When
last we left our cast of characters, Skeletor had escaped from
the Galactic Guardians' starship, using a shuttle pod to blast
through the laser gate into the future. As the action continues,
He-Man prompts the Guardians to follow Skeletor, as the laser
gate is quickly closing. Flipshot punches to light speed, but
as the ship roars through the laser gate, a power surge caused
by the gate's closure causes the ship to spiral out of control!
Looking back at his pursuers careening through space, the wounded
Skeletor cackles, as the starship spins out of sight to its apparent
doom...
Skeletor
stumbles into his shuttle pod's medical emergencies bay, and using
what appears to be a blow-torch (!?), augments his badly-burned
body with bionic replacements, emerging with a sinister new cybernetically-enhanced
look of evil. While this is going on, his shuttle pod (on a default
course setting) is approaching the planets of the Tri-Solar System,
where other evil is happening. During Hydron and Flipshot's absense
in the past, another evil attack on planet Primus has occurred,
resulting in the loss of the Trifusium Crystal, the element that
is used to regulate Primus' atmosphere. Without this jewel-like
mineral, Primus' air begins to thin, and it is only a matter of
time before the planet itself self-destructs! In an effort to
retrieve the crystal, a Galactic Guardian ally called Kayo, piloting
an Astrosub, has tracked the thieves to their lair at Gorn Crater,
in Denebria's desert region, where mutant commander Flogg rails
at his flunkies, Slushhead and Optikk, for the ridiculous failure
of their recent excursion to Primus. Flogg wanted them to steal
Primus' missiles, not crystals! As the Mutants argue among themselves
as to who is to blame for this colossal screw-up, Lizorr interrupts,
with news of 2 Priman ships which have recently entered Denebrian
airspace. Flogg has Lizorr activate their magnetic web to draw
in the shuttle pod, hoping to snare an important Priman hostage,
while he, Slushhead and Optikk set out in their terroclaw vehicle
to intercept Kayo's astrosub, which has landed nearby. Discovering
the ship, the 3 mutants make short work of the lone Galactic Guardian.
Back at Gorn Crater, as Flogg and his goons try to pry information
out of Kayo, the stoic hero's eyes widen as he sees the object
of his quest, the stolen Trifusium Crystal, lying discarded on
the crater floor amidst the debris. At that exact moment, an ill-timed
transmission from planet Primus to Kayo's helmet radio clues the
mutants in as to the importance of the captured crystal. As they
now congratulate themselves on their genius, Lizorr again interrupts,
this time with news of the shuttle pod's arrival, which at that
moment crashes into the crater chamber, scattering mutants in
all directions. In the confusion, Kayo makes good his escape,
but fails to take the Trifusium Crystal with him. As the other
mutants give chase, Flogg decides to greet his new prisoner. To
say the least, Flogg is less than prepared for the force of pure
evil that emerges from the Priman pod. With an agonizing blast
of electronic fire from his new Skull Staff (as depicted on the
cover), Skeletor exults his dominion over Flogg and his forces,
threatening the mutant with death should he ever challenge his
rule. As Flogg cowers kneeling in subjugation before the bionic
Lord of Destruction, Skeletor vows that this time, and this star-system,
will soon feel the force of his ultimate evil. To be continued...
