Seeing Slade go running out of the room like that, leaving the pitiful remains of what had clearly once been that magic crystal of his behind, Ringo couldn't help but wish that they had managed to find out just what Gunnar had been planning to do sooner. It might have been enough to keep Slade from getting his crystal shattered like that, and it probably would have kept the Wonder Twins away from Gunnar and his homicidal lunacy.

At least until the next time that that "Darkon" guy, who seemed to be in charge of the Radam's invasion if he was interpreting Gunnar's rambling right, sent him out to cause trouble.

Star was fidgeting in her seat, so he wasn't really that surprised to see that – once she had their proper coordinates programmed into the navcomp – she quickly left her station to head back into the main ail lock. He might have been tempted to do the same, if he hadn't known that she would report the twins' condition back to him if there was anything out of the ordinary – at least for a certain value of ordinary – going on, or that the Blue Earth needed him to guide her safely back to the Command Center, and that the twins were as safe as anyone ever could be in this world.

Everything would be all right.

The Command Center was fully in sight now, just up ahead, and Star came back into the cockpit with a look of relief plain on her face, so that meant that the Wonder Twins were doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances. So, all was right with the world, and they could call this one a win. Well, mostly a win, he mused, glancing back at the pitiful pile of shards on the deck.

They'd have to do something so Slade could keep transforming; there was no way that Saber would be able to hold back Darkon's legions of Spider-crabs on his own, and no way in hell that Darkon wouldn't try to take advantage of Slade's being out of commission.

All of that would have to wait until they actually got back into the Command Center, of course, but that didn't mean he had to stop thinking about things. Even if he couldn't do anything to help Slade, which he knew he couldn't since he knew next to nothing about how either of the twins managed those transformations of theirs, he would do everything he could to help Saber while his brother was out of the fight. God knew the kid was going to need all the help he could get, since that Darkon guy was probably going to have Spider-crabs raining down on them non-stop once Gunnar reported in that his mission had been completed.

At least, near enough that neither of them were likely to care about the specifics.

Landing back in the hangar bay, he quickly ran through the power-down sequence for the Blue Earth, then got out of his chair and headed to the aft storage section. He figured that, after he emptied it of supplies and things, one of the emergency med-kits would be good for holding the shards of Slade's magic crystal until he could get them to either the Commander, or Maggie and Mac. Any of those three would be able to do a heck of a lot more with those shards than he could even think of.

Emptying out the med-kit onto the shelf where it had been sitting, strapped neatly into its holder so it wouldn't become a nuisance when they were in freefall or a projectile-hazard during the times they encountered turbulence – or Spider-crabs – during reentry, Ringo carried it back into the cockpit and knelt down next to the shards of Slade's crystal. Carefully picking up the larger pieces, he set them carefully into the box, and then set about scooping up the shards that he could now see scattered around the spot where the broken crystal had landed. He managed to get all of the ones that he could see, but there might have been more that he was missing.

He didn't intend to spend all of his day, what little there was of it left, staring at the deck in the Blue Earth's cockpit, so he closed up the box he'd packed the shards in and left the ship. It was time to see what he could get done with these things; time to see what Maggie and Mac or the Commander would make of this.

0100100

Leaving the twins in the care of the medical staff, still wondering with some degree of embarrassment just why Slade had ended up naked when he had transformed back into a human when Saber hadn't, Star headed back to her quarters. Seeing Slade, staring down helplessly as the shattered remains of his crystal fell to the Blue Earth's deck, had made her heart go out to him. He must have felt so powerless, and he'd clearly been worried about the same kind of thing happening to his brother, given the way he'd run right into the air lock to check on Saber once he had gotten over his obvious shock at seeing his crystal break like that.

But in the end, Saber had clearly been safe, and Slade had looked so peaceful sleeping there next to his brother. The both of them really only seemed to look that way when they were asleep, since even when they were together they seemed to have some sort of shadow hanging over them. It was strange, but it was also clearly something that neither of the twins wanted to talk about, so she wasn't going to pry.

Heading for her quarters, wanting to get some rest and to have a chance to get the events of this particularly eventful day all settle within her mind, Star wondered for a moment just how the Space Knights would be able to recover from this; true, when Saber had been laid up in the infirmary Slade had been forced to fight the forces of the Radam on his own, but that had only been once, and there had been a definite timetable concerning when Saber was going to be able to rejoin his brother in battle. This time, there wasn't any such reassurance. Saber might be forced to fight alone for weeks, months, or even longer.

There was even the possibility, as much as she didn't like to even consider it, that Slade would never be able to transform again. She didn't think about that for long, forcing it out of her mind with the certainty that Mac and Maggie were either working on the problem already, or were at least being fully informed about it, and that with their combined abilities they would be able to solve Slade's problem. She'd known those two the entire time that she had been part of the Space Knights, a time that seemed immeasurably longer now that the war against the Radam had begun in earnest.

It was a good thing that Slade and his brother had come falling out of the sky so soon after the Radam had started attacking, almost like some kind of a miracle; the two heroes falling out of the sky like shooting stars, just in the nick of time. Helping to save all of the people who had been put in harm's way by the Radam and their merciless warriors.

It was a nice thought, that, almost like someone had seen the invasion coming, and had decided to give the Earth a fighting chance. It was a nice thought, that; that someone had been looking out for them. She wouldn't say anything, though; other peoples' potential interest notwithstanding, it didn't seem like the twins would have appreciated the sentiment if they found out about it.

For whatever strange reason, neither of them seemed to think of themselves as the heroes they so clearly were.

It was just one of the many mysteries that she was beginning to realize surrounded the twins. They seemed to attract them, or at least to do nothing to dispel the ones that surrounded them. They had clearly been through some kind of a horrible experience, like she'd told Ringo all those weeks ago when they had both first met the twins, but now more than ever she wanted to find out what it was.

She wanted to help them, to support them in a battle that they had clearly not chosen to fight of their own free will; well they had, but they obviously wouldn't have gotten involved with the war if they had been given any kind of a choice about it. Still, that brought up the question of just what kind of thing would be able to force the twins, with all their power, to do something that they were so clearly ambivalent about. Whatever it was, though, Star knew that she didn't want to have to deal with it.

11010001

Once he was completely certain that the once-human who had been named Conrad Carter would not attempt to resist the commands that he would be required to carry out in the service of the Radam Empire, Darkon turned his attention to the youngest of the humans that he had captured: the youngest of the family he had captured, and in fact the youngest of the humans overall. He found it odd that such a young human had even managed to survive the tekno-process at all, much less that he would prove to be as useful as he seemed to be. It was a fact, however, that the little one would not have the sheer, overwhelming power of one of the older Teknomen until he had been allowed to mature.

Still, young Samuel Carter would be quite suitable as a scout, or an assassin; tasks where his smaller size and more docile appearance would serve him well.

