Chapter 1
"That way." Mark pointed, his lips moving soundlessly as he communicated the message to his team. Jason nodded sharply, accepting the instruction and falling into place directly behind the commander, followed by Princess and Keyop. Quickly, they made their way down the corridors of the Spectran robot, searching for the storage pods they knew had to be onboard. They were literally in the belly of the beast, moving through the stomach of the saber-toothed tiger that was the design of the Spectran's latest robot-of-the-week.
"Got to be somewhere!" Keyop whispered. "Can't hide 12 kilotons of vitalumis alloy!"
Silently, Mark agreed. Vitalumis alloy, the newest, most potent form of the precious resource, was highly sought after, yet very bulky. Spectra had just raided the main Federation supply depot on Zarkadia, and the stolen alloy was stored somewhere on this robot. They had to find it soon, before the ship entered Spectran space and someone noticed there were 4 stowaways onboard, not to mention the Phoenix carefully trailing behind, just out of scanner sight but within range of their cosmic communicators. They had checked every other place. It had to be at the end of this corridor. If it wasn't there, they would have to go back to the Federation empty-handed. They would fail.
Mark didn't like to fail.
It happened from time to time, naturally, more often the Galaxy Security would publicly admit. No one was perfect, least of all the G-Force team, but everyone was counting on them. G-Force was the best they had, and in many cases, the only option they had. But there were times when Zoltar seemed to get the better of them, and G-Force returned home, tails between their legs.
Unfortunately, it seemed like this might be to be one of those times. If the vitalumis alloy wasn't there… But it would be there. Mark had to think positively. After all, his team was counting on him.
Hearing something, the commander hustled everyone around a corner, hiding them in the shadows. Cautiously he peered out, watching two bored Spectran soldiers saunter by. As was typical for their rank, they weren't very alert and clearly weren't expecting any trouble. Once they had passed, Mark waved everyone out once more, leading them down the hallway. There it was: the room at the end of the passageway. This had to be it.
But as they burst through the door, it was instantly obvious that this wasn't it. Instead of kilotons of vitalumis, they faced an empty chamber with only one occupant.
Zoltar.
"Greetings, Commander!" the Spectran leader called. "I was expecting you much sooner. But you're here now, and we can begin."
"Begin?" Mark asked reflexively, glancing around the room, checking for signs of danger.
"Looking for something?" Zoltar smirked. "You weren't expecting to find 12 kilotons of vitalumis, were you? Perhaps enclosed in a detachable space transport pod for an easy escape?"
Behind his visor, Mark fought a blush. Actually, he had been hoping for something very like that. But he wasn't going to let his enemy know how well the barb had hit home.
"We found exactly what we were looking for." the commander stated confidently. "We found you."
"And now that you've found me, what are you going to do with me?" Zoltar asked, amused.
"Take you back to Earth for a fair trial." Mark answered, stalking across the room toward the masked man.
"Unfortunately, I have a prior engagement." Zoltar sighed dramatically. "And so do you, Commander." He pulled back his cloak, revealing a large rifle in his hands.
"Meet my latest weapon: the Medusarray." Zoltar cackled. He fired, sending out a blast of light in Mark's direction. The commander leapt into the air, narrowly avoiding the beam.
"More like your latest failure." Jason sneered, throwing a feather dart at Zoltar. He dodged a beam from the Medusarray, yet his feather fell to the floor with a heavy clunk.
Princess threw out her yo-yo, but her aim suffered at the last minute as she somersaulted out of the way of yet another beam. Zoltar began firing randomly, keeping the G-Force team on edge. They had no idea what the weapon did, but the memory of the Meganizer was all too clear in their minds. What if Zoltar had found another way to force a detransmutation?
It was immediately clear that the weapon would have to be destroyed.
"Gotcha!" Keyop cried, running toward the Spectranleader. But he tripped, becoming tangled up in his own legs, his bola flying wildly off in the wrong direction and crashing into the wall. Zoltar had never been one to miss an opportunity and he fired at the fallen Keyop, forcing the boy to roll quickly out of the way.
But not quickly enough.
"Aiiieee!" Keyop cried out as a beam of light from the rifle hit his leg.
"Keyop!" Princess cried, running toward him. Quickly, she pulled Keyop to his feet, directing him away from the oncoming fire. Yet something was clearly wrong. Keyop collapsed again, unable to move.
