Things were not going as Luna had promised. The Lunataks, fresh off a successful battle against the Thundercats as they rescued Alluro and Tug Mug had decided to try their luck again, en mass. It sounded like a reasonable plan. After all, four Lunataks had nearly disarmed those Felines in the Lair, and in all honesty might have defeated them all. This time, however, the Cats were better prepared, and their reinforcements had arrived. The Thundercats from the Tower of Omens.

Knave Iespyk was dealing with one of these now. Bengali’s hammer of Thundera rattled harmlessly off his icepick. The Lunatak tried to counter the attack but ultimately failed as the Feline ducked under his clumsy swing. There were bruises all about his body and blood welled at the corner of his mouth. He heard a feminine scream and knew that someone had gone down. It hadn’t sounded like Chilla, so he wasn’t overly worried. With luck it was a Thundercat.

"Lunataks. Retreat!" came Luna’s predictable call. Tug Mug fired his gravity carbine once more, nearly catching Tygra, before bounding off beside his leader. The Lunattacker waited nearby.

"Sorry kitty. I’ve got to be going," Knave growled.

"I don’t think so Knave. You’re going to be my prisoner!" Bengali replied cracking his hammer against Knave’s mid-section, breaking a rib or two.

Knave was fortunate that he was half Ice Lunatak, and that one of his species’ abilities was to breathe ice. When the air was knocked from his chest by the force of Bengali’s hit, he expelled a gust of cold wind that staggered the Thundercat and caused him to cover his ice in agony. Knave took this opportunity to make good his own retreat.

"Don’t let them escape. Ho!" Lion-O shouted, firing his Sword of Omens, missing.

"Don’t worry Lion-O, we won’t," Wily Kit said, pushing her hover board forward. As it was, Pumyra was the one to take down a Lunatak next. An explosive marble at the feet of Chilla sent her flying across the ground.

Knave grabbed Psychro by the shoulder. "Take Chilla and give me your rifle. I’ll buy you some time," he said, taking the weapon. As much as he hated the man, he was the only one around, and he was willing to do so. Psychro was hopelessly in love with Chilla, he had asked to marry her. She had accepted until she learned that he only asked so that he could sleep with her. He hadn’t gotten over his lust though, despite what he might sometimes claim. He gave the Ice Lunatak-Psi race hybrid a look that told him "If you take advantage of her, you’re dead," and turned to take care of the Thundercats as best he could.

Luna glanced at the monitor. Nearly everyone had made it back. Knave was still firing away. He had taken out Wily Kit, and Cheetara had been knocked out early in the battle. The question was, where was Lion-O? The Lord of the Thundercats was standing still, holding his wretched Sword of Omens. He had it leveled and pointed at Knave. "Here, let me take her," she heard Alluro say, and knew that Knave was the last one.

"I can handle her myself, thank you very much," Psychro said.

"You were injured in that fight. There’s no way you can hold her the rest of the way home," Alluro argued.

"Like hell I can’t. Look, if you’re looking for a fight . . . " Psychro began.

"You will give Chilla to me. You cannot resist me. Cooperate now!" Alluro said, casting his crystal over his stunned companion.

"No! Don’t listen to him Psychro, he’s manipulating you!" Psikaris, Psychro’s sister, shouted.

"All of you shut up!" Luna said at last.

Knave backed away quickly. How far was that Lunattacker anyway? He took a wild shot at Tygra and missed. Another shot of his caught Wily Kat’s foot, knocking him off his hover board. "Ho!" he heard Lion-O shout before feeling a blast from the Sword of Omens catch him in the head.

"Damn it. There’s no time to pick him up. Just go Tug Mug!" Luna said. Both Alluro and Psychro quietly rejoiced as the Lunattacker drove off without Knave, the biggest obstacle between each and Chilla.

Knave felt strong hands about his shoulders and heard Panthro’s deep voice ordering him to stand. His head swam and he promptly vomited onto the ground. "Is he okay?" Lion-O asked, running over. "He’s alive, if that’s what you mean. He’s not a hundred percent and that’s just fine by me," Panthro replied.

