The flight back through space was a subdued one. Do’Lânqwa took charge of the controls, but said nothing the whole time. His son was asleep in the back, on the same cot as Ta’Balshén had once slept on. Anna dozed in her seat, her machine gun lay on her lap. Terri tried to make conversation with the grieving pilot, but gave up early on, even asking if she could have a go flying the jet, but it did not go down very well.

Over the radio, a voice from the other jet came through. It was Holt. “Friends, we’ve noticed some activity behind us, do you have a reading too?”

Do’Lânqwa glanced at his screen and nodded his head so that Terri could pass on the message.

“Yes Holt, what do you want to do about it?”

“Continue on. Earthuu isn’t that far away now,” he responded.

The view of the solar system blew Terri’s mind. She nudged Anna awake so that she could admire it too. The clarity, the natural beauty. The endlessness of it all. She felt it didn’t look real. She even saw a rare smile from Anna. But she couldn’t also wait to actually get her feet back on the ground.

Do’Lânqwa’s body language later told Terri something was up before Mindy could point it out.

“Coming in hot guys,” she warned. “It’s followed us through beyond the boundary.”

“Hold on then,” Do’Lânqwa simply instructed, changing course.

Both jets pulled away from each other. One veering left, the other veering right so that they were going the way they came, facing towards the unknown threat.

“Do you see that?” Mindy asked. “Peacekeeper carrier?”

“We can’t miss it. Why have they followed us this far?” Holt responded.

The jets continued past the large Peacekeeper carrier so that they were now behind it, waiting for it to make the next move.

“I reckon it either perceives us as involved in what was happening on Earthgrë,” Do’Lânqwa suggested, “or they’re on a suicide mission getting revenge for shooting at their ships earlier.”

Either way, Terri thought, there was going to be trouble of some sort. “Kansas, Kansas, do you copy us?” she radioed to The Facility, hoping they were near enough to be in range.

“This is Kansas, come in.” It was Lucas.

“Kansas, we have been pursued by an as of yet unknown threat beyond the boundary.”

“Confirmed. We have you two and one other on our radars.”

“Kansas, this is Mindy. It’s a large Peacekeeper carrier ship. They have not engaged yet and we are monitoring for now.”

“Copy that. Keep us updated. Kansas out.” Terri guessed there would be a flurry of activity on Earth now as a result of their commentary.

“How do we pl-” Terri began to ask over the jet radio but stopped when the Peacekeepers began pivoting back on itself, so that it was now facing the two jets.

“I think we are about to find out,” muttered Anna, slamming back down in her seat.

A strange voice came over the radio- a voice from the Peacekeepers carrier. Terri patched it through to The Facility.

it said.

“You should have stop us when you had the chance. While we were still within the Multi Planetary Alliance Pact area. You’ve just breached the one rule you are tasked to enforce,” challenged Do’Lânqwa, pushing his luck a little bit.

There was a slight pause before an answer came back.

“I wish I had my gun mounted on this ship,” whispered Anna.

“Holt, whenever you are ready,” Do’Lânqwa said.

“Are you sure?” Terri asked.

Do’Lânqwa ignored her, and repeated himself as if to tell her that he was calling the shots and this was his to make. “Holt, whenever you are ready.”

“No problem, big guy,” Holt answered.

The rogue Peacekeeper carrier was a lot bigger than the jets they were in, and Terri wasn’t sure what fire power they were packing.

Instantly, the shooting began from The Power of Three’s jet, a barrage of lasers drilling into the front of the carrier. They responded back, boosting and banking to the left. Do’Lânqwa banked right sharply, causing Terri and Anna to hold on anything bolted down.

Terri hoped Wo’Trendsont wasn’t flung around in the back too badly. “Do’Lânqwa, just remember your son in the back.”

Holt was quick with the attack, following his aim as the carrier tried to escape. Mindy and Blane had ejected from their ship and were now freely flying around in space. Terri suspected she was about to witness their abilities first hand.

The Peacekeeper carrier did a quick 180˚ but lost altitude to fly underneath Holt’s attack to evade it. This worked, but there was no way they were about to evade what Blane had in store. From nothing, he was manifesting large space rocks that relentlessly pummelled the carrier, so much that its own guns weren’t able to prevent making contact and causing damage.

Dodging the falling space rocks, Mindy weaved towards the carrier, aiming to get near to it for her next trick. By placing her hands on the side, ice began spreading out from her hands, emanating outwards but also to beneath the exterior, wreaking havoc with some of the wiring and mechanics. She could feel the carrier jolt, which told her it was time to let go, just in time for a large rock to appear and crash into the front of the carrier.

The collision threw it into a spin, killing its engines and abilities to fight back. It went into free fall, a trailing tail of thick black smoke followed it down. It was falling at an incredible rate and The Collective’s jets were at full throttle trying to keep up.

“Kansas!! We’re coming in hot. Our Tango is down, and crashing towards Earth. Give me something, please!” Terri shouted.

“This is Kansas. We estimate impact in London,” Lucas advised over the radio, before adding, “We’re sending the others to help!”

The carrier continued to spin wildly as it fell through the thermosphere.

Mindy and Blane raced after it while their brother raced the jet after it. Do’Lânqwa brought up the rear in their pursuing convoy. Mindy did her best to use her gravity manipulation to slow down the falling carrier, but it was too heavy, too fast. And too late.

They were soon falling through the Troposphere layer over the United Kingdom. Hundreds of Peacekeepers ejected from the carrier as it burnt up and broke apart, and hurtled towards the densely packed London area.

Terri watched in horror as the bulk of the carrier smashed into the O2 building on The Thames in a massive fireball. Her stomach turned at the thought of those injured and killed. The tiny white suited Peacekeepers floated down behind it, settling at points across the city. Until the other members of the G7 and The Collective arrived, it was down to them.

