Michael and Maria were awoken when Michael’s alarm went off at 5:30am. Maria looked at Michael and smiled, “I guess that’s my cue to leave.” “Yah, that probably would be a good idea. I don’t think that General Cullers would look too kindly upon finding you in here.” “You know the last time we did this, I had to leave from your apartment so Max wouldn’t find us, I’m thinking that we have to come up with a better system.” “Next time, we won’t have to hide from anyone.” Michael kissed the tip of Maria’s nose. Maria got out of the bed and dressed herself. She gave Michael one last kiss and left the room for her’s. She bumped into someone outside of the hallway and looked up to see Isabel. “Oh God Isabel, you scared me.” “You wouldn’t be scared unless you and Michael were doing naughty things,” Isabel said with a huge grin across her face. “Yah, well, I haven’t seen him in like 3 years, so give me a break.” “That’s a lot of pent up urge there, I hope that things weren’t too wild last night, oh wait, I heard, never mind.” Maria’s face registered shock and embarrassment as soon as Isabel said this. “Oh my God, this is so not good! If you heard then that means that more people heard and that means that Michael might get into trouble, and . . .” Maria was talking a mile a minute and just kept on going until Isabel cut her off. “Maria, chill out, I was just kidding.” Maria hit Isabel in the shoulder, “That was not very nice.” “Yah, but it was funny. What exactly did you two do that you would have to worry about moaning that loud?” Isabel asked giggling.   Maria hit Isabel again and then turned around and went straight for her room. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* “Rise and shine, Michael,” Isabel said as she knocked on his door. Michael opened up the door, wearing only a pair of military issue sweatpants, and stared bewildered at a bright and cheery Isabel. “What the hell are you doing up so early and why are you so chipper?” Isabel smiled and said, “Probably the same reason that you and Maria are up so early and bright and cheery.” Michael choked, “That is way too much information Izzy. Come in?” He opened the door wider inviting Isabel in. “Don’t mind if I do. Do you have any food in here?” “Check the fridge, I’m not sure if there is much, but there might be something,” Michael called out as he went into his bathroom to change. “You’re running a little low on whip cream Michael, would there be a reason?” Isabel giggled. “Yes, there would be,” Michael said as he came out of the bathroom, “would you like the detailed version?” “Do tell,” she challenged him. “Last night, Maria and I,” he paused, then opened the freezer, “had ice cream sundaes.” He smirked, then added, “God Isabel, you have such a gutter mind.” “Oh come on, I’m just messing around.” “What are you doing here Isabel?” “Can’t I visit a friend and not be questioned?” “No, what do you want?” “I don’t want anything, I just wanted to be with somebody who was probably just as scared as I was.” “Scared about what?” “I’m scared that I might lose a fiancé and I am assuming that you are scared that you might lose Maria. I just wanted someone near, to keep me from breaking down.” Isabel started to cry now, showing Michael for the first time her emotions and her strong feelings for Alex. Michael took her into his arms and rubbed her back, “It will be ok, they’ll be fine, trust me, I won’t let anything happen to them.” *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* “Are you ready Alex?” Maria asked. Maria and Alex had been instructed to meet with the Generals and Group Commanders at 0930. After a last minute briefing, they were told to get ready to go. Tools were given to both Alex and Maria and communication devices. They were told not to use the devices until it was absolutely eminent, due to the fact that they could be tracked. “I am one good to go computer geek.” “Great, then let’s get this show on the road.” “Hey, Maria, how are we going to get there?” “A space ship of course. Don’t worry, I know how to drive.” Michael came up behind Maria and put his arms around her, giving her a good squeeze. “Don’t forget our promise, spacegirl,” he whispered into her ear. “Ditto, spaceboy!” Maria turned around and gave Michael a goodbye kiss. “Alex, I have a small favor to ask you,” Isabel said. “Yes dear, whatever you want,” Alex said. “Alex, I am being serious.” Alex frowned and looked at Isabel who was showing a lot of stress. “Isabel, are you ok?” “Alex, promise me that you will come back. I don’t think that I could stand being a single mother.” Alex was stunned and shocked. “Iz, are you saying what I think that you are saying?” “Yes,” she managed to sniffle out. Alex took her in his arms and cradled her. “Baby, I promise I will be back.” He then placed his hand on Isabel’s stomach and leaned down, “Jr. Daddy has a little mission to go on, but he’ll be back, until then, keep your mother company.” “Alex, you’re embarrassing me,” Isabel said pulling him up to look at him again. “I’m sorry. Just a question, which time was this little creation made?” “Remember last month,” Isabel leaned over and whispered into Alex’s ear, “with the whip cream.” “You have a fascination with whip cream, don’t you Isabel?” Michael asked, hearing what she had said. “Hey, you weren’t supposed to hear that.” “Congratulations Isabel, Alex,” Maria said giving Isabel a hug. “Thank you Maria.” “You guys, I hate to break up this little party, but while we are talking Liz is this much closer to being hurt even more and maybe even killed,” Max said from across the room, having no idea as to what was going on. “Sorry Max, we’ll get going then,” Maria said knowing that they needed to get to Liz fast. “Here,” Max handed Maria a uniform, “In case you get to Liz, before I do, she’ll need it, they took her clothes.” “Thank you Max, I promise that we’ll get to her.” Maria turned around and boarded the space craft that she was going to be flying to the enemy’s space station. “I’ll see you guys when I get back,” Alex said, “Max, we’ll get her, don’t worry. My baby’s going to need an aunt and an uncle.” Max was confused at these words and turned to ask Isabel what he was talking about as the ship took off for their mission. