As the last of the Wonder Twins flew back into the Blue Earth, he started turning the ship around in preparation for the trip back to the Command Center. He'd wait until Star had left, so she wouldn't start in on him for what he was going to do, and then he would rake the Wonder Twins over the coals for being stupid, having more altruism than sense, and for nearly getting themselves killed for something that wouldn't even have worked in the first place.

Gently guiding the Blue Earth back to her hangar, he shut down the engines and made his way into the hold. That was where the Teknobot would have landed, and so it was where Slade would have ended up once he came out of it. Sure enough, he found Slade, though oddly enough he was asleep in the Teknobot's arms.

The strange part wasn't that he'd found the kid sleeping, since that was what he always did when he transformed out of that armor of his, but seeing him in the Teknobot's arms.

"D'you think you could let him down, now?" he asked, knowing that the Teknobot's A.I. would respond to him just as much as Slade.

"Affirmative," the Teknobot said, lowering Slade gently to the ground.

Taking the kid's weight before he could fall to the deck, Ringo thanked the Teknobot and left the hold. Star and Saber were gone by this time, and so he made for Slade's room on his own. The kid would need his sleep if he was going to be made to properly appreciate just how much he had screwed up. When they were both finally back in the land of the lucid, Ringo fully intended to sit them down – probably in his quarters, since there would be less chance of them being interrupted there – and lay out, in no uncertain terms, just what a pair of complete and utter idiots the two of them had been.

Still, for that he'd need them awake, and so he'd have to wait; it'd give him more time to think, anyway, so it wasn't all bad.

001001010

The loss of Gunnar, while it would not halt the invasion or even seriously hinder his efforts at conquering this little planet, was still in the end a setback. He himself could not be burdened with commanding legions of Spider-crabs in battle with the traitor twins, particularly in light of how easily they were dealt with by those half-humans. He had already made his selection as to just who his newest front-line commander for those creatures would be, but there were still imperfections in his form that needed to be dealt with before he could be released.

There was also the matter of his mind to be dealt with, but that would be handled presently.

111010001

It was strange, like a revelation; he still knew who he was, of course: he was Teknoman Spear, a loyal servant of Darkon and the Radam Empire, but now he remembered who he had once been. Conrad Carter had been his name; he'd had four younger siblings, and had been about to marry the love of his life before the Radam had taken him and all of his family – and several friends, he now recalled – into their service. He didn't know just how many of those friends had survived the transformation process, but he was fairly sure that all of his family members had come through all right.

Opening his eyes, he waited for a moment for them to adjust to the interference from the teknopod fluid that he was still suspended in. Well, there's two of them; little sister Shara, and little brother Sammy. I wonder where the twins are, though? No way they wouldn't have made it through. They had the same training as the rest of us, and they're both incredibly stubborn, besides.

As soon as he had that thought, however, something like a mental databurst erupted in his mind. Escaped? How in the world did they- Dad. He must have done it; that little cretin. Just because he wasn't strong enough to serve the Empire, that didn't give him the right to steal two of my little brothers from me. Seething at the sheer audacity of his late father – the fail-safe would have killed him once he had been rejected, though it was a shame it hadn't happened faster – Spear resolved to try to convince the twins to return to the service of Darkon and the Radam Empire with him.

They would all be much better off if they were back together, after all; it was the way family should be.

Closing his eyes with as much of a sigh as he could manage in the fluid-filled environment of the teknopod that still enclosed him, Spear settled himself back down. It would do him no good to waste his time thinking about someone who was already dead; it was the living who needed his attention, now. His poor little brothers; they must have been so confused, all alone on that little planet with no one like them, no one that they could properly relate to.

He was doing them a favor, really; they would be much happier once they were back where they belonged.

1010010001

When he woke up, yawning and stretching and curling his toes in the sheets just for the feel of it, the first thing Saber was consciously aware of was a screen set flush into the wall on the opposite side of his bed from the computer. A glowing screen, one that was currently displaying an image of Ringo.

"What a face to wake up to," he muttered, briefly scrubbing at his face with both hands.

"Real funny, Saber," Ringo shot back, rolling his eyes. "Look, there's some things I need to discus with you and Slade, so come up to my quarters after you're finished washing and dressing up."

Ringo's face vanished, and was replaced by what he quickly recognized as a map indicating the quickest rout from his own quarters to the other man's, before Saber could begin to berate the blond for his complete lack of manners. Sighing and shaking his head, Saber climbed out of bed.

(Heads-up, brother,) he said, padding across the floor with another yawn. (Ringo wants something, and he didn't look particularly happy when he contacted me.)

(Yeah. He just contacted me, too. I wonder what he wants.)

(My guess? It has something to do with what happened yesterday.)

The link between them went dormant again, and Saber continued on his way to the attached bathroom that he had come to appreciate so much during his time as a Space Knight. Going through his morning routine, with only a glance at the shower unit to promise himself that he was going to have a long, hot one when he got back here, Saber left his quarters and caught up with his brother.

"You really think he wants to talk to us about what happened yesterday?"

"It seems pretty likely, given how he sounded over the comm. when we were in the rocket together," he pointed out. "By the way, there's something I still owe you for that."

Before Slade could get more than half a syllable of his question articulated, Saber spun his brother around and slapped him right across the face.

"What was that for?" Slade asked, holding his reddening right cheek.

"For being a self-sacrificing, suicidal moron," he said, then yanked his brother forward and wrapped his arms around his neck, burying his face in the cloth of Slade's Space Knight vest.

(And this?) Slade asked, an unmistakable warmth in his tone.

(For being you.)

There wasn't anything more to say, after that, so the two of them continued on their way to Ringo's quarters.

01001001

When the privacy chime on his door was rung, and he headed over to open it for the boys that he suspected would be right there waiting on the other side, Ringo smirked slightly as the doors parted. The Wonder Twins were there, just like he'd told them to be, so that was one less thing to yell at them about. He still had a lot of other ground to cover, so he really didn't want to waste time on trivialities.

Grabbing the Wonder Twins by their respective collars, he dragged them into his quarters before either of them could say anything.

"Ringo, what the hell?" Saber demanded, straightening his collar; Slade just glared at him.

"Well, I just didn't want you boys running off on me before I could get all of this out in the open," he said, reaching past the two of them to engage the privacy lock. "First, though, there's something I'd like to get out of the way."

Before either of them could ask just what it was that he was starting off with, he belted them both a good one on their right cheeks. Oddly enough, both of them seemed to find that funny. He'd never taken them for closet masochists; their amusement was fairly short-lived, though, so at least they were fairly normal.

"You stupid kids," he said, sighing. "Don't you understand yet? We Space Knights are a team. That means we don't go running out on each other whenever something big comes up. We support each other; and, no matter what happens, we stand together." As Saber started to open his mouth, Ringo pressed his pointer finger against the kid's lips to shut him up. "I know; I know. You had your reasons and all that, and Gunnar's little message riled you up but good. Still, you should have known that we'd be doing all that we could to get you two back on your feet. You kids have to start trusting us with more of the work; and not just the people who spend their time out there fighting with you. There's a reason we have support staff, and Maggie and Mac are two of the foremost technical geniuses that I've met in my time."

Folding his arms, he looked from Saber to Slade; neither of them seemed to be inclined to say anything else, so he decided to press on; maybe some of this would actually sink in this time. He hoped so, at least.

Just as he was about to start speaking again, though, the emergency-alert went off. Great timing, he thought, barely suppressing the urge to roll his eyes. Disengaging the lock, he opened the door and let the Wonder Twins dash out, before following them at a slightly more reasonable pace. This was important, or else the general-alert would have sounded instead, but there was no need to wear himself out over the situation.

