Savage scooped up his wounded daughter and carried her towards the jump ship, which had now settled on a fairly level area of rough grass. A bulky, armour-clad figure lumbered past him, providing him and the others additional cover. Kill as many of them as you can, he thought angrily.

Nikki appeared the moment he got Cassandra through the door.

''It's my leg'' the blonde girl managed to say. ''I'll live.''

She was right. As soon as he'd got her settled in the small med-unit, he left her to Nikki's care and went to see how bad things were turning out to be.

X

''That's Chronos'' Sara gasped, throwing a startled look at Len, who seemed to be reacting in much the same way.

The all-too-familiar bulky figure was advancing down the valley, firing his heavy weapon. He looked set to make inroads into the Survivalists as well as protecting the retreat towards the jump ship. Startled though they must be, Ray, and F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. were now concentrating their efforts on Chronos, but his armour seemed to be holding up.

Nora had no idea who this was, other than the fact that 'Chronos' was dangerous. She narrowed her eyes and reached out mentally to disarm him. He was too strong, his grip on the weapon too firm. All she could manage was to pull the muzzle from side to side, making it impossible for the weapon to be aimed.

Then Chronos fell abruptly to that appeared to be his knees, his head shaking from side-to-side. Sara looked at Nora, who was still visibly concentrating and thought 'Go for it, girl.' She let off two shots at the huddled figure, although she knew that was pretty useless. The armoured figure suddenly lurched back to his feet. He turned in a circle, as if not sure which way to go - then started to stagger back towards the jump ship. A couple of times, he looked as if he was trying to turn round, trying to rejoin the fight, but he finally stumbled up the hatchway into the ship.

X

''Shut down!'' Savage gave the order that made his 'secret weapon' lean against the wall and stop moving. He had no idea what was wrong with Chronos and no time to find out. This had turned into an absolute disaster and the only thing left to do -

''Get us out of here'' he ordered.

''Yes, sir'' Lance said, in a bitter, ironical tone. ''Just as soon as the last few are on board.''

He fumed, although the wait was only for about half a minute. Then the jump ship was hurtling skywards, Dronon activating the cloaking device as it went.