Stalker had Starfire climbing through the atmosphere as fast as he dared and shot past several air and space craft with ease.

Winzor came over the comms. "Flight to Stalker. Sir, Rydin space control would like you to state the purpose of your emergency and have requested that you allow them some time to clear a lane."

"Kid, um"Winzor, tell them you couldn't reach me. Besides, I'm already in space and in a lane. Good night!" With that, Stalker slapped Starfire. "Starfire, don't do that again." Starfire didn't say anything in response but Stalker knew he was only following SOP.

As Stalker reached his preferred altitude in orbit, he banked gently to the right and looked over at Rhydin. This was his favorite view of Rhydin. He knew if he looked left and up about 35 degrees, he'd see the closest nebula and the asteroid field was on the opposite side of the planet. These, for the longest time, were the moments he lived to fly for. This was one of the things he treasured most. It was something he also regretted not getting to share with Kali.

"Grrrrr'son of a"STALKER, pull your head back into the game, blast you?, he admonished himself! It seemed the harder he tried not to think of Kali, the worse he got. He punched the throttles into the overload stops as hard as he could.

Starfire gave an electronic squeal. "Hey! Are you trying to break me?"

Stalker ignored him. He was furious with himself, he could not get his mind back into the zone and he was letting things get to him. Worse of all, he was itching for a fight, an excuse to take his frustrations out on'something.

Stalker and Starfire were around the planet and heading toward the asteroid field when a distress call came in. "May-day! We are under attack. We are the Lucian Delegation! Princess Mar-hal-she and her party requesting assistance." Old reflexes kicked in and Stalker found himself banking. Starfire already had the indicators up on the HUD to show the location the distress signal was coming from. Stalker let go of the throttles long enough to activate weapons and the "Grid.

The Lucian race were a peaceful people, complete pacifists. Stalker nearly watched them get wiped out before he decided it was better to make them an enemy instead of watching genocide when he was commanding the Megafire. After that, he helped train a handful of their people to be fighter pilots. They were a long way from home, however. That was unusual enough. Stalker's mind snapped back to the here and now when the comms crackled with a younger, female voice. "This is Princess Mar-hal-she of the Ruling house! I demand someone come to our aid!" Stalker heard some background noise and then a new voice, male, that sounded like the officer that sent the original distress signal. "She means, we respectfully request assistance." Again, in the background, there was noise but Stalker distinctly heard a voice insisting she was not to be corrected.

"Lucien Delegation, this is Commander McPherson responding to your distress call!" Stalker glanced at the indicators and made a course correction. "Please state your heading and situation."

"Salutations, Commander! We are on a heading of 457 Mark 341, heading for Neu-trae. We have approximately 6 bogies inbound." There was a rustling, like someone was fighting for control of the microphone and a female voice in the background. Stalker could not make out what she was saying. "Ahh"1 escort fighter is disabled and 2 are taking damage. We have suffered minor damage, over!" There was an uneasinesss to the voice.

"Understood. Recommend you adjust course to 442 Mark 3. I am moving to an intercept vector now. What armament do you have available?" Stalker was getting an uneasy feeling.

"We will most certainly not adjust our course! It is imperative we arrive at our destination on Neu-trae! As Princess, you are bound to follow my orders!" The Princess spoke, which only made Stalker roll his eyes. Brat or not, he couldn't ignore a distress signal.

"I am adjusting course, but the faster we can close the gap, the sooner I can assist you. I also suggest you get off of the line and let someone with some manners and knowledge speak, your Highness!" Stalker heard the beginnings of a "How dare you? when it was cut off and a new, deeper voice spoke.

"Commander McPherson, formerly of the Megafire, I presume" asked the new voice"

"Correct, and you are", Stalker asked"

"Sir, Michelson, sir! Man-at-Arms Michelson! We met on Lucian Prime. I was a cadet at the time that you suggested I rethink flying, sir." The sound of a proud man with the image of snapping to attention upon learning whom he was speaking with was evident.

