DISCLAIMER: Not mine, never gonna be mine. I make no money nor claim any credit for the genesis of these characters. That would be Sandy Franks and co.

Unity

Mark went into chief Anderson's office, his hands pushed into the pockets of his jeans.

"You wanted to see me Sir."

"Yes, I want to talk to you about a mission that has been proposed. It's entirely up to you if you want to take it or not."

"I'm all ears." Mark said, slouching down on the chair across the desk from Anderson. He would never be so informal if the others were there, but alone with the man who had raised him, he could relax a little.

"You heard about the colony ship that went out several months ago to Yaris Minor?"

"Yes, they went in a standard colony ship, because they needed to take livestock with them, and there are no colony ships equipped with time warp. They must have arrived at Yaris by now."

"There are currently no Earth ships other than the Phoenix equipped with time warp, because the five of you are the only ones who can be in any state to do anything after time warp. That is why this mission has been proposed. The Colonists arrived at Yaris less than a week ago, 24 hours ago, International Rescue received a distress call from them, they are under siege and need help."

"If the call went out to International Rescue, what does it have to do with us?"

"They don't have the ability to get out to Yaris in time to do any good, you do. The proposition is a joint mission, between G-Force, and the Thunderbird team."

"Why do we need them at all, if there is a problem, why can't G-Force just go and deal with it?"

"Because the UN and the Security Council have decided that it would be a good idea to show the public that there can be cooperation between our two very different groups."

"Right, and who will be in command of this proposed joint mission?"

"That's one thing I did insist on, your ship, you're in command, if you choose to accept the mission. That's the bit you may have problems with, the Thunderbird team is all older than you, even if it is only by a couple of years with the younger ones. There may be some friction from them having to take orders from you."

"I don't have a problem with it, and if they do, well, that's their problem."

"Good, I thought you might see it that way, they're on their way here now for a joint briefing, get everyone up to speed on the situation, and get them through medical, make sure they're up to undergoing time warp."

"How long until they're here?"

"About twenty minutes. Call the rest of your team in Mark, I want them all in the briefing room in twenty minutes."

"That shouldn't be a problem, they're here already, they're down in the ready room."

"Good. They don't know your secret identities, I want you in uniform Mark."

"Don't you trust our new friends?"

"Not until I know them better. Commander Simpson is quite a bitter man, he fought to set up International Rescue because he wasn't given the post of Head of Galactic Security."

"Your job? He was up for your job?"

"Yes, a long, long time ago, before I fostered you even."

"And he's still bitter now?"

"I don't know, I suppose we'll soon find out."

They left the office, walking to the briefing room together. Mark called his team on the radio, telling them to meet them in the briefing room, in uniform.

"What's going on?" Jason demanded the moment Mark and Anderson walked into the briefing room. Mark looked at him through the tinted beak of his visor and sighed.

"Not yet Jason, we have guests coming to our latest party, we have to wait for them to arrive."

"What do you mean guests?" Princess asked.

"We're going to be working with the International Rescue Thunderbird team."

"Why?" Jason demanded his tone more belligerent now.

"Patience Jason." Mark told his lover, his tone a little tired. He had a bad feeling about this mission, and the people they were to be working with, but where people's lives were at risk, he couldn't refuse a mission.

He was leaning against the wall beside the door when he heard unfamiliar voices in the corridor outside.

"I don't see why we have to take orders from a bunch of kids Commander. This is our mission, the call came to us, and we should be in command, not taking orders from a boy who is younger than Callan here."

"I know Captain Hanson, but Anderson insisted to the Security Council, and they put pressure on the UN to agree. He seems to think that because his team is better established than ours, they automatically have the right to be in command. I'm sure we can override him when he sees how much more experienced you five are."

Mark seriously doubted that, but he said nothing as he silently moved away from the doorway, drifting over to where the others were sitting.

Anderson looked up as Commander Simpson and his team came into the room and shot Mark a small frown. He must have known they were out there, yet he had said nothing. Mark was facing him, but through the dark visor, he couldn't tell if he was meeting his eyes or not.

"Commander Simpson. How, pleasant, to see you again." Anderson said.

"Hello Anderson. This is the Thunderbird team, Captains Hanson, Veda, James, Jesse and Little John."

"Welcome to Center Neptune, this is G-Force, Jason, Princess, Keyop, Tiny, and their Commander, Mark."

