One

Pretoria Research and Training Base

Planet Val-kyre

1 August 2017

"Are you sure of this?" Brigadier General Eugene Hammond asked, after reading the report for a second time.

He was the commanding officer of the Guardian Command formed around the six mystical battlesuits legend had it would return to free the galaxy from the rule of the evil Horde Prime. Hammond had been nearing retirement when the Horde first came to Earth two years before. The Horde attack was halted before they had the Earth at its mercy; his people later discovered that a higher priority tasking pulled the Horde fleet away.

After the alien fleet left, another ship had been discovered floating in space on the dark side of Earth's moon. The technology and information in the ship contributed immensely to the construction of an outpost on the moon, expansion of the Area 51 base at Groom Lake, and the heralded the arrival of a very special passenger.

That passenger currently sat in on the meeting in the research base's conference room. A tall, striking woman with blue eyes, the physical beauty of a goddess and dressed like some humanoid bird, she was known on her planet as The Sorceress; guardian of Castle Grayskull. Her coming to be on Earth was a much a mystery to the Earth people as it was to her since, by the nature of her post, she could not leave said castle in human form without the aid of a magical device; it was one more riddle to solve among a great many.

The author of the report was Lieutenant Commander Emilio Carter, Chief Medical Officer of the starship Eternia. The very same starship found behind the moon.

Carter nodded. I've checked the results three times. All were that same. I can't explain it."

What they were discussing was the medical examination of Adrian Cobretti, operator of the Guardian battlesuit called War Wing. Adrian had been complaining of eye problems after the conclusion of the brief civil war the warrior women had fought. The six Guardians had been instrumental in giving the Queen Mother a chance to sort out her government. After literally fighting an assassin drone hand-to-hand, and getting banged up in the process, Adrian had had to be hospitalized for several days. That's when the problems surfaced.

Hammond returned his attention to the report. Adrian wore corrective contact lenses, had had his tonsils removed at an early age, and suffered an appendicitis bout six years previous resulting in the appendix being removed. After an extensive examination by Doctor Carter, the results showed that he had near perfect vision, and the tonsils and appendix had mysteriously regenerated. Tonsils growing back was not an uncommon occurrence, though rare.

"This isn't something the battlesuit accomplished?" Hammond was referring to the Falcon suit, operated by the Sorceress, keeping its operator alive when the Sorceress was afflicted with a degenerative nerve disease that was inflamed every time she used her magical powers. The other suits had been tweaking the physical attributes of their operators for the past several months, but nothing on the scale of what was in the report.

Doctor Carter blew out a breath. "I would have to say no. Even what Falcon did for the Sorceress doesn't compare to this." He shook his head. "I don't have an explanation for this."

The Sorceress leaned forward, resting her arms on the table, tapping her fingertips together. "I may have an explanation, though the timing is…odd." Despite her apparent youth, looking no older than a woman in her mid-thirties, the Sorceress' eyes revealed a wisdom beyond her years. She was intelligent and motherly, and had become the moral center for the six-person Guardian team.

The Sorceress reminded them of when she took Adrian away from the battlestar Logoss, which had been limping its way home after an engagement with a Horde battleship, through a time/space portal to Castle Grayskull. Adrian had been gravely injured during a battle with Horde forces on an unclaimed world laying in an unofficial neutral zone between the Horde Empire and Val-kyrie space. "The only way I could think to heal Adrian was to take him to the castle and send him into the Pool of Power."

"That's the same pool that gave you your magical abilities and allowed you to change your appearance for that mission to the penal planet, right?" Emilio asked.

Sorceress nodded. "Adrian was so weak I had to hold him up, and since I needed to resume my station as the castle's guardian, it worked out. Most likely, it is the pool that has caused this, though I find it odd that these particular changes took so long."

Hammond asked, "Could War Wing have slowed the changes down until the crisis in the Val-kyrie government was resolved?"

"Yes, War Wing could have done it. It seems we are constantly finding out some new ability the AIs have developed." Sorceress gazed at the center of the table without really seeing it. Her thoughts had turned inward reflecting on the amazing abilities the artificial intelligences of the six suits has so far exhibited. When she had been afflicted with a degenerative nerve disease that accelerated with each use of her magic, Falcon had done her best to keep the Sorceress going until a cure was found. Ironically, the cure ended up with the Sorceress 'dying' and being resurrected by the power of Castle Grayskull.

Hammond turned to the doctor. "Have the other Guardians shown some kind of physical improvement not attributable to diet and exercise?"

"Some, but nothing on the order of this or what Falcon did for the Sorceress," Doctor Carter answered.