Stalker cringed. He remembered Michelson. He was a kid, at the time, who was eager to help defend his race and was even more eager to impress. His piloting skills, however, were sorely lacking. The kid was pretty upset. Hopefully, he understood the decision. "Yes, I remember. Man-at-Arms, eh' We will have to get reacquainted later. What's the sit-rep?"

"Sir, one fighter is down, we have the pilot. Two are running tail guard but slowly getting picked apart. We have minor hull damage in the high after region. We do not have weapons and only heavy shields and basic countermeasures. Her Royal"Highness has insisted on the defensive strategy." Michelson was trying to stay in line but it was obvious he was frustrated and the lack of weapons and escort craft weren't his idea.

"Roger! I'm coming in hot from your 1 o"clock, low. Tell your men to please not shoot at me. Can you tell me anything of the attackers?" Stalker made another correction to his course and Starfire switched to long range scans. Nothing was there yet but, at their current speed, it was only a matter of seconds.

"Sir, they appear to be mercenaries. The employer is unknown; however, there are many that oppose our'diplomatic mission." Michelson wasn't holding back key information but there was more to the story than met the eye.

Starfire made a chime in Stalker's left ear. The signal that Long Range sensors had something. The shuttle was indeed weaponless but it was meant to have them"a lot of them. There was minor hull damage. Something large had hit them. "Michelson, is that a Mark II Behemoth Assault Shuttle" Did a capital ship graze the tail?" Stalker was trying to keep his jaw from dropping. Behemoth's had the strongest, most armor of any assault shuttle Stalker had seen.

"Um, yes to your first question and no to your second. It was a collision. Her Highness has a rather large bounty on her head." Michelson decided to come clean on that tid-bit, at least.

Stalker swore under his breath. He allowed himself to speculate that it was because of the Princess" manners. "I read you. I'm 10 seconds away; I'm bringing you down my left and will engage the first target of opportunity." Stalker allowed a lopsided grin to form. "Time to go to work, Starfire."

"Stalker, I count 6 bogies. 4 are engaged with the two fighters and the other two are headed for the assault shuttle." Starfire reported while bringing the weapons up and placing marks on the hud.

Stalker kept the shuttle between him and the mercenaries and slowed down. Just as Starfire's sensors showed that the mercenaries were just within firing range, Stalker whipped Starfire around the assault shuttle and fired on them with half power shots, hoping over confidence would make things quick and easy.

"Ha! SF-14, this is none of your concern. Leave the area now and we won't make you into scrap." The voice was very deep and gravely but it was unmistakably a human male. "Your old space frame isn't up to this!"

"Old!"! Let's show him who's not up to this!" Starfire practically growled. That wasn't something Stalker was used to from him.

"Easy, pal, easy. The less he knows the better our odds", Stalker patted the console with his left and then flipped the weapons to full and set a build-up before putting his hand back on the throttles. "Let's give them a little surprise, ok?" Stalker pressed a small button on the throttle controls with his thumb. "Mr. Mercenary, thank you for the kind warning but I couldn't possibly turn away from a defenseless shuttle that has sent out a distress call." Stalker had disguised his voice to sound as close to an old, frail man as possible. Then said, in his normal voice, "You have 5 seconds to stand down before you find out what this fighter is capable of!"

"Don't make us laugh, Mr. Wannabe-a-hero! You're weapons are on the verge of overload. I recommend you use your 5 seconds to turn tail and run away back home and let the big boys play!" The mercenary, Stalker would give him the nickname "Gruff" practically laughed. They both came on.

Stalker angled toward the trailing fighter that was high to "Gruff's" right. At just about point blank range, Stalker fired straight at the cockpit. With the blaster cannon's at overload, the energy would not be contained into a tight beam but the splash against the shields, causing the blast tinting to go full and temporarily blind the pilot. "Starfire, weapons back to normal. Next time we shoot, they get the real deal." Stalker shot between the mercenary fighters and swung Starfire right and low, causing shots from "Gruff" to fly harmlessly past.

"Hey, I can't see! He blinded me! Don't maneuver so fast! I can't follow you!" The "blind" pilot whined with a nasally voice. He would be nicknamed "Whinner". "I think he wants to play dirty."

