Chapter 5: ...In Space!

                                    

                                          
Adora was in Darla's command chair, staring at the holographic controls in front of her. She wasn't really doing the flying, though; Entrapta had programmed Darla to track and chase after Adam's ship, so she didn't have much to do at this moment. Not that Adora wanted to be doing the piloting, though. She was having enough trouble concentrating on the telemetry Darla was showing her.
                          
What had happened to her in the fight with Adam...she couldn't explain it. She'd had times before where her powers grew, of course. Where she learned new things. But this...growing in size, her strength doubling...the only time she'd felt any change that drastic was the first time she'd ever transformed into She-Ra.
                          
That seemed like a lifetime ago. Really, it was a lifetime ago. So much had changed since then. The day she first picked up that sword, first said the oath - until that moment she was an AWOL Horde Force Captain, raised and sworn to "liberate" Etheria from the power-mad princesses. Then, in one instant, her entire world had been turned upside-down. She abandoned the only home, the only friends she'd ever known, and swore her life in service to stopping them. 
                          
So much fighting and so much pain followed. Her friendships were tested, her beliefs and self-worth were tried time and time again, and in the end she was sure she would die to protect everyone and everything she cared for. And yet despite it all, she had come through it all. Alive, well...and loved. For the first time in a long time, when it was all over, she'd finally felt like her life had come together. She and Catra had managed to get past their animosity, return to being best friends...and then much, much more. Together, with their friends, they had freed Etheria from its servitude to both the Horde and the First Ones. They had started their new lives together...
                          
And then Adam showed up and turned it all on its head.
                          
After the war had ended, she wanted nothing more than to settle back into the new life she and Catra were making for themselves. They were at peace. They were in love.
                          
Now, once again, they were at war.
                          
"Adora! You listening?"
                          
She blinked, and realized Entrapta was waving a hand in front of her face. "Huh? What?"
                          
"I said they're following an erratic course," Entrapta said.  "Scorpia must be giving them some real fun in there!" She cackled. "Oh I wish I could see it!"
                          
"Yeah," Adora said, absently. For a moment, or maybe longer than a moment, she'd forgotten that her friends were in peril. A peril of their own choosing, of course, but peril nonetheless.
                          
She could only hope they weren't getting in too far over their heads. This plan...she had to admit it was at least a little better than her own "use me as bait" suggestion, but it just didn't sit well with her.
                          
I should be the one on that ship , she thought. I should be the one distracting Adam.
                          
"No, this makes more sense," Glimmer had said. "Scorpia can go head-to-head with him, and she's immune to the ship's lightning attack. And me and Bow - we'll be wearing his prototype armor to protect us. I can get us all in there and Bow will understand better than anyone how that ship works. Except Entrapta, anyway."
                          
Adora had protested, but Glimmer's plan had both Juliet and Catra on its side. In the end, she'd had to accept Glimmer's authority, and go along with it.
                          
It had all gone as Glimmer said it would. Until Adora's powers did something they never had before.
                          
She shook her head. Get your head in the game, Adora, she thought. Your friends are counting on you.  
                          
As always.
                          
She expanded the tactical display on her holographic controls. She could see Adam's ship with a green dotted line trailing behind it, irregular curves along its length.  The guys must really be giving him hell in there, she thought. I hope they're all right.