XR and Booster headed for the eject pod as fast as their jets would carry them, as the cockpit was still drifting away from the explosion. It was spinning slowly as it flew away from their ship.

'Ready the line.' XR said as Booster took aim. The 'line' was better described as a magnetic harpoon gun. He fired, and flew backwards about ten feet. The titanium cable shot out towards the pod and attached itself firmly.

'Got it!' Booster said as he locked down the line. The slack in the cable soon went taut and Booster fired up his jets to maximum power to prevent himself from being dragged along. Both ranger and eject pod struggled for a while in a battle to gain ground, then Booster won. Slowly, the pod moved towards the cruiser as Booster reeled in the line.

'Good job, Booster.' XR remarked. 'I'll check on the pilot.' He flew over to the cockpit and peered in through the glass, moving in sync with the pod.

An alien sat in the pilot's seat. It was presumably male, with dark green skin and not-very surprising features. Apart from the color, he looked almost human. He was wearing a blue jumpsuit and an oxygen mask, which was streaked dark red from the gaping wound in his head.

'Oh boy.' XR said as he opened his commlink. 'Buzz? I think we have a problem.'

'What is it, XR?'

'Flyboy here has a hole in his head the size of a marshmallow.'

'He's injured?' Booster asked. 'Ready the Medbay! I'm taking him directly there!' Booster went to full thrust, the cockpit pulling in front of XR.

'Like he said.' XR pointed with his thumb. 'You'd better get some duct tape or something, Buzz. He's beat up pretty bad.'

'Mira and I will be right there.' Buzz said. 'Over and out.'

Booster was having some problems. In zero-gravity, it doesn't take a lot of force to get an object going. The problem lies in getting it to stop once it is going. After a few tries, he got the pod lined up with the airlock hatch, and opened his commlink. 'Buzz! Open the Medbay airlock, pronto!'

The hatch began to open and Booster slowly pushed the pod into the airlock. The hatch closed behind him just as XR flew in, and the door to the Medbay opened. Buzz and Mira rushed in with laser saws and immediately began cutting open the cockpit.

'Is he gonna be okay?' Booster asked.

'Boy, looking at that wound I feel kinda bad for shooting at him.' XR said, extending his legs so he could see past Booster's large frame.

'Not now, XR.' Buzz said as he and Mira continued. 'Damn, this thing is tough!' He wasn't even through an inch yet.

'This is too slow.' Mira turned off the saw, and reached for her laser. 'Everybody, cover your eyes.' She fired once at the cockpit glass as the stuff cracked. Another shot, and it shattered. A female voice floated out of the cockpit.

'-ning. Cockpit glass breached. Take emergency precautions. Repeat: Warning, cockpit glass breached. Take emergency precautions.

'Hello?' Mira said. 'Can you hear me?'

There were two beeps. 'Unauthorized access attempted.'

'I'm not talking to you!' Mira cried in frustration. Buzz stepped in.

'Computer, open cockpit.' He said. Two beeps.

'Wh-oa-ay.' XR said. 'Voice command. I'm impressed.'

'Access denied. You are not authorized personnel.' The computer voice responded.

'Open up, you stupid thing!' Mira thumped the glass with her fist. 'Your pilot is injured!'

'Pilot injury noted. You are not Space Fleet medical personnel.'

'For the love of-' Mira said, raising her fist.

'However,' The computer said, cutting her off. 'Due to circumstances, I have no choice but to comply.' The cockpit opened with a quiet clicking sound. Booster immediately grabbed the pilot and carried him to the nearest table. Open detecting a patient, the EKG and EEG monitors immediately began to display readouts. He lay him down and Mira immediately placed her hands on either side of his head.

'He's alive.' She said. 'But weak.'

'Can you pick his mind while we work?' Buzz said, grabbing some antiseptic from the medkit he'd just opened.

'We need to apply pressure to the wound.' Booster said. 'Possible fracture.'

'XR, get an X-ray here.' Buzz said, wiping away as much blood as he could. 'Mira?'

'I could try.' She said uncertainly. 'He's in shock, so his mind is going to be a little jumbled…' She looked down at his cold face and tried to concentrate. There was a mix of voices and random bits of noise.

'Taking too many hits! I'm going down!'

'Nova Nine, provide cover fire, formation four…'

'We're losing this…'

'-many hits, I'm going down!'

'Going down!'

'What the hell?' He said as his eyes opened. Mira shrieked in surprise as the pilot got up. The crew jumped backward as he looked at them slowly, blood streaming into his eye sockets. He wiped the blood away with a shaking finger so he could see and fixed his eyes on Buzz. His expression changed to that of surprise.

'You.' He pointed a finger. 'You… can't be-' He stopped and inhaled sharply. 'Can't be…'

'Heartrate's going wacko…' XR warned as he studied the readouts.

'Can't be what?' Buzz asked. 'What can't I be?' The pilot struggled with his words, trying to force them out of his head.

'H-' He tried 'Huh-' He closed his eyes and shivered. 'Hu-' The last syllable was soft, almost inaudible. 'man.'

The EKG went flat as his breath went out of him.

'Human?' Buzz said in surprise.