"I don’t think he’ll be able to walk it back to the Lair. You’d better carry him. I’ll take the other one," Lion-O said, indicating Shade, Red Eye’s daughter, laying on the ground elsewhere on the battle field.

Bengali fired up the Feliner. "Don’t worry Lion-O. Once we deliver these two to Mandora we’ll be back," he said.

"I just wish we could afford to send more than just the two of you, but we have to be ready in case the Lunataks make a second attack," Lion-O said, backing away from the vehicle. Cheetara and Bengali waved as they took off and made for the wild blue yonder.

The Feliner flew swiftly through the stratosphere and easily broke free of Third Earth’s pull. Bengali leveled off their ascent and set course for Mandora’s last known location, she was rounding up a felon in another system. Cheetara stood and walked to the back where a force field had been set up, holding the two prisoners. Knave had fallen into a heavy sleep, still injured from his head wound no doubt, and Shade was pacing the length of the cell, trying to find some escape. "You hungry?" Cheetara asked.

"I only hunger for revenge," Shade said in a guttural voice. Her right eye twitched and her voice became more pleasant. "Barring that, however, some of that bread would be nice." Cheetara shut off the force field, keeping a wary eye on both prisoners, and slipped the food inside. She quickly turned it back and let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.

"Thank you very much," Shade said. There was another twitch, "I hope you rot in hell for what you’ve done to us." Cheetara backed away and returned to the cockpit.

"What’s that?" Bengali exclaimed, as a large vessel moved out from behind a small moon.

"It certainly doesn’t look friendly," Cheetara said.

"They’re firing!" Bengali shouted as the Feliner was rocked by laser blasts. The younger Thundercat was thrown from his chair and Cheetara against the door. "They’ve shorted our controls. Nothing’s working," Bengali said, after examining his panel.

"We’ve got to get to the escape pods before they blow us to bits," Cheetara said.

"What about the Lunataks?" Bengali asked.

"There are only two one-man pods. We’ll have to leave them behind and hope for the best," Cheetara said as the ship was rocked again. Bengali finally agreed and the pair was jettisoned toward the small fertile moon.

His eyes opened. He was lying on a patch of grass without his vest on. His white gloves were still on, as were his boots and pants, though one of the legs seemed to be missing. He looked around and saw an attractive young woman in a skin tight outfit, black on the right side, white on the left, kneeling beside a small bundle of wires and computer components. Suddenly he realized who he was looking at and where his thoughts had been. "Shade?" he asked, just to make sure.

"Good, you’re awake. We don’t have much time and I didn’t think I could carry you any further," she said, "Not to mention all the things we’ll have to carry."

"What are you talking about?" Knave asked.

"We were attacked by pirates. You were out cold by then. The force field around our cell protected us from most of the crash but you still suffered chest and leg wounds. I bandaged them as best I could. They’ll likely investigate the crash site. As near as I can tell the ship shattered into several pieces. I grabbed everything I could. Let’s go!" Shade said. Knave struggled to his feet and saw his icepick and a rifle on the ground near him. "The Thundercats were nice enough to leave our stuff near the cell. I picked it up," Shade explained.

Elsewhere on the moon Cheetara and Bengali were climbing out of their escape pods, emergency supplies in hand. "I suppose our first course of action should be to try and find the ship. Maybe the Lunataks survived after all. If not we’ll need to contact Third Earth," Cheetara said.

"We’ll have to be careful. You never know whether or not those pirates will come looking for us," Bengali pointed out. The pair looked around and took in the massive pines and firs growing around them. The terrain was more or less uniform. Even from outer space they hadn’t seen anything like mountains or massive bodies of water.

With great effort Knave hefted the small force field generator up in the air and began walking north, to where Shade insisted the front portion of the ship should be. "Once we’re there, we can try and rig the radio. There’s no way Luna’s going to think of looking for us on this cursed planet," Shade had said.

"You’re not strong enough to get up yet," Alluro insisted, forcing Chilla to lie back down.

"Right. You just like the thought of me sprawled out on my bed," Chilla spat.

