Will scanned the room looking for any way out. There were windows, but they were at least fifteen feet off the floor.

“Look!” cried Debra pointing at one of the walls.

Midway up the wall was a vent shooting out a white gas. There were similar vents in the other walls also spewing forth the white gas.

“Knockout gas!” called Will pulling out his blaster and racing towards the door to the balcony. Debra slipped the crystal in a pocket and did the same.

Together they fired at the metal plate which quickly began to glow, but didn’t show any damage.

Will finally stopped firing and placed his hand on Debra’s shoulder. “No good,” he shouted to be heard over the alarm that was still ringing. “Try the wall.”

They had better luck as the stone began to splinter, but even after several minutes they’d made little progress only removing a few inches of rock. Meanwhile the white gas coming from the vents had started pooling on the floor and was now up to their knees.

“It’s taking too long,” hollered Debra.

“Give me the crystal,” ordered Will.

She handed it to him and he ran over to the pedestal. Debra followed.

He placed the crystal on the pedestal and aligned it so it was facing the balcony door. At first Debra didn’t understand what he was doing, but then remembered what Purlance had told them about the crystal. Will placed the blaster at the end of the crystal away from the door and crouched down behind the pedestal, careful to keep his head above the rising white gas. Debra stooped down behind him.

Will fired.

The dull green light of the crystal turned a brilliant violet with a brightness that filled the entire room. The sound of an explosion drowned out the alarm with pieces of stone and metal falling to the floor throughout the room.

Peering over the pedestal they saw that the door to the balcony was gone, along with about five feet of the wall surrounding it. The light of day streamed through the opening. The crystal had returned to its original state and surprisingly was cool to the touch. Debra grabbed it and put in her pocket.

They ran for the balcony, but just before they reached it, the metal plate covering the door to the room slid upwards and four guards burst in, weapons drawn. Will and Debra just had time to take cover on the balcony before they started firing.

“I’ll hold them off,” called Debra. “You get the jetpack.”

“Right,” shouted Will running over to the large stone bench that he’d hidden it behind. He quickly grabbed it and strapped it on. Returning to Debra, he saw one of the guards was down and the three other had taken cover behind some the larger pieces of debris. He began firing as well to make sure they’d stay that way.

“Ready,” he called.

“Ready.”

Will holstered his blaster and picking up Debra, they took off into the bright blue sky. It wasn’t long before pulses of energy were shooting past them. Will increased their speed while starting evasive maneuvers and after a few minutes, the shooting stopped.

Once away from the palace, Will reduced their altitude until they were just above the trees in an effort to keep from being followed. It seemed to work as there was no sign of pursuit. However, he knew that didn’t mean they were in the clear.

As they neared the area where they’d hidden the ship, Will landed.

“We’ll go the rest of the way on foot,” he said as he lowered Debra to the ground.

She nodded. “Yeah, Purlance would have certainly found the ship by now.”

The two of them slowly made their way up the slope to the top of the rise which overlooked where the ship was hidden. At the top they got down and peered over the side. Their fears were confirmed as two hoverjets sat not far from the spaceship. There was clearly some movement around them, but they were too far away to see how many soldiers there were.

Will looked at the sky behind them. “I wouldn’t be surprised if more are on the way.”

“So what do we do?”

Will looked down at the ship and considered the question for a moment. “I’ll lead them away from the ship so you can get onboard and open the cargo door. I can get in through there.”

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For a moment, Debra looked at him like he was crazy, but finally nodded. “As long as you promise not to get killed.”

“Hasn’t happened yet,” Will answered with a smile.

Will flew Debra to a spot closer to the ship and then flew around the exterior of the valley to put the ship between them. Hovering just out of sight of the soldiers in the valley below he brought out his blaster and set it to incinerate. Zooming up and over the ridge surrounding the valley, he headed directly towards the hoverjets and began firing as he drew near being careful not to hit them. Soldiers shouted and were soon returning fire. Will swerved and spun to keep from being hit. Finally, he retreated, heading out of the valley and away from the ship. Most of the soldiers boarded the hoverjets and were soon in pursuit.

As Will drew the attention of the soldiers, Debra made her way into the valley and was able to get within a few hundred feet of the ship. Although most had left to pursue Will, four soldiers remained behind and there was no way she could get onboard the ship without being seen.

She reached for her blaster, but paused. The soldiers were about twenty feet apart, each scanning the area around them, their hands on their blasters. At most she could hope to take out two of them before the others took cover. She’d never get on the ship that way.

