The Adventures of Mira Nova, Royal Princess of Tangea,

as She Battles the Strange Creatures of Karn;

Ozma Furbana, The Mistress of Karn; and

Worf DarkMatter, The Traitor

By Skytower

Part I

The science lab of Star Command always reminded Mira of the shopping mecca called Trade World. Nothing was bought or sold in the science bay of course, but the LGM's who ran the science bay were always rushing about with one bit of gadgetry or another. They would rush from one computer to the next, talking in the nasal tone that often stretched words into twice their length. Mira was fond of the Little Green Men and she often marveled at their scientific prowess. Though the entire species looked exactly alike, barely half a meter tall, three eyes and a single antenna growing out of the center of their heads Mira had learned to tell them apart. Mira had even managed to form a few individual friendships. At first Mira had done so out of sheer boredom. No one else was allowed into the "tank room" as the space rangers called it while she was in there, a provision her father had insisted on. No one but the LGMs and Mira's future husband (who ever that might be) would ever see his little girl naked. It was a silly rule, but no one Mira had ever argued with. Even if, as she pointed out to him once, the green regeneration jell was thick enough to be translucent. But her father had been stubborn and Mira had given in. She had also made it a point never to tell him that she and Buzz had seen each other naked, and in fact Buzz had seen her naked twice.

But forget about naked, Mira thought gazing at the human figure in the tank. He might never see me again at all.

The tank room was fifty meters long and twenty meters high. It was located in the center of the gleaming space city that was Star Command. Only one of the tanks was in operation. The LGMs scurried about it like bees in a hive. Mira shivered, despite the fact that she was wearing a space suit. The gleaming metal was no defense against the guilt she felt. She couldn't keep her eyes from the tank. In it, just visible through the glowing green gel was Buzz Lightyear.

Mira didn't look up as the step-clank sound of Commander Nebula's artificial leg sounded against the metal floor. The commander was taller than she was, with a large mustache and a tendency to shout.

"How is he." The Commander asked, his normaly gruff voice showing only a hint of his emotions.

"Nothing to report yet." Mira said.

"It wasn't your fault ranger." He said putting his hand on her shoulder.

Wasn't it Mira Wondered?

Crystallic Fusion crystals were incredible sources of power. Safe, renewable and used all over the galaxy to power everything from space ships to cities. The only way something could ever go wrong was incompetence or sabotage. In the case of the disaster on Capitol planet it had been sabotage. One of the Evil Emperor Zurg's operatives had set the reactor to overload and set a bomb that destroy the shielding on the generator and release enough radiation to kill every high level diplomat and delegate in Capitol City. Buzz and Mira had caught him trying to flee but the damage was done. The only way to avert the radiation release was to shut down the reactor core. To do that a person would have to go into the core and physically remove or shatter the crystals. Mira had wanted to go. Her Tangean ghosting ability to move through solid matter and energy would have let her survive the radiation, but Buzz knew that when a Tangean phased through high level energy it had an addictive effect. Mira had been addicted to energy once before, nearly dying as a result, and he wasn't about to risk that again. That Buzz's own life would be forfeit probably didn't even occur to him. Or if it didn't he didn't let it slow him down. He ordered Mira to stay where she was and she had.

Why didn't I disobey, Mira asked herself as she had been asking herself for over a day now. Mira had disobeyed Buzz before when she thought it the right thing to do. But this time she hadn't moved to help Buzz until the power core was shut down. Until the energy that beckoned her like a suitor was no more. As she carried Buzz back to the medical shuttle Mira realized how scared she had been and how gratefully she had obeyed that order. Mira hadn't begun to feel guilty about that fear until she saw the LGM's faces as they examined Buzz. With haste bordering on panic they had stripped Buzz of his suit and plunged him into the tank. That had been yesterday and they were still working, constantly adjusting the flow of chemicals and anti-radiation treatments.

A trio of the LGMs walked over to them and Mira managed to control herself enough not to shout her questions at them.

"Not good." The lead one said.

"Much damage." The one on the left said.