Hammond decided to leave it at that. After the past couple of weeks, this was a minor crisis at best. He had to finish compiling a report and get back to Earth to report to President Alexander in person. The president hadn't been too happy to learn that his commanding officer of Guardian Command had gone off world without notifying him, but considering the circumstances, and the resulting strengthening of ties with the warrior women, President Alexander was willing to overlook the incident. This time.

Queen Mother Silvara made available a long range scout ship to take him back to Earth when he was ready. Captain Majourny would be taking the Eternia back in the next week, or so. Now that the Val-kyrie civil war had been resolved, her crew and Colonel Markson's four platoons were making up for lost time by engaging in cultural exchanges, training side-by-side with the Val-kyrie warriors.

They were also working on keeping up the illusion of Cobretti and the Sorceress posing as bounty hunters. The original Cobra and his companion had been caught and quietly eliminated. This allowed Cobretti and the Sorceress to take their place and infiltrate the Horde penal planet called Hel. With Colonel Markson's select group of volunteers disguised as the black armored mark two robot troopers, they liberated He-man, She-ra and anyone else they could from that hellish world. Amazingly, the mission was accomplished without any fatalities, though the escape back into Val-kyrie space was another matter.

Adrian and the Sorceress ran a diversion to allow the battlestar Logoss to evade the Horde fleets closing in on them. Commander Fontaine ended up returning to a planet in unclaimed space between the empires in order to rescue the Ladyhawke. During the battle, Falcon had been badly damaged, and Adrian Cobretti had suffered what should have been mortal injuries. He would have died but for War Wing using his powers to keep his operator alive until the med techs on the Logoss could go to work on him.

A lot had happened since then with the civil war, but now that it was behind them and Queen Mother Silvara still in power, Hammond and his people could relax and engage in strengthening ties with their new allies. Allies that had allowed the mission to the penal planet to become possible in the first place.

The meeting broke up with the general returning to his temporary office to finish his rather lengthy report. Doctor Carter would continue his examination of Val-kyrie medical advances – those they were willing to reveal – while the Sorceress continued to make adjustments for Falcon's power armor combat form.

While it had not been in the original design when the battlesuits had been created a thousand years ago, the technology in their build gave the evolved AIs abilities no one back then could have dreamed of. Their full size – called battle form - was around four meters, or twelve feet, in height. Too big to fit into the armored personnel carriers Guardian Command used. War Wing pulled the memory on Iron Man from Adrian's mind and, after a debate amongst themselves, the six AIs decided on that idea as the best for to adopt. The smaller version was dubbed combat mode with their battle mode capabilities scaled down.

Upgrades to their systems and armor had been completed just as the civil war was kicking off. Now that it was resolved, the suit operators were making more personal adjustments that couldn't have been done during the crisis.

The Sorceress didn't like the helmet of Falcon's combat form with its wing outlines on the sides. It was supposed to have a vague resemblance to the falcon head dress of her costume as the Guardian of Castle Grayskull. The blue beak and red brace was shaped more like her head dress, and the wings were now flaring out from the sides. The effect now looked more like the ceremonial Vak-kyrie helms. As soon as Sonya Boradni, operator of Hawk, saw what the Sorceress was doing, she wanted a similar effect for Hawk's helmet done in a resemblance of the Earth bird.

While the Sorceress was willing to assist Sonya in her desire, Sonya had to be the one to make the alterations. The Eternian woman had to use all of her motherly patience in order to get Sonya to open up her perceptions, think outside the box, as it were, in order to alter the battlesuit's physical form. It took hours, but the end result was dramatic. Not just in the alteration to Hawk's combat form, but in the opening of Sonya's mind. She began to understand how Adrian and the Sorceress where able to do the things they were doing in conjunction with their respective suit AIs.

Pleased that she had done her good deed for the day, the Sorceress sought out Adrian to see how he was adjusting to his recent health changes. He wasn't in the infirmary on the research side of the base. Nor was he at the main hospital on the training side. An orderly confirmed that Adrian had gotten tired of seeing medical facilities from the patient's point of view, and with no cause for him to be under observation, he had been allowed out on his own recognizance.

Sorceress searched all the likely places she figured he could be found, but came up empty every time. War Wing wasn't much help, though the AI clearly knew where his operator could be found. Blowing out a breath in frustration, she wondered the research section's corridors aimlessly. She eventually found her way into a section of the vast underground installation where the holographic chambers were located. These were smaller than the main floor chamber near Commander Harana's office, but could provide nearly any conceivable training environment needed. It was in this section that the Sorceress finally found Adrian.

Sorceress felt a familiar presence in the area and followed it to a nondescript door in a corridor lined with them. She stopped before one a little over half down the line on the left, hand hovering over the control panel on the right side. She frowned at her hesitation. While Sorceress knew the how of Adrian's health changes the why was still something of a mystery. It went beyond simply being immersed in the Pool of Power. There was a growing connection between them that she could not account for over and above the recent experiences during and since the mission to the Horde penal planet.

