He could sense them, somewhere inside this Command Center of theirs; tearing his way through the outer layers of the facility was bound to attract the attention of his misguided younger brothers. Like all of his family, Ness and Cain were the type to fully devote themselves to a cause once they had chosen it, and they had clearly dedicated themselves to those Space Knights of theirs.

He didn't know quite what to make of that; on the one hand, he was proud of his younger brothers and the dedication that they were showing, and yet that very dedication had been given to the wrong people. It was a troublesome thing, to be sure.

Throwing his lancer at yet another dish array, one that looked like it controlled communications for this Command Center, Spear felt a certain sense of vindication. At least these humans would no longer be able to summon help.

(Ness, Cain, I grow tired of this incessant stalling of yours; if you won't come out of this Command Center on your own, then I will come in to retrieve you. I can promise that you won't enjoy the outcome if you force me to resort to that.)

01010010011

"You should listen to your brother, lad," Mac said, and Saber couldn't help but smirk a bit at the dumbfounded expression on Slade's face. "He knows what he's talking about. Besides, even if you did manage to get into the Teknobot, you wouldn't have been able to transform, anyway."

"You're going to fix it so I can, though, right?" Slade asked, sounding genuinely worried, though Saber knew that it most likely had nothing to do with what he was asking Mac.

Like him, Slade was probably a lot more worried about the fact that Spear was launching a dedicated attack on the Command Center rather than something simple like whether Pegas was going to be ready or not. Still, Slade was probably worried about him, too. But then, Slade always tended to worry about him; especially these days.

"That's what I'm doing, lad," Mac said, obviously trying to be reassuring; the effort was clearly lost on Slade.

"Relax, Slade; it's not like Saber's going to be going out there alone," he heard Ringo say, accompanied by the whirr of machinery. "I'll be backing him up."

"Good idea, Ringo," the Commander himself said, before Saber could even open his mouth to thank the other man.

"Thanks, Commander," Ringo said, and Saber opted to wait until the two of them had finished their conversation to say anything. "This was the best idea I could think up."

"Don't sell yourself short," he said, when the Commander paused for a moment. "It's a good idea, and I definitely appreciate having the help."

"Ringo's isn't going to be the only one there to back you up, Saber," the Commander said, making his way over to a door on the far left side of the machine shop. "The two of you will be assisted by this." There was a brief sound of buttons being pressed, and then the door slid open, revealing something that – oddly enough – resembled a wingless X-wing fighter with a huge gun sticking out of the top.

"Impressive," he said, blinking in slight amusement and then smirking. "But, just what is that?"

"This is an experimental vehicle that has been equipped with a new type of energy weapon we've been testing, one with ten times its original firepower. Moreover, the recharge time has been cut almost in half."

"That's good to hear," he said, smiling.

"Yeah; it's good to know that we'll have some more guns on standby, you know, if we're still out there twenty-five minutes after we get into combat," Ringo said; he laughed, allowing the point.

It wasn't like he could really help what had happened to his crystal; not as if he could go back in time and kill Gunnar before he set up that little trap of his, much as he might have wanted to, sometimes.

"Slade, you will wait for the Teknobot," Jamison said, and while it was a perfectly legitimate order, Saber knew even before the Commander finished speaking that Slade wasn't going to be particularly happy about it.

"Then who's going to fly the new ship?" Slade asked, sounding dubious but like he was willing to be persuaded. It was a step in the right direction, at least.

"Oh, me! Let me!" Maggie exclaimed, jumping up and down, waving her left arm in the air like a particularly enthusiastic first grader. "I'll fly it!

"Hey, wait a minute!" Slade shouted, even as Saber himself laughed; that was Maggie for you.

"Man, look at this thing!" she gushed, rushing over to the side of the unnamed gunship-thingy, and actually pressing herself against it like she was trying to give the thing a hug. "It's even got that new-ship smell!" she enthused. "Can you believe it? This is great!"

He was trying to regain his composure, honestly he was, but after hearing Maggie talk like that, it was all he could do to keep himself from bursting into outright laughter. Slade, of course, wasn't so sanguine about things.

"Yeah, that's just great," his older twin bit out.

"Sorry, brother, I really don't think you're going to win this argument," he said, smirking at Slade even as Mac chuckled softly.

"Star, I want you to be in charge of communications," the Commander said.

"Yes, sir," Star said, smiling as she snapped off a salute.

(Saber, I know that I probably won't be able to talk you out of going into battle like this, but… just, take care of yourself, all right?)

(Will do, brother,) he said, as Star and Maggie settled themselves inside the wingless X-wing looking ship and closed it up tight. (And don't worry, big brother, I'll be sure to take good care of your girlfriend.)

(Yeah, just make sure you don't forget about yours,) Slade deadpanned.

(Wouldn't dream of it,) he returned easily, sparing a moment of concentration to retrieve his teknocrystal as he fell into step with Ringo's armored form.

He wanted as much time in his Teknoman form as he could manage, and that meant that he couldn't afford to waste it on the walk from the machine shop to wherever he, Ringo, and then Maggie and Star in that ship thing of theirs were going to be launching from.

01001001001

It was mildly infuriating, to find himself in the position he was: to know that his younger brothers were somewhere very close by, and yet to be completely unable to locate them as yet. (Ness, if you and Cain aren't willing to come out of this building, then I will simply tear my way in to get to you.)

The sudden sense of Cain's presence, stronger within his mind than it could have been merely from his younger brother approaching him, let Spear know that he would at least have the chance to bring Cain back with him. Of course, he would still have to find Ness, but for the moment that could wait while he dealt with Cain.

The sound of whirring machinery, coming from the exact same place where he sensed Cain's presence, drew Spear's attention and he turned around after having caught his thrown teknolance. Cain, in his full Tekno-armor and with his arms folded across his chest, was being raised up onto the surface with him. However, the fact that the same false Teknoman that Spear had been forced to confront four days ago stood right beside his younger brother made the situation rather more annoying than it would otherwise have been.

"It's good to see you again, little brother," he said, attempting to keep the annoyance he was feeling in the presence of the false Teknoman in check. It certainly wasn't Cain's fault that that worthless creature was following him.

Cain said nothing in response, but Spear could almost feel the tension radiating from the younger of his two missing brothers. Given what had happened the last time the two of them had met – something Spear still regretted, for all that he understood the necessity of such things – Spear could understand Cain's hesitance.

"Yeah, it's a real fun family reunion," the false Teknoman spat, drawing Spear's attention back to itself; he didn't know precisely what the human wearing that armor was thinking, but Spear had not been particularly willing to tolerate the human's presence even when he was silent, so the insect should not have expected his tolerance to extend to such insolence.

"Little brother, is this creature troubling you?" he asked, bringing his teknolance up into line to impale the armored human through the torso and hence be rid of him quickly. "I could dispose of him for you rather easily, if you like."

"Hmm, let me think about that," Cain said, and there was something in his younger brother's voice that Spear didn't quite like; he didn't know how to interpret it, precisely, but it unnerved him slightly.

Cain's side-kick slamming into his face – blunted by his armor, but more painful for what the attack meant than for the attack itself – knocked Spear back a couple paces, and when he regained his composure he found that the armored human was pointing one of those annoying, oversized pulse rifles at him.