"I’ve already explained this. Most of us came out of that battle with injuries. We ran out of bed space in the medical area and, as much as Psychro and I argued, you were deemed a non-emergency. Thus, you were put here. Look on the bright side. Psychro could be here tending to your every need," Alluro said.

"Give me a Berbil before that idiot," Chilla grumbled.

"Dare I ask what you say about me behind my back?" Alluro asked.

"Don’t. It’s not worth it," Tug Mug said, bounding in.

"What do you want?" Alluro asked.

"Red Eye thinks he may have tracked the Feliner’s energy signature. Unfortunately, only the Ice-Hypno Flyer can make the jump to outer space. Which means . . . " Tug Mug began before Chilla cut him off.

"That only two people can fly to the rescue. Count me in," she said, ignoring Alluro’s concerned looks.

"Good. And Red Eye is also going, his daughter is there," Tug Mug said.

"But you’re not well yet," Alluro thought of saying, but somehow knew it wouldn’t get him anywhere. There was never any point in him arguing with Chilla. She always won. Love did that to creative genius. "Be careful," he managed.

"Look. There’s that pirate ship," Bengali said, as he and Cheetara knelt behind some trees. Indeed the ship, which resembled a giant overturned bottle, had landed next to the nose of the Feliner. Already a dozen people were crawling about the wreckage.

"We’ve got to stop them," Bengali growled.

"I agree, but how can we expect to defeat so many?" Cheetara asked.

"If we systematically pick them off. With your speed and my Hammer of Thundera, anything is possible," Bengali said.

"All right then, we do it your way," Cheetara said.

One of the pirates was working on dismantling the onboard computer when he heard the door swing open. He barely got a startled gasp out before a blast of energy took him in the chest, knocking him out cold. Bengali dragged the man out and tossed him over his shoulder. "That’s four of them," he said to Cheetara. They were using rope from their emergency supply kits to bind the prisoners.

"And that’s the last of the rope," Cheetara replied. "We’ll have to start using their belts."

"Did you get anything out of them?" Bengali asked.

"Not a thing. They wouldn’t even tell me the color of their hair," Cheetara sighed.

"I can’t go any further," Knave gasped, all but dropping the force field generator, a small metallic box.

"There’s a defensible area just over there. A few meters. Do you think you can make it that far?" Shade asked, concerned.

"I believe so, if you’ll carry the box," Knave replied. There was a twitch in Shade’s eye.

"Oh sure. Make me do all the work. Men are supposed to be subservient to their superiors. You carry the generator," she said, stalking toward a group of trees that had grown together so as to leave only enough room for two people to lie down. Even then it would be close quarters, especially with the generator in with them. Knave grumbled and strained to carry the generator as far as the trees. He set it down within turned it on. Instantly a small dome encased the immediate area. A few minutes passed and he heard Shade’s small, fragile voice say "I’m sorry for the way I treated you. It was unfair. The truth of the matter is I try to be nice, and then she takes over and she doesn’t like you very much."

"Who’s ‘she’?" Knave asked.

"My other self. The one who sometimes takes over my mind and rules my body," Shade replied.

"Dare I ask why she hates me?" Knave asked.

"Because you’re a self-centered idiot incapable of any emotion other than hate. You only deserve hatred," Shade said, her voice dropping and becoming more gravelly.

"Incapable of other emotion?" Knave asked, "I can do other emotions." He reached over and kissed her passionately on the lips and pulled away. "See? I can do love, or a reasonable facsimile of it."

"I didn’t know you felt that way about me," Shade said.

"I don’t. But I’ll be damned if I can’t fake it," Knave said.

Knave had been as startled by his move as Shade had. His words to her were false, to his mind. He snickered softly to himself. He hadn’t taken notice of the girl back on Third Earth, although she wore a cloak of deep blue most of the time. Now he was falling in love with her. Wouldn’t Chilla have a ball if she knew?

The Ice-Hypno Flyer made its slow rise through the night sky of Third Earth. Hopefully the Thundercats weren’t paying too much attention and the duo would get away. "I don’t care what they do to me," Red Eye said, "as long as I get my daughter back, that’s all that matters."