"May never recover." The third one completed.

Mira's stomach suddenly felt hollow and her heart pounded in her ears. Swallowing she tried to speak, then stopped and swallowed and tried again.

"It's just radiation poisoning." She insisted. "You've cured that before."

"Not just radiation." The lead LGM said.

"Radioactive virus." The second one said.

"Very bad." The third one said.

"What the blazes are you talking about?" Commander Nebula shouted.

"Maren cellaular fever." The lead LGM said.

"Radiation triggered the virus." The second one said.

"Too weak to fight it." The third one finished.

"Maren cellaular fever? That was eradicated decades ago." Mira insisted.

"Yea, but Buzz picked it up on one of the outer worlds in his rookie year." Commander Nebular said. "He survived but the virus musta stuck with him."

"There has to be a cure."

"There was." The lead LGM said.

"Made from the sap of the mipra tree." the second one said.

"From Karn." The third one said.

"Then we'll go to Karn and get some." Mira said.

"Can't." the first LGM said.

"Tree is extinct." The second LGM said.

"We think." The third one said.

"Well lets find out." Mira said walking over to the communication screen. She activated it and keyed in a number. After a few moments the screen came to life showing an image of the planet Karn, a dark green and blue image and they heard a message.

"This is the planet Karn, a galactic nature reserve." Said a chirpy friendly voice. "If you wish to see scenes of the planetary wildlife please press 11111, if you wish to see scenes of a specific animal, please press 2222, if you wish...." The voice continued for nearly twenty minutes and by the time it ended Mira was fingering the control for her wrist laser. Seldom in her life had she felt so frustrated. Finally it got to the point she wanted. "If you wish to speak to planetary director Dr. Ozma Furbana please enter 15155663."

Sighing with relief Mira entered in the number.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Furbana is busy right now, please press 99999999999998888888992 to leave a message and she will get back to you."

Growling with frustration Mira entered in the number.

"Please leave your message at the beep." The voice said.

"After Buzz is ok I'm going to hunt you down." Mira whispered to the voice. The beep sounded.

"Dr. Furbana this is Mira Nova, Buzz Lightyear has Maren cellular fever and we need some sap from the mipri tree to cure him. I'm heading toward Karn now, can you see if you find any? Thanks, Mira out."

Mira cut the connection and looked at Commander Nebular, suddenly realizing that she'd overstepped her authority.

"Go ahead Ranger." He said nodding. "We'll keep him alive till you get back."

It was strange to be in StarCruiser 42 alone. Mira sat in Buzz's pilot chair and wished that Booster or Xr was with her. But the Joacian was in the midst of Bunzel berry fever and the robotic ranger was in a thousand pieces in the science bay, fighting his own computer virus courtesy of Zurg. The curved windshield in front of her showed only Mira. For a moment the Tangean gazed at herself. Mira was not tall, but she was a little on the slim side. Her pointed back-swept ears, a hereditary mark of royalty, poked through her scarlet and orange hair. Her face with its large blue eyes, a shade darker than her skin had been considered beautiful on her home planet. Mira was sure it was still considered beautiful in Star Command. Not that Buzz, Booster, Xr or anyone else would ever tell her that to her face. Xr was a robot, Booster considered humanoid women funny looking (though he would never say that) and Buzz...

Well Buzz was different, Mira thought setting 42 into launch mode and heading away from Star Command. Mira had seen him charm female diplomats from nearly every corner of the galaxy, nearly seduce female criminals and go head to head with Valkyrians in drinking contests. But she had never seen him so much as hint about the possibility of a romantic relationship with anyone. Even Dr. Furbana, though at first she did seem to interest him.

The communicator beeping roused Mira out of her thoughts and she hit the com button. The screen lit up showing Commander Nebula and Dr. Furbana.

"Doctor Furbana I'll be at Karn in two hours." Mira said.

"Don't bother Ranger." The auburn haired woman said. Her voice was cold and her face a mask of administration.

"There's no tree?"

"The only place there might be a chance of a mibri tree surviving is in one of the forbidden zones." Dr. Furbana said.

