Alluro, Knave and Mystan stood on a small hilltop as the whine of the former pirate ship, now dubbed the Skycruiser, landed nearby. A long ramp slowly lowered itself from the vessel and a jet of steam erupted from the doorway. Chilla slowly walked down the ramp and nodded to Mystan, extended her hand to Knave and ignored Alluro. Together with Red Eye and Shade they had plans to overthrow Luna and her allies to become the only band of Lunataks on Third Earth. For now though they were under her command and had to work carefully so that she wouldn’t suspect a thing. "Come on. The wild is no place for two of my best men. You’ll stay in the Skycruiser until the time is ripe, Luna’s desires be damned," Mystan said.

"Your kindness is heart warming," Knave said, rolling his eyes.

"If you’d rather stay out here . . . " Mystan suggested.

"He’ll take the ship. It has a bigger bed," said a feminine voice. Its owner, decked in spandex with black on the left side and white on the right, slowly walked down the still extended ramp.

"Shade! You came too?" Knave asked.

"I wouldn’t miss this reunion for the world," Shade replied.

"How ever did you convince Luna to let you take all your crack agents out for a joyride?" Alluro asked.

"I didn’t," Mystan snickered.

Back in Skytomb Luna, riding Amok, paced the length and breadth of the control room. Tug Mug, manning the controls, was at the brunt of her tirade. "Where are they Tug Mug? How could you let them just waltz out of here with the Skycruiser? Are you an incompetent moron? If you don’t find them within half an hour Amok is going to have a new bowling ball!" Luna shouted, causing the rotund Lunatak to flinch backwards in terror. Amok grinned broadly and carried Luna out of the room.

A pair of eyes watched Knave as he lay stretched out in his room. Shade was up on the deck with Mystan discussing strategy. Finally the door opened and the barrel of a rifle poked through the doorway. It let out two blasts, the first destroying the closed circuit camera pointed at the door, the other damaging the in house communications array. Knave turned and grabbed his icepick from the bed. "Who goes there?" he demanded, then he saw the figure. "You? What are you doing here? It’s impossible!" A quick rifle blast silenced any further protests. Knave crumpled into the waiting arms of his attacker. The man half dragged the Ice Lunatak/Cheetah hybrid out of the room and into his waiting ship.

Fifteen minutes later Shade entered Knave’s room and looked around. A mixture of horror and anger crept across her face as she saw the evidence of a fight. She scooped Knave’s icepick from the ground.

"Who dares harm my Knave?" the darker of Shade’s two personalities, Nightshade, spat.

"I can’t believe it. Knave was beaten," the lighter one said.

"It must have been Alluro. He hates Knave, it’s well known," Nightshade said.

"But why? The two were together in the wilderness for over a week during their exile. Why not dispose of him then?" Shade asked.

"Because he’s an idiot. We must extract our revenge!" Nightshade said, becoming the dominant personality and thus laying claim to the host body.

Alluro was sending a load of his laundry through the wash when the door hissed open. Almost appearing to be one with shadows in her midnight blue cloak, Shade entered and encased his psyche club in her sticky black mesh. "You have ten seconds to tell me where I can find Knave before I rip out your throat!" she said.

"Desperate, aren’t we?" Alluro chuckled.

"Five, four, three," Shade said, the murderous glint in her eyes making it clear that she was not playing around.

"I assume he’s up in his room. To be honest I haven’t seen him since we came on board," Alluro said, even as the lithe woman jumped at him. Long sharp nails dug into the flesh of his neck.

"Last chance. Where is he?" Shade demanded.

"I don’t know, ask the Lunardroids to do a sensor scan," he choked. The nails came away caked with blood as Shade climbed down Alluro’s body. She snatched the net away from his psyche club and left the room.

At the same time, in Skytomb, Luna had re-entered the control room "Your time is up Tug Mug, where are they?" she asked.

"They’re on a course for Skytomb, they’re within three miles south of here," Tug Mug replied.

"Consider yourself lucky, but if you ever lose something that large again I’ll have your head!" Luna said, whacking him with her riding crop for good measure.

