#jebannuck

Jebannuck nodded half-heartedly as he rested his chin on his hand. He wasn’t sure why he felt like this. He should be happy. Mike and Wenona were going home, back to their normal lives before they were abducted. Back to Earth where they could get help and get their lives back together.

He suspected he felt this way because… well because…

He exhaled and leaned back in his seat. Simmo, who was still munching away quietly, eyed him curiously.

“What’s with the long face?”

Jeb looked up. He raised one eyebrow. “Long face?” He brushed his chin with to make sure nothing was wrong he hadn’t noticed. “Does my face look different than it usually does?”

Simmo’s eyes suddenly shone bright, smug that she knew something he didn’t. “It’s a human expression. Mike told me a few so I would better understand conversations on Earth. It means, ``Why do you look so sad?””

Jeb’s hand dropped back down to his lap as he frowned.

“I’m… not sad.”

Simmo growled.

“Why would I be sad?” Jebannuck countered. “Today is a happy day. Mike and Wenona are finally going home, it’s what they’ve been trying to do for partecs now. I’m glad for them.”

Simmo studied him for a moment. “You’re going to miss them.”

Jebannuck opened his mouth automatically to respond, but he didn’t know what he wanted to say. Before he could make up his mind though, he was interrupted by a loud voice from the other side of the cafeteria.

“Well if it isn’t Jebannuck Sefra! I hear you’re back from the dead!”

Jeb looked to the source of the voice. A large, hairy, red biet was strolling in followed by two squifra. He recognized them.

“Biet Tungs Arku, is that really you?”

“In the fur!” Tungs laughed and as she approached the table. She gave Simmo a side glance before sitting down. The squifra joined as well, side fins up cheerily, but giving the Montauk plenty of space.

“We would have come to visit you earlier,” Tungs continued, “but we’ve been busy with finalizing the repairs on our ship.” “You’re still on the ESS Butel?”

“Still am. So is Burrek here,” she motioned to the shorter squifra with a mostly green-colored skin patterns.

“Good to see you Burrek,” Jebannuck nodded respectively. Burrek had served under him while stationed on the ESS Butel as the Chief of Security. They didn’t get along amazingly well, but kept things cordial enough to do their respective jobs. He had been promoted once Jebannuck had transferred to the Gladius.

“I’d like to say it’s been quiet since you left, but, well, we’ve added another human to the crew, so you know it’s probably good you got out when you did.”

“What do you mean?”

Tung and Burrek shared a look with each other. “Well, it’s no secret you weren’t a huge fan of Humans Derrek and Carl, and then you go and get marooned on a Death World and then held hostage by the Burnti with two of them. Just you and them, up close and personal.”

Simmo made a loud set of clicking noises with her mandibles. Tung gave her a quick glance and ammended, “and a Montauk.”

“I heard they’re going back to Earth today,” Burrek added. “That must be a bit of relief for you. Well, at least for a while. I’m sure humans will be officially integrated into your crew soon. Most ships in the fleet have a few.”

“Poor Jebannuck,” Tung laughed, “Try as you can, you just can’t seem to escape them huh? Oh, Burrek, do you remember the time Human Derrek pulled that prank on ol’ Jebannuck?” She bowed over with laughter, her voice seemed to shake the air around them. “It was so funny, and Jebannuck was so mad! Oh!” She took a few deep breaths to steady herself. “Oh. It must have been hard for you. After I mean. You thought you’d gotten away from humans and then had to go through all… that ordeal. That must have been hard.”

She waited for an answer, but none came.

“Jebannuck?”

Still nothing.

“Hey Jeb,” Simmo pushed aside the rest of the plate of parteem stems and stood up, “it’s almost time for that meeting. We’re going to be late.”

Jeb looked up, confused but relieved. “Biet Tungs, Squifra Burrek,” he nodded politely to the other squifra he hadn’t been introduced to, “I must accompany our friend here. It’s been… a pleasure to run into you. Safe travels and infinite horizons to you all if I don’t see you before we leave.” And he stood up and followed Simmo out of the cafeteria. 

They walked down the hall for a while in silence before Jeb turned to Simmo. “I wasn’t aware we had a meeting.” “We don’t. I could tell you were getting upset.”

He stopped. She stopped.

“Upset?”

She blinked her compound eyes silently at him.

“What do you mean. Why would I be upset?”

Simmo flicked her antenna, annoyed.

