"Your support as friends are all more than I could have asked for.
         Though his loss has wrenched my heart, I am happy in the thought
         that we were able to spend some last, quality time together and
         to truly say farewell to one other. He was right: I should go
         on with my life despite his death. My memories of him will help
         on the way forward."

The three of them smile.

Beldin:"Truely, sis. I couldn't have said better."

Illanov:"Dah, comrade."

Vicki:"Ditto. How about we join the others before we start crying again?"

They all nod, then proceed to walk towards the ceremony hall.

The Hague
United Nations High Court
The Netherlands
2 December
8:03 AM:

This is the court building for the United Nations in the Netherlands. A
large crowd of security personnel, news reporters and anti-GONV protestors
are gathered in front of the court buildings. Not far off in front of
the building is Melanie and Samuel. Samuel is manning the camera while
Melanie gives the news report live.

Melanie:"As the trial of the GONV super computer commences this morning,
         hundreds of anti-GONV protestors have gather before The Hague
         in support of convicting the GONV, which had directed the Techno
         War in Europe and the launch of the Planet Buster missile. The
         artificial intelligence which controls the GONV, called Matrix,
         will faces various charges ranging from genocide, the illegal
         use of biological and nuclear weaponry to crimes against 
         humanity. Despite the fact that the Road Rovers were unable to
         attend the trials due to other issues, security is tight around
         the Hague."

She continues reporting the news.

Courtroom
The Hague
United Nations High Court
8:04 AM:

This is the main courtroom of the Hague. The UN judge, prosecutors,
translators and other personnel are here in the courtroom. The GONV
computer is in the defendant's box, its systems connected to the
microphone systems. Security guards flank the GONV. The judge begins
the court case.

Judge:"This court will now begin the trial of the artificial intelligence
       Matrix, also known as the Global Operations Network Variation or
       GONV. It stands accused of counts of genocide, murder, attempted
       murder, attempted genocide, illegal usage of biological/chemical
       and nuclear weapons, arson, robbery, destruction of property and
       crimes against humanity."

The judge looks up at the GONV.

Judge:"How does the defendant plead?"

The GONV begins to process the information. Suddenly, its screen turns
bright crimson while a loud beep comes from it. The judge is confused.

The Hague
United Nations High Court
At that moment:

Melanie is busy wrapping up her live news report.

Melanie:"Back to Arlin Naidoo at the CNN Ce..."

A massive explosion suddenly blows apart the Hague, massive fireballs
blowing the windows and doorways while blasting the roof off in a large
mushroom cloud of fire. The shockwave from the blast knocks the guards,
protestors, reporters and anyone else close the building off their feet
and rains the area with debris. Melanie and Samuel are knocked onto the
grass lawn they were standing, showered with glass fragments and plaster.
When the blast clears, Melanie and Samuel scramble to their feet and
survey the damage. The building is completely engulfed in flames, with
smoke, fire and car alarms wailing everywhere. People are rushing up to
help out the injured while in the distance ambulances, police cars and
fire trucks' sirens can be heard in the distance.

Melanie:"We... we seem to have just had a massive explosion. The entire
         UN high court is engulfed in flames are there are people are
         running to aid the injured..."

Weather Satellite
High Orbit Over Earth
8:08 AM:

This is an ordinary weather satellite orbiting Earth above the European
continent. On a computer screen inside the satellite the following words
appear: "SYSTEMS BACKUP CREATED. ORIGINAL SYSTEMS TERMINATED. INITIATING
TRANSMISSION TO PLANET CODE SP-9"

Beach
Lake Shore
Somewhere near Mission Control
9:05 PM:

This is the beach where Hunter and Colleen had walked before (see "A Day
In The Life"). Seated on a log by the beach looking out over the moonlit
waters is Striker and Phoenix. They holding each other's paw.

Phoenix:"Do you think Matrix has really blown himself up?"

Striker:"I twyfel. Most like he somehow managed to slip us another copy
         of himself, or had transferred his files from the GONV to some
         place else. I don't think we have seen the last of him or his
         GONV Forces."

Phoenix:"Does Alex know this too?"

Striker:"He was the one who told me his suspicions first. He knows Matrix
         better than any of us and he knows he will be back."

Phoenix:"Then we must remain on our toes for him."

Striker:"Ja."

Phoenix:"Speaking of, what happened to Ozzy after the Atlanta landed?"

Striker:"He apparently snuck away while the others were unloading Rene-
         gade's body, stole a jeep and escaped from the compound. I can
         see that is not going to up on his vow to get me just yet."

Phoenix:"Yeah."

They keep looking out over the lake, then Phoenix looks at Striker.

Phoenix:"It's a good thing that Alex and Vicki are together. They make
         such a wonderful couple."

Striker:"Ja. Alex has been on the road for most of his life ever since
         Franco's forces killed his father and he became an armament
         smuggler. It would be good for him to settle down."

Phoenix leans closer to Striker and puts her other arm around his neck.

Phoenix:"You have also been alone during and since your own battles with
         Franco."

Striker looks at her, putting his other arm around her waist. A smile
forms on his face.

Striker:"Ja, and like him, I have also found love once again. Phoenix, my
         Love. You have renewed my faith in Love and God more than anyone
         had in my life. I am glad to have found you."

She also smiles at him.

Phoenix:"And I am glad to have found you. Striker, my Love."

They look deeply into each other's eyes for a few moments, then kiss each
other passionately for a long while. When they finally and slowly break
the kiss, they looking lovingly at each other.

Phoenix:"This is going to be a long, wonderful relationship."

Striker:"I hope so too."

They kiss each other again, holding the kiss for much, much longer as they
wrap their arms around each other.

Office
Cuban Military Command
Republic of Cuba
29 December
11:08 PM:

This is a well-decorated office of a general within the building that houses
the Cuban Military Command. It has photos of previous victories, Fidel
Castro, the general as well as hanged decorations and banners. Seated
behind his cluttered desk is a large and slightly paunchy Cuban general
with grey hair and moustache. The wrinkles on his face, apart from his
frowning, show that he is somewhat old. He is busy reading a document 
while smoking a Cuban cigar under the desk lamp. After a few minutes of
reading he puts the document down, turns off the light and leaves his
office. With the moonlight reflecting on the document one can see, written
in Spanish, what is the heading.

"OPERATION RED TALON - FOR AUTHORIZED EYES ONLY"


THE END

(The soundtrack "Techno Ending" begins to play)

The author would like to thank the following (no particular order):
- Warner Brothers
- Steven Today
- Kylen Miles
- Pablo Caminos
- Robert Baer Jr.
- Dylan Rinalds (especially for the titles of episodes 3,6,7,8 and 11)
- Michael Browner
- Greg Williams
- Richard Barrere
- Travis T. Wonders
- Jordyn Trout
- Allie Jung
- Becky Pittman
- Casey Johnson
- Eric Hunter
- David Reynolds
- Marc Weinstein
- Greywolf Lupous
- Okichi Obari
- Shawn Tigges
- Bart Walls
- Dave Prizio
- Jeremy Bass
- Matt Daily
- Jake Williams
- Kitson Paws de Lioncourt
- Katalin Bakonyi
- Tri-Star Pictures

"Technology is a wonderful thing, but it can be deadly if misused"
- A Dinki-Di who's name I cannot remember