Waiting for Luna outside was her cousin Tycho. "Was that wise? Tug Mug knows his place. He didn’t need to be reminded," he said.

"It never hurts to remind them just who is in charge around here. Something you’d do well to remember yourself," Luna said, whacking him with her crop.

"Point taken. Now, have you decided what you’re going to say to Mystan and the others when they arrive?" Tycho asked.

"Nothing," Luna replied.

"Nothing?" Tycho asked, shocked.

"Precisely. You’re going to scold them and assign them to scrubbing every inch of both Skytomb and the Skycruiser if their excuse isn’t valid," Luna said.

"Another way of showing me my place?" Tycho inquired.

"You’re catching on. Good," Luna smiled, whacked him again, and then had Amok carry her down to her rooms.

Shade exited the deck of the ship, disgruntled. The Lunardroids had informed her that Knave was no longer on board but couldn’t tell her how he’d left. They had, however, told her that he’d left at the same time as an unknown occupant. That ruled out Alluro as the likely suspect. Finally she’d decided to report the news to Mystan. "Psychro," he’d said, "he probably snuck aboard and caught wind of our plan. He’s never liked Knave. Wherever he is, you’re likely to find Knave."

The Skycruiser was brought to a halt next to Skytomb, the ramp was lowered and the duo of Mystan and Chilla exited the ship, trailed by Red Eye and Shade. Tycho was waiting patiently at the bottom. "You left Skytomb without authorization and commandeered Luna’s property. Explain yourselves," he said, feeling uncomfortable without any backup.

"I felt it prudent that all Lunataks be versed in the operations of both Skytomb and Skycruiser. I didn’t want to bother Luna with all the little details so I assumed it would be acceptable," Mystan said.

"It was still without Luna’s permission. You are hereby required to clean both vehicles. Failure to do so will result in your termination," Tycho said.

"I guess we can forget diplomacy then," Mystan said, "Shade, if you will?" Shade raised her black gloved hand and ensnared Tycho. "We’re going to have to work quickly. Take out the rest of the Lunataks. If Psikaris or Tug Mug want to join our side give them that chance. For the others, we have no mercy!" Mystan said as the others, and Alluro, spread out through Skytomb.

Psikaris was the first to be found. She was working on the Lunattacker, a flashlight in her mouth and a socket set in her hands. She slid out from underneath and turned to face whomever had entered the room. "Psikaris, could you please shine your light elsewhere?" Alluro asked.

"What are you doing here? Weren’t you exiled?" Psikaris asked.

"I was indeed, but there’s a rebellion brewing. Mystan is leading us against Luna and Tycho. He’s set ground rules, I’m afraid. You can join but your brother can’t," Alluro replied.

"You don’t expect me to join you do you? My love for you is strong, but blood is thicker than water," Psikaris said, reaching for her rifle.

"That may be, but you won’t hurt me, and I won’t hurt you. Mystan has every intention of killing Tycho, Luna and Psychro. I’d advise the two of you to flee and never return," Alluro said.

"Why are you helping us then? Aren’t you on his side?" Psikaris asked.

"Yes and no. I guess I care more about you than I thought, I’d take advantage of the confusion. Once we get things in order you’re going to find it difficult to get away," Alluro said, turning away. He was almost through the door when the rifle blast caught him in the back.

Psychro was in the kitchens when Shade entered. "I was hoping to find you," she said, "where have you put Knave?"

"I think you’ve eaten too much of Tug Mug’s cooking. How should I know where your lover is? He’s probably with Alluro somewhere out in the wild," Psychro replied, before find a knife set being hurled at him. He quickly shot flame from his finger tips and melted the knives. The projectiles had been merely a set up attack though. Once the weapons were out of his field of view, Psychro could see Shade barreling in at him. There was no time to put up an adequate defense and he was thrown backwards into the door of the fridge. All of Shade’s adrenaline would only give her a mild strength boost. It wasn’t enough to negate Psychro’s superior strength and he threw her off. A jet of ice narrowly missed the diving darkness dweller. Shade’s hand reached up and grabbed the frying pan from the stove. She splashed the hot bacon and all its fat onto the Ice Lunatak/Psi-Race crossbreed.

