Chapter 2: Hospitality reconsidered

Rays of sunlight penetrated the glass of the window, casting a soft light into the room, and onto the floor where he was laying, formerly sound asleep. Groggily he opened his eyes, adjusting to the light. A low growl escaped his throat, as he flexed his fingers. His mind woke up finally too, immediately flooding his brain with all kinds of questions.

His thoughts were racing, question after question appeared, without finding anything close to an answer for any of them: "What happened? Where am I? Wait, yes, the ceremony. But... why do I remember guards forcing me away? They must have led me here, but…, but where is here?"

He moved his arms, slow but steady to the either sides of his chest, positioning his three-digit hands on the floor.

For a few moments, he listened quietly, not moving a muscle. Focusing his senses on what happened outside the door, hoping that he could find a clue in the sounds he heard. In the hall he heard faint voices, speaking in a language he didn't understand. The conversation seemed to be one between friends; most likely covering various subjects related to their mutual interests, their personal lives, and the occasional joke, assuming that what he heard was actually laughter. However, there was no sign of movement through the hallway, just two guards softly speaking with each other while guarding his door.

It was safe. Slowly Khor'mat pushed his body up, careful not to make the slightest sound. Even his breathing was controlled, soft, silent, and almost undetectable for the hearing of the company he enjoyed just behind the door, at least which was what he hoped.

As his arm muscles flexed, and his scales almost soundlessly scraped the floor, he rose higher and higher. Soon he stood tall and strong as usual. Even when he was unarmed, like this very moment, his presence was impressive, and hard to ignore, even if there was nobody there to do so. He started to inspect his quarters, attempting to find something that could be of use.

Searching every inch of the room, turning over every proverbial leaf, even lifting the bed off the ground. This however, did not visually seem to lay any strain on him whatsoever. He worked fast and silently, being extremely determined to find something and make no sound to alarm his mandatory bodyguards in the process.

Just as he was about to dissect the cabinet against the wall across from the bed, he sniffed and smelled the air: new scents. Khor'mat stood with his snout in the air, his body standing still as if it was a granite statue, and sniffed to catch the scents out of the air: Va'Tal, approaching his position. He felt an urge to defend himself, stronger then before. He felt that there was danger, danger that had to be avoided.

Yet the desire to remain undetected was stronger, so instead of slamming the cabinet against the wall in order to get some sharp wood to use as a weapon, or redesign the metal legs of the bed into head-crushing clubs, he removed the sheets from the mattress, and tore them almost without sound to shreds with his teeth.

Then he examined the door quickly, noticing it opened to the inside, swinging to his left. Preparing the shreds of cloth, he stood in the corner on the right of the door, pressing his impressive body against the brick stone wall, which felt rough to the touch, even on his scaly hide.

Struggling to control his breathing, to remain calm and not just pick up the cabinet, attempt to smash the door with it and charge at the Va'Tal, he waited. Luckily, he didn't need to wait long.

The metal surface of the lock met its matching key, and the sound accompanying the unlocking was a slow wrenching metal-on-metal scratch mixed together with some squeaks and shrieks, as if the key was a young maiden being tortured horribly by an evil dark villain. The hall, long and very empty, amplified this sound, making it somewhat eerie and certainly not less scary.

The lock gave in, and allowed the wielder of its counterpart to enter that what was its job to protect.

As the door opened, Khor'mats mind geared into a different mode. In order to find out what was going on, why he was being held against his will, he needed to be able to apply psychological pressure upon these unholy fools.

At that moment, the creaking of an opening door filled the room, and the Slah'ke set aside all his thoughts tried to keep his adrenaline-level at a stable medically acceptable level, and concentrated on who was entering the room.

Two Va'Tal soldiers quickly followed each other into the room, and like all of their kind, they were tri-pedal. Their arms, although short were strong and muscled, muscled like their entire bodies were.

