Mountain G3, Canada Territory
10AM

The icy Arctic wind roared through the mountains, tearing through the ancient peaks and whiplashed around the mountainside where Captain Jonathan Power was sitting. He shivered, despite the heavy overcoat he was wearing over his thermal regulated Powersuit and uniform. He sighed and looked down at his wrist chronometer for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last hour. Only five minutes since the last time he had checked. They were late, no surprise. He had already been sitting near the base of the mountain for nearly two hours. If he had been waiting for any one else, he would have packed up and gone home ages ago. But when dealing with the Archers, one had to exercise a little leeway. They were none too happy to have the Powerteam in their territory, so when they sent word that they had information for him and were willing to give it, he decided that the decent thing to do would be to give his neighbors some credit and meet their messenger.

The Archers were an interesting group. At first glance, they seemed almost primitive, living in bands they called tribes and hunting with bows and arrows. However, through constant interaction with them, Captain Power had begun to see them as a quite intelligent society. Somewhere, early on in the Metal Wars, several groups of people who had banded together noticed that the BioMech soldiers, the mindless but numerous robots of the BioDread Empire, had extreme difficulty navigating wooded areas. They were constantly getting caught up in bushes, fallen logs and the hills and mountains were almost impossible for them to walk. So these groups retreated into the forests of what was once Canada and kept to themselves. Since the machines tried to avoid the forests and icy weather, the people kept to themselves and avoided drawing attention.

They hunted the forest animals and defended themselves with high-powered bows that shot energy arrows. No one knew much else about them, although Captain Power suspected that the Archers must be nomadic, since no permanent settlement had ever been found that he knew of. After the destruction of the first Powerbase, the team had fled north under the direction of a message left on the Jumpship by Dr. Stuart Power, Jonathan Power's deceased father, hinting at the existence of a second base. At the time, the team was low on energy in their Powersuits with no way to recharge and still stinging from their bitter defeat and loss of their base, as well as the loss of a team member in the explosion. Jon closed his eyes as a wave of despair rushed over him, thinking about Corporal Jennifer "Pilot" Chase, but with great effort, he forced it away. The team had ended up in this mountain range, where the second base, named Northstar, was hidden deep inside a mountain, much as the first base had been.

The only problem was that their neighbors, the Archers, hated having the Powerteam so close drawing attention from Lord Dread. Since the transit gates had shut down after the explosion of the first base, the team had been forced to travel the old fashioned way, taking much longer to fly and being susceptible to being tracked by satellite. Lord Dread knew the Powerteam's second base was somewhere in Northern Canada, but thankfully, he didn't know where yet. The team had been forced to go into hiding for nearly a year to rebuild their weapons and finish construction on the new base. Not long after their arrival, they had added several new members to the team and had managed to get some of the transit gates up and working again, after changing their locations. But since Dread knew of their existence, they were only used in emergency, and no transit gate opened anywhere near the new base. The team had about a 20-minute flight to the nearest one, which gave them enough time to notice anyone coming towards the base from the gate.

It hadn't been easy, and getting back on their feet had been hard. But now they had their base and some new team members, and now they were back in the game.

Suddenly, movement below drew Captain Power out of his reverie. He jumped up, his hand dropping automatically to his blaster, but he relaxed a little when he saw who it was. It was a young Archer named Dakota, Dak for short. He was only about 17 and one of few Archers who actually liked having the Powerteam in the area. According to Archer culture, he was a man by just a few months, having been given his own bow in ceremony. But he was still very much a kid in many ways; especially in the way he made no attempt to hide his way through the forest as he came crashing through the bushes. Jon grinned slightly, knowing the kid's father, chief of their tribe, would give him hell for walking like that.

"Hi, Dak," he said as the boy came up before him.

Dak grinned and stopped before him. "Hey, Captain. Dad sent this for you."

He handed Jon a small metal message tube. "Dad said you'd find it interesting." He shrugged his shoulders.

Jon hoped it wasn't an urgent message, given the length of time it took for him to get it. But he thanked the kid anyway and watched as he disappeared back into the trees. Another blast of wind convinced him to read it inside and he headed back to the door concealed in the side of the mountain. After he made sure the outer locks were sealed he began the long walk back to the interior of the base. Unlike the previous Powerbase, the second one was full of unused winding corridors, filled with unfinished rooms and hallways without lights. Given that no one lived there but the team, they only powered the sections they used.