They stood there, staring at each other in the almost empty hall. A few couriers hustled past them, trying to get their packages delivered quickly as well as put some distance between themselves and the Montauk. Jeb’s frown finally broke and he sighed deeply.

“Back there...I was reminded… when she talked about… I used to be so… but…” He groaned at himself inwardly. There were very few moments in his life where he ever struggled to find words. Two of them now were when he was talking to or about Mike and Wenona.

Simmo just stared at him. “They changed you.” She sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I get that. Seems to be what humans are good at.”

A smile played on the edge of Jeb’s mouth. “They’ve changed you a lot too.” Simmo sneered and tossed her head. 

Jeb couldn’t help but let the smile completely spread across his face. “Come on, they should be getting done soon. We should go help make sure they’re ready to go.” He started down the hallway, looking back slightly to make sure she was following. “You’re really set and determined to go with them?”

Simmo scoffed. “Verses what? Staying here stuck being babysat by you the rest of my life? No thanks.”

Jeb didn’t want to get into it with her that she did have other options. She knew that. She’d made up her mind already and no force was going to stop her, and he wished her the best. He smiled to himself. Friends with a Montauk. Simmo. He really did wish her the best on the human home planet.

“Earth it is then.”

***   *   ***

It had been two years. That’s what they're called here. Two sets of 365 local planetary rotations to orbit the local star.

Whoo-hoo.

Simmo smiled smugly to herself. She was getting pretty good at human phrases. Whoo-hoo was a very fun one, albeit too energetic for her tastes to use unironically. It was much more fun to use it with sarcasm. And oh, did she enjoy sarcasm. It’s not solely a human thing, but they did have it down to an art.

With a final tug, she finished ratcheting a bolt into place. There. That should do it. This stupid bucket of bolts should be ready to fly now. It had better be, she’d spent a good chunk of this past month working on the dumb shuttle. It was an older model, but her new employers, Near Star, hadn’t phased it out, much to her chagrin. She would fix one thing only to find two more problems with it.

She wiped a bit of oil and grit off on a rag as she stepped back. Her thorax ached, but she felt satisfied with the job. She’d just need to test it to make sure everything was good to go. The next part of her job was less satisfying. Paperwork.

She threw the rag onto a desk and walked around the shuttle, stretching and admiring her work.

A thought struck her. Life was crazy. It was a thought she had a lot, but it felt really poignant today. Life is so fluid, it could just change shape and alter course as if on some whim. She was proof of that. Life had been rough to her, then full of adventure. It gave her a family, then treacherously stole them away. It left her desperate, injured, captured, then decided to gift her peace and quiet, with new friends and family, a quiet life with simple tasks to do and a home on a death world of all places.

She had had a good year living with Mike and Wenona. She had learned a lot. She met world leaders, ate the sweetest foods she’d ever had before in her life, nearly baked to death in the desert, and swam in an ocean. Well, she didn’t really swim. She waded in it a bit to appease Mike before getting the heck out of the water. She had read up on what lives in there. Flargin’ monsters of the deep, that’s what. It was also huge, and way too salty. It terrified her on a primal level, though she’d never admit it.

Her phone rang and pulled her from her mental meanderings. She went to fetch it from her cubby. It was a primitive thing, even by human standards. Their newer phones that were more “smart” mostly used screen interfaces that did not cooperate well with her exoskeletal, sharp hands. This one folded in half and had soft buttons for her to push.

“Hello?”

“Ahoy Simster!”

There were only two beings in this plane of reality that would ever be permitted to live after calling her that, and only one ever did it regularly.

“What do you want Mike?”

“Well, I was just wondering for no real reason, but have you heard anything from the Galactic Confederation lately?”

“I hear what’s in the news. That’s it.”

“They… haven’t contacted you or anything?”

“No.”

“Nothing at all? No incoming messages, or phone calls, or… did we ever help you set up an email?”

“Mike, I’m at work, you want to maybe get to your point?”

“Well I just think it’s weird you haven’t heard anything yet is all!”

“Mike.”

“Well, I guess it only has been an hour. Well, almost an hour.  I’m just so excited! I’m not going to spoil it though, but if you don’t hear from them by the end of the day, I just might. I’m going to be back in Arizona in about two days.”

“Two days?” Simmo caught that part with a frown and held the phone a little closer to her tympanal to make sure she was hearing alright. “I thought your training went on for another two weeks. What do you mean ‘two days?’”

