The sirens went off at 3am signaling that there was an attack. Max jumped out of his bed and dressed quickly to fight. Michael knocked on Max’s door knowing that he will be ready to go. “Let’s get this party started,” Michael said grinning. They ran to their ships and flew off to greet the enemy. The attack started slow, but then grew intense as more crafts came from the other side. “Holy shit, there are a lot of them!” Michael shouted over the radio. Michael found himself being tailed by three spaceships. “Maxwell, I think a little help is needed!” “I can’t Michael! I have two of my own to get rid of!” Michael’s ship flew fast and the evasive maneuvers stopped the ships, but it didn’t take long for them to adjust to his flight pattern and lock him in their sights. Michael’s alarm went off. They had him locked. “Damn it!” Michael yelled just as a shot was fired. Michael squinted and let the explosion  happen while saying a small prayer to keep Maria safe when he was gone. “Michael? Michael?” Michael opened his eyes to realize that he was still alive. “Yah?” “Damn Michael, what did you do? Those ships fell like flies!” Max shouted over the radio. “That wasn’t me, I don’t know who did that?” “It was Capt Smith, sir,” a soldier said over the radio. “ Doesn’t Capt Smith talk for himself?” Michael asked. “Smith doesn’t talk a lot, sir. Says it helps keep concentration.” “Whatever works, as long as it doesn’t jeopardize the operation. Smith, if you’re listening, thanks for all of your help!” “You’re welcome sir,” came back over the radio. The voice sounded a bit strange due to all of the fuzz on the radio. Michael was eager to meet this new recruit, now that he had saved his life. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Isabel was laying on the couch in Liz’s apartment asleep. Alex lay next to her also asleep. Isabel had been trying for hours to get a hold of Maria by dream-walking, but had no luck. Alex got up and looked at the time, it was almost 3am. He looked down at Isabel and smiled. She was working so hard to find Maria. Suddenly Isabel shot up, sweat falling off of her head, screaming. “Isabel! Shh. It’s ok. It’s ok. What happened?” Alex asked while cradling Isabel in his arms. “I can’t get into Maria’s head. This last time, I think that I almost made it, but then she was awoken by an alarm. It just scared me. It was very loud and seemed to instill a bit of fear in Maria. It was really weird, it’s hard to explain.” “I understand. My only question is why would she have her alarm going off at 3am. That’s a little early to be hitting the road, don’t you think?” “It’s Maria, everything she does is crazy.” Isabel was calming down now. Having Alex next to her soothed her. She didn’t want to loose that. She looked at him and smiled. “What?” Alex asked noticing the grin she was giving him. “Nothing, I was just sitting here and thinking about how much I love you.” Alex smiled, “Well, I’m glad that you love me. I’d hate to think that you hated me.” “You know I just keep you around for the rent,” Isabel joked. “Yah, I know. When I have no more money, you will just throw me to the side. That’s ok, I understand,” Alex joked back. He hung his head low and pretended to sob. “Oh what a wuss!” “Hey!” Alex jumped up and pinned Isabel on the couch and tickled her. “Who’s the wuss now? Huh?” “Ok, ok, I give!” Isabel shouted trying to get him off of her. “Say, Alex is the studliest, strongest man that I have ever met in my whole entirely life!” “I don’t think so Alex,” Isabel said as she squirmed underneath him. “That’s what I thought you would say.” Alex then leaned down, uncovered her stomach, and blew raspberries on it. “Oh my God Alex! Argh! Quit it!” Isabel was laughing uncontrollably now. She was struggling to get Alex off of her. “Isabel?” Alex stopped and looked at her. “Yes, my Alex?” “I love you.” He leaned in and gave her a kiss. “I do too.” Isabel responded and brought him in more to deepen the kiss. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* It had been several days and each day a new attack had been initiated by the Freysians. Max’s soldiers were beginning to tire and he could see this. “We have to stop this!” Max exclaimed. “The Freysians are wearing out our troops. In fact if it weren’t for Capt Smith, who keeps covering everyone’s asses, then we would be goners. We have to do something! We have to get in there and destroy General Kirnz! And we have to get Liz back!” “Sir, we are working on that. But, like I said before, there is no way to get in, unless,” Colonel Ortin stopped and thought for a minute. “Unless what?” Michael asked. “Captain Smith. I bet that Smith could get in!” “What makes Smith so special that he can get in and not us?” Michael asked again. Before Colonel Ortin could answer, the sirens again went off, signaling another attack! “Holy shit, they never let up!” Michael yelled. He grabbed his things and went to his ship. He boarded and began another fight. Max’s fighting had been lacking the last few days. He had been so worried about Liz that he had not been focusing on what was going on. This finally caught up to him during this fight. “Max, you better watch where you’re going man, you almost hit Linberger!” Michael said as he watched Linberger weave out of Max’s way. “Sorry, I’m just so preoccupied.” “Well, maybe you should go back and skip this fight. I don’t feel like being the one to tell Liz that you are dead because you were thinking about her!” “No! I’ll fight! For Liz’s sake. I have to get to her.” “Remember that Max, that means you have to live through this attack!” Max watched as two enemy craft were shot down by Smith. He was amazed at this guy. “Holy crap!” a soldier yelled over the radio. A war ship 10 times everybody’s size appeared in front of them. It was armed with more weapons than a tree has leaves. “Maxwell, how are we doing this afternoon?” came a voice over Max’s radio. “You little shit!” Max yelled angered by the voice that had his girl captive. “Now, now General, no need to get all upset. Liz is perfectly fine. I was going to have my way with her last night, but then I thought that she might want to have a normal date before that. We need to get to know each other a little before the big night. Tell me Max is she a virgin? Oh, I bet not. Well, still she’ll be good in bed, I’m sure.” “You bastard! She has nothing to do with this. Why are you doing this to her?” “Oh Max, she has everything to do with this. The only way that I will release her is if you give up yourself to me.” Max could hear Liz in the back yelling, “Don’t do it Max, I’m fine, don’t worry about me!” “Or if you would just kindly die right now, I think that would be more preferred.” “Max! Watch out!” Max looked to his side just in time to see a missile headed straight for him. There was no way that he could get out of it in time. “Oh f---,” Max muttered underneath his breath. He then watched as another missile intercepted it and blew it up. “What the hell? Who did that?” “Capt Smith, sir,” another soldier shouted into his radio. “Well, let’s get our asses back to the station, shall we? And Smith, when we get back to the station, I would like to meet you.” *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Max got off of his ship and walked into the entrance of the station.  Michael walked into the station and found Max. “Max, you almost got your ass kicked out there.” “I know, but that won’t happen again. Let’s go to the big conference room. Have all the troops in there. I want to recognize Smith in front of everyone. Maybe it will raise morale.” Max and Michael walked to the room where all of the troops were assembling.  When everyone was settled, Max stood and spoke. “We are here to congratulate someone that obviously you all know well. I on the other hand just coming here have never met Capt Smith, but I would like to congratulate him for all of his hard work and for saving my life today. Capt Smith, will you please come forward.” There was no movement for about two minutes and then the doors in the back flung open, “You know Max, I would really appreciate if you would quit calling me he. I am a she!” Max and Michael were shocked and rendered speechless. Finally Michael spoke, “Maria?” TBC

Part 5