When they had first arrived, there had been no power and much of the crew quarters and computer systems had been shut down. It took them a full 48 hours to get everything up and running to the sections they wanted. They ran on geothermal energy, so the supply was plentiful, but the only thing they wasted energy on in these sections was the motion sensors and cameras so Mentor could keep an eye on things.

Jon came out into the central flight deck and looked around. The cavern extended up four stories and was the hub of the wheel where the rest of the base joined its corridors. A long huge entranceway was where the Jumpship and other vehicles entered and exited the base. An elevator rose up to each level where balconies overlooked the huge hanger area. Crew quarters were on one level, recreation quarters on another, each level serving a purpose.

Over in one corner, a new member to the team, Nathan "Stingray" Johnson, stood over a workbench tinkering with a new underwater contraption that would act as an underwater probe of sorts. In another area, his first officer, Hawk, was trying to get the second XT-7 in working order. With a nod to both men, Captain Power turned into the sliding double doors that led into the main console room where their supercomputer, Mentor, was housed, as he had been in the first base.

Captain Power dropped into his chair and opened the message.

"Captain,
be advised, Locke
spotted in Wireville.
Plans on moving in 24 hours.
Chief John Blackbird"

Captain Power reread the message three times, then crushed the paper between his fingers. His eyes narrowed and anger shot through him. Locke had been the treacherous data thief who had lured them away from the base with the promise of Dread information in order that Dread forces could attack the base without resistance. However, Captain Power had sent Pilot back to analyze the data and she had been alone at the base during the attack. According to Mentor, the tape had been blank. Pilot had fought alone to secure the base against the invasion and to destroy any information that could have damaged the resistance. In the process, she had been caught in the explosion, which destroyed the base.

While Dread was responsible for these events, Jon didn't exclude Locke from them. He had been a part of the conspiracy and in Jon's mind, was just as responsible for Pilot's death as Dread was. Since there had never been any real closure and no one had ever been made to face the consequences, the whole situation was still an open wound he lived with daily. They had not even been able to give Pilot a funeral, since the explosion had been too devastating to even go down and find her body to bury. He sat thinking for an hour before making up his mind. Then he called the team in. They stood shifting nervously as their Captain explained the message and what he planned to do. Matthew "Hawk" Masterson was the most concerned. He had known Jonathan Power since he was a small child. He knew Jon was nothing if not determined. But he worried that this time, Jon would throw his father's teachings to preserve all human life to the wind and end up committing a cold blooded murder.

Everyone on the team knew how Pilot's death had hurt their captain. One of their new members, Christine "Ranger" O'Connor, had joined the team after saving Jon from nearly being killed by Dread, who had been taunting him about Pilot's death. She knew, as the others did, that Captain Power was bound and determined to bring down the Biodread Empire, not just for the sake of ending the war, but to avenge his father and Pilot's deaths. He had never been one for vengeance, though, until Jennifer had been killed. Everyone on the team had heard the final transmission she had sent to Captain Power from the base right before it had exploded. It was enough to bring tears to even the most hardened and unfeeling person.

The team knew that Locke should probably be detained for his role, but the best they could hope for was to keep their captain in check at this point. They suited up and headed out to Wiretown, one of few settlements that still manufactured wire but not for Dread. They landed on the outskirts, and slipped into town without powering up. They split up and covered both ends of the town, moving inward looking for Locke. Ranger privately hoped that one of the team would find him before Captain Power did. It soon turned out, there was no need. When Power, Hawk and Chip "TNT" Morrow walked into a small tavern, Locke, who was sitting near the bar, recognized Jon right away. He was not fool enough to think the Powerteam was just dropping in for a drink, he knew he was a wanted man. He got up and ran out the back door, but to no avail. He found himself cornered by the Powerteam and tackled by Captain Power in three seconds flat.

