Mission: Payback part 19

Continued from last week...

Back in the Rebel headquarters, Cathy was pacing back and forth across the floor.
“Cathy, you’re gonna wear a hole in the carpet if you keep pacing like that,” Derek said.
“That’s highly unlikely,” Laz piped up. “Given the fact that we’re about fifteen minutes away from being blown sky high there’s no way that she would have enough time to wear a hole in any carpet.”
“Figure of speech,” Derek snapped.
“What’s going on?” Cathy asked more to herself than anyone. “We should have heard from them by now.”
“Maybe something went wrong,” Kayla suggested.
“No! We can’t afford to think like that,” Cathy shook her head violently.
“Ryan has never failed us,” Chris declared confidently.
Just then one of Cathy’s aides interrupted them. “The missile has launched, ma’am.”
Chris stared at the aide dumbly. “Until now,” he whispered.

Emmy and Ryan raced over towards the computer screen. “It’s too late!” Emmy exclaimed. “The missile has launched already.”
“Maybe we can still stop it,” Ryan said. “We have to break that code first, though. Start putting in some codes.”
Emmy started typing frantically. “It’s not world domination,” she said as the computer rejected her first try.
“No,” Ryan shook his head. “He wouldn’t use the same password twice. Try again.”
Emmy tried another password, but it too failed. She looked at Ryan and wrung her hands. “Ryan, I’m out of ideas. What do we do?”
Ryan closed his eyes and racked his brain for any ideas. Finally, he opened his eyes and shrugged. “I don’t know…” then his eyes brightened. “I have it!” Ryan gxclaimed, thrusting his finger in the air just as a light bulb magically appeared over his head. Ryan looked up at the light bulb and scratched his head. “Weird… where did that come from?”
“It does that when you come up with a brilliant idea, now what is it?” Emmy explained hastily.
“Well what does a light bulb appearing over your head have to do with coming up with an idea?” Rycn asked. “I don’t get it.”
“It’s just an illustration,” Emmy snapped. “Now what’s your idea?”
“Oh right, the idea.” Ryan rushed over to the computer and typed in a password and clicked enter.
“Access granted,” the computer announced in a monotone voice.
“We’re in!” Emmy exclaimed with amazement. “What was the password?”
“Kill Cruise,” Ryan replied absentmindedly, he was already hammering away at the keyboard.
“Wait…” Emmy spoke up after watching Ryan type away at the keyboard for several seconds. “Whct are you doing?”
“Trying to stop the missile, what does it look like?” Ryan replied in an irritated tone.
Emmy’s brow wrinkled in a confused frown. “It looks like your just typing a bunch of random keys.”
“I am not!” Ryan shouted defensively. “This is a very complicated procedure,” he paused and then added, “They do it in the movies all the time.”
Emmy through up her hands and sighed. “I was afraid of that,” she moaned. Emmy thrust Ryan away from the keyboard. “Here, let me at it.” Emmy started typing away at the computer furiously.
“Hey!” Ryan complained. “I was this close!” he held his thumb less than an inch from his finger.

“Done,” Emmy declared, turning and giving Ryan a smug grin.
Ryan’s eyes narrowed in a look of bewilderment. “What the…? But you were doing the same thing I did.”
Emmy shrugged and returned her attention to the computer once more. “You must have not been hitting the right keys.”
“Ha! Not hitting the right keys my--” Ryan started to say but he was cut off by Emmy’s worried remark.
“Uh-oh, I think we have a problem.”
“What?” Ryan asked, trying to peer over Emmy’s shoulder at the computer screen.
Emmy turned back and faced the computer again. “I don’t think I can terminate the missile.”
Ryan stared at her blankly and then demanded, “Speak English, please.”
“That was English,” Emmy fired back.
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Simpler English then.”
“I can’t stop this thing!” Emmy shouted in his ear. “There you get that!?”
Ryan rocked back a step, stunned. He blinked and rubbed his ear. “Yeah, yeah, I get it, you don’t have to shout I’m right here.”
“What are we going to do?” Emmy asked frantically.
Ryan pondered her question for a second, rubbing the stubble on his chin thoughtfully before replying, “can we steer it?”
Emmy paused as if trying to remember if this were possible. “I’m not sure,” she finally said.
“Well can we try?” Ryan asked.
Turning back towards the computer, Emmy scanned the screen. “It’s a good thought… but I’m not sure how we would steer it.”
Ryan pointed towards the screen. “What does that button that says ‘pop out joystick’ do?”
Emmy moved the mouse into position and clicked the button. There was a whirring sound and a square hole opened in the top of the desk. A few seconds later, a joystick rose into view and the whirring sound stopped with a metallic clicking sound.
“Oh,” Ryan said. “That makes sense…” he grabbed the joystick and shifted it around, testing it.
“What does it do?” Emmy asked.
“Steers the missile I’m hoping,” was Ryan’s answer. He jerked the joystick to the right. His effort was awarded by an alarm on the computer.
“Missile veering off course,” the computer warned.
“It’s working!” Emmy shouted joyously, clapping her hands.
“Just turn off that stupid alarm,” Ryan yelled over the loud sirens blaring from the computer.
Emmy pushed a few buttons and the alarms ceased. She turned back towards Ryan and took a deep breath, and brushed her hair off of her face. “Where are you going to divert it to?”
Ryan grinned. “I have the perfect place.”

