Part 3

It was when they were about to transmute that Princess realised the problem.

"Mark, we can't transmute."

"Why not?"

"The Condor drives. Oh, and the Galacticycle isn't really manoeuvrable in the city."

"So, we stay as we are until we get to the rendezvous, then we transmute." A thought struck Mark. "You know, we haven't even checked if the bike will change when you do."

Princess shrugged. "You trigger the transmute. It'll change then no matter what I look like."

"No problem, then," he said grinning. "You're not getting cold feet?"

Princess swung onto the bike and shot him a scornful look. "Not me. Perhaps the noble Commander is?"

Mark shook his head and settled himself behind her. "Let's get going then," he said.

He couldn't stop grinning as they travelled towards the rendezvous. Princess had shown an entirely different side of herself – or had she? Mark found himself thinking back over her attitude and behaviour, and could remember a time before they grew up. Princess had always been able to match both him and Jason in attitude when they were kids, it was only when people started to call her a "young lady" and they all started to expect a certain attitude from her that she had changed. The fire that had once been a constant now only came in flashes.

He realised he had missed it, and decided that when this was over, he'd not let her sink back into her shell. He then slipped into a pleasant reverie, replaying in his mind the scene in the J before they were called.

This was brought to a shuddering halt when he felt a thump to the side of his head.

Princess was looking furious. "Mark, wake the hell up. We nearly went over then because you're not paying attention."

He blinked and took in her face, which was a little white. He looked around at the traffic and realised that they had almost caused an accident. He had almost caused an accident by not paying attention.

"Sorry," he said, knowing it was inadequate, but also knowing that there was nothing else he could say. He looked at the skid mark behind them again and felt proud of her skill at avoiding it.

They moved off and this time he was paying attention, matching his movements to hers as she guided the bike through the crowded streets, admiring her skill. When they reached the rendezvous point and dismounted she turned to him.

"What was with you, Mark? It's usually Keyop I have problems with, never you."

"Sorry, I was thinking," he explained as he triggered the transmute.

Princess groaned. "Mark, don't think. You know that whenever you do the whole distracted thinking thing, it just gets us into trouble."

Mark looked at the Condor next to him and grinned. "But that's what you're for, G2. To pull my ass out of trouble."

They climbed aboard the now-transmuted bike, and Mark grinned as he realised that her response was lost in the noise of both bike and Phoenix as they docked. He'd be willing to bet quite a lot of money, however that it wasn't polite.

He considered, however, that he had had his revenge on her. After all, if he couldn't hear her response, then it was wasted.

They took their places and joined Tiny and Keyop in their normal systems rundown, all four compensating for their missing teammate.

Checks finished, Mark looked at the others. "Tiny, you know the coordinates of where we're going. Hit it."

"Big Ten, Commander," and Tiny increased power to the engines. "You know," he said, "it seemed mighty careless of them to transmit so that we could trace it."

"It wasn't easy to do, Tiny," Princess put in. "It took me three of his little segments before I could get any sort of lock onto it."

"Still, we've never been able to get any sort of lock before. It could be a trap"

"Never had one of us, before," said Keyop and laughed. "Had Jason for whole day before first transmission. Probably wants to get rid of him." That brought laughter from the rest, but there was a sombre note.

Mark looked around the cabin. "Tiny could be right about the trap, though. Princess, we've got to be even more careful when we go in. Tiny, did we get the robots from Zark?"

Tiny nodded. "Yeah, they're the hold. I was getting the creeps with them here."

"So they're good copies."

"You could say that. Politest Jason I've ever heard though. Want me to get them out?"

"Get the Swan out, but leave the Jason one where it is until we're ready to go. But we need the Swan on deck in case Zoltar comes calling."

Tiny dashed from the deck, and returned minutes later with a slender pink and white-clad figure.

"I still say it's creepy looking at myself."

"Can you still work your consoles if you're in Jason's spot?"

Princess nodded. "Not a problem. Give me a minute to re-route before the robot takes my place, though." Her hands flew and she rose, ordering the robot to sit, and took her place at Jason's console.

"Let the play begin," she said softly.

As if on cue, Zoltar's face appeared on their view screen.

"Well, G-Force, are you coming to rescue your team-mate?" he taunted

"What team mate, Zoltar? We've got a full compliment here. What we are going to do is rescue an innocent man. Of course, if you let him go, we may go easy on you."

As Mark spoke, Princess rose from her place and moved into Zoltar's line of sight, keeping her head slightly bowed and wings furled tightly around her. They watched Zoltar do a double take at the sight.

"You've got two choices, Zoltar. Set that innocent man free, or we'll do it for you."

Zoltar looked again at the Condor. It was the Condor – and yet something seemed out of place. He snarled. "Do your worst G-Force. Your innocent man might like to work for the glorious forces of Spectra." The picture was gone abruptly, and Mark could feel the tension leaving them all.