There was a rustle and Mike’s voice on the other side went a little garbled, like he was covering the speaker while yelling something to someone. When he got back on the phone, Simmo could almost hear the stupid grin on his face. “Listen Simmo, I’ve got to go, but yeah, I’m coming back day after tomorrow. They’ve got something new and it’s big. Like, big big!” “Well it sounds awful already,” she grumbled.

“Hey, let me know if they get in touch with you or not. I’m not doing it without you, or, you know without you being able to chose to or not. I mean, no hard feelings if you don’t want to.”

“Mike, you’re making less and less sense the more you talk.”

“Yeah, I know, sorry-love-ya-got-to-go-BYE!”

And with a beep from the little speaker, he was gone.

She folded the phone and put it away with a hiss. What, by all that is bright and shining, was that all about? Shaking her head, she started back toward the shuttle with it’s keys to give it a test run when her comm device went off. It was set up similarly to the ones used by the Galactic Confederation (who had probably traded the technology with Earth a few years ago). It was supposed to be set in the local network within Near Star, but it did also have access to the planet-wide internet. She pulled up a holographic screen and read through her messages.

The newest one was from an external source. It was from the United-Earth Space Embassy’s Galactic Confederation Relation’s office. Her hand hovered over it for a while. What could be so big? 

It was a fight inside her mind. On one part, she was nervous and weary. The Galactic Confederation did not hide their disdain for the Montauk race as a whole. What could they possibly want from her? She had found a place to call her own here on Earth, and had somehow started to think of it as home. Life was quiet, but after everything she’d been through, quiet was good. It was more than good. Earth had welcomed her as a hero who had helped save two of their own. All her needs were met, she had want for nothing.

And that, the other side of her mind countered, was part of her problem. Life was good yes, but it was quite sedentary. Her whole life, ever since her second molt, had been on the move. It was a matter of survival then, but it became a part of her. For every shuttle she repaired, she imagined herself boarding it and taking off through the stars.

The problem was she had nowhere to go. No one to go with. Mike and Wenona were her hive now, and they were on Earth.

This was home.

But at the same time, she felt so restless.

She dropped the hologram and paced next to the shuttle. Her mind kept going back and forth like a match of that one weird human sport Wenona’s little sister kept trying to get her to play.

“What am I doing?” she muttered to herself. “I don’t even know what they want. Mike said something about me making a choice,” she pulled the hologram back up. “I should probably find out what decision it is that needs to be made before I go driving myself crazy like this.”

With just a small pause, she opened the message and browsed over all the flowery pomp and circumstance of the first paragraph. Frewan, these people could never just get to the point, could they?

Then she found it- what had gotten Mike so excited. She read it and re-read it to make sure she was understanding it correctly.

This was big.

***

Still holding her, Jeb leaned back from behind the cabinet to look at the shuttle.

Wenona glowered, but she forced herself to take a deep breath. It came as more of a gasp. Oh wow. How long had she been like this? She hadn’t noticed. She tried to take deep, slow breaths, but the best she could do was just the deep part. Her head started swimming and the corners of her vision started getting dark. She barely noticed as Jeb helped lower her to the ground, but she knew that at some point she was sitting on her legs, hands on the ground as she gasped for breath. Her body seemed to be frozen, unresponsive, focused solely on getting what seemed to be too little air. Her mind continued on separately.

‘Why can’t I get it together?’ she thought to herself exasperatedly. ‘We’re in the middle of a battle for our lives and I’m freaking out. I need to get up. I need to wrap this up so I can get up.’

It felt like forever, but her rapid breaths slowly became less desperate. She slowly recognized the soothing feeling of someone rubbing her back.

Jeb. He crouched next to her protectively, quietly.

She tried to get up again, but he stopped her.

“Wenona, you’re in no shape to fight right now.” “I can do this,” her voice sounded wavering and cracked, even to her.

“I know you can, I was there when we found you on the Montauk ship. You’re incredibly strong, and stubborn enough to survive this, but as your friend, I’m telling you to trust me. I won’t see you hurt like that again.”

Wenona looked up at Jeb’s face, half pleading.

Jeb leaned in close to her. “Do you trust me?”

Tears were forming in the corners of Wenona’s eyes and she clenched her jaws as she struggled to speak. Eventually, she nodded.