'No good, guys.' XR said. 'He's dead.'

Mira screwed her eyes shut as a growl rolled off her tongue. Booster hung his head and Buzz just stood, opened-mouthed as he repeated the word once more.

'Human.'

Buzz played with the pilot's name tag which was magnetically attached to his jumpsuit, twirling it around and around in his hand. 'Major Eliot Pryce.' He read. 'Nova Squadron, CV Baltimore.' He placed it on the metal table in front of him and folded his arms. 'Why didn't we see his ship before this?'

'I don't know, Buzz.' Booster said. 'Maybe his ship just came online, or something. It's smaller than quite a bit of the debris out there, so I just didn't find it.'

'The point is that he's dead.' Mira hit the table. 'We could have saved him!'

'You don't know that for sure.' Buzz said. 'XR is working on the black box now.'

'Black box?' Booster asked.

'Well,' Buzz said. 'The name 'black box' is just a term. It's really a-'

'Say no more, the great one is here.' XR entered the room, placing a large (bright red, not black) box on the table. 'It's very simple, really. A log of everything the pilot did since takeoff, and an audio recording from the oxygen mask microphone.' The robot plugged a small cable into the box and began playing the recording.

'This is Nova Nine, ready for takeoff.' A voice that they all recognized as Major Pryce's said. 'All checks cleared, and good to go.'

'This is Nova leader.' Another voice said. 'Alright pilots, listen up. We've got to hit them where it counts, because-'

'I listened to this earlier. It's all boring.' XR said, as the sound of the recording doing a very fast forward filled the room. 'This.' He said as he began to play normally. 'Is where it begins to get interesting.'

There was a loud, singular crack of what sounded like thunder, followed by another one. Someone screamed 'What the f-' before everything went silent. Buzz was about the speak up when the thunder rolled once more and the sound came back on.

'What the hell was that?' Eliot asked.

'Forget that, pilots.' A new voice said. 'Whatever it was, we should press the opportunity while they're confused. All guns fire!' There was silence for a while before a loud 'Oh my God.' coming from (presumably) another pilot filled the air.

'Did you see that? The lasers didn't even scratch their-'

'Don't everybody start making funeral plans all at once.' The late major said. 'Their forward flak guns are still online. Spare no missiles.' XR fast-forwarded yet again, while explaining:

'The next ten minutes is nothing but combat chatter and battle reports. The gist of it is that Major Pryce and company had little luck.' He stopped for a while.

'Their shields are too strong! We've got no-' Fwipfwipfwipfwip… 'All squadrons, retreat! There's not enough-' Fwipfwipfwip… 'Taking too many hits! I'm going down!' (Mira noted that this last voice had been female.) Fwipfwipfwipfwipfwipfwipfwipfwipfwip… 'This is Captain Talib of the CV Baltimore. Our weapons have failed, and our shields are failing. What remains of the ship has been sent on a collision course with the Armerant in the hopes that our reinforcements, when they do arrive, will finish what we have started. May God have mercy on our-.' There was the loud scream of breaking metal, a brief shout, then static. The next few seconds were filled with white noise, as it became apparent that the captain's final, heroic attempt at defeating his enemy had failed.

There was a click as XR stopped the recording. 'The microphone was busted after that, but I think you get the point.' He said.

There was silence for a few moments.

'My God.' Mira said. 'They never stood a chance.'

'Then neither will we.' Buzz said. 'We have to inform Star Command of this. Mira, set course for Star Command, as fast as we can go.'

'What about the pilot?' Mira asked. 'Are we just going to leave him there?'

'Ranger!' Buzz snapped back at her. 'You,' His eyes narrowed. 'Will do exactly as you are ordered. Is that understood?'

Mira set her jaw as she replied. 'Yes, sir.' She was out the door a few moments later.

'XR, Booster, get some rest. Mira and I will take care of it from now on.'

'Okay dokie, no problem, gotcha, alright, done, very good, yes, sir…' XR was out the door faster than one would ever think possible of a robot, and Booster was right behind him.

'Goodnight, Buzz, Mira.' Booster said over his shoulder as the hatch closed.

Mira set the course and opened up the engines, feeling a hundred tons of metal move with one push of a button. She remembered why she'd joined Star Command in the first place, and a brief smile came to her face.

Major Pryce was just one of maybe a thousand more. He just happened to survive a little longer than expected. Now he was dead. He could have been saved, but now he was dead. The captain, the crew, all the pilots and people, dead because they hadn't reached them in time.

'Now you're being silly,' said Mira to herself. 'You know that 42 couldn't have made a difference.' A hundred cruisers, with Alliance support, maybe some Tangean Strike Ships, maybe that would've made a difference.

Eliot's mind probing came to memory. He was practically screaming for the end, wondering when his tortured existence would be silenced.

'Can't be human.' Mira said out loud. His last words made no sense, a crazed cry made by a man on the edge of the abyss. But why such words? More questions and no answers. Even as the ship drew further away field of death, Mira felt the coldness of it all cling to her bones like an infestation of her soul.

The hatch opened behind her and footsteps she recognized to be Buzz's padded on the floor. She heard him pull out Booster's chair and sit down, then some keystrokes. Then his familiar voice.

