Jaga snarled and wrenched the control stick of his small fighter as far right as it would go. The ship banked hard, straining pilot and craft to the upper end of endurance against the crushing G-forces. The region he avoided erupted in plasma as a pair of Mutant fighters rocketed out of the sun's glare, filling the air of Thundera with fiery death.

Jaga's fighter was a scouting craft; the enemy crafts were larger and better equipped. They were also heavier; even as they began to pull out of their dive, Jaga completed his arc and swooped towards them, cannon roaring. He blasted the canopies of both enemy fighters, vaporizing the occupants, and sending the superior craft earthward, the victims of a superior pilot.

Jaga pulled out of his attack dive and circled back over the battlefield. His heart was hammering in his chest, every nerve raw. He passed over the wreckage of ten craft. Four were mutant fighters such as those he'd destroyed. The rest were Beta Team, his wingmen, his friends, goddammit. They'd been cut to pieces by the surprise attack; several had died without ever knowing what killed them.

Jaga banked his craft again, orienting westward towards Outpost Twelve. A minor trading post on the edge of the Eastern Desert, it was a place of refuge for prospectors, hunters and settlers, as well as a small military garrison. It had no strategic value; assignment there was generally regarded as a lull in one's military career, which was Jaga's concern on learning he was to be stationed there as Air Commander.

So why were the Mutants attacking?  This was not a small raiding band either, such as had been repulsed by the fighters in the past. If the ground force was as skilled and equipped as the air support, the outpost was doomed.

"Com-net base, this is perimeter patrol Beta," he said into the microphone. "We have come under fire. Patrol is destroyed, repeat, patrol is destroyed. I am en route to the outpost, requesting status. Over?" It was the first words he'd had time to utter, so furious had been the attack.

"Beta team, this is Com-net," came the reply. It was a young voice, male, a Panther Clan accent. It was colored with sick fear, barely controlled. "Do not return to base. The outpost is overrun. Repeat..." the youth's voice was lost in a blare of static.

Jaga's brain worked furiously.That the outpost could be taken was already known; it's unimportance was it's greatest defense.The garrison would fight to the last man to defend the civilians; obviously, the Mutants had them outnumbered.A call would have been sent to Tigris, the nearest established city.Even so, help could not be depended on for hours.Assuming the signal hadn't been jammed.

He debated: if he flew straight on towards Tigris, he could hook up with the reinforcements.If the alarm had not been sounded, he could deliver it personally.However, by the time he returned, the Mutants would already have finished their looting and razing of the outpost, taking the surviving Thundercats as prisoners to slave their lives away on Plun-Darr, the Mutant home world.

He decided.Alone, he could not hope to accomplish much more than getting himself killed; but flying to Tigris, he could not hope to accomplish anything at all.As the outpost appeared on the horizon, he began looking for a safe location to put down.

Their names were Meena and Tawn-Ya, two young females of the Puma clan.They had come to the outpost with their parents from the succulent farm they operated, fifty kilometers into the desert.The hardy plants they raised sent their roots hundreds of feet deep, seeking out hidden sources of water below the arid sands.The plants could then be tapped, the precious water harvested and sold at the outpost once every few weeks.Then the family would provision themselves from their earnings, and the cycle began again.

It was a good life, but hard, and lonely.Father was well aware his two cubs were both a marriageable age now, and that the eldest, Meena, had a tender spot for a Tiger youth in the military attaché.He was a protective parent, but Mother was more doting, and had convinced Father to spend the night at the outpost, giving the girls some much-needed social time.

Meena and Tawn-Ya had spent the morning shopping.Tawn-Ya was not quite so anxious as her sister about dancing that night, but then, she was not interested in a particular male either.By noon dresses were selected, makeup chosen, and the young females were on their way back to the hotel when the attack came.

They were strolling down the market road when Meena saw an interesting shop down a side street.They turned, and were several yards down the alley when a deafening roar shook the earth beneath them, sending them both to the ground.They ran back to the main street to see the town hall had been reduced to smoking wreckage.

Tawn-Ya looked to the other end of the road and saw a fast-moving ground vehicle tearing around the corner and charging down the street.Even as people raced to get clear, the figure manning the turret above was firing into the crowd, hissing bursts of plasma that vaporized the water in it's target's cells, blowing the victim’s flesh to fried tatters. A dozen Thundercats went to their graves in this manner as she watched.