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* “Ah, Elizabeth, how are we this morning? Did we sleep well? I hope so, because we have a very busy day ahead of us,” General Kirnz got onto the bed and straddled Liz and then laid down on top of her. He leaned close to her ear and whispered, “I hope that you are ready to enjoy yourself with a real man.” He grinded his hips into hers and then got off of the bed and left the room. Liz sobbed. She was full of pain and agony. She hoped that someone would come for her soon, but her doubts were high. She said a small prayer and tried to get some sleep, because there was nothing else she could do. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* “Maria, are you sure you know how to work this thing?” Alex asked, nervous as she took off heading towards enemy territory. “Alex, I have shot down at least three starships in each of the 7 battles that I have been through, I can guarantee you I know how to fly this ship.” “Just asking.” The station came into sight and Alex looked at the folder of photos that was given to him. “Ok, there should be a small place that we can temporarily dock around on the other side. It’s supposed to be used for emergencies, so no one usually stays there.” Maria took the ship around to the back of the station and docked with practiced ease. “You’re pretty good at that,” Alex grinned. Maria and Alex got off of their ship and entered the station. There were no guards where they were located. Alex quickly found the air ducts and they shimmied into them. Maria took out her map and examined it. “Ok, we need to go left when we get to the first cross-section of pipes,” Maria said. They slowly made their way through the pipes until they found the room that was guessed to be the computer room. Alex looked down and found that there were no guards in this room either. “They must be pretty sure about their security around here, there haven’t been guards anywhere,” Alex mentioned. He pushed off the paneling and hopped down into the room. Maria followed. “Ok, Alex, I may be wrong, but you can give me your expert opinion, but this does not look like a computer room.” “I believe that you are right, this, in my expert opinion, would look like a bathroom.” “Oh God, this could take forever,” Maria said. Just as they were about to climb back into the ducts, someone came in and caught them. “Hey, what are you doing in here?” Maria’s hand shot out and connected with his face, she then kneed him in the stomach and cracked his neck. He fell to the floor, with not even enough time to grunt, let alone to call for more guards. “Damn woman! Where did you learn those karate kid moves?” “Come on Alex, let’s go.” They slipped out of the bathroom and found some cargo to hide behind. Maria motioned for Alex to follow and she crawled around behind the cargo until they were in front of another room. This one was guarded. “I’ll bet that this is the computer room. There are no other guards on any of the rooms.” Maria told Alex to wait while she took out the guard. “I think that I am going to like having you as a friend.” “Shh, we will only have a little bit of time, as soon as they discover these guards down, we will have to book it.” They walked into the room and sure enough it was the computer controls room. Displayed on the wall opposite the computers was a chart showing the locations of all of the security systems throughout the ship. Maria studied it and found that it showed the exact location of the leader’s quarters. “Maria, this might take awhile, this system is nothing like what they showed me.” “Well, work fast, I’ll go out and guard the door.” After one last look at the map, Maria exited the room. Alex punched in some numbers and remembered what Col Ortin said about them being very easy systems to get into. He tried some basic strategies, but found them not to work. He then decided to try something, thinking that this would be way to easy. He found a button marked emergency procedure. He pressed it and options appeared on the screen. “No way,” Alex said to himself, “this is way too easy.” The number one option was to shutdown the system. He chose the option and sure enough, the system shut down and showed all areas as insecure. By this time although, an alarm had sounded signaling the intruders and guards were swarming towards the computer room. Alex heard Maria scream out in pain and jumped to see what happened. He then thought he better communicate with the others first. “Yes Alex,” Max’s voice came over the communicator. “We’re in, the system has been disabled, get your asses over here. Tell Michael to hurry, Maria is hurt.” The door burst open and a guard came through and grabbed Alex. Alex caught a glimpse of Maria before he was taken away. She was on the floor, not moving, with a pool of blood surrounding her. TBC

Part 8