Ok, the REAL Chapter 16 begins now. Adon has been kidnapped, Tacoman is desperately trying to stay awake and Kiehart is currently scanning the wreckage of the Spidership II, looking for a piece of Tacoman's skin in the Sith remains down below.

Kiehart runs over every inch with his specially designed scanner. His three friends are with him, also looking. "Nothing. Which is really weird Kiehart. There should be SOME traces of DNA, but there's nothing. Not even from all the dead redshirts." Dylan Wolfe calls out from across the bay." Kiehart nods. "That IS odd," he says. "There's a shuttle waiting for you, just like you asked sir." Peter Frazier announces. Kiehart sighs. "We've gone over each and every inch of this thing, and have found didly squat. I'd better tell the cpatain in person. Tell the shuttle to come pick me up."

What the heck! Webber, stop messing around. We're planning for 15 to be a "lost" episode, to write later. Just go with Part 17, all right? Bad enough 15 was skipped, than to go filling up Nitcentral with needless boards.

I was trying to make up for my mistake. It was my fault Part XV was skipped. I just wasn't paying enough attention. I just wanted to fix an error. Is that so wrong? I was always taught to try and fix my mistakes when I could. *sniff* I'm just trying to be helpful. *sob* Every time I try to be nice...

Some people just have rotten luck, don't they?

Tacoman to Milkshake, I just had a visitor..
Tacoman tells Milkshake about the visit from the Silver Maiden
Can the sensors pinpoint where Adon may have been taken?

While Tacoman waits for an answer to that question, he suddenly remembers something else he saw in his vision of Jake Grey. Grey was wearing a TerrSec uniform, and holding Adon's sword in his hand.

For the record, that was in his earlier vision, not part of the visit from the Silver Maiden!

The forces who hold Adon captive look over his sword. One of the men says, "Hey! Their's a magically hidden compartment on this sword!" "what's in it?" another one says. "A piece of skin. And here's what's silly. The magic hiding the comaprtment was designed to hide it from the guy himself." "Freaky."

Please ignore the post by Plot Constipation; for one thing, Adon's sword is still on the spidership!!

Tacoman to any senior officer left on the ship, see if you can find Adon's sword and examine it.
Hmm... now what would the TerrSec uniform mean?
Tacoman to away team, have you found anything interesting?

Rocket Ranger to spidership..sir, we've found a couple of survivors, a ten year old boy and his mother. Both need immediate medical attention. The kid's got a concussion, and the woman's probably going to need surgery; she's bleeding profusely from a wound in her shoulder. Both are unconscious, so we can't question them. I don't know what PD Insane and Commander Rikard found; we split up into groups, and I'm with Bigg M.A.K.K. (He pauses) Have you been having any more...problems, Captain?

Rikard stretches out his senses trying to feel where Adon is. Instead, he feels the powerful mind of Silver Maiden.
Silver Maiden: We are too powerful for you Jedi
Rikard: Not unless Adon joins you
Silver Maiden: In time, he will, but until then, you will not find him

I can't detect him, but I know he's within ten miles of here, whether it be on the planet surface or not. Found him yet Insane?

Well, I guess there were a few things that you didn't count on.

Adon transforms into Metalic Adon. He was unable to break out of the chains, but he was able to pull the table off of the floor. Adon and the table then slam table first into a nearby wall, reducing the table to splinters and leaving plenty of room for Adon to get out of the chains. Once free, Adon drops to the floor.

It would appear that I have left my sword on the ship. But don't get to confident... I am still quite powerful without it.

With a burst of light, Adon flew through the air and attemped to punch the Silver Maiden, who was standing on a small platform. Instead of connecting, Adon was blocked by a powerful force. As the two Wanderers' powers tried to overcome the other's defenses, a malestrom of energy was released throughout the room. Eventually, Adon was knocked back by the force. Fortunetly for him, he landed on his feet.

Well, now that we're both warmed up, lets get this thing going for real.

The Silver Maided gasped as Adon seemed to disapear. He reappeared behind her, and before she could get her defenses up, Adon fired an energy beam that went through the Silver Maided. With a cry, she vanished.

What? That shouldn't have ha...
It was Adon's turn to gasp as the Silver Maiden appeared next to him and picked him up by the throat with one hand, leaving his feet dangling above the floor.

Silver Maiden: "You poor, weak minded fool. You can't even tell the difference between me and my shadow."

Adon's strugles quickly lost energy as he slipped into darkness. Just as Adon passed out, he reverted back into Normal Adon. As soon as he was out, she dropped him heavily to the floor.

Kiehart's shuttle is attacked by the Whyte Kastles, who trap the shuttle in a tractor beam and pull it into one of their carrier ships. The door opens and Kiehart is faced with twenty armored soldiers, all armed with very deadly rifles. They drop a knock-out gas bomb, which renders Kiehart unconscious, and they haul him off to the brig, after placing him in Plotonium restraints that make it impossible to move!

Before they throw Kiehart into a cell, which has a force-field AND plotonium bars keeping him trapped, the guards search him thoroughly. They find any and all weapons he is carrying, his Cybertek catalog, and the magic bag he trapped Taconator in. They foolishly leave one gun on a table at the far end of the hallway, but the catalog and magic bag are thrown into a maximum security area, where very nasty things will happen to anyone who enters.

Tacoman to Rocket, no major problems... although, I did feel a bit of rage when Adon was abducted, I managed to control it... I'm still here in sickbay, at the Doctor's insistance.
Tacoman's eyes start glowing And if you need anything to be destroyed, I'm your man.
Tacoman's eyes stop glowing not again...

The wounded woman and her son are beamed to sickbay. They appear on the other side of the room from Tacoman. Meanwhile, on the planet, Rocket Ranger and Bigg M.A.K.K. have found what looks like a bomb shelter or storage facility. Suddenly Commander Rikard and the others appear and walk over to them.

Well, Commander, do you think we should risk entering?

[Author's note: Someone feel free to write this part (what's inside, if we go in); I'm just setting it up, and I don't want to write the whole away mission!]

Tacoman looks over at the woman and her son
Greetings. I am Tacoman, captain of the Spidership.
What happened down there? it sounds like a war zone on the planet...

They're both quite unconscious, Captain. (He runs a medical tricorder over both The boy is going to be fine. He just has a mild concussion, and some minor facial abrasions. However, the woman has a massive injury to her left shoulder. It will require immediate surgery. (He walks over to Jadlad and uses the medical tricorder on him) He's still in shock, but his adrenaline levels are at acceptable levels.

