Thirteen

Palace Phantos

Planet Phantos

7 June 2017

Rashir waited patiently for Captain Majourny and her party to appear in the hotel lobby. There was still plenty of time until their scheduled audience with Queen Elmora. He didn't have to wait long. Captain Majourny stepped out of a turbolift with her bodyguards in tow. All looked refreshed and very alert. More alert then usual, which had Rashir wondering. He thought it best not to ask. Instead, Rashir inquired about their time in the city while he ushered them into the waiting aircar. The responses were not what he usually received after guests of the queen toured the lively trade areas.

The mood in the enclosed aircar was subdued until they left the residential ring and entered the kilometers-wide heart of the city where the enormous palace had been constructed. The palace itself took up very little land in proportion to the total area six kilometers in diameter. The design reminded Jo-jo of several European castles she once visited.

Ancient stone structures towered above them as the driver slowed a bit for them to take in the view. Pointed red roofs capped the towers and were all connected at various levels by metal walkways. From a distance it was impossible to see the modern devises such as communications antennas, satellite dishes, and even the odd weapons emplacements, but they were there. An architect, who had to have been a design genius, cleverly concealed the antennas, dishes, and the majority of the defenses in plain sight.

A small airfield took up the remaining area for VTOL – vertical take-off and landing – craft, a small forest complete with a pound Rashir assured them was stocked with many types of fish, and a spectacular garden that had no rivals. Even if one took all such gardens on Earth and combined them into one massive design it would still pale in comparison.

There was plenty of security on the grounds, but the only obvious signs were the elaborately dressed guards at the main gates into the palace. Their dress uniform reminded Hohiro of his visit three years ago to the Tower of London in England. These men must be the Queen's Guard, which meant they were the best soldiers in Queen Elmora's army.

The guards passed them through without too much fuss, though they looked the strangers over carefully without looking like they were doing so. The driver stopped in only courtyard the palace contained. It could easily accommodate the Eternia and her four dropships with plenty of room to spare. At the moment there was light traffic in the form of pedestrians going about their jobs in the palace.

"Not to many visitors today," Jo-jo said as she climbed out into the sunshine.

"Actually, the queen's schedule is pretty full for the afternoon. I'm afraid you won't have very much time to talk with her," Rashir replied, glancing at his wrist chronometer.

He led them through towering double doors into the main complex. Hohiro guessed that the doors where nothing more than molded pieces or armor plate made to look inconspicuous like everything else. They entered a long hallway with a high vaulted ceiling. Skylights were spaced at regular intervals for allow sunlight in during the day. Light globes were more closely space along the walls for illumination at night, though they suspected the amount of lights were not enough. The floor was simple polished stone one initially mistook to be marble. Tapestries and oil painting adorned the walls, each equipped with their own soft lights for illumination at night. Jo-jo did not recognize any of the people or landscapes save one beautifully rendered painting of Castle Grayskull.

A stab of pain lanced through Jo-jo's heart when she saw the painting. It reminded her of part of Colonel Markson's mission to Planet Eternia. She wondered briefly how the colonel's mission was going. Unfortunately, they did not yet possess the technology to communicate over such long distances. Gabe's team was working on the problem, but so far they couldn't get a real-time signal out any further than across a solar system.

Jo-jo broke out of her musing as the party reached the other end of the long hallway. Instead of going through an identical set of elaborately carved doors, Rashir turned left to a smaller set of doors. This, Rashir explained, was the smaller throne room the queen used to receive people she considered of importance, but wanted to keep the meetings more private. The larger doors led to the grant throne room where the afternoon's activities would take place.

A pair of guards stepped from niches set on either side of the doors. Their ceremonial armor was highly polished silver that glinted where rays of sunlight were caught. Jo-jo suspected their armor was capable of stopping most laser and ballistic weapons. Both men were six feet of muscle with a glint of intelligence in their cold eyes, and they appraised Jo-jo's group for possible threats.

The mountain on the left quietly asked the party to relinquish their weapons before being allowed into the presence of their queen. He promised to return the side arms upon leaving. Jo-jo nodded minutely to Hohiro, who deftly slid the pistol on his right hip from it holster to the guard's outstretched hand in the blink of an eye. The only reaction he got was a slight speck of surprise in the guard's eyes. The pair quickly can to the conclusion that the small oriental man was the most dangerous of the group.