His elder sister Shara, one of the three surviving females out of the crew and the only female member of the family to which his little traitors belonged, was still in the latter stages of analysis. These human females were quite different than the females of his own species, and would have to be handled with care. Their reproductive abilities would prove useful in future campaigns – just as those of his own peoples' females had proven to be – and so it was important to ensure that they remained in good health.

For the moment, however, he could allow the automatic subroutines imbedded within the ship's bio-computers to attend to the females. The youngest of the captive humans was the more pressing subject at the moment. He would have to be carefully shaped, if he was to be of any use.

101001010

He woke up to the blaring of the emergency-alert, only to find Ringo just starting to come into his room.

"Good," the blond said, sounding genuinely relieved. "You're already up. We're going to need to move quickly; it's raining Spider-crabs out there, and your brother… well, let's just say he's not quite up to fighting-form at the moment."

"All right," he said, making a mental note to badger the specifics out of Slade later; his brother's part of their link was quiet, a sure sign that Slade was still asleep. "Let's get going, then."

Following Ringo out of his quarters at a brisk jog, he vaguely noticed that they were heading for hangar three rather than the comm. room; obviously they were skipping the Commander's usual briefing in favor of simply heading out to deal with the Spider-crabs. Something he was admittedly in favor of, but he couldn't help the feeling that this was a bad sign of things to come. Not stopping for a briefing meant that they weren't just flying blind, it also meant that they didn't have the luxury of time to spare.

That wasn't good; it probably meant that something had gone more wrong than usual on their last mission, since he couldn't think of any other reason why Darkon would choose now to start swamping them with Spider-crabs.

Once they were all seated in the Blue Earth, with Star wordlessly inviting him to take his brother's seat – something that he assured her would be only temporary, which she smiled at in a way he didn't quite know how to interpret – he looked out the large cockpit windows at the rank upon rank of Spider-crabs descending in front of them. I hope you're doing all right back at the Command Center, brother, he thought to himself; Slade had to have been really wrung-out not to have contacted him for their becoming-usual early morning talk, so Saber wasn't going to bother him.

Heading for the air lock, alone for the first time since his and Slade's personal war had started, Saber tried not to think about what might have happened to Slade. He'd be able to find out once he dealt with the Spider-crabs, and distractions would only end up costing him in battle. Probably not his life, but it was still best not to take those kinds of chances.

"Tekno-power!"

00010010

Meeting with the leaders of the Allied Earth Military had never been something that he had enjoyed, but in this case it was a necessity. The loss of Slade's ability to transform, while it had not entirely crippled the Earth's capability to defend itself, placed an unfair burden on Saber. Despite the fact that the young man himself would not likely be inclined to complain about the situation, likely seeing it as his responsibility to his brother to put himself forward, it would not be fair to that young man to ask him to take over sole responsibility for the Earth's defense for a prolonged period of time.

"Commander, I hold you responsible for the loss of one of the Earth's only Teknomen," General Gault accused, slamming his hands down on the computer console he had been sitting behind. "This wouldn't have happened if you'd have turned them over to me!"

He had expected this argument; Gault had never been one to tolerate a situation that wasn't under his direct control, and the power that those two young men wielded had been bound to attract his attention at some point. It was better that it had happened after Slade and Saber had established themselves as a part of the Space Knights, even though he would have personally preferred that it had not happened at all. Still, he would always make it a point to deal with things as they were; for the sake of the Space Knights and that of the Earth itself, he could not afford to be distracted with musings about an ideal world.

"I do accept the responsibility, but may I remind you that I am answerable only to civilian authority. Not to you gentlemen of the military," he said calmly.

"Really?" one of the other Generals, a man whose name he didn't quite recall at the moment, spoke out. "I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were-"

"Sit down," Gault cut in brusquely. "It's not too late; give them to us, and I'm sure that we'll be able to use the knowledge we obtain from the Teknoman Saber to salvage the Teknoman Slade."

"My crew is quite capable of salvaging Slade. The Space Knights have a tradition of solving our own problems. Whatever we begin we finish, gentlemen," he said; leaving unsaid the flash of revulsion he had felt at that suggestion. "Now, if you'll excuse me."

He knew very well what would happen to either of those young men if he allowed the military in general or Gault in particular to get their hands on them; people in the midst of what looked like a hopeless situation were a great deal less likely to consider the morality of their actions, particularly when those actions seemed as if they would provide salvation to them and those under their protection. The fact that Gault was not particularly inclined to put any ethical constraints on the scientists that he would no doubt assign to studying Saber and exactly what mechanisms he used to accomplish his transformation meant that if Slade or Saber fell into his hands, through whatever kind of accident or misfortune would place them there, they would be treated like laboratory specimens rather than the human beings that they so clearly were. Those two brave, intelligent, resourceful young men deserved better than to be slowly picked apart by Gault and his cadre of scientists and lab technicians simply to obtain data that could be gathered in a more humane, albeit indirect, manner.

Aside from that, once they had – informally, yes, but sincerely nonetheless – declared themselves a part of the Space Knights, they had come under his protection; he would not sacrifice any of his Space Knights to the military, no matter what kind of potential benefits might be promised by doing so.

As he continued on his way out of the Allied Earth Military's main command center in this sector, he turned his attention to another matter, one that was far more urgent at this point than dealing with Gault and his ambitions. When Ringo had delivered the shards of Slade's crystal to him, he had immediately begun discussing ways that Slade's ability to transform might be restored with Maggie and Mac. The idea that they had come up with, once it was completed, would not only provide Slade with his transformation capability once again, but it would also provide him and his brother with a viable combat partner.

Activating his comm. unit, he contacted his own personnel.

"Good morning, Commander."

"Good morning, Tina; how is work progressing on the Teknobot?" he asked, noting the slightly downcast expression on her face when he asked; not particularly good news, then.

"Well, sir, to be honest, Mac and Maggie have their hands full," she said. "It's a pretty tall order."

"It is, indeed," he conceded. "Tell them to keep at it; we're under the gun on this one."

His orders given, and with at least some hope that Slade would be back in fighting-form soon, he continued on his way out of the Allied Earth Military's command center.

100100101

He'd been up since the nightmares woke him, trying to sort through all of the data that the Radam had implanted in his head while they were trying to make him into one of their obedient slave-warriors. There had to be something useful in all that data, something that he could use to restore the powers that Gunnar had taken from him. Saber couldn't be everywhere at once, after all, and the longer his brother was forced to fight alone, the greater the chance that something would happen to him. He would never forgive himself if Saber ended up hurt – or worse – because of something he had or hadn't done.

It had already happened once before, and Slade had promised himself that it would never happen again.

So he was going to go over every scrap of information that had been forced into his mind by those stupid aliens, and then he would find a way to transform again. Star and the others could worry about providing moral and material support; he was the only real partner that his brother could count on in battle. That was why he had to get back into the fight, and as soon as was possible.