Tawn-Ya grabbed her older sister by the shoulder and yanked her back into the alley before they were sighted."We have to get to the hotel," Tawn-Ya said.

As she spoke, the earth shook again.The windows of the nearby buildings burst, showering the girls with fragments of glass as they fell to their knees, covering their ears against the roar of the explosions.

Ears ringing, slightly stunned, Tawn-Ya thought of the size of that last blast.There was only one place she knew with enough explosive to produce it: the base.

Meena's eyes were glazed, her face slack."Firebrand...," was all she said.

"We have to go!" Tawn-Ya screamed, grabbing her sister and yanking her to her feet.They ran to the end of the alley, found the thirty-foot wall that closed it.They each took a corner and ran up it, their feet striking each adjoining wall in turn to propel them upward.

They crouched atop the wall, balanced on a span mere inches wide, yet stable with the incredible balance of their kind.From this vantage they could see the pillars of flame and black smoke rising from the direction of the base.Tawn-Ya saw the despair on her sister's face, the steady trickle of tears that flowed from her eyes.Then a flash of light drew her attention, and she tapped her sister's knee and pointed.

Two blocks over, the foot battle had begun.The Thundercat forces wore the light armor they favored in battle, a silvery metal, suited to disperse the lasers common among infantry, strong enough to turn a sword or mace in close combat.Their helms were equipped with visors over the eyes that were polarized to prevent retina burns from stray laser energy.

Unfortunately, the mutants were not employing lasers.The plasma rifles fired bursts of superheated gases, the stuff the stars were made of.Flesh and metal vaporized with equal ease, the screams of the wounded and dying rising into the air with the smell of charred flesh.

The Thundercat forces adjusted tactics, relying on their innate speed and agility to keep clear of the deadly fire.Springing to and from cover, they targeted and blasted mutants with lethal accuracy.

But even as Tawn-Ya watched, it was apparent they were losing.The Thundercats were running out of energy for their weapons, and the pace was exhausting them.Finally the last defender, a Lion Clan soldier, hesitated a fraction of a second too long and was struck by three bursts simultaneously, immolating him.

Tawn-Ya gestured for her sister to move off, to begin working their way to the hotel.They crept on all fours to the end of the wall, then dropped down to the street below.As they landed, three mutants stepped out of the doorways and aimed their rifles at them.

Jaga waited till dusk to enter the outpost.Attempting the wall any sooner would be simple suicide.Once inside, he moved soundless and swift through the alleys, sheltering in doorways and buildings to escape notice by patrols.

Jaga was a veteran of many campaigns, despite his young age.He had cleaned up after Mutant occupations before, but he'd never witnessed one firsthand.What he saw now filled him with despair and helpless fury.

In the outpost square, the young males had been gathered.Each had received an injection of a serum, the formula of which was known only to the Mutants.It produced irreversible brain damage of a sort that stripped the victim of all capacity for free thought, leaving them docile and servile; perfect slaves.These were then herded onto transport crafts and taken to the flagship, where they would be stored for delivery.

It was the females that clawed at his soul.He'd noticed already that most of the invaders were Monkey clan.Being mammals, rape was an option for them, and one they put to full and obscene use.

He noticed there was a pattern to these assaults.The Thundercat people were a warrior race, raising their daughters as well as their sons to do battle with their ancient enemies, the Mutants.Therefore, the Monkians always took a female in a three-to-one ratio, two restraining the victim while the third raped her.Then positions changed and the next primate took a turn.

The females reacted in different ways.Some fought, spitting invectives and curses.Others, particularly the young ones, seemed to withdraw deep within themselves, lying unresponsive to the assaults.Some wept, while others offered a faked enthusiasm, trying to prove their worth to their captors, and perhaps escape the ultimate fate that awaited them.

Whatever manner they responded to the rapes, the response to the arrival of the mind-stealing needle afterward was always the same: they begged.

Jaga faded back into an alley.He was not afraid to die, but he could not throw his life away on a useless gesture.He moved on, pausing once to wipe the moisture from his green eyes.