"I think you'd better take that as a no," the human snapped; Spear ground his teeth, bad enough that one of his own younger brothers had chosen to side against him in this battle, but to have one of those inferior creatures speaking to him that way was nearly infuriating. "Oh, and here's my answer, too."

The shot from the energy rifle that both of the armored suits he had seen seemed to be carrying, while it was just as useless against Spear's own armor as the one that other human had attempted to use on him, was just as annoying as it had been before. Hissing his displeasure at the human who had just dared to attack him, Spear readied his lancer. Before he could fully demonstrate his displeasure to said human, to watch the insect writhe in the grip of the electricity that he commanded with but a thought, Cain had shoved the armored human out of the way.

As his dear younger brother – misguided and stubborn as he so clearly was – threw his head back, silent but clearly suffering under the barrage of the electricity that had been meant for the insolent human who had dared to attack him so brazenly, Spear froze for a moment. He knew that he could ill-afford distractions, especially in battle such as he was engaged in now, but to see Cain in this kind of a state…

(Cain, why would you do such a thing? For Ness, I can understand risking yourself – though you wouldn't need to if you both would just come home – but-)

Cain actually laughed; though the laughter was more bitter than any that he'd ever heard from his cheerful younger brother.(Well, that's your problem right there, Spear: you can't understand. And you never will.)

Shoving aside the confusion he felt at Cain's words – he had always strove to understand his younger siblings so that he could help them with their troubles – Spear steeled himself for the battle ahead. Much as he might not have wanted to do such a thing, it looked as if he was going to have to forcibly subdue Cain if he wanted to make any sort of progress getting inside, so that he would be able to find Ness.

01010010011

"Final check completed; all systems are go," Star reported, trying to slow her racing heart; this was the first time that she would be the one going into battle against a Teknoman. The first time for Maggie, too, and she couldn't help but wonder if the other woman was feeling as tense as she did. "We're ready for liftoff, Commander."

"Be careful, you two," the Commander said; Star felt touched by his concern.

Every one of them knew the dangers of going out to face even one of the Radam's Teknomen, moreso for normal humans like all of them, but Star couldn't have lived with herself if she'd refused the chance to help when Saber and Ringo had been so quick to volunteer.

"Engine power on, standby for liftoff," Maggie said, as Star felt the powerful thrumming of the engines as the ship they were on began to hover.

Checking one, last time that all of her gauges were in the green and all the proper switches had been thrown, Star allowed herself to relax slightly as she realized they were.

"Now, let's go show this guy something," Maggie snarled; it was startling to hear such ferocity from the other woman, but then she remembered that Saber was out there, risking himself in defense of the Command Center against one of the most terrifying things that even someone as powerful as a Teknoman could face.

In that respect, Star could perfectly sympathize with Maggie's desire to get out there as fast as she could.

Feeling herself pressed back into the padded seat from the force of the ship's acceleration, Star took hold of the controls more firmly and steered them toward the battlefield. She knew that Saber and Ringo were both fully capable people, but under the circumstances the sooner she could get herself and Maggie out to their battlefield, the better she would feel about the situation.

She knew Slade well enough to know that he felt just the same.

11101010010

Knowing that he could have contacted Saber with a thought, and also knowing that his younger twin was in battle with someone who scared even him sometimes, it was all Slade could do to keep himself from reaching out for Saber's mind nonetheless. The only real way Slade could keep his mind off his worries was to contact someone who actually knew what was going on.

He'd never be able to concentrate, otherwise.

"Tina, what's going on?" he asked, still feeling tense.

"Star and Maggie are on their way now," the youngest of the Space Knights said, sounding about as calm as he didn't feel right now. "Saber and Ringo are going to have backup soon, Slade."

"Don't worry about what you can't control, lad," Mac said; Slade figured that he knew what he was talking about, being stuck down here in the machine shop while he, Saber, Star, and Ringo went out on their various missions. "Concentrate on what you can do to help. We're going to be testing Pegas' servo-circuits. Get me a power reading on servo-circuits two and three. If you see any fluctuations or overloads, let me know."

"All right, Mac," he said, activating the display and trying to put his worries about what Spear might have been doing to Saber and Ringo out of his mind. "I'm on it."

It was the hardest thing Slade had had to do since his teknocrystal had been shattered by Gunnar: just sit back and wait, inside the Command Center where he was safe – for the most part – while his younger twin, someone who Slade had sworn to protect, went into battle with only the most minimal of protection. He'd hated it before, and experiencing that helplessness a second time didn't improve it at all.

Still, for the moment this was all he could do; Slade knew that he would have to accept it and push forward if he wanted to get anything done. So, taking a deep breath, he continued with this hardest of tasks.

001010010011

At least Saber seemed to be doing well – as well as anyone could be when they were being forced to fight a member of their own family, at least – after the electricity that Spear had slammed him with, Ringo wasn't ashamed to admit that he'd been worried about the kid. It had been pretty much mutually agreed upon that he was best-suited for sniping the kid's crazed, Radam-influenced older brother from whatever cover he could find while the kid himself engaged the Teknoman.

Ringo had also decided that he was best-suited for keeping an eye on Saber's time-limit; they'd already been out here for ten minutes, and he wasn't about to leave Saber to the "tender mercies" of his brainwashed psychopath of an older brother. Still, he was hoping that Maggie and Star made their grand entrance in that hover-gun that the Commander and the lab jockeys had cooked up.

It wasn't like they had all the time in the world, here.

Spotting another opening in said brainwashed psychopath's defenses, Ringo sniped him and then quickly moved to shelter behind yet another one of the smallish mesas in this area. Turning, he smirked slightly as Saber took shameless advantage of the opening he'd provided to nail Spear with another flying side-kick to the face. Sure, the Radam Teknoman shook it off like it was nothing, but the kick still staggered him and drove him back through the air, right into the perfect position for Ringo to fire another blast straight at him.

He was still hoping that Star and Maggie would get out here with that big, hovering gunship of theirs, since Saber's time was seriously starting to run low, and Ringo was fully aware of the fact that he and his Tekno-suit – good as the thing was for fighting Spider-crabs – wasn't going to have a chance in hell of beating someone who could regularly come out on top of fights with both Saber and Slade at once. It wasn't a happy thought, for all that it was true, and when Ringo glanced back at the Tekno-suit's chronometer, he shuddered.

Seventeen minutes gone already; come on, you two. Saber's only got eight minutes of fight left in him. Though realistically he didn't even have that much, considering that no one in their right mind wanted the kid passing out when he wasn't safe inside the Command Center, and once the kid's time had run out, that was just what was going to happen.

Taking another shot when Saber swung his psychotic older brother around so that his back was squarely facing Ringo's position, he continued to hope that Maggie and Star would arrive quickly; it was the only real hope that Saber had.

00100101010

Snarling in fury as yet another pulse from that annoying human's rifle slammed into his back, Spear whipped around to confront him. Grabbing Cain's armored collar as his misguided, stubborn younger brother attempted to use the distraction the human had created to assault him again, Spear slammed Cain's armored body into the side of the cliff they had been battling in front of, stunning his younger brother momentarily.

He would not have used this level of force on his one of his own younger brothers under anything but the most dire of circumstances were they not both in their armored forms, and even though they were, Spear wished that it had not come to this point; he and Cain were family, for all his dear younger brother's stubbornness. They were not meant to be on opposite sides of a war.