Psychro howled in pain and stumbled to the side, seeking something to quench the burning feeling on his face. Then something sharp drove into the meaty flesh of his leg. Ice began spreading upward from the wound, covering him completely. Shade pulled her lover’s icepick from her opponent and looked smugly at her handiwork. A startled shout from the doorway wiped the smile from her face, and a laser rifle blast caught her and sent sprawling across the ground.

Psikaris placed a hand on the block that was her brother. He looked in such agony. She had decided that she had to warn Psychro as quickly as possible and run down the hall. She cursed herself for not possessing any heat powers like he did, and settled for hacking at the block of ice with the fallen icepick.

Red Eye found Tug Mug still working in the control room. "Tug Mug. How would you like to revolt against Luna?" he asked.

"Are you mad? Why would I do that? Sure she’s always failing but who’s going to lead, you?" Tug Mug asked.

"No. Mystan’s already got most of the others on his side, including me," Red Eye replied.

"You’re kidding, you?" Tug Mug asked.

"I’m not. There’s room for you too. I don’t want to have to hurt you," Red Eye said.

"I will not betray Luna!" Tug Mug said.

"That’s too bad," Mystan said, entering the room. He gestured and the rotund Lunatak was hurled across the room by telekinetic force, his head crashing through a computer monitor.

"Will he live?" Red Eye asked.

"I hope so. He might be converted, the others won’t be," Mystan said, "come, let’s find Luna. Chilla’s waiting outside the room."

Luna was in her room sleeping when Amok shook her awake. "What is it Amok?" she grumbled, being raised to his shoulders.

"Door," Amok grunted.

"Then open it," Luna said.

"With pleasure," Mystan said, exerting telekinetic energy into blowing the door off the wall. It crashed into Amok’s head. The massive Lunatak advanced threateningly toward the telekinetic Lunatak.

"There’d better be a good reason behind this," Luna warned.

"There is. You’re no longer the leader of the Lunataks, and soon you won’t even be alive," Mystan replied. Amok jumped forward but found a slick patch of ice in his way. His feet went in opposite directions and he crashed to the floor. A missile caught Luna and knocked her across the floor until she rolled to a stop at her bed.

"This is mutiny. When Amok is through with you, you’ll learn the true meaning of pain!" Luna shrieked.

"Oh shut up!" Mystan said, placing an empty chest over top of Luna.

Psikaris, along with her limping brother, dashed down the hall as quickly as they could. It was obvious where the renegade Lunataks would be headed, and that’s where the Myntaello siblings went too. When they rounded the last corner, they began firing their rifles.

Mystan looked and saw Amok struggling to his feet. He quickly molded the broken door over the beast. "Chilla, weld it to the ground. We’ve got to get to the Skycruiser. I hate to admit it but we’ve lost the day. Retreat!" he ordered. The three were soon fleeing down the halls, stopping only at the ramp to bring Tycho inside. They found that Alluro had managed to find his way in already. "What about Shade?" Red Eye asked.

"We’ll have to trade her for Tycho, as much as I hate to do it," Mystan said.

"We’d better, or I leave you," Red Eye growled.

It was dark wherever it was that Knave was. He couldn’t tell how long he’d been there, but it must have been several hours at least, as there was a sizable pool of his blood beneath him. His wrists were bound in cold steel to the wall, as were his ankles. A man stepped from the shadows. "Father?" Knave asked, his voice sounded weak and almost scared.

"That’s right," the man, Nitro, said.

"I thought you’d died. That’s what the reports said. Executed as a traitor by Felines on Plundarr," Knave said. Nitro’s death, Knave and Chilla’s father, had made all the top news reports, and had been the excuse for much bloodshed for weeks after.

"You should know by now that not even death can keep me from you. Did you truly think that Mumm-Ra was the only one capable of making a deal with the devil, as it were? I am now more powerful than you can imagine," Nitro replied.

"But what do you want with me?" Knave asked.

"Oh, I’m going to kill you, but not yet. You’ll make good bait for my real target, that sister of yours who refused to bend to my will," Nitro said.

"Chilla," Knave whispered.

"Exactly!" Nitro chuckled.

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