"Kempeler, surrender now and hand over your false Count Egobossler to me, and I'll make it a quick death for you." Mekandor's booming voice echoed throughout the icy plain of the North Pole towards the rebel army.

Kempeler brought a curled hand to his mouth as he shouted back to his rival. "You're a piece of work Mekandor- do you think anyone believes Erun's lies and deception any more? Except it disrupted your own plans to have him demoted by My Lord Kaseru. My lord, the real Count Egobossler Kaseru has only taken back what truly belongs to him, nothing less and nothing more. It's you who should be afraid. Why should we give you back a traitor?"

"Stop this medieval bantering it's getting on my nerves." Kaseru scoffed standing next to him hugging his arms to his body shivering. "He's nothing more than a bag of defeated wind and knows it, my orders are to get rid of and then inform Galactor of its new leadership."

Kempler worked to have patience with this spoilt Count, he learned early after rescuing he liked to have it all his way even when he had his brother gagged and bound and out of the way in a safe place. Kaseru didn't want to listen to advice from his years of experience so he went over his spiel carefully. "My Lord, that bag of defeat wind still has a large portion of Galactor loyal to your brother we have to defeat him but also convince the goons-"

"I think they'll change their minds fast when they see how good I am at leading an army, get on with it Kempeler... they don't look all that intelligent so I don't know what you're worried about. We go back to Egobossler estate tonight Kempeler, I have so much to do." Kaseru frowned and stomped off through the snow to his makeshift war tent.

Damn spoilt brat will get us all killed. Kempeler thought. He didn't even give him the grace to help Natasha at least get to safety. "She's no use to us, why bother with a nobody? And the kids a brat, I don't like small children hanging around. He screamed so loudly one night I didn't get a wink of sleep." Kaseru said in a condescending tone.

Pulling out a cigar and lighting it he thought about her and his long dead wife. For the first time in twenty years it dawned on him he could have handled it differently with his beloved wife. Deep in his hardened heart he knew with her he tried to make amends for his sins. A fleeting thought raced through his mind, the man he once was would have wanted to see an end to an organisation like Galactor. Closing his eyes he asked her for forgiveness, he would use Kaseru to bring about the end of it all.

Could a man like him full of hate and pain change and become better and begin to heal? Kempeler knew inside of him it was the truth he longed for. The truth he ran from only to find it standing in an icy cold barren place in the middle of an impending battle outnumbered following a young man demanding to be a leader when he no skills for it. He hated to admit it- the bastard son Erun Egobossler was more qualified for the job than his legitimate born brother.

 * * * *

Mekandor's grin spread from ear to ear, hidden by his thick bushy black beard when a goon handed him a piece of paper telling him Erun's location. "That outta keep him occupied, there is no way in the world I'll follow that little brat and Kempeler. I'm going to me self a real leader...Men, lets go and free him so he can take care of these pests himself. I wouldn't want to deny him the pleasure of killing both of them."

The goon grinned stupidly, agreeing with his every word.

"Then move it, we don't have a minute waste get me to my transport..." Mekandor bellowed turning to run to make haste so he could come back and squash his rival with Erun Egobossler's iron fist.

* * * *

Arriving at the space observatory the head scientist Dr. Balentine offered them a tour.

"I know you're here because we reported strange activity and suspected it to be Galactor, we could have been wrong, there appears to be nothing since we called the ISO."

"Stay frosty team." Ken's voice held its usual caution.

Jun agreed immediately to his offer with Ken giving them the all clear to go on the tour. Joe solemnly starred straight ahead with his arms folded under his mantel with his usual unreadable expression.

"First of all I'll take you to see the main telescope, the discoveries we have made in the past couple of weeks are mind blowing." The little man couldn't contain his excitement. "I have permission to share this secret discovery with all of you."

Ken and Jun exchanged curious looks and followed the man into the huge auditorium with ceilings higher than a twelve story building with an enormous telescope planted in the middle of the floor.

"Wow!" Jinpei gasped. "This place is amazing..." Ryu followed his sentiments. Joe reminded quiet and uninterested.

Another man with wispy sliver hair and large black rimmed glasses greeted them with a smile. He spent a few minutes explaining the power of the telescope and the advanced technology they were using to operate it.

"But! This is why we're so excited." He said pointing to a star map up on the wall, his finger landed in a little dot closer to a star. " It's my discovery that came to light after the destruction of the planet Selectoru in the Andromeda Galaxy... I got to name the new planet, we're sending a probe to see if it contains any life...or if it just might sustain Earths first colony of humans...how incredible would that be, a dream come true."

"So what did you call it?" Jinpei piped up wide eyed at the discovery.

"Riga, after my cat." The scientist said proudly grinning from ear to ear. "He's been a loyal cat and deserves a planet named after him."

"Riga, mmm...after the cat." Joe acknowledge with a raised quizzical brow. "I can live with that, what else have you found?"

"We're not sure, its further out than Riga, but it appears to have some potential to have life already on it but its further from a star that could act as a sun. We have already sent a greeting probe, to see if the inhabitants want to make contact with Earth. For now we refer to the planet as Spectra....and we're exploring the other surrounding planets for liveable environments."

Joe, frowned deeply before he spoke again. "Going into the unknown and you want to send a message to say ‘Hi, we're all good down here, wanna be friends.' How stupid is that you don't know what's up there. Its not like we're in a Star Trek movie!"

"Joe, that's no way to speak to him about it." Jun reprimanded him. What has gotten into him? She thought.

"Condor Joe might be right, but its risk we take to move forward." Dr Balentine said.

They all turned at the sound of a guns firing in the distance.

"Team it sounds like that's our call to take some risks lets move, "Ken said anxious to find out what's happening outside.

"Roger..." They all responded running back towards the main doors.