Back at the Rebel’s temporary headquarters, Cathy paced back and forth worriedly.
“One minute, fifty-seven seconds until impact,” the Rebel computer announced. “One minute, fifty-six sec--”
“Just tell us when it gets down to thirty seconds, ok?” Cathy sncpped at the computer.
“Yes ma’am,” the computer replied evenly.
Chris and Laz were carrying on a rather nervous conversation in the corner of the room, each hoping and praying that their old friend would miraculously come through once again.
Standing somewhat closer to the anxious Cathy was Derek. He too was nervous, although you could hardly tell it. The only sign of anxiety he showed has the constant tapping of his foot, otherwise he was completely calm.
“Come on, Cruise,” Cathy hissed under her breath, continuing to pace across the room.
“Give him time, Cathy,” Derek said.
Cathy whirled around to face him. “We may not have much time left, Derek,” she pointed out.
Chris piped up from over in the corner, “Cruise has never failed us Cathy, and he won’t fail us now.”
Cathy remained silent for a moment and ran her fingers through her hair. “I certainly hope not,” she whispered.

Over in the Imperial camp’s headquarters, the Imperial general was standing in front of the computer screen with his hands folded behind his back and a confident look on his face.
One of his men walked up to him and stood by his side, waiting for orders. The general simply ignored him and kept his gaze on the computer screen in front of him.
“Thirty seconds until impact,” the computer notified them in a monotone voice.
The general turned his attention towards the soldier standing beside him. “Just a few more seconds and we will have crushed this pitiful rebellion,” he said gleefully.
The man dipped his head and smiled. “Congratulations, sir,” he replied.
The general let a grin spread across his face and chuckled. “And to think that Morris was so worried about that Ryan Cruise character that he actually left the battle scene. Ha, not that it’s much of a battle of course, but it still seems regrettable that he’ll miss the fireworks.”
“It does, sir,” the soldier replied politely.
The general opened his mouth to speak but then paused. “Do you hear that?” he asked, a bewildered frown replacing his triumphant grin.
The soldier gave a confused look in return and shook his head. “Hear what, sir?”
“That whistling noise,” the general continued. “It almost sounds like a mi--” was all managed to get out before he was cut off as a loud explosion shook the Imperial camp. The general lifted his hand to protect himself from the unseen danger but before he could move a step he, and nearly the entire Imperial camp, was engulfed in a ball of flames.

Cathy and the others heard the explosion only split seconds before they felt the slight tremor in the floor underneath them. They froze in an instant, bewildered and momentarily frightened for their lives. But when it became apparent that the explosion was nowhere near them and that they were in no immediate danger, their looks changed from bewildered and frightened, to simply bewildered.
“What was that?” Chris broke the silence by voicing the question that was on all their minds.
“I think it was a missile,” Laz suggested.
“Of course it was a missile,” Kayla snapped. “But was it our missile?”
“I wasn’t aware that we had a missile that big,” Laz retorted.
“That’s not what I meant, stupid,” Kayla shot back.
“Hey!” Laz objected. “I am not stupid… just misunderstood.”
Cathy ignored their comments and checked the computer. “According to the computer, the missile should have detonated by now.”
“I think it just did,” Chris said softly.
Realizing what Chris was implying, Kayla smiled and gave a sigh of relief. “Then that means that Ryan succeeded.”
Derek, who had remained silent since the explosion, spoke up. “He may have succeeded, but that doesn’t change the fact that, in a few minutes, Ryan Cruise will be dead thanks to us. That is if he isn’t already.”

Daniel and Katie were spending a rare moment of time together when the missile exploded. They both jumped from to their feet as the missile lit up the sky, lighting the sky for miles.
“I think that was the Imperial camp!” Katie exclaimed.
“Was that our missile?” Daniel asked, looking at Katie.
Katie shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Just then a shout burst forth from the camp. “Woohoo! You don’t mess with the Rebellion!”
Several cries echoed the anonymous shout, until the whole camp was filled with cheers.
“Does this mean we’ve won?” Katie shouted over the din.
Daniel shook his head slowly. “I don’t think anything will end this except the death of the emperor."

To be continued...