While Cain was stunned, his younger brother's grip on his own teknolance slackening just enough that Spear could remove it from his hand without having to fight Cain for it, Spear quickly relieved his younger brother of his weapon. With the aid of his own – to hold his misguided younger brother in place while he dealt with the annoying human who had been harassing him for so long – Spear rammed his and Cain's teknolances deep into the rock, crossing the shafts at Cain's waist tightly enough that his younger brother would not be able to slip out between them even if he did shed his armor in the effort to do so.

Turning his attention to the human who had been making such an annoyance of himself, Spear found that – once again – the human was aiming that worthless pulse rifle at him.

"This is becoming rather tiresome," he said flatly, unwilling to show his emotions to such an inferior being.

"I couldn't agree more, pal," the human snapped; Spear ground his teeth, that this creature – so far beneath Spear that he might as well have been an insect in comparison – would even think to suggest that the two of them could ever be…

Snarling, Spear deployed his right-side blade, his pauldron sliding down to cover his right hand with the sound of a large knife being unsheathed. Fitting, of course, but slightly misleading since the blade he now possessed was longer than any knife that Spear had ever seen. Even the butcher's blade that he had used back during his time as a mere human was not quite so long as the blade he had now.

Drawing his blade back, more than prepared to drive it into the head of this most annoying of opponents, Spear suddenly found himself under fire from not only the armored human in front of him, but from someone behind, as well. Turning to see whoever it was that had been so cowardly as to attack him from behind, even as the light from the explosion that had been set off all around him slowly cleared from his vision, Spear saw the vehicle sitting at the top of a low, rocky outcropping.

It had clearly been designed by the same ones that had designed that annoying rifle that the armored human kept stubbornly trying to use on him – Spear suspected the Space Knights were ultimately responsible, since they had been the ones working so closely with his younger brothers for all these months; all the more reason not to show them any mercy – but the form of the vehicle was about as unlike the armored suit that Spear had been facing as it was possible to be.

Clearly, the Space Knights were as fully dedicated to their futile defiance as Ness and Cain were to their own; these humans, however, would receive none of Spear's mercy.

0100100100

That just might have done it, Ringo mused, as the space between him and Spear was filled with flying debris from the two-way explosion that Saber and Slade's psychotic older brother had been at ground zero of. Allowing himself to relax enough to check his Tekno-suit's chronometer, Ringo tensed up all over again once he saw how much time had passed while he'd been hunting a certain evil Teknoman across the outer edges of the Command Center's perimeter.

Damn! Only one and a half minutes left! He knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that he wouldn't be able to get Saber back inside the Command Center before the kid lost his hold on that transformation that made him and Slade so deadly in combat, but he could at least protect Saber once the kid had inevitably lost consciousness when he lost that armor of his. Rocketing into the air, trusting Maggie and Star to be able to take care of themselves while he got Saber out of whatever tight spot the kid had to be in now that his time had pretty much run out.

He found the kid in a particularly bad situation: pinned to the sheer side of an outcropping, with both his own teknolance and the one that obviously belonged to Spear holding him up at the waist. There was no blood – Ringo took a moment to be profoundly grateful for small favors – but the kid was pretty well stuck, all the same. Just as he was about to yank one of the lances – the one that clearly belonged to Spear, so he could toss it somewhere that a certain psychopath wouldn't be able to get to it – Ringo felt something slamming into his armored left flank.

It was just as well that he was wearing armor, Ringo reflected, since it felt like that kick would have shattered most if not all of his ribs if it'd connected with his unarmored body. Firing his thrusters to right himself, after he'd ridden out the momentum from the kick that he couldn't turn aside, Ringo saw the worst sight he could possibly have seen under the circumstances: Spear was there, hovering right in front of Saber just as the kid finally lost his hold on that transformation of his and his armor vanished.

Righting himself in the air, Ringo breathed deeply as he tried to make himself relax. Being tense in this situation wouldn't do him a bit of good, even if he was about to do something that anyone could have told him was dangerous in the extreme. Hell, he knew that getting between any Teknoman and something they wanted was stupid as all hell, but there were just some things a man had to do when his friends were in danger.

Darting in behind Spear, just as the evil Teknoman had pulled Saber away from the outcropping, Ringo took a swing at Spear's head to disorient Saber and Slade's psychotic older brother just long enough for him to pull Saber's vulnerable, human form out of the evil Teknoman's arms. Once he'd gotten a good grip on Saber, something he had a lot less time for than he would have ever wished, Ringo flew as fast as his rockets would let him. Okay, Saber's about as safe as anyone's going to get out here; now I just have to get him back inside the Command Center without getting us both killed by Spear.

Easier said than done, he knew; a certain psychotic, evil Teknoman would be dogging his trail every metaphorical step of the way back to the Command Center. About the only thing he could really count on to keep Spear from doing anything too drastic was the fact that he was holding Saber in the first place. And, really, that was bound to piss Spear off more than anything.

Turning to look behind him, his morbid curiosity finally prompting him to need to know just how close he was to having a bad, first-hand encounter with Spear, Ringo tensed. As it turned out, he was still a bit too close for comfort. This wasn't going to be easy.

0100100010

"Come in!" Tina shouted over the comm., desperately worried for all of her friends who were out trying to fight Spear. "Somebody answer me! Is anybody there?! Star? Saber? Maggie? Ringo?"

Maggie and Star appeared out of the static on the main screen, Maggie holding her head like she'd gotten a headache, and Star slumped across the control console of the vehicle that Commander Jamison had asked her to pilot. Neither of them looked like they were injured, though, so that was good.

"Yeah?" Maggie asked, still holding her head.

"We're all right for the moment, I think," Star answered, raising her head and looking like she was trying to be calm for all of their sakes. Tina appreciated the sentiment, but she was worried all the same.

"I'm worried about Ringo and Saber; neither of them have been answering my hails," she said, hoping that Maggie and Star would be able to tell her what had happened to their two fellow Space Knights that she hadn't been able to contact.

However, right at that moment, the static on the main screen came back, and a small image of Slade appeared; Tina could only be thankful that he hadn't heard what she, Maggie, and Star had been talking about. He would have been so worried if he knew that they hadn't been able to contact either Saber or Ringo; but Saber in particular, she knew. He'd always worried about Saber when the two of them were separated.

"Tina, how are Saber and Ringo doing out there?" Slade asked, sounding about as tense as he looked.

"They're fine, Slade," the Commander said, speaking before Tina herself could say even a single word. "We've been out of contact for a short time, but I am quite certain that Ringo and Saber are handling the situation well. There's no need for you to worry."

"Thanks, Commander."

Looking over at the Commander for a moment, wondering if he'd been worrying just as much as she had, Tina turned back to the main screen, just as the image of Slade vanished and was replaced by a view of the outside. Standing on an outcropping, larger than life thanks to the effects of the screen, were Ringo and Spear.

Saber was there, too, but it was obvious that he wasn't conscious; Ringo was holding him up, bridal style, and standing in front of Spear.

"Tina, activate the audio-receivers," the Commander said, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Yes, sir," she said, quickly doing so.

Over the Command Center's external receivers, carried to all of the personnel inside Comm. One, was… a conversation between Ringo and Spear:

"Give me my younger brother," Spear said, his tone softer than Tina ever would have expected from one of Darkon's Teknomen; he did still sound annoyed, though.