The two groups looked at each other for a long moment, and then moved in stiffly to shake hands. Mark could sense the resentment among the newcomers, they all felt the same as the one who had been complaining in the corridor, Hanson. He had to admit, he could see why this man was a little resentful, he looked to be in his mid to late forties, had nearly thirty years on Mark, but he shrugged to himself, not his problem, he was in command of this mission, and they could either accept that, or stay behind.

"Right, let's get this briefing, and all the formalities out of the way, then we can get this mission on the road," Mark said. He turned to look at Anderson.

"Chief, let us have it."

"Of course commander." Anderson said, recognizing that Mark had to assert his authority from the start if he was going to have a hope of commanding the Thunderbird team.

Once the briefing was over, Anderson told Princess to escort the other team down to medical for their physicals, which caused more problems.

"We had our own physicals just last week, we don't have to submit to yours." Jesse said, his Texan tones angry.

"Yes, you do. We're not going to accept the responsibility if you drop dead during time warp. Now all of you listen to me, you have two options here, you can play ball, work as a team with us and accept that just once you are going to have to take orders from someone else, or, you can stay here as guests of Center Neptune, and G-Force will go to Yaris Minor and deal with the mission ourselves. Make your choice now, because lives are at risk out there." Mark said, his voice cool, hard. He didn't wait for an answer from them, he strode from the room, his white wings swirling behind him as he walked.

Anderson hid a smile as he waited for them to get over their shock and he could see that Jason was fighting the urge to applaud his lover's performance. They saw Mark and the others as children, but G-Force, and Mark especially had been through a lot at the hands of Spectra, and they all had nerves of steel.

"He can't talk to us like that." Little John protested to both Anderson, and Simpson, who still stood side by side behind the briefing desk.

"He is in command, and he's right, you will have to come to terms with that or stay here. Decide now." Anderson said quietly.

"Fine, we play it your way, for now." Hanson said.

"Princess, proceed." Anderson said, she nodded and led them out.

Callan had her medical first and when she was released, she went wandering round the recreation level. She glanced in at the door of one room and saw a handsome, dark haired young man going through a very difficult looking gymnastics routine on a set of asymmetric bars. His muscles rippled as he almost seemed to fly between the bars, and she realized he was working without a crash mat of any kind. He reached the apex of his swing and released the bar, his velocity carrying him upwards, and she winced, thinking how hard he was going to hit that uncovered wooden floor. After a moment she realized he didn't seem to be coming down, and she looked up to see him sitting on a gently swinging trapeze about twenty feet above the bar he had been working on, watching her.

"You make a habit of spying on people?" He asked mildly, when he was sure she had seen him.

"I'm sorry, I was just impressed by your routine. I've never seen anyone move like that."

"I really doubt that. I've seen better." He said.

"What do you do here?" She asked. He cocked his head to one side and looked at her without answering, and then he slid off the trapeze, dropping straight down to the floor, and landing almost silently on his feet.

"I'm not sure you should be wandering these halls unaccompanied. Where are you supposed to be?"

"I don't know, we've been having physicals, and they just sort of shoved me out the door when mine was finished without telling me where to go."

"And there was no one waiting for you?"

"No."

"Well, I'll take you to the ready room where G-Force hangs out between missions, you should be OK there."

"I'm not so sure of that, I don't think they like us."

"Do you like them?"

"I don't even know them, but we have to take orders from them on this mission. Do you know them, what are they like?"

"They're all right." He said, hiding a wry smile from her.

They reached the ready room, and Mark showed her inside. The rest of the Thunderbird team was already there, sitting in silence, slightly apart from the other G-Force members.

"Callan, where have you been, we came out of our medicals, and you had wandered off." Hanson said.

"Sorry, they didn't tell me to wait, I haven't delayed things have I?"

"They didn't tell us to wait either, we just assumed it when we were put in a room with chairs in. Although it doesn't look like you delayed anything, the G-Force Commander hasn't shown up yet either." Hanson said.

Mark smiled faintly at Jason over Callan's head, and stepped out of the room, flicking the fingers of one hand slightly in an upwards direction.

"Well, I think it's time we got to the Phoenix." Jason said, getting to his feet.

"What about your Commander, shouldn't you wait for him?" Hanson asked a little acidly, making sure they caught the emphasis on YOUR Commander. Mark was going to have real trouble with this lot, Jason mused.

"Mark will meet us on the Phoenix." Jason said, leading them out of the room. Callan turned to thank the young gymnast, and found him gone. It was a shame, she thought sadly, he had been very cute, and she hadn't even got his name, but she put it out of her mind, they had a job to do.