No sign of Adon yet, Rikard.

Aggrevation: I didn't know his sword was still on the ship! So sue me! And what you did to Kiehart was idiotic. For starters, we learned two chapters ago knock-out gas doesn't work on him. It only makes him sleepy. And also he had thrown the bag holding Taconator into a dimensional portal, than withheld the location he sent it to!

-

Kiehart pounds away at the plutonium bars, and like the shell that had held him the second time he was sucked into space, it takes more than an hour, but eventually he breaks them and steps out, grabbing the guns the baddies left on the table. "I hate having a Redshirt's luck!" he grumbles uner his breath. He then heads out searching the bridge, planning to take over the enemy ship.

Whoever abducted Adon used a device to scatter any trace of the transporter beam, Captain. It will take a while to lock the location down.

However...there may be a different means of locating Adon. Whenever he transforms into his metallic self, the energy used for the transformation is emitted into the surrounding area as radiation. It is a very distinct and rare form of energy, and is easily traceable. Unless Adon was knocked out instantly after his abduction, it makes sense that he would use his stronger form to attempt to escape. Shall I follow up on this line of investigation?

Sounds like a good idea, Commander. do it.
Let's hope that Jadlad will recover. This mission is starting to get on my nerves... My crew scattered...people severly injured...Tacoman's eyes begin to glow and his face contorts All because of those damned Whyte Kastles! Tacoman's eyes glow even brighter, and his face takes on a look of total rage If I ever get my hands on them or their ships, I promise that none will survive!!!
The Holodoc looks over to see Tacoman reaching for a phaser. He rushes over and gives Tacoman a mild seditive, which causes Tacoman's eyes and face to return to normal

Captain, I have a Vulcan relaxation holodeck program that you are welcome to it if you need it.

I say we go in.

Rikard aims his rifle at the door at high power and fires

Adon seemed to be in a haze. He heard random laughter, both male and female. He thought that he had been strapped into an apparatus of some kind. He thought that something was happening, but he didn't know what, exactly. The experience seemed like it had been going on forever.

Problem #1 - telepathic attacks. Solution #1 - tinfoil helmets!

Hey, you Redshirt over there, you'll now volunteer to test it!

Dear Audience, you'll have now the choice to decide what happens to this unfortunate Redshirt. Press button 1 on your remote control to fry his brain, button 2 to let him explode or button 3 to let him be eaten by a monster just visiting the ship.

Beep!

Thank you! You pressed button 4! The Redshirt will survive the test!

Wow! The helmet works! Good job, alt-Furby! And I am still alive!

He has a very strange accident with the lab doors...

Btw, somebody should repair the doo|

Back at King Rominaius' Command Center\Throne room.....

Captain Miller: Sir, I have some good news to report...Adon has not only been captured, but he was hooked up to the device, and the experiment was successful!

King Rominaius (smiling deviously): Excellent! Those fools actually believed we wanted to convert him to serving our cause! If they only knew the truth! Hahahahahahahaha!! Send him back to his friends....he's of no use to us...or LICC...anymore!

Captain Miller (saluting):Right away, sir! (he turns around and walks down the stairs, where one of his aides greets him) I think the King is pleased! I wouldn't want him on my bad side again!

Aide: Yes, sir.

Captain Miller: We've been together, long enough. You don't have to call me `sir', Lieutenant. Call me Barney!

Kiehart searches and eventually finds all his gear, and the shuttle bay where his shuttle is being guarded by three Whyte Kastyles(sp?). "This should be easy." he whispers to himself. He leaps out firing. By the time he slides across the floor, and stops behind another stack of crates, all the guards are dead. He runs to his shuttle and programs the autopilot. Then he runs to the controls to open the bay doors. Then he crawls into an airduct. And watches as the shuttle tears out of the bay at top speed, sucking a bunch of crates and a small weapons locker out with it. "Good. They'll chase the shuttle for awhile, whilst I hit the bridge."

Ummm....sorry, but Kiehart did NOT get all of his gear back, just that one gun at the end of the hallway. The maximum security area was built so that there is no possible way to retrieve anything placed therein! Regarding the magic bag and the knock-out gas....WELL, EXCUSE ME! I was up later than usual, so I forgot about those things, okay?

Aggrevation: OK then. Well, in addition to the gun left on the table, he took the weapons off the guards he killed in the shuttle bay. How 'bout that?

Yeah. That'll work. P.A. probably just didn't want you using the Cybertek catalog to escape. That would be waaaaay too easy (and knowing you, that's exactly what you would do)!


[Note to Plot Aggrevation: I'm supposed to be taking over Plot Monitor's job until he gets back, so stop it! (Nice work, by the way) Even I knew about the magic bag being gone and the gas only making him sleepy, and I'm a night owl! (If you ARE Plot Monitor, at least have the decency to e-mail me and let me know you got the monitor problem solved!)]

[Note to Electron, alt-Furby, Furby, etc.Whatever you want to be called....which lab was the redshirt in? Rocket Ranger's or another one?]

Back on the planet....

Commander Rikard blasts the door to the bomb shelter\storage facility with his rifles, which is set at maximum power. It completely obliterates the door!

Protective-suit-wearing-Redshirt #1:Let me go in first, sir, in case there's anything dangerous inside! (He walks into the building and stands a few feet inside, turning his head and looking around for several seconds. Then he turns and looks at Commander Rikard) Looks like everything's okay. Its safe to come in! (Just then there is a loud cracking sound. The ceiling above him breaks, and he is smashed to death by three tons of potatoes that fall on him from above!)

Rocket Ranger: How ironic. I believe I saw his records back on the ship, and they said he was from Idaho!

Milkshake works non-stop on the bridge, trying to isolate Adon's energy signature. He scans the planet again and again, trying one sensor frequency after another until...

"Boop!"

Got it. Milkshake to Tacoman.

"Tacoman here."

I've located Adon's energy signature. Recommend sending down a heavy assault force to rescue him. Quantum, has your department discovered a...

As Milkshake speaks, a console viewscreen on the Science station lights up, displaying a strange piece of headgear made of pressed aluminum.

Let's hope they work. Computer, replicate 30 copies of the Anti-Psionic Tinfoil Helmet and have them waiting in Transporter Room 5. Security, I need two teams in Transporter Room 5 now. Let's do it!