Hohiro unclipped the samurai sword hanging at the left hip he'd brought along as an afterthought before leaving the ship, and the hotel. The guard held up both hands to accept the weapon, but Hohiro refused to release the sword. He locked stares with the man and spoke softly, "The sword has been handed down in my family for over ten generations. It's as much ceremonial as it is practical. It is never drawn from its scabbard except when the intent is to use it. Once drawn, it cannot be returned without first tasting blood. Do you understand? This weapon is razor-sharp."

The guard nodded once, and Hohiro reluctantly release his hold.

Rashir led the way as the guards opened both doors for the party, and closed them silently behind them. The lighting in here was about the same as in the hallway. Jo-jo noticed the mosaic painting on the ceiling and marveled at the intricate designs. Few paintings hung on the gold painted walls. Beautiful tapestries dominated the décor here. At the far end under rays of sunshine from the skylights sat the ruler of Phantos upon a throne as elaborate as any Jo-jo had seen on Earth.

The queen of Phantos wore a simple blue dress with a matching red cape. The cape was pinned in front at the collar bones with a piece of red fabric connected with simple bronze shield clasps giving the illusion the top of the cape wrapped all the way around. Closer inspection revealed strips of red fabric wrapping loosely under the arms. What appeared to be a darker blue girdle with a darker patch stretching from waist down to the hem in front was actually just lighter and darker material sewn together. The same symbol adorning the shoulder clasps was repeated at the pelvis: a brown oval surrounded by two small triangles at the top and one elongated one stretching nearly ten inches down from the oval. Golden armbands gripped the forearms nearly to the elbows where the loose sleeves were tucked in. Sapphire shards four inches long pierced the ears, and a gold, batwing-like crown was held in place on Elmora's forehead with gold bands wrapping around her head. A thick mane of red-orange hair fell past the shoulders and framed a thin, but beautiful face. Despite her age, which was not possible to accurately judge, Elmora still boasted a slim, pleasing hourglass figure men would kill for just to be close to.

Rashir introduced Jo-jo's party to the queen.

Jo-jo bowed the ruler of Phantos. "Thank you for allowing us this time to speak to you, Your Majesty. We won't impose on your time too long."

"Your visit is hardly an imposition, captain," Queen Elmora replied. He voice was gentle and sweet, and hid the sterner side Captain Majourny knew lay just beneath the surface.

"Have you reviewed the message from General Hammond?"

Queen Elmora nodded gravely. "I have. I understand your interest in making allies; however, I do not see any advantage to me or my people in such an alliance. Your starship is formidable, though less advanced than anything we possess. It is certainly outclassed but Horde technology. Technology aside, I have reviewed what my intelligence people have provided about your planet. Your people have been fighting one another for over a thousand years. Your United States sees fit to stick its nose in many places trying to bring about peace. Sometimes it should have minded its own business. And now here you are blundering about the galaxy in the same way." Elmora sighed quietly and shook her head. "No. I don't see what an alliance with you will do for me."

The queen's explanation hit Jo-jo like a hammer blow to the stomach. "I'm sure there must be something we can offer."

Elmora raised a delicate eyebrow. "What? Your resourcefulness is not uncommon in the galaxy. That may give you a decided edge against the Horde given your technical inferiority. But how long can that last before Horde Prime dispatches his entire fleet to turn Earth into a glowing cinder orbiting your sun? You offer hope? This armor you've recovered is formidable. In time it can be duplicated despite the obvious advantages it gives you. And what of He-Man and She-Ra? Do you plan to rescue them? Do you know where they are? Are they even still alive?"

Queen Elmora rose from her throne and walked down the dais steps. "The galaxy is tired of war. The Horde is everywhere in the known regions. One planet can not stand against the Horde Empire for long. You risk much in seeking out allies for your war. The risk is too great to upset the balance I have reached here. No doubt you have seen Horde troops patrolling the streets. They keep the peace and stay out of the way to allow the commerce and trade to continue. My people have worked too hard to see it all undone in a futile gesture."

"Futile?" Hohiro sputtered, trying to remain calm. "We may be a bit backward for your liking, but we also have the Sorceress of Grayskull. She has been quite a help."

