Baldur's Gate 2: Legend of the Rangers!

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yep, i had this posted in naughty bits, but i decided it deserves a thread all its own, since i mostly post old stuff in naughty bits, and this story is brand new...

 

this is for all you babylon 5 fans...

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Baldur's Gate 2: Legend of the Rangers!!!

 

Jennifer Walker strode into Ranger One's Office on Mimbar after Susan Ivanova's young Mimbari aide announced her.

 

"Ranger One, Jennifer Walker is here to see you." said Lantere.

 

"Come in Jennifer. Please have a seat." Time had been very gracious to Susan Ivanova. It had been over 50 years since President Sheridan had asked her to be Ranger One. She was well into her eighties now, and despite her white hair, which she blamed on her job, she remained quite beautiful and still had that powerful personality of her younger years. The Rangers practically worshipped the very ground she walked on, and there wasn't much they wouldn't do for the "Old Lady". Including one Jennifer Walker, from Terra.

 

"You summoned me Ma'am?" Jennifer slid into the comfortable Mimbari resting frame, as Susan waved her to sit down, and sat patiently waiting for Ranger One to explain why she had been summoned.

 

"We've got another situation, which is going to require the deployment of your team into Amn 2. It seems we have a rogue Technomage in our hands. Galen contacted the Gray Council a few days ago requesting our help. Here's the crystal with all the data we have." Susan handed to Jennifer a single data crystal, and waved her dismissal. As Jennifer rose from her seat, Ranger One looked up from her data pad, and gave her a steady gaze.

 

"Jen, study that data very carefully. My instincts tell me this one could get very ugly very fast. The Amnians have a horror and loathing of Technomages, and telepaths, and with both Imoen and Jaheira in your group, revealing your teams capabilities in public could be a recipe for disaster." said Ranger One very seriously.

 

"No more so ma'am than revealing I'm a Child of Shadow?" replied Jennifer with one eyebrow raised. Even among her fellow Rangers Jen's heritage gave them reason to pause. Leta Alexander was a Child of Vorlons, her genetic structure modified by their science making her into a psionic weapon of terrifying power under stress. Yet the Mimbari had known from their oldest records about the Vorlon biological tamperings with the younger races, and the creation of Telepaths by the same sciences. What no one had ever exected was that the Shadows did the same thing. Jennifer Walker was born of Shadow, and no one quite knew what powers she possessed, including herself. Much in the same way that telepaths were fused into the matrix of Shadow ships, she had the ability to control cybernetic machines with just a touch. She didn't need to meld her body into the machines to control them like the poor telephaths the Shadows used during the Great War, but her control was greater. She was capable of literally taking over almost any computer controlled machine, and while using her power was both painful and harrowing to her, it had saved herself and her team's lives more times than she could count. Including just a year ago aboard the Earthforce Battleship "Baldur" when she fought and slew another Child of Shadow, Saravok, her biological half brother.

 

"Well, just be careful, you hear? Oh and don't forget, Boff, drink and be merry..." said Susan pointing at a picture of a young, handsome ranger on her desk, with a black band across the face, indicating the person was deceased.

 

"For tomorrow you may die. Yes ma'am, I'll be careful." said Jen with a certain saucy air. Jennifer knew Ranger One worried every time she sent out a team into the field. But Rangers always had to go see, go find and go where others dared not. She always tried to project an air of happy-go-lucky when Ranger One sent her and her team on another task that had less than a 10% chance of survival. For the thousandth time, she wondered about Ranger One's photo. As far as she herself knew, every time Ranger One sent out a team, she would point to the photo of the young Anla'shok and declaim solemnly, "Boff, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may die." Legend claimed it was her brother, former lover, or just a friend. One particularly farfetched legend claimed it was a Ranger who had somehow given up his lifeforce to heal Susan Ivanova when she was critically wounded, because he loved her, and Ranger One had always regretted never "boffing" him. Just another legend of the Rangers.

 

Two days later, as the Mimari ship "Gorion" approached the Jump Gate, leading to the star Amn, and their final destination, Amn 2, or Athkatla, the crew stood in a circle around their navigation console, enacting a ritual as old as Valen himself. Khalid, took up the Star of Rememberence.

 

"Your name, your place, your truth." said Jaheira.

 

"Khalid Martel, of M-m-m-mars, Weapon's O-o-officer, I live for my l-l-love, I die for my l-love." said Khalid, and was rewarded by a tender smile from Jaheira.

 

"Imoen Walker, of Earth, Infiltration Expert and Navigator, Whatcha want?" said Jennifer's sister with a grin.

 

Jaheira rolled her eyes at Imoen.

 

"Quayle, of Centauri Prime, Ship's Engineer, Don't break things!" said the short centauri.

 

"Minsc, Drahzi, Ground Combat specialist, Butt-kicking for the sake of goodness!"

 

"Squeek-eek, squeek, squeeeek, eek!!"

 

"Boo says Boo, Armorer, we need more hazelnuts!"

 

"Jaheira Martel, of Mimbar, Shoknari, Executive Officer and Healer, Balance in all things." said Jaheira.