They reached the Phoenix, and found Mark there, standing stiffly in the middle of the bridge.

"Let's blast off Tiny. Thunderbirds strap in and make yourselves comfortable." Mark said, gesturing to the jump seats 7-Zark-7 had had added to the back wall of the bridge. Hanson tried to stare Mark down but found it impossible, because he couldn't see his eyes through that damn visor. He threw himself into one of the seats and buckled the restraints, and the rest of the team followed him.

The Phoenix left Center Neptune, powering through the water, and rising quickly up, heading out into space. When the Phoenix had cleared the solar system, they started getting ready to go into time warp. The Thunderbird team had heard that it was quite harsh, but nothing could have prepared them for the dizzying disorientation and nausea that hit them as they entered time warp, space seeming to turn psychedelic around them.

"How long does this go on for?" Dylan asked through gritted teeth.

"Coming in and going out is the worst, the bit in the middle is OK." Princess called over her shoulder.

The Phoenix dropped back into normal space, and headed in toward Yaris Minor.

"Keep your eyes on the scanners guys, the minute you see anything, I want to know about it. I want to get on the ground without being seen if possible." Mark said.

He looked at the Thunderbird team, and smirked, they all seemed to be unconscious,

"What are we going to do about them?" Jason asked, seeing where he was looking.

"Try our best to work with them, as agreed." Mark said.

"Bleep doop beep brrup, knock them out, chirp, leave them here." Keyop offered.

"Much as I would like to Keyop, I don't think the Chief would like that." Mark said with a smile. He felt dizzy suddenly, and tightened his grip on the control panel in front of him, hoping none of the others noticed.

Anderson was sitting in his office when one of the medical staff hurried in without knocking.

"What is the meaning of this?" Anderson demanded.

"You have to contact G-Force immediately, if you can't get them back here, they must put the commander in the cryogenic suspension unit in the Phoenix sickbay."

"They're on radio silence, we can't contact them. What's going on?" Anderson demanded. The doctor hesitated, looking over to where Simpson sat in the armchair on the other side of the room.

"Never mind him, what is wrong with my son?" Anderson demanded. he didn't realize what he had said until he saw the shocked looks on the faces of Simpson and the medic. He took a deep breath, calming himself down.

"I know he isn't my son in the biological sense, but I raised him since he was four years old, he's as near as dammit mine, and I want to know what is wrong with him."

"Very well. He has Rigan Daktar fever."

"Oh my God. Is he still young enough that it will be the milder version?"

"No, his immune system isn't geared to cope with it at all. The bloods we have indicate it is the full strain, if left untreated it will be fatal."

"Are the people with him in any danger?" Simpson demanded, thinking of his own team. Anderson also looked for an answer to that question, but his concerns were broader, the two teams with Mark, and the colonists who were already struggling to survive on that world.

"Only if they're Rigans." The medic said.

"Timetable it for me." Anderson said grimly.

"Well, assuming he was infected near the end of his last visit to Riga, and bearing in mind that he wasn't showing any symptoms when he left, then by now he will be starting to feel the first ill effects, possibly dizziness and nausea, almost certainly tiredness. He will grow steadily weaker, and in two or three days, he will barely be able to stand, and if his condition is left unchecked, two days after that he will lapse into a coma, and at that point there will be nothing at all we can do. You must call the Phoenix."

"I can't, I told you, they're on radio silence. We'll just have to hope that Jason notices he's sick."

"Jason is only paramedic trained, he won't know how dangerously ill his commander is."

"No, but he will hopefully have the sense to put him in cryostais when he sees how fast his condition is deteriorating."

"So, our boy is in trouble." A rumbling voice came from the doorway.

"Chronos. How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to hear that I'm too late, and to hear how much you care about Mark." Chronos said with a smile.

"And who is this?" Simpson asked disdainfully.

"Not that it's any of your business, but he's Mark's father."

"Who's your cheerful friend?" Chronos asked.

"Head of International Rescue. His team is out there with G-Force."

"Where are they, I'm going after Mark."

"You can't Chronos, they're too far away. You're just going to have to sit here and wait with me, and trust in his team to take care of him."

Mark sat on the soft grass under the Phoenix, leaning against the landing strut.

"Our friends are awake, and on their feet." Princess said, coming under the wing to talk to him.

"Good, we can get started then." He said.

"Mark, are you all right?"

"Of course I am. Why?"

"You don't seem yourself."