"Yea, well, we perfected dirty!" Gruff swung around and was going for Starfire's tail. Stalker let him get into position and just as the blasts leaped out, Stalker rolled around them. Each shot passing harmlessly past"unless you were in "Whinner's" fighter. "Blast it! Get out of the engagement zone!?

The radio chatter between the two had Stalker fighting not to laugh. "Whiner" was out of the fight, for now. His blast tinting would take 5 minutes to adjust back. The result was what Stalker wanted. The mercenaries were focused on him and the assault shuttle was getting away, albeit on a predictable trajectory toward Neu-trae. Stalker just shook his head then looked for the location of the two escort fighters. They were several clicks away and being overpowered. Stalker punched the throttles and headed toward them. "Can you two keep up or am I too much for you to handle", Stalker mocked!

"Blast! Sss".ah"Two, get on my wing when you can see! I'm going to show him that he's not so hot!" Gruff was letting his temper get to him that would make things even easier.

"Chief, he's goading you! Don't let him! He'll make mince-meat out of us all! He has to be ex-military!" "Whiner" didn't sound very whinny then. That didn't seem to fit how things were going. For him to figure Stalker was former military".

"Starfire, run the voice of "Two' through all known databases. Get me an ID, ASAP! I may have misjudged the situation." Stalker looked at the sensors and saw the escort fighters still being harassed but, he watched the flight of the mercenary fighters. There was something about this tactic that he'd seen before. Something he couldn't put his finger on but' "Starfire, everything to the "Grid that you can spare without affecting weapons or engines, NOW", snapped Stalker! He threw Starfire into an immediate evasive pattern just in time to avoid several blasts from, seemingly, all directions. "These guys aren't just mercs! Get me an ID!"

Stalker spotted a hole and shot through it with all the power Starfire could muster. "Two/Whinner" was on their tail but couldn't get a lock. He was back in the action too quickly. That means he knew the trick to put Blast Tinting back to zero. Not many non-military types knew it. Stalker quickly noted the other 5 "mercs" were focusing on him. "Starfire, tell the escorts to head for the shuttle hard and ALL of them are to vacate the area now!" Stalker rolled Starfire away from more fire and nearly flew into another stream. "Crud, these guys are good."

"Stalker, I know you've worked hard to just disable but, this time, I'm not seeing any choice. It's us or them", Starfire stated the obvious! Stalker had worked much harder on disabling the "bad guys", as he promised Kali.

Stalker sighed. Kali".God he missed her and he didn't want to disappoint her but"this was life and death"his. It was time to do something she most certainly would want him to do. Get his head back into the game and stay alive! At that moment, everything clicked and a fog that Stalker hadn't realized was over him lifted. He took a glance at the sensors and found his opening. "And that's the mistake I needed!"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Starfire found a burst of speed and pulled a maneuver that no sane person would ever do. Stalker flipped Starfire around, reversing direction in the middle of the rain of firepower, nothing even glancing off of the defensive Laser Grid. Starfire shot straight up the middle and out. A shot landing square up an intake of one of the fighters, destroying one engine! Starfire cheered, "It's about time!"

"Starfire, check military encounters. Specifically Red Squadron. I'm positive we've tangled with these guys before," Stalker ordered.

The "mercs" broke off into wing pairs and Stalker managed to put Starfire right on the tail on one. He was landing several shots, turning their shields into mincemeat. Then he broke off and evaded shots, leading the group further away from the flight path of the Lucian Delegation. One wing pair took Starfire head-on. Stalker fired his guns on full at the wing lead and followed up with a well-timed missile shot, blowing through the shields and destroying the fighter in a fireball. The wingman was tucked in too tight in an attempt to get a shot on Starfire. That fighter lost a wing and engine. It was sent off spiraling into deep space.

"I see you have gotten your bearings back, McPhearson", came a familiar, calculating voice. "The rest of us will not be as easy. Nor will you survive this encounter."

