Buck Rogers
by AJ Marks
Part 24
Buck looked up at the ringing of the door, not expecting anyone at all. Activating the monitor he was only slightly surprised to see Wilma standing there. Opening the door he allowed her in.
“So, what do I owe this surprise?” Buck asked.
“Thought you’d might like to know what Doctor Theopolis’ plan was,” Wilma said.
“He told you?” Buck asked.
“It’s in the process of being put into place,” Wilma replied. “It seems his plan was to develop a galaxy wide defense force.”
“Interesting, will the others go with it?” Buck asked.
“Well, the only thing in it is a defense pact between everyone that should the aliens attack one, the others will help out,” Wilma said. “It might prevent them from attacking another race.”
“But only if they know about the treaty,” Buck said.
“We have reason to believe they have spies all over the place, they will know. The other part of the treaty would be to help discover more about who they are, and why they are targeting us,” Wilma said to him. “So far all we have is a theory on why they want to attack us.”
“Or they have some sense of destiny to rule over everyone else,” Buck aid.
“Wouldn’t be the first one,” Wilma replied a bit to Buck’s surprise.
“There are others?” he asked.
“Yeah, a couple,” Wilma said. “We have treaties against them as well.”
“How many treaties does the Earth have?” Buck asked not recalling any of them.
“We are currently part of seven defense treaties,” Wilma replied. “And have been a part of two wars, though most of the space wars have been against the Draconian Empire.”
Buck thought about that for several seconds, but still had a hard time with getting the information to that other race to let them know Earth and the others had a defensive treaty against them.
“Gain any information from their ship?” Buck asked, sitting down as did Wilma.
“They are making headway, the navigation system has been found, they are sharing the data with us and everyone is working on decoding it,” Wilma said to him.
Buck leaned back in his chair as the enormity of everything which happened crashed down over him again. It was almost too much to even comprehend if he gave it too much thought. He never expected to be so far into the future, nor did he ever expect to visit so many different planets. Now he had been on several planets, a few more to go due to some wanting to talk to him. They would ask the questions of how did it feel surviving a Thu’Lue hyperdrive engine when no one else had.
Some would ask him about how he was adapting to the changes in society which took place over four hundred years. However most aliens were not up with human culture due to the lack of interaction between races. Perhaps that needed to change?
“To think, we wouldn’t know so much without you,” Wilma said.
“What do you mean, I didn’t do anything,” Buck answered.
“Not true if you listen to Doctor Theopolis. He credits you as an important piece to uncovering all of this. It was you who had contact with so many races, you were in the right spot to be kidnapped, even though it was admitted as a mistake by the rebels, which led us to the nature of the truth behind the invaders,” Wilma said to him.
“Yeah, but its not that important,” Buck said protesting.
“And, you were the one who noticed the person from the Draconian empire, which linked them to the rebels, which led us to uncovering the ring of spies, and on that computer this alien race. On top of that you helped defend Earth from two attacks, one from the Draconians and the other from the aliens,” Wilma said to him arguing against his protests.
He would have said more but the doorbell rang again. Frowning he flipped on the monitor, shocked to see Ardala standing there.
“Expecting her?” Wilma asked, arching an eyebrow.
“No, today was to be a quiet, off day,” Buck said, walking over to open the door allowing Ardala in.
“So, this is where you live,” Ardala said waltzing in before Buck could say anything. She looked around noticing Wilma but said nothing. “The décor is a bit drab.”
“Um, Princess Ardala, what are you doing here?” Buck asked, looking back and forth between the two women.
“Well, I came to give you some great news,” she said. We’ve uncovered who was behind the attack on Earth. It was Harold, but that news is being kept a close secret by my father, though he will publically admit that I was framed, not like anyone thought I was behind it. I figure father caught someone working for my brother, he’ll probably be the one who will be punished, and my dear brother will get a private scolding.”
“Well, I guess that’s good news,” Buck said unsure about that.
“Of course it is, my honor is clean again,” she said to him. “Despite what people think,” she looked over at Wilma, “I keep my promises. I know my reputation, and to keep it like that I have to remain honest. To do that I’ll do anything in my power.”
Once again Buck was reminded of her father.
“Is the Draconian Empire participating in the treaty?” Wilma asked.
“Father is thinking it over, but he has agreed to share information about that alien group, and he’ll be looking into it to make sure Harold wasn’t involved with them. I fear if he was father will strip him of all duties to the throne, I hope not it would mean my duties would increase,” Ardala said.
Buck had no idea if Harold was, or was not, involved. Even as he pondered what to say next there was another knock on his door. Looking down at the monitor he saw Twiki standing there with Theopolis around his next.
“Perhaps I should have gone to the meeting,” Buck joked allowing Twiki into the room.
“Biggy biggy, hiya Buck,” Twiki said.
“Twiki, Doctor Theopolis, what brings you two over to my place?” Buck asked, and was about to close the door when another person appeared. “Chancellor.”
Wilma stood as everyone walked in and Buck felt very uncomfortable with everyone in his apartment.
“I apologize for just dropping by captain, but there was something we wanted to discuss with you and I didn’t want to do it over the communicator,” the Chancellor said.
“Okay,” Buck replied wondering what he had to say. There was nothing he could think of which would require the Chancellor to visit personally.
“I realize you are not a citizen of the NAA, but we think that can actually work to our advantage, and President Chin agrees with me on this,” the Chancellor said and Buck had to recall that Chin was the President of the UEA. “We would like for you to be the official ambassador of Earth.”
“That’s quite a position, what would be my duties?” Buck asked.
“Any official visits to other races, and beyond that we’ll work on it. We don’t really know what the duties will be just yet, but we do need someone who will be able to speak for all of us, recent events have shown us that,” the Chancellor said. “Normally we work with the UEA, but we’ve learned there are still differences between us, and we think you can help bridge that divide.”
“I can try, no promises on it actually working,” Buck replied.
“I look forward to working with you,” Ardala said.
“He won’t be working alone,” Wilma quickly said as the two glared at each other for several seconds.
“That’s all we can ask for Captain Rogers, and if you need any help I am at your call,” Theopolis said.
“Well, looks like I’ve got a job, does it include pay?” Buck asked.
“Of course, the nations of the Earth are all contributing to your pay,” the Chancellor said. “We’ll be able to get you some better quarters, preferably in the government district, and better security.”
“Do I still get to fly a Thunderfighter?” Buck asked, it was a lot of fun flying the fighter.
“As such yes, it would be bad if our ambassador was killed in a shuttle and unable to defend himself,” Theopolis said.
“Then I guess I’ll accept,” Buck said.
“Excellent, your fist mission will be to head out to the new members of the Treaty against the voice attackers,” the Chancellor said. “I’ll set everything up and contact you later.”
With that the Chancellor and Twiki left the room.
“Well, I have to be off as well, my work is never done,” Ardala said, sweeping off out of the apartment but not before giving Buck a quick kiss and heading out leaving just him and Wilma.
“Well, you got a promotion,” Wilma said.
“Yeah, never expected that,” Buck replied.
“Let’s go celebrate, I know a good place to eat, have you had lunch yet?” she asked.
“No, and sounds like a good idea,” Buck said making sure his hair was combed before heading out the door with her.
So much to discover in the universe and he had a job to do it with. He wondered what other adventures awaited him.
The End.