"I'm just a little tired, and our friends are getting on my nerves a little. I get the feeling they're going to try to take over before this is done."

"Well, we'll back you to the last, and I don't think they have any idea what we can do."

"Thanks Princess." He said with a tired smile, getting to his feet.

"Right, so what now, Commander?" Hanson asked his instant hostility grating on Mark's nerves.

"Now, I fly a recon mission, and see if I can find out exactly what is going on here." Mark said.

"Well, it's hardly gong to be inconspicuous in that thing." Jesse said, gesturing to the Phoenix.

"Well, that's good, because I wasn't planning on using the Phoenix." He said coldly.

"Well, what are ye going to do, flap your arms and fly?" Little John mocked. Mark didn't even bother to answer, he just leapt straight upwards from ground level to the top of the Phoenix, high above.

"How did he do that?" Hanson sputtered.

"Do what?" Jason asked blandly, irked at the lack of respect they were showing his lover.

"Hey, Gram, ease up on him will you." Dylan said suddenly, looking over at his friend.

"You siding with them now?" Jesse drawled.

"I was two years ahead of him at the academy, I saw him come top in every class, and out fly everyone who came up against him. He has his command because he's good, and he deserves it."

"That's not the issue Dylan, the issue is what right does he have to tell us what to do, when he's so much younger."

"Maybe you should have read the files that Commander Simpson gave us to familiarize ourselves with our colleagues here. He alone, without the rest of his team, has more battle experience than all of us put together, and he has survived two direct assassination attempts, not to mention all the times he's risked his life in the line of duty. So, I think we should cut him some slack, he's been surprisingly patient with all of the attitude he's been getting from us."

"Is that true, two assassination attempts?" Hanson asked Jason.

"Yeah, well. He has kind of pissed Zoltar off a bit. First one came so close to being successful he spent nearly a week on life support, and the first thing he did when he got out of medical. Take the team to Spectra to teach Zoltar a lesson."

There was a soft pneumatic hiss from overhead, and a muted roar of jet engines.

"I thought he wasn't taking the ship." Callan said.

"He isn't." Princess said with a smile.

Overhead, Mark's jet eased out of its docking bay on the Phoenix, hovering for a beat while the wings unfolded into their flight positions, then he lifted away from the Phoenix, dropping out of transmute as he grabbed altitude.

"Did that just change from a jet to a single prop aircraft?" Little John asked.

"Yep." Keyop said.

"You're not going to explain that either, are you?"

"Nope." Jason said.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Jesse asked.

"Wait for him to come back, and let us know what he's found." Tiny shrugged.

Mark relaxed as soon as he was in the air, this was what he lived, for, the only thing that made him truly happy, soaring through the clouds. He saw something off in the distance, and banked around to check it out. It was the colony ship, and he could see huddled figures scuttling around. Even from this distance, he could see that they were hunched and cringing in fear.

"Well, there you guys are, where's whatever has been attacking you?" He muttered. His plane jerked suddenly as weapons fire raked him from above. He banked round sharply, and scanned the sky around him for his attacker. He finally saw it, dropping down out of the glare from the sun, where it had been hiding.

"Fine, you want to play, let's play." He snarled. He brought his activator across in the familiar motion, passing it over the implant in his skull.

"Transmute." He said. As he changed, he felt a spike of pain bounce back from his implant, through his skull, and just for a moment, he lost control of his jet. That momentary loss saved his life, as he dropped, a concentrated burst of laser fire punched through the space where he had been.

He regained control of his plane, and took off after the ship, which he now recognized as a simple Spectra devil ship. This thing didn't have the range to have gotten out to Yaris, there had to be a base hidden on the planet somewhere.

He got a bead on the devil ship, and blew it out of the sky, and then he turned back for where he had left the others.

His head was aching badly from the spike of pain he had felt, and he didn't want to risk damaging the Phoenix by attempting to dock with her, so he landed on the hillside beside her. It wasn't one of his best landings, and he sat in the cockpit for a long moment, trying to pull him together.

"What happened?" Princess asked when he finally dropped to the ground and walked over to join them.

"Spectra is here, I was attacked by a devil ship. They must have a base set up here, I think they've been here longer than the colonists have."

"So what's the plan now? You can't intend to move the colonists off." Hanson said.

"No, I intend to move Spectra off, whatever they're planning here, it can't be good, and they can't be allowed to complete it. Tiny, you stay with the Phoenix, keep your ears on. The rest of us will split into two teams."