"No," Ringo said firmly, and Tina thought he looked like he wanted to start moving away from Spear, but didn't know just how the evil Teknoman would react to that.

"My patience with your kind is not unlimited, human," Spear said, an obvious sneer in his voice. "Now, give me Saber, and then tell me where Slade is."

Saber! Shivering as she watched the confrontation between Spear and Ringo, Tina tried to calm down her racing heart. There wasn't anything that she or anyone else could do for Saber right now; all that they could do was to trust that Ringo was going to be able to get the both of them away from Spear safely. Please, let them both make it back here all right, she prayed, clasping her hands as she continued to watch the confrontation being played out in front of them.

All they could do now was hope that everything would work out.

1010100101

He could hear Mac directing his underlings, guiding them to put the last pieces of Pegas' outer structure back together. He couldn't focus so much on that, though; most of his attention that wasn't being taken up by the gauge in front of him was back with Saber. Sure, he'd heard the Commander's reassurances that his younger twin was most likely all right, but nothing could really compare to having Saber himself say that.

Even if his younger twin laughed at him, which Saber probably would when he found out, Slade would be much happier once the two of them were together again.

"We're almost finished, lad," Mac said, bringing Slade's attention back to the world in general. "All we have to do is drop this unit in, and fasten her down. Then, it'll be all up to you and Saber."

"Right," he said, turning and nodding at Mac so that the portly mechanic would know that he'd gotten the message. "Thanks, Mac," he muttered, facing the gauge that he'd been asked to monitor once more. Just hold on out there, little brother. I'll be coming to help you soon; just hold on a little longer.

1101001011

Shara didn't remember having fallen asleep, but she supposed that no one ever really remembered falling asleep; they just realized that they had done so after they woke up somewhere. She thought that it was kind of strange, the fact that she could feel a blanket covering her; she didn't think any of the nomads would have been willing to do that kind of thing.

Not after the way that all of them had panicked at the sight of her in full Tekno-armor.

She was also laying on top of what felt like a bedroll, and she could hear people talking. Just two people, it sounded like.

"We may not be under attack at the moment, Sergeant, but I'm telling you, we've got to be ready," the first voice, a young-sounding man – strangely enough, he sounded only a few years older than Ness or Cain – said.

"Ready for what? They're attacking the Space Knights, not us," the second voice – an older main – replied, sounding a bit resigned to their current situation. "We're safe, for now."

"There's no place on the planet that's safe, Sergeant," the younger man countered; she knew better than most just how true his words were, but she also understood that no one would truly want to believe how much danger they were in from the Radam presence on Earth. "The Military is helpless. We just have to hope that the Space Knights' special weapons are enough to hold them back."

"Oh, you mean those Teknoman things?"

"Space Knights? Space Knights," she muttered to herself, wondering just what kind of an organization would honestly call themselves that; it was a strange name, to be sure. Then, the other thing that the older man had said – far more important to her at this point in time – registered. "Teknoman?"

Sitting back up, deciding that getting answers from these two men was far more relevant to her current interests than seeing if either of them would say anything else on their own, Shara heard the older man comment on that fact. He also called her "Sleeping Beauty", but it sounded like he was just trying to be funny.

"How are you feeling?" the younger man – he had reddish-brown hair, and kind brown eyes – asked, holding out a mug as if he was offering the contents to her. "Sorry for the accommodations; sand doesn't make the most comfortable bed, does it? Would you like some coffee? I just made it; it's fresh."

"Thank you, but no." Even the smell reminded her of Conrad; though her eldest brother – when he was still himself – would have had two creams and one sugar in his drink if he'd been the one preparing it. He'd never been particularly fond of the taste of coffee on its own. "Where am I? And where are these Teknomen?"

"As far as I know, they're at the Space Knight Command Center," the younger man said.

"Their Command Center? Are you sure that's where I can find those Teknomen?" she asked; the younger man, the younger soldier, didn't respond.

"Listen, miss, I'll be perfectly happy to answer any questions you might have, but I think that first you should have at least something in your stomach."

It was true: Shara was starting to feel the slight, gnawing hunger that all Teknomen felt when they had been forced to expend a great deal of energy and then found themselves unable to replenish it in any way. Taking the mug from the younger soldier's hands, Shara took a moment to feel the warmth of the ceramic on her own, before taking a long swallow. The bitter taste of the drink wasn't any more appealing than the last time she'd had it, but it did feel nice to have something in her stomach.

Even if it wasn't particularly substantial.

"There ya go," the younger soldier said, smiling gently. "Now, tell me: why are you here? I mean, how did a young girl like you end up all the way out in the desert? You- well, you didn't even have any shoes when we found you."

"My brothers are with the Space Knights," she said; she'd wasted enough time, time that she didn't really have, out here in the desert. At the very least, she had something to go on. "I've got to find them!"

"You mean, actually go to their Command Center?" the younger soldier asked, looking surprised. His expression smoothed out as quickly as she would have expected from a professional soldier, though. "I'm afraid that would be impossible, miss. The Space Knights are in an action zone; you can't go there."

"Just show me the way to their command center!"

"Sorry, miss," the older soldier said; he was more controlled than the younger one, almost to the point of sounding entirely unemotional. "It's too dangerous, and that's in a classified area. Besides, that zone would be knee-deep in Spider-crabs by now. They're bad news, miss."

It was about the largest understatement that she had ever heard anyone make, but the older soldier seemed just the kind of person to say something like that. "I don't care!"

"Don't worry, miss," the younger soldier said, reaching out to rest his hand on her right shoulder. "You're safe with us. Now, tell me: who are you?"

He was such a kind person that she almost regretted the necessity of her actions, but Shara knew that she couldn't allow herself to forget that it was necessary. She needed to speak with Ness and Cain, as well as whatever allies that her older brothers had managed to gather; to tell them what she had found out during the time that the Radam had spent attempting to tamper with her mind. And what she had seen before that.

She couldn't afford to stay here anymore; that much was more than clear. "I've got to go; I have to get to my brothers, now." Standing up, the slight 'thunk' of something impacting the ground lost in the new urgency Shara felt now that she actually knew where to go. "Goodbye."

The younger soldier called out to her, and she could hear the worry in his tone as he gave chase. And, as much as she didn't like to make people worry about her, Shara knew that she couldn't afford to spend the time it would take to reassure him. She knew – at least in a general sense – where she would be able to find Ness and Cain now, having heard some of the people on the Argos mentioning a group called the Space Knights.

The name of the organization alone had been odd enough to draw her attention, and the fact that their Command Center was in Arizona – a place that she had always wanted to visit – had ensured that the information would stick in her mind.

The younger soldier was shouting at her as she ran, yelling for her to stop; that it was dangerous out in the desert; yelling that there was nothing for her out there in the middle of the desert. Shara knew what she was looking for now, though, and as kind as both of the soldiers had been to her, she knew that she couldn't afford to stay with them now that she had a concrete destination to aim for.

There was really only one way that she would be able to make up for the time that she had lost while wandering in the desert without any real destination, as much as she didn't particularly want to do it: "Tekno-power!"

Firing her thrusters as she leapt into the air, Shara tried to breathe deeply and calm down. She knew what she was going to be bringing down on her head; she knew that Conrad was going to be able to find her much more easily now that she had transformed, but she also knew that Ness and Cain would be able to do the same. And now, now that she had a concrete destination in mind, somewhere to aim her course while she was in the air, there was another thing she would be able to do. She could call out to them now, secure in the knowledge that – as long as she kept moving in the right direction – Ness and Cain would come to help her.