Actually, it was just the lumber-room where all the rubbish from repairs was stored. But then the Furby put a "Lab" sign on the door and thereby promoted the room.

Btw, is the Silver Maiden still single?

Tacoman to Milkshake, I'm going with you.
Doctor: Captain, I must protest this!
I'm wearing the monitor, Doctor. If anything goes wrong, you're the first to know.
Doctor: Captain, you must remain here for your own safety.
Tacoman's eyes briefly change color. The Doctor notices and approaches with a hypospray
Computer, Deactivate EMH. Reactivate him when I transport off the ship.
The EMH dissapears. Tacoman gets out of bed and heads toward the transporter room, much to everybody's suprise
Don't worry, I'll be alright... In fact, if I start to go kill crazy, It might help that we're around the Whyte Kastles...

Good, Captain. Now, everybody gather 'round.

The security teams approach Milkshake and he passes out the protective helmets.

Now remember, if your helmet is lost, drop to the ground, roll out of the way, close your eyes and try to keep your mind blank. Ignore ANYTHING you may hear or think. It's not real. I'm materializing us in random posisions in and around the room, this should minimize the chances of ambush. Now, I want you all to close your eyes. I mean it, now.

Tacoman and the team obey and they hear Milkshake inputting commands into the transporter console. Next they hear the metallic clink of Milkshake walking across the room, a smaller clink like something being set down on a pad, and then the familiar sound of the transporter effect.

Okay, open.

The team does so.

Sorry, but I couldn't take the chance that one of you might be mentally eavesdropped on. Let's go!

The team checks that their armor is secure, selects their weapons, and gathers on the pads. Tacoman turns to Milkshake, a puzzled expression on his face. Milkshake grins.

Let's just say that three seconds before we arrive, the Kastles are going to get quite a surprise. Lt. Heliotrope, energize.

The transporter beam shimmers around the assault force and they disappear.

Meanwhile, Insane has wandered off and is being told tall tales by an individual named Whop'ar.

And then, you'll never guess what happened, the ground opened up, and I was in the Underworld! I thought I was done for, but then I remembered that mask I had, which enabled me to fly. Then I saw the demons of the Underworld, oh yeah,a dn before that...

The confounder liar has been lying constantly for the past several hours, and PD Insane is bored stiff, but then suddenly...

...he realises and then launches into a story of his own.

I've got an intersting tale myself, it all began three years ago when I was exploring a cave on Talsus II. They make the best cheese sauce there. Most people prefer tomato but...

And he goes on...

...yes, it was definitely a Thursday, because...

BAM! He's his Whop'ar over the head. He then runs off to the bomb shelter to tell the others.

He may have been a member of Whyte Kastles but I'm not sure. He might just be a boring guy. All the same, we'd better tell LotH. What do you think, Rocket? And any news about Adon?

According to Milkshake, we should be near Adon's coordinates.

On the surface of the planet, the assault team appears. Tacoman activates his portable wormhole and reaches inside. He comes out with what looks like a toy battle suit. He deactivates the wormhole, places the suit on the ground and presses a button on its head. The suit grows until it's about 8 feet tall. Tacoman then climbs inside and is ready for action
Battle suit, don't leave home without it.

looking around

Looks like my little present worked. But where's Adon?

The room that the assault team materialized in is filled with unconcious scientists. A huge device with heavy restraints is set against one wall, but it lies empty, and Adon is nowhere to be seen. From somewhere else in the facility, an alarm bell is heard.

Here we go.

No news about Adon so far, Lieutenant, but we're down to two redshirts. As for that guy you knocked out, why don't you use your ring to make a cage and put him in it? We can question him later! (He looks at Commander Rikard) Commander, remind me to look up the dead redshirt's record. I think he's got a sister who needs to know he's dead. I think her name was Julienne, or something like that....

Suddenly Lord of the Hamburgers and his Bigg M.A.K.K., who have apparently reunited and reteamed, are ambushed while looking through some ruins. Five Whyte Kastle soldiers appear, their rifles at the ready.

Soldier #1: Surrender now, and out glorious and righteous leader, King Rominaius, may allow you to live!

(Lord of the Hamburgers smiles. Bigg M.A.K.K. folds all four of his arms and just stands there.)

LotH: Can I ask you just one question first?

Soldier #2: What is it?

LotH: Would you like fries with that?! (He throws two glowing, energized hamburgers at the soldiers, which explode on impact, knocking the soldiers into each other, then blasting them to pieces) I didn't think so.....

The sound of an alarm brought Adon back to reality. Adon felt too weak to get off the bed. The best he could do was to call out weakly.

Is anyone out there? Anyone? Please help me.

[Author's note: `Would you like fries with that?!' is Lord of the Hamburgers' battle-cry.]

M.A.K.K., look through what's left of those soldiers and see if you can find anything useful. I'm going to contact the others and see if they've found anything..... (He turns on his comm) Lord of the Hamburgers to Commander Rikard and the rest of the LICC landing party....we're about a mile and a third due east of you, and we were just confronted by Whyte Kastle troops, so be cautious. There may be more of them around. Have you found anything?

Did he say Whyte Kastle troops?
Tacoman's eyes start to glow and look of mania appears on his face Let me at them! I'll show them a thing or two!
Tacoman activates the weapons on his battle suit and begins firing at the device
AAARRRGGG!

Strange.. I feel tired... I think the medication that the Doctor gave me is wearing... Tacoman falls asleep in his battle suit

Suddenly the spidership gets a message on the comm system. Unfortunately, the static is so bad it can't be understood....

I* st*** a*i**, and ******w I **** it ****! My **** is ****** and ******! H**p!

...the Furby is getting a mysterious massage...

BF: Actually, Kiehart doesn't have the catalog anymore. he gave it back to the captain. But your right. I would've. :-)

-

Kiehart enters the bridge firing. He takes out most of the bridge crew fairly quickly. The others turn and fire. Their shots slam Kiehart against the wall. He rests his finger on the trigger of one of the enrgy eapons and pretends to be kncoked out. The two bridge crew members left standing come over to check and make sure he's dead. When they lean in, he fires. He stands up and rubs his chest, wincing. "Invulnerable or not that still hurts." He walks over to the navigation console and tries to read the markings. "••••. Can't read Kastyle language. Hmm. Well, I spent alot of time on several bridges, so most panel are arranged the same, so this one, or this one. One of them will activate the warp drive. Oh, before I dot that." He pries open the lift doors, and shatters the controls. "There. No one will be able to interupt me."