Elmora nodded. "Yes. My spies on Eternia report she and someone called Cobretti were captured by Hiss' Snake Men. The Sorceress was bitten by Hiss and left to die a slow and painful death on display in the Palace Eternia's throne room. In fact, the latest report I just received indicates she is dead."

"No!" Hohiro nearly shouted as his companions bristled with shock. He turned to Captain Majourny. "I don't believe it. I refuse to believe it."

"Did your spies see a body?" Jo-jo politely asked the queen.

Elmora was caught off guard by the question. "Excuse me?"

"Did you spies see a body?" Jo-jo repeated. "If they did not see the Sorceress' lifeless body, then I'm afraid I have to agree with Captain Takamora in refusing to believe this information."

"It hardly matters. No one bitten by King Hiss has ever survived. Without the Sorceress, you have that much less to offer. I'm sorry, captain. I can't risk my people and planet. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to. Please have a safe journey home." Elmora turned gracefully about and walked back to the throne.

The meeting was clearly at an end, so Jo-jo made no pretense to prolong it. She turned away and strode briskly for the doors. Rashir and the others had to run to catch up. Jo-jo shoved the right door open catching the guards outside off guard. She paused long enough for her people to collect their weapons before starting the long walk back down the wide corridor.

"Please don't judged her too harshly, captain," Rashir replied, out of breath from trying to keep pace.

Jo-jo stopped abruptly. "I can't believe there is no one left who isn't willing to take up the fight, Rashir. The intelligence we stole from the Horde indicates you people are building a secret army."

"Horde fantasy. If Queen Elmora was building such an army, why not use it? I'm sorry we can't help you or your people." Rashir took Jo-jo's elbow and began leading her toward the far entrance. He leaned close to continue in a quiet tone. "Although the Horde doesn't interfere with the normal business of the spaceport, she is monitored almost constantly. Only her private chambers are not bugged. We couldn't very well hold the audience there or else the local commander would have known something was up." He shushed Jo-jo's obvious question and handed her a data chip. "You should have no trouble accessing this. Do not do so until you are safely on board your ship and underway. The Horde commander has been ordered not to hinder you, though the queen feels he will disregard the order and try to take you and your ship, anyway. Do what you can to avoid a firefight in the city and get out as quickly as possible. I know you have many questions, but the answers you seek are on that chip."

The party stepped from the cool shade of the corridor into the warm sunshine. An aircar awaited them, this one with an open passenger compartment. Rashir bid them farewell and walked back into the palace. Jo-jo gestured for her companions to climb into the aircar. Once settled in, the driver engaged the engine and sped off through the scenic avenue leading out.

"Well, that was a big waste of time," Hohiro sighed. "Sorry about my outburst, captain. I just can't believe the Sorceress is really gone."
"No apologies, Hohiro. We all feel the same. We'll find out the truth once we get back there," Jo-jo replied, soothingly. "I don't think this was as much a waste of time as you think." She clutched the data chip tightly. Jo-jo badly wanted to know what was on it, but heeded Rashir's advice to wait until they were safely away from the planet. She tucked the chip into a pocket and pulled out her communicator. "Ace, wake up."

"We're here, captain. That was quick. How did it go?"

"Nevermind. Get some troops into the bay and watch for trouble. We're on our way."

There was a brief pause, and then Ace asked, "You expecting trouble?"

Jo-jo considered her answer, saying, "There is a Horde garrison on this planet. The local commander may try something stupid to avenge the force we destroyed recovering the armor. Get the ship ready to lift at a moment's notice. If they make a try for you, lift off. We'll meet up as soon as we can. Otherwise stay put and we'll come to you."

Ace acknowledged and closed the link while Hohiro told the driver to take them back to the landing bay as quickly as he could instead of to the hotel. Now it was a race against time.

Shannon sat back on her haunches with a satisfied sigh. "That's it."

Leroy Harris watched the woman work, but had no clue as to what she had done or how. "Will it work? Can they find it?"

Shannon replaced the cover panel for the power couplings she just finished sabotaging. "Nope. Not without a detailed scan, anyway. They'll get three maybe four bursts out of the quad guns before the couplings burn out."

"What about the other weapons systems?" Harris asked, hoping his companion had further success.

Shannon shook her head sending matted locks of brown hair trembling. "No good. Those couplings are in areas where someone is always around. It takes a good forty-five minutes to rig a coupling to fail as it is."