When they all made it to the comm. room, he found that the others had arrived before them. Oddly enough, though, they weren't being sent out to deal with a Spider-crab attack this time. Apparently, the Radam had decided to switch back over to the laser attacks they had been using in the early days of the invasion, the same tactics they'd been using before the Wonder Twins had come crashing down to Earth. In fact, they'd been using the lasers since before any of the Teknomen had showed up, and they'd only stopped using them once Gunnar had made his little debut.

No way was that any kind of a coincidence.

Still, it wasn't as if he missed the psychotic Teknoman; although if the whole constant-rain-of-lasers kept up for too long, he'd probably start feeling morbidly nostalgic for the guy. If only because the Wonder Twins had been the ones on the front-lines fighting him. And, knowing how much those two had suffered for it, he wasn't about to say anything.

As he flew the Blue Earth to the evac-point for the people whose city had come under attack by the Radam-controlled Space Ring lasers, Ringo hoped that the people who had been living there had managed to get to the evac-point. He didn't know if all of them would have managed it, not with the usual lack of warning the Radam gave before one of their by-now-infamous laser bombardments, but he at least hoped for some survivors. Pushing away the thought of what their last mission to rescue what they had been lead to believe were survivors of a Radam attack had been like, Ringo kept flying.

Gunnar had been atomized by Slade just a day ago; no way this could be another of those kind of traps.

The rest of their week pretty much went like that: the Blue Earth was dispatched to various sites, where they either aided in an evacuation, or the Wonder Twins were put on search-and-rescue detail, and the Blue Earth would ferry the evacuees to another of the growing tent-cities that had sprung up all around the countryside as more and more of the remaining cities came under threat of either Spider-crab attacks or Space Ring laser-bombardment.

Most of the larger cities had been steadily emptying out, in fact, as people came to realize just how dangerous it was to stay in one place with the constant threat of the Radam almost literally hanging over their heads. Ringo was glad to hear it; while city life did have its perks, it just wasn't worth risking your own life for. Not many people were stupid enough not to accept that.

Having returned to the Command Center after their latest efforts at search-and-rescue, Ringo couldn't help the slight smirk on his face. Both of the Wonder Twins had been sleeping in the arms of the Teknobot this time. The big mech's left hand had been supporting Slade, and its right hand had supported Saber; the fingers had been gently curled around both of their bodies at hip-level, with both boys leaning against the arm that supported them. It had been cute, really; Ringo had found himself wishing for a camera right then.

Too bad they hadn't been able to land in the secondary air lock; then he would have been able to copy the recordings from the camera, then single-frame the footage to get a good shot of those two in the Teknobot's arms.

Leaving the Blue Earth for the sanctuary of his quarters, after having dropped Slade off in his room, Ringo decided that now was as good a time as any for a nice, long nap. He'd been almost constantly "on" this week, and who knew just when the next rain of Space Ring laserfire was going to start coming down. Besides, pretty much everyone in the Command Center had been keeping weird schedules lately, so why should he be any different?

11010100

Researching every scrap of data about the laser satellites controlled from the Space Ring, with a fresh mug of coffee close at hand, Hamilton Jamison, commander of the Space Knights, worked to devise a plan to finally end the threat posed to the people of Earth by those satellites. Taking another sip of his coffee, black with one sugar this time, he continued to peruse and assess the data he had pulled up about the computer that controlled the satellites. That was clearly the point most vulnerable to attack; the linchpin, as it were.

"Greetings, Commander Jamison. Hard at work, I see."

"General Gault," he acknowledged. "What can I do for you this morning?"

"High Command has decided that, in light of their recent, public actions, the public has a right to get to know the Space Knights on a more… personal basis." The smile on the General's face left no doubt in Jamison's mind that Gault himself had proposed this.

And also, that he had some ulterior motive for doing so.

"And how do you propose to go about that, General?" he asked; he wouldn't be able to find out the specifics of Gault's intention directly, the General was too canny for that, but he could at least determine what he would soon be dealing with. "I hardly think that any of the Space Knights could find the time to participate in an interview during this kind of crisis."

"I know a reporter; he's a war correspondent, and he's done very good work in the past," Gault said, and Jamison noticed that the other man was deliberately trying not to seem too eager; this reporter was one of his agents, then. "Given what High Command has ordered, I propose that you allow the reporter to quarter himself within the Command Center, so that he – and by extension, the public – can come to better appreciate the sacrifices that the Space Knights make on their behalf."

"Very well," he said, knowing that there was no reasonable counterargument that he could offer; the Space Knights were hardly top secret, or involved in any research projects that the general public was likely to disapprove of.

He would still be reporting to Gault, of course, and Jamison knew just what the General was looking for. He'd been collecting data about Slade and Saber ever since the twins had first arrived in the Space Knight Command Center all those months ago, and updating it with every battle that those young men participated in. Gault would want that data; he had wanted it ever since he had become aware of them, and he was not the type to give up simply because he had been rebuffed by the young men in question.

Still, it was always better to know what your adversaries were planning, and Gault – while they were both on the same side – was clearly at odds with his way of doing things. He had known that their worldviews often diverged, but he hadn't known until this invasion had begun in earnest just how deeply Gault's hunger for power truly ran. But then, war often brought out hidden facets of a person's character; the struggle for survival pushing one beyond limits that were often left undiscovered during peacetime.

He himself had not truly known how far he was willing to go to protect his people until the Radam had appeared to threaten them.

110101010

When he woke up, his sleep having apparently been too deep for his usual bouts of nightmares, Slade stared up at the ceiling for a few moments. He wasn't particularly in the mood to get out of bed right then, since pretty much all he had to look forward to was likely search-and-rescue duty with the other Space Knights. And, while he knew that it was a worthwhile aim, to keep people from dying under the near-constant barrage of lasers that the Radam were raining down on them now, he couldn't deny that it took a lot out of him.

He just wanted a bit more time to himself, before he got up and had to face the Radam's continuing offensive.

When the chime on his door was rung, Slade briefly considered rolling over in bed and pretending not to have heard it, but then whoever was outside – he took a moment to hope it wasn't Ringo this time – would probably just ring it until he gave up and resigned himself to answering the thing.

(Brother, I know you're awake in there,) Saber said, and he could tell that his brother was likely to be smiling at him. (Mac says he wants us both down in the main machine shop, as quick as you can manage. He wants us to start learning about the Teknobot's internal workings, or something like that.)

(That sounds reasonable,) he said, rolling over on his bed so he could push himself up and out. Settling his full weight back on his feet, he yawned. (Tell him I'll be there in a couple minutes.)

(Will do, brother.)

Yawning again as he made his way to his personal bathroom, Slade tossed his old shirt into the hamper and stepped through the door. Going through his typical morning routine, Slade shucked his pants and tossed them in the hamper as he came back out. Pulling on yet another of the seemingly-infinite number of Space Knight uniforms that he had been provided with, Slade stretched as he made for the door.

"Morning, Mac," he said, stifling another yawn. "What was it that you wanted?"

"I think it's time you lads started learning about the Teknobot," the portly, tanned mechanic said with a smile. "Especially you, Slade, since you're going to be working so closely with it. It's a good idea for you to know how to handle any minor problems that might come up."

"That sounds reasonable," he said, leaving his room and falling into step beside Mac.

The rest of their trip to the main machine shop was silent; even he and Saber didn't really have anything to say. When he saw the Teknobot again, he smiled slightly; it almost felt like greeting an old friend. Which was probably apt, considering how much help the Teknobot had been to him: giving him the power to transform again after Gunnar had set up that trap of his, being able to fight beside him and Saber when they were sent into battle, and even helping with the search-and-rescue operations that the Space Knights had been participating in ever since he had obliterated Gunnar with his Tekno-bolt.

