The six small ships disappeared, assumed their positions, and began recording. Angel was two miles above the surface of the moon looking directly down toward the planet. “Begin recording, Fly Girl.”
“Started ten seconds ago, Angel.”
On the surface of the moon a small green shuttle sized ship was investigating facilities that the planet had built on the moon’s surface. The structure they had just examined was a storage facility with no life in it. As the shuttle prepared to move to the next facility the Eight Leg piloting the shuttle noticed a small shadow move across the surface of the moon directly in front of his vessel. He turned his attention upward but could not see or detect anything that would have caused the shadow. “How could that be,” it wondered? He moved his ship toward the shadow that had become stationary on the moon’s surface and again looked upward. There was something blocking the star’s light but it was not visible. He decided to investigate.
Matt watched in his mind as Angel’s ship stopped directly above the moon’s surface and then he saw that her ship was casting a shadow on the moon’s surface. He looked closer and saw the tiny green ship enter that shadow. “Angel, get out of there, your ship is casting a shadow on the moon.”
Before Angel could comprehend what he was saying the small green shuttle shot off the surface of the moon and hit her ship. Matt saw the green light directly under the ship attached to Wing’s hull and he thought to Al, “Al, teleport them out of there, now!”
Al teleported in next to Wings, extended the silver screen, and dragged Wings through it.
The two ships reappeared and Matt thought, “Angel, answer me.”
“All he got was a weak thought, “Something hit me.”
“Fly Girl, talk to me.”
“Matt, my systems are down. Whatever they used to breach my hull has knocked my engines off line. I’m losing power.”
Al thought, “No Matt, don’t go!”
Matt disappeared and reappeared on Wings’ bridge. He stood to face the creatures that had boarded but they were not there. He turned and saw Angel lying on the floor with blood flowing from three wounds. He ran to her and lifted her head. “Angel, oh Angel.”
She opened her eyes and smiled weakly at him. “I messed up. Oh, Magic, it hurts so much.”
“He held her close and thought, “Hang on, Angel. Hang on.”
Al immediately teleported both ships to Ross and then teleported Angel and Matt into Dorg-Ross General Hospital’s emergency center; Matt yelled, “Somebody help her!”
As emergency personnel rushed forward, Angel looked up at Matt and thought to him, “Matt, I’m so sorry. I love you,” The doctors picked her up, placed her on a stretcher and rushed her into an operation room. Matt followed them in and watched as they fought to save her. “There’s something in her system that’s paralyzing her,” a surgeon yelled. Matt stayed in her mind and saw her slipping away. “Angel, I love you with all my heart.” In his mind he could feel her smile and then she was gone. His despair was unbearable. Then he felt the rage building. He closed his eyes and looked back at the system and saw the three Eight Legs that had boarded Angel’s ship floating is space just outside their ship wondering what had happened to the vessel they had boarded. His anger grew and he felt something happening.
Al was in orbit above Ross and felt the final system activate and come to full power. He watched as a pulse of violet lightning shot out of his hull and more than a quarter of the way across the universe it struck the three eight legs floating in space. They imploded so fast that one moment they were there floating and in an instant they disappeared from existence.
Stem had been standing on Aladdin and watched what was happening to Angel’s ship and even for an Algean things moved faster than he could keep up. Al thought, “Stem, give me the coordinates where I can take Wings. She’s damaged and needs immediate repair.”
Stem thought them to Al and he quickly teleported to the repair facility on one of the Algean planets. “The final system is now active, Stem. Please help me save, Fly Girl.”
Stem pushed his instrument and Fly Girl disappeared. “I have to go help her, Al. What happened?”
“Angel is gone, Stem.”
Stem felt a wave of sorrow engulf him but then teleported out.
Al sat in space above the planet and felt tremendous pain. Even though he knew it was coming, he was not prepared for it to happen. Like Matt, he felt a need for vengeance. He flashed a thought to Matt, “I’ve given Fly Girl to the care of the Algeans.”
“Thank you, Al.”
Al could feel Matt’s despair, “Magic, are you going to be alright?”
“I honestly don’t know. I really didn’t think it would happen so quickly.”
“Me, either.”
They both remained silent for thirty minutes. Matt had left the operating room as soon as he felt Angel slip away. He noticed in the back of his mind that the doctors were still trying to revive her; her body had not died even though she was gone. Finally, after two hours, a surgeon came out and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Admiral. We tried everything possible. She was hit by three of these that were coated in some kind of powerful neurotoxin that overwhelmed her system.”
The surgeon opened a towel he was holding and Matt saw three nine inch green shards. Matt reached for them and the surgeon said, “We have removed the neurotoxin but whatever these are made of is also dangerous. They’re sharp so please use caution.”
Matt took the towel and folded it over the three shards. “I will; thank you, Doctor. I know you gave your best effort.”
A silver field appeared and Anglo Gardner appeared in the hallway. He came forward as Matt and the surgeon bowed. Anglo looked at them and then said to Matt, “The Royal Family humbly asks if I may take Angel to see that she receives the honor that she so richly deserves.”
Matt looked Anglo in the eye and Anglo could see Matt’s pain. “Thank you for being here, Your Grace. I can’t think of anyone else that she would prefer to take care of her at this moment.”
“We have notified her family and we have made arrangements to receive her in Colony Park in two days.”
Matt almost lost control at that moment; only those that won the Crimson Crown were buried in Colony Park with Dorg-Ross. Anglo pressed his com and an honor guard of twenty Red Warriors from the Wiseman Division appeared. They marched into the operating room and two of them in the middle gently lifted Angel, turned with their comrades and carried her out into the hall. Anglo turned walked over to Angel and placed The Crimson Crown Medal around her neck then bowed deeply to her. Matt walked over to her and kissed her one last time. Anglo nodded and he, along with the twenty members of the honor guard, disappeared.
“There is something wrong, First Fang.”
The Ship’s Leader turned his attention to his sensor male, “What is that?”
“Three of our children have disappeared.”
The Ship’s Leader immediately removed his attention from the invasion of the planet and focused totally on the Sensor Male. “Where did they go?”
“I can’t locate them. Their pod is floating about a fil above the third moon where they were examining the structures for life. I cannot find any of the children that were in that pod.”
“What was their last communication?”
“The pod pilot said that they were going to investigate a shadow. That’s the last communication they sent.”
“A shadow?”
“Yes.”
This was something serious. No member of his race had been harmed for more than a hundred million years. Of course these were just children without much intelligence but their disappearance was significant. The young would often lose all focus if they detected a meal but there was no other evidence of a meal near the location of their pod. The Ship Leader pondered what to do. Should he contact the family’s Supreme Male? No not before all things were examined. He turned his attention back to the Sensor Male and said, “Order one third of the children to come and look for their brothers.”