Hawk and Ranger pulled Jon off of Locke as Tank and Stingray held the man fast. Jon's eyes narrowed in fury as he looked at the scruffy figure before him. Although it had been nearly three years since they had last met, Locke still looked the same, if a little paler. Almost the entire human population had heard about the Powerbase explosion and Pilot. Locke had known from the start that Captain Power would have it in for him. He had managed to avoid detection, but now it looked like the Captain's legendary motto to preserve all human life was about to be rewritten, starting with him. But he was prepared. He had known this day was coming and now it was time to pull out the only lifeline he had.

Locke: "Ok, Ok, just wait a minute there, man..." he panted.

Jon: " Give me one good reason not to shoot you where you stand."

Locke: "Look I know you're pissed, but listen."

Jon cut him off, "No. I am WAY beyond that stage, my friend." His eyes narrowed and hardened. "What I am is way beyond pissed. Because of you, an innocent girl is dead, my base is destroyed and this war has been extended by several years. Now I can live with a few more years of war, it's become just life, and I can even live with losing my base, that can be replaced. But Pilot? No man, you crossed the line with that one. Do you have any idea, any idea at all?"

Locke seemed to grow small. "I have an idea....."

Jon lunged at him again, forcing Ranger and Hawk to tighten their grip on him as he yelled, "No you don't! You can't even begin to imagine!"

Locke: "Look, if you'd just listen..."

Jon: "You have nothing to say that I want to hear! Even 'I'm sorry' is moot at this point."

Locke: "Look man, I had no choice, they said they'd kill me.."

Jon: "You should have died then! You don't deserve to be standing there!"

Hawk was beginning to feel despair. They couldn't keep this up. Locke needed to be taken to a detainment place, but Jon seemed determined to kill him right there. They couldn't hold them back forever and people were starting to look down the alley to see what was going on. The last thing this team needed were witnesses to their Captain's losing it. But Locke pulled out the last card he had to play with.

Locke: "What if I told you she isn't dead?"

Jon froze, his eyes registering what Locke had just said. He then narrowed them again. "I'd say you were an even bigger liar than I thought, not to mention cruel..."

Locke: "You never saw her body did you? Well did you? Even if you had looked you wouldn't have found her. She's not down there, in that base. Dread has her."

The whole team froze. It was true, they had never looked, although they knew that some Dread teams had gone in to salvage what was left of Blastar. Scout and Tank had talked about going down to see what they could salvage from their quarters, but had ended up scratching the idea, it was too dangerous. The explosion had been so devastating, it was only logical to assume nothing had survived, not even the most powerful BioDread ever seen at the time had made it out. How could a human being?

Jon thought for a minute, then looked at Locke square in the eye." You're lying. You're just trying to save your own skin. She can't be alive, not after that explosion. And if Dread had her, as you claim, why wouldn't I have heard by now? It's been three years, that would be the perfect bait and Dread knows that. Why not just use her as lure? No, you're lying."

Locke relaxed a little. "That's easy enough to explain. He probably did intend to tell you and use her as bait, except the whole world saw how off it you were, man. Damn near got yourself killed a couple times, right? " Locke looked towards Ranger who was slightly nodding, remembering all too well how she had jumped in and stopped Dread from killing Jon Power who had been to emotionally infuriated over Dread's taunting him on losing Pilot to even fight logically.

Locke shrugged. "Guess he thought it was easier to keep you in the dark, thinking what you think. Probably hoped you do his work for him and get yourself killed, save himself the trouble. I didn't know myself until a few weeks ago, broke into the Dread systems. That hunk of metal, Blastarr, digitized her a split second before the explosion. When they salvaged its head, she was stored there. She's in Overmind's digitization storage banks now. So she's alive, if you call that being alive."

Jon had stopped fighting long enough for Hawk and Ranger to loosen their grip on him, though they stayed close. After some discussion amongst themselves, they decided to bring Locke to the Passages and wait there. Jon knew they needed to confirm his story, though he was personally sure the man was lying. But he couldn't take the chance that he wasn't. If Pilot was alive, he needed to know. But he couldn't bring himself to go back to the base. It was just too painful and if she WAS down there, finding her dead would kill him, he knew it. So it was decided that Scout, Tank and Stingray would go look. Ranger, Hawk and Captain Power would go to Tech City to see Mindsinger again, to see about hacking into the Dread database to access the digitization registry. If she was there, they would find her. Chip would stay behind to make sure Locke didn't escape again. With this in mind, the team set off for the Passages.