Stalker nodded. He did know that voice. "Sorry, Whirlwind, but I'm not going down. You can walk away from this before I embarrass you?again." Stalker finally had an answer. Whirlwind was a former military pilot that was part of Red Squadron. Until Stalker found out Whirlwind was selling tactical data to the enemy. Whirlwind had led a combat fighter squadron against Red Squadron at the final battle to free Lucian space.

"You taught me well, McPhearson. Nice touch blinding me though." Whirlwind was cool and calculating.

Stalker brought Starfire to a stop with their nose pointing right at Whirlwind. "If you think you can really take me, bring it. You and me, only. One on one!"

Whirlwind laughed! "No, Stalker. I know better than to do that. But I will leave you with a blast! You cannot possibly save your friends now. Good-bye, McPhearson!" With that, the "mercs" turned and left the area, headed for deep space.

Stalker suddenly felt very cold inside. Whirlwind wouldn't". "Starfire, time to set a new speed record! Get the Lucian Delegation on the line, now!"

As he spoke, Stalker was already turning to intercept the Behemoth Assault Shuttle. Starfire powered down the weapons and lowered the ?Grid to 75%. The rest of the power was going to the engines.

As Stalker studied the bomb, he was starting to think of this day as being one of those days he should have stayed in bed. "Starfire, run as deep as a scan as you can; use whatever means necessary"carefully. And while you are at it?" Stalker was saying.

"'send for Black-Ops package 6, it's already done. Eight personnel are enroute via the new attack freighter, Falcon. "Rocket' is at the controls and reports an ETA of 15 minutes after they complete preflight." Starfire had been with Stalker long enough that he could still anticipate requests. McPhearson Freight, while a perfectly legitimate business also handled "black bag" operations for members of Earth Force, provided Earth Force command approved. Stalker was a retired officer, after all.

"Tell them to get Winzor on board, skip preflight and to push those engines as hard as they can. They either hold or they don't!" As Stalker looked at the sensor screen, the data flow to the left and the suspected bomb, he added, in a near whisper "I don't think we can do this one on our own, Starfire."

"Sending now! I know they won't ask but I will. Why Winzor" He's green, no experience and a huge unknown. He hasn't going through any of MFS's training yet and the psych profile hasn't returned on him from Command." Starfire was among the very few that could get away with questioning a decision Stalker made like this.

Stalker gave a nervous chuckle, "Yea, I should have stayed in bed. You never looked at Winzor's file, did you? He studied and excelled in Intelligence techniques and disciplines at the Academy, top of his class and the highest scores ever. He's largely considered the best there is at Intelligence. He can also get anything. More reliable than a Quartermaster", Stalker reached up and stopped the image on his screen and studied if for a moment. Shaking his head, he slumped back against the back of his seat and sighed. "Right now, Starfire, we need all the Intelligence we can get. Someone is going to some very long lengths to stop the Princess from reaching Neu-trae."

Stalker tapped several commands into the console and the sensor feed switched back to a live scan with the information being sent to the Falcon, as well. From what Stalker could make out, there was a pressure plate between the bomb and the hull. There was also a wire connected to the hull. Any attempt to wrap a tractor beam around it or a shield of some type was instantly ruled out. The wire would pick-up on the charge and the bomb would detonate just as well as detecting being cut. Stalker had to hand it to Whirlwind. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Falcon to Stalker! We are enroute. ETA: 5 by 10, approximate!" Rocket reported from the Falcon. "Switching to comms to Nitro!" Rocket was the main pilot for Falcon and also a planetary combat specialist who served under Stalker on Megafire. He was largely considered one of the best and was one of the first to come on at McPhearson Freight Services. Nitro was Rocket's demolition expert for years and just followed his boss.

Nitro gave a long whistle, "This is artwork, Boss. I mean, this is a master piece. Starfire, do not scan into the Alpha X-rays. It'll blow in your face. Actually, stop right there. Wow! This is frakkin" artwork!" Nitro was studying things very closely and, while Stalker appreciated that Nitro was impressed, he needed a little more.