Uniforms were a perfect fit, a grayish dark green in color, made out of a fabric that looked more like woven rope then anything else. Being preoccupied with barging into the room, one of them carrying a plate of food, they failed to notice that the Slah'ke was nowhere to be seen until they were standing in the middle of the room and it was already too late.

He felt the air rushing past him as the guard duo waltzed into the room, not noticing at all that he wasn't in their line of sight. He jumped out of his hiding, swung the cloth shreds through the air, having both of them wrapping themselves around the thick necks of the guards. Before they realized what was happening, the enormous Slah'ke plunged forward, soaring through the air as if he was a dragon diving from high upon his prey, intending to crush it in his claws.

While he landed on the guards, forcing them both down to the floor, and most likely crushing a few bones here and there under his weight, he quickly tied up the various shreds around their ankles, wrists and necks, and so effectively tied the guards to each other. The result included two quite frightened and seriously stunned soldiers covered in cloth shreds and pieces of food that originated from a plate that just moments before had failed its first flying lesson.

Before the guards realized what happened, and their fear had been given a chance to manifest itself, it was over, and they were sitting on the floor, backs towards each other, and their limbs tied up.

Khor'mat suppressed his natural instinct to let out a growl of primal satisfaction as he looked upon the two guards sitting on the floor. He stood in the doorway, checking whether or not the hall was safe. For the moment it seemed to be deserted. After securing the area, the Slah'ke turned his attention once again to his newly acquired roommates and searched their bodies, knowing that he had to act quickly.

Without a word he ripped the belts of their uniforms, inspecting them and found they were carrying no actual weaponry, just a retractable, jet-black rod, that turned out to be quite flexible and some kind of short range communicators.

Having figured out how he most likely was to operate the device - it was remarkably similar to the Union version - he went on to investigate the rod. He accidentally swung it from left to right with a bit of force while studying it from all angles, making the rod extract slightly, so that it now doubled itself in size, stretching about five Goh, which equaled twenty five Terran centimeters. Further testing against various objects in the room revealed the rod to discharge an electro-magnetic pulse upon impact, varying the strength of the pulse based upon the force applied in its use.

Khor'mat was pleased, it wasn't what he had hoped to find, but it was certainly better then nothing.

After attaching the communicator to his own leather belt and hiding the two now retracted rods in convenient and easily accessible yet hardly detectable places in his remarkably scarce armor. Then he ripped a bar off the underside of the bed, after stripping away most of the construction, and with the use of some shreds and some well trained braiding- and knotting techniques he created a strong cloth rope with which he strapped his delightfully quiet company to the metal.

As he lifted the two Va'Tal on his shoulders as if they were nothing more then a few seriously overweight sacks filled with baking flower, he set off into the hall in order to locate the man responsible for the terrible quarters provided for him, a few answers and a nice, comfortable way back home.

"Please Mr. Roh; we would like you to come with us to answer a couple of questions." The guard commander waved his short arm towards the door, in the hope that the strange creature would comply while he tried his best to block out the thoughts about the upcoming interrogation, just in case the rumors about Lahi and his people were true, that the energy ball was probing his mind in order to find out the meaning of all this commotion around him.

Lahi, comfortable floating formlessly in the air of the room, which was an exact copy of the space where Khor'mat was being held, closely monitored what was going on around him.

Two guards in standard Va'Tal uniforms had entered the room and had attempted to take him with them without explaining where he would be taken, or why. Off course, when he didn't respond, they resorted like all of the less enlightened creatures roaming the galaxy, with force; specifically the use of their stun rods.

Those had been quite entertaining, since the discharge had merely had a slightly mood stimulating effect on the Kolari. After a while of futile prodding and swinging at the alien, resulting in a state of severe exhaustion, the guards had given up. Especially the swinging of the rods had proven to be ineffective as the rod simply passed right through the being as if it wasn't even there.

After many futile attempts, and an almost unhealthy dose of humiliation later, they finally decided to call for their superior, who was now standing in the room, choosing his words carefully and desperately trying to calm his nerves. He was supposed to interrogate the pilot after he had been brought to him; therefore having to pick him up himself presented the danger of the Kolari finding out what was this was all about.

