Sherwood Nebula, 3009 Common Era…
Hundreds of attack cruisers from the La Gunga Galactic Syndicate swarmed amidst the pink and purple haze of the vast Sherwood Nebula. The brilliant white flashes of their phasers tore through the swirling space dust, as they bore down upon the three fleeing corvettes.
The Chief Enforcement Officer of La Gunga’s Sector 23 watched the chase onscreen from the safety and comfort of his capital ship, slowly orbiting a nearby red dwarf. He slammed his fist against the console as once again, the corvettes successfully dodged a hail of photon torpedoes.
“We will destroy this pathetic remnant,” the Chief roared at his terrified crew, “and that will finally be the end of the Benevolent Bandits!”
“You think so, eh Chief?” a voice called from the rear of the capital ship’s bridge.
The Chief spun around and hissed, “Damn it! Is that you, Lock? I thought I killed you on Icarus Prime!”
“That you did, Chief,” John Lock laughed from behind his face mask, “mostly, that is. Unfortunately for you, not all of the medibots on the seventh moon had been destroyed. They did quite a fine job reconstructing my body, wouldn’t you say?”
To demonstrate his new agility, Lock jumped up high with seemingly no effort, sailed through the air, and landed on the far side of the bridge.
“Impressive,” the Chief muttered.
“That’s not the half of it,” John Lock chuckled. “With the new generation hydrogen cell they installed in lieu of my heart, I should be able to continue harassing you for… well, for quite some time, as long as I can acquire a cup of clean water, say, every seventy years or so.”
“I wouldn’t plan on living that long, Lock!” the Chief fumed. “And your friends in their flimsy corvettes won’t last long out there either.”
“Oh, I’m sure they will manage,” Lock turned for a moment toward the display screen to watch the flashing lights emitting from the heart of Sherwood Nebula.
“Why are you here?” the Chief growled.
“Ah yes,” Lock turned back to face his nemesis, “I wanted to personally deliver the good news that my men, and women, have retrieved the Gaia Code from your, until recently, secure database. The DNA sequences are already en route to the Pelagian Cluster, where I’m certain the Pelagians will find them most helpful in rebuilding their ecosystems that you and the Syndicate so thoroughly ruined.”
“No matter!” the Chief scoffed, “We will just destroy them again!”
“You can try,” Lock shrugged, “but thanks to a few modifications I made to the Code, with a little cultivation, the Pelagians will be able to revive their forests even faster than La Gunga can burn them down.”
“I don’t know why you care so much about the foul Pelagians!” the Chief sneered.
“It’s not that,” Lock answered, “I just don’t like you.”
“Well,” the Chief grinned as he pulled out his side-arm blaster and aimed it squarely at John Lock’s helmet, “at least I have the consolation that you will not be around to enjoy your victory.”
The Chief fired the blaster, and the high energy beam passed directly through Lock’s head, striking the far wall where it left a black smoldering scar.
“What the…?” the Chief looked down at his ineffective weapon.
“Eh, wrong as usual, Chief!” Lock laughed again. His remote holographic avatar shimmered slightly as it auto-calibrated from the energy beam’s effect. “And good luck hunting the corvettes, since like me, they are just an illusion.”
The Chief cursed and stomped his feet as John Lock’s hologram began to disperse. His roaring laughter resounded throughout the bridge, even after the hero’s image had faded away.
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