Hanson looked defensive, expecting him to split them off into Thunderbirds and G-Force, and take all the action for themselves, but after a long moments thought, he didn't.

"Princess, you and Keyop will stick with Jesse and Little John, you will protect the colonists from any further Spectra attacks. The rest of will use the colony location as a jumping off point, and locate and destroy the base. Let's move out, we have quite a hike ahead of us." Mark said.

Mark sat away from the others under a tall, alien tree, his arms wrapped around his knees. They had spent the last two days looking for the Spectra base, and come up empty, and not only that, but he was really starting to feel very sick. While he could keep his mind focused on something else, he could ignore the symptoms, and get on with it, but when he had nothing to do, like now, he felt exhausted, nauseous, dizzy, and moving made him ache all over. He knew his team were getting worried about him, especially Jason but they wouldn't say anything if he didn't, but the Thunderbird people were starting to look like they thought something was wrong. At least they had stopped fighting him now.

"Commander, there's a ship coming in, Jason say's its Spectra." Callan called, hurrying over.

"Thanks. Tell them to try to drive it off, but not destroy it, we can use it to find their base." He said.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you going to be doing?"

"Getting aboard it. The easiest way for them to track the ship then, will be to track me."

"I hope you don't mind me saying this, but are you sure you're up to that? You seem to be kind of... sick."

"Captain James, you do your job, and I will do mine. Can we get ready for this battle now please."

"Whatever you say." She said, shrugging and walking away again. When she was gone, Mark pulled himself to his feet, moaning a little as he felt his muscles protest. He hoped he really was up to the task he had set himself.

Callan went back to the others, and Jason looked at her.

"Where's Mark?" He asked.

"He said that we were to try to drive the ship off, but not destroy it. He's going to try to get aboard so that you can track him to find its base."

"Oh no." Princess said, her hand going to her mouth.

"I knew it. He's sick, isn't he?" Hanson demanded.

"We don't know, maybe. He'll do what he needs to do." Jason said defensively, worry for his lover making him even shorter tempered than normal.

"That does it, I'm taking command."

"No. While Mark is conscious, he is in command. While he can still do his job, he will."

"And if he's worse than you think, and he is so sick he gets captured aboard that thing?"

"Then we can still track him, and he will have done what he wanted to do."

"He's risking his life."

"Don't you get it yet? He will risk his own life, sacrifice it if need be, before he will willingly risk anyone else. Anyway, if he's captured, he won't be killed, Zoltar will want to question him first."

"Bleep dweep bloop, ship brrup in range." Keyop chirruped.

"Let's get down to business." Jason said firmly.

Mark watched the teams driving the ship off from a vantage point atop a hill, waiting patiently for it to come in range. It finally did, and he launched himself, soaring through the air to land on the ship. He scrabbled for purchase for a moment, then found his footing, and slipped inside through an air vent.

Inside, he hid from the running Spectra men, keeping himself out of sight as he heard the order to retreat called out over the radio system. He made sure his tracker was active, then settled back to make himself as comfortable as possible until they got where they were going.

He felt the ship land, and heard all the men start to get off, but found he no longer had the energy to follow them, he was too tired, too weak.

It didn't matter, he thought, gray starting to fog the edges of his vision, the others would find and destroy the base, his mission would be accomplished, and if he lost his own life to stop Zoltar, well, that was his job.

As he lost consciousness, he was vaguely aware of being pulled out of his hiding place, then nothing.

Jason and the others were on the Phoenix now, following the trace from Mark's tracker.

"Jason, the trace has stopped moving, we must have the location of the base."

"Take us in." Jason ordered.

"What do we do when we get there?" Hanson asked, finally without any hostility or resentment.

"Two teams, we stick the way Mark split us, Princess and her team set the explosives and take care of the base. My team goes looking for Mark."

"Won't he find us?" Dylan asked.

"I don't think so, his tracker is active, but he's not communicating. There are only two real possibilities here, he's been caught, or he's unconscious. Either way, it's up to us to get him back."

"All right." Hanson said.

They located the base, and found an airshaft leading down to it from the surface.

"Well, we go down then." Jason said.

"What about them? They can't jump down there." Princess said.

"We'll secure a rope, and they can climb down. Don't come down until we tug on the rope to let you know it's clear." Jason said, securing the rope. Then he, Princess and Keyop dropped straight down the shaft.

The Thunderbirds climbed down more slowly after them, finally coming out into a huge, echoing hanger with half a dozen devil ships in it.

