Under the Sundowner An Ending
Under the Sundowner: An Ending
by Prowl-Ar Nightiger
The beginning of this section starts out the same as the ending of the last chapter; however, the end of the scene is completely different. This leads to a non-canon ending or an alternate universe depending on how one wants to view it. Basically I ran out of ideas and, rather than putting the story on the shelf to wait for inspiration, I slapped an ending on it. Of course as it stands now this ending still works with the overall continuity of the Kah Har universe and can be read as such.
A chair crashed over the bar and Tye covered his head. Spike had kicked him over the counter and Tye had decided to play unconscious until he had no other choice but to move.
"SHOCK!" Nature yelled, seconds before flying over the bar and landing next to Tye. "Remind me never to call Duo a cute and cuddly little bear again."
Tye stared at Nature with his mouth hanging open in shock.
"Hey wait a minute! It's not like that! I wasn't, I mean..." Nature began to babble, as his ears turned red.
Tye couldn't help himself; he started laughing at the wolf's embarrassment. He stopped short, when a hand grabbed the back of his jacket and yanked him over the bar. Tye only had time to grab an object from under the counter to use as a weapon.
"So, you thought you could just hide back there until the fight was over, did you?" Seeker growled.
Tye just grinned and swung the object. He barely stopped before the short wave radio could impact with Seeker's head. However, as she ducked, Tye was able to shove her backwards into a large human.
"Damned hair bag." He sneered.
"His fault." Seeker mewled, a second before joining Nature.
Tye just smiled and ran. He was able to get a hold of Alec and shoved him out the door before turning back to the fight. "Duo, Daniel, we're out of here!" He yelled.
Duo nodded and marched toward the door, knocking anything and everything that stood in his way to one side.
However, both Jace and Spike had Daniel trapped in a corner. Though he was doing a good job of holding them back with a pair of chair legs, he was using as clubs, there was no way for him to escape.
"More hair bags, and ganging up on a human as well. I'll teach you both a lesson."
Spike and Jace slowly turned around and looked up at the human. They glanced at each other and nodded. Jace dropped to his knees and slammed his fist into the man's groin. As he started to double over Spike nailed him in the gut with a kick. The man flew across the room and crashed through the wall. Jace and Spike quickly turned back to deal with Daniel only to discover that he was gone.
Daniel ran around the corner of the bar and waived at the others. "If we're going I suggest we run. Those two are going to be pissed when they discover I cheated by going out the window."
"So why are we running away? We could have finished them off. Besides, we still don't have any supplies." Duo said, as they reached the edge of town.
"It doesn't matter. We've just accomplished the first task on our agenda." Tye said, as he held up the short wave radio. "We now have the equipment we needed to rig a broadcast when we catch up with ... Oof." Tye gasped, as he was knocked down.
"Oh, sorry about that I was just telling my friend here that... this town... Oh Shock!" Dare yelled, as Daniel and Alec grabbed his arms. Duo, bear hugged Ice while Tye quickly stood up and activated the transmitter.
"Rescue ship, send down the retrieval pods!" He yelled.
"Please, don't do this. We haven't done anything wrong." Dare whined.
"Don't be afraid, we're not bounty hunters." Tye said, as the pods streaked through the atmosphere. "We're a rescue team. When we get back to the ship you'll understand."
"But I don't want to go back!"
"Let go of us!" Ice yelled, as she tried to escape from Duo.
The first pod landed and they shoved Dare into it.
"I'll be back for you! I swear it!" Dare yelled to Ice as the pod closed.
Blue energy surrounded the pod and it shot skyward in the tractor beam. Within seconds both Alec and Daniel's pods had also been pulled up.
"Do you really think you've won?" Ice asked, as Duo started to let her go. She jumped away and pulled out a sword. "The only way for you to win is if all of you escape."
"Duo, get in your pod. I'll deal with this." Tye said, as he pulled out his own sword.