 

"Jennifer Walker, of Terra, Shoknar, Captain, NO ONE dies without direct orders!" she said with a half smile.

 

As the crew went back to their stations, Jen saw Immy get an evil grin. Obviously she had seen Jaheira roll her eyes at her Truth. Jen knew Imoen had never taken many of the Ranger customs and traditions solemnly, unlike Jaheira and Khalid. She often joked about it, or made fun of it, but deep down everyone knew she was as committed to the Anla-Shok as anyone. Jen saw her eyes unfocus, as she concentrated on her implanted Technomage cybernetic devices. To everyone's surprise, a dark, horribly familiar hologram formed in front of Jaheira's console. As the electronic incantation released by Imoen took form, it solidified into the dark, horrifying reality of a Shadow, one of the First Ones that had left the galaxy more than half a century ago. Its terrifyingly incandescent eyes shone on a startled and frozen Jaheira, then the appration turned bright, bubble gum pink, and spoke...

 

"Whatcha want, whatcha want, whatcha want..."

 

Imoen giggled as Jaheira rolled her eyes again at the youngest Walker, and she did a high five with Boo. (Gently of course.)

 

Boo as usual was sitting in his howdah. The Miniature Mutant Giant Space Hamster was sitting in a little cupola that Minsc wore strapped to his shoulder. In combat, Minsc attached a small PPC to the howdah, extensively modified by Boo to be hamster sized which he used like a swivel gun. Boo was a failed experiment, by Edger's Industries. The species that Boo belonged to was originally Terran Hamsters. He had been changed by radical genetic modifications to something about the size of a kitten. Boo had been given opposable thumbs, and extensive modifications of the brain and cybernetic implants had given him the I.Q. of a young child. The species was intended to be the ultimate in infiltration spies. He had even been given extensive bionic implants, like monomolecular fibre woven beneath his epidermal layer, and an armorplastic inner eyelid. Boo could actually survive unprotected in total vacuum for some minutes. A true Space Hamster. After the team had discovered the incredibly illegal gene modification experiments, like that which produced Boo in the Edgar Industries Biotech division, EarthGov had been called in, and hundreds of arrests were made. Boo had decided to go with his rescuers after the raid. He was rated as being as intelligent as a human 10 year old, but Jen often suspected Boo of being much smarter than that. He certainly was skilled in PPC weapon maintainence, and had become the Team's official Armorer, his incredibly dexterious fingers able to fix the delicate electronics of the team's weapons. Since Boo had joined the team, and been partnered with the big Drahzi ranger, Minsc was far more stable and tactically aware, and the big lug often solicited his advice. It was kinda strange to see Boo riding on Minsc's shoulder, in his little seat, seatbelt tightly fastened. And it never failed to shock their enemies to see the little furry rodent seated behind the twin handles of a small PPC wearing a tiny combat helmet, firing the PPC in short controlled bursts. Because the PPC was low powered weapon, Boo usually aimed at the most vulnerable body parts of the teams enemies. Minsc would usually shout encouragement in battle at his diminutive partner's incredible marksmanship.

 

"Go for the eyes, Boo! Go for the eyes!!!"

 

Her fellow rangers thought that Jen's team was certainly the weirdest Intelligence and Covert Action team in the Anla-Shok. However their incredible record of successful missions, silenced any detractors. She was mocked during her training because of her naivete, and complete ignorance of anything outside earth. Before Gorion had died bringing the two sisters to Mimbar, she had never been offplanet before, and her ignorance and frequent embarressing lack of knowledge of anything outside of Sol had made her fellow trainees give her the nickname of "Walker, Terran Ranger". Now her fellow Anla-Shok used it as a name of respect.

 

Two weeks later, the mission that had started out so well was only saved by Imoen's skills with fooling the electronic locks of their cages with her technomage skills. Jaheira, the Mimbari healer, had taken care of the teams injuries with the medikits they found in the guard room next to their cages. Jen, Imoen, Minsc and Boo were as concerned as Jaheira over her human husband, Khalid. Quayle, their engineer had been instantly killed in the ambush at the spaceport where they had been captured. Khalid was not with them in their cages, and it worried them as they raided the guard room for weapons. They found quite a lot of their equipment in the guard room, including Jennifer's twin PPC pistols, Boo's weapons, and their Mimbari fighting pikes. Jen also discovered something that she immediately handed over to Minsc, the only person big enough to carry it. It was a portable PPC Gatling rifle, its huge weight and form indicating its obvious power. Its 6 Irridium barrels were able to lay down a incredible barrage of PPC fire, and Minsc was obviously delighted at being able to use the powerful weapon against their former captors.

 

"Great Gun, right Boo???!!!"

 

"Squeek-Eek!!!"

 

"Ok, Im, what's up ahead?" Jen asked speaking around a mouthful of grilled weasel on a stick. Immy often joked that Jen would eat anything, and despite everyone except for Minsc and Jen being utterly disgusted at the rations they found, everyone was forced to eat from the self heating packs of weasel on a stick. Obviously their captors had Drahzi troops in his employ, since the ration packs bore the extremely well known Drahzi Samandmax brand food corporation. Jen and Minsc were delighted with the small foil packs, and divvied up the turnip flavored ones, their favorite, which the rest of the crew refused to even look at. Im longed for a nice serving of Swedish Meatballs, the only true constant in other species cuisine.