Site of Powerbase 1
4 PM

Scout eased himself carefully down through the large opening in the mountainside where the Dread troopers had blasted through during their search for Blastarr. He was powered up, as were Tank and Stingray. They moved in silence, aware that they were entering a tomb. Plus the hazard from falling beams and rocks was great. Their man objective was to find Pilot, or what was left of her. Scout felt his stomach turn to ice at the thought. What would she look like? He decided to stifle his imagination this time. He knew Tank was feeling more than a little queasy. It took a lot to rattle the big guy, but Jennifer's death and final moments were burned onto the memory of all her friends. The newbies to the team had never met her, but all had heard the recording of her transmission, all had seen pictures, and all the new ones saw the pain in everyone's eyes, especially Jon Power's, when she came up in conversation. For this reason, Nathan "Stingray" Johnson was a little less than thrilled with this himself. But he knew the captain would never have been able to do it. The man was capable of nearly everything, except this.

They had to wriggle their way through several collapsed corridors and moved several boulders, slowly making their way towards the room where they had pinpointed Pilot's transmission. Scout had figured that with the auto-destruct disabled, she had blown the power source from a room near the peak of the mountain. That would have given the blast ten seconds to reach her. Was that enough time to be digitized? On the way, they passed several crew quarters. The team split up to see what they could salvage from each room, photographs stored in metal cabinets, etc. Scout managed to find some items from Pilot's blasted out room. If this all turned out to be a sham, perhaps the captain would want them. Then, with some reluctance, they made their way to the room. Nearly everything in the base had burned in a raging fire, but due to the lack of oxygen underground, it had quickly burned itself out. This meant if Pilot was here, there would be some remains since it took a long, hot fire to totally destroy a human body.

They came out into the room and began to sweep with their hand sensors. After about a half-hour, they had still found no trace of human remains. Scout came to the spot where the console for the power source was located. She had to have been standing there. He swept the area and found traces of a digitization beam burned into the metal and rock. The three looked at each other, knowing they had found what they came for and Scout's mind leapt at the implications. Regardless of whether she was still alive or not, Jennifer Chase had been digitized in this room. Scout immediately radioed Hawk with the news.

Tech City
5:30 PM

Captain Power, Hawk and Ranger waited anxiously for Mindsinger to meet them downstairs. Ranger and Jon had been arguing over who was to go in looking for Pilot in Overmind's mainframe. It had taken them several hours to come up with a sort of Trojan horse program that would allow them to enter the non-vital systems and search the databanks. Since the digitization memory banks were not essential to the Empire, they were not as heavily guarded. Still, if Overmind knew what they were up to and Pilot was there, it might delete her. They would have to get in and out undetected. Also, if they found Pilot and she recognized them, she would know they would be coming for her, then Overmind would know, since it had access to the thought processes of all people it stored. They would have to get in, find her and get out, without Pilot knowing as well.

With a heavy heart, Jon realized it would be better for Ranger to go, since Overmind didn't know to look for her and Pilot wouldn't recognize her. Ranger knew what Pilot looked like, of course, so she would be able to search by sight if necessary. Mindisnger loaded their program and hooked Ranger up with the virtual reality gear used to enter the Cyberweb. Jon warned her that she would have maybe ten minutes tops before she would be detected. With a thumbs up, Ranger entered the digital Cyberweb. Just then, Scout's message came through: "Searched old base. No sign of her. Digitization readings in room 5, sector B. Locke possibly telling the truth." Jon's heart leapt at the thought. Was she really alive? And if so, how were they supposed to get her out? He watched Ranger nervously. She was still, unmoving. He looked up the stairs where Hawk was standing guard. The chronometer now read 3 minutes. He hoped this would work, and fast.

Meanwhile, Ranger was cruising into the Overmind banks via mindlink. It was a weird sight, and not too pleasant. She had heard the stories told by those who had been digitized the horrors of being held in a machine. She was beginning to get a sense of it. After what seemed like forever, the program deposited her into what looked like a huge, dimly lit room with compartments along the walls. In each compartment was a human being, writhing in agony, tortured in a machine. She flinched at the sight. So many people! How would she ever find Pilot in time, if she was even here? But steeling herself, she began thinking out the commands for searching files. She seemed to move at high speed across, then down, then across again. She passed several people, even some children and gritted her teeth at the sight of them held captive and finally came to stop in front of one of the slots. Inside was a sight that made Ranger catch her breath. Corporal Jennifer "Pilot" Chase! She was there! And alive! Ranger quickly scanned the information, determined to remember the designation code, and then checked her time. She had only a minute to get out undetected. With as much speed as she could, she exited the program and fled the Dread cyberlines quickly, coming to stop at Mindsinger's COM ports.

