Chapter 2

The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was that the smoke was gone. Then I recognized that I was squinting, and came to the realization that bright light was falling onto my face. As the rest of my body regained consciousness, I became aware of numerous aches and pains, cramped muscles, and a deep soreness that seemed to be emanating from the center of my bones. Yet I could move. My body stretched out, albeit not without protest.

Carefully I pulled myself up to a sitting position, assessing my surroundings. I was still in the small chamber on the ship, but a jagged tear in the wall gave evidence of the crash-landing I had somehow survived. It took me a moment to perceive anything outside of the craft other than a blinding light.

My visor and cerebonics adjusted to the intense sunlight, allowing me to view the bleak desert landscape that lay beyond the broken window and torn wall. There didn't appear to be anything out there… except sand.

Still, desert and sand were better than Zoltar. Slowly I stood up before moving carefully over to the recently-created exit. Silently I slipped through the crack, exposing myself to the full blast of both Spectran suns, their scorching heat instantly baking my skin, despite the protection offered by my Birdstyle. I glanced back at the ship. It was a small vessel, not much bigger than the escape pods Zoltar often used. Moving to the side of the craft, I could see why my blast had taken out the navigation systems. It seemed that my small prison had backed right onto the cockpit.

I didn't dare to investigate further, for fear of discovery. Instead I began moving away from the crash site, doing my best to avoid being seen from the ship. Unfortunately, there was not much else I could do to hide. This desert area was almost completely flat, with little in the way of cover. There was not so much as a dune to provide relief from the endless sea of yellow sand.

Yet the monotony of the view was the least of my concerns. I would be a sitting duck in this environment, easy to spot and even easier to track, since there was nothing to erase my footprints. All I could do was run, in the hope that I could reach some kind of cover before anyone came looking for me.

As I moved, I raised my communicator to my mouth.

"Commander, are you there? Mark?"

"Princess? Where are you?"

"Commander!" I nearly sagged with relief as I heard Mark's voice respond. "I've been taken to Spectra. Zoltar thinks he's captured you. It was a trap…"

"I know." His voice was heavy with self-recrimination. "This is my fault, Princess. I should never have…"

But the rest of his words were drowned out by the whine of approaching aircraft. My time had run out.

"Mark! They're coming!"

I wasn't even certain he had heard me, but I was no longer in a position to continue a conversation. Hopefully the Commander would be able to get a trace on my signal and figure out where I was on the planet. In the meantime, I had other things to worry about.

A shadow raced across the sand, passing to my right. I glanced back, spotting a Spectran mini-copter coming toward me. It was close enough for me to see the smirk on the green-uniformed pilot's face as he approached my position. Laser blasts hit the ground to my left: a warning as to my fate should I refuse to stop.

But I had another option. I fumbled with my belt pouch, pulling out an Astro Bomb before throwing it in the direction of the mini-copter. The bomb flew through the open side of the aircraft, exploding as it hit the interior. The smirking pilot disappeared from view as the ship was destroyed in a fiery blast.

I had eliminated my pursuer, but in doing so I had also announced my position to anyone else who might be in the area. The smoke drifting up from the blackened wreckage of the mini-copter would serve as a beacon for anyone else who wished to find me. All I could do was to continue fleeing, my footprints leaving a clear trail behind me in the sand.

A memory surfaced of another day when I had raced through an alien Spectran landscape, pursued by Zoltar's men. That had been on the northern continent of the planet, and instead of sand, my feet had slogged through the muddy waters of a swamp, my spirits dragging with each step I had taken. Yet I hadn't given up, despite the seemingly insurmountable odds… because Mark had been with me.

I had known then that Mark would protect me. No matter what happened, we would be in it together, and together we would survive. That Jason had arrived on the scene and defeated Zoltar's latest robot had been beside the point. Even without his intervention, I had known that I was safe with my Commander.

