Max had all of his gear on and he was ready to go. He departed with Michael in the first ship. The next few ships carried 25 soldiers each. Their ship reached the station with no problems, indicating that the security system was indeed shut off successfully. Max turned to Michael, “I’d love to help you, but.” “Understood man, go get your woman.” Max said a quick thank you and went on his way. Surprisingly there were few guards, his only problem was that he had no idea where the leader was. He searched the halls looking for a door that might resemble that of a General’s. Along the way he came up against a few soldiers, but nothing that he couldn’t handle. “Maxwell, are you looking for something? A girl perhaps?” a voice came over the intercom. Max growled at hearing the voice. “If you can find my chambers, Max, that’s where I will be having a little fun with your lady before I kill her. If you prefer that she not die, I suggest you make your way to me to surrender yourself.” Max gritted his teeth as he continued on through the halls, checking each of the rooms. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* “Maria!” Michael rushed over to Maria’s side and found that she had been shot in the shoulder. Michael leaned over to see if she was even awake. She shot up and looked at Michael and then said, “Damn son of a bitch shot me in the arm, can you believe that little argh?” Michael looked at her and chuckled. He motioned for her to come a little closer and he took a cloth that he had brought and tied it around her wound trying to stop the blood flow. “Ok, that will have to do for now.” “Where’s Max? We have to find him, I know exactly where the General’s chambers are, I saw it on a map.” “A map?” “Yah, there was a map in the controls room.” “Huh, who would have thought? Ok, let’s get going.” *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Max kept searching and he finally came upon an elevator. He waited for it and was cautious. He stood ready for anything and lunged as soon as the doors opened. “Whoa, down Max! It’s us,” Maria shouted. “Oh, sorry.” “That’s ok, hey Max, I know where they are keeping Liz, I found it on a map, we have to go.” Maria led them to the room and they all prepared to go in. Max went first followed by Michael and then Maria. The doors to the room opened automatically and Max stood their bewildered. “Ah, Maxwell, so nice to see you, and Col Guerin. But, oh who is that? I don’t recognize that sweet face behind you. I see you have come to join my party.” The general uncovered the bed and there Liz lay tied up to the bed, naked, and beaten. Michael looked away, half for her dignity and half because he could not bear to see the pain that he and Max had brought to her. Max advanced towards the bed, but was stopped by two guards. “Tsk, tsk Max, you know you can’t have her until you surrender.” “Don’t worry about me Max,” came a barely alive whisper from the sheets. “Oh how noble. She is willing to be subjected to death, to save you.” Without another thought, Maria attacked one of the soldiers that was holding Max, while Michael attacked the other. Max charged towards the Kirnz, but he was too quick holding out his hand and sending an energy burst towards Max that knocked him down. “So, Max, I thought that you might want to watch the show.” Kirnz said as he walked towards Liz, he took her face and forced a kiss upon her. Liz struggled underneath him as his hands began to travel down her body. “No! Stop it! You ass hole!” Maria yelled as she tried to break free of the guards hold. “Take her away! She is bothering me! Put her in my quarters!” the general said. He looked at Michael who was calling out to Maria, “You, Colonel, will be staying here. Haven’t you always fantasized about watching your best friend’s girlfriend being seduced?” “You are one sick f---,” Michael spat still adverting his eyes away from the tousled Liz. “Yes, but I enjoy it.  So Max, what should I do first? Should I use my tongue first? No, I know you, you’re eager to get to the real action.” As Kirnz was speaking he was unbuttoning his pants. Max’s rage had reached maximum and he could not stand it anymore. A burst of white light flooded the place, causing most to go blind for a second. When the flash was over Max was no longer in the guard’s grip, Michael was fighting the guard that had a hold of him and Kirnz was no where to be seen. “Son of a bitch! Where did he go?” Max shouted. “Max, don’t worry about him, I’ll find him, take care of Liz.” Max ran over to Liz. Using his powers, he severed the chains that kept her captive on the bed. He handed her the uniform. She put it on then collapsed into Max’s embrace. “Max, I was so scared.” “I know Liz, I know.” He laid her down on the bed and healed her wounds as fast as he could. “Ok, come on, we have to get back to the other station.” “What about Maria?” Liz thought about it a moment, then looked at Max confused, “hey, what is she doing here in the first place?” Max smiled and gave Liz a kiss, “It’s a long story.” *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* “Oh sick, yuck, stick that gross ass thing back into your pants!” Maria yelled. She was thrown into his chambers and a guard restrained her to a chair. “Baby, I woke up this morning with one thing in mind and I am going to