'Star Command, this is Cruiser 42, come in. Star Command, do you read? Star Command, this is Cruiser 42, Ranger Lightyear speaking.'

Mira sighed quietly as she listened to Buzz drone. If he didn't get a reply he'd be at this for hours.

'Star Command, do. You. Read?'

'Oh, give it a rest, Buzz.' She muttered.

'Star Co-' There was a slight pause, and she knew he'd heard her. 'Command. Star Command, this is Cruiser 42, currently en route to Alliance space, do you read?'

The mapping mission had already taken them further from Alliance space than the Cruiser normally would have gone out to. Their further course deviation because of the distress signal left them really way out there. To get to within immediate communications range of any Alliance planet would take at least a day, say nothing about Star Command itself. Coupled with the apparent communications breakdown, the rangers were in a pretty sticky situation.

'Star Command, do you read me? This is Buzz Lightyear of Cruiser 42, do you read?'

Mira said nothing this time, keeping her words to herself. Course correction would be her priority for the rest of the time.

'Mira! Mira, wake up.' Buzz said, shaking her shoulder. 'There's a problem.'

'What?' She said, trying to force her brain up to speed. She didn't even know she'd fallen asleep. Looking behind her, she could see Booster and XR at their stations. 'What's wrong?'

'That's wrong.' Buzz pointed at the starscape in front of them. Or it would have been a starscape if a huge ship hadn't been blocking the way.

I digress. Huge isn't the word. Huge is an understatement.

'The hell?' Mira voiced only the end of her sentence as she looked up, then up some more. They seemed to be approaching the ship from the side, and it was tall rather than long. It took her a while to realize that they were coming at it at the wrong angle. The ship's front was on the upper portion of the viewscreen.

A thin shaft of light shone down from the to- front- of the ship and surrounded their cruiser.

'What?' Mira asked as the light disappeared. 'Guys, what-' She turned around and stopped dead.

They were gone. Buzz's chair swiveled a little, as if he'd just got out of it. But he wasn't there.

'This can't be.' She said.

'Oh, yes it can, Ranger!' A familiar voice flooded the flight deck. 'And I know where your friends are.' The tone of the voice grew teasing with the last few words.

'Zurg.' She spat the word. 'So you're behind this!'

'Oh, come on!' The evil emperor's voice boomed. 'When am I not behind it?'

'What have you done to them?' Mira demanded, rage boiling in her.

'Nothing much. Just some dicing, and quartering, maybe some sauteeing…'

'What have you done?'

'Oh, gee, thanks a lot!' Zurg shouted. 'Now I can't even gloat properly anymore. Like the new ship, by the way? It's all the rage, I tell you. Haute Couture, truly, right down to the paint job…'

'If-' Mira squeezed the words between her teeth. 'You Don't Tell Me NOW I will bring down the entire fury of Star Command on your ass like so many vultures to a carcass!'

A moment of silence before a snort, and then full blown laughter.

'Your Star Command?' He said, trying hard to be heard. 'You couldn't stop me with all the firepower in the universe!'

'Screw this.' Mira said as she reached for the manual weapons control switch at her panel.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you.' Zurg said. 'If you open fire on me your friends will die the most horrible death I can possibly imagine.'

'They're alive?' She said in disbelief.

'Oh, dang. I was hoping you wouldn't say that. Now I have to play some elusive little game with you just to keep myself entertained.' Then he spoke in a softer tone. 'I was actually going to make them listen to my grubs sing soprano until their livers melted and their brains oozed out their ears, but… I have to reprise.'

An image appeared on the screen in front of her. Buzz and Booster were looking at the camera and shouting something.

'Buzz!' She said, reaching out for the screen just as the image disappeared.

'You have-' Pause. 'Fifteen seconds before the airlock behind them opens and they die. The airlock's right here…' A light turned on near the aft section of the ship. 'Have fun.'

Mira shouted a war cry as the engines maxed themselves out. The afterburners punched in as the ship began to tear through the distance between the two ships.

'Thirteen.' Zurg's bored voice reminded her of the limit. Her hands tightened their grip on the controls as she flew the ship towards the pool of light.

'Ten.' Zurg said.

Power. She needed more of it.

'Nine.'

Mira began flipping every switch she could, turning off as much as the ship could afford besides engines.

'Eight.'

'I'm coming, guys.' She said, vowing. 'I'll beat him.'

'Seven.'

Only another five hundred meters.

'Five.'

She was going to make it.

'Fou- Oh what the heck.'

The airlock popped open like a sinister jack-in-the-box as Buzz, Booster, and what seemed to be robot parts flew out of the airlock.

'NO!' She screamed as the ship, unable to stop crashed directly into Buzz. He hit the foresection of the ship, then rolled a bit. The sheer velocity closed the distance between the nose and the cockpit fast and there was a sickening thud as he hit the viewscreen.

'NO!' Mira screamed once more as she felt a presence behind her. Zurg's ship loomed ahead, the distance between herself and a billion tons of armor plating steadily decreasing.

The figure placed a hand on her shoulder. The world stopped, jarred, then took a serious U-turn.