After a while the floating being had considered all the available options, and had made his decision.

The commander was startled, even shocked by the sudden invasion of his mind. He had heard of the mental abilities of the people that came from the system of Deneb, but had never really believed. Until now.

His own mental voice suddenly was confronted by something strange and quite disturbing: company.

A soft and soothing voice suddenly appeared in his mind, telling him that all was fine, and this force of communication was only temporarily, mostly because his brain wouldn't be able to handle it. The Va'Tal, as it seemed, had still a lot to learn as a people and a long way to evolve before this degree of mental ability was within their grasp.

Lahi agreed to come with the guards, and providing they would treat him respectfully, he would comply with their wishes.

Commander Yig found he could answer the voice by mere thought, and informed Lahi he would be treated with the utmost of respect. The voice disappeared as sudden as it had come, and Roh started moving.

He was taken to a different room, where Yig foolishly, it being part of the routine involved with questioning people, offered him a seat.

The room was a bit more spacious then Lahi's former accommodations, but nonetheless more Spartan in its decoration. Only two seats and a table graced the space between the sturdy walls.

"Please wait here mister Roh, someone will be with you shortly." Was the calm request Yig provided with creating access to the room for Lahi, and as the door closed behind him, he noticed that the commander walked away, without doubt to inform his superiors.

The hallway slowly bent to the left, and as he focused his hearing, chatter could be heard coming from the other hallway, which merged with his.

"I do hope we're going for some coffee and hopefully a nice breakfast. It's early, and without coffee I'm no fun plus, fellas, I am starving!" The clear mocking tone of the voice was familiar to his sensitive ears, as was the baritone sound carrying its words. The chatter was accompanied by the rhythmic stomping of heavy boots, of which one pair had a louder and more distinct sound then the others. Both sounds together made him wonder about the identity of their source, even hope that his first guess was actually the right one.

Simultaneously the source of the sounds, himself and the respective Va'Tal entourages met up where the two hallways conversed into one.

The boots turned out to belong to Joe Delgato, as he had guessed. The sound of the boots was characteristic for standard issue Terran military boots.

"Morning Gakh! Out for an early morning stroll with your Va'Tal buddies? Isn't that funny, these guys suggested the same thing to me." Said Joe as soon as he laid eyes on the Orfine pilot, his voice filled with sarcasm the way a fruit basket lacks chocolate cookies.

A barking growl gave the answer a distinct sound: "You could say that Commander." As they came to walk together Gakh continued in a softer tone of voice, whispering to make sure their guards would not overhear what they wished to discuss: "Joe, do you have any idea what is going on? Why have we been held like this all night?" "I have no idea my furry friend, no idea whatsoever." While Joe said that, he wondered and feared: Orfine couldn't read minds and tell lies from truth, could they?

Very little was said from that point on. The two pilots accepted that they were being guided, and were unknowing of where the guided journey would eventually lead them. All they knew was that they saw hallway after hallway, the one as deserted as the other. Then they came to a double door, which opened upon the moment the group approached it, filling the silent halls with the soft sound of escaping air, releasing itself out of tiny valves, hidden in the construction.

As the doors opened, they were introduced to their next form of transportation. After regular, labor intensive, have-to-walk-through halls they were now stepping into a world of luxury: the elevator. As the last of the guards entered the small space, his stubby index finger made contact with one of the operating buttons, resulting into the doors closing, with once again the sound of escaping air, and the elevator set into motion. From the slight gravitational pull it was possible to deduct that they were moving down, at a velocity which was hard to pinpoint precisely.

Shortly after entering, the elevator came to a halt, and the doors opened once again, allowing the group to exit and proceed down the hall, where they found several unmarked doors, most likely all leading to separate rooms.

While he roamed the halls, looking for a way out, or at least a clue to the whereabouts of those responsible for his less then pleasurable accommodations, Khor'mat noticed that the strain on the cloth holding the guards attached to the metal rod on his shoulders was either increasing or just enough to be too much for the material to handle.

