April made her way through the base complex. From what she had seen so far, she had never been here before. Well, of course, all bases were build under one general plan. So, fortunately, it wasn't all too hard to find the hangers. At first, she wanted to take Ramrod, but thinking it over, she decided against it since the Star Sheriffs might need it. So, instead, she resorted in taking an ordinary, but yet fast speedboat.

First, she had to board Nova on it, then stock some groceries and check on the fuel status. Of course, the situation required quick actions. The guys were probably strolling all over Ramrod. It would be a sheer luck if she managed to slip in unnoticed.

From a distance, April saw a soldier guarding the entrance to Ramrod's hangar. She cautiously approached him without ever slowing down. It seemed that he was busy thinking of else. The minute he saw April, he told her to stop.

"Stop! Or I'll shoot!"

April stopped.

"Oh! Sorry, Miss Stellar!" the guard said quickly, although he only saw the familiar outlines of the girl. "How's Miss April?"

"She will be hopefully alright soon!" said April, "Where are the other Star Sheriffs?"

"They've left Remrod not so long ago. If you hurry up, you might be able to catch them."

"I think it will be better if I take Nova with me."

And with that, she slipped inside.

As usual, Remrod was having maintenance repairs. Even in her absence everything was going as she had wanted. No wonder why- this piece of high-tech, space-force equipment was obviously valued very highly by the command. In fact, it was the only one big ship around here to be allowed to use the hangar during its docking.

Although it was already late evening, the workers were still working hard on the repairs. The smell of the fresh paint was still lingering in the air - they must have decided to repaint it.

Thus, no one paid any attention to April's presence.

She got in and grabbed the things she needed, and walked Nova out of her stable. While she was packing, she couldn't not help thinking that without her supervision, the local specialists might do something wrong to her ship.

'I'm sure they are making sure that everything is in order since it's here for the first time!' It was so hard for April to see that someone else was touching her Ramrod. 'And what if they'll chose the wrong colors?' She forced herself not to stop and order those workers around. After all, Stellar would never do such a thing.

So, April quickly got on Nova and rode out without ever turning back to Ramrod.

"Good night, Miss Stellar!" shouted the guard. The girl only waved back him.

To ride on a hose was so much better and faster than to walk on foot from one end of the spaceport to another.

No matter how much hurry she was in, she simply couldn't outrun the thunderstorm, which covered the city and the spaceport briefly.

The planet was known for its thunders. On other planets though, a storm like this would be a national disaster. Thunders, one after another, were flashing out in all directions, and the heavy wall of rain made impossible to see even 10 feet away.

The horse was slowly moving along the line of space boats. April had to choose from the first time the one without any crew on board.

One of the boats though caught her attention. She had a feeling that someone was calling her to it. So, she quickly made her choice.

She opened the hatch, and looked inside. As expected, it was empty. There were no light in it and not a sound, except for the roar of the storm outside.

April looked through ship first before taking wet Nova into it.

There was no time to dry up. April just took a towel to wipe her face and hands. Then, she twisted her hair, and small water drops got onto the ship's console.

There was no problem to free the ship from its blocking commands. After all, she had studied all of the existing methods before using one for the Ramrod. However, it did take some time which she really didn't have.

She had to lift off while it still was storming outside. She was hoping that due to the weather conditions, all flights were canceled. That way, she didn't have to worry about colliding into any taking off or landing vehicles. Besides, that way it was a better chance for her to escape without drawing any attention to her.

The board computer was finally free, and all systems running - the ship was now ready for take off. April quickly closed the entrance hatch, activated the life support system and turned the engines on...

The space boat jumped from the straight line of parked ships and ran up to the launching pad. April played with the console and the screen lightened up the acknowledged sign - the plate of the ship was now charged with a powerful negative electrical charge.

"That will protect us from the thunders."

The roar of engines become louder, but luckily, it was covered by a crack of a bright-blue lighting.

Then, the boat streamed into the stormy sky.

The gravity force pressed her hard back into the pilot seat, but it was nothing compared to the acceleration Ramrod could achieve. April smiled and piloted the boat at its top speed. Soon the stormy clouds were left behind. Now, a clear sky was there! However, she wasn't still out of the danger zone yet. She still had to outrun the orbital patrol, and that wasn't going to be easy.

The radar indicated some moving objects ahead. Few seconds later, a gruffish man's voice came through the communication line.

"Unidentified craft, change your orbit to EK-3 and shutdown your engines. Otherwise, you'll be destroyed."

To any other dilettante skyjacker that phrase would make have its effect. He simply would obey any instructions given to him. April, though, knew (not from any books) that the interceptor didnt have enough time to do a precise targeting. Thus, instead of following the orders, she roughly changed the orbit to the asteroid field. Well, she was lucky to notice that this planet had a small asteroid ring.

The huge rocks floated in her way at an incredible speed.

The next thing she heard from the communicator was the pilot using all of his dirty language, but still, it didn't helped him to catch her. She might not be a first class pilot, but she sure could chose a speedy ship.

Soon the interceptor was left way behind, or even crushed at one of those flying rock since she stopped receicing any transmissions from him.

April was about to relax and enjoy her freedom when she heard clear and strong voice from Saber Rider coming through the radio interference.

"April, do you hear me? This is Saber Rider..."

The girl started and quickly turned the communicator off. No, she didn't want to hear his voice, or any of his proposals and suggestions for that matter. Let it be as they came. She understood that she was the only one responsible for everything she did. She had to this alone.

April flew the ship out of the asteroids, and then programmed the destination coordinates in. The board navigational system made all calculations for her, and then flashed once it was ready.

"Well, soon we'll be there." she sighed heavy.

She continued to watch the stars outside that she hadn't notice Stellar walking into the pilot room.

"Hi, April! Who taught you to fly like this!" she gently rubbed her shoulder that was hurt during the take off or cruising through that asteroid field.

For a long moment, April stared at her sister incredulously.

"What are you doing here?" she finally asked in a suspicious tone.

"I hope that you weren't planning to trick me with that simulant snoring machine back there?"

April shrugged indifferently, smiling. She surely couldn't have been thinking about leaving the hospital in Stellar's presence. The result would be the same if she just said it out loud.

"You shouldn't have come. Now they will blame you too."

"I'm responsible for what happened nor less than you are. Maybe even more - I knew what I was doing."

April shook her head.

"I have an old scores with Blue to settle. He knows me too good to use my feelings and emotions for him. One day. I'll tell you the whole story from the beginning."

"Only because you didn't do it before all that mess happened."

"Maybe, but I have a feeling that it would be the same even if you would knew him as well as I do. He has million ways to charm his way around, but let's not talk about it now!"

"Where are we going?.."

"Home."

"I knew it!"

Both girls fell silent as they stared at the stars outside.