Will sat in the pilot’s seat thinking about Robert Corlander as the ship continued on towards Celentus. He’d told Will about his daughter wanting to attend the academy. He might’ve even met her at her father’s funeral, but that was many years ago. If Debra had told him her last name, he’d have made the connection immediately which is probably why she’d chosen not to mention it.

How Will wished he was still around. He’d have never been part of Earth’s sudden obsession with defending itself at the cost of its principles. Who knows, Captain Corlander might’ve been able to convince other officers to stand up against the president’s orders. Will just shook his head.

He could see a lot of her father in Debra. Just like him, she wasn’t afraid to take chances or give in if she knew she was right. Although circumstances had made a criminal of her, she still sought to do the right thing when she could. After all, she could’ve left whenever she wanted to and enjoyed the profits from their theft of the Strelian Crystal. However, she didn’t. Just like her father, she risked her life to help others.

Having just slept for nearly nine hours, Will wasn’t tired so he busied himself checking the ship’s systems and doing whatever small repairs he could in the control cabin. Once he finished what he could, Will just sat in the pilot seat and set the viewscreen to display the area of space they were passing through. Even though he’d spent so much time in space, Will never grew tired of watching the stars and nebulas pass by.

After a while he decided to go down and check on Debra. He climbed down the ladder and gently knocked on her door. “Debra,” he called softly.

“Come in.”

Walking in, he found Debra sitting on her bed, her arms around her knees and her head leaning against them.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. It just hurts to remember sometimes.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks.”

He turned to go.

“Wait,” called Debra.

Will stopped.

She looked up at him, her eyes glistening with tears. “My dad was away a lot, but whenever he came home he’d tell me everything he’d done. I always looked forward to those stories.” She paused as a sob escaped from her. “However, there was one story he couldn’t tell because he never came home.” She rocked back and forth on the bed trying to get the words out. “Please tell me about his last mission.”

“Of course,” said Will, sitting on the bed beside her.

They sat there talking for hours, each shedding tears as they remembered the man who meant so much to each of them. Eventually, all the stress of the last few days and the emotional hurt caused Debra to doze off. Getting up, Will gently stretched her out on the bed and quietly left the room.

It wasn’t until the next day that Debra returned to the control cabin. Climbing up the ladder she did her best to give Will a smile, but he could tell her heart wasn’t in it. He wished he had the words to say that would make her feel better, but wasn’t sure any such words existed. He could only hope that in time she’d be able to deal with the hurt.

“Everything looks good,” he reported. “On track to reach Celentus in just over three days.”

“Good,” she said in a low voice as she strapped herself into her seat.

They both sat there in silence as the viewscreen showed the stars moving past them.

Suddenly, the radio sprang to life. “Come in Captain Power,” rang from its speaker. “This is Lord Lestron.”

Will looked over at Debra. “Hope there’s no trouble.” He flipped a switch. “This is Power, go ahead.”

“Will,” answered the voice over the radio. “Glad I finally caught up with you. We’d picked up some Earth radio traffic which indicated your mission had been a success.”

“We were lucky,” answered Will. “Appreciate you coming out to check on us.”

This was a moment of silence. “Well …” he began with a hint of embarrassment in his voice. “I’m not here for entirely altruistic reasons. If you and Debra are interested, there’s another item I’m interested in acquiring. Let’s rendezvous at Decaria so we can discuss it in person.”

Will looked over at Debra who nodded, a slight smile on her face.

“Okay,” radioed back Will. He looked up at the star chart. “We’ll be there in about twenty hours.”

“Excellent. I’ll send landing coordinates once you’re in orbit. Lestron out.”

Will set course for Decaria. “Isn’t Decaria a farm planet?”

Debra typed on the keyboard. “Yes it is. Most of its surface is farmland with automated machinery doing the actual farm work. There’s less than a hundred thousand people living there.”

“So what do you think?” asked Will.

“I think Lestron’s shown we can trust him,” answered Debra. “Plus, we know that he does pay well.”