Slowing down, and thereby reducing the movement of his shoulders, Slah'ke move their entire upper body when moving fast, making them able to adapt to any situation they may encounter no matter what, as they are taught from childhood, he hoped to slow down the tearing process that was going on just behind his strong muscular and most of all scale covered back.

But the reality of bed sheets coping with the strain of the lumps of pure grade-A quality fat mixed up with a muscle density which would have been negative if it had been possible dictated gravity to pull harder then the braids could handle. And so soon one of the guards fell to the floor with the same grace and gliding effect a meteor the size of a Sinew-class transport ship on a crash course with a planet in the possession of a gravitational field strong enough to pulverize mature elephants the moment they put down their feet.

As the second guard gracefully came crashing down, following the good example set by his colleague, Khor'mat noticed that he was closing in on a door, which was situated on the right side of the hallway. The same sturdy, low cost, and seemingly built to survive a close encounter with an Invincible-class cruiser, the design was the same as the door that had been meant to hold him inside and failed at that miserably just a while ago.

For a quick moment he looked back, to ensure his cargo would not be able to reach its alternate destination on its own, and was quite amused to see the enormous guards continuously rolling over due to the effect of their less then comfortable re-acquaintance with firm ground. "Those are going nowhere", he whispered to himself with a big tooth grin marking his face.

Then he went to listen at the newly discovered door, eager to find out what was behind it. Quietly he lay his head at the door, and held his breath, cautious not to make a sound, in case that sound might disturb his ability to hear the noises coming from inside.

Soft crackling and something that sounded like buzzing hit his eardrums, followed by a louder and as it seemed to the large warrior, more agitated maybe even angry clicking sound. Puzzled by this, he focused even more, shutting out the annoying mumbling and groaning coming from the bound guards behind him, and after a while he thought he heard a scuffling sound: whatever was making those sounds, it was moving.

Then he heard a different noise, a scraping one. It was like someone was scraping the wall with a hard surface. Tired of waiting and trying to figure out what he was listening to, and afraid he might get detected; the Slah'ke grabbed the doorknob, gathered his strength and started pulling. Naturally the door was locked quite tightly, and there was very little movement. Noise was generated in excess however. Then, it seemed as if the door was suddenly cooperating, as if it had made the decision to let the scaled giant in, but only after serious effort.

Quite the opposite was true in fact, as soon became clear: as Khor'mat was pulling the knob, there was pushing from the inside, making the attempts to free the door from the confinement of its lock much more effective.

Soon the Slah'ke would be holding the door in his hands, as a trophy, and he peered into the room, filled with curiosity and a burning desire to know what was inside.

Stepping into the doorway after having grabbed his things when the door was just about to give away was Quix'Tooygh, the Hivian pilot who had been the cause of the Orfine loosing his self control less then twenty-four hours ago.

Khor'mat saw the insectoid standing in front of him, talking - what seemed to him - utter gibberish in a language consisting out of clicks, buzzing and all kinds of strange unidentifiable other noises. Eying the strange creature, and recalling the events of the day before his mind came to a conclusion, resulting in a thought along the lines of: "It's the bug."

As "Quix" - that's what his mother usually called him back home - kept on babbling in his own language, Khor'mat suddenly realized that the universal translator implanted just below his skin behind his ear hole was equipped with a translation program for the Hive languages, and quickly switched the program on. All the sudden, the ranting and babbling of the insectoid made a whole lot more sense.

As it turned out, neither of them really knew what was going on, why they had been locked away like cattle, or what was to come. Khor'mat informed the multi-limbed and in comparison vertically challenged creature that he intended to go home instead of sticking around to find out what the situation really was.