"Don’t worry. Knave’s with her. He’ll take care of her," Chilla replied.

"Captain Torax. Four crewmen failed to report back," first officer Damil said.

"Are you certain? Of course you are. You’ve never failed me in the past. Something must have happened to them. Send out search parties. They must be found!" Captain Torax said.

Cheetara extended her staff and waited for the patrol to walk by, peering into the woods as they went. In a flurry of movement she took down all five with barely a hint of noise. With Bengali’s help she dragged them into the undergrowth and hauled them up into the highest branches of a pine. There the prisoners were secured by their belts and had gags placed over their mouths.

"Any idea how many of them there are?" Bengali asked.

"None at all. The most I’ve seen is still over a dozen. There surely must be more inside," Cheetara replied.

"Let’s get some rest then. We’ll need all the sleep we can get," Bengali said. He then moved to a branch and curled up, much like some of his ancestors would have.

Morning came, and with it the muffled sounds of people struggling. Bengali checked on the prisoners once and climbed down the tree. Cheetara was fast asleep still so he was careful not to disturb her. Producing a pair of binoculars, he proceeded to scan the area, looking for pirate activity. None. The ship was quiet. "Everyone must still be asleep," he thought to himself, "wish I could join them."

Knave woke to find his arm draped across Shade’s body, her eyes open and a broad grin on her face. "Damned if you can’t fake it? I guess your soul must be spotless. You even fake while you’re asleep," Shade said, amused as Knave withdrew his arm.

"Look, I happen to sprawl in my sleep. It’s confined quarters, what do you expect?" Knave demanded. Shade’s hand reached out and stroked his face gently before slapping him hard. "Don’t you ever touch me again or I will rip the offending limb from your worthless body," she snarled. A breath of cold, air caught her in the face, forcing her to look away.

"Don’t you ever strike me again, or I’ll use my ice instead!" Knave said. He turned off the generator and picked it up. "Now come on. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover." Shade brushed the leaves and dirt from her clothes before trailing after him.

Captain Torax was fuming. In the early morning someone had managed to get into his ship and take his first officer captive. He was returned some time later, after yet another patrol had failed to report back in bearing ransom demands from the hostage takers. "They want us to surrender to them and submit ourselves to the authorities. The male claimed that the others have been killed and that we will all be killed unless we do so."

"How the hell are we supposed to surrender to them if we don’t know where they are?" Captain Torax demanded.

"They’ve agreed to meet us outside our ship in three hours. We have until then. No further prisoners will be taken, or so they claim," Damil said.

"I want everybody present for a meeting, now. We’ll discuss options," Torax said.

"Are you sure that was wise?" Cheetara asked.

"Of course I am. He’ll tell his leader, and hopefully we’ve instilled enough fear into them that they’ll surrender," Bengali said.

"And what if you haven’t?" Cheetara asked.

"Then I hope you’re perfectly capable of getting my bacon out of the frying pan," Bengali replied.

"I still feel a little uneasy about those lies. I didn’t like having to tell them," Cheetara said.

"So did I. The Code of Thundera forbids it. But I think this is one occasion where justice is more important than truth," Bengali said, "and that means we can override it."

"The sensors indicate their trail ended at that moon. They haven’t left it yet," Red Eye said. "There is also evidence of some kind of battle. They may have landed there." Chilla gazed at the moon in question. "He’s alive, if I know Knave as I do. Hopefully the cats are dead and we’ll just have to pick up our family," she said.

"It’s not much further until we reach the next chunk. Don’t worry," Shade said, now carrying the generator.

"You said that earlier and it was a piece of wing. Let’s hope it’s the cockpit we find next and not an engine or a wheel," Knave said.

It had been a very short meeting. The crew was confident they could be bailed out if it came to that, and feared for their safety. A vote was taken and nearly everyone had agreed to surrendering to the cat people.

"All right. You win. We’ll surrender," Torax said.

"Good. I assume your vessel is equipped with a detention area?" Bengali asked.

"It is. But it won’t hold all of us, if that’s what you’ve got planned," Torax said.