Frustrated by an unusual lack of knowledge, Sorceress punched the control to open the door. The barrier slide aside, Sorceress stepped inside – and stopped dead in her tracks. She stared dumbfounded at the sight before her as the hatch closed behind her.

Although the chamber's physical dimensions were something around forty feet square, Sorceress had seemingly stepped from the Pretoria research base onto the wide field on the unclaimed planet in the buffer zone between the regions controlled by the Val-kyrie and Horde Prime. The same field where she and Adrian had fought off a powerful Horde army until help arrived to extract them.

The battle was in full force as War Wing and Falcon unleashed their full might against the robot forces of Horde Prime. It was a little unnerving for the Sorceress to see herself in battle from the perspective of the third person. The analytical side of her mind took notes of Falcon's movements to review later. She never thought to go back and look at the recordings of the battle to objectively evaluate her performance with that of the battlesuit. The holorecord was an amazing way to break down a complex battle such as the one she and Adrian fought to evaluate the good and the bad points.

Sorceress stood on the ridge where the river valley met the plains. The river wound its way across the plains to empty into a large lake. Another river on the far side of it flowed away to the south. Although she could not see it, the Ladyhawke rested on the eastern shore of the lake where it had crashed.

Sorceress walked across the ridge to stand beside Adrian Cobretti. He didn't acknowledge her presence at first. His brown eyes watched the action below, shifting about following the action. Their attention was drawn to the explosion of the six-legged walking machine that the Horde commander was riding in. The massive cannon on top launched high into the air, flipped over and came down over fifty meters away with a muted thump. The warped barrel pointed back to the wrecked walker.

"Freeze program," Adrian commander the computer. The action froze as he turned to face the Sorceress. "We can fight small battles all the live long day, but that out there is the end game."

Sorceress experience a sudden tightening in her gut. There was a tone to Adrian's voice she had not heard before. He sounded tired. Not a physical depletion, but more of a mental one. And that worried her.

"Sooner or later, we are going to become a major threat to the Horde. When they come for us it will be with everything they have. How were you planning to fight that?"

"Together, as we always have."

"We'll lose."

"Then I hope we will do that together, too," Sorceress answered. She paused a moment to compose herself, then said, "I haven't seen you like this, Adrian. It worries me. You have never been this conflicted even after our first battle after claiming the Guardians."

Adrian turned away. "Maybe that's because I didn't stop and think, really think, about what we are doing."

The queasy feeling in the Sorceress' gut intensified. "You knew there was no turning back once you accepted War Wing."

Adrian sighed. "Who am I to decide the fate of a galaxy? Who are we? It's arrogant presumption to think that we are the cure to the Horde sickness."

"You feel like the weight of the universe rests solely on your shoulders and you don't know what to do about it."

"You don't understand."

Sorceress arched an eyebrow. "Don't I?" she asked, moving to stand in front of him. "I left my village when unknown invaders arrived. At the time I had no idea it was a Horde scout team, but I left to find help to fight them. I nearly died crossing the Sands of Time in search of some power to help me. I eventually found it in Castle Grayskull. After the castle accepted me, I returned to my village a different woman. No one recognized me as I used to be, but for what I had become. I had to power to defeat the invaders, which I did quite easily. However, the awesome power given my by the castle also carried with it an awesome responsibility to use it wisely.

"It was not easy to watch from the castle as the galaxy continued. As life continued. Watching many travesties take place on many worlds, knowing I could do something about it, but I couldn't because that was not the purpose of the Guardian of Castle Grayskull. I was content to watch over the secrets of the castle knowing that the universe unfolds as it was meant to despite the unfairness of it at times.

"Then events unfolded that brought me among you. New friends. A new mission. The freedom to act instead of only watching and assisted where allowed."

Sorceress shook her head. "No. I have no idea what it's like to have the weight of worlds pressing down on me with no way to do anything about it."

Adrian realized his mistake immediately. He had forgotten who he was talking to and that she might have her own demons stalking her. "Well, at least you're nice about it when you chastise someone."

Sorceress smiled, that warm motherly smile she did so well. "Just doing my part to remind you that you are not the first one to have this conflict." She stepped forward and placed her hands on Adrian's shoulders. "And, most importantly, you are not alone in this."

Adrian's mood appeared to lighten a bit, or so she sensed. Not giving him time to dwell on it, Sorceress commanded the computer to file the program and clear it. The battlefield shimmered and disappeared, leaving the black walls and orange grid lines of the holochamber behind.

Sorceress slipped her right arm around Adrian's left and guided him toward the exit. "I have an idea that will lift your spirit. I want you to shoot me."