Learning about the Teknobot's inner-workings could only help him, during all the battles that he was sure to face in the future.

"So, where do we start?" Saber asked, looking from Mac to the Teknobot; Slade had been wondering that, himself.

"First, I want you lads to help me reroute power away from the interlock-chamber," Mac said, as he continued to lead them toward the scaffolds surrounding the Teknobot. "Then we'll start familiarizing you two with the Teknobot's inner circuitry."

"Sounds good," he said, climbing up onto the scaffolding beside Saber.

000100101

It felt like someone or something was taking a knife to his mind, trying to pare him down to almost nothing. Sam didn't know just what was happening to him, but he was determined not to lose anything more than what he had. He remembered what had happened before, oh he remembered, and he wasn't going to give in to these creatures, these- Radam. Yeah; they were the Radam Empire, they were the ones who had captured the Argos and everyone aboard her, killing those they couldn't use and brainwashing the ones who were unfortunate enough to survive the horrors of the transformation process into obedient little slaves for the greater glory of their Empire.

He hated them, that was the only thing he could think about for several moments; he hated the Radam for what they had done to his family, for how they had ripped apart his life.

Holding on to the fiery passion of his hatred, using the emotion to bolster his will to resist, Sam tried to meditate the way Grant-sensei had taught him to do. He hoped that Shara was okay; heck, he hoped that Conrad was okay, and the twins, and everyone else who had been on the Argos and had managed to make it up to the point where he himself had passed out from the pain. Of course, in this case hoping that someone was okay meant hoping that they were dead; he wouldn't wish this kind of horrible fate on anyone. Not even the people that he'd honestly hated back on Earth.

No one deserved to suffer this.

Pulling his consciousness inward, concentrating on hoarding his memories like the precious treasures they were, Sam Carter willed himself to withstand whatever was coming next. Hoping, all the while, that his friends and the other members of his family hadn't survived to be subjected to this.

1010000101

"Keep tightening it, Slade my lad, we're just about there," he directed the boy, continuing on with his own part of the work. "Hey, down there. Is everything operational with your field-control system?"

"Yeah, and I sure hope that it stays that way," drifted up to him from where Slade had stationed himself, in the unpowered space of the Teknobot's interlock chamber to work on the systems that channeled the power of his emerald crystal.

"What do ya mean?" he returned, affronted. "It'll hold up; I built it, didn't I?"

Before he could begin to chastise the lad, or at least tell him off for having such a complete lack of faith in his teammates, he felt Saber's hand on his arm.

"You shouldn't take what my brother says personally, Mac," the younger Space Knight said, his expression more solemn than any that Mac had seen on the lad in all the time he'd known him. "He's not talking about what you think he is."

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, as Saber started to turn back to the work that he had assigned him earlier.

"It's not that Slade doesn't have any confidence in what you've built for him," the lad said, as he started working again. "It's just that my brother has a tendency to worry. He's probably hoping that he doesn't do something to screw up the Teknobot."

Saber had been muttering during that last part, as if the lad hadn't intended to say it, but hadn't been paying enough attention to avoid doing so. The same way he and Slade always seemed to avoid talking about anything that dealt with their past or what they really thought about… anything, really. Knowing that Saber would only dodge the issue if he tried to ask the lad about the second part of what he had said, he decided to keep it to himself.

"I'll try to keep that in mind," he said instead.

He could hear Maggie and Tina talking nearby, though not well enough that he could make out what they were saying. He suspected that Maggie was hard at work, though; Slade had said that the Teknobot had seemed slow, during the last search-and-rescue mission that he had participated in. So, this served the dual purpose of introducing Slade and his brother to the basic workings of the Teknobot, and improving the mech's response-time.

Before he could start working on the next part of this round of maintenance and upgrades to the Teknobot, Mac heard a distinctly unfamiliar voice. He knew most of the staff here well enough to identify them by voice, and the few he didn't he at least knew by sight. This newcomer, a blond man with a mustache and a full, bushy beard, was no one he knew.

He also hadn't received any word from the Commander about them bringing in any new personnel, so that meant that this guy wasn't supposed to be here.

"Hey, you! Blondie!" he called, having already climbed down from the scaffolding in preparation for bringing up another set of tools for the next part of his work. "What're you doing in here?"

"Now, calm down, Mac," Maggie said, sounding like she was actually chastising him for his concern for the Space Knights' security. "He's here on assignment."

"Well, no one told me about it!" he snapped. "This place is off-limits, except for Space Knights! I want some answers, blondie! And I want them now! Start talking!"

000100111

When Mac grabbed the newcomer by the collar of his olive green jacket, he heard Saber's amused chuckle over their link. It was kind of funny, if only for the reminder of their own first meeting with the man. Still, he didn't like the look of the blond, either. There was something about him…

(I have a bad feeling about this,) Saber said, his earlier mirth nowhere in evidence, as the blond gave them a disturbingly intrigued look from over Mac's shoulder.

(Yeah.)

Even Ringo hadn't triggered this kind of an immediate, almost aggressive response in either of them; at least not until he had started talking. The look on this man's face suggested that he wasn't going to be satisfied with just talking, though; he was after something else. Something much bigger, Slade suspected.

Whether or not they would be willing to give it, would depend on just what it turned out to be.

There was also the man himself to consider; whether or not their initial estimation of him would turn out to be accurate. There were times when you could look into another person's eyes and know the essence of their character, but there were other times when people could surprise you. The way that Ringo had done, when they had started getting to know the man. Time would tell if this man was anything like Ringo in that respect… still, he couldn't help the bad feeling he had.

He might have been being paranoid again; he'd talk with Saber about his suspicions later.

101010001

When he woke up again, not bothering to open his eyes since he already knew where he was, Spear realized that he could sense one of the others; one of the others was awake. Now, who could it- Sammy! He almost laughed; his baby brother had come through all right, and they would soon be together again. I wonder if he can hear me, yet?

(Sam?)

(C-Conrad?) His youngest brother sounded so confused, so frightened; poor thing. (Is it really you?)

(I'm still here for you, Sammy,) he said, smiling. At least there were no more of his family that had gotten lost the way the twins had. (I'm glad to see you made it through.)

(Made it through? What do you mean?)

That was odd; the closer he examined it, the more he examined what he was sensing, the more the mental signature he was getting from his youngest brother resembled that of a human. A telepathic human, yes, but still… (Sammy, you're not still fighting this, are you?)

(Why wouldn't I be?! You know what these things did to our family, Conrad! You can't tell me you don't hate them for it!)

(Oh, Sammy,) he would have reached out to cup his baby brother's cheeks, if he hadn't been confined to his teknopod and prevented from moving by the fluid within it. (You poor thing; you haven't been finished yet, have you? Still thinking like one of them.)

(What?! Conrad, how could you even think that?)

Sam was still clinging to the weak, lingering humanity that still remained within him; in any other person, Spear would have thought that that was deplorable weakness, but from baby brother Sammy it was really kind of cute. (You should really relax, Sammy. Just go with it, you'll feel much better when it's all over.)

(What are you saying, Conrad? You can't-)

(Hush, Sammy,) he said gently, wishing he could have run his fingers though his youngest brother's hair; it had always calmed him down in the past, and it had always made them both feel better. Especially when he would wrap his arm around Sam's shoulders and let the younger boy lean against him. (Kathy's here, and Shara's here, and Grant-sensei is here; we're all still together.) Except for the twins, but they wouldn't be lost for much longer, so there was no need to get into that. (Just relax, little brother; you'll feel better soon.)

(No… No, you can't be! Conrad would never-!)

(Stop talking nonsense, Silly Sammy. Just let go, and go with it.)

(Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! You are not my brother!)