"Nitro, I'll let you have any parts that are left to play with but, right now, we have a Princess and crew on a Behemoth Attack Shuttle! How much of a blast do you think this thing will give off" Can it be disarmed" Can they slow down, alter course or anything"!"!"!" Stalker let a little exasperation creep in.

"Sorry, Sir! No, they should stay the course. I can't tell 100% but it looks like there is a mini navigation array in there and it'll detonate the moment they alter course or lower their speed. This thing has almost every trigger known".and a few components I've never seen nor heard of before. Boss, how close are you?" Nitro suddenly got a slightly worried sound in his voice.

"Close enough to go EV to work on it, if I have to," Stalker replied. He didn't like it when someone's voice got nervous like that. "You do realize this is a party line, right?" Stalker purposely left the Lucian's listening in.

"Yes, sir, I do. I recommend you back off, very slowly, to a normal escort distance. I fear this thing has a proximity sensor and you may have just become part of the trigger." Nitro watched the sensor feed very closely and then yelled into the mike, "STOP, STOP, STOP"! He held his breath until Stalker responded.

"Crud! Holding position! Starfire, become the shuttles ghost. We just became part of it. Nitro, I have no room to roll nor to activate the "Grid. If it blows, it'll be right on top of the canopy!"

"Copy! Winzor, are there any nebulas in the sector that are known to play havoc with sensors and lightly shielded computers?" Nitro had an idea but it was a long shot.

Winzor took what felt like an eternity before answering, "Yes but it's about 15 minutes out at their current speed. We'll be there in another 5 minutes. You'll be able to work on disarming it before they reach the nebula."

There was a very long pause. Stalker was about to say something when Nitro finally spoke up, sounding very tired and, for the first time to Stalker, defeated. "I can't disarm it, Winzor. There is no way in without tripping something. It's too risky. Stalker is in the worse position of everyone." There was another pause. "Sorry, Sir." Nitro wanted to crawl under a rock.

Stalker nodded and looked at the navigational display. The Princess came over the comms ranting and insisting Nitro do more. It lasted two minutes before she was muted. Man-at-Arms Michelson finally managed to get her off the comms but Stalker spoke before Michelson could apologize. "Don't sweat it Nitro. I think I see where you are going with this. With the sensors out of whack, if the bomb design is good, I should be able to slip back and get into a position to either knock the bomb off or blast it off. If I hit it just right, it'll vaporize before it can detonate." Stalker took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Ok, everyone, this has got to be by the numbers. Lucian Escorts fall back to the Falcon and stay with her. No sense in you going in with us. Lucian Behemoth, I have Starfire giving you coordinates now. Follow them exactly. Set your speed to max cruise and bring up emergency power. When we hit the nebula, a timer will start on your pilot's HUD. When it reaches zero, you must be on top of that throttle and pushing those engines for everything they have. Pull up and exit out the top of the nebula! Falcon and your escorts will meet you there."

There was silence and the maneuvers were made and the Behemoth speed up. Starfire easily matched speed. Michelson came over the comms. The Princess could not be heard in the background. "Stalker, we managed to fix everyone in the bridge section. We could just separate and you could fly off a full speed! The odds are strongly stacked against you. Should this go wrong, you could be?"

"Yea, let's don't think about that. Besides, I've never listened to the odds." Stalker had a lopsided grin on his face. Starfire moaned. "I already thought of that and, if this goes wrong, Starfire just isn't fast enough and neither is your seperated bridge module. You'll need your main engine for this one.

There was nothing but silence until they were 4 minutes out from the nebula. Starfire broke the silence. "Stalker, you aren't just going to blast that thing off, are you? You're going to grab it in a tractor beam, that you hope will work, and yank it off the Behemoth and let it detonate as far away as possible, aren't you?"

"Yep, at full throttle! It should get pulled into our engine blast and that should help direct some of the blast. But, if this goes wrong, well, you may need new engines." Stalker patted Starfire's console. "It's the only way, Pal. You know it."

"Yes, I do. I just get tired of us making the sacrifice. When is it someone else's turn?" Starfire whined but Stalker knew he wasn't serious.