The door of the room was opened and the two sisters were shoved harshly inside, stumbling to keep their balance.Three large forms entered behind them, the last closing and locking the door.

They were bound with their arms behind them.A set of hands shoved them from behind, sending them both crashing to the floor.Tawn-Ya rolled over to view their captors.

One of them activated the overhead light.The two guards were Monkey Clan, bare-chested and muscular, clad in the armored kilts that were the only clothing they habitually wore into battle.

Their leader was not Monkian; he was Gorilla Clan.The same height as his troops, he was probably a hundred pounds heavier, all rock-solid muscle.His clothing consisted of a simple tan uniform, unadorned except for a rank insignia.His coal-black eyes were set deep into his somber, massive black-furred face.

The gaze he turned to the young female captives was full of a humorless mirth, a cold amusement.He looked at them for several seconds, as though deciding how to proceed.Behind him, his two troopers retired to the back wall, their faces leering, chattering to each other in their hooting native tongue.The room was thick with anticipation of the games to come.

Tawn-Ya glanced around the room, her fear like a bitter taste in her mouth.There was a window that could offer escape, if it could be reached; they were only two stories up.There was the door, but it was locked.Both avenues were blocked by the Monkians.

"My soldiers," the commander said into the air without turning to face his men."Who has led you this day to your victory over the hated Thundercats?"

"Vertok!" the Monkians cried in unison.

"And who has secured for you your rightful share of the spoils?"

"Vertok!"

"And so, my warriors, to whom does first choice of the females belong?"

"Vertok!" the Monkians cried, then broke into a hooting babble.

Vertok reached down and seized Meena by the arm, yanking her to her feet with no visible effort.He spun her around as he did, facing her away from him.He tore away the rope that bound her wrists and pulled her close, one huge black hand cradling her chin between thumb and forefinger as the other wrapped around her waist, pinning her to him.

His voice was smooth, articulate, sensual."Tell me, my little one.Are you afraid?"

Meena swallowed noisily.Her lips worked, but no words came from them.The ape slid his hand from her stomach to her breast.He breathed into her ear, his voice a stage whisper."Now tell me; are you afraid?"

Meena still seemed incapable of speech.As Tawn-Ya watched, the ape's hand closed over Meena's breast and began to squeeze.Meena's eyes squinted shut, her face a grimace of pain as he increased the pressure."Now tell me," he repeated, a hint of impatience in his tone."Are you afraid?"

"Leave her alone!" Tawn-Ya roared.With one fluid movement, she bent her body almost double, passes the cords at her wrists over her feet, then rolled upright, hands in front.She moved towards the ape but was intercepted.The Monkian struck her across the face with a closed fist.She fell, but even as she did, she swept her foot out, catching the soldier behind his ankles, dumping him on his back with a load thud.

Hampered by her bound hands, she could not get to her feet before the trooper did.He took a short step and kicked her in the stomach.The air rushed out of her like a blown tire.Stunned, she could not avoid the next kick, which struck her in the side of the head.The world spun sickeningly, and threatened to vanish altogether. At the end of a long black tunnel, she saw the mutant draw back his leg for another blow.

"Yes!" Meena yelped.Tawn-Ya and the Monkian both looked at her, still held by Vertok, his hand clenched upon her breast.Vertok had never looked away from Meena for an instant.

"Yes.I'm afraid."Tears of pain and terror rolled down her face, to match those of frustration shed by her sister as the young woman struggled to remain conscious.

Vertok took his hand from her breast passed it between himself and Meena.Tawn-Ya could see the back of Meena's short skirt being manipulated.Meena grimaced, her eyes closed tight, her jaw clenched to stifle a sob as the ape dragged her undergarment to mid-thigh.

"Tell me now, little she-cat," he said, his voice barely above a whisper."Are you untouched?Have you kept yourself," he paused. "Pure?"

Tawn-Ya struggled to get her knees under her, but she could not find the coordination to do it.She heard her sister whisper, "No," which brought her head around to look at Meena again.Firebrand?, she thought.It would have to be.

"And your sister?" Vertok whispered."What of her?"

Meena looked at Tawn-Ya, and in the instant where their eyes met Tawn-Ya understood where this was going, and saw in her sister's eyes that she also knew.

"Yes,"Meena said.