After a short but thorough explanation during which Khor'mat took a quick peek into the room of his colleague, finding that the scraping sound had been a spoon making contact with the wall - it seemed Quix'Tooygh had attempted to dig a hole through the wall in order to escape, which indicated that either he had a serious case of claustrophobia or he had serious issues with waiting - and that this particular species within the Hive slept in a cocoon like construction which was now hanging from the wall as a silent, the insectoid agreed to work with Khor'mat to find a way off the ship, and back home. Both grabbed one of the guards and went on their way, quietly and unmistakably faster then the Slah'ke had moved on his own. Amazed by the strength of the small and seemingly fragile creature, he could not help but wonder how strong Quix'Tooygh actually was. Not being a biologist, little did Khor'mat know that most insectoid species have the ability to lift, carry and generally manipulate loads exceeding many times their own weight. With the right training the Hive therefore also made excellent fighters, making good use of their natural born strength together with their exoskeleton which creates a natural armor, one that is tougher then even the toughest of Slah'ke hides or Brood skin mutations for that matter.

Roaming the halls, more and more desperately trying to find a way to either the location of something that resembled the bridge of the Mothership or the launch bay where their fighters had been stationed, the two fighter pilots got lost at some point. Unaware of their position in the ship, they stood still, transferring their loads for a moment from their backs to the floor, attempting to orient themselves.

As they stood quietly, searching for something that could give them a clue of where they were, Quix suddenly raised his right upper arm, gesturing silence, indicating he heard something.

It soon became clear there were Va'Tal approaching. Both of them recognized the sound: guards in the same boots as their baggage wore. Naturally, in an attempt to attract attention, the guards they had been carrying around started to make as much noise as they could. This earned them the less then pleasant attention of one of their own stun rods as Khor'mat slammed the one he carried - he had given Quix the other one - into their bodies, sending a shock through their bodies that left them unconscious and a few burn marks upon impact.

Quix had been keeping watch and saw the guards moving past, unaware of what was going on right under their noses. In the middle of the guards who were following what appeared to be their commander, he noticed a bright light moving, floating without distinctive form. He knew it was the Kolari.

When the sound of the boots had almost died away, they found it safe to follow them, after all, following those guards at least gave them a direction to go in, a goal to achieve. Keeping their distance, and waiting a few minutes before using the elevator they had seen the group before them use, they eventually found themselves on a deck with several closed rooms of which the doors were marked in the Va'Tal language, which neither of them could read.

However, they could hear, and they heard the robotic voice of what they assumed to be the Preserver known as #4-Alpha5K coming from one of the rooms, every now and then interrupted by a Va'Tal voice which was asking questions.

Further investigation ended up in them locating what they believed was the Terran and - much to the dislike of Quix - Gakh, who as it turned out didn't appreciate being held like he was. The Va'Tal had considered him dangerous; because of the reputation Orfine warriors had in the galaxy, and had tied him down on the chair. Obviously this was not according to Gakh's wishes, and from the crashing of furniture against a wall, the snapping sound of what was presumed to be metal and the intense growls, moans and seriously abusive language directed at certain heavy boned individuals, Quix and Khor'mat assumed their canine colleague was not portraying model behavior for a subject of interrogation. Then they heard someone approaching, and quickly took cover to avoid being detected.

Thankful for their universal translators which allowed them to understand the conversation between what turned out two Va'Tal officers making their way to the labyrinth of rooms upon the two pilots had stumbled.

"Sir, I know it is unusual, but I do not believe we have another choice. We cannot risk the possibility that he has read my mind, my thoughts." Said one of the officers, and it was clear he was talking to his superior. "Didn't you shield your mind, attempt to block the information and thoughts about this like you were trained to do?" The plain but strong voice of the superior officer sounded harsh and accusing. "Yes I did, but it has never been proven to be a method without failure. There is no guarantee that I was…" "Fine Yig, I will interrogate that energy ball." With that the superior officer picked up his pace, which was remarkable to begin with considering his physical state, and entered one of the rooms, one of the few cases in which neither Khor'mat or Quix had been able to learn anything about who or what was inside without risking exposure.

They now had found Lahi too, and needed to make a decision. Should they leave the pilots they found behind and get themselves off the ship, or should they take the others with them and escape all together? A strong discussion followed, quiet but strong nonetheless.