The spidership receives the mysterious message again. Apparently it is a bad recording, as it sounds exactly the same....

I* st*** a*i**, and ******w I **** it ****! My **** is ****** and ******! H**p!

Oh no.

(Observer appears next to Tacoman's battlesuit.)

Commander, I'll take him somewhere safe, until we can find a way to remove this curse. It wouldn't be good for him to wake up and start killing crew members. If you need me, just call my name.

(Observer puts a hand on Tacoman's suit, and they both disappear.)

Sure thing, Rocket!

Points his ring finger around, creating a cage round Whop'ar.

Kewl. Now I need to get back to the ship, I'm missing Space Ghost.

Adon managed to sit up in his little bed. He found that he was still wearing the bottomless pocket, and he pulled out a spare communicator.

Back on the Spidership, the signal was detected, and Adon was beamed into sickbay. Adon materialized on the biobed, looked around for a moment, smiled weakly, and then passed out.

Well, I guess we don't have to look for him anymore. Does anybody know if this king guy was able to transfer Adon's powers out of him and into the clone?

Well, goodbye then, Insane. Take Whop'ar with you, and send him to sickbay. If he wasn't one of the Whyte Kastles, Holodoc should give him something for that headache he's going to have when he wakes up!

Everyone moves around the three tons of potatoes (and the mashed redshirt underneath them) and investigates. Commander Rikard finds a small metal box, about the size of an average Big Mac container. Rocket Ranger finds a trapdoor in the floor, hidden underneath a table and a rug.

Hmmmm....do you think we should take a look and see what's down there?

[BF transports himself into the LICC universe, grabs Commander Rikard by the collar, and slaps him silly for dropping information that had only been discussed in PestiChat and not revealed here yet, thus ruining the suspense! He then gives him a swift kick in the rear, and transports back to his normal universe!]

Another plotline possibly ruined because someone forgot that THE INFORMATION IN COMMANDER RIKARD'S LAST POST HADN'T BEEN REVEALED YET!! Sheesh! >:-(

(Observer appears on the surface of a barren, crater-marked world, along with the slumbering Tacoman in his Battlesuit. Observer retreats a short distance away and begins to weave a long, intricate spell. Sure enough, Tacoman begins to awaken just before Observer is finished with his incantation, and the Battlesuit lurches to its feet. The first thing the berserker hero sees is Observer, and it fires most of its weapons at once. The interdimensional watcher nimbly dodges the weapons burst and starts to sprint away. The Battlesuit follows, firing indiscriminately. As the Observer speeds away from the deadly and insane hero, he mutters under his breath...)

They better find a cure soon...

Die! Die!
Tacoman presses a button and causes the battlesuit to grow to a size of about 15 feet. He continues to fire various weapons. He activates the comm system and says: Dance, pardner!
With that, the Observer disapperars, leaving Tacoman alone on the planet. Tacoman stops firing, gets a strange look on his face and says: Whyte Kastles!
With a press of a button, the battlesuit takes off, ready to take on any Whyte Kastle he comes across

Ah, Zorak, when will you learn...

(Observer appears next to Commander Rikard and Rocket Ranger.)

The Captain's curse has taken effect. He is completely berserk. I left him on a small, uninhabited planet near the Crab Nebula, but I fear he may hurt himself in his madness. I need to inform Commander Milkshake, then I will return to try to help the Captain.

(Observer disappears)

In sickbay...

****! Who's that in the other biobed??? It looks like Adon! I sure hope the experiments were finished with...

Holodod walks up to Whop'ar.

Doc: Sit still!

Kiehart closes his eyes. "Instinct is telling that button will activate the warp drive. But considering my luck, I'll push the other one." He pushes the other button. The warp drive kicks in. "Yes!" he exclaims. "Allright. Now, what course are we on?" He goes to over to what looks like a map. A small Kastyle symbol clearly de-notes the vessel, and it's course. Kiehart looks at the star map. "Allright, let's see here. We are heading for..." Kiehart's jaw drops. "Oh ••••. The homeworld. And at maximum warp we'll be there in about a week. Well, it's time to come up with another plan. Hmm. Let's see. Does the warp drive automatically shut off when the ship comes across a gravity field? Allright. Let's see if there are any powers I haven't developed yet." He strains and strains, and the vain on his forehead nearly pops. But nothing happens. "••••. Well, I hope it's not programmed to do that. Now, where are the fighter bays? I'll need to get out of here before this thing hits."

As the now insane Tacoman makes his way to the system the Spidership is in, his suit's sensors indicate a lone Whyte Kastle ship in warp. He fires a torpedo that follows the ship. The torpedo impacts the Kastle ship and it drops out warp. Tacoman rushes to the scene and begins firing at it, all the while yelling things into the comm system

Suddenly, Milkshake and his assault team run up to RR's group.

Well, Adon's back up on the ship. I need to take command, so my mostly-yellowshirt team will stay to keep the Whyte Kastles off your back. Keep in touch.

Milkshake touches a control on his gauntlet and disappears in a transporter beam.

Kiehart feels the rumble of the ship shaking and suddenly dropping out of warp. "What the hell?" he stumble over to what he identified as the sensors. "A twice-nomral-human sized object. What the hell is that? Where is the weapons console?" Kiehart suddenly notices a small grumble over the speakers. "The comm unit. Where's the volume control?? Ahh, here!" He pushes a button. He sees through the viewscreen a bright beam of light lance forward. "Oops. Too bad the thing that hit us wasn't in the way. But, at least I know how to fire phasers. Can't aim worth ••••, but I can fire." He moves around the bridge some more. The ship shakes violently, and he stumbles to the floor. He runs back to the sensors. "Oh Jesus tap-dancin' Christ! It's grabbed an engine!" He runs over to the nav console and slams the warp drive button. The ship jumps back into warp. The unknown assailant tightens his grip on the warp nacelle and gets dragged along. The intense speed nearly flattens the suit's occupant against the suit's rear wall. Upon Kiehart's forehead a single bead of sweat drips down. "I hope that shook him. Once I've rammed this baby into their homeworld, it'll put one helluva crimp in their plans."