Jeb stepped out from behind the cabinet. He hated to leave Wenona in such a vulnerable state,  but she was at least physically in a safe spot. Well, as safe as she could be. She’d be safer on the shuttle, so that was his next task. The taser shield was deactivated, but the hatch hadn’t opened yet.

Simmo was the closest to him, slashing at the air as guards dodged her sharp claws, trying to step back far enough to get a good shot in.  Humans Vern and Kylee and the dog Carson were just a few paces farther, punching, kicking and in Carson’s case, biting away at their assailants. At one point, Vern picked up a tool from a workbench and hurled it at the guards. It was surprisingly well-aimed and had even more surprising force as it hit a guard in the head with a crack. The guard stumbled and fell backward to the ground. Jebannuck had seen Mike and Wenona throw things before and knew they had good aim, but he had never realized they were capable of weaponizing that ability.

As some guards were falling at the hands of his friends, they were being replaced with more guards rushing in from the hall. Jeb ran at and blocked a small group of them as they approached Simmo’s location. He grappled with a spiky yellow guard and was able to throw it off balance and into its companion, though not without a few cuts to his arms. A third guard had stayed back and was aiming a blaster directly at him.

He stepped back, but not enough to completely avoid the shot from the blaster. Pain bloomed from the side of his torso and seemed to erupt like lightning to every part of his body. He felt himself fall forward, crumple to his knees. By the stars. Was this how he went out? After everything he’d been through and done? His solar cycles of service and combat? If so, he was fine with it, he realized. Death in the defense of those that need help - or in this case, his friends- was as noble a way to go as any.

But then… he was still on his knees. He wasn’t dead. He hurt like a screaming flincher, but he was alive. ‘They’re not using deadly force,’ he realized.

He looked up and around. It was like he was seeing the fight with new eyes. There were still guards everywhere, but those that were actively fighting were doing so mostly in defense, or with hesitation in their movements. He could see it in their stances. Most were not on the offensive. They were supposed to fight, they were under orders to kill, but Jebannuck could tell that there were several of the guards still standing that weren’t giving the fight their all. And then-

“STAND DOWN!”

Jeb’s revelation was interrupted by a deep bellowing voice. He turned his head to the source. A tall, light brown-furred Tiamin with curling horns protruding from his head and long floppy ears resting on his shoulders stormed into the room. Jeb’s memory vaguely registered that the newcomer was dressed in scientist sashes and getup.

The remaining guards that were not fighting hand-to-hand or knocked-out stood at attention. Even those that were fighting and had heard, scrambled away from their opponents, pulling their companions along with them.

Jeb could see a confused and limping pair of humans to his left, a gasping Montauk nearly hunched over behind him, and beyond them, Thurrin was straining to hold up a very injured-looking Mike.

The sudden silence in the docking bay ensured that every step Jebannuck took was heard as he struggled to his feet and ran towards Mike. Images of the first time they’d met flashed in his mind. Well, maybe not met. Mike had been on the verge of death then. He wasn’t in quite that bad a state now, but that really wasn’t saying much. He looked like he was just barely holding on to consciousness now and was bleeding, but he couldn’t tell where from yet. Multiple places.

He grabbed Mike as soon as he got in arms’ length, relieving Thurrin and helped him sit down carefully.

Jeb had been so preoccupied with Mike that it took him a moment to notice the figure crouched next to him. It was the Tiamin. Jeb shifted slightly to put himself more in the way between the Burnti scientist and Mike.

“Is he okay?”

Jeb was surprised at the amount of worry he heard in the Tiamin’s voice, but he turned and snapped at him. “Does he look okay to you?”

The scientist frowned and lowered his gaze a bit. “I came as soon as I heard Rozar’s announcement. This…” he sighed, “This was not supposed to happen. This is all wrong.”

Mike groaned and shook his head in a daze. “Drin? What-?” He hissed as he tried to bend his leg under him.

Jeb grabbed his knee and gently pushed it back down and straightened the leg. “Mike, I need you to keep still for now.” “Where do you hurt the most?” Drin asked as he carefully started taking stock of the wounded leg.

“Leg. Back. Everywhere.” Mike gasped but managed a momentary weak smile at Jeb after a few breaths.

Thurrin cut in with a shaking voice, “Jeb, where’s Wenona?”

Jeb glanced warily at Drin, not really wanting him to know where she was hidden. “She’s back there. She’s okay.” That last part certainly wasn’t true, but she wasn’t bleeding, so that was something.