"I don't care about the danger." Mira insisted. "Buzz will die without the sap from that tree."

"Not forbidden because of danger Ranger Nova, forbidden because of regulations. The eco-system in some area's of Karn are too delicate for anyone to visit them for any reason."

"Ok, we are talking Karn here right? This is the planet that has plants that eat star ship reactor cores. You have bugs on that planet that can take an ion blast without even noticing."

Ranger Nova do you know why the mipra tree is almost extinct? It was over harvested for the sap. I'm sorry but as the head of the Karn preservation society I can't let you..."

"Buzz will die without that sap!" Mira shouted. "You remember Buzz don't you? He's the one who saved your life three times and Karn twice?"

"And he would understand why I'm doing this." Dr. Furbana said. "One life isn't worth a species."

"We don't need the whole blasted tree!" Commander Nebula shouted. "The LGMs just need a milliliter of the stuff."

"That tree exist in a very dangerous section of Karn." Dr. Furbana said. "If it's weakened for any amount of time the other species will attack it. I'm sorry but my decision stands. Under the authority of the Galactic Alliance Environmental Preservation Act I am hereby ordering all space rangers to stay away from Karn."

"Lightyear doesn't stand a chance without that stuff." Nebula yelled.

"I know." Dr. Furbana said and Mira could see a glimmer of pain in her brown eyes. It was pain under control, but pain. "But if I give it too you a whole race of trees could die. My decision is final."

Dr. Furbana's part of the screen went black and Mira sat there in shock.

"Bring 42 home Ranger." Commander Nebular said.

"But commander..."

"Bring it home, that's an order. If you take star cruiser 42 anywhere near Karn you'll be a wanted fugitive. Besides you'll never get past the defenses. Bring it home and we'll find some other way to save Lightyear. Meanwhile I'll talk to the president."

Mira's body sagged into her seat.

"Yes sir."

The screen went dark and Mira sat up again. She knew that the commander wasn't fooled by her acquiescence. But Mira also knew that without clearance she'd never get 42 past Karn's orbital defensive ring. Team Lightyear had designed and put that ring into place and then spent two months trying to crack it without success.

But that had been with star cruiser 42. Mira set the auto controls to take the ship back to Star Command at low speed. Then she launched herself in the shuttle. As long as 42 headed back to Star Command the commander wouldn't bother her. Turning on the communications system on the shuttle Mira dialed up the Tangean Royal palace. Maybe Space Ranger Mira Nova couldn't go to Karn, but her Royal Highness Princess Mira Nova could go anywhere in the galaxy she wanted too.

Twelve hours later Mira eased her father's yacht behind the outer gas giant of Karn's sun and eased out of the docking bay. Unlike the sleek gleaming cylinder of 42 her fathers yacht was a collection of stylishly painted spheres linked to a central cylinder. It was smaller than 42 as well which made it perfect for sneaking around in. Her suit was different too. Instead of the normal space ranger armor she was wearing a Valkyrian combat suit. Mira had picked the suit up on Trade World a few months back, heeding Buzz's advice. At first Mira thought Buzz was playing some sort of joke on her. Her space ranger suit was a sleek almost formless barrier of terrylium carbonic alloy. Tough and dependable and spotlessly white. The Valkyrian suit was gold and scarlet with twin wrist blasters and boot jets instead of a jetpack. Where her ranger suit tended to dull the outlines of Mira's body the Valkyrian suit fit her like sprayed on cloth. Black paint outlined a pair of shorts while silver paint simulated chainmail on her breasts. The thing looked silly, but Buzz had wanted her to have it in case they ever needed it. He often did things like that; collecting odd weapons or bits and pieces from one place or another. It irritated Mira, but she was grateful for it now. There was nothing to connect her legally to star command if something went wrong.