Commander Milkshake, Please report to Sickbay.

Moments later, Milkshake entered Sickbay. Restrained on one bed was Whop'ar, and lying on the main surgery table was Commander Adon. He was asleep and looking rather pale.

I believe I have discovered what is wrong with Commander Adon. Not long after the Commander joined the LICC, he helped me construct a device that can scan and display a patient's life force.

The Holodoc pointed to a display with a silhouette of Commander Adon, surrounded by a very weak glow. It was an extremely pale yellow, almost to where it looked white.

This is Commander Adon's life force readings now. And here is what they were before he was taken.

The Holodoc pressed a button, and the display changed. the silhouette was the same, but now it was a thick and bright golden yellow. The field leaped and danced around Adon's silhouette.

As far as I can tell, most of his energy has been drained. Unfortunately, I cannot tell where it is now. Adon is alright physically, but he has been drawing on this power for 1200 years. Its loss had a traumatic effect on him.

THAT could be what the device was for. Milkshake to Bridge.

"Quantum Man here."

Get a lock on the device we discovered in the Whyte Kastle complex and beam it to Engineering. Have your techs and Colanator's engineers look over it, and see if it can restore a being's lifeforce, as well as draining it.

"Aye, Commander."

Keep me informed of his condition and keep him alive, Doc. I'll be on the bridge.

Tacoman, angry that the ship got away, presses another button. The battlesuit converts into a small warp capable ship. He jumps into warp, right behind the Whyte Kastle ship. He opens a visual channel and says:
YOU! Your people killed Jadlad's father and kidnapped Adon! Prepare to die!
On the Whyte Kastle ship, Kiehart looks up at the viewscreen. He sees Tacoman on the screen, and the image shocks him. Gone is the determined and friendly face usually seen on the good captain. In its place is a look of total and complete madness. Tacoman's eyes glow with a bright mustard yellow color. He speaks again
I am the avenging angel, and you will be dead very soon.
Tacoman fires a single torpedo, which streaks toward the Whyte Kastle ship containing Kiehart

[Author's note: Berserk Tacoman unknowingly attacking Kiehart? I'm ROFLOL!]

Rocket Ranger and Commander Rikard are still searching the storage facility, having decided to wait before they check the trapdoor. They don't find anything, so RR contacts the ship.

Rocket Ranger to bridge. We've found a trapdoor in the storage facility. Can you do a scan and see if the sensors can tell us what's down there?

Ug...

Adon slowly sat up in bed. Instantly, the Holodoc was at his side.
Holodoc: "Commander, you really should stay in bed."

I'll be all right. What I need to do is move around a little.

Holodoc: "I guess that would be ok, but I want you to wear this monitor, and I don't want you leaving sickbay."

Adon nodded and put on the monitor. Then he picked up his sword from Holodoc's office, where he had left it when he came down to sickbay before he was abducted. The he replicated himself a cup of hot, apple cider. With his sword and drink, Adon made his way to the exit.

The Holodoc intercepted Adon on the way to the door.
Holodoc: "I told you that you're not leaving sickbay, and I meant it."

Computer, deactivate the EMH.
Nothing happened.
Holodoc: "I disabled my deactivation protocols. I got tired of people deactivating me whenever they wanted to leave without my permission."

Adon walked over to a control panel and pressed a few buttons. The holodoc flickered.
Holodoc: "What did you do?"

I temporarily disabled your physical matrix. Don't worry, I'm not planning on leaving the ship.
And with that, Adon walked through the holodoc, and out the door. A few moments later, the holodoc flickered as his physical matrix was restored.

kiehart, in a total panic, hits a button that was next to the button he hit when the forward phasers fired. He hopes that the button next to it is the rear firing one. He hits the button. A beam of energy lances out and almost misses Tacomna. The glancing blow knocks him off course. In his angered state all Tacoman can do is pound away at the console, seeming to not even try to correct his course. Back aboard the ship Kiehart slips into the Cpatian's chair. "Holy Mary mother o' God, what happened to him? Did I make it worse by shooting at him? No, no, he fired at me first. But maybe he thought I was one of them. Christ, I have to go back and check on him. Kiehart gets up goes ovr to the nav console. He suddenly realizes he knows exactly which button does what. "Of course! My quick learning skills! I'd forgotten. It's how I got so good with these guns so fast!" A ryhtmic pounding at the turboilift door startles him. "Great. Trying to break in are we? Well those fused doors ought to hold them for a litle while, but just in case, I'd better flood the tubes with knock-out gas."

Author's Note: I've never been to PestiChat and on Feb. 1 at 10:46 p.m., LotH tells Adon about what I mentioned. I just assumed that Adon and LotH told the rest of the crew about the transfer.
Anyway, Continuing with the story:

Rikard runs a tricorder over the door.

The tricorder isn't picking up anything past the door. There may be something interfering with it.

He closes his eyes and tries to sense what is beyond the door...

[Note to Josh: Oops! I was feeling kind of sick (bad headache, upset stomach) when I made those posts. Sorry about that.]

Bigg M.A.K.K. is still looking at the remains of the Whyte Kastle soldiers LotH killed. Meanwhile, Lord of the Hamburgers is scanning the area, looking for places where more WK troops could be hidden.

LotH: M.A.K.K., you'd better get your blasters out and set them on full power. There has to be something important on this planet if the Whyte Kastles still have troops here! (He contacts the Condimental) Get the ship's weapons on-line. If there are Whyte Kastle soldiers down here, then their starfighters may also be in the area!

Onion Ringster (on-board the Condimental): Konichiwa, mein herr. Yo trabajo con queso. Arrivederchi!

LotH (rolling his eyes):M.A.K.K., we've really got to see if we can get Onion Ringster's voice fixed!

Kiehart manages to get the ship turned around, and heads for the location where he predicts Tacoman will be. When he arrives he finds the miniship the suit had turned into in really bad shape. "Jeez. I didn't realize I'd hit someplace important." He reaches for the communicator. "Lieutenant Kiehart to Captain Tacoman. Come in Captain. I have comandeered this enemy ship. I did not intend to fire upon you earlier sir, but your attack was unexpected. Do you require medical attention?"

King Rominaius' personal quarters, Whyte Kastle Command Center. Location: Unknown....

Rominaius is sitting at a table, reading some documents, when the Silver Maiden and two other WK personnel enter. Rominaius quits reading, then notices his guests, then stands up.