I couldn't give up now. I had been able to contact Mark. The Phoenix would be coming for me. I just had to hold on until they got here.

Yet it was difficult to keep myself from despairing as the drone of multiple mini-copters rose from behind me. Within moments, one ship moved forward, passing me on my left, cutting close to where I ran. Without hesitating I threw another Astro Bomb into its interior, but this time I didn't stop to assess the damage. The force of the explosion propelled me forward as much as my own terror. The muscles in my legs burned and my lungs gasped for air as I continued to run, not knowing what other course of action I could take. Laser blasts nipped at my heels, and somehow I eked out another burst of speed, frantically searching my brain for any other possible means of escape. I had a limited number of Astro Bombs, but on Spectra, Zoltar had many more troops at his disposal. No matter how many aircraft I destroyed, he would find more.

In the end, I was going to be killed or captured.

That was a defeatist way of thinking. I had to have faith. Somehow, I could get out of this. Yet as the sound of approaching aircraft grew louder, my confidence fell by the wayside.

"Stop!" called a voice in Spectran, the words echoing over some kind of broadcast speaker in order to be heard above the whine of the aircraft engines around it. "There is nowhere to run. You must surrender now, or face the consequences of your actions."

The ultimatum stirred something within me. I was a member of G-Force. G-Force did not surrender. I would rather die attempting to escape than surrender myself when there was another possible alternative. I was unfamiliar with Spectran geography. Perhaps in a few hundred meters there would be a dropoff and I could glide down to a different landscape entirely. Perhaps the suns would set and the Spectran pilots would be unable to find their way in the dark.

Or perhaps…

One pilot moved close behind me, enough that his shadow fell beneath my feet. It was almost within reach.

I slowed slightly, throwing out my yo-yo as the mini-copter moved closer, attaching my weapon to the underside of the aircraft. The pilot, unnerved by the sudden jolt, moved the ship upward and I trailed along behind, holding onto my yo-yo while slowly retracting the cord. Without warning, the mini-copter dove, throwing me back and putting me on a direct course with the ground. I arched my back, flipping around and vaulting my body over and upward into the cockpit of the aircraft while snapping my weapon back into my hand. The pilot turned just in time to see my boots impacting with his head. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't been wearing a seatbelt. As a result, he went tumbling out of the ship, falling to the sand below even as I grabbed the flight stick and maneuvered away from the ground.

My piloting skills were nowhere near those of Mark or Tiny, but I had gone through basic training on multiple air and space craft, and had flown the Phoenix on occasion. Yet at that moment all I relied upon was instinct, turning the vessel around and aiming its laser cannons at the other ships near my position. Three surprised Spectran pilots stared back at me, frozen in shock even as the first of their number fell prey to my shooting ability. The remaining two panicked, firing randomly and attempting to flee from the unexpected threat I presented. It took less than a minute to eliminate the remainder of my pursuers.

A tear slid down my cheek as the reality of my situation filtered into my brain. I had eliminated my pursuers, but more importantly, I had found a better means of travel. My eyes fell upon the navigation system, where an aerial map was displayed.

Cebera, a large city on Spectra's Western Continent, lay three hundred kilometers to the north. In the mini-copter, I could travel there in a little over an hour, presuming my fuel supply was sufficient. I checked the gauge, sighing with relief. There was enough. I could fly to the city, setting down in the outskirts of the urban area, then detransmute and do my best to blend in with the local population while waiting for the rest of the G-Force Team. It was far more than I had hoped for only a few minutes ago.

Yet an annoying thought niggled at the back of my mind. This was too easy. I was missing something…

The fuel! The gauge indicated that the fuel tanks were nearly full. If I was truly in the middle of nowhere, how could that be possible?

The mini-copters had to have come from somewhere close by. Wherever that had been, it wasn't a safe place for me. It also meant…

Before I could even finish the thought, a deep rumbling filled the air, surrounding me with its ominous presence. There was nothing ahead of my position, but as I looked down at the radar display my heart skipped a beat.