At the very least, she would have a chance of meeting up with them before Conrad showed up to attack her; maybe not a good one, but a chance was really the best she could hope for under the circumstances.

0100100010001

Ringo could have sworn that the even the air between him and Spear was crackling with the tension that he could see in every line of Spear's armored body. He knew what the fanatical Teknoman wanted; hell, he couldn't help but know, after Spear had been so damned adamant about it during the battle. The glare from the evil Teknoman's narrowed, glowing red eyes also let him know that there were probably very few things that said evil Teknoman would have liked more than to grab Saber and fly off back to Darkon with him.

Well, other than to be able to somehow get Slade back, too; and, Ringo was also fairly sure that rending him limb-from-limb rated pretty high on that list, too.

That was what made it all the more surprising when a certain evil Teknoman snapped around, searching the sky like it held some kind of all-important answer for him. Spear seemed torn for a few moments after that, his red gaze fixing on Saber for a long few seconds, then back on the sky, before he leaped into the sky in a burst of red fire. The evil Teknoman was a distant line of red light in the sky before Ringo could even begin to formulate any possible idea about what in the hell had just happened.

As soon as Spear was no longer in sight, Saber sat up in his arms quickly enough that Ringo knew the kid had to have been playing 'possum. Not that Ringo blamed him, since without his armor he was just as vulnerable to attack as any other human.

"Get me back inside. I need to see my brother," Saber said, bright blue eyes boring into Ringo with more force than he'd ever seen the kid use before; at least on one of his fellow Space Knights. Still, this was the most serious situation either of them had been in so far.

"Right," he said, noticing just then the presence of a particular, glowing spot of light between Saber's eyebrows that meant that he'd been talking to Slade all this time. No wonder he didn't say he needed to talk to Slade, Ringo mused, smirking slightly. Say what you would about those freaky twin powers their boys had – and he'd said a lot of it, both before and after the three of them had gotten to know each other – but it really came in handy during times like this.

Star and Maggie met up with the two of them as Ringo made his way back to the Command Center, and for a few moments he was surprised to see that the gun-boat they'd been riding in while they took potshots at Spear was still mostly intact. Then, he realized that it was probably just because a certain evil Teknoman had been a hell of a lot more interested in beating him and Saber down so that he could drag the kid back to Darkon and get him brainwashed.

He guessed that it was just a good thing that he and Saber had been able to distract said evil Teknoman as well as they had. Not quite for their own sakes, since holding the attention of one of the Radam's most powerful fighters tended to have some pretty unpleasant consequences for anyone who tried to do it, but for everyone else who was inside the Command Center. Not that that's going to stop any of us Space Knights from doing what we have to do, but it's something we always have to keep in mind.

101001001

(Spear just left, and I'm betting you know just as well as I do why that is.)

Biting his lower lip as Saber's mental voice sounded inside his mind for the first time since his younger twin had gone out to fight their older brother, Slade sighed. (Do you really think it could be true, though? I mean, I know what I want to be true, but I don't know-)

(Yeah,) Saber said, sounding about as wary of the whole idea as Slade himself felt. (I know; this whole thing seems too good to be true, but I think it might be worth checking out all the same. If only so we at least won't be surprised by anything else that happens.)

(Yeah, you're probably right,) Slade said, sighing. He didn't like it; he didn't know if it was possible for Shara to have escaped the brainwashing that had turned their older brother Conrad into Darkon's loyal attack dog, and didn't like the idea of either of them ending up having to fight Shara if she had been brainwashed.

He didn't like the idea both for Shara's own sake, and because he knew that, no matter what else happened, they would inevitably be facing Spear again.

"Slade, we're all finished here," he heard Mac say, bringing his attention back to what he was actually doing rather than what he and Saber were going to be doing. "Get going; Saber's waiting for you."

"Really?" he asked; it did seem like all of the work needed to put Pegas back together had been done, but Slade would have been the first to admit that he didn't know the inner-workings of his and Saber's combat partner nearly as well as Mac did. "That's good to know; it feels like I've been waiting forever."

"Right; the armor is tougher, and this new energy-cannon is the strongest we've ever made. It should give you lads all the edge you need."

"Thanks, Mac," he said softly, staring up at the form of his and Saber's newly repaired combat partner. He already knew that they wouldn't be needing it as urgently as he'd thought when he'd been all but assigned to help the Space Knights' head mechanic to repair Pegas, but he was still aware that they would both be needing it when they inevitably went out to confront Spear.

And, if their capricious luck was against them this time, they might end up facing off with Shara, too.

While Mac contacted the Commander, and the Commander told him that Spear had left, Slade gathered himself for what he and Saber were going to have to do next. When Mac started speaking to the Commander about the repairs that they had made to Pegas, Slade went over to the communication console that he suspected was a standard feature in all of the larger rooms of the Command Center.

"Tell Slade that Spear has retreated, and that Saber is on his way back with Ringo," the Commander said, and before Mac could say anything in response, Slade had made it over to the console.

"Retreated?" Mac echoed. "But, why would he do that?"

"We're not sure, Mac."

"Let Saber and I go after him, Commander," he said, seeing Jamison's eyes lock onto him with what seemed like his usual level of detached interest. "There's another Teknoman out there."

"Another Teknoman?" the Commander echoed.

"Yes; and this one will help us against Spear," he said, putting all of the conviction he didn't quite feel into his voice. "This could be the only chance we have to bring them in before Spear gets to them."

He was trying not to think too much about Shara; Saber would probably call him an idiot, or at least laugh at him if he ever talked about what he was feeling right now, but Slade felt that if he didn't mention her too specifically – if he tried not to think too much about their younger sister and the fact that he and Saber were going to be heading off to rescue her – then their capricious luck might not find some way to turn against them. It was probably a stupid thought, but it was the main thing in his mind at this moment all the same.

"All right, you have my permission to deploy," the Commander said; Slade breathed a sigh of relief. "Inform Saber, if you haven't already."

"All right," he nodded. "Thank you, Commander."

The Commander's sharp nod was all the answer Slade got from him, but after working for the man for so long, Slade honestly hadn't been expecting anything else.

(Saber, we're going to be heading out again,) he said. (The Commander's okayed it, so as soon as you make it back here, we'll head for the Blue Earth.)

(Sounds good,) Saber said. (We'll have to get the rations out of the Blue Earth again, though, and I'm kind of starting to get sick of those,) Saber said, with the dry, deadpan tone that he always used when he wasn't being remotely serious.

(I'm sure you'll manage,) he said, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

As he sensed Saber covering the last bit of distance between the two of them, Slade looked over at the hallway that Ringo and Saber had left through. Saber was the first one back in, but Ringo was close enough behind him that he didn't think his younger twin had run the whole way back. Ringo would have been out of breath if that had been the case; Saber wouldn't have been, though, Slade knew at least that much.

"No rest for the wicked, eh?" Ringo asked, smirking slightly as the three of them joined up with each other in the machine shop.

"You could say that," Saber said, the amused expression on his younger twin's face not comforting Slade nearly as much as it clearly did Ringo; he knew Saber better than anyone else, after all.