Ah, yes. I understand the transfer has been successful, and Adon returned to his allies. Is the next part of our project ready to be implemented?

Lt. Kerns: Sir, everything will be ready within the next two hours. We need to make some adjustments before we're ready to go.

Rominaius: Excellent. Good work, Lieutenant. I'm especially pleased with your performance to date. Keep it up, and you just may find yourself promoted. (He turns to the Silver Maiden) Are you prepared?

Silver Maiden: Yes, my lord, but I am unsure how I will feel without my powers.

Rominaius (smiling): Yes, my dear, you must be afraid. But I assure you, after this is all over, you will not miss them at all. The political power you will possess will more than make up for the loss of your...special abilities.

The other Whyte Kastle officer walks over. He is in combat gear. He stops in front of the King Rominaius, then bows and salutes.

Sir! Major Stokely reporting, sir! Lord of the Hamburgers and some of his crew have apparently joined with members of LICC, and are on Karhl the Younger's planet right now! What are your orders?

Rominaius smiles evilly

Kill them, Major! Kill every last one of them! (He rubs his hands together, then begins to laugh Hahahahahahahahaha!

Tacoman, in the battered suit, shakes his head. His eyes and face return to normal Kiehart, is that you? What happened? Where am I?
Tacoman looks out his viewport and sees the Whyte Kastle ship. His face and eyes return to their previous state of madness. He presses a number of buttons, including one labeled "instant upgrade." A small wormhole opens and a small fleet of Cybertec nanobots envelope Tacoman's fighter. When they leave, the minisuit has become a large mecha robot thing. He begins firing at the Whyte Kastle ship, but just as its shields begin to weaken, he notices a large concentration of ships heading for Karhl the Younger's planet
WHYTE KASTLES!
With that, Tacoman breaks off the attack and heads toward the planet at top speed

Just as Tacoman leaves the area, he fires a couple of torpedos right at the Whyte Kastle ship that Kiehart is on..

Four Whyte Kastle starfighters notice the flash as the torpedoes Tacoman fired at Kiehart's ship are launched. They head for Tacoman at top speed, firing their turbolasers at him. One of the blasts hits the leg of his robo-suit, but the rest miss. Two more starfighters join in. They all move into formation, turn and close in for the kill!

Meanwhile, somewhere else on another planet....

Oh, my god! We're being attacked and King Rominaius isn't here to protect us!

Energy blasts lance out, killing several people. Others run in horror, screaming. Some more fall to the energy blasts, but some escape.

Where are the Whyte Kastles?! Where are our protectors?!

Genocide! Genocide! Genocide! ZZZZZzapp!!

Tacoman, in his fury, fires every weapon at the starfighters attacking him. He manages to destroy two of them and heavily damage the other two
WHYTE KASTLES!!!!

[Author's note: Ummm.....read-read my `Whyte Kastles Flight Commander' post, Jon....There were SIX starfighters, not FOUR!

Quote (from my own post):`Two more starfighters join in. They all move into formation, turn and close in for the kill!']

Well, **** this!

Whop'ar leaps off his examining table when Holodoc isn't looking (right?) and sneaks off down the corridor, and into the nearest transporter room. He spots a red-shirted crewmember at the controls.

Hmmmm...

Thwacks the redshirt (his back was turned, right?) and steals his outfit.

Scrawny looking feller, this.

He sets the controls for the Whyte Kastle base and leaps onto the transporter pad. However, he doesn't count on the shirt he has stolen...

There is a transporer accident, and, well, you can imagine the rest...

Kiehart watches the sensors with glee. In a few hours the ship will impact with the enemy homeworld. He grabs his guns and heads for the security area where the rest of his gear is. He gets it open and puts his guns in their proper slots. "Oh yeah that feels good. Now, to find a fighter." He runs around looking for a door that reads "Fighter Bay." He find it, and finds, of all things, a duplicate version of Rikard's fighter. "Whoa. This is weird. I wonder," he checks out the fighter, and finds that while it has engines, it has no weapons, and paper thin armor. It also lacks many of the abilities of the craft it's trying to copy. "Well, at least it can fly. But I'd better check the FFR code just in case. I don't to register on the radar as a baddie." He performs his task, then activvates the launch sequence. He takes off into space, grasping at the controls. "••••! I forgot I can't fly! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

The last two fighters approach Tacoman, firing as they approach. Tacoman swats them, sending them out of control. He grabs one and removes its computer core
Hmm... an assault at Karhl the Younger's planet, huh?
With that, Tacoman jumps into warp in the direction of the planet
At this rate, I wonder if that piece of skin will ever be found...

(NOTE: I find it difficult to belive Tacoman could be so co-herent considering the nature of the curse.)

Kiehart finally gets a handle on the fighter, and turns around to head for the Whyte Kastle planet, in order to see his handy work. He come sout of warp and sees debris all over the place, and several massively damaged war ships surrounding the planet, including one larger than any he'd ever seen before. He runs a quick sensor scan to discover no damage done to the planet surface. "Dammit! They must flown a bunch of their own ships in front it to slow it down or stop it. Would explain the fleet damage and the debris. I'd bette-" He stops and checks his console again. "Did I read that right? The warp core explosions disabled the planetary minefield? Tight! I'd better send a call to the Spidership. They're gonna want to take advantage of this. Better come up with a good encrypt first though."

During his flight, Kiehart's sensors pick up a piece of DNA that apparently belongs to Tacoman. He stops to pick it up. He finds a piece of wreckage from a destroyed TerrSec ship. On it is an image Adon's sword piercing a Sith symbol. And in the middle of that symbol, a tube is fused. The tube hold the skin sample. A holographic image appears before Kiehart. "Hello. I see you discovered the location of the much needed skin sample to bring back your sanity Captain. If you are not Captain Tacomna, please say so." "Um, I'm not the Captain?" The image freezes for a moment. "Too bad it's not the Captain. I'd set this piece of debris to explode once he tried to open the tube you see here. Oh well. I guess I'll have to settle for the 30 second timer, starting now." An LED display starts counting down from 30. "Well, whomever you are, sir or maddam, I certainly you can figure out how to open the tube and get that skin sample in less then 30 seconds. Bon voyage!" The image disappears. "••••." Kiehart mutters.