“The intruders…” Drin looked from the ship to Thurrin. “Please tell me you have a medic aboard that ship?”

Thurrin looked nervously between Drin and Jeb as if trying to decide how much to say. She eventually looked at Mike and nodded. “We… we do, yes.” She activated her communicator, “Demfar, we’ve got injured. Where are you at with the doors?”

Behind them, the doors of the ship clicked and hissed as if in response. Jeb could hear Demfar’s voice in Thurrin’s communicator. “I think I’ve just about got them open. What’s the situation out there?”

“We have a cease-fire, but we’re all hurt. Mike’s in really bad condition. He needs you. Now.”

“Understood. Hold on."

Drin stood back up to his full impressive height. He sighed sadly and turned back to the guards who had started shifting their weight nervously. "As soon as their ship is open, help the injured board and let them go."

One guard wearing a different-styled sash gave a half-step forward. "Sir?" He looked to where the other humans were standing and back. "Sir, Commander Rozar-"

"Yes, I heard," Drin interrupted. Behind him, the shuttle's doors finally opened with a hiss. Demfar rushed down the ramp carrying a first aid kit and supplies.

Drin watched the medic rush to Mike’s side. He had a strange combination of emotions on his face. "Let them off this ship. They’re not safe here anymore. I know no one here really wants to see the humans killed. I will take full responsibility and deal with Rozar later.”

Jebannuck saw relief flood over many of the guards’ faces and a realization washed over him. They weren’t villains. They were defending themselves and their stations. They were doing their jobs, just as Jebannuck or those under his command would. They genuinely did not want to harm them- or at least not harm the humans. Or at least, not permanently.

That still didn’t mean their help was overly welcome. Vern and Kylee turned down assistance from a green scaly guard and instead helped each other hobble up the ramp to the shuttle. Jeb stood up and with some difficulty, made his way over to where he’d left Wenona. She’d cautiously poked her head around to see what was going on, but, to Jeb’s surprise, had followed his orders and otherwise stayed put. ‘Well,’ he thought to himself, ‘this is Wenona we’re talking about, not Mike.’

He got to her before any Burnti guards did. Thank the bright stars for that. Even though they were going against their Commander’s orders, Jeb didn’t want them getting near her - not only for her mental health but also because he doubted they’d get close without her finding a way to seriously maim them somehow.

“Jeb, what’s going on? What’s Drin doing here?”

Jeb carefully picked her up, minding her injuries as best as he could. She seemed to have calmed down a little? Maybe that was just hopeful thinking on his part. At least her breathing patterns weren’t quite so alarming anymore. “He’s letting us go.”

“Letting us- wha-? what’s he really up to? That jerk’s got to have an angle.”

Jeb paused and looked over to where Drin was hovering over Demfar as the medic bandaged up Mike. “I don’t know. Honestly at this point, whatever he’s doing, we can use it to get away. That’s what matters right now.”

Two guards shuffled nervously over to Jeb, not sure how to help but looking anxiously at the human in his arms. Jeb ignored them and walked towards the shuttle.

“Wenona!” Thurrin bounded over, “Are you okay? Jeb is she okay? Wait for me!”

Jeb slowed down as she approached. Thurrin rose up on her hind legs to try to better look up at Wenona but stumbled and fell back to all four legs. Jeb noticed she was definitely favoring her right hind leg.

To Jeb’s annoyance, Drin had followed the Booka over. Not wanting him to bother Wenona, Jeb started towards the ramp again.

“Wait, Wenona,” Drin grabbed Jeb on the shoulders to stop him. If Jeb hadn’t been carrying Wenona, he would wrench the Tiamin’s arm and throw him to the floor on instinct. He resisted though, and Drin was able to step closer.

“Wenona, I… I’m… sorry about this. About your injuries, and…” his voice dropped hesitantly. Wenona’s face was emotionless as she stared at him. “Our goal was to, in the end, form an alliance with Earth. I fear we may have ruined our chances in our incivility and brash actions.”

“You think?” Wenona shifted her weight slightly and Jeb winced as he felt a sharp pain in his arm. “You okay?”

Moving most of Wenona’s weight to his left arm, Jeb freed his right hand to brush at the scarves and cloaks Wenona was wearing. A small blade fell to the floor with a tinkling clatter. Thurrin stepped forward and picked it up to examine it. It looked like a small precision knife that would belong in a medical ward or lab.