Some of this data, though… it just didn't make sense! The rest of it seemed to be useless to him; some kind of logistics reports. So the Radam scouted the galaxy, looking for sentient beings with the same general bodily-configuration as humans; so Darkon was most likely one of the aliens that had been captured by the Radam on some of their previous raids, so he was most likely incapable of leaving the ship for whatever reason; none of that was going to help him get his powers back! It was all as useless as he was right now!

Shoving the papers that he'd covered with handwritten notes to one side of the desk that he hadn't used for anything prior to this, he buried his face in his hands. He couldn't deal with this; Gunnar had crippled him, and there seemed to be nothing he could do about it. He really was useless.

Prodding his link with Saber, not wanting to wake his brother if he was in the middle of a fight, he found that his brother was pretty much dead to the world. Apparently he'd just come back from a fight; scrubbing his face with his hands, Slade gathered the papers he'd shoved aside and started going over them again. Even if he was less than useless right now, Saber was alone out there, fighting what should have been their fight. All alone, against whatever Darkon and Gunnar could throw at him.

He wasn't going to let that stand, even if he did feel like some pathetic cripple right now; Saber deserved better.

Glancing over a list of names that he'd written down, Slade found that he could easily picture the alien races that went along with them.

Nandorians, for instance: they were the same kind of bipedal, bilaterally-symmetrical aliens that the Radam favored as Teknomen; they looked more like kangaroos, though; they were generally more broad-shouldered than humans, with three thick fingers and an opposable thumb; their digits were all tipped with bony claws covered by a keratin sheath, they had to file the sheaths frequently to keep them from growing too long; they subsisted on a purely carnivorous diet; and they had three, thick toes that could grip slightly better than their hands, though they lacked most of the dexterity. The Radam used them as hunters, scouts, and trackers; their main senses were sight, hearing – a fact made plain by their six-inch ears, both equipped with seven muscles each for swiveling, lowering, and raising the ear itself – and smell; their sense of touch, while not quite as dramatic as the other three, was still better than any human's, thanks to their coats of short, dense fur and their long whiskers; most of the whiskers were in what people would consider to be normal places, but there were a pair each behind the ears, and several in a straight line leading to the tip of their tails. Any one of them, with the exception of the very young or the very old and infirm, would be able to run down even the most highly-trained of human athletes, wrestle them to the ground, and bite them to death.

That was how they hunted prey back on their own planet, in fact.

He would have wondered why the Radam hadn't had any of their Nandorian Teknomen in stasis aboard that ship, but he already knew the answer: each time a new planet was discovered by one of the Radam's probe-ships, the first invasion would consist of the inhabitants of that planet. They were expected to be able to deal with any and all opposition that could be found on the target planet. He didn't know if anything like what had happened to him and Saber had ever been repeated on one of the Radam's subject-planets, but he found himself hoping so.

Having one or more Nandorians on their side could only help Earth's chances.

Still, he knew that the chances of them making contact with any extraterrestrial Teknomen hinged on the Radam consolidating their power on this planet. Something he and Saber were both determined to prevent.

"Hey, Slade," Ringo said, startling him out of his musings. "What's with all the kangaroo-man sketches? You planning an Anthro comic, or something?"

"Ringo. Star," he acknowledged, trying to settle his jangling nerves. "What are you two doing here?"

"Just came by to see how you were doing," Ringo said, grinning. "You look a lot better than you did yesterday, I have to say."

"Slade, why don't you take a break and have something to eat?" Star asked, and he noticed then that she was holding a tray of food. "You still have to think about your health, you know."

"This is more important," he said firmly, turning back to his work and dismissing Star and Ringo from his thoughts; he still hadn't found anything he could actually use, just a bunch of trivia about the Radam that he could have just as well done without. "I have to find a way to transform again; Saber's all alone out there."

"Hey, we know that better than anyone, pal," Ringo said, sounding conciliatory and yet still a bit put-out. "I just finished putting your exhausted brother to bed, myself. I know you're both trying to do your parts to help stop this invasion, but you'll be no good to anyone if you work yourself into exhaustion."

"I'm not any good to anyone now, Ringo," he bit out. "I have to find a way to regain my powers; if I can't transform into a Teknoman anymore, I'm useless."

"Look, you can't just give up because things look a little grim," Ringo said, leaning over him with his right hand splayed out over the notes he'd been making. "That's not the way we Space Knights do things."

"I'm not giving up, Ringo," he said, setting down the pen he'd been using. "What do you think all these notes are for? I'm trying to find a way to regain my powers." It just seems so hopelessly confusing right now, he added silently. "I'm going to take a walk; try to clear my head."

"Wait, Slade," Star said, coming over to his side just as he stood up from his chair. "There's something you should see, first."

"I'm not really interested in another tour, Star," he said.

"This isn't anything like that," she said, already starting to pull him along by his right arm.

"What is it like, then?" he asked; she was remarkably strong for her size, almost like Sa-someone he had known before. He could have broken free, but with how tightly her arms were wrapped around his right, he was worried about hurting her if he tried.

"There are people here who want to help you," she said, still pulling him along. "They're all hard at work; it's not all on you to find a way to help yourself. We Space Knights are a team."

He didn't know just how to respond to that; he and Saber had always been on their own, ever since the beginning of their war with the Radam. There had been no one else that he could count on to help them, no one else who was actually on their side, for so long that he had actually come to expect to have to stand on his own. Saber would probably say he was being an idiot; maybe he needed that.

(Saber?)

(Hey, brother. You sound a bit down; something wrong?)

(Star and I are heading off somewhere; don't ask me where, I'm not entirely sure yet, but… well, I think I've gotten a bit too used to only having you to back me up.)

(That doesn't sound like so much of a problem,) Saber said; Slade's stomach growled, reminding him of something else that he hadn't been thinking about. (We've had each other for so long, just us against the world, that it's kinda hard to get used to having other people around. People who don't want to kill us, I mean.)

(Yeah, I guess,) he said, noticing that a railing at the end of the long hallway they were coming to was growing steadily clearer in his line of sight. (I skipped two meals doing solo-research, though.)

A pause, then: (You didn't mention that you were being a dumbass, Slade.)

(I honestly didn't think I had to,) he said, as he began to see the large room, with the large assortment of heavy equipment and the one very large thing that seemed to be the focus of all that work, clearly over the top of the railing and through the gaps in it. (You've always seemed to know when I needed a good, verbal boot to the head.)

(Circumstances notwithstanding, brother, I'm not actually psychic,) Saber said, sounding like he was probably rolling his eyes right about now.

(I'll keep that in mind,) he said, as he and Star stopped at the railing, which he now saw bordered a wide catwalk, and looked down into a large machine shop. (Thanks, Saber.)

(Anytime, brother mine.)