"The docking bay. I want all of you to get in there. My first officer will keep an eye on you while I figure out some way of keeping you in there," Bengali said. The captain, head hung low, moved to inform his crew of their fate.

Cheetara ushered the fourteen prisoners into the docking bay and closed the door. There were shouts of anger and astonishment from the crew as they realized that they had been deceived. The door was sealed shut and the two Thundercats moved to the bridge. "How do we operate this thing?" Cheetara said aloud.

"We are programmed to follow verbal commands," a robotic voice, less annoying than the Berbils, said.

"Activate the sensors and see if there are any other humanoid life forms," Cheetara said.

"There are two life forms less than a mile from our location. There are two more coming at high speeds through the atmosphere," the robot replied.

"Display the two coming through the atmosphere," Bengali said. The computer monitor flickered and showed the Ice-Hypno Flyer soaring down. "Four Lunataks. Think we can handle it?" Cheetara asked.

"What choice do we have?" Bengali asked.

"Look! Help is on the way," Knave said. Shade placed the generator on the ground and joined Knave in running for the demolished Feliner cockpit, where Chilla and Red Eye were emerging. "Father!" Shade shouted while Knave shouted "Chilla!" Hugs were given before the quartet turned their attention to the pirate vessel, where two Thundercats were materializing from the open doorway.

Cheetara dashed forward and used her pole to vault over the stunned Lunataks. She found herself squaring off against Chilla and Red Eye, while Knave and Shade went after Bengali.

Shade raised her black gloved hand and a sticky black net fell wide of Bengali. She cursed and began to generate a second one from her body’s natural energy. Knave had engaged the Thundercat, his icepick rattling off of Bengali’s hammer of Thundera.

Cheetara cracked her staff against Chilla’s jaw, forcing it to the side as ice began to spew forth. She heard Red Eye gasp and saw that her plan had worked. The Lunatak from the dark moon was covered head to toe in ice. That just left the Ice Lunatak to deal with.

Bengali fired his hammer and Knave winced as it hit his shoulder. This didn’t stop him from brandishing his icepick, though, and he drove his weapon into Bengali’s chest, turned it and activated its inner ice powers. Bengali, now frozen, stood with an amusing look on his face.

Cheetara brought her staff crashing into Chilla’s shins, the Lunatak still stunned from the blow to the jaw. This caused Chilla to drop to the ground, essentially out of the fight. Cheetara saw that Bengali had been downed and proceeded to charge at Shade.

Knave took in the scene. Chilla lay injured, Red Eye frozen, and Shade was about to be hit by Cheetara. "Oh no you don’t," he growled, using his own inbred Cheetah speed to get between the Thundercat and Shade. The wind was knocked out of him as he and Cheetara collided.

Shade heard Knave scream and barely saw him take the blow meant for her. Her net, now ready, fired and covered Cheetara. She helped Knave to his feet. "Thank you, for saving me. I think even she wants to say that," Shade said.

"It wasn’t intentional. It was the logical course of action. Deal with the immediate threat, worry about everything else after," Knave said.

"Maybe you aren’t so good at faking after all," Shade mused as they went to help Red Eye and Chilla.

The two Thundercats were left on the planet as they were as the Lunataks took off, Knave and Shade in the pirate vessel while Red Eye and Chilla took the Ice-Hypno Flyer. They flew toward home, slipping around a small planet as the Thunderstrike came by.

"What do you suppose happened to the pirates of this ship?" Knave asked aloud.

"They were placed in the docking area," one of the robot crew said.

"Were they? Robots, is there access to outside from the docking bay?" Shade asked, with ‘her’ in charge.

"Affirmative. There is one computerized door leading outside from the docking bay," the robot replied.

"Excellent. Can this door be opened from here?" Shade asked.

"Affirmative," the robot said.

"Do so. Jettison your former masters into outer space," Shade said.

"The probability of them surviving such an ordeal is zero," a robot said.

"I don’t care. Do it!" Shade barked. The robot seemed to regard her before shrugging its robotic shoulders. "As you wish," it said, pressing the button that would send the one time pirates to their grave.

"I like your style. Maybe this love thing bears some looking in to," Knave said.

THE END

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