"Nice set up." Hanson said dryly, looking around.

"Let's split, Princess, put enough time on the charges to let us find Mark and get him out of here. Jason said.

"Big ten." She said, leading Keyop, Jesse and Little John away. Jason checked his mini tracker, and led Hanson, Callan and Dylan off in the direction Marks signal was coming from.

They found him fairly quickly, strung up by his wrists in the middle of a large, open space, Zoltar standing in front of him.

"Finally I have the leader of G-Force in my hands, finally all the secrets of Earth security will be mine."

Mark looked up, his eyes blazing defiantly.

"You can do whatever you want to me Zoltar, I'll tell you nothing, and you haven't won here, you'll never win Zoltar. You can kill me here, but my team will beat you with their hands tied behind their backs."

"Such insolence, but we will see how brave you are when you are all alone in a cell on Spectra, without any hope of rescue from your friends."

"You'll never get me to Spectra Zoltar."

"Your friends cannot save you now boy."

"I have complete and utter faith in my friends Zoltar, they have never let me down, and I don't believe they ever will." Mark said, taking his weight on his feet to give the ropes around his wrists some slack, as he sensed the presence of his mate.

Hanson looked at Jason with a puzzled look.

"He knows we're here." Jason whispered, preparing a feather for throwing.

"How? And what are you going to do with that?" Hanson asked, looking at the feather.

"He always knows when we're close by, and he always knows when he's being watched, he's funny like that. As to the feather, I'm going to cut him lose." Jason said, throwing it. It sliced through the ropes binding his wrists, and Mark instantly made a leap at Zoltar. His reactions were a shade slow, and Zoltar was already running. Mark fell to the floor, and didn't get up again.

"Damn, I'm gong after Zoltar, can you get Mark out of here?"

"OK, but what about the charges the others are setting?"

"I'll meet you up top." Jason said, vanishing.

Hanson, Callan and Dylan hurried down to where Mark lay. He seemed to be conscious, but he didn't seem to be aware of anything going on around him anymore.

"Commander, are you with us?" Hanson asked, touching the back of his hand to the side of Mark's face.

"Oh God, he's burning up. You two make sure the way is clear, we have to get him out of here." Hanson said. He picked Mark up, shocked by how light that slender frame was.

They met Princess and the others by the shaft.

"Oh no, Mark. What happened to him, and where's Jason?" She asked.

"Jason has gone after Zoltar, he said he'd meet us up top. Mark has a very high fever."

Princess raised her wrist radio.

"Jason, this is Princess, the charges are set to go off in less than five minutes, and we need help to get Mark out of here. He's unconscious."

"Zoltar just bugged out anyway, I'm already on my way back to the shaft." Jason said, and then they heard the sound of his footsteps.

"Give him to me." He said bluntly, taking Mark from Hanson. He cradled the slender form of his love close, feeling the awful heat radiating from his slight body.

"When we get to the top, we're going to tie the rope onto the Phoenix. You guys hang onto it, and we'll pull you out."

"We're just as capable of climbing as you are." Hanson said.

"We're not going to climb." Jason said, jumping up the shaft with Mark, using the rope to boost himself every thirty feet or so, he could hear the rush of air through their wings as the others came up after him.

"Tiny, get the Phoenix down here, now, lower the rescue platform, and prepare to lift, steady and easy when I give the word, I'm going to tie off this rope, and you're going to lift the Thunderbird team out of there."

"Big ten." Tiny said.

The Phoenix came down, the platform already lowered, and Jason lifted Mark onto it before tying off the rope.

"All right, let's all get out of here."

Moments later, the Phoenix was back on the ground, and they were all inside when the Spectra base blew to kingdom come.

Jason and Hanson were in the sickbay with Mark, and the others were on the bridge.

"He has a fever of at least one hundred when I picked him up down there." Hanson said.

"First thing we need to do is get him out of the bodysuit." Jason said.

"How, it looks completely sealed."

"It is, it's a layer of light body armor, not impenetrable, just enough for protection."

"So how do we get it off?"

Jason smiled, and took off Mark's wrist activator. He fell out of transmute automatically when it lost contact with him, and a moment later he lay there in his T-Shirt and jeans, he woke up too, his eyes drifting open.

"Jason?"

"I'm here Mark, we're going to have to get you out of your clothes, you have a very high fever. Do you understand?" He asked, gently squeezing the fevered man's hand.

"Yes."