"Now take a look around you, Slade," Star said. "Do you have any idea what all these people are doing?" she asked kindly. "They've been working 'round the clock with no sleep." He really hoped that was hyperbole; he'd feel like more of an idiot than he already did if that were true. "You know why?"

"No. Why?" Hey, what's my crystal doing up there? It looked like it had been roughly pieced back together, too, inside the glass case where he had seen it resting.

"They're trying to find a way to help you transform into a Teknoman again," she turned a wide, bright smile on him. "You see? You don't have to try to do everything all on your own, Slade. Let us help you."

All of this, just to help him; he really had been an idiot. "I'm touched," he muttered; he didn't know if any of this would work any better than what he'd been trying, but with so many extra minds on the task, it was bound to produce better results. Or at least, that was what he was hoping.

Star started forward again, and he had to hurry to stay close to her. They were moving closer to what looked like a research room, and he could just see the back of Maggie's head through one of the windows. Saber liked her, so that was a big point in her favor, and in a weird way she kind of reminded him of his brother; actually, she reminded him of Cain, really.

That might have been why Saber liked her so much, in fact: as a reminder of a more innocent time.

She was waving to them, and he waved back as he heard her calling to them to stay where they were. She looked enthusiastic, which either meant she was close to some sort of a breakthrough, or she was just really happy to see them. He didn't know just which, yet.

"Hi, Slade!" she said happily; it still might have meant she'd made a breakthrough. "I'm glad you're here. Oh, and you too, Star," she said, not sounding quite so enthusiastic.

Okay, maybe it hadn't been from a breakthrough; he'd have sighed if he hadn't been confronted with her seemingly boundless enthusiasm.

"How's it going, Maggie?" Star asked, smiling.

"Fine; fine. We've hit a few snags, here and there." Probably not the same ones that he'd run into during his own efforts, though, but he could understand the frustration.

"You're dealing with one of the most complex aspects of Radam science, here," he said. "Are you guys sure you can handle it?"

He wasn't going to mention the imprinting they'd done on him, not until he'd actually found something useful buried under all that minutia and logistics; he didn't want to offer them false hope. More than that… well, he didn't want them to think that he had been brainwashed or something. It might have just been unreasoning paranoia on his part, but he didn't want to take those kinds of chances.

It wasn't just his life at stake if he'd somehow misjudged these people.

"We're not in the Stone Age you know, lad," Mac said, laughing in what Slade took to be a fond sort of exasperation. "This is what we do for a living."

"How close do you think you are to a breakthrough?" he asked, tucking his hands into his pockets so he wouldn't be tempted to start fiddling with something; waiting had never really been his strong point.

"Well, we haven't found the equation that will artificially induce the Teknoman transformation process, but we're getting there. I'm sure of it." There was a wide grin on her face as she said that, and he tried to smile for her sake.

I wish I could be so sure, Maggie. "How many times have you tried?"

"Not as many as I'm going to, you can be sure of that," she said.

"You know, kid, you should really start trying to be more optimistic," Ringo said, coming up from behind him with a hand on his right shoulder.

"He's right, lad," Mac added. "If there's anyone capable of deciphering this alien gobbledygook, it's Maggie. The Teknobot's the only chance we've got."

"Hey," the woman in question said, smiling more brightly. "Why don't you all come into the computer room, and I can wow you with my technical genius?"

"C'mon, kid," Ringo said, gently starting to push him forward. "If there's one thing I've learned during all my time as a Space Knight, it's that there's nothing Maggie likes more than showing off in front of an audience."

Finding himself inside the computer room where Maggie had been working, he watched with a mix of emotions as Maggie began entering data into the terminal in front of her. He hoped she could do it, for all of their sakes.

"Hang on, everybody," Maggie said, her fingers practically flying over the computer's keys. "Here we go again. A few pieces of the crystal were lost, so I made synthetic fragments to take their place," she continued, as the image on the computer screen shifted to a strange, blue figure on a shifting green-and-black background. "Now, here's where we find out if they'll hold." As she continued typing, the screen displayed a schematic that he wasn't equipped to understand at this point with the word 'change' flashing over it in red. "So far, so good: the synthetics are holding. Now, here's where we've been having some problems; the computer says that this formula should redirect the crystal's polarity and start the transformation process." The schematic for what he could swear was some kind of a giant robot began to light up in red, spreading out to engulf a featureless, pale blue human figure that he knew was meant to represent him. "Okay, keep your fingers crossed, everyone, if the computer's right, this should work," the machine filled with red, the words 'energy full; charge on' appeared, and then an image of a wireframe of a human head, neck, and shoulders appeared, and was swiftly covered by the armor he'd worn back when he was a Primary Body, before being overlaid with his own, proper tekno-armor.

Unfortunately, that was as far as things went; the voice of the computer started proclaiming danger, in time with that same word flashing on the screen. The image of him in full armor shattered, dissolving back to the schematic, with a pair of large wireframes of his whole, undamaged crystal, and the word 'error' in white overlaying it all. The computer's voice proclaiming "program error" just served to drive the point home all the further.

"Oh, not again! Every time, the same thing," Maggie exclaimed; she sighed. "Nothing works."

"Don't blame yourself, Maggie," Mac advised. "Even when these numbers add up, they don't add up. It's not your fault that these stupid aliens figured that two plus two equals five!"

He turned away, pinching the bridge of his nose in an effort to ward off the tension headache he could feel creeping up on him. No luck at all; not for him, not for her; he hated being helpless.

"We mustn't get discouraged," Maggie said firmly, her hands on his shoulders. "I won't give up; it will work, Slade. I promise! And you'll don your armor like some handsome knight of old, defending the honor of his lady love!"

Coughing into his fist to hide a laugh, Slade smiled slightly; that was definitely something Cain would have said, just to screw with him.

"Jeez, Maggie, show a little self-respect," Mac muttered; he found himself expecting to hear Maggie blowing a raspberry his way. Cain would have done it in a heartbeat.

"We'll make it work," she said instead, sounding more serious.

"Mac? Maggie?" Commander Jamison's voice came over the radio, drawing the attention of everyone in the room "Keep working. The rest of you report to Comm. One, stat."

There were no words exchanged; everyone already knew what they had to do, and they were all out of the machine shop and moving down the corridors at a brisk clip. Saber joined up with him on the way, nodding briefly to Star and Ringo before falling into step beside him. They soon arrived in the comm. center, with the Commander waiting for him they way he'd come to expect.

Tina, however, was actually the first to speak: "I've got reports of precision air-to-surface strikes all across the map," she reported. "I'm trying to determine if there's a pattern." There was a hiss of static, and she gasped. "Sir, someone's jamming my signal!"

"Forgive this interruption of your communications," said a familiar voice; one he'd come to hate with a passion. "But I have an ultimatum for the people of Earth."

"It's coming from the Space Ring," Tina reported.

"Gunnar," he and Saber both snarled.