(Samuel Jacob Carter; you may be my baby brother, and you might be very confused right now, but that does not give you the right to speak to me with such blatant disrespect,) he said, a bit snappishly, but there were limits to even his tolerance for his little brother's antics. (Now, I'm telling you, Sammy: relax. It'll all be over soon, and you'll be all the better for it.)

He didn't hear anything more from his baby brother, and he even got the sense that Sam was actually trying to block him out, so with a sigh Spear decided to relent. Sam wouldn't be stuck that way forever; with the mind of a human and the developing powers of a Teknoman, so Spear would wait. He remembered that even he had been resistant to the idea of what he was becoming at first, as hard as that was to believe at times given his new perspective.

Sam would come around eventually; all he had to do was be patient.

111010100

The blaring of the general-alert cut into Mac's interrogation of the newcomer before the blond had actually said anything, except for some cryptic bullcrap that he could have done just as well without, and as they all made their way toward the comm. room, Saber couldn't help but notice the slight, niggling feeling that he was still being watched. He didn't like it, but he also wasn't going to give the blond the satisfaction of knowing just how much his presence unnerved him. He seemed like the kind of guy who would enjoy that kind of thing.

Once they were all gathered neatly inside the comm. room, Commander Jamison turned toward them with his usual all-business demeanor.

"The greatest threat currently facing our planet and it's people are the Radam-controlled laser satellites," he said, once the last of them had arrived in the comm. room. "The Allied Earth Military has requested that the Space Knights assist them in their efforts to disable the laser satellites linked to the Space Ring. This request comes directly from General Gault."

Ringo spoke, before Saber himself could voice the same sentiment. "Typical. If they can't get it done, they call us in to pick up the slack."

"Let's try to remember that we're all fighting for the same thing," the Commander said sternly.

"I know," Ringo conceded. "It just seems like we get all the dirty work."

"Much as it pains me to be agreeing with Ringo, it does feel like we're being used as the military's errand-runners more often than not," he said, and smirked at Ringo as the other man made an indignant noise. He got a light punch in the shoulder for that.

"Perhaps," Commander Jamison allowed.

"Anyway," Ringo said. "Asking them for a favor is like talking to a stone wall."

"Maybe," Star said, not sounding particularly sympathetic. "But, you'd be better off worrying about the people in danger from the lasers, instead of your disdain for the military. And that goes for you, too, Saber."

"Yes, Star," he said, smiling slightly.

"We have to take out the lasers, that much we know," she continued. "But, sir, there are a lot of them. How can we destroy them all by ourselves? Even with the twins?"

The Commander held up a remote, pushing a button on it to activate the comm. room's holo-screen. "This computer simulation shows that there are thirty-five laser satellites in geosynchronous orbit around the Earth. If we were to try taking them out one-by-one, it would take us months; by that time, everything on Earth would be destroyed. In order to avoid that gruesome fate, we need to somehow reprogram the lasers' main computer and render them inoperable."

"Why not just destroy the computer and be done with it?" Slade asked.

He snickered softly. (Always the direct approach, eh brother?)

(Why not?) his brother asked, with a smile in his mental voice. (It's not like I have your talent for subtlety.)

(True.)

"I'm afraid we can't do that," the Commander said, his tone reminding them of the seriousness of the situation. "If the computer is destroyed, its fail-safe backup system becomes active. Which means all the satellites will fire their lasers simultaneously. And I don't need to tell you what that would do to our planet."

"Well, it sounds like we'll have to reprogram the computer," he said, folding his arms. "Who's going to take care of that?"

"Exactly. Star, I would like you and Maggie to design an alternate program," the Commander said, indirectly answering Saber's question before he could remind the man that he had asked it.

"Yes, sir," Star said calmly.

"Oh, yes, and a reporter has been assigned to us," the Commander said.

(Wasn't expecting that,) he said, nibbling the inside of his lower lip; if the reporter was who he suspected it was, then this would be an interesting time for them.

"Reporter?" Ringo echoed. "What reporter?"

"That's me," a familiar voice, coming from the back of the comm. room, stated. He saw that Mac had escorted the blond in, probably so he wouldn't get lost.

"Who are you?" Slade asked, as Saber fought the urge to roll his eyes; it figured.

"The name's Balzac." Saber swallowed a laugh; okay, maybe this wouldn't be all bad. "I'm a war correspondent and I'm here to do a story on you Space Knights. Everybody wants to hear about you, since you're in the middle of the action."

"They do?" Mac asked, sounding like it was news to him.

"A war correspondent? Now I've heard everything," Ringo groused. "Whoever thought of this idea had better think again."

"I hate to break it to you." Yeah, I'll bet, Saber groused, biting back a sarcastic remark or two. "But I'm here to stay. You're my assignment, so I'll be sticking to you guys like flypaper twenty-four hours a day." You and what cloned army? Saber thought derisively.

"I can't believe this," Ringo snapped.

"Commander, I don't think it's a good idea to take a reporter into the warzone," Star said reasonably; Saber hoped that someone was listening.

"This is another mandate from the military," the Commander said; Saber sighed. Of course it was. "They say it's to give hope to the people of the planet, by telling them all about Slade, Saber, and their battle against the Radam. And this comes directly from General Gault."

(I hadn't pegged that guy for a closet voyeur,) he said, pressing his lips together in a thin line as he continued to stare down the reporter.

(Maybe you should have.)

(Probably.)

"Figures," Ringo said, clearly annoyed; Saber definitely shared the sentiment.

"Yep; and you'd be wise to remember it," the blond, Balzac, said, as he strode up to him and Slade. "If I'm not mistaken, you two are those Teknomen I've been hearing so much about. Twins, right?"

"Yeah? What's it to you?" Slade asked, sounding about as annoyed as Saber felt.

"Rumor has it that neither of you can remember anything about your respective pasts," he said, with an insinuating tone that Saber didn't like one bit. "Now, why don't you boys tell me the real story?"

"You know something?" Star snapped, stepping out in front of them before Saber could have done something really stupid like punch ball-sack in the face. "That sounds like a question out of a scandal-sheet, not a question from some war correspondent."

"Ouch," Balzac said, not sounding at all contrite. "I'm going to have to watch my step around you."

(I definitely like her,) he said, careful not to smile, since he didn't want to give Balzac anything to work with.

(You would.)

(You can't tell me that you don't,) he said, turning his head slightly to catch his brother's gaze.

(Well, maybe,) Slade said, the barest hint of a smile in his brother's mental voice.

(Why, big brother, do you have a crush?)

(Can we not talk about that?) Slade said, a bit too quickly.

"Indeed you will," the Commander said firmly. "For you are here strictly as an observer. Understand this: I will only allow you to stay here under one condition: you are not to interfere with any of the Space Knights. Especially during their maneuvers. Do we understand each other?"

"Of course, Commander. I just want to do my job," Balzac said; insincere prick. "Like we all do."

"Very well," Commander Jamison said. "The operation will commence at eleven-hundred hours today. Get moving."

"Yes, sir," he joined the rest of the Space Knights in saying.

They left the comm. room quickly after that, breaking up to head for their various destinations. And, since there was going to be copious amounts of fighting involved, he and Slade made directly for the cafeteria. Balzac tailed them, the way he'd been starting to suspect he would, but they both made it a point to ignore the man. It wasn't like they were going to give him the time to start badgering them with questions neither of them was particularly inclined to answer.

Once they had ordered all the food they were going to have time to eat, before the mission to the Space Ring to disable the computer controlling the Space Ring's laser satellites, he and Slade settled down at their table and proceeded to ignore Balzac as they ate. Eating fairly quickly, since they did have a mission in less than fifteen minutes, both of them made sure not to do anything that would invite Balzac to start talking to them.

Apparently, though, Balzac didn't feel the need to wait for an invitation.