Will had the jetpack at full power, but knew there was no way he could outrun a hoverjet. At least he didn’t have to worry about them using the hoverjets’ weapons since Purlance wanted him alive. However, there were more than enough soldiers with blasters onboard to do the job. As he flew, he saw the sun glinting off something in the distance, it was three more hoverjets heading right for him. “Great,” he muttered.

Debra pulled out the blaster and put it on its lowest setting and aimed it at one of the spaceship’s fins. It wouldn’t cause any damage, but would sure make some noise. Peering over the rock she was hiding behind, she fired. A loud clang echoed across the valley.

“What was that?” cried one of the soldiers as the four of them ran to the source of the sound. As the four of them rounded the ship and came into view, Debra fired four times in rapid succession sending each of them falling to the ground.

Running to the ship, she jumped onto the gantry which began moving up the side of the ship. Within minutes she was in the control room looking for the cargo door switch. Fortunately it was right where Will said it would be. When she flipped it, a large door on the side of the ship slid open.

Seeing a forest below, Will made for it leveling off just above the trees. However, the hoverjets pursuing him were nearly in blaster range and the other hoverjets were rapidly approaching. Seeing a slight opening in the tops of the trees, he headed for it and flew down into the forest below. Branches scratched his face and arms, but he was able to maintain control of the jetpack well enough to get to the ground without breaking anything.

He could hear the hoverjets above the trees and knew it was only a matter of time until their sensors gave the soldiers on board a target to fire at. The trees were too thick to risk flying the jetpack through the forest so he started running. As he ran, he could hear the hoverjets tracking him. Clearly they were just waiting for him to come into the open so they could target him.

There was only one way to get away. Ignoring the risk, he activated the jetpack and took off through the trees, twisting and turning sideways to miss them. The roar of the jets hid the sounds of the hoverjets so he had no idea where they were. Seeing a break in the trees, he shot up out of the forest and started heading back to the ship. He took a quick look behind him and saw he’d put some distance between himself and his pursuers, but would it be enough?

The hoverjets had just come into weapons range as Will reached the valley and blasts on energy started shooting past him. However, he couldn’t help but smile when he saw the open cargo door on the ship. He made for it at full power not turning to slow himself until he was mere feet away. He landed on the cargo deck hard, but jumped up and slammed the button closing the cargo door.

As it slid shut, he raced up the latter past the crew quarters to the control room. Debra was already strapped in. Leaping into his chair, Will began flipping switches not even bothering to strap himself in. The ship shook as the hoverjets began firing on it. Flipping the last switch without uttering his usual announcement, the engines roared to life and the ship began to lift off from the ground. The force of the exhaust knocked the hoverjets away and several crashed to the ground.

As they rose through the atmosphere, Will flipped a few more switches causing the weapon’s system display to come up on the viewscreen. He looked over at Debra. “Purlance doesn’t give up easily so hold on.”

Once out the atmosphere, Will activated the ships shields hoping they’d give them at least some protection. However, a burst of sparks and the smell of burnt insulation dashed that hope.

The viewscreen showed two space frigates heading towards them, both already within weapons range. A voice crackled over the radio, it was Purlance.

“Surrender now Power or my ships will open fire.”

Will ignored him, pushing the control stick forward pushing him and Debra back against their seats. He randomly moved the control stick side to side to make the ship harder to him. A purple bolt of energy shot past the ship quickly followed by another.

Sweat was pouring down Will’s face making the cuts on his face sting as he fought to evade the weapons of the two frigates. Normally, he’d be able to out run them, but the previous damage to the engines prevented that. He still had one advantage through.

He headed the ship back into the atmosphere knowing the frigates couldn’t follow. Once away from the frigates, he turned the ship around, passing beneath them. Once out of their weapons range, Will brought the ship out of the atmosphere. Before the frigates could turn around to pursue them, Will and Debra were well away from Watelen Prime and King Purlance.

Debra brought the crystal out of her pocket and smiled. “Wasn’t easy, but we got it.”

“No it wasn’t,” agreed Will, the cuts on his face and arms still oozing blood. “So what’s next?”

“I hear there’s a collector on Thadeus Seven who will pay quite a price for this beauty,” answered Debra, patting the crystal.

Will typed on the keyboard. “Should take a couple of days to get there,” he said looking at the readout on the viewscreen. “Looks like they have a repair station there as well.”

“Excellent,” said Debra, unstrapping herself to take a closer look at Will’s injuries. She shook her head. “First thing we need to do though is get you fixed up. So set the autopilot for Thadeus Seven and I’ll have you feeling as good as new in no time.”