Chapter Eight. The Game plan to Commence

"Why would they take Flash's parents," Kendra asked, "which would be Rick and mine's grandparents?"

"I have no clue, my dear." Mandrake answered, "That is why we plan to go where ever they are taken and get to the bottom of Astra's latest plan."

Jedda walked to the gang with a bracelet that was similar to Astra's, "And we are prepared to face Astra again. Rick had this bracelet modified to work only for Jedda in case something like this were to ever happen."

Dynac X appeared on screen, "Incoming message on Ice Station Earth from Baylin."

Baylin appeared on the screen as the Defenders were looking on.

"Baylin of the planet Verden." Flash greeted the young woman, "It has been awhile. What brings you to Ice station Earth of all places?"

"I have followed Princess Astra to see what she was up to," Baylin answered, "and it appears that she is working with Ming once again, under the influence that you were to blame for her mother Queen Aura's death."

"That is no surprise to us." Flash replied, "but what we are wondering is why Astra has returned after all this time? We have her bracelet."

"That is what I am getting to." Baylin revealed, "Astra was able to obtain an all new bracelet thanks to the dream dimension of Darkairai. It makes her clay people more hostile than ever before, makes them feel complete rage at her will."

"Something tells us we will have our word cut out for us facing her again." Lothar stated.

"And it is going to be tougher to save my parents than I thought it would be." Flash added.

"That is not all." Baylin revealed, "there is a second female with Ming and Astra. That second female being Shanna, who appears to be wanting to avenge her brother Joe's death and she is blaming you for it, Flash."

"We will come and pick you up, Baylin." Flash replied, "Stay at your position and we will be at Ice station Earth shortly."

"I shall do that." Baylin nodded in response.

The Defenders of the Earth, Zarkov and Kendra hurried onto the ship to head to Ice Station Earth to meet with Baylin.

"Just who is this Joe person, Dad?" Rick asked.

"Joe Wylee was my ex boyfriend as Dale Arden," Dynac X explained, "we were dating for some time until he started becoming controlling and we broke up just a few weeks before I even met Flash."

"I never even knew about Joe until Ming decided to use him as a pawn in one of his plans to eliminate me," Flash added, "Ming had somehow caught on to who Joe was and had him brought all the way to Mongo and brainwashed him into serving his evil ways and to eliminate me in hopes to have Dale back."

"You would have never been born if he had succeeded, Rick." Zarkov added, "but he failed in that plan. Baylin, Dale, Prince Thun and I saved Flash from certain death and we freed Joe from Ming's control as we were all inside a freighter. We were in that same freighter that Ming had set a bomb to destroy us all, but Joe sacrificed himself to save us all and allow us to escape the freighter in time."

"Whoa." Kendra quipped, "What a story."

"True one too." Flash replied, "and if I am not mistaken, Ming has just repeated history. This time with Joe's younger sister. She is blaming me for his death, just as Astra is blaming me for her mother's death."

The Defenders arrived at Ice Station Earth. Flash fired a hole to allow the heroes to enter inside the place and they looked to see that Baylin was fighting ice soldiers led by Garax.

"Baylin," Flash asked, "care for some assistance?"

Baylin fired her gun at one of the soldiers, "Be my guest."

The Defenders headed out of the ship they were in to aid Baylin in taking on the ice soldiers. With help from Mandrake's illusions and the rest of the Defenders, they defeated the ice soldiers.

"Shall we head off to Mongo?" Flash asked the Verden native.

"It shall be an honor to fight alongside you again." Baylin answered.

"We need to hurry!" Rick exclaimed, "Those ice soldiers do not take long to recover!"

"Exactly what we had in mind." Mandrake replied.

The Defenders returned to their ship and this time Baylin was with them and not a moment too soon as the ice soldiers started recovering. The Defenders made their way to the planet Mongo.

Garax sent Ming a report about the Defenders, "Sire, the Defenders of the Earth are on their way to Planet Mongo."

"It is just as I expected." Ming replied on the screen, "We shall be waiting for them there and we have plans for them as well."

A/N: The woman that first appeared in the previous chapter was indeed Baylin of the Verden (played by Karen Cliche in the 2007 Sci Fi series, which is now called Sy Fy, what do you make of the channel's name change?) Like pretty much every other character in the Flash Gordon franchise has been modified to where it is not based on just one entry of the franchise, this implies from the serials back in the 1930s, the 1979 cartoon, the 1980 movie and the 2007 series. Anything else I missed, I apologize. Hang on to your hats because there will be a few more characters from the Flash Gordon franchise that will make their appearance in the next chapter. Stay tuned!