"Really?" the ape said.Tawn-Ya felt the menace in the room come to a head.She pushed herself to her knees now, tried to cry, to scream, but could produce no more sound than a croak.

"A pity," Vertok said.Tawn-Ya saw Meena's body jerk savagely, her eyes and mouth fly open wide.She arched her back convulsively, one arm flying up, the other reaching around her side, both scrabbling for her back.

The hard, sharp movement came again, lifting Meena from the floor with the force of it.Tawn-Ya could see blood flowing down the back of Meena's legs to form an expanding crimson pool on the floor.Her arms dropped limp to her sides as her strength failed, but at last she found her voice and now Meena erupted in an ear-shattering scream.

"No!" Tawn-Ya yelled, but even her cry was drowned out.As her last breath departed her body, Meena's head lolled back against the ape's shoulder.As she died, Vertok placed his lips next to her ear."My preference," he said, "is for virgins."He released his hold on her; her body slid loosely to the floor, revealing the long dagger that had taken her life.

"You bastard!" Tanya shrieked at the ape."I'll kill you, I'll kill you!I'll..." her words dissolved into a scream of pure fury.

Vertok turned his gaze upon her."Men, I'm sure you won't object to my taking first round with our little hell-cat here?"Behind him, his troopers hooted and jeered.

Jaga kicked the door of the adjoining room open with a crash.He immediately shot the first Monkian he saw, his hand laser drilling a pencil-thin hole through the center of it's chest.He spun and ducked, shooting another guard as the Monkian tried to draw a bead on him.The dying soldier's blast discharged harmlessly into the ceiling.

He turned toward the ape and caught a flicker of movement.Feline reflexes saved his life; he jerked to the side as the knife buried itself in the wall.He was left off balance; before he could recover, the ape closed the distance between them and swatted the laser from his hand.He swept Jaga into his massive arms, pinning the cat's arms to his sides.

Jaga struggled in the ape's grip even as he was lifted from the floor.He could feel the muscles of his enemy's arms constrict his body.The air was being driven from his lungs.He could hear the cartilage of his spine and rib cage begin to pop under the inexorablepressure.Suffocation narrowed his line of sight into a dark tunnel; all that he could see was the broad flat face of the ape, filled with an almost sexual pleasure as he killed the helpless Thundercat.

That face was abruptly obscured by a set of delicate-seeming feminine hands.They flexed, driving their half-inch claws into the flesh, seeking the eyes.They raked away from each other, gouging deep furrows in the soft tissue.

The ape roared in pain and surprise.It dropped the barely conscious warrior to the floor, then drove it's elbow hard into the female's midsection.She rolled across the floor, clutching her stomach, gasping for breath.

Pushing the pain of his mauled body out of his mind, Jaga lunged across the floor to his laser pistol.His hand closed on the weapon.He rolled over to face his foe, only to see the ape smash through the locked entry door and into the hall outside.

He got to his feet and stepped quickly to the fallen girls.The elder lay on the floor in a pile, like a doll discarded by a careless child.There was no life left in her; it was spread in a gaudy red puddle all around her broken body.

The youngerwas too stunned to protest as he yanked her to her feet and pulled her towards the window.He paused by the door from which he had come, pulled the knife from the wall and began to saw through the rope that bound her wrists.

"My sister...," she said weakly.

"I'm sorry," he said, focusing his gaze and attention on the blade."There's nothing we can do."He heard her choked sob but ignored it.The commotion had begun downstairs; he knew their time was running out.The rope cut through.Together they ran to the window and looked outside.

The night air was cool, the stars bright, Thundera's moon distant and removed from the slaughter it show down upon.Throughout the town fires raged.The breeze carried the screams of the mutants' victims to their ears.

Jaga sprang from the window sill first, landing easily on the street below.The girl landed beside him a heartbeat later.She started for the mouth of the alley when he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the open door of the building across the way.

He pushed the door shut and threw the latch.Seconds later they heard the voices of a Monkian squad coming from the other side.Jaga grabbed the girl's wrist and led her swiftly to a flight of stairs.As they climbed, they heard the door below break.

Again they found a window, this time using it to climb to the roof.From there they raced across the flat rooftops, placing ever-greater distance between themselves and their pursuers.