He looked at his team. "Sounds like Jason may have been a little trouble," he said blandly.

"If Zoltar's talking about recruiting him, we also know that Jason's still alive and unhurt," put in Princess.

Mark nodded. "It's rather tempting, actually. Letting Zoltar have to deal with Jason as a subordinate."

"Mark! You wouldn't!"

"No. Not really. How are you going with reviewing those tapes?"

"Slowly, I don't want to miss anything. However, so far as I can see, Jason's managed to get a quick message to us every time – and if you hadn't gotten me started tracking them I would have picked them up earlier. How did the rest of you miss it?"

"Too busy missing the wood for the trees, I suppose. What do the messages say?"

"He's in a cell by himself, that he's unhurt, that he's pissed off and, most importantly, that there are 3 cameras watching his cell – no actual guards. Mark, before we can do anything, I'll need to find the controls for those cameras. I want to loop some footage of Jason in the cell to give us the time to do the swap with the robot."

"What if we just move quickly?"

She shook her head. "We want this to be invisible. If I can loop about 30 seconds of tape, then nobody will notice us doing the switch. We can then unloop it with the robot in the cell."

"Right, first move then is to get you to the control room. I don't suppose Jason was able to say where that was?"

"No." She could have said more, but felt it was redundant. After all, they all knew that Mark sometimes asked imbecilic questions, and had given up trying to stop him. As a team, they had learned to just live with each other's idiosyncrasies.

"I still think it's a trap of some sort," put in Tiny. "It's just gone too smoothly. No Mecha, no destruction just a nice base we found."

"With Jason sitting in a cell in the middle of it."

"Screams trap to me," insisted Tiny. "Zoltar's been busy baiting us."

"Yes – but can't you see – he's getting desperate. Normally we rise to the bait immediately, but this time Anderson made us wait. If it is a trap, then they've been waiting a while for it to be sprung. They're going to be getting tired of waiting and off guard. But most importantly, they're going to be spooked when they see that we do have the Condor with us."

Princess nodded. "It's a psychological thing. If Zoltar's been telling his men that they've got the Condor – and Mark you have to admit, that Jason scares them a whole lot more than you do – then they'll be completely demoralised when they see Eagle and Condor colours. Anderson was right on that, and he was right to wait. At least we know that Jason's OK."

"How are you going to get the robot in with you?" asked Tiny

"We're approaching from the ground, so we'll just sneak it in. Wrap a blanket or something around it to disguise it. Perhaps they'll think its 3 of us going in. Zark said that he's programmed it to be able to keep up with us."

"That's a lot of perhaps and maybe, Mark."

"I know, but then the main thing is to get Jason out and make sure his cover isn't blown. If any one of us is identified, then the whole team is at risk."

"But why Jason?" burbled Keyop

"They must have already suspected him. Remember Lucy – they must have had an idea back then that Jason was attached to the team. Anderson also tends to use him as a driver, so he's been definitely identified as attached to Security. Perhaps they started to put things together.

"Just remember, team, if Jason's cover is blown then we can say goodbye to any freedom of movement we've currently got. It'd mean moving permanently into Centre Neptune and living from there. I certainly don't want that."

The others shook their heads. "We still don't know how they got hold of Jason."

"No. I intend to find out when we've got him out, however. If he's been careless…," Mark let the sentence trail off, knowing that if Jason had been careless, it would be up to him to deliver the appropriate punishment. He didn't want to do that, because, when he admitted it to himself, they were all more than a little careless.

No matter what, they would have to tighten up their personal security. He resolved to speak to Anderson when they returned about steps they could take.

His thoughts were interrupted by Tiny.

"We're approaching the base, Commander. What next?"

"Take her down, Tiny. Behind that ridge over there."

Tiny shook his head. "Too risky and too close. I'll do a pass close over the base and you'll have to drop in. You'll be harder to see then – more chance of success. The further you have to travel the more risk you'll be taking."

Mark looked at the pilot. He wasn't used to Tiny questioning his orders. "You're really worried about this, aren't you?"

"I still think it's a trap, Mark. I'm trying to make sure that you have the best chance of not springing it."

Mark nodded slowly, accepting Tiny's reasoning. "I'll go and get the robot. Princess ,find a blanket and be ready to go."

"Big Ten, Commander." All banter was put aside as the team moved swiftly to put their plan into action. Mark returned with the robot and it was wrapped in the blanket. With Princess on the other side, the grabbed it and rose to the bubble. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," she responded.

The bubble opened. "Let's go," yelled Mark as they leaped off, their glide to the ground slightly clumsy by the dead weight of the robot.

The entry was guarded by 4 guards. "I'll take out the guards, you move when I signal."

Princess nodded. "Robot, follow me when I move," she ordered. It nodded and Mark moved off. "Good luck," Princess whispered.