 * * * *

"What the hell is going on here?" Joe's angry yet confused tone matched Jun's own feelings about what was taking place before them.

The battle that they had been thrown into didn't reflect the usual way Galactor operated when the attacked a target.

"Its like we're in the middle of something else, a civil war perhaps." Jun replied. Ken shared her sentiments along with Jinpei and Ryu.

"Then our mission is to protect the base while they fight this out between them, for all we know this might just be the end of Galactor." Ken sounded hopeful.

"So we sacrifice everything for them to implode!" Ryu scoffed in his laid back tone. "Whatta you know...we coulda saved ourselves the trouble."

" Typical of the inconsiderate bastards isn't it." Joe scolded while he basted some more of the goons that stood in his way, powering the G-2 through masses of snow to come flying out the other side with ease.

"I figured it had to come about eventually since Natasha told us he rescued Kaseru...is it the lesser of two evils..."Jinpei levelled a tank that came to close to the Observatory for his liking.

"Are we helping Kempeler or just hindering him?" Ryu asked.

"Who gives a rats rah zoo...its Galactor and they're our enemy and that's all I care about." Joe informed the Owl.

"Stay focused on the mission all of you, if we lose the observatory then our mission is a failure regardless of who's in charge of Galactor at the moment." Ken's steady voice brought the focus back to where it had to be on the mission.

"Roger Ken." Jun replied with a hint of smile coming to her lips. Hearing him taking command in his usual way made her feel safer even in the heat of battle. She missed his cooler composure when they came face to face with the enemy, and for a short moment she had the old Ken back in the pilot's seat once more. For how long she didn't know.

* * *  *

"At last brother, we meet on equal ground." Count Kaseru Egobossler levelled his sword to Erun's heart.

Erun mocked him with his pale grey eyes and he met Kaseru's blade with a clang." We have never been on equal ground...brother."

After that they began their battle for the seat of power with the sounds of clashing steel speaking the hatred that lay between two brothers. Kempeler stood to the side of the battle waiting patiently for the outcome.

Kaseru felt fatigue begin to drain him. Years of being locked up in a cell had worn away at his youth more than he thought. He struggled to maintain his strength to hold off his opponent. A brother he never felt a bond with, yet a worthy opponent even if he wouldn't admit it openly.

The sudden excruciating pain of a steel blade sliding into his body brought Kaseru to his knees. He tried to cry out but the pain stole his voice when Egobossler pulled his sword roughly from his dying body.

"Who's sorry now brother." Erun snarled. Kaseru didn't respond the pain of his wound sapped him of his strength to fight back. The flow of slick blood weakened him.

Kaseru had once led an opulent existence, the memories of his days of glory flashed before his eyes as his body gave way from the fast flow of blood causing him crash ungraciously onto the floor of the Castle he came to claim as his own...

Standing over him holding his bloodied sword in his left black gloved hand Erun stood over him waiting for Kaseru to take his final breath. Kaseru stared into the face of his enemy chilling him to the bone he began to shiver violently- it was like Erun wore a mask to look exactly like him then like in a nightmare it was like his face became distorted by Erun's blue colouring and shock of white hair. Erun's face his face...reflecting his eyes with no remorse to pain he'd caused his brother Erun by his own arrogance. He didn't even have moisture left to spit in his face. Erun's satisfied smile placed the last nail into his coffin as he shrank away from his brother in horror and fear of his own approaching death and drew his last shallow breath left his body.

The world whirled  before him and when the devil came to claim his soul, the last thing he saw was his Erun's cold blue face with his shock of white hair still looming over him... then he fled into eternal darkness towards the flames of his sins to escape him forever.

Egobossler turned his malicious grin onto Kempeler.

"I'm no fool Erun- I'll find a way to kill you just not today." Kempeler spat on the floor as Egobossler took long deliberate strides towards him casually holding his red blood sword slightly ahead of him.

"Coward." Erun hissed. "You came here to take my army and be their leader and steal my title now prove yourself worthy of it."

Kempeler's cocky grin intensified. "I'll fight you to the death Erun, just not today." Then he turned and fled from the room with Count Egobossler running out the door to find he'd already vanished into the dark hallway.

Knowing Kempeler he would have gone back to his traitors to try and find a way to kill him. He let him go so he could enjoy the hunt and make his victory over Kempeler and Kaseru even sweeter. Confident that he could defeat him on any battle field Erun Egobossler walked through the slick blood flowing from his dead brother leaving dark red footprints on the plush white carpet all the way to the mantle containing his brandy. Its time to redecorate the castle anyway... Egobossler thought absently. Pouring a glass he then sat down in a chair and put his boots up to rest his tired feet after a long day he held up the expensive crystal glass to propose a toast.

"To you my brother, at long last...there is only one Count Egobossler inside these walls..." Drawing in the warm amber liquid down his throat he began to laugh loudly...letting it echo through the halls in the direction of the fleeing Kempeler...

* * * *

"I don't get it, where did they all go!" Jinpei's exasperated voice came through the speaker.

"I don't know, but it can't be good, team form up the Gatchasparten we're going to check it out." Ken ordered.

The fight they had ended up the middle of suddenly ceased and the troops withdrew faster than they could imagine. It meant the Observatory was safe but the sudden departure of Galactor mystified them all.

For the next few hours they circled the area only to come up with nothing to explain the sudden withdrawal.

"Dr.Nambu's calling us in...it looks like we have to make tracks to New Jork. Galactor is attacking the city, and there are some orphaned kids in danger." Ken informed them. He looked more exhausted than the rest of them, yet he prevailed, Jun noted. Stubborn as always when it came to duty.

"Lets get moving..." Ryu said turning the ship around, and heading in the direction of New Jork at full speed.