Screw it! Lets just go down there and see for ourselves! (RR uses his powers to form a shield made of solid light around himself and Commander Rikard. He then uses his powers to open the trapdoor.....) Okay....here we go..... (Rocket Ranger puts his foot on the first step, and the entire building explodes! The light shield protects him and Rikard, but knocks them several feet away from the ruins of the building, leaving them slightly stunned.) Uh....maybe I shouldn't have done that! (He looks at Rikard) Are you okay, Commander? And do you still have the metal box?

Adon sat in a beautiful concert hall listening to Earth's Classical music. On stage, an entire symphony orchestra played pieces from Mozart and Handel, and Beethoven. Adon sat in the center of the hall with his eyes closed. He was deep in though about what to do now.

He had spent some time in another program attempting to use his powers, but to no avail. Most of his speed and strength were gone, he couldn't generate energy blasts or create portals, and he couldn't fly. Most of his moves seemed clumsy or awkward, and many he couldn't preform at all. Eventually, he gave up and began listening to the concert.

On Adon's lap was a PADD, displaying his current energy levels. Although they had quickly risen while he was asleep, they stopped moving when the reached a normal human's levels.

Spidermobile to Away Team! We just recorded a massive explosion at your position! Are you all right? Away Team, come in.

Rikard hits his comm badge

We're fine sir.

He turns to Rocket and gets up. He throws him the little box.

You mean this?

Tacoman arrives at the planet where he notices the Spideship and the ship of the Lord of the Hamburgers. He begins to attack both ships, saying:
Whyte Kastles must die!

Yes, Commander. I suggest we take this back to the ship and go to my lab before we open it. I've got a set of robotic arm sI use for experiments that is quite nicely shielded. They can open the box for us, in case there's something dangerous inside!

Rocket Ranger activates his badge-comm.

We've found something down here. Beam us back up so we can inspect it.

RR and Rikard are transported back to the ship and proceed to RR's lab. RR puts the metal box on a nondescipt metal table in the middle of the room, then presses a couple of buttons on a keypad on the wall opposite the table. A force-field appears over the table-top and the metal box. RR flips a switch on the wall, and a hidden compartment inside the table and under the force-field opens and a small robotic arm with a four-fingered hand comes out. A few seconds later, another compartment on the other side of the table opens and another robotic arm comes out of it. This arm has a suction cup instead of a hand.

Here we go.... (RR puts on a pair of metal and rubber gauntlets he takes out of a storage box and begins to move his hands. The two robotic arms mimic his movements and open the box. Inside is......)

Boy being Kiehart just isn't that fun without Plot Monitor here.

-

Kiehart panics and begins scanning the tube for an opening. He can't find one. He considers removing the panel, but remembers what Grey said in the hologrammatic message. "OK, I think the fighter has an emergency transporter. I'm going to use it." He whips out his communicator and braks an order. He hears a sound that's similar to the sound of transporter beam. "Thank goo-" KA-BOOM!!

[Author's Note: Webber, do you really WANT Plot Monitor to be here? Remember, I'm Assistant Plot Monitor. If you want me to, I can make things....interesting for Kiehart!]

....a silver data disk, two bluish-green gems, and a small note. RR takes off the control-gauntlets, turns off the force-field, and hands the note to Commander Rikard. He then begins to examine the gems.

Hmmm....I don't think I've seen gems like these before....wonder what they are? What does the note say, Commander?

Kiehart opens his eyes. His trenchcoats was bruned off, and some of his larger guns are missing. For that matter so is the coockpit. Frantically he scrounges through the scrap metal that was the front end of the fighter. He find the skin sample, protected, and stored in the emergency transporter matrix. "Knowing how touchy these these things can be I'd better transfer it." Kiehart finds a container in the fighter's storage compartment, surprisngly undamaged. HE moves the sample into it. Upon further cheking, he find that the fighter is mostly scrap metal. "Nuts. Now how am I gonna get back to the Spidership? Hey, wait! My personal communicator. Wonder how much range it has. Well, it's time to find out." He presses the button, takes a deep breath, then begins speaking. "Kiehart to Spidership. I don't know if you'll get this, but I'm stranded by the wreckage of that TerrSec ship you guys scrapped a month or two ago. I've got Taocmna's skin sample. We can remove the curse, hopefully, but my craft got shredded in an explosion. Could you maybe swing by and grab me?"

BF: Good point. Plot Monitor seemed hell bent on making Kiehart's life a living hell. Kinda reminds me of my dad.

Actually, Plot Monitor was just doing that as payback.....You had a habit of breaking the rules, which thankfully you've gotten over, and he was just trying to even things out by humiliating Kiehart. (I was the one behind the....interesting clothing Kiehart ended up with...the first outfit, anway....the outfit he ended up with later was purely Plot Monitor's doing!)

I like where you're going with this current situation, btw...but let me juice it up a little!

Unfortunately, the Whyte Kastles had somehow tapped into LICC's comm-system, and overhear everything Kiehart said! About fifteen minutes later, two WK ships appear and drop troops onto the wreckage of the ship! These troops are wearing strength-enhancing armor with built-in space-combat gear....jetpacks, life-support...that sort of thing. They are also armed with high-tech weaponry that causes psychic, instead of physical, damage....these boys have done their homework!

[Author's note: How's that?]

Um, well, I wouldn't be doing my part as a nitpicker if I didn't point out the following flaws:

1: The piece of Tacoman's skin was attached to a piece of floating debris that Kiehart brought onto the fighter.
2: There actually is no "ship" left, just the debris. Nothing for the toops to land on.
3: We don't even know if Kiehart's communicator has enough range to picked up from that far away. I was going to leave that to one of the veterans to decide that.

But what's done is done. How about we say, that Kiehart saw the ships coming, grabbed onto the container holding the ONLY key to Tacoman's salvation and clung to one of the larger debris pieces, with an emergency oxygen unit, cause frankly he's tried of holding his breath, although he could do it indefinatley. The Whyte Kastles take off with the fighter. Then, Kiehart tries to peek around at the departing warships, only to ctach a jagged edge on his communicator, that rips off the top. Without the vital part he cannot call the Spidership crew when they arrive, and they won't have a signal to lock on to. And the debris field is SO wide, it could take forever for them to find Kiehart. Sound good?

Ummm....read the above.....jetpacks! They DON'T have to land on the debris, and the Whyte Kastles only have average (for the time-period) weapons technology, but they have highly advanced communications techonology (an empire as big as the WK's would have to)! Sooo....guess what? Kiehart still has to deal with the WK, so there!

