As Will piloted the ship out of the atmosphere, the radio crackled followed by a woman’s voice.

“Captain Power, this is Earth Space Control. You are ordered to land at once or we will be forced to disable your ship.”

Will chuckled to himself at being addressed by his rank. It’d been years since anyone used it.

He flipped the radio switch. “Earth Space Control, this is Captain Power. Unable to comply.”

He reached over to flip it off, but paused as a smile came to his face.

“Earth Space Control,” he continued, his eyes shining. “Give it your best shot and I’ll do my best not to damage your ships too badly. Power out.”

Turning off the radio, he looked over at Debra. “Hold on tight, it’s gonna get bumpy.”

With a nod she pulled her straps tighter and grabbed the arms of her seat.

As the darkness of space became visible against the blue curvature of Earth on the viewscreen, Will twisted a knob. Suddenly the cabin was filled with a low hum and a green haze could be seen through the ship’s windows.

“What was that?” asked Debra.

“Shields,” answered Will looking down at the control and flipping a few more switches. The image on the viewscreen changed from a view of space to a grid on which three lighted points could be seen following them. Around the center was a circle displayed in a thicker line than the rest of the grid.

“What’s the circle?”

“Weapon’s range. That’s when they can start firing at us.”

“You can outrun them, right?” asked Debra in a worried tone.

Will shook his head. “Nope. Those are Kranglin fighters, the fastest ships in Earth’s fleet. We’ll just have to out-fly them.”

He shoved the control stick forward and he and Debra were thrown back against their seats as the ship accelerated under full thrust. Even so, the points on the screen kept getting closer and were soon at the edge of the circle.

Will kept a close eye on their approach and just as they reached the circle, he pulled back hard on the control stick and flipped several switches above his head. Debra’s stomach lurched as she suddenly felt as if she were falling backwards. Just as the feeling began to subside, Will once again pushed the control stick forward pressing them back against their seats.

“What,” began Debra as she tried to catch her breath. “What’d you do?”

“Gave us a little breathing room,” answered Will pointing at the screen.

It took a moment for Debra to get her eyes to focus, but once she did, she saw that the ships that’d been pursuing them were now behind them and moving away.

“Are we safe?”

“No, they’ll turn around and be after us soon enough. However, we should be able to reach the moon before they catch us.”

The ship streaked towards the moon, its pursuers drawing ever closer. As they approached the moon, Will adjusted the viewscreen controls to get a close-up look at the lunar surface.

“What are you looking for?”

“Not sure, but I’ll know it when I see it.”

The first fighter came into weapons range just as they entered the moon’s weak gravitational field. The ship shook as a bolt of energy exploded near it. The ship’s shields flickered, but held as the second firing hit its mark.

With a slight twist of a knob, a thruster firing pushed the nose of the ship downward towards the moon’s surface. The ship picked up speed, but so did the other ships as they followed. Now all three ships were in weapons range and a barrage of plasma ray firings were exploding around the ship and impacting its shields, but they held.

However, they smell of electricity and burning rubber began to fill the cabin as systems began to overload and melt their wiring. Barely a hundred feet above the surface, Will leveled the ship and headed for the wall of a nearby crater. As they drew closer, he brought the ship’s weapon systems online.

Passing over the crater wall, he edged the ship downward into the crater and fired every plasma ray the ship had into the crater wall behind them. Pieces of rock and dust were blasted hundreds of feet into the air obscuring the ships behind them. Continuing to fire his weapons at the moon’s surface, Will turned the spaceship upward and headed for open space.

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With all the dust and debris, the ship’s sensors couldn’t determine if the fighters were still in pursuit of them. One lesson Will had learned early on in his hero career was to always assume the worst and act accordingly. He knew the Kranglin fighters had a limited range so he set course away from Earth at maximum speed in the hope that they wouldn’t follow. After an hour there was still no sign of pursuit and they could finally relax.

Activating the ship’s autopilot, Will started to check the ship’s systems. Shields were severely damaged, life support was functioning, but could go at any time. Engines has sustained some damage, but were still operable. They’d have to find a suitable place to make repairs.

As Will did his checks, Debra headed down to the crew quarters below the control room. Will had suggested she check out Gwen’s cabin to see if there was anything there she could use. Opening the closet, Debra just shook her head. There were three white blouses and four blue skirts along with a suitcase.

“Does that girl ever wear anything else?” she wondered.

She tried opening the suitcase, but it was locked and there didn’t seem to be any sort of key or combination lock. There was in indentation on the side, but it didn’t do anything. The drawers only held bland looking bras and an assortment of panties.

“Might as well try them on,” she sighed.