get it!” He walked over to where Maria was sitting and ripped open her shirt and unhooked her bra. He grabbed one of her breasts in his hand. “I think you may be better than the last one.” Michael made his way to the chambers and found a couple of guards at the door. “Now guys, if you would be so kind as to let me in there, I will be kind and not kick your ass.” The guards attacked and Michael easily beat both of them. He walked into the room and saw the display before him and his blood boiled. He dove towards the general and knocked him over, they wrestled on the ground for a minute or two, but Kirnz was too quick and escaped from Michael’s hold. He leapt up and whipped out a gun facing it straight at Michael. “Move a muscle and you will be blown into smithereens.” Kirnz walked towards Maria, still holding the gun pointed at Michael. He looked down at Maria, a mistake for him, because Michael kicked the gun out of his hand. Michael didn’t have any weapons on him. He had lost them all when the guards took a hold of him in the other room. Again they fell on the floor and wrestled. Kirnz pinned Michael and pulled out a knife. He pulled up his hands ready to pierce Michael, but Michael resisted holding his hand in the up position. Kirnz was strong and finally broke through his grasp, piercing Michael in the shoulder. While Michael took a hold of his shoulder, Kirnz took the opportunity to pull back and aim for his heart. Before he could even swing his arms down, he was jolted back by a gunshot direct into his heart. “Son of a bitch! Don’t you ever learn? Don’t ever mess with the General’s second in command,” Max said as he brought his arms down from the shooting position. “Thanks Max, I owe you big time,” Michael said as he pushed the guy off of him and ran towards where Maria was. “You ok?” “Yah, I’m fine, he was just, yuck, that was gross, that nasty old man had some kind of sexual disorder. He was a freak. Taking out that nasty thing and whipping it into my face, I mean I am lucky that I didn’t throw up right then and there. I felt the bile rising. I mean, ugh, yuck!” Michael laughed as his star soldier chattered on about Kirnz. She finally looked up and saw Max standing above them looking down on her. “Hey Maria, you might want to uh, hook your bra and um, put a shirt on,” Max said looking away. Maria looked down and noticed that she was still exposed from when Kirnz was touching her. “Oh, thank you.” Michael reached out and hooked her bra for her and took her old shirt and mended it with his powers and gave it back to her. “Thank you spaceboy.” Maria looked to Max, “You can look now, I’m covered, um, where’s Liz?” Max looked behind him and noticed that she wasn’t there. “Oh damn it, she was right behind me.” *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* “Ok, you can put that knife away now. Why don’t you just shoot me? That will be faster and less painful. Are you listening to me, I am giving you permission to shoot me,” Alex said nervously as the guard advanced towards him with a knife in hand. The guard lifted his arms and Alex squeezed his eyes shut waiting for the blow. “Hey, don’t you boys know that you lost?” came a voice from the doorway, “so, why are you messing with my buddy Alex here?” “Liz? Oh Liz, you do not know how glad I am to see you, but unfortunately, there are three soldiers here and only two of us.” Liz pulled out a gun and shot one of the soldiers, “Now there are only two.” “Women,” Alex stated thinking back to Rambo Maria. “Alex, kick!” Liz yelled. “What?” Alex asked. “Kick!” He did what she said and found that his foot connected right with the guards groin in front of him, causing the guard to hunch over in pain. “I would have never ever in a million years thought of that,” Alex told Liz as she tried to untie him while fending off the other guard. She finally got fed up with the guard and again took out the gun and this time shot the other one. She untied Alex and they ran out of the room towards where Alex and Maria had docked their ship earlier. When they made it there, they found Michael and Maria, but no Max. “Liz! Oh my gosh Liz! We were worried sick, where were you?” Maria shouted as Liz and Alex walked in. “You certainly don’t have to worry about her, she just shot two guards, left one in pain, and saved my life,” Alex said, “I don’t know what is up with this, you give a girl a gun and she thinks she’s superwoman.” “Max is still looking for you, I’d better go and let him know that you’re here,” Michael said. Ten minutes later Max and Michael walked back into the room. Max ran over to Liz, “You scared the hell out of me!” “Max, the first thing that I am going to do when we get home, is wash your mouth out with soap, what is with all of this cursing?” “I have been fighting a war for three years, you have to give me a break.” “Well, I guess so, but if I hear you ever talking like that in front of Alex’s kid, you are going to get a beating mister.” “I’ll make sure that I remember that. How quickly will that baby be born Alex?” Max asked. Liz hit Max and grabbed his arm dragging him onto the ship. Alex followed them onto the ship and took a seat away from them, so that he wouldn’t have to watch. Michael and Maria took the controls and flew them all back to the Gursur Space Station. TBC

Part 9