Breathlessly, she removed the virtual reality gear from her head and hands. Then she looked Captain Power square in the eye. "Captain, I found her."

Northstar Powerbase
8 am the next morning

"No! That will never work!" yelled Stingray. Everyone else groaned and threw their hands up in frustration. Captain Power sighed and sat back in his chair, motioning for quiet. They had already been up most of the night debating different plans of attack. Now they knew that Pilot was actually alive and digitized, the problem remained of how to get her out alive. They had to do it fast, because if Overmind ever discovered they were coming for her, all it had to do was delete her and she'd be gone. They had come up with a basic plan of attack, but now Hawk had suggested they go in without their Powersuits, which was not a popular opinion. But as Pilot had once infiltrated a Dread installation without her suit to avoid sensor detection, so would they in order to avoid attention themselves. Stingray was not thrilled.

Stingray: "Even if we get that deep into Volcania, then what? How do we get her out undetected? And you know once we do Overmind will know and set every Dreadhead in the place on our location. And what if she's hurt? We've all seen the final transmission, she was doubled over, bleeding and couldn't even stand. She was hurt bad, she'll still be in the same condition. How do we get her and ourselves out without getting everybody killed? And without our suits?"

Jon: "Are you finished?" Stingray nodded. Jon continued, " It won't be easy. I'll admit that, but I think Scout has a good plan with the virus programs. We know where she is in there. All we need is to fool Overmind into looking elsewhere for two or three minutes, enough time to get her out. The virus would trick it into believing she's still there only for about five minutes, long enough for the security programs to cycle through all the systems. By then we'll be clear. And if we're not out in five minutes, chances are we'll be dead. We know she's hurt, but that's why Ranger's coming."

Ranger: "I'm not a doctor, sir, only a medic. If she's seriously injured, we'll need to take her to the doctors at the Passages."

Jon nodded, then looked up at his team. "I know this is risky. And no one has to go who doesn't want to. In fact, I think only about four of us should go in, less chance of attracting attention that way. We'll go in disguised as Overunits. The others will wait to guard our escape route and keep the Jumpship ready to go. We'll draw straws to see who goes and who stays, but if anyone wants out of the team going in, tell me now."

No one moved not even Stingray. The silence was heavy, and they all knew how dangerous this was. But not a member of the team was willing to back out. There was not a man or woman on the Powerteam who didn't know how much this meant to Jonathan Power. Hawk especially knew. He had lost his wife and two children in the war and knew how painful it was to lose a family like that. Scout had lost his mother, and Ranger had lost her whole squadron. Everyone had lost someone. But the difference was that Pilot was unfinished business in Jon's life. She had been raised in the Dread Youth, as a machine with no feelings. For the first years of her life, she didn't know about having a family or friends, what it meant to help someone or even to laugh at a joke. She hadn't known what it meant to love someone. Everything she knew about humanity had to be learned late in her life. Because of this, Jon had kept his feelings for her to himself, not wanting to push her too fast into the often confusing realm of romantic interaction, which was hard enough for people raised with emotions. He had told himself that he was her commanding officer and there was a propriety issue, as well as the fact that she barely knew what love was. But the truth was he had been afraid to tell her, for fear she wouldn't feel the same way and withdraw back into herself. And then those final moments came, where she used her last few seconds to tell him that she loved him, and he had never gotten a chance to say it back. In a world where there were so few good things left, to find love was a rare and wonderful thing. And they had had it for only about three seconds. Captain Power, a soldier, the greatest threat to Lord Dread and his Empire, mankind's last hope, had been hurt in the worst way a human could be hurt, because he was still a man, still a human being. The team knew the world needed Captain Power, and he needed Pilot. And if it meant all their deaths to get her back, that was how it was going to be.

