A/N: I realized in my first chapter that I didn't have the spelling on Pumyra and Ben-Gali's names correct. Hopefully I get the other names and locations spelled correctly.

Pumyra and Ben-Gali worked quickly and efficiently to get the four rescued women hooked up to respirators to assist with their breathing. All four women were covered in smoke and ash from the burned out control panels of their ship. Once the women were medically stabilized, Pumyra remained in the back of the Thunderstrike while Ben-Gali went to the front to report to Panthro and Tygra.

Ben-Gali wiped sat behind Tygra as he effortlessly guided the Thunderstrike back towards Third Earth, "Pumyra and I had to put them on respirators since they breathed in so much smoke while their ships climate controls were failing. They are unconscious but stable."

Tygra didn't take his eyes off the Thunderstrikes controls, "Panthro tells me they are all female?"

"Yes, and look to be Human. One is older and the other three could be anywhere from 25 to 30 Earth years old. They got banged up pretty bad when their ship was attacked."

Panthro checked to see if the Targus was following, "That ship, the Targus. It's following us, but at a distance."

"I wonder why they were attacking the Emperia?"

Tygra looked over at Panthro and said, "The real question is, what will they do when we all get back to Cats Lair?"

"I don't know. But I'm keeping a close eye on them for now."

"Commander Juxan, explain to me again why you did not capture the fugitives?" The sternly disapproving voice of Lord Etian Terrel sounded harshly across the communications link.

Commander Juxan stiffened his shoulders and stood even more rigidly even though the viewer function on the communication link was temporarily offline, "We were about to board the Emperia when another ship arrived in response to their distress calls. It was the Thunderstrike." He didn't finish the last thought, and the ThunderCats.

There was a pause before Lord Terrel responded, "So the ThunderCats have taken them out from under your nose. They are bound for Third Earth now?"

"Yes, my Lord."

Lord Terrel's response was predictable and still frightening, "Follow them for now. Ready a strike team. I will head to this Third Earth myself. The ThunderCats won't want to pit themselves against the whole Talagaran fleet. They will turn our four escapees back over to us."

Commander Juxan responded crisply, "I will do as you order." He cut off communication and looked at his ship's command center. His crew was working on repairs made to the Targus during the brief struggle with the Emperia. He had reminded Lord Terrel exactly who it was he had been sent out to catch. His Lord's memory seemed to have grown as short these past years. And his temper had grown even shorter. Lord Terrel had ordered executions of several of his own staff and public officials for treasonous offenses. No one dared question his orders and reminding him who had fled his custody sent him into a rage.

"Follow the ThunderCats but do not respond to their communications. We wait for Lord Terrel" he ordered. He looked at his second in command, "Captain Woden, prepare a strike team to deploy on my order."

The Captain saluted, "Yes Commander"

The Thunderstrike landed at Cats Lair and carefully brought the wreck of the Emperia down near one of great cat's paws. Lion-O looked at the ship as Ben-Gali and Panthro helped Cheetara and Pumyra take the rescued women into Cats Lair's medical bay. The ship had received heavy damage and would require extensive repairs to make it space worthy again. He had asked Lynx-O to run any information he could find on the Emperia and the Targus to find out where they came from. He was surprised to find that both ships were Talagaran. What were two Talagaran ships doing so far away from their home? And why was one sending out desperate distress calls? From what Lynx-O could tell him of the Talagaran's, they were a rather elitist race who originated from human descendants. The Talagaran's only interacted with other species on a sufferance and viewed all other species as beneath them. Their bigoted attitudes made them notable challenges to deal with in any sort of diplomatic function. Lion-O realized that this rescue may turn into a diplomatic nightmare with a Talagaran ship still in orbit refusing to answer all attempts at communication. When Panthro joined him he looked at the weapons specialist, "How are they?"

"Still unconscious but stable. It may take them some time before they come around. Ben-Gali said they got banged up pretty bad in their fight. Tygra and Pumyra are seeing to their injuries now."

Lion-O looked at the wrecked ship again, "See what you can find out about them in the ship. They're Talagaran."

Panthro scowled and glared at the ship, "I ran across a hidden explosive charge when I was rescuing the one in the back section. I don't know how many are in there. They weren't going to go without a fight."

"It's why they were running so hard that troubles me. The Talagaran's aren't known for their diplomacy. I'd like to find out before that Talagaran ship decides on what it's going to do."

"Agreed"

Pumyra stretched out her back after what felt like countless hours of working on the injuries to the four rescued women. She looked at Ben-Gali and Tygra who had been assisting her, "There are a lot of old injuries on these women." She indicated the oldest female with graying brown hair, "She shows signs of numerous surgeries in her abdominal area. The scars are overlapping and frankly, the surgeon was very sloppy in their work. She shouldn't even have a scar much less the deeply embedded scar tissue I've run across. I've started a rejuvenation process on her tissue which should make her a lot more comfortable. It's a wonder she could move at all."

Pumyra put her hand on the forehead of the smallest and youngest looking female with long auburn hair, "She had several broken bones that weren't set right. She also has some internal scarring that I'm starting the rejuvenation process on. This one has been in some kind of a mix up without any proper healing." She paused to look a moment longer before looking at Tygra, "They all show signs of old injuries and chemical interference. I think they may have been tested on. I think they were running away from whoever did all this to them."

Tygra felt himself tighten up in disgust and anger. He had heard of some of the atrocities in early Human cultural development before Human evolution had advanced enough to move beyond such practices. There were still outlawed factions that utilized cruel experimentation and slavery practices, but he had not heard of any of the Talagaran's participating in such things. "Thank you Pumyra. Let me know when they wake up. Lion-O has a lot of questions and the Talagaran ship is still hovering and not responding to us."