The officer entered the room and found the Kolari in question. His small eyes assessed the room: a table, two hard wooden chairs, all simple in design, a one way mirror with the reflecting side directed into the room, harsh uncompromisingly bright lighting and one floating being of light and pure energy, an enigma to every form of science and the comprehension of the minds of even the greatest Va'Tal thinkers.

"Colonel. Thank you for joining me. Would you mind telling me why I am here, why that I am being held like this?" The voice penetrated his mind, occupying every corner. The being was not pleased, and let the colonel be aware of this more then he would want to.

In his outer appearance the Va'Tal officer attempted not to show the mental strain he was under, but nonetheless his stubby fingers grasped his clothing.

How Lahi could see, and if he even moved to see the colonel was absolutely unknown to anyone other then Kolari. His people were secretive about everything, from state secrets to their favorite color. If you didn't need to know, you didn't know, and ironically the Kolari considered everything about themselves to be information suiting that exact description. Therefore, absolutely nobody knew.

However, it was without doubt that Lahi saw the colonel and was studying him, not only his mind but also his corporeal appearance.

The colonel was dressed in a uniform; one much more distinguished and elaborately decorated then guard commander Yig wore. What was most different about this uniform in contrast to those of the lower officers and the regular soldiers, was the fact that his uniform had colorful pieces of cloth draped over it, giving the colonel a presence of importance to the Va'Tal people, but to anyone else it probably had a more comical effect, since the extra cloth combined with his already fascinating physique created not only an absurd and somewhat impossible appearance. Not to mention the serious practical problems is presented, since the cloth severely limited the colonel's ability to move about freely.

Although he was very frightened by the mental presence of the Kolari, who without doubt was probing his mind right there and then, he proceeded to the closest one of the two chairs. Lahi was at that moment hovering on the exact opposite side of the table, just behind the chair not chosen by his interrogator.

Again the voice took residence in the feebly protected mind: "You have questions colonel, ask them. Do not be frightened corporeal, I have no interest in mutilating your mind, however I will probe it for the questions you seek to be answered if you refuse to ask them yourself."

Hesitation and discomfort characterized his mental voice as the colonel found out that the only means of communication he had with the creature on the other side of the table was his mind, since his vocal chords were unwilling to respond to his attempts to speak: "Mister Roh…" he gathered all his strength and continued: "Yesterday, during the Race, one of the contestants had an accident, which unfortunately left the pilot in small pieces scattered around the crash site, together with the remains of his vessel." "You dare to speak about the violent end of a precious and unique life in such cold heartless words in my presence Va'Tal? Choose thy words carefully corporeal." The words of the Kolari were filled with disgust and a hint of agitation, which frightened the colonel even more. He had seriously underestimated this creature, and worse then that: he had overestimated his own ability to shield his mind from the powers that the being floating in this very room possessed, which was foolish to begin with since the Va'Tal understood no more of the Kolari then any other known and contacted civilization in the galaxy.

"I need to know what you may have seen mister Roh, because my superiors suspect foul play. I need to know what your sensors picked up, what you witnessed yourself, everything."

Silence followed in the mind of the large alien. Just when he thought Lahi had left his mind, the answer came: "My dear colonel." A condescending tone governed the words filling his hostage taken mind as the colonel had no choice but to listen. "If you would have taken a mere moment of your time to review the data of yesterdays competition instead of indulging yourself in yet another absolutely and utterly redundant feasting to create yet another layer of fat upon your far from well-maintained body, you would have known that at the very moment that Venom crashed so tragically into that particular asteroid, my vessel practically collided with one of that asteroids brethren, which left the adversary from Tau Cyngi just outside the range of my damaged sensors."