“Oh,” Wenona sighed, “I wondered where that dumb thing went. Of course it shows up now.”

Drin leaned down to examine the blade in the Booka’s paws. He frowned and looked back up to Wenona. “You- that’s from my- what in gadring were you planning on doing with that?”

Wenona narrowed her eyes.“I don’t know. People make plenty dangerous things out of less dangerous supplies though, so I thought it might come in handy.” Wenona reached for the small blade. Thurrin passed it to her carefully. “I thought I lost this when I broke out.” She examined it briefly before raising an eyebrow at Drin. “I’m keeping this, by the way.”

Drin opened his mouth and shut it slowly, blinking confusedly for a moment before nodding. “I- uh, alright.”

“Wait,” everyone looked down to Thurrin, sitting between Jeb and Drin. “The Burnti’s plan was to make an alliance with Earth, but as soon as we get out and everyone knows what you did… Rozar was trying to bury the truth. Why are you helping us?”

Drin looked behind him to where Demfar was preparing Mike on a stretcher, to Wenona having to be carried by Jeb, and down to his hands.

“Truth rarely stays buried, especially when there are multiple mouths to leak it. Few on this ship know all the real circumstances of the humans’ presence here. In order to truly keep the secret, Rozar would only have to frame a few and have them executed.” Thurrin gasped. “That’s terrible!”

“That’s Rozar.” Drin’s expression darkened, though he kept his gaze on his hands.

“Oh, that’s what this is about,” Wenona winced in pain as she tried turning to face him better. “You’re saving your own skin.”

Drin looked up from his hands to stare blankly at Wenona. Jeb tensed. He wanted to just get Wenona onto the shuttle and get out of here. Did it matter what Drin’s reasoning was?

“Is he though?” Thurrin interjected. She looked up at Drin with confusion. “I mean, Rozar’s going to be furious with you once he knows it was you who let us go.”

“That’s true,” he admitted, “but now the whole ship knows something’s up, and I’ve alerted Burnti High Command to his actions.”

“So you reported him?” Wenona squirmed in Jeb’s grip as if she wanted to be let down, but Jeb merely frowned at her and shook his head. He wasn’t going to let her down just so she could try to pick a fight in her state - not when they were so close to getting out of here.

Realizing she wasn’t going to be let down, Wenona resigned herself to chewing Drin out from Jeb’s arms. “ And let me guess, in your report, you’re also the victim? Poor little Drin being forced to order bounties on Earth life and experiment on them? Oh and I’m sure that your stunt now, calling the guards off of Rozar’s orders will only help your story.”

For half a moment, there was a spark of anger in Drin’s eyes. Or maybe just indignation? In any case, Jeb stepped back and turned slightly to move his shoulder in between the human and the Tiamin. Instantly, the look faded from Drin and he sighed as he buried his face in his hand. He shook his head and dropped his hand, eyes lowered apologetically again. “I hope someday we can repair what we’ve done.”

Wenona glared at him. “Well, you do that then. And if you ever think you've done enough, think again. But you can fix all this,” she gestured vaguely at the docking bay and beyond, “I’m going home and I hope I never see you again.”

Jeb strode up the shuttle’s ramp. Enough was enough. It was time to go.

“I freaking told you he had an angle,” Wenona’s whisper wasn’t exactly quiet, but Jebannuck didn’t think she meant it to be.

.

It was crowded in the shuttle. After one of the guards helped Demfar load Mike in on a stretcher, it was even more crowded. There was a time when Wenona would have found being in such close quarters extremely uncomfortable and stressful, but honestly, she was too busy being relieved. After Jeb helped her get strapped in, she was able to rest her head back and breathe.

“Uh, Demfar,” Thurrin, who was sitting at the controls in front called out worriedly. Immediately Wenona tensed up, but she couldn’t find it in her to lift her head back up to see what was wrong. “Demfar, Wenona’s eyes are leaking, get over here, hurry!”

“Thurrin, I’m busy. She’s fine. Humans do that sometimes. It’s different than when Bookas do that.”

Wenona felt herself blush, but again, didn’t move. She hated crying, especially in front of people, but at this point, she really didn’t care. She hadn’t even noticed she was crying until Thurrin pointed it out. Though if the amount of sniffles she heard coming from around the small shuttle was anything to go by, she wasn’t the only one.