Mira had never told Buzz, because (as she told herself proudly) there was no such thing as a Tangean criminal, but there was a hole in Karn's defenses. The armored satellites that lined he solar system were powerful and the sensors sensitive, but they couldn't detect a Tangean while she phased through space. Mira eased through each satellite, shutting it down and making a whole in the defense grid. It was just big enough for her father's yacht and when Mira reached the planet she guided it in by remote control. Once she was back in it Mira eased the ship into a very soft orbit and landed nearly a kilometer from Dr. Furbana's complex.

Hoping her father's ship wouldn't be eaten Mira sprayed an organic repellent onto it. The air was humid and heavy with the scent of the million and one species that inhabited the planet. The Valkyrian suit felt stiff and awkward in the heavy gravity. Mira forced herself to get used to it and having to avoid most of the natives helped. The native species on Karn tended to eat space suits and the people inside them. Actually they tended to eat just about anything living or dead, moving or still. That fact made Mira's journey to Dr. Furbana's research station an exercise in survival. No less than ten species of bugs, five species of plants and three creatures Mira wasn't even sure were organic tried to eat her on the way. By the time she reached the sphere that was the research station Mira was truly fond of the Valkyrian armor. It may have looked silly to her, but it was tough.

Mira stood for a few minutes and cautiously scanned the sphere. Whatever else Dr. Furbana was, she was careful. Her bunker reflected that caution. It was a solid sphere that rested on four pylons. All manor of snakes, bugs and hybrids of the two species moved about the pylons constantly searching for a weak spot. Marveling that anyone would live on Karn voluntarily Mira ghosted her way through the hull.

The spherical room was Spartan to the extreme. It held a lab table, a desk and computer system and a thin cot. A doorway led to a small bathroom. Dr. Furbana lay on the cot asleep. Mira crept over to the sleeping woman and looked at her for a few moments. Ozma Furbana was slightly shorter than Mira's own 1.6 meter height. Her hair was brown and cut short. She was pretty, or at least Mira knew that Buzz thought of her as pretty. By Tangean standards the woman was pale and sickly looking. Dr. Furbana slept without a blanket wearing only a knee-length brown tunic. Her small taunt breasts rose up and down pressing against the fabric as she breathed. Stealing herself Mira ghosted her hand and slowly pushed it into Ozma's skull. Quickly thoughts and emotions flowed into her mind. Mira tensed, still new to this part of her talent. She could read minds this way, but it could be a clumsy process. For an instant she saw Ozma's dreams and blushed as the dream was one of Buzz without his space suit, or anything else. In it in Buzz and Ozma made love in a primeval Forrest and he agreed with everything she was saying. Moving past the dream as quickly as possible Mira tried to find what she needed. She hopped Dr. Furbana would stay asleep long enough for her to find out where the mipra tree was. Dr. Furbana's brown eyes flying open and filling with anger dashed Mira's hope.

"You Tangean slut!" Ozma hissed launching herself from the cot she tackled the space ranger. "I'll have you thrown out of star command for this!"

"I'm on leave you eco-nut!" Mira shouted back bringing her knee up and slamming it into Ozma's stomach.

Ignoring the pain Ozma grabbed Mira's head and slammed it into the wall. Mira responded by grabbing the Dr.'s hand and twisting it around, bringing Ozma to the floor. Ozma grabbed Mira's legs and pulled her to the floor as well. For a few moments they wrestled, neither able to get a firm hold. Then they struggled to their feet still locked in a tangle of arms and legs.

"You have no right to be here!" Ozma shouted punching Mira across the jaw.

"Buzz needs that serum!" Mira shouted back punching Ozma in the nose.

Suddenly shifting her attack Ozma bent low and came up hard grabbing Mira around the waist and slamming her into the wall.

"I won't let an entire species die!" Ozma shouted head butting Mira. The head butt was followed by two more jaw strikes and Mira staggered dazed. A part of her was surprised at how well Dr. Furbana could fight. The Dr. wasn't going for the armored parts of Mira's body. Following up quickly Ozma hit Mira on the back of the head with something hard. Mira went down to her knees her head ringing. Ozma brought her to the foor and twisted Mira's arms behind her.

"Get off!" Mira snarled struggling.