"Good." Jason said, and between himself and Hanson, they stripped Mark down to his underwear. Even this minimal level of handling seemed to exhaust Mark further, and they thought he was unconscious again, but when Jason turned to hook up the monitors, Mark grabbed his wrist.

"Jason, put me... in... cryostasis unit."

"What? Why?"

"Too weak, time warp will kill me."

"All right. Captain, will you open the lid on that chamber over there."

Hanson did so, and Jason lifted his friend over into it.

"Sleep well." He said, making Mark smile faintly, then he closed the lid and activated it. The chamber lit up with an eerie blue glow, and the inside frosted over, so that only a vague shape could be seen.

"Come on, let's get back to the bridge, and get back to Earth." Jason said.

"Shouldn't someone stay here with him?"

"No, an alarm will sound up there if there's a problem with the chamber. He'll be all right here."

They went up and Jason sat in Mark's chair, activating communications.

"Phoenix to Center Neptune, come in Center Neptune."

"Phoenix, this is Chief Anderson. What is your status?"

"Spectra base on Yaris shut down, colonists safe. We're on our way back."

"Where's Mark?"

"The Commander is in the sickbay."

"How bad is he? Jason, you must put him is the cryogenic suspension unit."

"We already did that."

"Was he conscious when you put him in?"

"What?"

"It's important Jason, was he conscious?"

"Yes, he told us to put him in."

"Good, get him back here fast Jason. And well done to all of you, you did a good job out there."

The communication cut, and Jason leaned back in the chair.

"Take her up Tiny, everyone strap in." He said his voice tight.

"What's wrong Jason?" Callan asked.

"He knew, he knew Mark was sick, and he knows what's wrong with him, he was expecting it."

"Let's just get him home." Princess said.

When they arrived back at Center Neptune, a full medical team was waiting, and they swept aboard, taking Mark down to medical in less than a minute. Jason saw Chief Anderson and strode over.

"You knew he was sick, you could have done something, warned us. We could have got him in stasis so much earlier."

"Jason, you were on radio silence, there was nothing I could do but wait, and hope that you could get him through it."

Jason shook his head and walked away, going to find a quiet place to calm himself down a little.

The rest of them had to go with Anderson and Simpson for a debriefing.

"What about Jason?" Princess asked.

"We can do his debriefing when he's settled down a little." Anderson said.

It was almost an hour before the debrief was over, and they were free to go down to medical. Both teams went, along with Anderson. They found Jason leaning against the observation glass of the isolation room, staring in. Mark lay on the bed inside, apparently naked apart from a sheet covering the lower half of his body. Wires connected him to various monitors and there were a couple of IV lines running to his arm. He was pale and still, and an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose misted faintly as he exhaled, shallow but regular breathing.

"How long have you been here?" Anderson asked Jason.

"A while." Jason said, not looking away from his lover.

"Have you seen Chronos?"

"He was here for a few minutes, a while ago, but they wouldn't let him near Mark, so he went off somewhere."

"Have the medics said anything about Mark yet?"

"No. There was frantic activity in there before, but they left him alone about ten minutes ago, I think they have him stable."

"Jason is correct, we have the commander stabilized, for the moment."

"Did you get to him in time?"

"To be honest, it's too soon to know, he's unconscious, but not in a coma. We should know either way in about two days."

"How so?"

"Well, either he'll wake up, or we'll lose him."

"Why wouldn't you let Chronos in to see him?"

"Because, one critically ill Rigan is quite enough for one small medical section. There's no guarantee that just because Chronos had Daktar fever as a child, he can't be infected now by Mark. I will not take the risk."

"Do you know where Chronos went Jason?" Anderson asked.

"He didn't say."

Anderson went looking for his old friend, leaving the nine young people standing by the observation window.

"He's the gymnast I saw on that first day." Callan said.

"Yes." Princess said.

"But if he was the Commander, why didn't he say anything when Gram said he wasn't there?" Jesse drawled.

"Because none of you were supposed to know what we looked like. If he hadn't gotten sick, and had to be taken out of uniform, you would never have connected him to that gymnast." Jason said.

Anderson found Chronos in one of the recreation rooms, looking out into the ocean depths.

"I'm sorry they won't let you in with Mark." He said.

"That's all right, I do understand their reasons. I have to go back to Riga though, I had a communication from Davos, things are heating up again there."

He turned away from the view to look at his old friend.

"You should tell him how you feel you know."

"What?"

"Tell Mark that you feel like he's your son."

"He wouldn't like that, even when he was four years old, he was perfectly clear on one thing, I am not his father, you are. He deeply resents any indications otherwise."