[Author's note to Josh: Yes, you get to decide what the note that was in the metal box says. Make it good! This'll probably be my last post until at least 2 or 3 o'clock, board-time!]

The Lord of the Hamburgers and Bigg M.A.K.K. are still down on the planet, when Blotzus (thank God its not Onion Ringster) contacts them on the comm system and lets them know whats going on up in space. LotH and Bigg M.A.K.K. beam back up to the ship.....

LotH: Okay, Blotzus, get back to engineering. We may need you to take some of the power to the engines and transfer it to the shields! Onion Ringster...don't say a word...you take weapons. Bigg M.A.K.K., you take tactical and sensors.

Bigg M.A.K.K.: Affirmative.

LotH: No quarter, people! Any Whyte Kastle ships that attack certainly won't be merciful, and by thunder, neither will we!

Bigg M.A.K.K.: It seems LICC is aware of the situation, also. They have powered up their shields and weapons as well.

Onion Ringster: Jawhol, mi amigo! I...(He rubs his throat) I....what....I think my v-voice is back to normal!

LotH and Bigg M.A.K.K. (at the same time): Good!

Tacoman activates his comm system and opens a channel to the Spideship and the Condimental and says
This is Tacoman, the last face you will ever see. I will avenge the death of Jadlad's father by destroying every Whyte Kastle ship I see, and this means you!!
I am the the e-coli that ruins your meal! I am the mad cow disease that eventually kills! I am Tacoman the avenger!
With that, Tacoman activates his large weapons and begins firing at the ships

[Note to Tacoman: Are you the Terror that flaps in the night, too? ]

Rikard looks at the note.

It says,"left these for you. Enjoy, hahahaha. P.S. Go ahead, see what's on the disk, it won't crash you computer, that would take the fun out of everything!" I hope they mean that in a good way. If WK left these for us, then...

He looks up at the gems and the disk, not sure if they should even touch them.

Rocket Ranger looks at the disk and gems, rubbing his chin at the same time....

Hmmm....I think we should leave the gems here. But, we should probably take the disk and the note to the bridge and let Commander Milkshake decide what to do with them.

They take the note and data disk and proceed to the bridge.

Doctor to Adon, please respond.

But there was no answer. The Holodoc had been trying to raise Adon over the comm systen, but Adon wasn't responding.
Computer, where is Commander Adon?

Computer: "Commander Adon is in Holodeck 4."

Computer, transfer EMH program to Holodeck 4.

The Doctor vanished from Sickbay. He appeared inside a concert hall. Sitting in the center of the room was Commander Adon.
Commander, why haven't you been responding to my comm signals?

Adon said nothing. He apparently didn't even notice that the Holodoc was standing next to him. The Holodoc sighed.

Computer, end program.

The concert hall vanished, and so did Commander Adon. The communicator and medical monitor fell to the floor.

Computer, locate Commander Adon.

Computer: "Commander Adon is not aboard the Spidership."

Doctor to Bridge, we have a problem.

Unfortunetly, the Doctor's message was wasn't heard on the bridge because the bridge had been thrown into temporary chaos.

The science station had just exploded, taking out a redshirt and covering up the Doctor's message.

As far as I can tell, someone reconfigured the ship's sensor array to search for something, but I can't tell what it was. The data would have been stored in the science station. The sensors, however, have returned to normal.

Another alarm when off.

Hanger door alarm! The doors are opening, and I can't override. I've been locked out by Commander Adon's security codes. He's left in his suit sir.

Shoot! Rocket Ranger, I'll deal with the disk later. Right now...

Milkshake runs over to Tactical One and begins entering a long string of characters.

My codes aren't being accepted. Bridge to Engineering!

Colanator here.

Colanator, interface with the computer quick and unlock the Tactical console. We have a problem with Adon.

Aye, sir.

The Tactical console shimmers and reboots. The locked-out options are now active, and Milkshake quickly keys in a sequence of commands.

There, shields up. Milkshake to Hangar Bay 1, launch three speeders to capture and recover Commander Adon.

Breep-breep!

"Commander, he's trying to breach the shields with a flux-field modulator...he's through! Moving away at high velocity!"

Observer, follow him! See what's wrong and try to get him back. Quantum, try to recover any information you can from the Science Console. After this mission, we need a vacation...

BF: Jerk.

-

Kiehart watches as the WK soldiers scan the wreckage of his fighter. He hides behind a piece of floating debris, and hopes the WK leave soon. "This sucks." he mutters to himself. The WK leader shrugs (or at least Kiehart thinks it's a shrug) and the soldiers fly off to their ship. But the ship doesn't leave. It simply powers down. Kiehart's communicator suddenly activates. He hears his message, being played back, through a far more powerful communicatpr array. A look of terror crosses his face. "Oh no. They're gonna lure them into a trap!"

Okay, the board's too big, everyone go to Part 17, where I'll meet my fate!

Come on!

The radio in Adon's Combat-Suit alive with messages requesting and ordering him to return to the Spidership. Eventually he switched the radio off. Then an alarm sounded.

Three speeders? I can't outrun them like this, I can barely operate the controls at 40% thrust.

Computer, prepare the stardrive.

Buried in the wing roots was a small FTL induction device. Power from the engines began charging the device. Just as the speeders were in range to capture the suit, the device activated, sending the suit to parts unknown.

Hey, here's an idea! How about we have Adon come across Kiehart? Two men, one weakened, one excessivly arrogant, and both underseige by the crew of an entire warship! Yeah! It'd be a great way to start Chapter XVII!

Suddenly, Tacoman shakes his head and his face briefly returns to normal. he looks and sees the Spidership and the fact that he's firing on the ship.
Tacoman to Spidership, what am I doing here, and why am I firing on you? Please, lock me up or something... at least until somebody finds that piece of skin!
Tacoman's face takes on a look of fury and madness again and starts firing on the planet

We've moved on to LICC2 XVII

I see only oneway to do this.Computer, set ship's phaser's on stun at 47.5 intervals. forgive me Captain this seems to be the only way. {camera pans on The Inspector's face. BOBW music is heard in backround} Lt Insane ....Fire!!

Um, Inspector Mystery, they're all over at Part 17, and Commander Milkshake already got the Captain back...

A fifteen-ton weight falls from the ceiling and...

CRUNCH