Chapter 12

"Excellent!" complimented Mala. "You're getting the hang of it. I am impressed with how quickly you are picking up these complicated functions of the vehicle mecha."

Despite herself Princess blushed at the compliment. It was so rare to hear any praise from the Spectran leader.

She was sitting in the simulator with Mala. Ever since Xati had returned from her mission Mala had taken to training Princess personally. Princess knew that her mission was next on the Spectran attack plan, which explained Mala's personal interest in her progress.

The mood was broken by the harsh slamming of the simulator door against the wall. Princess looked up to see a tall man dressed in purple and red enter the room. Zoltar!

Princess and Jason had managed to avoid Zoltar since their arrival on Spectra, only seeing him from far away and on general communication broadcasts. After Xati's warning Princess had been even more eager to keep her distance. Besides which, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't recognize her or Jason if they got too close. It wasn't like he'd never seen them before.

"Carrots!!!!" he screamed. "What idiot came up with that idea?"

"What are you talking about brother?" asked Mala. She was obviously annoyed at the interruption.

"The bunnies! They've been destroyed!" Zoltar fumed.

"What?" asked Mala, shocked, "Already?"

"Yes! That damned G-Force! They laced millions of carrots with liquid explosives. The bunnies ate them and were destroyed before they could breed again!"

Princess had no idea what Zoltar was talking about, but if G-Force had been involved and Zoltar was angry that sounded like good news.

"Well I guess it's a good thing that my project was already in the works then." smirked Mala. "My vehicle mecha is nearly ready. With it we will be able to bore through the Earth's cities and destroy them! My driving team is top notch. Even the Phoenix won't be able to catch them!"

Princess gasped. They were going to use this mecha to evade the Phoenix? Of course! It made sense. Spectran mechas had always been huge machines that could never outrun the Phoenix. This mecha was designed to evade G-Force, not attack them.

Zoltar heard her soft sound and whirled to look at Princess. Belatedly she realized that she wasn't wearing her mask. She found that she performed better without it so it rarely accompanied her during training sessions.

Her skin crawled as she felt his eyes on her, sizing her up like a piece of meat. She looked down.

"You will launch the vehicle mecha tomorrow!" ordered Zoltar, turning back to Mala.

"Tomorrow?" screeched Mala, "I need at least another week!"

"Tomorrow. The Luminous One insists." intoned Zoltar in a cold voice. He turned to look at Princess again. "And as for this one…"

"You can't have her." Mala interrupted.

Zoltar whirled to face her. "Why not?" he growled.

"I need her for the mecha. She's been training to navigate it for weeks. There's no one who can replace her!" Mala glared at her brother. "If you want the mecha ready tomorrow I can't do it without her."

"Very well, then." Zoltar said. "But when she returns from the mission…"

Mala bowed her head. "As you wish, my brother."

Zoltar lifted Princess' chin with a gloved finger. "Those eyes…" he murmured. "There's something about those eyes…" He leered at Princess, chilling her soul.

She knew that no matter what happened, she would never return to Spectra after this mission.

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With the killer bunny threat neutralized Mark explained their discovery in the garbage capsule to Chief Anderson. He agreed that the Phoenix should return to the region of space where the capsule had been found and execute a thorough search for Jason and Princess.

Mark didn't need an engraved invitation. Within minutes he, Tiny and Keyop were rushing at full speed back to the original location of the capsule.

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Jason had been shocked when he had been summoned to train in the actual vehicle mecha. Once he met up with Princess she explained the situation to him. She decided it would be wiser to gloss over any mention of Zoltar's interest in her. No need to worry Jason about it when all it would do was cloud his thinking with anger.

Mala gave them some last minute instructions and ordered them to enter the vehicle mecha for their first test run.

As they entered the hangar Jason gasped. The mecha was a thing of beauty. Usually Spectran machines were large and cumbersome. But this vehicle was the epitome of form and function. It had obviously been inspired by racecars, and Jason even saw some resemblances to his own transmuted G-2. Despite himself he was eager to take the wheel and see what it could do.

"The mecha is equipped for space flight and underwater travel." explained Mala as the entrance hatch opened. "But it operates best on hard surfaces. Take it out to the track and push it to the limit. You need to know exactly what it is capable of!"

Jason and Princess entered the vehicle. Inside it looked exactly like the simulator. Except that they had never been alone together inside the simulator.

Their eyes met in agreement. This was their chance. The one they had been waiting for since they had arrived on Spectra.

"We need to destroy this thing now." Jason said regretfully. "We can crash it into something. I can make it look like an accident."

Princess spied something she hadn't seen in the simulator. "Look!" she exclaimed, "A transmitter!"

They both stared at the device with longing. To send a message… to communicate with home… it was something they had wished for since they had arrived.

"All right." said Jason. "Here's the plan. I'll drive around the track, testing the vehicle. You work on that transmitter and send a message back to Center Neptune. Once you've done that I'll stage our 'accident'."

Princess nodded. It was the best strategy they could execute for the moment.

Jason took off at close to light speed. It was a shame to destroy such a masterpiece, but he knew that he could not allow it to be used to attack the Earth. There was no way the Phoenix would be able to keep up with it, even if he weren't driving the mecha.

Princess knew she had to hurry. While she would have liked to run a full analysis of the transmitter she didn't have the time. Once she figured out the codes to send a transmission she crossed her fingers and hoped for the best.

"I'll have to send it on a Spectran frequency." she explained to Jason, "But hopefully Zark will be able to intercept it. I'm initiating a general distress call with our G number sequences."

Jason nodded. He knew it was the best they could do under the circumstances.

"Now!" he ordered. Princess pressed the button to send the transmission.

"Hold on!" yelled Jason. He began to careen around the track, acting as if there were some kind of inertial dampener failure. It was a pretty good impression, and they were receiving the bumps and bruises to prove it.

"This is it!" Jason cried. He began a seemingly random pattern towards the Military Command Center on the base. He could at least attempt to take out a number of high level Spectran officers with this thing.

Suddenly the vehicle lost power. Caught off guard, Jason went into survival mode and managed to swing the vehicle around, bringing it to a stop.

"What did you do?" he asked Princess angrily.

"Nothing!" she cried. "It wasn't me!"

Suddenly the hatch opened and they found themselves at the wrong end of a laser rifle.

"Step out of the vehicle." ordered Mala.