"So, you boys certainly seem to have quite an appetite," Balzac said; neither of them gave him anything in return. "Is there anything you might want to tell me, or are the two of you just getting pre-combat jitters?"

"Hey, kids!" Ringo called, distracting Balzac's attention for a few moments. "If you two are done stuffing your faces, you'd best be getting moving. We're heading out in six minutes."

"We'll be right there, Ringo," he said, as Slade picked up their trays, gathered their dishes, and headed to drop them off.

"Star and I will be waiting for you two," he said, with a smile obviously directed at just the two of them.

When Slade came back from his errand, the two of them left the cafeteria and caught up with Star and Ringo outside the door. The four of them, five if you counted Balzac though he was trying not to, ran the rest of the way to hangar three and the Blue Earth waiting for them there. When they reached the ship, they all took their usual seats and strapped themselves in.

"Prepare for launch," Star said calmly, and Saber could hear the deep, powerful, far-off thrumming that meant the main boosters of the pre-launch vehicle had just engaged.

As the vibrations rattled through him, vibrating his teeth in a way that Saber didn't really think would ever become routine for him, he heard the sound of footsteps coming into the back of the cockpit. Probably Balzac, much as he really would have preferred to leave the prick behind.

"All systems are on-line," Star said over her shoulder.

"Hold on, we're taking this baby up," Ringo said, sounding pleased. "Full power to the thrusters."

There was a definite kick when the rest of the thrusters engaged, followed by the usual feeling of being squeezed when the acceleration started in earnest, and Saber took deep breaths as they hit the launch-ramp and soared up it.

(Well, here we go again, brother,) he said, his eyes at half-mast; it wasn't like he hadn't seen any of this before.

(Yeah,) Slade responded. (Once more into the breach, and all that.)

The flight itself was actually fairly uneventful this time, though he really didn't expect that to last. Darkon would have his Spider-crabs out in force, since this was another of his plans they were going to stop today. Hearing the sound of footsteps leaving the cockpit, and knowing that neither of the two people who had actual duties aboard the Blue Earth would have left, at least not without taking some precautions to keep the ship flying while they were away, Saber suspected he knew who it was.

(Balzac just left,) he said, after looking over his shoulder to confirm it.

(Maybe he needed to use the bathroom,) Slade said, looking back over his shoulder at the now-empty seat that Balzac had been sitting in.

(He really should have gone before we left,) Saber chuckled softly. (This one's not exactly one of the most comfortable bathrooms out there.)

Before either of them could continue their impromptu discussion, the sound of the main air lock doors opening and closing drew their attention. Slade's eyes narrowed, even as Saber began to have some unpleasant suspicions of his own. He and his brother were out of their respective seats and making for the main air lock nearly at the same time, moving together with the ease of long practice. The air lock doors parted before them, and sure enough, there was Balzac; with a camera, standing dead-center in front of the Teknobot.

"Hey!" Slade exclaimed, clearing the distance between them and the reporter in a single, easy bound; Saber followed at a more sedate pace, though he was no less irritated. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Relax," the blond said. "I'm just taking pictures of your Teknobot."

"I didn't exactly hear you asking permission," he said, as Slade turned away.

"Should I have? Is there some secret you're trying to keep about it?"

"It's my brother's property," he said, ignoring the man's insinuating tone and the thrust of his words. "Anyone with a scrap of common courtesy would have known to at least ask," he folded his arms. "Didn't your mother ever teach you that?"

"Sharp tongue you've got there, Saber; I guess I'll have to watch my step around you, too," Balzac said, giving him a once-over. "Slade, I've been meaning to ask you this by the way, can anyone who enters the Teknobot transform into a Teknoman? And why do you have one, and your brother doesn't?" he paused for a moment, looking from him to Slade. "C'mon, boys, you can tell me."

(I officially don't like him,) he said; sure, those were valid questions, and under other circumstances he would have been happy to answer them, but Balzac had an annoying habit of making every question he asked sound like some kind of an insinuation.

(I really have to agree with you there, brother,) Slade said, his annoyance clear.

"Only I can use the Teknobot; Saber doesn't need one," Slade said over his shoulder, as they both turned to leave the air lock; they'd seen what they wanted to, so there was no point in staying any longer.

"Well then, what's the mystery?" Balzac asked, hurrying to catch up with them. "Why are you so special? And, what do you mean when you say that your brother doesn't need one? What is it about the Teknoprocess that you two are hiding from us?" he said, getting in close to Slade as his brother worked the controls for the main air lock.

They were going to be a bit more proactive this time, taking the fight to the Spider-crabs instead of waiting for the fight to come to them.

"Haven't you ever heard of the concept of 'personal space'?" he asked, standing just behind his brother as he worked.

Balzac just smirked in response. "You two must know that the Radam have their own Teknomen. Now, I'm not trying to imply that you boys are working for them, but I do find it strange that you two are the only humans with that ability. If someone didn't know better, they might think that you two were some kind of traitors."

What?! That miserable little- seething with the kind of fury that he usually only reserved for the Radam, he took a single step to put himself right in Balzac's face, shoved the man back far enough that he wouldn't risk hitting Slade during the arc of his swing, and slapped the irritating blond as hard as he could. "Never say that again," he snarled.

"How dare you say that about us; you don't know anything. Saber and I have been doing everything we can to save this planet, and that's all you need to know," Slade snapped, coming forward to put a hand on his right shoulder.

"Calm down, boys," Balzac said, reaching up to rub at the reddening mark on his right cheek. "I didn't say that I thought you two were traitors, but a journalist covers all the angles. It's my job to find out if you two are hiding something. For example: you boys claim to have suffered a complete loss of memory, seems awfully convenient. Are you boys sure you're not concealing anything?"

For once, he was entirely pleased to hear the blaring of the Blue Earth's proximity-alarms; it meant that he could get away from the annoying prick before he was tempted to drop the largest, heaviest thing he could safely lift on the man's foot. Ringo's shout, and his brother's answer, was almost secondary. Pulling out his crystal, he took a deep breath; it was strange, doing this kind of thing without Slade by his side, but anything could become routine if you did it often enough.

000100010

His first attempt at getting answers from the Space Knights' prize soldiers really hadn't gone off the way he'd planned; in fact, it had been something of a fiasco. Still, what he was seeing now went a long way toward making up for that. Slade wasn't even the most interesting thing in the room, since all he did was to activate that Teknobot of his. No, the one he was most interested in was Saber; particularly that glowing, geometric shape he held in his right hand.

It was clearly the key to that transformation of his, and Balzac made a mental note to take a closer look at that Teknobot of Slade's; he wondered if the geometric shape he had not-quite-glimpsed was unique to Saber, or if it in itself was the key to the transformation. And, if that were true, then what kind of role did Slade's Teknobot play in enabling his transformation?

Saber was now surrounded by a glowing, crackling cage of energy; one that took a winged, extremely geometric shape. He would have been willing to bet at least a few months' salary that that shape was an exact copy of the small whatever-it-was that he had been holding in his hand. Arcs of red energy, resembling nothing so much as the lightning he had seen in uncountable thunderstorms since he was a boy, raced up, down, around, and over Saber's body, even as a glow the same color as his eyes began to fill up the empty, geometric cage.

In a single burst of red energy, Saber's Space Knight uniform was shredded into nothingness, leaving him standing naked in the middle of the air lock. Pinching the bridge of his nose to erase the mental images he was no doubt going to end up with after this, Balzac tilted his camera upward so that it only filmed Saber from the waist up. He recalled, then, a bit of old military humor that sometimes made the rounds when there was nothing else to distract them from the aggressive grimness of the war all around them.

It was a list of things a, most likely fictional, solder was not to do, or say, in the military. One item in particular came to mind now: We do not charge into battle naked, like the Celts.