"But" began the seriously overweight creature while testing the limits of the chair he was sitting on. Lahi began to loose his patience, and while he decided to probe the inferior mind for the answers to his own questions despite of his promise made earlier he let his voice dominate the conversation with his interrogator again: "I have no information for you Va'Tal. Release me now and let me return to my home, and I may be able to persuade my government to be lenient upon your people for holding me as if I were a trophy, a prize, treating me as if I were a hostage." As he found what he was looking for, he loosened the connection he had made with the large creature sitting on the chair at the table, to allow him to call out to his people.

"You are going nowhere Kolari, not until I know what I need to know. This conversation is over, enjoy your stay." Furiously the colonel spat out remnants of his last still undigested meal as he raised his voice against Lahi. Off course, had the colonel known more about the Kolari, then he would have known that it is impossible to hold them against their will in conventional quarters, since they have the ability to move through solid matter. Had the colonel known that and built an energy-containment facility to house his energetic friend, he would have actually been able to keep his word on that, but he had not done any of that.

Therefore, unsurprisingly, the Kolari channeled his energy, inflicting some minor damage upon the Va'Tal to distract him, and not to harm him in such a way that permanent damage would be caused as that was against the beliefs of his people; and as if he had known or sensed it, he took advantage of the sudden outburst of noise and hysteria in the hallway behind the door, and floated with great speed towards that particular wall, in order to pass through it.

The matter was dense, strong and well crafted, but nonetheless not at all able to hold Lahi inside the space the colonel had intended to confine him to. As he passed through some of the ships conduits, which turned out to be the controls for the interrogation chambers, ironically the lock on the door that had separated him from the hallway fused solid with its electronic controls, due to the sudden surge of concentrated energy affecting it, thereby effectively locking the colonel inside.

In the mean time commander Yig had decided to interrogate the Orfine pilot, however, the moment he stood before the door were observing pilots had assumed with relative certainty Gakh Botil to be held, he seemed to reconsider, as if he valued his life more then getting the answers he needed. He summoned two guards to open the door for him and calm the Orfine down, at all cost so he could safely interrogate him.

Both guards stood on the opposite sides of the door, with the commander at a safe distance. A quick affirmative nod from the one guard to the other, and the door was opened. Just as they were to enter the room to locate their target and finish their mission so Yig could start interrogating, something big and solid sailed through the air, directly at the first of the two guards. Before he had time to figure out what was piercing through the air on a crash course with his own bloated head and dive for safety, it hit. The result was a bloody mess: the guard was thrown back with quite some force, resulting in the almost impossible sight of a four hundred and fifty pound alien crashing into another alien of roughly the same weight, and the both of them sliding across the floor towards the opposite wall. The first guard was incapacitated due to what now became obvious to be a leg of one of the chairs sticking out of his eye, having penetrated his head quite deeply. Most likely he would, if he survived this at all, never have any depth perception again.

The guard who was thrown back by the force of his comrade crashing into him pushed the bloody body aside and got up remarkably fast. Drawing his stun rod, he rushed back into the room where Gakh stood beside himself in anger.

A growl that could make blood boil and muscle tense up with fear escaped his throat. His razor sharp canine teeth were shown, his lips pulled up, saliva dripping between his teeth forming long thin strands slowly being pulled towards the floor by the artificial gravity, and his eyes burning with what those that had fought cornered Orfine and miraculously survived had dubbed the eyes of fire, staring right into your soul, preparing it for - if your luck had just run out - a slow and agonizingly painful death, making your adrenal gland start pumping out its usual product in overdose.

Yig, being horrified by what he saw, slammed the door shut in utter panic just after the guard had stepped inside.

At that very moment, the hallway was engulfed with a bright all-embracing light that seemed to originate from one of its walls. Gakh Botil recognised it as his Kolari colleague, and invited the voice of the Kolari into his mind.

Having had a lot of contact with Kolari, Gakh was more experienced at the mental form of communication, and the conversation was quick and to the point. As Lahi made a simultanious connection to all the pilots he could sense within a distance of ten to twenty metres - as that was the only effective range for him at the moment, seeing that he had just been required to focus all his ability to pass through a solid wall - a quick decision was made.

Their new mission was clear: pick up everyone and get off the ship!