Whatever was behind me was a colossal machine. Quickly I maneuvered the mini-copter around, only to behold a robot carrier of massive proportions. Giant hangar doors were opening on its sides, allowing a fleet of high-powered fighter jets to stream forth.

The odds were against me, but I had overcome such odds only a few minutes before. Grimly I assessed the oncoming fighters, looking for any weakness in their defense. Perhaps their fuel tanks would be a good target. I took aim and fired before the first fighter even got off a shot. Just as I had hoped, its fuel tank blew up with the heat from the laser blast, the sudden explosion catching two other nearby pilots by surprise as they were caught in the resulting rain of fiery debris. Three opponents were down.

Yet these three were just the tip of the iceberg. More fighters continued to emerge from the massive robot carrier. I steeled myself against fear, concentrating only on my next target, reaching for the firing mechanism…

Just as I pulled the trigger, I found myself caught in a hail of plasma bullets. My limited piloting skills were stretched to their maximum, and found wanting. I was unable to avoid all of the incoming fire, and within moments the mini-copter was spinning out of control, plummeting toward the ground.

Unlike the previous occupant of the mini-copter, I was able to jump free of the ship to avoid imminent disaster, however my sense of direction was impaired, thanks to the rapid spinning of the ship and the large volume of thick smoke pouring forth from its engine. I found myself landing on the sand, rolling twice before coming to my feet.

My head whipped around as I tried to see through the oily smoke, but my hesitation was my undoing. Before my astonished eyes a silvery rocket crashed into the ground, detonating upon impact. The force of the resulting explosion catapulted me into the air, tossing my body aside like a rag doll.

I landed face first, clouds of gritty dust and a smoky haze obscuring everything in sight. As the air began to clear I realized that most of by body was covered with sand and debris. I struggled to stand, but instead of moving, my face only sank back into the sand as I found my energy completely depleted. My exhaustion was so utterly complete that even a cerebonic boost did little to restore my strength. I had been running on adrenaline for far too long, and now I was suffering through the aftereffects of that massive energy burn. My entire body screamed with pain, but I pushed the agony aside, willing my muscles to work. I had to get out of here before the Spectrans found me…

A click at my ear informed me that it was already too late. The sound repeated twice more, and I didn't need to look to know that the muzzles of three Spectran laser rifles were positioned only centimeters from my head. At such a close range, my helmet would provide little protection against a direct hit.

"Can't even lift your face out of the dirt, Commander?" Zoltar's voice sneered. "I expected more from the leader of G-Force." His voice was sickly sweet, yet carried a clear undertone of menace.

"Restrain him!" Zoltar snapped, and I felt people scrabbling through the sand and debris covering my body to grab at my arms and legs.

"Don't make any sudden movements." he cautioned me, his voice getting closer to my ears. "We wouldn't want these soldiers to start getting itchy trigger fingers." Without warning, I felt fingers pushing roughly across my cheek, digging under my chin, pulling my face upward…

"What…?"

I stared into Zoltar's face as his eyes moved from emotion to emotion. Shock, disappointment, disgust, frustration, anger… all playing across the visible lines of his face. I glared in defiance, which at this moment was the only resistance of which I was capable.

"You're not the Commander!" Zoltar hissed.

"And you're not as smart as you thought, are you, Zoltar?" I taunted him. "You caught the wrong person."

"Wrong person or not, I'll have my satisfaction!" the Spectran Leader insisted, jerking my head up violently as other hands lifted my body. I found that I was unable to move my arms or legs, although I had not felt any restraints being placed upon me.

"Since you've taken the place of your Commander, you'll have to continue doing so." Zoltar snarled. "I had plans for him… which are now my plans for you." His eyes glowed with a malevolent light, and it was all I could do to project a quiet confidence that I did not feel. Whatever trouble I had caused Zoltar today, he would pay it back a thousandfold.

Of that I was certain.