The crystalline-cage containing Saber darted out and down into the space that had been vacated by the launch of the Teknobot, where he was certain that Slade was undergoing the exact same kind of transformation as he had just seen with Saber. Moving to stand by a narrow window, out of which he could see the battle that was about to be joined between those Teknomen and all of the Spider-crabs that had been sent out to attack them.

Slade was ejected from his Teknobot, at the exact same moment that the bright blue energy surrounding Saber dispersed into the void of interplanetary space. Both of them were now fully transformed into those strange-looking armored forms of theirs; the ones that everyone on Earth knew to call Teknoman, and he watched as they moved almost as one to confront the Spider-crabs.

Those two… they were magnificent; each of them was an army unto himself, and for a moment he reflected that it was really too bad that the AEM hadn't managed to get their hands on these kids before the Space Knights had. They might have actually managed to do some damage to the Radam, rather than just hanging around on Earth, waiting for them to attack again. He also seriously doubted that either of them had been telling the truth about their amnesia; it was an entirely too convenient façade for them to put up.

It was clearly also something that the Space Knights were only too happy to leave alone. Certainly no one in the AEM would have been so quick to disregard such obvious sources of intelligence on the Radam and their plans for Earth as a pair of turncoat Teknomen; whatever these kids said in their own defence, they had clearly had dealings with the Radam at one point or another. That was why he had going to make it his business to find out just exactly what it was that Teknoman Slade and Teknoman Saber were hiding behind that little façade of theirs.

It was clearly something the AEM needed to know, and likely enough it was something that could be used against the Radam.

When a pair of lights, the same color as the eyes of the Teknomen who were likely producing them, burst into being in the middle of a large swarm of Spider-crabs and then began to shear through them like a pair of hot knives through butter, Balzac couldn't help the small grin that pulled at his lips. The Spider-crabs were dying by the score, in the wake of those energy discharges; after seeing all of the damage that they had done to any of the military vehicles and personnel that had been sent up against them, it was deeply satisfying to see that kind of thing.

"Balzac, we're nearing the Space Ring," he heard Star announce over the comm. "If you're coming with us, suit up and be at the air lock in three minutes."

Well, I suppose I've gotten enough footage for one day, he mused. There was no way he was going to miss this; knowing the actual capabilities of the Space Knights, while it wasn't vital to his mission in the least, might help to assuage his personal curiousity. Moving out to the Blue Earth's storage area, he stowed away his camera and retrieved one of the four EVA suits stored there.

He suspected the suits themselves were kept for the twins, and for a whimsical moment he wondered if he was wearing Slade's or Saber's. Then, putting his momentary distraction aside, Balzac continued on his way to the air lock. He knew that, as important as this mission was for information-gathering purposes, there was also the matter of the laser satellites to be dealt with.

And, as much as he knew that the General wanted to know just how those Teknomen's powers worked, the civilian governments wouldn't be particularly happy with him if they didn't see results on this mission of theirs. The Space Knights might very well need his help before it was all over. Continuing on his way to the air lock, pausing for a moment as he heard footsteps coming up behind him, Balzac paused to watch as the other two remaining occupants of the ship came to join him.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Balzac?" Ringo; he wondered for a moment if that was the man's name, or if it was just a call-sign that everyone had started using around him and had just never stopped, asked. "This isn't going to be a picnic."

"I wouldn't miss this for the world," he said, with a soft chuckle.

As they all moved out into the Space Ring, he kept his eye out for more Spider-crabs. Even with those two Teknomen working cleanup out there, there was always the chance that one or two of those monsters would slip past them. No defense was absolute; he'd come to learn that damned well over the time that he'd spent with the AEM.

"I've got a frequency-match; let's go. It should be right over here, on the left," he heard Star say, from her place at the front of their group. "Yeah; here it is."

It turned out to be a large, imposing door; closed, of course, the way everything in the Space Ring had been when the Radam had begun showing up.

"Star, see if you can patch us into the bulkhead controls," Ringo suggested; he wondered idly if the Space Knights really had a chain of command, aside from every one of them seeming to take orders from that Commander of theirs.

"You got it," the lady Space Knight said, as she quickly set to work on the computerized controls that would give them access to the next section on their way through the Space Ring. "Got it."

The door in front of them slid open slowly, but there was Something Very Bad on the other side: a Spider-crab. They all dove backwards as the Radam monster tried to rush them, but he was at a loss as to what they should do next. He'd seen single Spider-crabs take out entire battalions; tank battalions no less, so there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of any of the three of them even escaping from the thing unless something drastic happened.

"Make for that overhead hatch," Ringo said, as they all continued on their way forward.

However, while they still had a fair amount of distance to cover, another Spider-crab burst out of that very hatch.

"Maybe that's not such a great idea," Ringo amended, before either he or Star could say anything to the other man.

As the two Spider-crabs closed in on them, each raising one of their nasty, pointed legs for a killing-strike, he heard the two Space Knights discussing their extremely limited options. He knew what option was the most viable, though; he was just hoping that those kids would come through for them in the end. It felt weird, though; trusting his life to someone who wasn't part of his small circle of friends.

Still, if it was what he needed to do to survive, he'd do it.

When both of the Spider-crabs were impaled suddenly, each with a strange, thrown weapon in their bodies, he knew that his momentary faith had been rewarded. He wasn't going to be giving it out in the long-term, of course, since in the end these two were just one more stepping-stone on his path to power. He didn't know just how much power he was going to get from investigating these kids, but General Gault could be exceptionally generous when he was pleased.

And he'd wanted hard data on these Teknomen ever since he'd found out what they could do.

Watching the two wounded Spider-crabs explode left him a bit confused, but he shook it off and concentrated on the only things in the room that were of particular importance it the moment.

"I'll say one thing for these kids: they sure know to make an entrance," he said to no one in particular. "Slade, Saber; it's so nice to see you boys again."

They were both standing on Slade's Teknobot, riding it like some kind of giant, mechanical surfboard, and both of them had their weapons in their hands again. He'd noticed them throwing their right arms out, but he hadn't quite known just what to make of the gesture, and the explosion of the Spider-crabs had obscured anything else that might have happened between them making that gesture and them getting their weapons back.

"Are you three all right?" Slade asked.

"We're better now," Star said, sounding just a bit more relieved than someone in a purely professional relationship would have been.

"Sorry we didn't make it here sooner, but some of our more ardent admirers just couldn't keep their hands off of us," Saber said; sharp-tongued and sarcastic, he could already tell that getting along with this kid was going to be a bit more interesting than usual.

"Let's get going," Ringo said, already turning around.

"Slade, you and Saber follow us."

"Right behind you, Star," the white Teknoman said, and he could hear the subtle hiss of repulsorlifts as the Teknobot drifted after them.

It was a comforting thought, he had to admit, having the two kids with more power than the entire Allied Earth Military at their backs; not exactly at their beck-and-call, but then the Space Knights were pretty much just glorified civilians, so you couldn't really expect anything better.

0001010001

As she moved through the empty corridors of the Space Ring, it gave her a warm feeling to know that the twins had their backs and wouldn't let them down. Slade in particular, though she tried not to think of it like that; Saber was just as reliable as his brother, and he probably wouldn't have appreciated the insinuation that he wasn't doing as much for the cause as Slade. Still, it wasn't Saber who was beginning to stir new feelings in her heart.

Sure, Slade's brother was nice; he was sweet, funny, kind, dependable, trustworthy, and very obviously protective of Slade, but she felt more like he was a younger brother of hers than any kind of romantic prospect. She didn't quite know what made Slade so different, but the fact remained that he was. Still, she could explore her feelings in more detail later; now there was a planet down there that wanted saving, and everyone on it was depending on them.