Near the outpost wall they stopped, ducking against a low rampart to hide while they regained their lost wind.As they huddled there, Jaga asked, "What's your name?"

"Tawn-Ya," she whispered, out of breath.

"I am called Jaga, Tawn-Ya, and here is what we're going to do," he said."My fighter is located to the west about two kilometers outside of town.When we go over the wall, we head for that.We'll fly for Tigris and bring back reinforcements."He failed to mention that the mutants would be long gone by then.

Jaga began to stand when he heard Tawn-Ya say, "No."He was so surprised that he simply stared at her for a moment."No?"

"We should go to ground here," she said."Find a secure base and foray out, try to rescue as many others as we can."

For the first time, Jaga actually took a good look at the girl he'd rescued.He realized he'd been wrong to think of her as a girl; she was in fact a young woman, strong, beautiful and well-built.Her jaw was set, her gaze level, her blue eyes full of determination.

She was a warrior daughter of a warrior people, born onto a world that had never known peace.She would be a formidable foe and a valuable ally.But she lacked experience and, he wondered, how much of her suggestion reflected her need for revenge on the ape?

Jaga considered carefully before he spoke."I appreciate your desire to help, but I have already scouted the town.There is nothing left to save here."

Tawn-Ya eyes flashed in the dim light of the moon."Would you have given up without finding me?" she said tersely.

Jaga sighed inwardly."I already had.I was leaving when I heard...,." he paused."I came here instead of flying on to Tigris because I thought I could do some good.I would not be leaving if I believed I could still make a difference."

Tawn-Ya was silent a moment, then turned away, her arms crossed, holding herself."My parents are still out there." 

Jaga said softly, "What would they want you to do?"

Her voice was barely a whisper."Survive."

"Then come with me."

She turned to face him.He was tall, thin but well-muscled, with a handsome face and eyes that seemed sad somehow.He was only a few years older than she, but his rank insignia was that of wing commander.He wanted her to trust him.She knew this, and it enraged her.

"Why didn't you save my sister?" she demanded, her voice full of venom.

He blanched.She was suddenly ashamed for saying it, but before she could speak, he lowered his eyes from her and turned his away.

"We have to go," he said quietly."Stay if you wish."He began to walk away.

After a moment, she followed.

Another ten minutes brought them to the city wall.They hurdled the last space from a nearby building, landing atop the wall.

Below and to the right were a collection of ten mutants, casting dice over a pile of pillaged goods.To the left were two more, both Jackalmen, one cleaning a nosediver, another looking out over the desert at the horizon.

Jaga moved down the wall to the pair, dropped down and cut the cleaner's throat before he could cry out.The other received the blade in his temple as he turned to see why his fellow had ceased keeping up his end of their conversation.

Tawn-Ya sprang onto the saddle of the nosediver.Jaga was about to ask her if she could pilot the thing when a burst of plasma glazed the desert sand at his feet.He sprang backwards, evading the next shot to land behind Tawn-Ya.He had barely enough time to grab hold of her waist as she fired the thrusters, wheeled the vehicle around and rocketed away into the desert as plasma fire ranged around them on all sides.

After several minutes, Jaga took one hand away from Tawn-Ya's waist and turned to look back the way they had come.High above them and closing fast were five sets of lights, fanned out in an attack formation.

Skycutters, he thought.Light, quick and lethal, especially in the open.They left the rider exposed, but the undersides were too heavily armored for his hand laser to be effective.They would be within firing range in minutes.

He glanced at the scenery, looking for familiar landmarks, then saw something he recognized.He tapped Tawn-Ya on the shoulder, stretched his arm into the view of her faceplate and pointed.

The nose diver roared over an embankment and into the stone canyon beyond.It was like many in the Thunderan desert, crafted by the driving wind and airborne sand from ancient mountains of rock.Jaga had flown over this one several times, and knew that within it stood high pillars of stone, some no more than a few yards apart.

As cannon fire began to burst just behind them, they reached the shelter of those pillars.Behind them, four skycutters veered away from the stone obstacles.The fifth pilot, focused too intently on his target, struck the upper end of one.Pilot and craft careened among the stones, trailing burning wreckage behind, until bursting into a fireball against the base of one of the larger pillars.

