President Offers Peace... (comic story)

President Offers Peace… was a Fireball XL5 comic printed in TV Century 21 in 1965. It was the third instalment of a multi-series crossover "Space War" story arc in the pages of TV21, which focused on a war between 2060s humanity and the inhabitants of the planet Astra, first mentioned in The Rescue.

Summary
With humanity threatened by the Space War against the Astrans, Zodiac and Zero are in conference with the President of Earth and the Astran ambassador. Although the President warns Zodiac that his chances of survival are slim if he accepts to undertake the mission devised by the ambassador and him, Zodiac assures them that he is willing to do anything to spare Earth from war, and asks for details.

To his surprise, the President explains that his mission will simply be to carry a sealed envelope to the leader of Astran Empire. The ambassador explains that the threat lies with the Astran Main Fleet, which is expected to indiscriminately shoot down any Earth craft nearing Astra. With the meeting over and the mission agreed, Zodiac and Zero return to Space City for preparations. Zodiac requests to undertake the mission with a skeleton crew of just himself and Robert the Robot in the Fireball XL5, rather than endanger the lives of Mat and Venus.

Before long, the Fireball shoots up into space with Venus and Mat wishing it good luck from the ground. Leaving Robert at the controls, Zodiac heads to the navigation bay, where he charts his course. When he sees that the ship is nearing the border of the solar system, he switches on the Spacemascope so as to get early warning of any potential encounter with an Astran space fleet.

Indeed, a passing Astran space fleet detect the Fireball on their long range sonar scope. The Kapt orders the immediate destruction of the "Solarians", and Zodiac switches on the Spacemascope just in time to see the flying saucers rushing at him in battle formation!

Characters

 * Steve Zodiac
 * Commander Zero
 * Astran ambassador
 * The President
 * Matthew Matic
 * Doctor Venus
 * Robert the Robot
 * Kapt
 * Operator

Story notes
to be added

Continuity

 * Steve Zodiac has been called to Unity City to discuss a mission which may bring an early and bloodless end to the Space War. (COMIC: Ceasefire — But War Tension Mounts...)