"As you must realize by now, you are helpless. Even with your one remaining Teknoman to protect you, he can hardly be expected to be everywhere at once; much as he might want to be. And, even he will eventually fall," Gunnar continued, sounding more than pleased at the prospect. "But, our warlord Darkon is merciful, and he offers you one last chance for survival: hand over to us the Teknomen known as Slade and Saber, and we will suspend our attack. They are traitors; renegades. Have them brought to the Space Ring by twelve-hundred hours, Earth time, or we will renew our attack on your primary population centers. These Teknomen are of little value to you now, even if Saber is still capable of repelling our Spider-crabs. You must give them up. Then we will spare your cities."

"Maybe it's just a bluff," Star speculated; Saber was probably giving her the Look, but he didn't check.

"You don't have to bluff when you're the one holding all the cards," Ringo said. "This guy's for real."

"Consider your response wisely," Gunnar advised; Slade wanted to reach through the screen and strangle him, then stab him in the face with his own bow. "Two Teknomen, in exchange for the survival of your species. You have until twelve-hundred hours to decide."

He turned slightly, catching Saber's eye as his brother turned his way; there was really only one way they could respond to that. When the rest of the Space Knights began to discus their plans, moving toward the front of the comm. room, he and Saber both moved to the back of the room, leaving once it was clear that they were all deeply absorbed in their discussion. He sighed as the doors hissed closed behind them.

"Well, it was nice while it lasted," Saber sighed.

"Yeah," he said, resisting the urge to look back over his shoulder; there was nothing to do but move forward, he'd accepted that a long time ago. "I was actually starting to like it here."

Without another word, he slung his right arm around Saber's shoulders, and felt his brother do likewise; maybe things could have gone differently, but there was no point in thinking about that now.

101001000

They will come, there is no doubt of that, he mused, knowing that it was true; he'd offered the most sublime of baits this time. All the powers of Heaven and Earth won't stop them from coming, and when they do; I will be waiting. He was going to kill them, even if Saber had managed to somehow retain the use of his tekno-powers, that would not be enough to save him. He would be hampered with trying to protect his precious older brother, who was now as weak and frail as any of the pathetic little insects crawling around on that little mudball they were so annoyingly determined to protect.

It would be a truly fortuitous advantage, that, and once the traitors arrived he was going to press it for all it was worth.

Still, the waiting could be rather tedious; he comforted himself with the thought that he would soon have all of the excitement that he craved. And more, the satisfaction of finally watching the traitors die by his hands. Lord Darkon was truly generous, to give him this mission, even in spite of the fact that Saber had somehow managed to retain his powers after the perfect – or so he had once thought – trap that he had set for the traitor and his brother.

He would have to ask just how the little traitor had managed it; before he buried the full length of his bow in Saber's armored chest and felt the life drain from his pitiful, incomplete form.

000100101

They'd had a last meal, since it was the last they were going to get for awhile and Saber needed all the energy he could get, and then cited a need to think about things when Star had asked them why they'd left the comm. room so suddenly after Gunnar had delivered his ultimatum. He hadn't felt entirely good about lying to her, what with how nice she had been to him and Slade while they were settling in, but there were times that want just didn't enter into an equation. This was one of them.

Now, heading for the secondary launch bay of the Space Knights' Command Center – they couldn't very well expect to use the Blue Earth; even if she had been in flying condition, they would have needed to tell Star and Ringo what they were planning, and then everything would have gone to hell – he and Slade were both careful to stay out of sight of any of the personnel they might have otherwise encountered on their way there. This was something they had to do on their own, whatever else happened.

The secondary launch bay was almost three times the size of the comm. room, but something almost immediately caught his eye; Slade's too, it seemed.

"That could work," his brother said sardonically, even as he craned his neck to get a better look at the large, three-stage rocket that they had just seen.

"Well, they do say that old ways are sometimes the best," he said. "I'll get this thing prepped for launch. Why don't you try to see if you can find us some EVA suits," he said over his shoulder, as he turned and went in search of a way to power up this part of the launch bay.

And hopefully only this part; they didn't need the Space Knights in general or Ringo and Star in particular to be getting all up on them for this.

111010100

He knew that there was no real way of him being able to convince Saber to stay back at the Command Center while he went off to face Gunnar alone. Even overlooking the fact that Gunnar's ultimatum had called for both of them, Saber would stay with him through anything; he couldn't help but know that, now. Still, the thought of his brother – his younger brother, even if only by thirty minutes – going off to face Gunnar gave him the cold shakes whenever he thought about it for too long.

Anyone could see that he wouldn't be any use to anyone when it inevitably came down to a fight.

(Saber, you're probably going to call me an idiot for this, but is there any way that I could convince you to stay behind and let me handle this?) he asked, climbing up onto the gantry so he could get a look inside the ship they'd be flying.

(Slade?)

(What?) he asked, climbing inside the small, cramped space that he – and only he, if he got his way – would be traveling up to the Space Ring in.

(You're an idiot.)

Sighing, he climbed into the ship; Saber would go his own way, like he always did, but that wouldn't stop him from at least trying to protect his younger brother. The interior of the ship was as small as he had been expecting from what he'd learned about the things, and there was only the one chair to sit in, but there were two EVA suits stored inside. He was starting to wonder why, when he caught sight of the second, smaller, more rudimentary seat off to the left of the chair, placed forward of the computer.

There was a wrist-loop on the right of the seat, and a pair of handles that were obviously for bracing someone during acceleration.

(There's one normal chair, and an acceleration seat,) he reported, taking stock of the ship again. (Whoever pilots is going to be in the chair.)

(Why don't you take care of that? I've got my hands full with the computer down here. Besides, the quicker we get prepped for launch, the less time there'll be for the Space Knights to try stopping us.)

(Good point,) he conceded, climbing fully into the body of the shuttle and heading for the EVA suit at the back. (Are you almost finished?)

(Just finished a second ago; I'll be right with you,) Saber said, and Slade smiled.

(Thanks, brother.)

101010001

When she had come to Slade's room, intending to tell him about the decision that Commander Jamison had come to after due consideration of Gunnar's message, she had been surprised to find it empty. Then, she had realized that Slade would most likely be talking things over with Saber, since that was generally what he did when there was something going on that affected the two of them. So, letting Slade's door hiss closed, she started heading for Saber's room.

The general-alert sounded not soon after that, though, leaving her to wonder just what was going on.

The twins would have heard it, though, so that meant that she would be able to tell them both about the consensus when they came into the comm. room for this new briefing. Turning away from the corridor that would have lead her to Saber's room, Star made her way back to the comm. room. She wondered what the Radam could be up to now; whatever it turned out to be, she, Ringo, and Saber were going to make sure that their horrible plans weren't going to succeed.

When she arrived at the comm. room, however, she immediately noticed that three people were missing. Ringo, Slade, and Saber were nowhere to be found, and the Commander was standing over the base-wide radio with an expression that almost looked like stern disappointment on his face.