As Dou's pod shot into the sky he rested the back of his blade on his shoulder and smiled. "You know, I bet Dare will be back for you. But then, that isn't my concern." Tye looked beyond Ice and waved.
"Do you really think that trick is going to work?"
Tye laughed and started to back toward his pod. "Whether you believe it or not doesn't matter. You see, my mission is over and all the other missions require Dare to be here on the planet. As he said, he'll be back for you."
"That means the best way for us to accomplish our mission is to keep you safely in our custody until he returns." Seeker said, as Jace and Nature grabbed Ice's arms.
"Good hunting." Tye yelled, as he slipped into his pod.
* * *
"Well that was anti-climatic." Daniel complained, as Tye flopped into his favorite chair.
"Don't be so sure. The game may be over but something tells me the drama hasn't even started yet."
"Whatever." Alec mumbled. "So what are we going to do now?"
"We could just flop back and relax, start a new game, or we could start working on a plan to deal with the Shendrian situation."
"I'm all for creating a plan, but where do we start something like that?" Daniel asked, as he slid around on the couch into his favorite upside down position.
"At the beginning of course. You've already started planning for this by coming here to contact Prowler. So what's your next step?" Tye asked, as he leaned forward and looked at each of the pilots.
"The first problem that'll have to be dealt with is avoiding the patrols in the Gateway system." Duo said, as he leaned back in his chair and scrunched up his forehead in thought.
"All right then, the first step is to get by the system patrol." Tye smiled and leaned back. "Fortunately all of our ships have cloaking shields. I'm sure it won't take Dare long to upgrade your fighters, once he gets his hands on them."
"I don't like the idea of someone messing with my fighter." Alec said.
"Don't worry, Dare may have his quirks but when it comes to upgrading fighters he's the best you can find. Now, as I see it, the first real problem you're going to have to deal with is how you're going to get through the gate without being detected."
Alec bit his lip, Daniel sighed, and Duo closed his eyes in frustration.
"I've got an answer for that." Dare said, as he entered the room. "Gateway Station sends a message pod through the gate every other day. As the pod passes through the gate there is a two minute window to travel through the wormhole undetected."
"How do you know that?" Alec asked, as Dare sat down on the couch next to Daniel.
"Because I've been through the gate and back multiple time in simulation and once as a real test."
"YOU WHAT!" Everyone yelled.
"Hey, before you decide to kill me I was only a passenger at the time. Trace was piloting the scout while I was running scanning equipment. So if you want to take it out on someone, you can deal with him."
Tye shook his head. "One of these days he's going to push things too far."
"Yeah, well here is the complete data package of our trip. There are simulations for use in both the flight simulators and for the V.R. chamber. I figured it was too sensitive to be delivered in any way other than in person." Dare said, as he placed a black plastic case on the table. "I'm heading back up to the shipyards, so if three of you would like to follow me I can get to work on improving your fighters. As for you Tye, I'd suggest you . . ." Dare paused as he tried to think of the right words. "Make sure you have a back way out of this hole."
"I take it Ice is ticked off?"
"Uh, no. Homicidal would be a better term, but she isn't the only one. I warned you that your group had the most people watching. Now consider the way you ended your run in the game. I can always go back to rescue Ice but your group is finished. Oh sure you could go back but your characters would be new."
"Um, are they upset with us as well?" Daniel asked.
"No, just with Tye. He's the one who actually ended the mission. If he'd been captured by Ice or Seeker's team then all of you would've been able to re-enter the game to rescue him. But no, he made sure that your scenario in the game was well and truly done."
Tye smirked. "I guess that means I'm going to be hunted in whatever game I decide to play next."
"Sure, if you live that long." Dare yelled, as the lift door closed.
Tye propped his feet up on the table and laughed, the sound echoing in the empty room.
FINISH
Well, I've completed a couple scenes for the canon storyline so once I've edited them I'll go ahead and post them.
I really do want comments so that maybe I can revive the muse on this story. I don't want to slap on another half-hearted ending like this one but the only alternative will be to shelve the story until inspiration comes around again and that could take several years.