"The main computer operating the lasers is right down this corridor," she informed them, trying to ignore the drifting bodies that they were starting to pass as they made their way into the more heavily-used sections of the Space Ring. "According to my calculations, it should be right behind this door."

"Can you get us through?" Ringo asked, with the confidence of a man who hadn't been disappointed once.

"Almost done," she said, having gone to work on the computer just before Ringo had started speaking. "Got it!"

The doors parted slowly for them, and Slade took point. Saber brought up the rear, probably since the Spider-crabs still infesting this place were notoriously unpredictable. Something she'd had demonstrated to her in a particularly unforgettable manner not a few minutes earlier.

She was glad to see that the twins had been thinking ahead.

Checking the mini-computer she'd brought along with her, she found that they were right on track. What they saw beyond the door, however, reminded her uncomfortably of when she, the twins, and Ringo had first confronted Gunnar: there was a huge, pulsating, eerily flesh-colored Radam construct, wrapping itself around the main control-node of the computer. Strange, purple lights flashed on and off, in exact time with the pulsating of the organic construct that the Radam were using to control the computer.

"This blob is what's controlling the computers?" Ringo demanded, as they all stared up at the towering, pulsating form of the Radam construct.

Just then, several vine-shaped, almost tentacle-like things shot out of the side of the construct that was facing them. Shouting at them to look out, Slade tackled them all to the floor, and she winced slightly as she felt the breath driven out of her by the force of his landing. Saber was clearly making himself scarce, since none of the vine/tentacles were trying to attack him.

When Slade stood back up, obviously intent on dealing with the Radam's construct in the most immediate, permanent way possible, she took a deep breath and shouted to him before he could do anything irreparable.

"Don't destroy it!" she said, as she saw Saber hurrying back over to his brother's side. "Remember what Commander Jamison said!"

As Slade paused, his weapon still slightly drawn-back in preparation for unleashing his fury on the Radam's computer-controlling construct, Saber raised his own weapon. She felt a flash of apprehension, right up until Saber actually turned the flat of his blade to face downward, and then thumped his brother on the head with it. Pointing to the Radam construct, his body-language clearly irate even in spite of the fact that she couldn't hear his voice, he switched hands on his weapon so that he could make the finger-spinning-around-the-ear gesture for crazy; then switched his weapon back to his right hand and swatted Slade on the back of the head.

"Those two are definitely brothers," she heard Ringo chuckling over their shared comm.

"Sorry about that," Slade said, sounding sheepish, as he turned to face them. He quickly became all business once again, though. "Teknobot! Target: dead ahead! Secure and hold!"

"Affirmative!"

The Teknobot moved forward, quickly responding to Slade's commands as it lifted the Radam construct up and off the floor of the Space Ring and allowing them a bit more leeway to access the computers' controls. Not a lot, however, since Spider-crabs began to arrive almost instantly after the Teknobot had fully secured the construct. It was almost like they had been alerted somehow, but that was probably just her imagination overreacting.

"Get to work, you two!" Slade called over his shoulder. "Saber and I can handle this!"

"He's right," Ringo said. "They've got a job to do, and so do we."

It was a bit difficult, making herself turn away from a battle that was being fought just a few feet away from them, but Star knew that she had to trust the twins to hold the line. Trust them to have their backs while they occupied themselves with matters in front. She would, but it was still hard; every shriek of a Spider-crab, every roar of a battlecry, and every time Saber would taunt one of his mindless foes, reminded Star of just how close they all were to the action.

They were usually at least marginally protected by the bulk of the Blue Earth while the twins fought Darkon's Spider-crabs.

"What've you got, Star?" Ringo asked.

"Almost done," she reported, continuing to enter the commands that would complete the upload of the shut-down program that her and Maggie had worked so hard to create; hopefully, with the Radam's construct out of the way, their program would be able to render the computers inoperable, and thus save the millions of people who were in harm's way with the laser satellites under the control of the Radam.

One last sequence, and that computer goes down for good, she mused, with a definite feeling of relief and satisfaction. A feeling that lasted until she saw the red glow of a Spider-crab's eyes reflected in the computer screen. Turning, wanting to at least face the creature that was trying to kill her, Star caught sight of Slade moving to intercept it. He hit it, true, which stopped the monster dead in its tracks.

But it also caused it to explode in just the same way as all the Spider-crabs that the twins had killed ended up exploding.

One of the claws, torn loose from the body and flung by the detonation, flew toward the computer core. Star thought that she could hear people shouting in dismay; thought that she herself might have even been shouting with them, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Saber moving. He had his weapon up, as if he was planning to bat the claw away, but he must have moved too slowly, because the next thing she was fully aware of was Slade shouting his brother's name as Saber himself screamed.

As Saber turned himself around, standing perpendicular to them where before he'd had them at his back, Star stared in horror at the Spider-crab claw sticking out of the joint where his armored shoulder met his body.

"For the record," Saber said, his voice strained and hoarse as he grabbed the claw and struggled to pull it out of his body. "I really didn't mean to do it like this."

With the bloody claw now lying on the floor, and Saber leaning over to try and catch his breath, Star let out a small breath of her own. Now, at least she would have the time she needed to complete the sequence. Her relief, such as it was, lasted until she heard Saber's low, pained moan.

Turning to look back at the man who had just saved all of their lives, not to mention the lives of a few million people down on the planet below them, she saw that he had his left arm bent in a manner that suggested he was holding his head, and that he was starting to sway slightly on his feet. Before she could wonder too much about that, a cage of energy that resembled Saber's teknocrystal formed around him, and his entire armored body was overshadowed by blue-white light.

His armor retreated almost instantaneously, and just as the light obscuring his human form vanished, Saber fell backwards to the floor. At least, he would have, if Balzac hadn't rushed forward to catch him just as he had started to tilt over. Balzac caught Saber just as he would have smashed his head against the deck, but he couldn't really do anything about the wound in his shoulder.

The wound that was bleeding enthusiastically all over the floor.

The sound of gasping breaths reminded Star of just why they had been wearing the EVA suits in the first place. The atmosphere in these sections of the Space Ring was too thin to allow a human to survive unprotected for very long.

"Slade!" Balzac shouted, Saber's head cradled in his lap. "I need you to come over here and put pressure on your brother's wound," he said, sounding more like a combat medic than any kind of reporter that she had ever heard of.

Slade, of course, was at his brother's side almost instantly, after he had checked to make sure that no other Spider-crabs were going to come after them. Pressing his armored hands down on both sides of Saber's perforated shoulder, Slade knelt next to his brother with the air of someone hoping desperately that everything would turn out all right. Meanwhile, Balzac himself went over to the console next to the one she was working on, and pulled out a small oxygen tank with a breather-mask.

Affixing the mask to Saber's face, Balzac knelt down opposite Slade and waved the Teknoman away. Slade backed up slightly, and Balzac clearly dismissed him from his mind, since the next thing he did was to quickly remove Saber's Space Knight vest and begin tearing it into strips. Slade, who hadn't let go of his brother's shoulder up to this point, moved his armored hands away from the wound and sat back on his knees. He stared at his armored hands, smeared as they were with his brother's blood, and his large shoulders slumped in a way that suggested he was sighing.

"All right, he's not in danger of suffocating anymore," Balzac said, as he picked Saber up and carried him so that the oxygen tank could rest on his lap. "Let's get him out of here before he starts freezing to death."

That was a distinct possibility, much as she didn't like it; with so little atmosphere to hold the heat of anything that might be radiating it, it would be so much easier for someone unprotected the way Saber was right now to suffer a fatal drop in core-body temperature. Still, moving him had its own set of risks: the convection currents that would normally cool someone down were disrupted in this environment, true, which meant that the heat that Saber's own body produced would ordinarily stay close enough to his body to do him at least some good, but since Balzac was going to carry him that wasn't going to be allowed to happen. They would have to move quickly, if they were going to keep Saber from freezing while they walked.