At one minute out, Stalker opened comms to everyone. "Here we go. Good luck to us all! Ready and".10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1"." The comms were filled with static as they entered the nebula.

The countdown started immediately at 30. Stalker ever so slowly throttled back as the Behemoth moved on. When Stalker was sure they were safe, he locked the tractor beam onto the bomb but did not activate it yet. Starfire was doing a great job compensating for the nebula and filtering out the interference. At 15 seconds, Stalker angled down slightly and throttled forward, matching the Behemoth's speed. Sensors were still good at close range but time was running out. At 10 seconds, Stalker gave the throttles just a bit more and started to very slowly pass the Behemoth. At 5 seconds, Stalker was once again directly below the bomb but, this time, his he kept going. At 2 seconds, Stalker's finger was poised over the activation button for the tractor beam on the flight stick and his left hand was ready to jam the throttle to full as hard as he could. 1 second then, it was time. In unison, Stalker activated the tractor-beam, which Starfire strengthened to help delay the explosion, Stalker pushed the throttle full forward, the Behemoth pulled up and hit full throttle! A fraction of a second later, the bomb exploded! Half a second into the maneuvers, the concussive force hit the Behemoth and Starfire. It was as if someone has shot two pool balls in opposite direction with the cue ball!

Whirlwind had slipped to the rear of the formation of fighters. He switched to a private channel. "Take targets of opportunity and show no hesitation!" As the acknowledgments came in, he switched back to the original channel, relaying the signal through another fighter. "Come now, Stalker! You tried to rectify your failure once. Do you really think you have it in you to do again?" Whirlwind was going to goad Stalker as far as he could. It was clearly working, as he watched Starfire close the gap at an insane speed. "You will only fail again?, he laughed.

Whirlwind's pilots started to fire on Starfire and Stalker showed why he was one of the best pilots around. He dodged most and managed to land some well-placed shots of his own. The Princess was impressed but she was also growing impatient. She, too, knew a thing or two about the controls of her shuttle. She slammed her hand down on a button and ripped the headset off of the Communications Officer's head. "Commander McPhearson, I insist you return at once and we leave this area of space! I must complete my mission!"

The Princess barely finished her order when the headset was grabbed and removed from her possession by her Man-At-Arms Michelson. She glared at him but he ignored her and simple forced himself in between the Princess and the Com-station. "He's going to get himself killed, you know" was all the Princess managed to say. She crossed her arms over her chest and managed to look both regal and annoyed.

Winzor sat in the top turret and was aiming aft. This was not something he was comfortable with. True, he had obtained a Master Marksman's level at the Academy but he very much preferred the thinking man's game of warfare over this. After hearing the chatter, Winzor opened a channel back to Stalker on a private frequency. "Sir, he's goading you. Whirlwind is bouncing the communications off of another fighter. He wants you to go down the middle! Stalker" Stalker?"

Winzor sighed and switched to internal communication but kept receiving on the original frequency, internal and private. "Nitro, I never thought he was this foolish!"

Nitro looked at Rocket and rolled his eyes. He replied to Winzor as he went back to his task. "Really"!"! Do you really think Stalker is THAT crazy' Just watch and learn, Winzor."

Stalker ignored the Princess and merely rolled his eyes at Winzor's comment. "Starfire, do you remember Nevin 7" I think that same trick might work nicely here."

"Oh, come on, Stalker! Whirlwind knows my capabilities much better than that. He'll never fall for that trick. Can't you be original", Starfire moaned.

"Hmm"Ok." Stalker tapped a couple of buttons and the remaining 4 Scorpion missiles started acquiring locks. Because of the distance, it didn't take long to get locks. Stalker immediately fired when the lock tone barely sounded. "We will make it look like a suicide run, then."

"THAT WASN"T WHAT I MEANT", Starfire exclaimed!

Four of the remaining six fighters broke formation to dodge the missiles, only two of the fighters collided, crippling one and severely damaging the other. The damaged fighter limped toward Stalker, who quickly made it two crippled fighters. Whirlwind had to hand it to his pilots, they would fight until they couldn't. "Four on one, attack now", Whirlwind commanded.