"Over here, Zoltar!" Mark cried, attempting to distract his enemy from the wounded Keyop. Jason followed suit, attempting to shoot Zoltar with his cablegun. The diversion worked, and Zoltar rounded on the two of them, uncertain where to aim, as Princess helped Keyop from the room. From the corner of his eye, Mark could tell that the youngest G-Force member was in bad shape.
It was time to go.
Carefully, he moved toward the exit, pleased to see that Jason understood his actions and was following suit. Zoltar dogged their steps the entire way, shooting blast after blast from his rifle, laughing at their distress.
"You know what you Earthlings say, Commander." he taunted them. "If you can't stand the heat…"
"I'll give you some heat!" Mark shouted, grabbing a handful of mini-bombs from his belt pouch and throwing them at Zoltar. He tossed them just as he and Jason exited through the door, hearing the satisfying boom behind him as he ran. Yet his satisfaction was short-lived. They had utterly failed in their mission. They had not located the missing vitalumis, and Keyop had been injured. Even worse, they had been discovered. Every solider on this ship would be after them now. As if to confirm his fears, men in green uniforms began pouring out of every available door, firing in their direction.
"We have to leave, now!" Mark told them, and no one argued. He picked up Keyop, taking him from Princess so that she could run, while he held the boy in his arms. Keyop's legs dangled over the commander's arm, his right calf banging into Mark's side as he ran. Mark was surprised by how painful this felt, but pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He had bigger things to worry about now.
"It's just around the corner!" Princess cried, pointing to where they had docked their rocket tube. Jason was on his communicator, contacting Tiny and requesting a fast pickup. With at least 2 dozen Spectran soldiers on their heels, they barely made it to the tube, leaping inside and yanking the door shut.
"Now, Princess!" Mark shouted, and she pressed the button for departure. They shot away from the Spectran robot, moving out into space with incredible speed, making for their rendezvous with Tiny. Within moments, the familiar sight of the red and blue Phoenix had appeared, its grappling cables already extended to take hold of the pod. The connectors latched on, pulling them into the cargo hold of their spaceship. Princess fussed over Keyop, doing her best to examine his leg as he thrashed and moaned. Yet despite his movement, the bottom of his right leg was still. Deathly still. A shiver passed down Mark's spine as the thought crossed his mind, and he pushed it aside. Princess had medical training and she could take care of Keyop until they got back to Earth, at which time Chief Anderson would have a team of top doctors looking after the injury. As 7-Zark-7 liked the say, everything was going to be just fine.
Of course it would. Even though they had utterly failed in their mission. Even though Zoltar had gotten away, once again. Even though the robot tiger was free to ravage Federation planets once more. Even though they had lost kilotons of precious vitalumis alloy. Even though a dark, red stain was spreading across Keyop's right thigh. It would all be just fine.
Mark bent his head, wishing he could bury his face in his hands, but his visor prevented even that small comfort. The pod jolted slightly as it was deposited in the cargo bay, the hangar door closing behind them. Once it was sealed, they heard the whoosh of the bay repressurizing.
"Jason, I could use your help up here!" Tiny's voice came through their communicators. "I need you on weapons!"
"The tiger's attacking?" Mark asked sharply. That was the last thing they needed right now.
"No, it continued on to Spectra, but there are a bunch of smaller fighters that it left behind." Tiny reported.
"I'll be there as soon as repressurization is complete." Jason responded. "Only a few more seconds."
"See you then." Tiny replied.
The moment the green light above the exit hatch lit up, Jason was gone, dashing toward the bridge. Mark wanted to join him, but knew that Princess would need help getting Keyop to sickbay. Carefully, he lifted the now-unconscious boy, carrying him out of the pod and through the Phoenix, doing his best to ignore the red drops that spattered on the floor, marking their path as Princess followed closely behind.
"It doesn't look good, Mark." Princess was telling the Commander. "He was screaming whenever I touched his leg, and his thigh was moving independently of his knee. It's as if the lower part of the leg had been completely amputated, but there's no obvious cut! And the swelling…" Mark swallowed dryly. He shut out what Princess was saying. He didn't need to hear this right now. When they got back, he would hear an update on Keyop's condition. Until then, the only thing he could do was to ensure that their return happened as soon as possible.
"I'll leave it up to you, Princess." Mark told her, as soon as they got to sickbay. "I'm needed on the bridge."