"Nevermind," Harris replied, waving her off. "This along with our other rigged failures will have to do."

Both whirled, tensing up suddenly at the sounds of running footfalls. A breathless Thomas Anderson heaved around the bend in the corridor, saw Leroy and Shannon, and slowed his pace to a walk.

"Why don't you just make an announcement over the intercom?" Leroy growled. "Did you get to the hyper drive?"

Thomas shook his head, gulping air. "Too heavily guarded. Chief engineer wasn't taking chances in case we have to get back to Eternia fast."

"Doesn't matter. We've done enough damage to cripple this ship when the time comes. I'm not dying on whim for Captain Majourny."

Shannon looked as though she wanted to say something, thought better of it. Instead, she followed Harris and Thomas to their secret gathering point to plot further sabotage.

They were waiting only a few miles from the docking bay where the Eternia rested. There was no warning. A single bolt of red energy lanced out and struck the driver square in the chest, killing him instantly. Everyone ducked instinctively as more laser bolts spiked into the pavement around their out-of-control aircar. Hohiro climbed over the seat, shoved the body aside, and slid behind the controls. He scanned the controls briefly, grabbed the wheel, and brought the vehicle under control.

"You sure you can drive this thing?" Jo-jo called from behind the seat.

"Nothing like a little on the job training," Hohiro grimly called back.

More laser fire tracked their fleeing vehicle. Now Hohiro could see where it was coming from as an assault transport roared from a side street on heavy duty anti-grav lifters. Twin outrigger gunnery stations set back from the open pilot's compartment blazed away with double-barreled laser cannons.

Hohiro disengaged the autopilot, and began weaving back and forth to confuse the robots shooting at them. Traffic, pedestrian and otherwise, scattered almost instantly when the first shots rang out. Unfortunately, there were still many obstacles to veer around in an effort to escape. Those obstacles, mobile vendor stalls and vehicles, did not pose much of a threat to military-grade anti-grav lifters and thrusters. Thick armor plates batted obstacles aside like toys as the robot drivers plowed ahead after the fleeing Earthers.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Jo-jo demanded as laser bolts lanced dangerously close overhead.

"No, but you get great mileage," Hohiro replied. He divided his attention between the road ahead and the map display showing the route to the hanger bay where the Eternia was berthed.

The passengers were thrown sharply to the right as Hohiro jerked the control handles suddenly hard left. Jo-jo's rebuke died stillborn on her lips as she caught a fleeting glimpse of the two assault transports waiting just a quarter mile from the hangar bay. She knew then they were never going to make it to the safety of her ship as the Horde pushed them back toward the heart of the city.

Soldiers detailed to guard the boarding ramp scanned their drab surroundings with a wary eye. Each man and woman held their rifles at the ready in the event trouble reared its ugly head. They had not been on station for more than hour when the call came over their tactical net to expect trouble at any moment.

No sooner had the call arrived than a dozen shocktroopers stormed the main entrance.

"Stop that ship!" the squad leader shouted. "Blast them!"

Red laser bolts lanced across the gulf separating the robot troopers and their target. The human defenders were quick to respond with storms of armor-piercing, explosive rounds. Geysers exploded from packed earth in and around the robots as they spread out to catch the humans in a crossfire. Three shocktroopers blew apart as the Colonel Markson's soldiers found the range.

Lieutenant Denton issued the recall once Ace had the engine fired up and the ship was ready to fly. Eight armored soldiers walked backward up the boarding ramp amid a hail of laser fire while returning angry volleys of their own. Miraculously, no one took more than a glancing blow from a near miss as the ramp raised and locked into position.

Of the dozen troopers who stormed the bay only seven remained standing. Those were promptly blown from their feet as retro-thrusters fired launching the starship Eternia skyward. Once clear of the bay, Ace engaged the main drives and roared off in a wide arc to the southeast.

"Captain, we had to evacuate the bay. What's your location? We'll come get you," Ace replied after Harley opened a comm channel to their absent captain.

"We're being herded back into the city," Jo-jo responded after a brief pause. Blasts from heavy lasers could be heard in the background. "Our driver is dead, and we have no idea of exactly where we are."