He was going to have his revenge at last. Now, he would show Stalker who the better tactician was.

Stalker kept moving forward and dodged several shots as Whirlwind's pilots attacked. Once they were in close range, Stalker allowed a few shots to hit while he started falling back toward the escort fighters and the Falcon. Stalker opened the channel and started broadcasting. "Whirlwind, you chicken! Face me like a man, not a mouse!" Stalker forced some panic into his voice then continued to broadcast in the clear. "Winzor, you were right! I'm in trouble here!"

Princess Mar-hal-she watched the sensors as a feeling of dread. How could Stalker, a man her father said was such a brilliant pilot, was able to get into so much trouble" For once, she sat silently, praying for things to change.

Winzor swung his turret around as the Falcon turned and charged into the fray. The escort fighters headed in that direction as well but the Falcon was faster. For everything he had read and heard about Stalker, he was not impressed.

Stalker allowed shots to hit Starfire, who in turn, allowed himself to appear to be taking damage and forced sluggish control response. The escort fighters arrived first and started on two. The Falcon arrived next and they started firing on the two fighters on Starfire's tail, destroying one. As the other turned to deal with the bigger threat. As soon as shots were fired on the Falcon, Stalker started charging for Whirlwind. Stalker kept Starfire straight and took an overpowered shot straight on. Starfire flashed a 5 on the HUD, indicating that the defensive Laser Grid was now down by 5%.

Whirlwind could not help the feeling of desperation that was growing. Stalker took his plan and had dismantled it in a way that had to be admired but still infuriated and scared Whirlwind. Now, he had to face Stalker, alone. One on one, Whirlwind was sure he could break even with Stalker. But against an angry and very determined Stalker, he wasn't so confident. Whirlwind had started the overpower sequence of his blaster cannons when the fighters went after Stalker and Starfire. As soon as Starfire was in optimal range, Whirlwind fired the blaster cannons. The twin shots leapt from his fighter and hit Starfire dead center of his nose cone. The power that was released from the shots caused several controls and screens to dim dangerously close to shut down. When Whirlwind saw Starfire and Stalker still coming, he punched his throttles forward and took evasive action. Whirlwind's fighter reacted dangerously sluggish. The sluggishness seemed to disappear within thirty seconds.

Thirty seconds was more than enough time for Stalker and Starfire. It was also Whirlwind's single biggest mistake. Stalker expected Whirlwind to cause an overload on his fighter's blasters. Stalker expected Whirlwind to charge right at him. Seeing Whirlwind attempt evasive maneuvers actually caused Stalker to hesitate for a second. But only a second. Starfire obtained weapons lock immediately. After only a hesitation of a second, Stalker fired two scorpion missiles and all his blasters, ripping the tail section and engines of Whirlwind's fighter to shreds. Stalker spoke through clenched teeth with each wave of shots that hit Whirlwind's fighter. "I"TOLD"YOU"THIS"ENDS!"

Whirlwind looked over his controls and status read outs. His fighter was crippled, he was alone, and he had failed to destroy Stalker and Starfire. His "employer" had made it clear, as well. Stop the Princess from reaching her destination or face the consequences. Whirlwind reached under the front left console and ripped out some wires. He then started to rip them out and hard wire them together to start an overload of his fighter's core. Starfire was right next to Whirlwind's fighter. There was no way to escape the blast zone. Whirlwind sat back and just laughed.

"Overload, core breach in 15 seconds! Stalker, is Whirlwind really that crazy", Starfire asked as he reported the new alert status.

"Really, Pal, you have to ask", Stalker quickly altered course and pushed the throttles to the overload stops! He knew Starfire switched to the full public broadcast range. Stalker just spoke. "Clear out! Top speed! Go, go, go!"

Winzor looked back in time to see the beginning of the explosion and was in shock. Rocket had already issued the command to lock the turrets in a forward position, retracting partially and locking. After realizing what he was seeing, Winzor dropped out of the turret, slammed his hand on the button to close the blast door and then was flung to the other side of the ship when the shockwaves from the explosion hit the Falcon.

