Four almost invisible fighters silently streak through the clear quiet sky, looking over a world in serious turmoil. The Commander of the squad, a young woman with limited experience, touches the screen of her communicator.

"Captain this is squad leader Tirana. The Major seems to have descended to the surface of the planet. Unfortunately, we have lost sight of the alien war ship. But we see thick smoke coming from the surface in the third quadrant. Should we investigate the crash site? It would seem to be very close to the landing area Major Kripstol chose."

The Captain, still wondering how the alien ship was destroyed says, "By all means, please investigate. But be aware this is not a friendly environment and you are apt to be fired upon. Just remember the Princess is your top priority! She is to be escorted off the planet safely." He disconnects from the console and steps away, looking back at the flickering lights he knows to be his ships in an alien environment in a war torn world. He wonders if the Princess and Marshall have survived the night and if indeed it is them who sent the distress signal.

"Message understood." Tirana takes a deep breath and looks to her co-pilot. She looks into her co-pilot's eyes, meeting his tense, almost frightened stare. She reaches down and jerks hard on the restraint, tightening it securely. Once again, she reaches up to the communicator screen and touches it lightly.

Another deep breath, trying to sound confident she states,"This is Tirana to all ships, We are going in, watch out for unfriendlys be on your guard, check all weapons systems. All fighters converge on me." The young squad leader then adjusts the controls and causes the small two person fighter to go into a hard dive on the vector of the smoke.

Realizing now that the Major is here only to do harm to Marshall and Tosha, Marlin struggles to climb out of the hatch on the shuttle. Falling to the ground, he pulls the trigger on the photon rifle by sheer accident. The maximum powered bolt of energy flashes past the Major and into the wall of the abandoned service station, blasting a large hole in the wall and knocking the Major backwards off his feet. The noise of the blast is almost deafening to the Major who is just a few feet away from where this massive explosion just occurred. Dust and debris shower him as he covers his head and hides his face for a second until the falling debris thins out a little.

The Major, armed only with the .9mm pistols, returns fire. One of the bullets graze Marlins arm.

Marlin dives under the cover of the ship, rolling and tucking, avoiding the Major's attempt to kill him. The bullets ricochet off the ship and the hard sun-dried ground, causing little streaks in the ground and little dust clouds to form where each of the deadly projectiles strike.

Marshall and Tosha are even more tense hearing the weapons fire and seeing the hole blasted in the wall after the dust clears on their side. Taking a position in the blazer where he can fire at the door, Marshall waits. Sweat runs down his nose and drips from it as anticipation coupled with the closeness of the interior of the Blazer seem to make the heat of the day just that much more unbearable.

Tosha positions herself up through the gunner's position in the roof, aiming one of the .9mm carbines at the new hole in the wall.

"Marshall, remember no matter what, I will always love you!"

Marshall reaches back, smiling, tugging on her tight pants leg.

"Try to stay low, Tosha!" . He wipes the sweat from his face with the back of his gloved hand, "Don't be a hero, Baby-girl, and we will make it out of this."

The first of the fighters lightly touches down. The cockpit opens and the pilot and co-pilot begin quickly climbing out. The sound of the fighter's engines uncloaked and winding down add to the tension the two in the building are feeling.

"Tosha, this is going to be big. The sons of bitches are bringing in reinforcements by air. No prisoners, Love, on either side." Marshall says, trying to gather a few more clips closer to himself.

Two more of the fighters land just a few feet behind the shuttle; they too uncloak and allow their engines to wind down. The engines are loud and at first almost scream until they have slowed almost to a stop.

The Major, knowing his plan has failed, scrambles to his feet. Slipping and stumbling he runs around the corner of the building into the open doorway and into the view of Marshall. He is waving his hands and begins to shout.

Marshall is the first to see the intruder burst into his self-made fortress. As Marshall squeezes the trigger on the carbine, it bucks and jumps as he rapidly empties the clip into the trespasser.

Tosha, hearing Marshall open up, also turns in the direction of the intruder. She draws a quick bead and begins firing in the same direction. Her carbine also jumping and bucking as the deadly projectiles leave the rifle and strike their mark.

The Major reels as the bullets strike his body, ripping through his soft tissues. Blood splatters from his open wounds as impulse and reflex causes him to fire off the pistols until neither has ammo left in them. Finally, after taking twenty hard hits, his lifeless body collapses into a heap on the floor.

The fourth of the fighter ships land and these pilots also clamor to get out of their ship. The first of them now reaches the open doorway and kneels next to the fallen Major.

Having emptied their weapons, both Tosha and Marshall are trembling hard. The combination of the tenseness of the situation and the adrenalin rush almost makes self-control impossible. Tosha drops out the empty clip and then drops the fully loaded one she has just picked up. She shoots a look at Marshall, thinking he is about to reprimand her. But he does not even notice because he is too busy fighting his own hands trying to put the clip into the rifle.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, both succeed in reloading only to once again assume their former positions. Seeing the pilots trying to assist the Major, Marshall and Tosha open fire, thinking these people are part of the invading force which is still hunting and trying to kill them.