Volcania
5pm

It was time for the troops of humans loyal to Dread to begin their march inside for the night. They lined up into formation, and as they did, Captain Jonathan Power, Ranger, Scout and Chip slipped into formation with them. They wore no Powersuits, and carried only Dread issued weapons. The clothes they wore had come from the Passages, where captured Overunits had been held. They had no other disguises. Captain Power fully realized that if Dread got a good look at him, he would be recognized. The advantage he had over all the others in Volcania was that they had been trained to look for him in his famous gold armor. Actually, very few knew what he looked like behind his helmet and he was counting on that to get him past. The same went for the others, especially Scout, the master of disguise and espionage. The only one who really worried him was Ranger who, like Pilot's first headgear had been, had a suit that left her head and most of her face exposed. If anyone had seen her before and recognized her, they could be in trouble. But there was no time to worry about it, they were marching in. Captain Power looked at his wrist chronometer. Right about this time, Hawk would be sitting in the disguised Jumpship near an air vent access hatch, Tank and Stingray would be taking up observation posts nearby as well. It was all go or nothing now.

Once inside, the group broke apart and went to their assigned barracks or mess halls. The team, who had studied detailed maps of Volcania drawn by Pilot and whom most had been there before already, took the corridor to the left and walked to their destination with confidence. If they looked lost, they might give themselves away. They slipped into a small storage room and locked the door behind them. Quickly, before they set off any sensors, they lifted themselves into the air vents. Once there, everyone moved aside to let Scout do his magic.

Scout had written several virus programs that they hoped Overmind might miss, but if not, would keep it occupied for a time. Scout plugged into an access port and uploaded the programs. As he activated them, they set off the stopwatches on their wrists. Only minutes to go, they had to hustle. Quickly, they moved down the airways, taking turns, following the map they had. After what seemed like forever, but was really just a few corridors over, they came to the digitization room. Looking through the grate, they saw three Overunits in the large room, several consoles and a digitization projector/scanner hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room. This was the only digitization machine they knew of that wasn't attached to a BioDread and the only one they had hopes of controlling long enough to get Pilot out. With a nod to Chip, Captain Power motioned to everyone else, who pulled small masks over their faces. They looked at the camera in the room, then at their stopwatches. On cue, the virus program shut down the cameras in the room. Chip then cracked open a smoke bomb filled with sleeping gas. The only thing that would show up to Overmind would be an equipment malfunction in that room. The Overunits had no time to react, they fell where they stood and the team jumped down from the air vents. They didn't have much time, the air filters had already drawn the gas out of the room and it didn't last long. Pulling the mask from his face, Jon motioned to Scout and Chip.

Jon: "Come on, we're low on time."

Scout frantically entered in the code Ranger had seen below Pilot in the Cyberweb. As it searched, Jon noticed a message light blinking. Undoubtedly, someone wanted to know what was happening and when they didn't get a response, soldiers would come. He shifted nervously as Scout yelled out, "I found it! I found her! Initiating now..."

They all looked towards the middle of the room as the machine came to life and a pale blue/purple light shot from the emitter. The whole process only took about five seconds, but to Jon, it seemed like a year as the beam slowly took the form of a young woman, her hair back in a ponytail. Suddenly the beam cleared. And there she was. He could hardly believe his eyes, she was there! And alive! But his elation was short lived as she collapsed to the ground and didn't move. He didn't even realize he was moving until he slid down in a run next to her and pulled her into his arms. She cried out in pain as he flipped her over and he nearly dropped her.

"Captain no! Don't move her! Well, god, don't drop her either!" Ranger said as she ran over with her medical scanner. Jon froze as Ranger scanned Jennifer, who was doubling over in agony. Jon held her to him, noticing how badly she was shaking from nerves that had been digitized for three years. Even Athena had had the shakes really bad and she hadn't been digitized nearly as long. Was the damage irreparable? Ranger announced that Pilot had a mild concussion, two cracked ribs and some minor internal injuries, mostly she was in shock from the strain of digitization and hurting really badly. But she was alive, that was the most amazing thing. After three years of believing she was dead, three years of sleepless nights haunted by nightmares of her death, and three years of hearing her final transmission over and over in his head, Jon Power was finally seeing what he thought he'd never see, his friend alive. Ranger couldn't stop staring. So this was the woman who single-handedly saved the Resistance, destroyed Blastarr, and managed to break through Captain Power's aloof walls all on her own.