Adrian dug his heels in at the door. "Now wait a minute!" he protested.

"Relax. I have some tests I want to conduct using a new system Falcon and I came up with, but I need to be shot at."

"You couldn't find someone else to shoot at you?"

"Yes, but Jake might enjoy it too much. You know how he gets especially in close quarters."

Adrian admitted that she had a point. Jake's favorite game was close-quarters combat. He'd taught all of them a few things about it. "I can think of a few better things to do than shoot at you."

"I'm sure. Why don't we start with a few systems tests and see where that leads?"

Arrows zinged through the air smacking into a foam target thirty meter away from the shooter. Unlike the other targets on the range, this one had a scattershot pattern as if they had been launched from the barrel of a shotgun. All the other targets on the range had tight groupings within the bull's eye and the inner two rings. One last arrow struck the target high and outside the outer ring before the shooter called it quits.

The weather was sunny and warm with a negligible wind, so Corporal Anton Frost could not blame it on his poor marksmanship. If he were using his .50 caliber sniper rifle at a distance of eighteen hundred yards, he would have pegged a nice tight group his instructors would be proud of. His ebony features screwed up in a grimace as he ran a hand through his high and tight haircut. "Not a very good performance for a sniper," he sighed.

The woman standing next to him hid a smile when he looked her way. She didn't look it because Val-kyrie had long lives – while few warriors actually lived to old age – but she was actually close to Frost's age. A mane of brown hair fell to her shoulders while blue eyes took in every movement the corporal made.

Other warriors on the range pointedly ignored the pair not out of rudeness, but because as the biological daughter of the Queen Mother, Anyssa preferred to earn respect for her own abilities rather than who she was related to.

"How long have you been firing a bow?" she inquired lightly.

"How long have we been out here?"

"Exactly. I have been practicing with a bow since I was eight years old. Were you good with a rifle from the very first time you fired one"

Anton frowned. "No... I had to practice a lot. I liked to shoot all sorts of guns. My father and I used to take me to the local range every chance he got." A slight smile creased his lips at the memory.

Anyssa stepped close and had him raise the training bow, a practice version of the combat model Anyssa used. The combat model had the capability of compacting itself into a boxy shape for ease of carrying until needed. The weapon resembled compound bows used on Earth and functioned in much the same way, down to adjusting the amount of draw length and draw weight. This one was set to the standard mid-range poundage. The pair stood close together as the warrior woman gave Frost pointers on stance, aim, mindset and anything else she could think of to help him master the weapon.

There were so focused that they scarcely noticed that shooting had stopped up and down the range. Other shooters were walking out to retrieve their arrows and assess accuracy. Anyssa and Frost promptly separated, embarrassed.

"I better…um…go get my arrows," Frost stammered. He set the bow on the stand at his right side, which also held a quiver stuffed with arrows, and strode out to retrieve the ones he'd shot.

Fifty feet down the line, Dhalon, a bipedal feline native to the Quaedian race on Eternia, waited for Sera to return from retrieving her arrows. Sera was the eldest of the Queen Mother's daughters and next in line to inherit the throne of the warrior women. The middle daughter, Kiiri, had been killed on a recon mission to Eternia some months back, leading to Anyssa and Dhalon eventually joining General Hammond's command when the Guardian Force went to Eternia in search of information about the fate of He-man and the masters.

"Is the moment over?" Sera asked, tucking the arrows into the quiver stand and picking up the bow for another round.

"Yes," Dhalon rumbled. "For a race who speaks their mind when they find someone attractive, your sister sure is shy about it. Or maybe that's part of her plan."

Sera looked down at her four-foot tall companion. "Don't you go teasing her about this," she scolded. "Anyssa doesn't make friends easily." Much of that was due to her lineage. Even amoung the Val-kyrie, there were those who would exploit being friends with relations of the Queen Mother. The rest was Anyssa's awkwardness around males. From what Sera observed, the corporal was just as awkward around certain females. Yet another pair who needed to get themselves sorted out, she thought, nocking arrow, aiming, and letting fly, all within seconds. Unsurprisingly, she was thinking of Adrian Cobretti and the Sorceress of Grayskull. Sera's opinion matched that of the philosophy of her people. If you found someone attractive, then say so. Let the rest sort itself out. Waiting too long was not in her people's nature. Certainly not with the motto 'Live fast, fight hard and go out in a blaze of glory.'

Sera sighed and launched another arrow. It was none of her business despite the desire to nudge either pair along. Her only wish was for Anyssa to be happy, and at the moment, she appeared to be. Fate had a tendency to show up and throw a few curve balls when it was least expected. And Sera feared that one of the Fates was winding up at this very moment.

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