Chapter 4

The sky darkened and clouds began to push closer together as they threatened to dump more snow on New Thundera. The wind increased outside as it could be heard howling while it whipped by the Lair formidable outside. A ship was trying to find a spot to land but the weather was making it very difficult. The lone pilot struggled to keep the ship on course.

"Come on you hunk of junk. Just a little farther and we'll be on the ground." The lioness manhandled the steering controls as she tried to keep the old rust bucket in the air. She gritted her teeth and poked the radio button.

"This is Lea's Pride, requesting immediate assistance to anyone who can hear me." The radio cackled with nothing but static and the lioness tried again as the snow began to come down in every direction.

"This is Lea's Pride, requesting immediate assistance. Is anyone out there?" This time she got a strong voice over the air.

"This is Cat's Lair, Lea's Pride. Can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can. Where are you? I can't see a blasted thing." She replied.

"We have the Lair lights on as well as the landing pad lights. You can't see them?" He wondered.

"I just said that, wise-ass. The snow is being whipped around like crazy up here." Her sarcastic remark made the ThunderCat on the other end chuckle. When he met this cat in person, he had no doubt she would be a hoot.

"All right, we'll scramble to set something up so you can see. Just hang in there." He told her.

"I'll do the best I can." The lioness told him. The radio went silent and she continued to struggle to keep the ship going.

"Come on baby, come on. We can make it I know it." She tried to sweet talk the older space vehicle to do what she wanted it to but it didn't seem to be working. Then she saw a bright light through the snow and knew that was her opportunity. She steered the ship in the general direction when the voice came back over the radio.

"How is that? Can you see it now?"

"Yes and I'm heading for it. I…" the sentence never finished and the ThunderCat manning the radio tried to bring her back but got no response.

"Lion-O!" He shouted. The Lord of the ThunderCats was way ahead of him as he rushed out the door. They pulled on their Thermal Thunderwear and bolted outside. The two ran as fast as they could and Lion-O called to the Sword of Omens. The Cat's Signal lit up the sky and found the ship as it was floundering in the air. Lea's Pride had come in too low and clipped the trees that grew around the bottom of the Lair's outside staircase. It seemed to be out of control but with the help of the Sword of Omens, Lion-O guided the ship to a skidding landing. Lea's Pride stopped when it hit the edge of the limestone blocks that began the landing for the Lair's staircase. The abrupt stop caused the ship to shake and the side panels, including the exit, crumpled inward.

"We have to get inside. She could be trapped in there." Panthro shouted above the wind to the lion. In response the Lord of the ThunderCats put the Sword of Omens away and headed for the ship. By now the others had come running after seeing the Cat's Signal. The group reached the ship and tried to find a way in.

On the inside of the ship, the lioness pilot was out cold. She had banged her head onto the console panel during the rough landing. It was the smell of leaking fuel however that slowly brought her out of her unconscious state. Putting her hand to her forehead, she found blood. Knowing she needed medical attention, she tried to stand up but found that the floor was too busy swinging in all sorts of directions for her to get a firm footing and she fell. That's when she heard the pounding on the ship's hull.

"We've got to get in there. The ship is leaking fuel." Panthro pointed to the snow turning a reddish brown color.

"That's not good." Lion-O said.

"What are our options?" Tyrga asked.

"Let's go around to the other side and see if we can't break the main window. Whoever is inside there will be choking on the fumes." Ben-Gali told them.

"Let's do it." Cheetara said before rushing around the side of Lea's Pride. Lion-O gave a smile and the group followed the cheetah to the window.

"I'd better break the window with my bo-staff. It will reduce the chance of showering the cockpit with glass." She told them.

"Good idea. You break the class and we'll go in to retrieve the pilot and passengers." Lion-O nodded. Cheetara nodded back and with a mighty heave forced her bo-staff into the window. The first attempt yielded a crack that began to spread. She hit it again and the weapon made another good chip. The cheetah was about to do it again when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning she saw Lion-O. He put his hands on the staff, lending his strength to hers, and with one great smash the window broke. Glass flew everywhere and Ben-Gali, Tygra, Panthro, Lion-O and WilyKat went into the ship while WilyKit and Cheetara cleared the broken glass to make the others exit as easy as possible.

The first person they found was the pilot. She was conscious but not very responsive. Tygra stayed with her to examine her forehead while the others searched the ship for other occupants. It didn't take long to cover the small ship and they soon found no one else aboard.

"Let's get out of here. I need to look at her forehead in better light and see if she's hurt anywhere else." The orange tiger told them.

"I'll carry her." Panthro offered quickly and carefully lifted the lioness up off the floor. He made his way to the broken window and made his way out.

"All right, let's get out of here. Hopefully in the morning we can examine the ship and get her into the hangar." Lion-O said.

"What about the leaking fuel?" WilyKat asked.

"With the storm we can't see that well and the snow will make the fuel less likely to ignite, we should be good until morning." Ben-Gali told him. With that decision made, the ThunderCats made their way back into Cat's Lair, unaware of the eyes that had been watching the whole incident unfold. Silently the figure made his way through the snow toward the Lair knowing his tracks would be hidden as the wind continued to whip the frozen precipitation around.

To Be Continued…