Jon cradled her in his arms as he sat on the ground, and gently brushed her hair back. Her breathing was rough and ragged, and she shuddered in pain. There was blood on her lip and she was doubled over. He felt tears coming to his eyes at the sight. But he forced them down and forced himself to concentrate. He had to get her out of here, they had no time. He brushed the side of her face gently but firmly.

"Jennifer, can you hear me? Open you eyes. Jennifer? Pilot?" His voice was urgent.

She seemed to relax for a second and slowly opened her eyes. It took a minute but she focused on him. Then, her eyes lit up. Slowly, she whispered "Jon?" Her eyes squeezed shut, then she forced them open. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me, it's me." He wanted to hug her, but he was afraid of hurting her even more. Instead, he started to say what he had rehearsed in his head for years what he would say to her if he had had the chance. He wanted to tell her he loved her. But Scout interrupted. Again.

"Captain, we need to go, now." Scout looked at his watch. They were a minute past the time they should have left. Ranger double-checked her readings. They could move her, but they had to be careful. They slowly lifted her and made it to the air vents right as an alarm went off. "Hurry!" yelled Ranger. By some grace of God, they actually got Pilot into the airshaft without adding to more injury. Being moved so quickly was obviously causing her agony, but true to her grit, she never made a sound. She could barely move so that they had to carry her most of the way, praying no one heard them since now everyone in Volcania was looking for intruders. The airshafts would be the first place they'd check. They had to make it out fast.

Meanwhile, outside, the other team members heard the alarm go up and got ready for action. Hawk just shook his head and smiled to himself. 'Yep,' he thought, 'that sounds like Jon all right. Stuart would be proud.' Miraculously, they made it to the airshaft access port just as a troop of Overunits came around the corner. Tank and Stingray opened fire and drove them back as the disguised team members tumbled out. Jon scooped up Pilot and they ran to the Jumpship, dodging the laser fire.

Hawk was ready. No sooner was everyone aboard than the ship was in the air, speeding off, easily outrunning the Phantom Strikers sent after them. As soon as they were sure they were clear, Jon told Hawk to head for the Passages, they needed to get Pilot to some trained doctors. He walked to the back of the ship where the medical bunk was. Ranger had Jennifer all set up and had given her a painkiller and sedative. Ranger told him it would only be minutes before she would be asleep then turned to leave them alone.

Jon shook her gently and she opened her eyes sleepily. Then she smiled sheepishly. "Am I court martialed?"

Jon: "No! What on earth for?"

Pilot: "Well, for disobeying orders, blowing up the base, should I list them?" She winced as another wave of pain hit her.

Jon: "No you're not in trouble. Don't be crazy. The base is gone, but we have a new one. We have some new members too. The only thing that was irreplaceable is you."

Pilot: "New members? New base? Jeez, how long have I been out? What did I miss?"

Jon: "We can talk about all that later, when you rest up. Right now, there's something I need to tell you." He looked down at her, as her eyes grew even heavier, knowing she would be asleep soon.

He continued, "What you said, before you pushed the button..." She nodded confirmation, and said, "I meant it. I was going to say it earlier, but Scout interrupted and..." She broke off as fatigue came over her.

He took a breath, determined to get it out before she slipped into unconsciousness. "I've spent a lot of nights wondering what I could have said to you. What I should have said. I always wished for just five more minutes, just so I could tell you. I wanted you to know, I love you too." There, he had said it. He let it sink in. She forced her eyes open and looked into his.

"I mean it, and I'm not just saying it because you said it first. I'm saying it because it's true, I was just, well, too scared to say it before." He shook his head.

Then she smiled. "Pinch me, I want to make sure I'm not asleep already." He laughed. "No, you're not dreaming," he said. She sighed as her eyes closed, "If I am, I don't want to wake up, but if I'm not, I don't want to sleep." Then she was asleep, and soundly. And she was stable, according to the medical readouts. Finally, he felt himself breathe again. Then slowly, he brushed her hair back and kissed her forehead, as the Jumpship arrived at the Passages.