"Of course, Commander." Princess replied, only a hint of sadness in her otherwise correct response. Even so, Mark winced. He understood exactly what Princess wanted. She wanted him to stay, to provide emotional support as she dealt with Keyop's injuries. She wanted him to hold her and tell her that everything would be all right. Not only would he be dishonest if he said those things to her, but he would be far too tempted. Princess was a distraction he simply couldn't afford as commander. Much as he would have liked to pursue the relationship they had begun before G-Force had truly come into existence, he knew that it could only be detrimental to the performance of the team. As such, it was his responsibility to restrain himself, to prevent such a thing from occurring. Still, thoughts of Princess were never far from his mind, and sometimes they even surfaced enough to burst forth from his mouth, in the form of compliments or not-so-subtle expressions of his regard. While he knew Princess lived for these moments, she rarely pushed him, and somehow seemed to understand his reluctance to pursue anything further. It was just one more way in which she suited him perfectly, which only made things worse.
Forcing his thoughts of Princess aside, he made his way to the bridge, striding through the corridors with a strong sense of purpose, barely noticing the shifts and jerks of the ship as it dodged incoming fire. When he arrived at his destination, he found Jason standing next to Tiny, his finger depressing the firing button in front of him in an almost rhythmic fashion.
"3 degrees port, Tiny!" Jason instructed, and Tiny complied, putting Jason within range of two Spectran fighters. Without hesitation, Jason fired, sending a missile exactly between the two, hitting their wings. The two fighters lost control, crashing into each other in a fiery burst.
"And that's the last of them." Jason sighed heavily, turning around, only to see the Commander standing behind him. "Mark, glad you could make it."
"I wouldn't miss that grand finale." Mark replied, taking his seat as Jason returned to his usual position. The commander's forced attempt at humor fell flat, as everyone understood that their failure in this mission wasn't a joking matter.
"Jason told me about Keyop." Tiny said quietly. "How's the little guy doing?"
"I left him in Princess' care." Mark replied, not being able to answer any more specifically. "We should get back to Center Poseidon as quickly as possible."
"Understood." Tiny nodded, setting a course for home. The trip was a silent one, all of them lost in thought, waiting for word from Princess, which never came. Once they entered the solar system, Mark checked in with Susan at the Early Warning Station, then contacted 7-Zark-7.
"Zark, Keyop has a serious injury. Have medical teams on standby for our arrival." the commander informed him.
"Will do, Commander!" Zark responded, perhaps a touch too cheerily for Mark's liking. But no matter how annoying the robot, he was efficient, and the commander knew that Keyop would be taken care of them moment they got home.
It wasn't long before Center Poseidon came into view. When Center Neptune had been destroyed, they had all thought that it would be the end of underwater bases, but Chief Anderson had surprised them all by constructing a new Galaxy Security base, completely underwater. Gone was the 'decoy island'; the base was now effectively a gigantic submarine the size of a small city, moving about Earth's oceans with a speed that belied its massive bulk. The Phoenix docked in its usual hangar, Tiny piloting them in with his usual grace and precision. The doors closed and the water drained in less than a minute, and less than a second after that Tony released the rear loading hatch of the Phoenix. Usually the G-Force members simply rode the elevation platform up to the hull and jumped off, but it was clear that Keyop was in no shape to be following that routine right now. Mark was landing on the still-damp floor of the hangar when he saw Princess emerge from the ship, pushing Keyop on a stretcher. He was in his civvies, save for his right leg, which was still encased in the yellow legging and red boot of his G-Force uniform. The contrast would have been odd at any other time, yet now it was chilling.
"He passed out before we got back, and hasn't regained consciousness since." the Commander heard Princess telling the medical staff. I tried to de-transmute his uniform, to get a look at the injury, but you can see what happened." She passed over Keyop's bracelet to Chief Anderson, who was standing nearby.
"Whatever happened to his body, it somehow fused his clothing." she tried to explain. "The material of his uniform just melts into the stiff lower portion of his leg."
"We'll take it from here, Princess." Chief Anderson told her. "You've done the best you can to take care of Keyop, and so will we." Even as he spoke, the young boy was being wheeled out of the hangar, surrounded by a team of doctors. It wasn't a sight Mark had seen very often, but the few occasions he had witnessed such a thing were burned into his mind, haunting him at night. He wouldn't ever forget this moment. He could only hope to assuage its pain with better memories.
"May I stay with him?" Princess asked hopefully, her eyes following the departing crowd of medical staff.
"Let's let the doctors see what they can do first." the Chief replied. "I'll be sure to let you all know when we have any word."