Tawn-Ya piloted the nosediver with the reflexes and reaction time that were her birthright, weaving among the pillars with a speed that made even the experienced combat pilot Jaga nervous. 

In the light of the moon, he saw the skycutters descending at the mouth of the canyon, and swore.The enemy commander was persistent, and must have seen what Jaga had before: that this was a box canyon with no exit.He tapped Tawn-Ya's throttle hand and made a lowering gesture.

They stopped and dismounted, taking cover beside a nearby pillar.Jaga hastily explained the situation to Tawn-Ya.

"Can't we climb the canyon wall with the nosediver?" she asked.

Jaga shook his head."Too steep.Besides, even if we did, we'd only be back in the same situation.And we can't climb out on foot for the same reason."

In the moonlit darkness, Tawn-Ya looked around, taking in her surroundings."What about a cave?" she asked.

Jaga was looking in the direction of the mutant landing site.He shrugged."A cave might offer some cover, yes."

"Then what about that one?" she said impatiently, pointing.

Jaga looked in the direction she indicated.There was indeed a cave there, positioned well back under a ledge where it would not be visible from the air.Even as his heart rose, he heard a low hooting call from the direction of the enemy.

."Go!" he hissed.Tawn-Ya raced from their hiding spot to the entrance, Jaga close behind.As he ran the last few feet, a burst of plasma tore into the stone face of the cliff beside the opening.He leapt for the entrance as more blasts heated the air around him, landing on his hands and flipping forward to his feet and safety.

It was only there in the safety of the cave that he realized he'd dropped his hand laser outside.He swore violently, then grabbed Tawn-Ya's arm and pulled her deeper into the cavern.

As the darkness went from deep to suffocating, he produced a glow globe from a pouch on his belt.The egg-sized ball produced a dim green light, poor in quantity but inexhaustible.It showed a fork in the passage.Without hesitation they ran down the path to the right.

They continued around a curve in the passage, then came abruptly against a wall of rock where the tunnel simply ended.Jaga closed his hand around the glow globe, reducing it's illumination to a mere candles worth.They crept back towards the intersection, then stopped as they heard low voices just ahead.They ducked low in the corridor and listened.

"...they had to come this way," they heard, accompanied by the usual hoots and grunts of Monkian conversation.

"Take them both alive," they heard."The girl is mine, and I want the soldier to see what becomes of her before they both die."

Tawn-Ya stiffened.In her mind's eye, she could see her sister again, her lovely sister, impaled and writhing towards death on the blade of the primate commander's knife, hear again that voice saying, "My preference is for virgins."It was the same voice."Vertok...," she whispered weakly.

They faded back to the end of the corridor.Jaga passed the glow globe to Tawn-Ya, then drew his service knife from it's sheath.He knelt and produced a smaller throwing knife from an ankle sheath.This he handed to Tawn-Ya.

"I don't know how to use this," she said.

"You heard them," Jaga whispered grimly."It won't go well for you if they take you alive."

Her face twisted into an angry snarl."If I die, it will be reaching for Vertok’s throat, not cutting my own," she hissed.

A smile twitched momentarily on Jaga's lips."Very well.Stay to the rear then, at least, and allow me to soften them up for you."

Jaga crept forward and ducked low beside a small point of rock.Tawn-Ya walked to the end of the tunnel and stood with her back to the wall, knife in front, watching Jaga's back.

A Monkian stepped into view, his own glow globe adding to the illumination.He saw Tawn-Ya and smiled broadly.He started forward.

Tawn-Ya took an involuntary step back.Her shoulder blade struck the wall.There was a crack of breaking stone.She looked over her shoulder and saw a hole into another cavern.

"Jaga!" she yelled.Jaga glanced back, absorbed the situation instantly.He rose from concealment like a striking panther and drove his knife into the abdomen of the surprised Monkian.Jaga stepped in close, grabbed the primate under the arms and heaved him backwards into the shadowy figures beyond.

He had one second, maybe less.He raced to the end of the corridor at top speed, threw his arms around Tawn-Ya and spun, driving his shoulder into the wall.

Stone shattered, plasma burst in blinding flashes, horrible pain raged through Jaga's body like a tidal wave.He was aware of falling through darkness.Then the darkness swept inside him and he knew nothing more.

Continued...