"Keep transmitting, captain," Harley said, tapping commands into his weapons console. "We've almost got you pinpointed."

Lieutenant Santana snapped her gaze up sharply from her console. "Picking up multiple launches." She scanned her instruments for several moments before elaborating. "Fighter launches. I make it about a dozen craft inbound."

"Captain – " Harley began.

"I heard," Captain Majourny cut him off. "Get away from the city. Do not engage those fighters anywhere near the city."

"We're almost on you," Lieutenant Denton persisted. "We can pick you up and then take care of the fighters."

Lieutenant Santana shook her head. "The fighters will reach us before we can get to the captain," she replied tightly.

Jo-jo heard that. "That's it. Lead those fighters away. We'll try to get out of the city and join up with you later."

Harley was torn with indecision. "But captain…"

"No 'buts,' lieutenant," Jo-jo said sternly. "You have your orders. Now carry them out." The connection closed before anyone could protest further.

There was nothing left for them to do but obey. The Horde fighters were nearly within effective weapons range. As the gun crews dashed to their stations, Ace rolled the ship over to starboard, and slammed the engine throttles wide open. Palace Phantos and its surrounding city fell away as the Eternia sped away to the south

Ramos and Sanchez manned the quad guns, opened the dorsal and ventral ports, and powered up. By the time their checks were complete, all boards read systems ready, and the first four Horde fighters were within range. Now that the ship was safely away from the palace, Harley released the weapons crews to fire at will. Ramos and Sanchez released volleys almost before the words were out of Lieutenant Denton's mouth.

The leading pair of fighters broke formation and split away from each other. The quad bursts passed harmlessly between them. The trailing pair opened fire on the Eternia rocking the ship as their laser fire racked its shields. The view outside the gun ports whirled and jerked as Ace tried to evade the enemy volleys.

Ramos and Sanchez ignored the view as best they could and concentrated on their targeting scopes. Ramos squeezed off several more bursts at the attacking fighters. Suddenly the amber warning lights for the power indicators lit up. The energy charge rapidly dwindled away to nothing.

"Hey! My guns are dead," Ramos exclaimed into his headset mike.

"What are you talking about?" Sanchez shouted back. "Maybe it's just a glitch. Try switching to the backup system."

"I did that! My power is gone," Ramos replied. Another burst of enemy fire raked the shields near his position. He reported his situation to the bridge before Lieutenant Denton could demand what was happening.

"Hey!" Sanchez shouted. "My guns just died, too!"

More problems cropped up as the Eternia tried desperately to escape the dogged pursuit. More laser bolts rained down on the fleeing starship as it searched for some safe haven.

Nova Santana scanned the terrain intensely for a bolt hole big enough for Ace to dive into. Grassy plains gave way to rugged, rocky plateaus, and finally the southern mountain range that formed the dividing line between southern continent and the Arctic Circle. Nova pointed out a deep canyon running east to west through the mountain range. Ace altered course straight for it before Nova could elaborate on the contours.

Ace didn't care. In fact, once he saw the winding, twisting course, his lips twisted into a gleeful grin. Horde fighters were extremely maneuverable, but they were still machine piloted by machines. Robots had no individual initiative, especially Horde robots. This became readily apparent as only four fighters pursued the Eternia into the canyon. The rest called off the chase figuring even the ship's human pilots were no match for that treacherous course.

Ace proved he was worth every bit of his reputation as a pilot – in spades. Initially, the pursuing fighters kept pace with the juking, ducking, diving, and snap twisting and turning. However, they ceased firing futilely and gradually fell behind as the robot pilots grew cautious. That proved to be their undoing. Harley managed to somehow pull the shields in until they almost literally touched the hull contours. This gave Ace as much maneuvering room as possible. The hull bounced of the rocky walls many times, but the energy field took the brunt of the punishment.

The last fighter in line didn't quite hit a sharp left turn just right, grazed the left wall with a wingtip, and spun nose first into the unforgiving rock wall where it erupted in a spectacular fireball. Another fighter bought the farm when the pilots dived too late to get under a natural rock bridge spanning a narrow part of the canyon only seventy-three meters wide. There was just enough room for level flight, but the sloping sides forced the fighter high where it bounced off the underside of the bridge. Alarms wailed in the cockpit as the impact threw the crippled fighter downward. The wings clipped the walls, sheared off instantly with ear-piercing screeches of tearing metal. The main fuselage sailed downward out of control to the bottom where another fireball and oily black cloud mushroomed out of the canyon.