Terri took charge.

“Do’Lânqwa, get Tank over there to back up Mindy,” she said, pointing at London Bridge, where bursts of purple moon beam could be seen as Mindy engaged with the rogue Peacekeeper troops. “Then drop me over there. That’s Oxford Circus. Holt, I’m going to need Stephanie with me.”

“Understood, following you now.”

“Then,” she continued, “go with your brother to that tall building which is called The Shard. There looks to be a large mass of troops there. Do’Lânqwa- once we’ve been dropped off, head back to the crash site. Got it?”

“Loud and clear.”

The Astral Jet swung down low to allow Anna to jump off. She had her huge Heckler & Koch MG64 and an RPG with her. Terri shoved off the ammo crate behind her, before they whizzed off towards Oxford Circus.

When they arrived, Terri shouted, “it’s fine, we can jump from here,” from the rear landing door. They were still quite high up but Terri knew the landing wouldn’t harm her in her rock form.

Terri landed, the ground beneath her taking the damage. Stephanie joined her with less of a fall. The troops started firing.

“You ready?” Terri asked the Italian model over the noise.

“Let’s find out,” she replied softly, making her transformation to ferocious, tentacled beast mode.

The two strong women charged towards the troops, taking occasional cover behind abandoned vehicles left in the streets during the initial chaos. Crouching behind a black cab, Terri witnessed as a London bus was picked up and easily tossed by Stephanie, and hurled towards the troops. Terri took her chance, breaking cover and charging towards one particular troop who had strayed from the main pack.

They worked well together, Terri going in for close quarter combat and using her manipulation of the ground to incapacitate their attackers. Stephanie not only brought fear to the troops, she also ravished them, lashing out and tossing or throwing them all over the place while being able to maintain a safe distance.

Meanwhile, across Greater London, the male two thirds of The Power of Three were fighting off the hordes of troops that had amassed on the streets surrounding The Shard.

Bystanders had fled by this point, leaving the streets littered with left behind vehicles. Some troops had made their way into the building but between just Holt and Blane, there wasn’t a lot they could do about it until reinforcements came.

“We’re still slightly over run here- they seem to be making their way into the building,” Holt shouted between blasts of solar beam. The street was narrow and comprised of one lane for vehicles, and the boys found it difficult to get the upper hand.

“We’ll send Madame Libertié to you first. Chances are they’ve identified The Shard as the tallest building and maybe planning to boost a distress signal from it,” Lucas suggested over the communicator.

“I’m two minutes out,” Madame Libertié advised.

Holt and Blane battled on, swooping down and back up, taking out troops and dodging any retaliating gun fire.

A roaring jet sound soon announced the arrival of France’s Madame Libertié. She roared to a halt, hiding the jet on the roof of nearby St Guy’s Hospital, from where she emerged from. Wielding her chains, she leapt down to street level and took on troop after troop with her proficient swinging of chains and blasts of fire.

“I’m going up, you two carry on here,” Holt instructed as he flew up the side of The Shard.

At the crash site, plumes of black smoke billowed out across The Thames. Once Do’Lânqwa had landed his ship, he activated auto pilot and sent it back to The Facility with his son in it. It was the only way to keep him safe, but he was sure going to be scared.

His plan was to tend to the injured but there was a squad of troops that made all that difficult. He had his own Astral brand of star dust beam but it was contained within the suit and would diminish if not left to recharge.

Luckily, in no time, he was joined by Isaac York- the man known as The Constable in his armoured vest, and a woman he didn’t recognise but would later learn went by the alias ‘The English Rose’. She was dressed in a very fitting red cat suit and had the fighting ability to be fearful of. She was brutal but fought with such grace. Do’Lânqwa saluted his appreciation at their attendance.

“We need to get to the injured!” Do’Lânqwa called out as he headbutted an enemy combatant. “Can you keep this lot busy and I’ll go in?” he asked. The English Rose cartwheeled into a drop kick, knocking out the unlucky Peacekeeper. She picked up his rifle and assessed the alien technology.

“Sure thing, we’ll just tidy up your mess,” she said without looking up.

She accidentally activated the gun and its shot landed in a shell of a car. Do’Lânqwa chose to ignore her and ran into the dilapidated domed building.

“Where do you need us to go?” Brad asked over the coms. His jet with Kimona and Dylan in, as well as Ferris’ jet, were over Wales and at the speed they were going, were going to make London very soon.

“We could use someone at London Bridge!” Anna shouted back.

“Great. Agwé, you’re up. Welcome home,” Brad said.

Dylan glanced over at her and could tell she was nervous. “Don’t worry Kim, you’ve got this,” he smiled warmly at her but she wasn’t convinced.

“What if I’m not ready?” she fretted, but Brad wasn’t having any of it.

“Agwé,” he called out from the cockpit, deliberately referring to her by her alias. “You most certainly are. You’ve trained for this, understood your strengths and how to use them, and fricking hell you nearly tipped an oil tanker over in the middle of the sea. Remind me of what your dad would say…. Agwé! What would he say?”

“H-he said ‘there once comes a time in everyone’s life where they have to step up’,” she responded, hearing those words and feeling them surge through her.

“Damn right girl!” Brad cheered triumphantly. Dylan whooped. And just like that, Agwé was ready.

“We’ll let you jump from here into The Thames,” Brad decided, reaching London Bridge.

“And I’m going straight to The Shard,” Two Tone explained as his jet peeled from the convoy and towards the tallest building in the city.

Brad and Dylan leaned over to look out the cockpit windows and saw Agwé execute a sleek dive into The Thames and then rise out from it on a column of water.

“God I hope she’s ready,” Brad whispered to Dylan, before setting off towards Terri and Stephanie.

The story continues in part B which is just a click away!