"Shut up!" Ozma snarled back. Pinning Mira's arms Ozma grabbed her hair and slammed Mira's head into the floor a few times. Then she reached around and covered Mira's mouth and nose with one hand.

Mira's head swam with pain and she could feel her lungs starting to ache for air. Desperately she triggered her boot jets and launched herself toward the wall. Dr. Furbana lost her grip and fell off. Mira killed the boot jets just in time to avoid smashing into the wall and turned just as Ozma charged into her. A right to the jaw dazed Mira even more and Dr. Furbana reached over to a cloth on the table and slammed it against Mira's mouth. A sweet smell filled Mira's head.

"Once you're out I'm going to call star command myself and have you thrown out!" Dr. Furbana snarled savagely.

Mira orange eyes glazed for a moment and then snapped clear again. She smiled under the cloth and then took a deep breath. Dr. Furbana was surprised and even more surprised when Mira reached up and grabbed both of the Dr.'s wrists. With no effort at all Mira pulled Ozma's wrist apart and threw her against the wall.

"I'm on leave." Mira snapped slamming her fist into Ozma's stomach. Mira continued punching as she spoke.

"I am" punch "Her Royal Highness" punch "Princess" punch "Mira" punch "Nova" punch "of the Royal" punch "House" punch "of" punch "Tangea!" punch.

Mira stepped back and Dr. Furbana collapsed onto the floor gasping for breath. Bending down Mira sat on top of the human pinning Ozma's arms under her body. Mira reached down and placed her fingers on the sensitive spots on Ozma's kneck. The Dr.'s eyes started to flutter as the flow of blood to her brain was squeezed.

"Now by royal command I order you to think about where that tree is and then sleep!"

Dr. Furbana struggled for a few seconds more and then with a deep moan fell asleep. Mira released the grip on the woman's neck and started to ghost once more. It was a trick she had learned from Buzz, the one thing a person least wanted to think about before going to sleep was the one thing they would think about. Mira hand glowed with power as it moved toward Dr. Furbana's head.

"Man I wish I had a vid-cam on this."

Mira's head whipped around at the same time she started to bring one of her wrist blasters up. The voice was calm, insolent and cold at the same time. Warf Darkmatter stood in the doorway, a smile on his dark skinned face. Even before Mira could say his name the renegade ranger fired the strange looking gun he was holding. Mira felt intense pressure, then nothing.

Mira woke up feeling tired and sore and strange. She stood and quickly realized where the strangeness came from. She stood nude on a tabletop. A glass had been put on top of her trapping her. With a gasp Mira realized that she was no more than 50 centimeters tall.

"Classic mistake rookie." Warf said bending down to look at her. Mira blushed yellow and covered herself with her hands. "When you sneak into a secured place make sure no ones sneaking in with you."

"You followed me?"

"All the way from Tangea Princess." Warf said saying the word "princess" in a way that never ceased to make Mira's blood boil. "I knew you wouldn't stay away."

"Why did you shrink me?"

"I got this gun from the Gargantuans." Worf said. "I've been wanting to try it out for days now. Don't try to ghost either, the glass is specially treated."

Dr. Furbana moaned. "Excuse me." Warf said turning away from Mira. Mira was furious with herself. Warf Darkmatter had been Buzz's partner. It was his "death", actually a betrayal, that had led to the formation of Team Lightyear and Mira joining it. Buzz had constantly warned her that Warf's favorite tactic was to follow and strike at the best moment. She should have known Zurg wouldn't leave Buzz's cure alone. The only thing she could hope for now was that Warf might find out what she needed to know. There would be time for escape later.

Warf was a human. A little under two meters tall, with dark skin and black hair. One arm was real, the other bionic and full of weapons. His spacesuit was a parody of the star command space suit. It was red and grey with a skull shaped into chest.

Mira realized she couldn't have been out for too long. Dr. Furbana was just starting to rise from where Mira had knocked her out. Though she was still full sized the Dr. was in no shape to fight Warf off as he attached manacles to her wrist and ankles. At touch to a control on his wrist energy snapped to live around the restraints and Dr. Furbana was lifted off of the floor. She hung like a giant X in the air and her eyes were full of fur

"Let me go you freak!" she shouted.