Another narrow section loomed ahead, and Ace boldly roared toward it at maximum speed. At the last possible instant, he snapped the starship up on its port side and actually managed to squeak through the fifty meter gap without bouncing off the walls. The maneuver was no problem in the vacuum of space where there was no 'up' or 'down,' but here on a planet with a near Earth-normal gravity well, the ship's gravity plates were sorely tested. Fortunately, they were through to the mile-wide section in a mater of heartbeats.

The remaining pursuers reacted too late to try the same trick and plowed into the gap in horizontal flight. Everyone on the bridge was too occupied with getting their nerves and stomachs back under control from the wild ride to appreciate the beauty of the massive fireball in their wake.

"Ace, warn us the next time you do that, okay," Harley replied weakly.

Ensign Comorov looked at Ace with a newfound respect. "I never knew you could do that."

"Neither did I," Ace replied, somewhat shaken himself. "Never know until you try." He smiled gamely in an attempt to sooth those around him.

Nova studied her instruments intently looking for a suitable place to hide the ship to make repairs. Ace cruised at a sedate pace while the scans continued. After almost ten minutes of boring flight broken only by the occasional course correction for craggy rock formations jutting up in their path, Nova finally located what appeared to be an overhang large enough to hide a ship the size of the Eternia.

Nova's find turned out to be better than expected. The chamber Ace eased the starship into proved to be big enough to safely hide three Eternia-class ships. The high iron content in the surrounding cliffs guaranteed roving Horde patrols would not spot them. The down side was their own sensors were also affected. Ace put the ship down well back from the opening with barely a jar. All but the backup systems and environmental controls were shut down to prevent any chance of an energy signature giving them away.

"All right. Let's go see how badly we've been hurt," Harley declared after shutting down his weapons console. He and a grim Ace McCloud left an ominous silence behind on the bridge.

To say Queen Elmora was furious when the first reports of laser fire in the city came in was an understatement. Elmora was in fact livid. She knew the Horde would break the non-aggression treaty sooner or later. The treaty forbade the local commander from interfering with any visitors to the trade center built up around the palace even if said visitors were labeled as enemies of the Horde Empire. Like, say, the Guardian Force and the Starship Eternia.

Minutes after issuing orders for the Royal Guard to track down Commander Xandran and bring him before the queen, said commander was escorted into the same audience hall where Elmora met Captain Majourny. The green-skinned humanoid looked visibly upset over being dragged away from his hunt for the Eternia and her crew. When the guards halted before their queen, Xandran yanked his arms from his escort's grasp.

Adopting an air of superior arrogance, the Horde commander snapped, "What's the meaning of this? I was in the middle of something important."

Dropping her eyes from the large display floating in the air fifteen feet above the floor, Queen Elmora arched an elegant eyebrow. "Like violating orders to leave the Starship Eternia alone?" A wave of her hand caused the screen to dematerialize.

Xandran's façade slipped just a bit. "How did you know what my orders were?"

The admission was better than Elmora could have hoped since her intelligence service couldn't break the High Command's encryption. "Until now, I didn't. But it wasn't hard to guess what the order was being that it arrived shortly after the Eternia did."

To his credit, while not the brightest among the Horde's commanders, this one recovered quickly. "You have no authority to interfere with Horde operations."
"And per our treaty, you have no authority to assail any visitor to the city. All visitors are under Phantos protection until they leave this planet, commander. You have not only violated this, but I have now been informed that the aircar driver has been killed. Your assault carriers have wounded at lest seventeen more firing at Captain Majourny's party." Elmora's cold stare caused the Horde servant to shiver involuntarily. Elmora cut him off before he could offer up some lame excuse. "You will cease operations within the city immediately. All Horde forces will stand down and prepare to depart this planet."

"You can't do that!" Xandran sputtered angrily. "You have no authority."

"One dead, and at least seventeen wounded gives me all the authority I need," Elmora returned evenly. The deathly chill in her voice had turned colder. "Remove him!"

As the guards literally dragged the protesting humanoid from the audience chamber, the queen pressed a touch pad on the left arm of the throne. "Get me General Rongar at once." She sat back, arms folded and legs crossed, waiting for the screen to materialize with the general's face on it.