This situation was making them both tense.

When Star and Maggie made their way back into the machine shop, Slade finally let go of the last of the tension he'd been feeling. Both of them looked all right, which he knew wouldn't have been the case if they had gotten into a fight with Spear. Watching as Maggie turned to Saber, wrapping her arms around his younger twin and kissing him deeply, Slade turned away slightly.

Sure, it was cute and all, but seeing them together like that tended to remind him of just how fragile all of their lives really were right now. He knew that Saber knew just as well as he did how precarious all of this was, but seeing Saber with Maggie reminded him more than ever of just how different he and Saber were; even being twins didn't change that. And, while Saber tended to reach out to people he was close to when he was feeling uncertain about things, Slade knew that he would always try to keep people at arm's-length when things like this came up.

It was for a good reason, yes – he'd never want any of his friends to be hurt, particularly when the only thing that had put them in the line of fire was the fact that they were his friends – but watching Saber's interactions with their friends always served to remind Slade of how different he and Saber were, in the end.

It didn't take much time to explain what they had both sensed; the most likely reason that Spear had left them alone when he did, in spite of the fact that Slade himself hadn't been out there fighting, and their older brother had had to have known that Slade would have been able, and more than willing, to fight with all he had to save his younger brother. The fact that the Commander himself had given them the go-ahead helped them to move a bit faster, but Slade found himself watching Ringo's reaction as the four of them made for the Blue Earth. He still remembered the way the blond had reacted to him and Saber when the two of them had first showed up at the Command Center.

He could have never imagined that Ringo agreeing to anything he'd proposed so readily; but then, Slade knew that he probably wouldn't have bothered asking, back then.

It seemed like entirely too much time had passed before the four of them made it to the Blue Earth, even in spite of the fact that they'd run the whole way to the hangar, but Slade knew that that was just his own impatience making the trip feel longer. There wasn't really anything he could do about that, Slade knew, so he would just have to deal with that on his own. Settling into his seat, Slade turned the chair slightly so that he could watch Saber climb into his; his younger twin winked at him as he sat down.

Smiling softly, Slade turned both his chair and his attention back to the outside world; Shara was still out there, somewhere, and it was up to them to find her. Slade wouldn't let himself forget that. The deep, distant thrumming of the Blue Earth's engines as they powered up served both to relax Slade a bit – since they were finally moving out – and to remind him of just what was at stake.

If his hunch was wrong…

(I hope Shara's doing all right out there,) Saber said, cutting into Slade's worrying before he could really get started.

(Yeah, me too,) he said.

Closing his eyes, Slade did something he really, truly hoped he wouldn't come to regret in the future: he let down the mental barrier that he had carefully constructed during the many, many months that he and Saber had spent with the Space Knights. The one that he'd been working to strengthen all throughout the time that Spear had been attacking them; the one that allowed him and Saber to function as fairly normal people. As the walls around his mind came down, and he began to catch bits of Saber's surface thoughts, Slade hoped once again that he wasn't going to regret doing this.

0101001011

Standing at the top of one of the many high, thin rock formations that she had been flying over not so very long ago, Shara concentrated her telepathy on calling out to her two brothers; the only family that she had left, at this point.

(Ness, Cain, I'm here; please answer me.) She had called out for her brothers several times during the course of her flight, but there had always been some kind of interference; Shara suspected that she knew what it was, but now that interference was gone and she had a definite chance of contacting them this time.

"There you are; I'd hoped you would have had the sense to land quickly, little sister," said the gentle voice of someone that she'd been hoping not to meet during this last leg of her journey. "Come on; if we leave now, I'm sure I will be able to convince Lord Darkon to put you back inside the Tekno-system, and we can forget this whole thing ever happened."

She knew that she couldn't really hope to fight the… the Teknoman that had once been their elder brother, not in her condition, and not when he had all of Conrad's experience and natural talent in combat. There was really only one thing she could do in this situation. She heard the Teknoman calling out to her, heard him telling her to wait, demanding to know where she was going and what she was thinking, but she wasn't about to answer him.

There was nothing that anyone could say or do; nothing would change what had happened, nothing would bring the other members of her family back.

Shara knew that she wouldn't likely be able to land anywhere, not with Darkon's Teknoman following her so closely. Her only hope was to call out to Ness and Cain; to hope that her two elder brothers would be able to protect her from the monster using their eldest brother's voice. Pushing all she had left into her thrusters, Shara opened her telepathic powers as far as she could, reaching out to Ness and Cain with all of the mental strength she could summon.

(Please; Ness, Cain, I can't do this on my own. I need your help,) she called, feeling the drain of using her thrusters as it ate away at her. (Please, come quickly.)

She could still sense him, Darkon's Teknoman, drawing closer to her with every breath she took; she could only hope that Ness and Cain, the only members of her family that she would ever be able to trust again, would come to her aid quickly. She knew that she wasn't likely to win a direct confrontation with… Darkon's Teknoman; not with all of the advantages that he had.

Not when she was still so weak from transforming without food, and then flying for so long without rest on top of it.

00100101001

When he heard Shara's voice inside his mind, when he felt the slow-building fear that she was inadvertently transmitting to him as she presumably tried to stay one step ahead of Spear, Slade couldn't quite stop himself from tensing in his seat. He knew, just as well as anyone else inside the Blue Earth, that wishing for the ship to go faster wouldn't do anyone onboard a single bit of good. Ringo was flying as fast as he could in atmosphere; Slade would remind himself of that whenever his desire to see Shara again – to save her, to finally have her beside him; to have just one more piece of his family back after what the Radam had tried to do to them all – threatened to get the better of him.

(Shara, he hasn't hurt you, has he?) he asked; he knew how Spear acted, he knew that their older brother said that he didn't want to hurt either of them, his actions earlier today had proved that that was just one more lie from Darkon's attack dog.

It had just proved that you could never trust a Radam Teknoman to be anything but evil.

(No; he hasn't hurt me, but he's closing in, and I don't know how long I'm going to have the strength to stay ahead of him. I can sense you and Cain, though,) Shara said, and Slade could almost see their younger sister smiling at him. (I know that I can count on the two of you.)

(Yeah,) he said; Slade found himself wishing once again that the Blue Earth could move faster, so he took a deep breath and reminded himself that Ringo was pushing the ship for all she had.

They would get there in time to save Shara, he'd told himself that every time that the Blue Earth seemed to be moving too slowly; every time that Slade had found himself wishing that the ship would move faster.

010001000101

"Shara, there you are."

Looking up when she heard that kind, gentle tone – one that she would have been happy to hear, if this had actually been her brother and not some Radam wearing the same face – she saw the armored form of Teknoman Spear staring down at her.

"I'm sure this must all seem very strange to you, little sister," Spear said; Shara could almost see the gentle smile that he was probably wearing under that helmet of his, and it made her feel sick inside. This wasn't Conrad, but anyone who had known him could have almost been forgiven for thinking that this Teknoman would be something like her gentle, stern, protective older brother. "Still, this isn't the place to discuss things like that. Come with me; I'll take you up to the Space Ring so you can rest."

There was clearly something that Spear wasn't saying, and even if she hadn't known what it had cost her to escape from the Teknosystem when she had, Shara would have known that something was off. "I'm not going back with you," she said, knowing that Spear wasn't likely to leave it at that, but not wanting to provoke the Teknoman if she could at all avoid it.