"Repeat what you just said," the Commander ordered; there was no mistaking his orders when he gave them.

"Saber and I are going to go up to the Space Ring; Gunnar specifically requested us, so it's what we have to do."

"What?" she demanded, hurrying over to the console. "You can't be serious!"

"Hey, Star," she heard Saber say. "Thanks for taking us in like this. Sorry it couldn't have lasted longer. I hope you know how grateful we are, even if Slade is too much of a lunkhead to say it."

"Hey, what's up?" She turned to look to the doors, finding that Ringo had just come in, looking disheveled enough that she suspected that he had run the entire way from hangar three to the comm. room. "What now?"

"Slade won't listen to reason," Tina reported, before she could think of anything to say. "He insists that he and Saber are going to fly out to the Space Ring on their own."

"And how are they going to do that? The Blue Earth's nowhere near ready to fly," he said, coming over to stand at the radio console with the five of them.

"They don't need the Blue Earth," Tina said, turning back to the communication console.

"What're you talking about?" Ringo asked. "There's another kind of ship here in the Command Center? That's news to me."

"They've found an old, decommissioned booster-rocket that's been in mothballs for years," Mac said, and she could sympathize with the sadness in his tone. "It's nothing more than a flying death-trap."

"This is a direct order from your Commander, Slade: kill your engines, and abort your launch-sequence at once."

"You heard him, Slade!" she said; he was so infuriating sometimes.

"Will you stop trying to prove you're a superhero, Slade? You're not a Teknoman anymore!"

"I know that better than anyone, Ringo," Slade said firmly. "That's why I'm going."

"And you're just going to go along with this, Saber?" Ringo seemed like he had a lot to say, and neither she nor the Commander had been able to make the twins see sense. Maybe this would work. "You guys can't possibly believe that the Radam are going to stop their attacks."

"Well, we already know they won't stop if we don't show up by the deadline," Saber said, leaning forward to get closer to Slade so that he could be in range of the comm. screen in the rocket. "So, I think it's at least worth checking out."

"So what's the point? You two head up there, Slade gets his plug pulled, and you die fighting Gunnar. Is that pretty much it? Or have I missed something?"

"One broken-down ex-Teknoman and his slightly-cracked counterpart, in exchange for billions of lives," Slade said, as Saber climbed back into the seat that she could just glimpse at the edge of the viewing screen's range. "It sounds like a pretty good deal."

"You two can't honestly be stupid enough to believe that they're going to stop the attacks after you two show up."

11010100

Cutting Ringo off, just as he'd started to say something else, Slade turned his attention to the launch-sequence. It was kind of funny, he reflected for a moment, that he had almost been making those same arguments himself with Saber; weird how you could be on one side of an argument with one person, and on the direct opposite side of that same argument with another person. He supposed he knew how Saber felt, now.

"Let's see; all systems go," he muttered to himself, flipping the proper switches and pressing the indicated buttons. "Re-entry doors open. All right. Let's see what this jalopy can do."

(You still have it, right?) he heard Saber ask; the comm. was still on, so he was glad for their link.

(Yeah; I've got it,) he said, reaching up to touch the concealed bomb; his last-ditch trump card.

(Can I just go on record as saying I hate this plan?)

(I know; but it's not like we have many other options. I'm not going to let you die out there. Once I take out Gunnar, I want you to-)

(Go back to the Space Knights, and do whatever I can to stop the invasion. I know, brother; I know.)

(Good,) he said; at least Saber had a place to come back to.

(You'll just have to forgive me if the thought of my own brother committing suicide doesn't sit well with me,) Saber said snappishly.

(Well, I really can't say I'm entirely thrilled about the idea, either,) he said, sighing. (Still, it was the best I could think up on such short notice.)

"So long, guys," this he directed toward the Space Knights, offering them a brief salute. "It was fun while it lasted."

Catching a glimpse of Saber, passing his teknocrystal from hand to hand in an obvious effort to relieve his tension, Slade reached forward to clasp his brother's right hand. The crystal itself disappeared as Saber put it away, and his brother squeezed as tightly as he dared. With his free hand, he grasped the throttle and pulled it all the way back; this would have to be quick. He not only had to break the hold of Earth's gravity, he had to do it before anyone could try to stop them.

The rumble of the engines behind him, reverberating through the entire ship and causing his teeth to rattle, prompted him to sigh and Saber to grip his hand all the tighter before slowly, reluctantly letting go. The atmosphere thinned and disappeared around them, as the Earth itself fell away beneath them. He thought he might have had some more profound thoughts, this being his last day alive and all, but all he felt was the strained anticipation of an unpleasant job than needed doing.

It was weird, but he could have easily compared the feeling to the one he had when it was his turn to do dishes, or take out the trash… or even having to clean cat barf out of the carpet; funny, when you thought about it right.

"Time to get rid of the excess baggage. One down, one to go," he muttered, hitting the command-sequence that would release the third- and second-stages of the rocket, now that they were no longer needed.

"Well, here we go, brother," Saber said solemnly, turning so that he could look Slade square in the eyes.

"Yeah; here we go." He reached forward to clasp Saber's hand again, squeezing tightly.

They were in space proper by this time, and the screen on the right side of the ship was showing him an image of what had once been home. He'd miss it, never going back and all, but this was for his brother's sake. The space in front of them was quickly filling with Spider-crabs, and the tension in the cabin quickly ratcheted up.

"Great, more trouble," Saber bit out, his teknocrystal clenched in his left hand in the time it took Slade to blink.

"Yeah." But, just as he got the word out, the huge group of Spider-crabs in front of him began to… "Wait, they're not attacking; they're letting us pass."

"Why don't I feel any better about this?" Slade laughed; it was a rhetorical question and they both knew it, but he would have said something like that if Saber hadn't.

The screens all around the seat were all showing Spider-crabs, unnervingly docile ones; Spider-crabs that moved out of the way of their rocket as it coasted past them with the aid of short bursts from the maneuvering thrusters. The Space Ring was just up ahead of them, now, and he almost reached for Saber's hand again; but he needed to keep this ship flying, at least long enough to get to Gunnar, so he focused on the controls.

Saber would understand.

When he didn't catch sight of Gunnar through any of the screens, he paused. Their luck could never be that good. It wasn't, of course, and he soon spotted Gunnar standing on the Space Ring itself.

"Greetings, my friends," Gunnar said jovially, tapping their rocket's comm. in the same way he'd always done with the Blue Earth. "I knew I could depend on you two; your audacity has always exceeded your intelligence."

"Yeah, yeah," he shot back. "Sticks and stones."

"I have more than that."

He could see Gunnar launching himself forward, and even the streak of red-tinted light from his thrusters as they propelled the evil Teknoman forward relentlessly.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," he heard over the comm., just before Gunnar's bow perforated the body of the rocket.