General Rongar was in fact reclining in Sagan's workshop reviewing the latest test data from the recovered battle suit when the bridge called. Rongar straightened in the chair and swiveled to face the monitor. "Yes?"

Captain Dragnar, Hoscar's captain, appeared on screen. "General, I have a priority communication coming in from the planet Phantos. Queen Elmora."

"Thank you, captain. Put it through to this station." In moments the grim visage of Queen Elmora seated on her throne appeared. Rongar noted she looked most displeased. "Queen Elmora, such an unexpected pleasure."

"Stuff your pleasure, General Rongar. Commander Xandran has violated our treaty and opened fire within the city. One civilian is dead, and at least seventeen have been wounded."

Rongar dropped the data pad he'd been reading on the table. He kept his shock carefully concealed lest he give the queen more ammunition. That fool, Xandran, the general seethed angrily. I should have known he wouldn't leave the Eternia alone. Aloud, he said, "You have my deepest sympathies."

"Horde sympathies are meaningless to me. Per the treaty, I demand your garrison be removed from Phantos at once." Elmora leveled her best icy stare at the general.

"It will take time to get there to stand down the garrison," General Rongar pointed out.

"I don't need to be a genius to know you ordered Xandran to leave the Eternia and her crew alone. I gave him two hours to comply with my demand that he cease operations."

"May I ask about Captain Majourny and her crew?" Rongar asked politely.

"Her group is hiding from Xandran somewhere in the city. The Eternia already left its docking bay and flew off to the south followed by a wing of fighters," Queen Elmora answered. There was no reason for her to lie. She knew the general could verify anything she said with the garrison.

"Most likely she will try to escape the city and rendezvous with her ship," Rongar mused idly. "If Majourny attempts to escape, will you hinder her?"

The queen's silence was an answer in and of itself, but, she replied, "My first duty is to my people and to the visitors to this city."

And you have no reason to stop Captain Majourny because she's undoubtedly trying to get out avoiding further casualties at the hands of Xandran's blundering, Rongar thought. "I can order him to stop pursuing Captain Majourny, but I doubt he will listen. Once outside the city, however, he has full authority."

Queen Elmora had made good on several threats in the past, so the one she was about to issue would be taken seriously. "I will not have further battle inside outside the city. If Commander Xandran does not stop, my forces will stop him. If you do not remove the garrison, general, I will send it back to you in pieces. Very small pieces starting with Xandran."

The screen blanked before Rongar could protest. "What a fool."

"Queen Elmora?" Sagan asked from behind a pile of machinery.

"Xandran. Elmora's no fool. She will make good her threat to take the garrison apart a piece at a time."

"Isn't that an act of war?"

"Technically, Xandran already committed said act," Rongar answered. He touched a switch to buzz the battleship's bridge.

Captain Dragnar immediately appeared on the screen. "Yes, general?"

"Captain, change course for the planet Phantos. Maximum speed. We have to save the garrison commander from himself."

"At once, General," Dragnar responded. The screen blanked as the man carried out his orders.

The huge battleship swung about ponderously for a ship its size, as the robot manning the helm pointed the armored bow toward the distant Planet Phantos. The warship began to accelerate as the hyper drive engaged. A nimbus cloud formed thousands of kilometers ahead of the ship. When the portal into hyperspace fully formed, Hoscar turned into a blur of light as it shot into the portal at incredible speed.

"Do you think they made it?" Private Corwitz asked, glancing back at the tower city gates rapidly receding behind their speeding aircar.

"If they didn't we would have heard by now," Captain Majourny replied.

Dodging Horde patrols out searching for them had been the difficult part. Getting away from the lumbering assault carriers hadn't been an issue since there were many alleys to dive down where the carriers couldn't go because of their bulk. The real surprise came when they finally found the south gates. Hohiro approached cautiously until one of the armored guards signaled for him to slow to a halt. There was a brief polite exchange, and then the gates were opened to allow them to exit the city.

Long before beginning their search for a city exit, they left the body of their driver where it would be quickly found and taken away. Jo-jo felt bad about that, still did now that they were safely out of the city. It couldn't be helped, and she hoped the man would receive some kind of dignified service.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Hohiro asked, breaking into Jo-jo's musing.