Will shook his head. “I know, but do we really need more money. You can live very comfortably on three hundred thousand credits.”

“Sure you can, but only for a year or two,” argued Debra.

Will was about to continue arguing, but seeing the smile on Debra’s face decided to hold his tongue. “Well, it certainly doesn’t hurt to listen to what Lestron has to say.”

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“Absolutely,” agreed Debra.

Twenty hours later, Will ship entered orbit around Decaria. It was comprised of several land masses separated by vast oceans. With the exception of the mountain ranges and polar regions, the land areas of the planet were covered in vegetation.

“I’ve activated a landing beacon,” came Lestron’s voice over the radio. “Follow it down.”

“Roger,” answered Will.

Will brought up a map of the planet and overlaid the position of the beacon. “Looks like it’s on a plateau in one of the mountain ranges,” offered Will.

The shipped dipped into the atmosphere and slowly moved through the clouds, heading for the beacon’s position. As they descended, Debra ran sensor scans of the landing area.

“There’s a single ship and I’m reading two human life forms.”

Will nodded. “Prepare for landing.”

Within fifteen minutes, the ship gently landed and the engines shut down. Will and Debra unstrapped themselves from their seats and headed for the gantry door. Will strapped a blaster around his waist.

Seeing the look on Debra’s face, Will unstrapped it and hung it back up.

They stepped onto the gantry and it began heading down the side of the ship to the ground. A strong cold wind blew past them. Lord Lestron awaited them below.

As Will and Debra stepped onto the hard stony ground, he rushed up to them. He embraced Debra and heartily shook Will's hand. “I can’t express how happy I am to see you,” he enthused. “I would love to hear every detail of your success, but we haven’t much time.”

Debra looked around them. “Are you sure it’s okay for us to be here. I thought farming planets didn’t like visitors.”

“Very true,” answered Lestron, “but I was able to make an arraignment with the planet’s manager to rent this area for a few hours.”

“So what is it you want us to get?” asked Will.

“Let’s discuss it in my ship where we’ll be more comfortable.”

A space yacht sat nearby. It was long and sleek with two fins sticking out the sides and one on the top. It rested on four short landing feet. As they approached, a ramp extended out the side and a door slid open.

Lestron led them inside and down a hallway to a finely decorated sitting room. Rich wooden paneling covered the walls and around the room were cabinets containing books, jewelry, and other precious items. It the center of the room was a sofa and several overstuffed chair which surrounded a coffee table. On the table sat a decanter and three glasses.

“Please have a seat,” offered their host as he picked up the decanter. Will and Debra sat down on the sofa. “This is one of the finest wines I’ve ever tasted,” he explained as he filled each of their glasses. “It’s from Frathorn Three and is unique in that although it is fermented like any other wine, it contains absolutely no alcohol.” He smiled. “After all, we must keep our minds clear for our discussion.”

“Okay,” said Will. “What’s this all about?”

“Have you ever had any dealings with Queen Ithan of Methinal?”

Will shook his head. “No, but I am familiar with her. She’s been trying to conquer some of the nearby system for several years now, but has been unsuccessful.”

“That’s right,” replied Lord Lestron. “To that end, she’s recently let’s say acquired the Amulet of Hrytrin. She hopes to use the proceeds from its sale to buy weapons to continue her plans for conquest.”

“Amulet of Hrytrin?” asked Debra. “I’m not familiar with that.”

Lestron smiled. “Ah yes, a wonderful piece of history. It was a wedding gift from Krell the Cruel to the Empress Hrytrin. Legend says she gave the amulet to one of her lovers and when Krell found it was missing, had her killed. Some say that is part of the reason his son eventually killed him.”

“What does it look like?”

Lestron reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of jewelry with a thick gold chain to which was attached a deep red gem several inches across mounted to a gold ring. “This is a copy of the amulet,” he said handing it to Debra.

