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him, but he was already disappearing into the undergrowth. 
                  He would have to be so independent.  She shook at his stubbornness.  She was in charge here, damn it.  And she couldn’t face losing him again.
                  It wouldn’t do any good to stand around worrying about him.  She had to call for backup and prepare for their escape.  As she turned to head inside the ship, a dark whirl from behind caught her side vision.  She let out a cry of alarm just before something crashed on her head and her world went black. 
     
     

Chapter Five
     
                  Tabitha woke slowly.  She turned her head and groaned at the pain the slight movement brought.  She remembered then.  Something had hit her.  She could swear it’d been her boss, Elliot Cartridge, in the split second before she’d lost consciousness.  Then she remembered that Laurent had gone after Spot.  Were they all right?
                  She opened her eyes and saw the ceiling of her sleeping compartment.  For an instant, she tried to make herself believe it’d all been a dream, a bad dream.  But her head hurt too much to really believe it.  Besides, Jerald 4 would have been there with her cactus juice if she’d only been dreaming.  He’d been tuned to her body rhythm, and subsequently would present instantly when she roused from slumber. 
                  Sluggishly, she sat up in bed and looked down at her clothes.  She still wore her torn, dusty mine clothes.  None of it had been a dream.  Her frightened gaze darted around the craft’s interior, finding it empty.  Where was everyone? What had happened to her?  She touched a hand to her throbbing temple and came away with blood.  She’d been injured.  She slid off her bunk and forced herself to walk to the image enhancer.  In it, she saw that her forehead was cut and bruised.  She was so shocked, she could hardly take it in.
                  She didn’t have the time, she reminded herself.  She had to save Laurent and Spot.  Her attacker had probably disabled her and her craft, to go after Fox unhindered.  She spun and headed toward the flight deck.  A low repetitive thud came from somewhere on the left side of the craft.  A chair was propped in front of the ablution room door.  She pushed it aside and opened the door.  Jerald 4 stood inside, screwdriver in one mechanical hand, pry bar in the other.
                  “Lieutenant King, you’re all right.  I am pleased.  It would have taken me longer to dismantle the ablution portal access.”
                  “What happened?”
                  “As I was preparing for pre-flight takeoff, some ruffian thrust me in here.”
                  Tabitha had already surmised as much.  A third poacher had to be in the area.  The jungle was rife with the marauding thieves.  “Put out a distress signal.  I’m going out to recover Laurent and Spot.”
                  “Yes, Lieutenant.”
                  Tabitha cautiously walked out the airlock, on the look-out for poachers.  She saw not a soul in the ring of pristine jungle greenery.  Heading back toward the mine, she detected a sound.  Stopping, she heard a twig snapping up ahead, then another and another as something unhurried crashing through the underbrush, coming straight for her.  A moment later, Laurent followed the two poachers handcuffed together.  Elliot Cartridge, her boss, was also in custody. 
                  “What happened?” she demanded.
                  “Just as Spot and I were marching the poachers out of the mine, Cartridge showed up.”  Fox turned to look at Tabitha, his jaw tight when he saw the blood on her head.  “What happened to you?”
                  “Him,” she said, scowling at her soon-to-be-ex-boss.