The skirt was a bit snug and reached down only to just above her ankles. The blouse was short in the arms and so tight across the chest, she couldn’t even button it.

As she put back on her own clothes, she couldn’t stop yawning. It’d already been late in the day when she went to Will’s apartment and she had no idea how long they’d been in space. And the bed did look comfortable.

A knock at the door awakened her. “Yeah,” she called in a drowsy voice.

Will stepped inside. “Sorry to wake you, but we’ve got a problem.”

“Only one,” answered Debra with a laugh. Will just stared at her with a blank expression.

Debra got up and walked over to Will. “You need to lighten up hero boy. Enjoy yourself and laugh a little.” She slipped an arm around him. “I could help with that.”

Will looked at her arm, but didn’t move it. “This is serious. The ship suffered a lot of damage that needs to be repaired.”

“So get it repaired.”

Will shook his head. “And how do we pay for it? Earth’s government always paid for any ship repairs, well after I paid a deductible, but I doubt they would now.”

Debra smiled. “If it’s credits you need, I know just the way to get them.”

“I already told you that I won’t steal.”

“Too bad,” she said shaking her head. “Rumor has it that King Purlance of Watelen Prime has gotten his hands on the Strelian Crystal. I think it’d fetch us enough money to repair the ship, get me some new clothes,” she looked over his power blue shirt and grey slacks, “and some for you too.”

Will had dealt with Purlance before. He’d kidnapped the head of Earth’s military, General Abram, and had tried to brainwash him into revealing weaknesses in Earth’s defenses. Fortunately, Will had rescued him in time. Could Purlance acquiring the Strelian Crystal be part of another scheme to attack Earth?

Will sighed. He knew what he had to do.

“Okay, if this is going to work we’ll need to know where the crystal is being kept and what kind of security is protecting it.”

Debra nodded. “I know some people who can get us that information, but they’ll want a cut.”

That really didn’t make Will feel any better about what they were doing. Even though he really didn’t know that much about Debra, after how she’d helped him, he felt he could trust her. “Contact them.”

It took nearly a week to reach Watelen Prime. They could have gotten there sooner, but Will didn’t want to risk damaging the engines further by pushing them too hard. However, that did provide enough time for Debra to hear back from her contact.

The crystal was located in a chamber located at the top of Pulance’s palace. What surprised Will was that other than some guards stationed outside the room, there was no other security. The security had been much more elaborate when he rescued General Abram.

Based on that information, it was a fairly simple plan. They’d fly in at night using the jetpack and land on the balcony outside the room. The door from the balcony was made of thick wood, but nothing a blaster set to a fine beam couldn’t handle. Then get in, grab the crystal and get out. A little voice in the back of his head kept telling Will it was too easy, but Debra’s assurances made him ignore it.

The area around the palace was filled with mountains and valleys so it wasn’t too difficult for Will to find an out of the way place to land. He and Debra dressed in black coveralls to better conceal themselves as they flew to the palace. Grabbing a blaster, Will twirled it on a finger and slipped into his holster.

“What about me?” asked Debra.

“You ever use one of these?”

Debra smiled. “A time or two.”

Will tossed her a blaster and holster and she slung it around her waist.

Once they reached the ground, Will put on his jet pack and picked up Debra in his arms.

“Ready?”

“I was born ready.”

The two lifted off into the dark night sky.

It was mostly cloudy, but occasionally the clouds parted allowing the light of one of Watelen Prime’s three moons to light the ground below then. Once out of the mountains, the rocky terrain transitioned to an area of forests and farms. Being well after midnight, they saw no lights in the few farmhouses they passed.

It wasn’t long before they reached the palace. It was an ancient structure that had been carved out of a mountain. There were lights in a few of the windows, but most of the palace was dark. There was no sign of any guards.

The room which held the crystal was at the very top of the palace. Will landed softly on the balcony and silently lowered Debra to the stone floor. After removing the jetpack and hiding it behind a bench, he turned on a small light and inspected the door. It was just as they’d been told, a thick wooden door with an old metal lock.

Will brought his mouth close to Debra’s ear. “Keep an eye out.”

She nodded.

Will brought out his blaster and set it to a fine beam to cut through the lock. It took only a minute. When he finished, he reset his blaster back to doze and held on to it. He gestured for Debra to do the same. Once she had it out, he opened the door slightly and shined the light inside. The portion of the room he could see was empty and all was silent. He slipped inside followed by Debra.

They’d only taken a few steps when the room was suddenly flooded with light blinding them both. Will tried to push Debra back through the door, but something was in the way. The sensation of a blaster being pressed against his back told him that was no something, but a someone.