The two pilots, seeing Tosha pop back through the roof, are narrowly missed as they dive to the cover of the wall next to the opening. Two more of the fighter pilots, accompanied by the Squad leader, join their comrades along the wall.

"This is squad leader Tirana. Shots of a foreign nature have been fired! The Major is dead. What are your orders?" Her voice is panicked.

The Captain replies "The signal we have been following and thought to be the Princess originates from your location. Try to make contact with her and then as soon as possible get her off the planet. There are other war ships entering the area and falling into orbit. If you do not hurry, you will have to fight your way back to this ship. And to be honest, with the amount of ships closing in and knowing how well they are armed, your chances for survival are minimal to say the least. And now this ship is in jeopardy too. We will not be able to hold this position long and if we leave…" He pauses not wanting to say what he knows to be the truth."You will be trapped and your chances of survival are very limited. Our enemy will track each of you down and then destroy you in the worst possible way they can think of."

Tirana listens quietly, her eyes wide, not knowing exactly how to approach this situation. "The orders are for us to be rid of the threat to the Princess and return with her to the ship as soon as possible. It seems the invading force is headed this way."

One of the pilots pulls his sidearm; a plasma gun. He callously steps out into the opening of the doorway and aiming the pistol at the Blazer, he shouts "Give up to the roya…."

Tosha silences him with one shot to the head.

The pilot falls backwards almost in slow motion, his pistol going off as he hits the ground.

The plasma bolt rips through the wall next to Tirana, killing her co-pilot by decapitation, knocking her and the two pilots beside her to the ground.

Marlin sneaks around behind the ships and finds the last of the pilots standing together waiting for Tirana to give them the signal to move up. Not knowing who they are or who he can trust, Marlin pokes the taller one with the rifle.

"Who are ye and what business have you here?

The pilot with the gun poking him looks to his partner.

Nervously he asks, "Is that a photon rifle I feel in my back? I only ask because I think I feel the humming vibration from it"

With his hands raised and in very plain site of Marlin, the second pilot turns very slowly and looks at the rifle. Swallowing hard and with a sudden tremble in his voice he answers softly as if his voice is lost from fear.

"Yes, it is a photon rifle and it's setting is on maximum. If the old man pulls the trigger most everything around us-including us-is gone."

The taller pilot begins speaking, "Ok we are from…" He pauses "..we are from outer space. We are here to rescue our princess from this planet. I know that sound like a tall tale but its true!"

Marlin pokes him a little harder.

"What be her name, knave?"

Both of the pilots answer at the same time.

"Her name is Tosha, Princess of the…"

Marlin cuts them off with "Well, why didn’t ya say so! Come, let us rescue our Princess and my master, Marshall."

The old man, still a bit sore from his being cooped up in the cold and having to react so quickly to avoid being killed, limps along as quickly as he can, soon reaching the wall next to deadly entrance.

"Eh, Marshall, eh! Is ye okay? Can ye hear an old man?" He shouts as loud as possible.

The sound is faint, but Marshall cannot forget the old man's voice.

"Marlin, how did you get here?" Marshall shouts back from inside the blazer.

"I was a stowaway aboard the Major's ship. I had a feeling he was not a fair fellow. And turns out he is not. Marshall, he was planning to kill Tosha. I tried to stop him but, alas, I must admit I failed. Seems someone else stopped him, Sire."

"Where was the Major killed Marlin?" Marshall asks, as he cautiously half exits the Blazer while motioning for Tosha to stay down and out of sight.

Marlin steps into the open doorway, first peeking around the wall to be sure the coast is clear.

He lays dead at me feet, Sire. Please come out so we can rescue you now, eh?"

Marshall takes the Princess' hand and gathers a few more of the loaded clips just in case before they both exit the building. They walk toward Tirana and Marlin.

"I am so very glad you are all right, your Highness!" Tirana bows deeply as she speaks. She then draws her weapon and places it against Marshall's chest. "But there are going to be charges for killing a senior officer. Please lower your weapons and lay them on the ground before you." A tear rolls down her cheek as she begins. "I must place the three of you under arrest. Now, we must hurry; there is an invasion force coming and we need to get off the surface before we are noticed."

In the large building in the compound where the fighting began sits the light-skinned man thinking just how easy it was for him to have captured the humans that were causing such a ruckus outside just a few short hours ago. The last of which he should make a fortune on in the arena fighting the other aliens. He looks over at the monitor viewing the shuttle. And, for the first time, notices the four fighter ships on the ground. He fingers a communicator button nervously then presses it.

"Admiral, we seem to have company on the ssurface. It would appear to be 4 fighter shipss and a shuttle. Pleasse disspatch them asss they break the planetss gravity."