"Catch him with his guard down my friend, you might find that he's not as negative as you might think."

Anderson was alone with Mark when he started to regain consciousness.

"Hello son." He said quietly.

"Dad." Mark murmured, turning over. He realized what he had said, and his eyes flashed open, guilt and shock clear in them.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that." Anderson said.

"He told you to, didn't he?"

"You knew he was here?"

"Yes, but he's gone now."

"He had to go back to Riga. There was a communication from Davos."

"Why did he tell you to say that?"

"Because I'd already done it once. When the doctor came to tell me you were ill, he was reluctant to talk in front of Simpson. I lost my temper with him, and called you my son in the heat of the moment, Chronos heard me. I'm sorry Mark, I know how much you hate anyone trying to muscle in on his place in your life."

"He obviously didn't mind, or he wouldn't have told you to say it directly to me. If he's OK with it, I don't see why I should get uptight about it. Anyway, my subconscious was clearly already there." He said with a faint, tired smile.

"You're still very ill, you should rest." Anderson said.

"Not yet. What happened to me?"

"When you visited Riga, you contracted Daktar fever. You collapsed on Yaris, a few days ago. If you hadn't had the presence of mind to tell Jason to put you into cryostasis, we would have lost you."

"The others? Jason and my team and the Thunderbirds?"

"Everyone made it back OK, they're all kind of worried about you though."

"When can I get out of here?"

"Oh, not for a while yet. The doctor says you're going to be in bed for a few days yet, and he won't clear you for duty for at least a week after he lets you up."

"What? I'll be bored out of my mind by then."

"No you won't. I'm going to send you and your team on a long overdue vacation."

"Oh, that will be nice." Mark said, his eyes starting to flutter shut.

"Where's Jason, I want Jason." He whispered, fighting the pull of the darkness.

"I'll get him for you. Rest now Mark." Anderson said, gently smoothing his hair.

"How's he really doing?" Anderson asked the doctor when he came in to check the monitors.

"He's doing better. His readings are improving across the board, I expect him to make a full recovery. However, you didn't lie to him, it will be a few days before he's able to get out of bed, although, now it will just be like a very bad case of flu, he's no longer in any danger."

"Good, thank you. Jason will be coming down to sit with him for a while."

"Very well, that will probably do them both good, he has been getting stressed by not being allowed in to see his lover."

Jason came immediately when he was called, and Mark cracked his eyes open and smiled faintly when the other man grasped his hand tightly as he sat in the chair beside the bed.

"I'm here love, go to sleep now." He said, stroking the back of Mark's wrist as he obeyed.

The Thunderbird team was there when Mark next woke up.

"Hello." He said blankly.

"Hi. We've finally finished all the debriefings and we're heading home. We just wanted to say good bye to you before we left." Hanson said.

"Yeah, we're glad you're going to be OK. Working with you guys wasn't as bad as we feared." Jesse said.

"Thanks, I think." Mark said with a half smile.

"I hope we get to work with you again some time." Callan said.

"Look, we have to go, our transport is leaving in a few minutes, and the doctor said we weren't to let you talk too long. Hang loose kid, we'll see you around." Little John said.

The five headed for the door, Dylan at the back.

"Hey Dylan." Mark called quietly. Dylan turned back.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. I get the feeling it was you who reigned in their hostility."

"I just pointed out you were a good guy, doing a job that was tough enough already."

"Yeah, and in the ready room that first day, you didn't drop me in it."

"I figured if you wanted them to know what you looked like out of uniform, you would have said something. Take it easy Mark."

"Yeah, you too Dylan. You and I will have to go head to head again some time. You came to close to beating me last time, I can't let that stand."

"Yeah, when you're better. See you around Mark."

Callan was waiting for him in the hall, the others had gone on ahead.

"You never mentioned that you knew him that well." She said.

"He was keeping to himself for a reason Callan, and not just because we were all being so hard on him. Anyway, the only time he is ever truly at ease is when he's on his own, in the air. Makes him a damn good pilot."

"But a lousy friend?"

"Not judging by the loyalty of his team Callan. Once you have his friendship, it's a very strong bond."

"Were you a friend?"

"No, I was a rare thing, an upperclassman willing to fly against him. They were all scared of being beaten by someone so much younger, I found it a challenge. I wouldn't be half as good a pilot if it weren't for him. Flying against him pushed me to my limits. Come on Callan, let's catch up with the others."

The End