"About?"

"Getting out."

"Oh, there's no doubt Queen Elmora had something to do with that. I just hope she can forgive me for leaving the driver in the market like that. He deserved better."

"He surely didn't deserve to be shot," Hohiro added grimly. "Leaving him in one of the shot-up sections we backtracked to will help. I wouldn't worry about it," Hohiro replied. "She could have kept us from leaving, if she wanted. Since we went out of our way to avoid crowds to minimize casualties I would guess that told the queen what kind of people we are."

Jo-jo nodded agreement. Something about this still bothered her, though. She fingered the data chip Rashir had given her. Once again she hoped it contained at least a few answers. Officially, the queen would offer no help or hope of an alliance. UN-officially, Elmora at least gave the appearance of wanting them to get away from a Horde commander bent of capturing or killing them. Maybe the reason for Elmora's help had to do with the garrison commander violating a treaty, or explicit orders regarding their visit to Phantos?

Hohiro plunged into the plush forest seventeen kilometers southwest of the city, and kept going. He weaved in and out of thick pockets of towering trunks, changed direction a few times before finally coming to a halt roughly three kilometers in. The canopy overhead was so thick little sunlight made it to the ground. This gave the illusion that the outside world was close to dusk.

They took stock of their situation, and the result was not a good one. No supplies. No weapons other than Hohiro's sword and their side arms. No way to contact the Eternia because their comlinks were short-range. And no idea where the ship was in relation to their position.

"Well?" Jo-jo asked, hands on hips.

"In a word: grim," Hohiro replied. "What we need the most is water." On a whim, he activated the Phantos equivalent of a global positioning system built into the aircar's control console. "Hmm. Looks like the maps in this thing are more complete than I thought."

"What have you got?"

"Looks like a stream a couple kilometers west. I don't think this aircar will bet in there, though," Hohiro said, turning a critical eye to the dense foliage ahead of them.

"Then we walk. We could all use the exercise," Jo-jo declared.

Hohiro climbed out of the aircar, pulled out his samurai sword. Jo-jo inquired about that, to which Hohiro said they might come across something they down bring down for a meal. A samurai sword wasn't supposed to be used for hunting, but considering their situation, he kept it at hand as a very last resort if laser pistons were not enough.

The privates were grumbling amongst themselves about the injustice of the entire trip to Phantos. Hohiro cut them off, saying, "You're in the Guardian Force, now. It's not just a job, it's an adventure."

Private Bertress said, "That used to be the Navy slogan, didn't it?"

"Yeah," Private Hermes added. "Now they're trying to 'accelerate their lives.' "

"Still?" Private Corwitz chimed in.

That evoked a round of chuckles which eased the tension. The group spread out tree the trees in search of a stream, and hopefully, something to serve up for dinner.

Ace and Harley looked over what almost became a very tragic scene. The men manning the quad guns had long since been taken to sickbay where their survival was in doubt. An engineering crew busied themselves with replacing two damaged power couplings while several more people repaired damaged gravity plates and conduit covers.

Apparently, crewman Ramos and Sanchez climbed out of the gun wells when quad guns lost power. They went about troubleshooting the problem in the hopes that it was a simple repair to get them working again. They pulled off the access panel for the power conduits servicing both guns and found an overload in progress. They just managed to replace the panel when

"I thought a coupling overload would do more damage," Ace remarked, trying to stay out of the way as best he could.

"They do," Harley answered. "If it was a power surge from laser hits from those fighters, there should have been more damage."

"You don't sound convinced," Ace stated for the record.

"I'm not. I have a pretty good idea what and who did this, but the captain put you in charge. It's your call, Ace," Harley said, putting the helmsman on the spot.

Ace didn't have to think long to draw the same conclusion. "But I need evidence. Without that, we're handicapped."

"I'll get it," Harley promised. "And it won't be manufactured, so you can relax about that."

Ace knew the chief engineer would have a team working on the cause of the malfunction. He just hoped it was due to the fighter attack rather than sabotage. If it was sabotage, and the gunners both died from their injuries, Ace knew it would be near to impossible to keep the saboteurs from being blown out the nearest airlock.

With a resigned sigh, Ace headed off to the conference room to start composing his report for the captain to review once they got her safely back on board.