 

"Grisel Spiders." Imoen replied emotionlessly. Jen knew why Imoen had gone blankfaced at the mention of the giant predatory spiders. Both the Walker sisters hated spiders. Once, before Gorion had taken them from the orphanage he found them in, the two sisters had seen a spider hatching. They saw the hundreds of tiny spiderlings consume and devour their mother immediately after bursting out of the web egg sack. And as they grew older, they found out that spiders actually injected a toxin into their insects that liquidified their internal organs and sucked them out with their hollow fangs. Nothing would ever erase the sisters' fear and hatred of spiders, but while it made Imoen shiver and rattled, fear simply made Jennifer more angry, and pissed.

 

"Ready?" asked Jen as she poised her finger over the door open to the next room. The next room they had to pass thru if they were to get out.

 

"Yipee Ki-yay, mother-suckers!!!" cried out Jennifer as her PPC carbine on full auto hosed down the spiders waiting for them in the corridor.

 

"Bug-kicking for the sake of goodness!!!" shouted Minsc as he poured a unceasing stream of superheated plasma bursts at the spiders, and his armored boots threw the spiders nearest to the door away from the team, to be fried by the team's energy guns. Jaheira and Imoen laid down suppressing fire while Jen and Minsc (and Boo!!!) cleared the next room. Boo was wearing his favorite combat helmet, the tiny Kaiser Wilhelm helmet, with the pointy spike on top, and his electronic targetting mono-ocular device clamped to his right eye looked like a monacle as he chittered his war cries and a nearly constant stream of PPC fire from his pintle gun splattered spider eyes.

 

The rest of the trip getting out of Irenicuse's laboratory was a nightmare of ambush, and anguish as Grisel Spiders, Drahzi commandos and other assorted scum and villany jumped them. Finding Khalid's lifeless body almost broke Jaheira's resolve, however her training as a member of the Religious Caste helped her put it aside until it could be dealt with later. With Yoshimo, a member of the Thieve's Guild who they rescued in the second floor, accompanying them, they finally reached the surface and daylight...

 

Only to see their quarry, Jon Irenicus, rogue technomage and a P 12 telepath, hold at bay almost a dozen masked men, all of whom were attacking him with PPC carbines and pistols. Irenicus had some sort of Technomage shield generator, and he was using his psionic powers to control the masked attackers to killing each other. The masked men were being slaughtered, until the local enforcers showed up.

 

The police on Athkatla, Amn 2 were Drahzi, and they were equipped with Jansentech combat cyborg backups. Twenty Jansentech combat cyborg monkeys ran to the battle, their single arms helping their stride as they knuckle-ran tword the free-fire zone. Their left arms had been replaced with Hellfire 60mm automatic rocket launchers, and the appearance of the rocket-chucking one armed cyborg monkeys spelled the end of the firefight. A fully armed and armored cyborg monkey could carpet an area with rockets, and against that firepower resistance was futile. Unfortunately, the Drahzi in charge of the security detail had seen not only Irenicus use electronic incantations against the masked men, but had seen Imoen use her technomage powers against Irenicus...

 

Bitter bile filled Jennifer's mouth as Imoen and Irenicus were led away by the security force. Imoen had quietly submitted, knowing that the simians would love nothing better than an excuse to spray down the area with high explosive rockets, killing not only the team, but innocent bystanders. Jen swore to get her back.

 

On their way to the Spaceport to reach the "Gorion" they met a Elnari named Gaelyn Bayle. The Elnari were decended from avian ancestors, and much in the same way that humans are called "hairless apes", and the drahzi called "lizards", derogatory adjective for the Elnari was to call them "pigeons". They not only looked like giant birds, but their speech pattern made the description inevitable.

 

"Cooo...cooo...you be the ones, cooo...I'm looking for, cooo..."

 

After Gaylen laid out his proposal, Jen had to fight her despair. Twenty thousand Amnian Credits!!! Because Athkatla had refused to join the Interstellar Alliance, hyperspace com was unavailable on the planet. She would normally have contacted Ranger one, and had the money sent to her via electronic transfer. Since the Elnari couldn't be scanned by a telepath, that way was closed too, to Jahiera's chagrin. And while Gaylen was surrounded by his body guards, the old fashioned method of information extraction was out too.

 

"So how am I suppose to raise such a sum!" Jen said with clenched teeth.

 

"Well, cooo...a friend of mine near the Spaceport needs a favor done. His name, cooo...is Renal Bloodscalp. Just go to the green warehouse, cooo...and say you want to go in "in Gaelyn's name"." Bird beaked Elnari couldn't make the mouth movements to smirk, but it certainly was obvious he was smirking.

 

That was enough for Jaheira. Her temper had been fraying all day, and this bird brain's mockery of the Rangers was just a bit too much. Her Mimbari fighting pike snapped to its full length, and before Bayle's bodyguards could react, its tip hovered right next to his throat.

 

"You live for the pun, and you'll die for the pun if you betray us." Jaheira said with finality.