"No can do doc." Warf said. "I need the sap from that tree."

"You need it?" Mira asked. Warf ignored her and Mira realized he couldn't hear her.

"Why do you need it?" Ozma asked as he fitted a strange looking helmet onto her head. "You don't care about Buzz."

"Hey, I don't hate the guy, and I know Star Command loves him." Warf switched on the helmet and Ozma's faced contorted with pain as two green lights on it started to blink. "As a matter of fact I think they love him enough to pay a lot of uni-bucks for some of that sap. Not to mention, "he glanced at Mira" what King Nova will pay for his little princess."

Mira growled and stamped her foot.

"I'm not telling you anything." Ozma snarled.

"You don't have to." Warf said. "This little helmet is the latest in Zurg technology. It will sift through your mind like a data bank and find what I need."

"Not from me it won't." Ozma said closing her eyes. After a moment her face grew calm and the lights on the helmet changed from green to read.

"Melvian Mind Meditation techniques." Warf said. "I'm impressed Doc." He reached up and took hold of the neck of her tunic with his bionic arm. With a quick jerk he tore it off of her giving Mira her first look at a naked human female.

Eewwww, Mira thought. "They have hair down there? Look at those things on her chest. Mira shuddered.

Dr. Furbana's breasts were the same size as Mira's, but there were small nubs on them surrounded by a uni-coin sized circle of dark brown skin. Mira's own breasts were topped by a silver dot and 2 silver rings one for each of the Tangean years she had lived. Between her legs Dr. Furbana had a large patch of brown hair. Mira had a small patch of hairless textured skin full of small bumps. They were normaly light blue but changed to green, red and silver when the Tangean mating season arrived.

Ozma's face tensed for a moment but then went slack again.

"Melvian mind blocking doesn't work when your distracted doc." Warf said reaching into a box on the floor. "And thanks to a little horse trading with the Valkyrians I got something here that will really distract you." He pulled out two cup like objects and what looked to be a pair of metal shorts.

As Mira watched Warf put the cups onto Ozma's breasts. There was a slight hiss and the cups stayed there. Dr. Furbana stirred but her face remained calm, her eyes closed. Warf then took the metal shorts and opened them up. He fastened them over the lower half of her body and stepped back to get something out of the box. It was a small remote control.

"They have some real crazy ideas the Valkyrians do, but they know how to have fun. Those cups will knead your breast and pump some pretty heavy sex drugs into your body, while the shorts will take you both ways. I figure after a few hours or days you'll talk."

Lights on the shorts and the cups sprang to life and Dr. Furbana's eyes snapped open. Her body twisted as she sought to free herself.

Front and back, Mira wondered? That doesn't make sense. What kind of crazy things do humans do with their bodies?

Dr. Furbana let out an agonizing scream and then lay limp in the energy clamps. Then she began to moan and writhe. Warf smiled and then turned back to Mira.

"What is that thing doing to her?" Mira demanded.

"It's making her happy." Warf said.

"She's screaming."

"Tangeans." Warf said shaking his head. "What don't your people hit the big O?"

"What?"

"Sexual climax." Warf said leaning down to look at her. He smiled at the blank look on Mira's face. "You have no idea what she's going through do you?"

"She's not enjoying it." Mira said watching fascinated as Dr. Furbana struggled, sobbed and screamed.

"Yea but I am." Warf said. He picked up the cloth Dr. Furbana had used on Mira and sniffed it. "Ah, ether, just what I need."

Lifting the glass that held Mira he threw the cloth in and then held it down. The sweet smell soon filled the small container and Mira fell to her knees.

"The Gargantuan's little ray gun may have made you easier to transport." Warf said. "But I like quiet trip. Besides your too young to see what else I'll do to Dr. Furbana if she doesn't talk."

Mira fell into the cloth and lay still.

Ends part one.

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