A/N: I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I'm going camping next weekend so there won't be an update on Saturday. However I hope to update sometime soon after that. :)

Chapter 9

Cheetara turned to Panthro. This had been her idea and now was no time to back down from it. The panther gave her a nod and she turned to the ThunderKittens and pulled them in close.

"Kit, Kat, should the worst happen to Panthro and myself you will be in charge. I know we've discussed this before, you know what to do." She spoke quietly to them. Both Kittens nodded and the cheetah turned back to the scene at hand.

"I have Lord Lion-O on the line." Corporal Wilde informed them. He quickly pulled the lion up on the small screen in front of him. Cheetara went over to the Corporal and the lower ranking man gave up his seat.

"What's wrong?" He asked. The cheetah wasted no time in explaining the situation. Lion-O's face fell, in the back of his mind he knew that the ship that the other ThunderCats were working on was at least an hour from being finished. It would then be another hour and a half before they would be able to reach their friends.

Panthro knew that they didn't have much time. Mumm-Ra and Vultureman would be in range of their weapons in a matter of seconds. Quickly he gave the order to Major Lupi to have her men fire as soon as the enemy was in range.

"Bogeys in range in ten seconds, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four three, two, one." Captain Tiberius finished the countdown, which was accentuated by the sound of the laser cannons firing. The sound was almost deafening as the Catapult fired as well.

Mumm-Ra and Vultureman weren't surprised at this attack and they were able to dodge the first few shots but the constant barrage was difficult to handle.

"Use the Amulet, Vultureman!" Mumm-Ra shouted as the hail of laser fire continued.

"Amulet of Seti, take control of those cats at the guns." The vulture ordered. A bright green light shot forth from the Amulet and within seconds the laser beams were no more.

"What the hell?" Panthro quickly pressed the COM button and barked at the men to continue firing. His answer was nothing but silence. Major Lupi commanded six of her troops to go up and get those guns firing again. They were off in a flash and after a minute one of the men radioed back to the control room.

"They are frozen in their places. We can't remove them from their seats." A Sergeant told them.

"Override the controls and begin firing!" Panthro ordered. The men at the controls worked furiously and just as their training required they had overridden the controls in under a minute. Laser beams shot back into the air.

Cheetara looked at Lion-O. The future was uncertain and she ached to be able to touch him. Instead she could only silently mouth the words 'I love you'. He mouthed them back and then she ended the connection.

Outside Mumm-Ra and Vultureman were once again dodging shots from Cat's Lair. The vulture picked up the Amulet again and said,

"This is getting annoying. Amulet of Seti control the entire Thunder Guard." Suddenly there was silence.

Inside Cat's Lair, the ThunderCats were shocked to see the men and women around them freeze.

"What's going on?" Kit asked.

"I have no idea but Mumm-Ra and Vultureman are in for a big surprise." Panthro told her.

"So what's the plan?" Cheetara looked to the panther.

"Take up hiding positions. When those two enter the Lair we'll take them by surprise." He told them.

"Then we'd better do it in a hurry because they're almost at the front door." Kat said looking at the large screen monitor. Quickly the ThunderCats found their positions.

Vultureman and Mumm-Ra walked into the control a few minutes later and took a look at their spoils of victory.

"Well now that we have control of the Thunder Guard getting to the ThunderCats shouldn't be a problem." Vultureman smiled confidently.

"Never underestimate those uppity cats." Mumm-Ra cautioned him.

"That's right, you shouldn't." Panthro said standing up from his hiding place. Cheetara and the ThunderKittens popped up as well.

"Look who we have here. I guess my birthday comes early this year." Mumm-Ra smirked.

"Oh I'm not sure you'll be saying that when I get through with you." Cheetara told him. Vultureman just laughed and held up the talisman that hung around his neck. The mummy assumed he would use it to take control of the ThunderCats but the Mutant had other ideas.

"Thunder Guard kill the ThunderCats." They watched as the soldiers suddenly came out of their frozen state and began to close in on them.

To Be Continued...