He and Saber both leaped free of their seats, darting out of the new hole using their thrusters, and Saber gave him a last, reassuring glance before he pulled out his teknocrystal and transformed. Saber was at his side in a heartbeat, then; his brother's right arm around his waist as he flew them both to the Space Ring just ahead of the quickly-expanding hail of debris that was all that remained of the rocket they had both come here in.

When they landed on the Space Ring, Saber raised his lance and used it to slash apart or bat away the debris that rained down around them. Breathing more easily for his brother's presence, Slade gripped Saber's wrist opposite the hand he held his lancer in, and pointed to a more open part of the Space Ring.

(Right, brother,) Saber said, still sounding annoyed. (We have to make sure the stage is all set and ready; wouldn't want the performance to go badly.)

Sighing, he wrapped his arms around Saber's left and let his brother drop him off at the lower, more level part of the Space Ring. Letting go as Saber set him down, he looked up to see his brother jetting off to confront Gunnar. Touching the concealed bomb on the front of his EVA suit, Slade sighed.

Goodbye, little brother. I'll miss you.

001001001

He was going to kill him, the arrow-happy little bastard; old friend or not, no one threatened his brother and lived to tell about it. And, if he did manage to kill Gunnar, that meant that Slade wouldn't have to waste his own life in an idiotic attempt to take out the evil Teknoman with a kamikaze attack. All the more reason for him to end Gunnar's miserable, brainwashed little life.

As the evil Teknoman in question fired yet another of his exploding arrows past his head, Saber gave his thrusters more juice and rammed him head-on.

(Well, you're certainly fiercer than usual today,) Gunnar said, sounding amused; Saber snarled at him. Bastard. (I wonder if it might have something to do with that pathetic lump you just dropped off? Hmm?)

He didn't answer; Gunnar was trying to provoke him. It was a standard tactic in any fight you were serious about winning: get your enemy angry enough, and you would have a much easier time dealing with them. He'd done that often enough, and he wasn't about to let the same tactic be turned back on him.

There were more important things at stake here than pride.

Lashing out with his energy-ribbon, he shifted out of the way of Gunnar's retaliatory bow-slash. For a moment, he contemplated using the secondary ability of his lancer, the one that would turn it into an oversized, returning boomerang. Then, deciding that it wasn't worth the risk of disarming himself even for so short a time, he raised his lancer and drove forward again.

He had to finish this quickly, for both his sake, and for Slade's.

00101010

The repairs to the Blue Earth had been completed, and the newest of Maggie's little projects had been loaded into the cargo bay. The cargo bay which had the capability to air- or space-drop its contents when those kinds of things became necessary. He just hoped the Wonder Twins hadn't managed to get themselves killed yet; he had a lot of yelling that he wanted to do at them, and he wasn't particularly in the mood to wait.

Finally, Star reported that they had a launch-window, and they were off.

The comm. screen came on once they were in space proper, and the very people that he'd been expecting showed up on it:

"Be careful. Mac and I have put our hearts and souls into that Teknobot, so non of your reckless flying, Ringo. You cowboy."

"On the other hand, the clock's ticking, so no dawdling, lad," Mac said, his demeanor more serious.

"Go slow; go fast, wilya make up your minds?" he groused good-naturedly.

"We're approaching the Ring now," Star reported.

Good; the sooner they got there, the sooner he could get the Wonder Twins back to the base, and the sooner he could give them a good, long tongue-lashing for being so unutterably, stupidly self-sacrificing as to walk blithely into an obvious trap. He was already marshalling his arguments, so the sooner they got out to those boys, the better as far as he was concerned.

10101000

As Saber and Gunnar darted around each other, Saber obviously making a game attempt to kill Gunnar so that he himself wouldn't end up having to when the time came, Slade was touched by his brother's determination. He was also making sure to keep an eye on his younger brother's time-limit, since he knew that there would be no possible way for him to survive a fight with two Radam-aligned Teknomen. He didn't particularly like the thought of killing his younger brother, either.

(Saber, try to draw him back toward me,) he said. (You've used up twenty minutes already; don't argue with me.)

(Fine.)

The twin flares of Saber's blue and Gunnar's red thrusters became more clearly visible as Saber forced Gunnar back into his line of sight.

(Well now,) he heard over his link; Gunnar. (Isn't this interesting. You seem to have forgotten just where we were going during that little skirmish of ours, my dear Saber. How very unfortunate for you.)

Yeah, that's right, he thought, reinforcing the mental walls that he had built. Come right over here to me, you spaceborne sadist.

A quick burst from the thrusters built into his EVA suit was enough to get him out of the path of the arrow that Gunnar fired at him, but he had to rely on Saber to smack the larger chunks of debris out of the way.

(For the record, Slade, I really hate this plan of yours.)

(I know, brother,) he touched the bomb nestled into his EVA suit a last time. (I know.)

00100101

Spider-crabs, always Spider-crabs, Ringo groused, in response to Star's shout of warning. "Yeah, I see 'em. They sent these clowns to make sure we don't crash their party. Well," he said, engaging the targeting system for the Blue Earth's laser cannons. "I never met a bouncer I couldn't lick." Firing into the mass of Spider-crabs, he smiled as they began to explode. "Oh yeah! Outta the way, boys, we're comin' through!"

Blasting his way through the ranks of mutant space crabs, Ringo began to scan the area for any sign of the Wonder Twins. They'd be out there somewhere, he knew, but Saber would probably be easier to spot. Him still being able to transform, and all.

When he saw the flashes of light, one bright blue and one the kind of bright red he'd learned to associate with the Radam, he smiled slightly. At least he'd managed to find one of those idiots before he'd gone and gotten himself in too deep to be pulled out.

001010011

(What are you running from, little traitor?) he heard Gunnar taunting him, as he dodged out of the way of another exploding arrow. (Aren't you the one who said you would end me, no matter the cost?) he laughed. (You're not going to detonate that petty little bomb of yours; not so long as your simple mind tells you you still have a chance of escaping with your life.)

No, he wasn't going to detonate the bomb for as long as he could sense that Saber was still in the blast-radius. (Saber! You have to get inside the Space Ring! Contact the Blue Earth from there, and get back to the Command Center.)

(Slade-)

(Don't argue with me!) he shouted, just as a hail of broken piping and assorted Space Ring debris started raining down on him. (You've only got six minutes before you completely lose control; I don't want to end up having to kill you, too.)

(I guess you have a point,) Saber conceded, though he clearly didn't like admitting that. (Good luck, brother.)

Just before Saber jetted off, though, a pair of shots from something that could only be the Blue Earth's laser cannons slammed into Gunnar, driving the evil Teknoman off and giving them some much-needed breathing room. He was pleased to know that the ship was out there, more for Saber's sake than his own, and he smiled wistfully.

(I guess I don't have to worry about contacting anyone,) Saber mused, sounding like he wasn't quite sure what to feel in this situation.