She looked it over, her eyes lighting up. “So I assume you want us to switch out the actual amulet with this.”

“Right.” He pulled out a small electronic tablet and handed it to Will. “This contains all the security information on Ithan’s palace. The amulet is stored in her treasure room. It’s heavily guarded, but I’m sure the two of you can figure out how to get inside.”

As Lestron spoke, Will was looking at the data on the tablet. “Won’t be easy,” he said.

“But we can handle it, right?” said Debra in a pleading tone looking over at Will.

Will still wasn’t comfortable with outright theft, but stealing the amulet would prevent Ithan from attacking her neighbors. He nodded. “Right.”

“Excellent,” exclaimed Lestron getting up from his seat. “Once you have it, you can deliver it to me on Thadeus Seven.”

Will and Debra stood up and Lestron led them back outside. “Good luck,” he said shaking each of their hands.

It wasn’t long before they were back in space. Debra scanned the tablet data into the ship’s computer as Will set course for Methinal. It would take of couple days to get there.

“Looks like the roof is the most lightly guarded way in,” she commented bringing up a schematic of the palace on the viewscreen. “There’s only a single door with two guards.”

Will nodded. “What about alarms on the door?”

“They are deactivated when the key is inserted in the lock and the guards have the key.”

“Good. How about the treasure room?”

Debra pushed a button and a close up view of the treasure room appeared. “Four guards on the only door and it’s alarmed.”

Will stared at the viewscreen for several minutes. “What’s that small rectangle in the corner?”

Debra pushed a button and the view rotated and zoomed in on the rectangle. “Looks like a ventilation shaft.”

Will smiled. “Can you track it?”

“Think so,” she answered as she fiddled with the viewing controls. In a few minutes, a yellow line appeared on the screen which tracked the shaft. “The closest entrance is on the floor above in what looks like a small utility corridor. Ten feet to the vertical shaft which goes twenty feet down and then another fifteen feet to the treasure room.”

“Can you fit?”

Debra smiled. “It’s three feet by three feet. I can fit no problem.”

Two days later, Will’s ship made a nighttime in a remote area about fifty miles away from Ithan’s palace. Both dressed in black overalls and strapped on their blasters and equipment belts.

Stepping onto the gantry, they put on their jetpacks and flew off into the overcast night. Flying just above the trees to keep from being seen, they reached the palace in less than an hour.

They landed on the far side of the roof, well away from the single door which led inside. Taking off their jetpacks, Will and Debra drew their blasters and silently crept towards the door. They stopped about twenty feet away, ducking down behind a section of wall. They saw two guards standing by the door talking. They were dressed in loose fitting armor with helmets that covered the upper part of their faces.

“I’ll take the one on the left,” whispered Debra taking aim with her blaster. Will nodded and pointed his blaster at the other guard. “Now,” hissed Debra. They fired simultaneously and both guards fell to the ground.

Will and Debra rushed over and immediately began searching for the door key. “Got it,” said Will in a low voice. Dragging the guards out of sight, they undressed them and put on their armor and helmets. “Not the most flattering outfit for you,” softly chuckled Will as Debra put on the too large armor.

“You’re no fashion plate either,” she answered with a smile.

They made their way to the door and unlocked it, relieved that the information they had been given was right as no alarm sounded. They drew their blasters and slowly made their way down the stairs.

The entrance to the ventilation shaft was six floors down. The stairs they were on would get them down the first three, but after that they’d need to move through the palace to get to the next set of stairs.

They reached the bottom of the stairs without issue. Opening the door to the corridor, Will peered out. He was about to give the all clear when the sound of a woman screaming echoed down the corridor.

“Don’t touch me,” she cried.

Will ducked back inside, but left the door open a crack to see what was going on. From around a nearby corner, came a blond woman wearing a white blouse and a blue skirt which reached down to her ankles followed by two guards pointing blasters at her.

“Shut up,” shouted one of the guards shoving her forward.

Will couldn’t believe his eyes. It was Gwen Fulbright.