Princess Mar-hal-she was pushed into a seat and quickly strapped in. Before she could respond, a shockwave rocked the shuttle. The Princess watch her Man-at-Arms get thrown around the cabin. She briefly wondered if she would survive as a shower of sparks erupted from consoles close to her.

As the explosion of Whirlwind's fighter subsided, Stalker couldn't help but wonder what he could have done differently. The answer was, of course, not much. "Ugh, Starfire, escorts, Falcon and Behemoth, I need a status update by the numbers." Stalker sighed and shook his head. Starfire and he were thrown by the explosion but they had regained control quick enough that they were already heading to the Lucian Delegation's Behemoth. While Stalker didn't black out or hit his head, it was not a fun ride. "Go", Stalker commanded through a sigh.

"Starfire, I'm still in the fight", reported Stalker's trusty fighter and friend. "All remaining enemy contacts are disabled, sector secure." Stalker patted Starfire's console. There were a couple of new shorts but nothing that couldn't be fixed in an hour once they landed.

"Escorts, we have sustained significant damage. We are heading for the Behemoth's last known position. Escort two is down to Line of Sight communication, no shields or weapons. Escort one, coms are functional, one laser still working and down to one engine. We are out of the fight but can maneuver" the lead escort fighter reported. Stalker frowned at the news.

"Falcon, shields down to 20% but stable, all weapons green, one serious injury. The rest of the crew are attending to him now. Available for any additional fighting." Stalker could detect the concern in Rocket's voice. His heart sank a bit.

"Behemo"coms are'shields are"Man at Arms has a con'stable but uncon'sustained minor burn"manuev'sluggish"propulsion'speed." Starfire placed a readout of the Behemoth on the HUD for Stalker. Coms were heavily damaged, shields were at 5% and there appeared to be electrical system malfunctions all over the place. Engines seemed to be damaged as well.

"Ok, Behemoth, you are priority, Falcon #2." Stalker needed to get more information and a better understanding. "Repeat, Behemoth is priority and Falcon #2 due to injuries. Behemoth, please repeat last transmission."

"Behemo"rog" Coms are down to short range only, shields are down to 5%, Man at Arms Michelson is unconscious and has a few broken ribs but should be fine. All crew members have sustained minor burns, maneuverability is sluggish, at best and propulsion is at " cruising speed. We are hurting." Stalker made a note of the flight systems and started thinking.

"Falcon, Winzor is down. Repeat, Winzor is down. He has a deep cut on his head, a broken collar bone, possible concussion, broken left arm, blood is coming from his ears and nose. Stalker, he needs a medical facility ASAP." Stalker moaned and wondered what happen. "Sir, he was thrown from the turret ladder when the shockwave from the explosion hit." Stalker moaned again when his unspoken question was answered.

"Roger! Falcon is now priority but the Behemoth is out of it as are the escorts. Rocket, can we get the other crews aboard and make a run for Nevin 7" I think that is going to be the closest medical facility." Stalker's mind was flying through scenarios and creating contingency plans.

"Affirmative, Stalker. We are already getting into position. Be advised, both med-bays will be occupied. Permission to call the ball and coordinate?" Rocket knew he didn't have to be so formal but his military training had kicked in.

"Go for it, Rocket. Starfire will take up a guard position. Please provide a status update every 10 minutes and let's get outta here", Stalker answered.

"With pleasure, Stalker?, responded Rocket. Then he started coordinating and giving directions.

Stalker flew Starfire in a spiral away from the Falcon checking all directions for any additional threats. Left to himself, Stalker couldn't help letting his mind wonder. He thought of Kali a couple of times but immediately pushed those thoughts out of his head. Now was not the time to daydream about what-ifs. Once he received the all clear from Rocket, Stalker placed Starfire ahead of the Falcon, in an escort position. 100 clicks out, there was another explosion and two smaller ones. The Lucian's vessels exploding from controlled overloads. Stalker sat back in his seat, sighed and relaxed a little. He hadn't realized he had been holding his breath.