001010010

"Teknobot, toss that thing out of here," Slade said, knowing that it was best to get rid of the thing before the Radam tried to use it for one of their other plans; or even tried to reactivate the computers with it somehow.

There was no verbal response from his Teknobot, but it quickly yanked the Radam's computer-controlling construct up off of the floor hard enough to break every last one of its anchoring-points, lifted the hideous thing up and over its head, and threw it at the far wall of the Space Ring hard enough to knock a hole in the metal. The two Spider-crabs that had been standing there were knocked outside as well, and he was relieved that he at least wouldn't have to deal with them.

"Tekno-bolt!" he screamed, firing the weapon that he had begun charging just before he had ordered the Teknobot to throw the Radam construct out of the Space Ring.

When the coruscating energies had obliterated the Radam construct entirely, he turned away from the new hole he had made in the wall of the Space Ring and quickly followed Star, Balzac, and the others out of the room before it had permanently sealed itself to the vacuum of space. He wished for a moment that there had been another way to deal with the Radam construct and the Spider-crabs that had been guarding it, some way that wouldn't have ended up exposing Saber to even more danger than he had already been put in, but there hadn't. All that remained was to get back to the Blue Earth, and then back to the Command Center so that Saber could be taken care of in the infirmary.

That was the foremost thought in his mind, as he climbed back onto the Teknobot and ordered it to keep pace with the other Space Knights and Balzac.

When they all reached the Blue Earth at last, Star suggested to him that he should transform back and then go eat something. He was grateful to her for not revealing his weakness to Balzac, since he didn't know just what the reporter would have done with that kind of information, and it was just best not to push his time-limit in any case. Heading for the Teknobot, after a last look over his shoulder at Saber to make sure his younger brother was really all right, he ordered the Teknobot to open its interlock-chamber and tiredly climbed inside.

As the energies of his transformation left him, and the expected rush of weariness came in their place, Slade all but fell backwards out of the Teknobot as it closed up again. He would have probably ended up falling on his butt if the Teknobot hadn't reached out to catch him in one of its large hands. With most of his energy gone, all Slade really wanted to do was sleep.

Still, he at least wanted to have some food before he fell asleep somewhere, if only so he wouldn't feel so light-headed when he inevitably fell asleep.

Heading into the storage area, he grabbed a ration bar and peeled it open as he made his way back to the cockpit. Ringo and Star had already come back inside, and Saber had been strapped into his seat. He was glad for that, since that meant that there wasn't much that he had to worry about, besides getting himself fed and trying not to fall asleep with food in his mouth.

Once he had finished the ration bar, he shoved the wrapper in his pocket, turned his chair enough so that he could keep his younger twin brother in his line-of-sight even while he slept, and closed his eyes as another wave of tiredness washed over him. The Blue Earth had just been starting its descent back into the atmosphere, and so he suspected that they would all be back home before he woke up again.

Home… he would have smiled, if he'd had the excess energy; after all that had happened, he and Saber finally had a home again. It was a nice feeling, all the moreso since they hadn't even been looking for it when they had started out. Home had been them and their family, and with the Carters gone, he hadn't ever expected to have a home again.

Now, though, he and Saber had another home; and, while their first one would always hold a place in their hearts, the Space Knight Command Center was their home now.

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Slade, having fallen asleep while staring at his brother, was in Ringo's arms, while Star was carefully carrying Saber. They were all making for the infirmary; even him, since both conscious Space Knights had insisted that he come with them, at least as long as they needed to talk to him. Or, that was the impression that he got from the way Ringo had looked at him while they were walking.

"So, Balzac, you seem to know a lot about battlefield medicine for a reporter," Ringo said, his voice only slightly lowered; those twins of theirs must have either been extremely deep sleepers, or else the man just didn't care if he woke them or not.

Balzac wondered for a moment which it was, before deciding that something like that wasn't really his concern.

"I'm a war correspondent, remember?" he lied easily, giving the two Space Knights a sidelong smile. "You think I haven't seen my share of battlefield injuries? Treating them is something that every one of us learns, sooner or later, just to be able to survive in the kind of dangerous situations we always seem to end up finding ourselves in."

"What I'm more interested in, is how you managed to find that oxygen tank," Star said, looking up from her study of Saber to pin him with a look that mixed gratitude, curiousity, and something that Balzac wasn't sure he could interpret. "Saber would have died if you hadn't, which I'm sure Slade would thank you for if he were conscious right now," the other emotions on Star's face smoothed into plain gratitude then, and she smiled at him. "But, how did you know to look for that oxygen tank?"

"The AEM laid in some emergency supplies for the more heavily-used sections of the Space Ring," he said; and this was the complete truth. "After all, no technology is completely infallible. There were even a pair of EVA suits, but it would have taken too long to get him into one of them."

Besides, they had been stored in a locker on the far side of the room; there had been no time to even get to that locker before Slade's Tekno-bolt had vaporized such a huge section of the wall. Sure, he'd gotten rid of that weird Radam construct, and the rest of the Spider-crabs that had been guarding it, but there probably had been an easier way for him to do it. No one human would be able to get into that section of the Ring without an EVA suit and a way to override the door-controls, but the same wouldn't hold true for any of the Radam that tried to start this whole debacle over again.

He was going to have to bring that up in his written report, since he wasn't going to risk getting into the logistics of Slade's battles with the Radam over a channel he could only keep open for a short time.

"I guess that makes sense," Star said, looking back down at Saber.

"If that's all you wanted to ask me about, I'm going to go turn in now," he said; it was a half-truth, really; not that he was going to tell them that. "It's been a long day."

"All right," Star said, giving him a warm smile. "Have a good night's sleep, Balzac. And, thank you for everything you did today."

"No problem," he said, turning and heading down the corridor that would lead him to the room he had been assigned.

He needed to get his comm. setup prepared, and he needed to get his preliminary report straight in his head before he spoke with General Gault for the first time since he'd been installed in the Space Knight Command Center. Then, since today had been one of the most trying days he'd had in a long time, he was going to shuck his boots and jacket, then fall into bed and sleep.

Making his way back to his room at last, yawning widely as he punched in the code to open his door, he scratched at his thick, scruffy beard. He hated the damned thing; wished he could shave it, but it served the purpose of making him look like the man in his photo I.D. The man who had never really existed in the first place, if what he'd been told by the AEM's Intelligence Network had been true. He didn't know if it was, since there were levels of secrecy that even he wasn't privy to at this point, but then he didn't really care either.

It was convenient for his purposes that the picture in the I.D. looked so much like him, so he was going to use it until he fulfilled his mission, and then discard it like he did everything that no longer served a purpose; he'd be particularly pleased to get rid of the beard.

Settling back into his room, he began setting up his transmitter and carefully preparing his initial report to General Gault. Things had definitely been more interesting than he had originally planned, and on top of that he had gotten a great deal of usable footage of both Teknomen in battle as well as Saber's actual transformation. The latter would probably provoke a bit more interest than the former, but both of them had their importance in the grand scheme of things.

In either case, what he had to focus on now was delivering his preliminary report.

"This is Balzac," he said, thinking back on the events of the day. "It was a good thing I went along with the Space Knights on an assignment today. As it turned out, the Earth was spared the loss of one of its prize soldiers thanks to me." Seeing Saber take that Spider-crab claw to the shoulder had shown him a lot of what he'd needed to know about the kid's character. "Unfortunately, I haven't found out the secret of those twins' powers."

He shut down the transmitter after that; no point in risking discovery if you didn't have to. After all, it was only a matter of time until he completed his mission. He always completed his mission.