Tygra left the medical bay and went in search of Panthro who had been starting his exploration of the Emperia . A loud explosion brought him and Lion-O running out of the Cats Lair at a run to find Panthro stumbling out of the wrecked ship coughing out smoke, "Blast it! How many bombs did that woman set?" He threw the remnants of the bomb on the ground.

Lion-O couldn't help but smile a bit at Panthro's soot covered appearance, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah. I thought I had all the explosives out of this heap. Found this last one with my foot in my final sweep."

Tygra chuckled when he realized what the Panther was saying, "You mean you tripped over it?"

"I was doing a final sweep!" Panthro growled and glared at the Tiger, "Blasted woman had the entire back half of this ship ready to blow!"

Lion-O stifled his own laughter, "Is it safe to go in to see what we can find out about them now?"

"Yeah. Should be. Just watch where you step……..and what you touch………or lean on."

Lion-O was silent for a moment and then looked at Tygra, "Well, I guess we should go in and see what we can find out about our new guests."

The disinfectant smell of a medical facility was the first thing Kiana noticed upon waking up. He hearing then registered the unmistakable sounds of medical equipment running. She opened her eyes and let them adjust to the brightly lit room. Turing her head she saw three medical bunks with Tara, Ania, and Cadea laying on them. Tara and Ania had rejuvenation equipment working on them and Cadea was still breathing from a respirator.

Kiana looked down at herself. She had been cleaned up and changed out of her flight suit and was wearing a plain white loose fitting pajama like pants and shirt. She looked at her arm where it had been burned when the communications console had exploded. Her arm had been bandaged and did not hurt. She slowly rotated her neck which had been strained from being thrown across the command center, it was also pain free. She slowly sat up.

"I'm glad you are awake. We were getting worried since you have all been unconscious so long."

Kiana jumped at the female voice which had unexpectedly come from the other side of the room. She felt her pulse start pounding in remembered fear. Medical facilities……..pain. Her mind struggled to come to grips with the present. She focused on the female who had spoken to her. She appeared to be young, maybe 20 human years. Brown and cream colored hair which blended into a brown and cream pattern that extended down onto her face and neck. Her eyes were golden and cat like, "Where are we? Who are you?"

The other female smiled reassuringly, "You're safe now. We heard your distress calls and found your ship being attacked. We were able to get you off your ship when your climate controls failed and brought you here, to Cats Lair. You are with the ThunderCats now."

Kiana blinked as her mind rapidly processed the information she had just been given. The ThunderCats! They had been rescued by the ThunderCats! There was hope! "Thank you. I am Kiana." She pointed to the older woman, "That is Tara," She pointed to the young auburn haired female, "Ania", and then to the silver blonde female, "Cadea".

Pumyra nodded, "I am Pumyra. I normally wouldn't push asking so much when someone has been out for 72 hours, but can you tell me why the Talagaran's were after you? There is still a Talagaran ship posting in orbit and we think there is another one approaching from a longer range scan."

Kiana looked down at her bandaged arm a moment and said, "It's an uncomfortable story for us, but we escaped the Talagaran's after being held captive for the past 3 years." She looked up at Pumyra, "We are also Talagaran and I think they will do just about anything to get us back." She felt tears well up in her eyes, "Please, don't let them take us back. You have no idea what they'll do if they get us again……." She stopped as she looked at her closest friends still lying on the medical beds, "They'll kill Tara for sure since she is not useful to them anymore and I don't know if Ania can survive it again. Cadea will fight this time, and they'll kill her if they can't drug her fast enough. I know they'll do the same to me."

"You don't need to worry about that now. You are safe in Cats Lair with us." Kiana jumped at the sudden sound of a male voice. She quickly looked up and saw two male ThunderCats standing in the doorway to the medical bay. She took a deep breath and felt her pulse quicken with anxiety. They were easily both close to seven feet tall and absolutely built with muscle! The tallest one had a flowing mane of red brown hair and tan and cream colored skin. He held himself with authority. The second male stood about two or three inches shorter than the first and had wild orange and black striped hair and skin. His stance was also confident and his eyes regarded her calmly and inquisitively. The first male spoke, "I am Lion-O, lord of the ThunderCats" He nodded towards the second male, "This is Tygra, my second in command and head of the Thundarian Council."

Tygra noted the medical scanner on Kiana's bed indicating her pulse rate had been increasing. She was frightened. "We won't harm you. You are safe with us. We are working seeing if we can repair or salvage your ship, but it's in pretty bad shape."

Kiana nodded, "I imagine it is. It was never meant to do what we put it through. Thank you, again for rescuing us. What are you going to do about the Talagaran ship in orbit or the one that's on the way?"

"You are sure it is a Talagaran ship on the way?" Lion-O asked

"Yes. If Commander Juxan failed to bring us back, then I'm pretty sure it will be Lord Terrel on the way. If that's him, then the fleet won't be far behind."

Lion-O stared hard at Kiana for a minute and then asked, "Why would the Talagaran's send a Lord and a fleet after you?"

Kiana met his stare and made a quick decision, "Because we are all charged with Treason to the Talagaran Empire, and Lord Terrel would do absolutely anything to see us disappear." She didn't add, because our families once ruled the Talagaran Empire.

A/N: Ok. That's all for now. I'd love any feedback at this point. If you liked it, have questions or suggestions I sure would love to hear from you. PLEASE review.