(Yeah. Go on now, Saber; I'll take care of things here,) he said looking back over his shoulder; Saber was staring up at the Blue Earth.

Then, without another word, and with only a single look back at him, Saber flew off to join them.

100100111

He could see Saber getting closer, and he smirked slightly. Get a good rest there, pal. I want you nice and lucid when I start tearing strips off your hide.

"Secondary air lock is open, Saber," Star said. "Welcome back."

"Yeah," Saber said, sounding like he'd been put through a hand-crank wringer. "Thanks."

The monitor camera in the air lock caught Saber flying inside, and then being enveloped in that weird glow of his before he had even managed to land. The toes of his left foot were just nudging the floor, in fact, while his right was still about six inches from the deck. His armor disappeared into that weird light, and he fell unconscious to the deck.

It didn't look like he was injured, though, so he'd let the kid get his sleep.

"Blue Earth to Slade: we've got a Teknobot up here with your name on it, pal," he said, after having located the kid's comm. frequency.

"What?"

"You heard me," he said, grinning. "You ready to take it for a test-flight?"

"I'm ready," Slade said, actually sounding genuinely enthused about the situation.

11010100

As he jetted into the Blue Earth's secondary air lock, Slade could hear Gunnar's annoyed shouting through their link. Walling off his own mind, the same way he always did when he wanted to have some privacy from Saber, he made his way into the ship. He didn't have to ask where this "Teknobot" of theirs was, since the large, gleaming form rising up from the hold in front of him was obviously what Ringo had been talking about.

It looked like the thing he'd first seen in the machine shop, back in the Command Center all those hours ago.

"All right," he said, as the floor locked back into place.

"This baby here's voice-activated, so you'll have to make your commands loud and clear," Ringo advised him, his voice coming from a comm. screen on his left-hand side. "Got it?"

"Well, it definitely looks impressive," he said. "Hey, Ringo?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know where Saber is?" he asked, pretty sure that his brother had been taken care of, but wanting to be completely sure for his own piece of mind.

"Star hauled him out of the air lock before we picked you up," Ringo said. "He's strapped into his seat, getting a good nap as we speak."

"Good," he said, closing his eyes briefly as a wave of relief washed over him. "And Ringo? Thanks. Thanks a lot." He caught a brief glimpse of utter surprise on Ringo's face, before he turned his own attention to this Teknobot that he was likely to be working with from now on. "Teknobot, power on!"

"Affirmative."

He was mildly surprised that the Teknobot had been given such a deep, powerful voice, but since that wasn't really important right now, he put it out of his mind. "Open interlock-chamber!"

The confirmation was repeated, and after he saw a flash of light from his crystal, a pair of crane-arms clamped down on the body of the Teknobot, turning it around halfway. The back of the robot opened up, revealing a chamber just his size, filled with blinking, coruscating light. Here goes everything, he mused, running to throw himself inside.

He felt the familiar, welcome energies of his transformation filling him, and he closed his eyes in mingled excitement and resolve. It was good to feel complete again, but this was also a reminder of the promise that he and Saber had made to each other so long ago: they would always be there for the other, and when one of them couldn't keep going, the other would support them. They would keep moving forward; there was nothing behind them but pain.

He could feel the Teknobot moving, in a vague sort of way that was almost completely overshadowed by the transformation he was undergoing, but there was a slight lurch that suggested he'd dropped out of the Blue Earth. Then there was a sensation of forward-movement, but the transformation ended and he was ejected from the Teknobot's interlock-chamber before he could wonder too much about where he was going to end up.

Jetting off, feeling a thrill of pure pleasure at the feel of his own thrusters firing, he came back around and landed on the back of the Teknobot. Pulling out the two halves of his teknolance, he connected them and spun his teknolance over his head. Just for show, really, since there were no Spider-crabs in his path at the moment; it was just good to be back in top form.

(All right, Gunnar; let's finish this.)

(It's impossible! You're a Teknoman again, but how? Your crystal was shattered!)

(Amazing what they can do with shattered crystals nowadays,) he mocked.

That, of course, was when more Spider-crabs showed up. (Love to stop and play with ya, crab cakes, but I've got bigger fish to fry.) Spinning his teknolance to deflect the spays of sticky venom, he started carving them up with swift, economical strokes.

(Very well then!) Gunnar shouted, having obviously regained his equilibrium. (Teknoman against Teknoman! To the death this time!)

(Yeah,) he snarled. (Yours.)

Charging full-out, angling so that he would hit Gunnar head-on, he wasn't surprised to see the evil Teknoman pulled back and started launching a hailstorm of exploding arrows and needles at him. Spinning his teknolance, he deflected these new hazards the same way he'd done with all of the Spider-crab venom that had been fired at him. Deciding not to bother with a drawn-out battle, wanting to have this over and done with so he could check on Saber, he began charging up a Tekno-bolt.

(What are you doing?!)

(Do you know what time it is, Gunnar?)

(No,) the evil Teknoman sneered. (What time is it?)

(Time to say goodbye,) he said flatly, firing his fully-charged Tekno-bolt directly at his enemy; directly at what was left of an old friend. Goodbye, Fritz. I hope you find peace, wherever you're going.

11101001

The light… the light was all he could see, now. And, as it broke his armor apart and blinded him with its fury, he could hear the screeching of the Radam mind-parasite that had been attached to the back of his neck ever since he had been awakened in Darkon's moon base. It was a sound more mental than physical, and he was glad for it. That thing had caused him no end of sorrow, and its pain was like a balm to him now.

Ness, you did it… he thought, with the last moments of consciousness that remained in him. …Thank you…

110100111

As the last of the energy from his Tekno-bolt dissipated into interplanetary space, Slade felt the expected rush of weariness that he always found himself dealing with after firing off one of those. Gunnar was gone, though, so he was… not pleased, but satisfied with the outcome of this battle. Now all that remained was to head back to the Blue Earth and go… back.

Chuckling, Slade realized that he'd been just about to think of the Command Center as home. Still, maybe that wasn't so bad; Saber was there, and there were also people who he was starting to become friends with. Home wasn't really a place, it was the people who lived there with you; the people you looked forward to seeing day-in and day-out.

He had people like that again, even though that wasn't what he'd been looking for when he'd begun this war, and he wasn't about to lose them this time. Your days are numbered, Darkon, he vowed silently, his fist tightening on the shaft of his teknolance.

"Good work out there, Slade," Ringo said.

"Thanks, Ringo," he said, then sighed. This wasn't the end of things.

11010111

As he felt his mental connection to Gunnar go violently dormant, Darkon pondered his next move. It was clear that merely having an emotional connection to the traitors would not be enough to prevent the deaths of whatever warrior he sent out to deal with them. So, perhaps a closer connection would be required next time.

It was, after all, a common expression on that little planet, that blood was thicker than water.