Not when she had so little strength left; not when she didn't know just when and where her last two brothers were going to come to her aid.

"Don't be silly, Shara," Spear said, dismissing what she had just said with unnerving ease. "There's nothing for any of us here, anymore. Just come with me; I don't want anything else to happen to you."

It would have almost been easier if Spear would have attacked her, then she could have fought. She might have been driven into a corner, forced to fight for her life until she was either completely drained of energy or Ness and Cain came to her rescue. But now, hearing the gentle voice of her older brother – what the Radam had left of him, anyway – speaking softly to her as he tried to coax her to go with him… It was the hardest thing that she had done since she had made her escape from Darkon's ship.

Turning without another word, or even a look back, Shara flew as fast as she could; her only real chance was to run, and hope that Ness and Cain would catch up to her before Spear did.

1110100100

"Another Teknoman?!" Ringo demanded. "How many are there?!"

"Well, it seems like you're back to your old self," he heard Saber say, and Slade could easily picture the amused smirk on his younger twin's face.

"Yeah, no thanks to your big brother," Ringo said, sounding annoyed.

Slade winced. "They didn't tell me how badly you two were doing, or I would have been out there a lot sooner."

"Relax, Slade; even if you had been there, you'd have been busy taking care of Saber once his time ran out," Ringo said.

"I guess," he said; knowing that it was true but not really wanting to say it so bluntly.

"Hey you, remember: you can't be everywhere at once," he heard Star say.

It was true, and he knew that Saber probably wasn't particularly happy with him for going on like that, but Slade had long since learned that his feelings weren't particularly susceptible to reason. He didn't think anyone's were, really.

"We're picking up strong energy-readings just up ahead," Star reported, just as Slade felt the sense of Shara and the Teknoman that used to be Conrad slamming into him like an almost physical impact.

"They're just up ahead," he said, not really paying much attention to what Star was saying, anymore. (Shara, we're here now. You'll be all right, baby sister. Just stay strong.)

(I will; just… come quickly. I don't know how long I'm going to be able to hold out. C-he isn't angry right now, but you both would know better than I do just how volatile he is.)

Yeah, he thought to himself, as the Blue Earth drew close enough for him to see the flares from Shara's thrusters as she tried to outrun Spear. He knew it wouldn't be long before their older brother spotted the Blue Earth, or else sensed him and Saber coming, and they were forced to engage him. Still, it might be better for the three of them if they forced Spear to engage, first.

They'd done it in the past, though Slade didn't particularly like thinking about the outcome of that; still, under the circumstances he was more than willing to try again.

(Saber, let's go,) Slade said, knowing that it wouldn't be long before Spear took notice of them, and not wanting to wait any longer to go out and help Shara.

(Right behind you, brother,) Saber said, and Slade could hear his younger twin's footsteps on the deck as he got back to his feet.

"Good luck out there, you two," Ringo said, as the two of them passed him at a jog on their way to the air lock.

He heard call back to their fellow Space Knight, but at this point Slade was a lot more focused on where he and Saber were going to be – that is, in battle with Spear to rescue Shara – than on where they were right now. Maybe not the best of mindsets, but under the circumstances he felt that anyone would be willing to cut him some slack. Anyone who knew him, anyway.

"Pegas, power on!" he shouted, hearing the big mech's acknowledgement and his younger twin's calling on his own transformation almost at the same time.

As the energies rushed through him again, Slade could almost feel his awareness expanding to take in the two Teknoman who were fighting each other in front of him, as well as the one flying into battle beside him.

(Well, brother, here we go,) he heard Saber say, sounding like he wasn't quite sure if he was more worried about the situation in general or Shara in particular.

(Yeah; once more into the breach, and all that,) he responded, trying to sound more relaxed than he ultimately felt.

He didn't think it would do much good, both since Saber knew him so well and because the both of them already knew just what it was that they were getting into, but Slade felt compelled to make the effort all the same. It still didn't feel right when Saber was tense; he always felt almost compelled to try to help his younger twin under those circumstances. He didn't know if the reverse was true, but then Saber always had been stronger than him that way.

(I guess you're right,) Saber said, as his younger twin joined up with him on Pegas' back and the three of them dove down to confront Spear.

He was fully aware that their brainwashed elder brother knew they were coming, that he couldn't help but know after they had both transformed so close to him, but here and now Slade didn't care. One of the few remaining members of their family was in danger, and he wasn't about to leave Shara to Spear's warped conception of mercy.

(Let's finish this,) Slade said, gritting his teeth as he looked down at Spear's armored form, staring up at them.

(No arguments here.)

"Pegas, tri-attack mode," he ordered, voice as calm as he didn't feel right now. "Stand by to fire." (Saber, take about two steps back; Pegas is going to be reconfiguring a bit for this.)

(Will do, brother,) Saber said, and Slade heard the sounds of his younger twin's armored feet on metal as Saber moved back.

Slade could almost picture what was happening behind him: according to Mac's description of the changes they'd made to Pegas' general configuration, a platform for Saber to stand on – a platform that would put his younger twin's upper-chest just above the top of Slade's own head – was rising up from just behind the place where Slade normally stood on the big mech's back. According to what Mac had told him, there was a pair of restraining clamps on the platform, to help hold his younger twin in place while Pegas was maneuvering; Slade could hear the whirr of machinery as Pegas converted into the new form that the Commander had designed and then Mac had built.

He could see Spear taking to the air in front of them and some distance below, and Slade made it a point to strengthen the mental walls between his own mind and that of Darkon's armored attack dog; he wasn't interested at all in anything that Spear had to say.

(Get ready, Saber; this is the big one,) he said, already beginning the charging process for his Tekno-bolt.

He felt it when Saber did the same. (Yeah.)

Let's hope this works better than the last time, he didn't say. He didn't want to entertain the possibility that this wouldn't work, but he hadn't wanted to entertain the possibility that Spear had had something that could do more damage than a Tekno-bolt; he still remembered how that had turned out. Taking a deep breath that he didn't really need, Slade felt the energies roiling inside his armored body reach their peak.

All right; this is it, he mused, as he, Saber, and Pegas all fired their respective energy weapons at the same time.

Even his enhanced vision wasn't able to pick out Spear's armored form once the light from their combined weaponry had hit the Radam Teknoman, but the screaming that Slade could pick up just on the edge of his enhanced hearing gave him at least some hope that – even if Spear was too tough to be killed even by what amounted to two-and-a-half simultaneous Tekno-bolts – their brainwashed elder brother wouldn't be returning to cause them trouble for at least long enough for them to get Shara settled in with the Space Knights.

(All right, that's done,) Saber said, bringing Slade's attention back to the present rather than his hopes for the future. (Let's land this thing.)

(Yeah,) he said, smiling softly under his helmet as he let Pegas circle over the battlefield. "Pegas, resume standard configuration."

"Affirmative."

Sighing softly, still smiling in relief at the sight of Shara looking up at them from the ground as they settled slowly down towards it, Slade finally allowed himself to relax. (Don't worry, little sister. We'll be there soon.)

0001010010

As she watched that strange machine that Ness and Cain were riding on top of slowly transform until it looked just the way it had when they had flown it out of that ship that had brought them both here, Shara sighed as she allowed herself to relax slightly. She couldn't really allow herself to relax, of course, not with all that she had been through and all that she knew was still coming, but she was also fully aware that being tense had never helped anyone to resolve a problem. She also knew that Ness and Cain would be worried enough about her once they inevitably found out what was happening to her.

She didn't want to make things any more stressful for them than they would be already.

As Ness and Cain's large, flying platform landed and allowed the two of them to step off of it, Shara found – to her surprise – that the transformation it had gone through to fire that strange beam-attack that it had used on the Teknoman who had once been Conrad wasn't the only one that it could undergo. It changed again, this time into a humanoid shape that almost looked like a crude attempt at reproducing a Teknoman.

Shara wondered what it could be for; that is, she wondered about it right up until Ness climbed inside the strange robot to transform back into his human self. Cain still transformed like any other Teknoman would: dismissing his armor with a bright flash of light, inside a crystalline cage that matched the color of his changed eyes. She couldn't quite help wondering just why it was that Ness and Cain used such drastically different methods to transform, but then decided that that wasn't so important in light of the things she had to say to them.

She would ask if the topic came up, just to sate her own curiosity, but for the moment all that mattered was telling the last of her brothers just what they could expect from the Radam; all that mattered was that they knew how to save not only themselves, but the Earth as well.

Letting her own transformation fade just before the last of the energies around Cain had cleared, Shara abruptly found herself in the center of a warm, strong, two-sided embrace from both of her middle brothers. She almost couldn't believe it; it seemed entirely too good to be true, that she would manage to not only escape from the Radam, but to find her way back to her brothers after all that they had been through. Shara almost couldn't believe it; she must have said something like that, because the next thing Shara heard was Ness' kind voice speaking to her:

"Believe it, baby sister, it's definitely us."

"Yeah," Cain said, and when Shara looked at the younger of her two older brothers, she found that he was smiling at her in the same way that Ness was. "This is real, and you're here, and we're definitely happy to see you."

"I'm happy, too," she said, leaning into the embrace of her elder brothers for a few, long moments.

What she had to say next would be painful for all of them, and while there was no real way for her to avoid it now that she was here, Shara didn't think that anyone could really blame her for wanting to postpone it just for a bit. Cain was gently rubbing her back, the way he had done so many times in the past, back when all of them had truly had each other to rely on, and she was grateful to both of her elder brothers for their support. Both the warmth of their strong arms wrapping around her, and the love that she could almost feel radiating from the two of them.

It was what made saying what she had to so very difficult; but then, there wasn't really any part of their current situation that was easy,she reflected.

Just as she had started to straighten up, before she could actually begin to say anything, Shara found the weakness that she had been holding at bay through sheer force of will hitting her with a force that almost took her breath away. It would have probably knocked Shara off her feet, if not for the support that Ness and Cain were providing her by being so close. As it was, though, it still caused her to collapse into the circle of her elder brothers' arms.

She knew that there was no way to avoid worrying Ness and Cain, knew that they would both want to know what had happened to her, but for the moment she was far too tired to care. The sound of Ness and Cain's worried voices followed her down into the darkness, and Shara wished with her last few moments of lucidity that none of this had happened.

1101001001

It felt like every part of his body had been burned. The sheer pressure of his younger siblings' combined Tekno-bolts had crushed in on him even as the energies had burned him in their wake, and for a few, too-long moments, Spear was honestly surprised to have lived through that assault. There was even a part of him, unacknowledged and all the more insidious for it, that wished he hadn't.

Crushing those useless and near-treacherous thoughts with the ease of long practice and the determination that such had instilled in him, Spear laboriously forced himself to roll onto the front of his body, and then pushed himself up off of the ground. Shifting until he could at least kneel, even if he did feel unaccountably battered and weary from the effort, Spear found that his mount had tracked him to this desolate place where he had been thrown after the combined Tekno-bolts from Cain and Ness had rained down on him.

"Thank you." Patting the creature's head as it nuzzled against him, Spear levered himself up and crawled onto its back as it hovered before him.

The tension that had been keeping him on his knees bled out of Spear's body rather quickly after that, leaving Spear to slump onto the back of his mount even as the creature's tail curled up around him to provide the stability that he would need during this journey more than any of the others that he had made before, Spear closed his eyes. He didn't weep, but that was only because he was physically incapable of the action while he was transformed.

The transformation altered one's body on a fundamental level; not only layering armor over the Teknoman's comparatively vulnerable body, but altering the biostructure of that selfsame body to act as another layer of armor in and of itself. His eyes, therefore, were currently composed of the same clear, crystalline substance as that which made up his visor; though it was red-tinted as opposed to the pale green of his visor. As he was, transformed like this, he could merely widen and narrow his eyes, and even then he could not truly close them at this point.

Still, given the events of this most harrowing of days, Spear knew that he would indeed be weeping once he reached the Space Ring; once he had the chance to release his transformation and rest for a time.

There was no denying it, not after the way Ness and Cain had attacked him; not after they had not even deigned to listen to him when he tried to speak to them: they would not be persuaded. He would have to force them to return to Lord Darkon; he would need all of his considerable power to do so, and more than likely whatever enhancements Lord Darkon saw fit to provide him with.

He would need to force his younger siblings to heel; to beat them down with his superior powers and combat prowess, before he would ever be able to bring them back home.

As his mount wrapped its long, flexible tail around his torso and Spear curled his own right arm around that tail in turn, he sighed in mingled sorrow and exhaustion. It would not be long before he would be called upon to fight once more, Spear knew, so he would have to rest and prepare himself for that eventuality. And, as much as he hated the idea, Spear now knew what he would need to do.

His next battle with his younger siblings could not be allowed to end in his defeat.

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When they had finally made it back to the Command Center, after having hurried Shara back into the Blue Earth and held her as Ringo and Star had taken off and flown, Slade had to almost physically restrain himself from running right into the hospital room where she had been taken. He was grateful to his younger twin for being there with him – Slade honestly didn't want to think about how badly he would probably be doing if he'd had to face this kind of thing alone – and he leaned into Saber's right side as his younger twin wrapped his arm tightly around his shoulders.

The worst part of it was that Shara hadn't even been injured; Spear had been more intent on chasing her down and talking, rather than actually trying to attack her; it was just what he had tried to do with the two of them.

Shara was laying in the same bed that Saber had lain in, all those months ago when his younger twin had been slammed into the Blue Earth's hull and nearly had his skull cracked open.

"Shara, you can't die; not like this. Not now; not when we've just met again." He hadn't really been aware that he was actually speaking, but he must have been, since he felt Saber's arm tightening around him. Leaning as far as he could into his younger twin's side, Slade tried not to think about what could be happening to Shara.

He didn't know what could be happening to Shara; it wasn't as if she had been injured during her flight from Spear. He hated not knowing; he hated it more than anything.

"Rest assured: the medical-staff are doing all they can to determine the cause of your sister's collapse," the Commander said. "Slade, Saber; we've come across records concerning a Dr. Carter. Something happened to Dr. Carter's ship while he was investigating the moons of Jupiter, is that correct?"

"That's right," Saber answered; Slade could have sworn he swallowed his own tongue at hearing the Commander say that, of all things. "Though, I really don't know why you're talking about something like that."

"We also know that he had his daughter and his four sons along with him, and that his middle sons were identical twins; one named Ness, and the other Cain. You and Saber; you're Ness and Cain Carter, aren't you?"