“Thurrin, I need you to focus,” Jeb’s voice was slightly reprimanding, though it sounded more tired than anything. “Demfar, is everyone safely strapped in?” There was a pause and an affirmation. “Good. You’re going to need to put things on hold for a moment until we warp. Find somewhere to strap in until then.”

“Uhhh… where?”

The engines of the shuttle hummed to life.

“Oh, I- I don’t know. I guess just hold on tight.”

Wenona cracked her eyes open just enough to be able to see what was going on up front. The airlock doors ahead of the shuttle were opening slowly. This was it. They were really leaving. Wenona smiled weakly. Drin might have been a jerk, but he’s a self-serving jerk whose spite aligned with helping them.

If she’d had any extra energy, she would have told Jeb to fly straight to Earth. Don’t even bother stopping at the Rock Base, or some other headquarters or meeting place. Just. Straight. To. Earth. To hell with any regulations or protocols! Anyone who disagreed with her could fight her!

But she didn’t have the energy, and she knew Jeb would never do that. Or at least, not without a very good reason, a very persuasive argument, and some very sad puppy dog eyes on her part. All of which might as well have been asking her to run a marathon right now.

Instead, she kept her head rested back and wandered in and out of consciousness. At one point, Kylee, who was sharing the seat with her, fell asleep and her head had fallen onto Wenona’s shoulder. There was some part of her that must have been awake enough to realize that she didn’t really know this person and she was in her personal space. It was largely ignored because she also had a part of her that knew there was no personal space left in this over-crowded shuttle, that Kylee had risked everything to come help her, and that overall, she was just too tired to really care. She ended up resting her head on Kylee’s.

Sometime later, Wenona overheard Demfar talking to Jeb. It sounded like Demfar was asking how they got out of there. They were speaking quietly, but she vaguely caught on to bits here and there.

“...Snuck in and found a map and took an educated guess where they were keeping Mike and Wenona…”

“And that’s when you heard Rozar’s announcement?” “Well, we were still in the room, so yes.” “And - not that I’m condoning violence as a medic, but you didn’t kill him?” “No. What’s done was done, and that would have made for potentially catastrophic repercussions later on with…”

“Wait, wait, did the black and white animal have a long, bushy tail? With two white stripes down its back?” “No, no tail. Its hair was short and it’s back was completely white. I think everyone else nearly lost it when it ate the greable.” “Greable? They had a greable deathbird aboard? And you were close to it? Let me look you over. You weren’t exposed to it, were you? ...Wait. What? It ATE the greable?”

“... said it before but I’ll say it again, once we’re all done with this, I must insist on a visit to Earth. Can you imagine the medical breakthroughs we could make by studying...”

“...we can get this all cleared up, I hope you do get a chance to visit Earth…”

Earth, Wenona caught on to that in her sleepy state and smiled. Earth. She was going home.

***

Currently, he was standing in front of the gate that blocked the hall. He’d climbed up to where it looked like there was a locking mechanism. No luck there. He was stumped for a moment until he noticed the small colored pins inset along the wall. He picked at them, poked at them, twisted, pulled. It was clear they were mechanized. If he tried hard enough, they probably could be moved by hand.

“Do you know if there’s some sort of pattern or whatever for these pins? Like, do I need to match up the blues, or…” He trailed off. He forgot she wouldn’t be much help with this. Simmo, and apparently all Montauk are colorblind. Seeing in color was something only a handful of species could do, or at least, only a handful of species in the Galactic Confederation. Maybe more could see color in the Burnti Empire. That might explain why there’s some sort of color-coding something on this stupid gate.

It took a bit, but eventually, he was able to figure out how the pins were supposed to move when the locks were engaged or disengaged. Moving the first pin out was hard - they were so small! Thankfully, due to the fact that he hadn’t had access to any clippers or files, his nails had grown long enough to pick out the pins so he could work them along their grooves and out of the way. Once he moved a few, it became easier to move the rest.

He grabbed one of the horizontal bars and pulled. It budged, but just barely. He tried again. It rose maybe two inches. Dang, this was heavier than it looked. It didn’t help either that he didn’t have much room to lift - there were two lasers he had to avoid right behind him. Mike turned around and leaned against the gate, trying to figure out the best move.

“Don’t look at me,” Simmo grumbled. “Even if there weren’t all these light sensors, I wouldn’t be much help lifting that thing. Why do you think I brought you along?”

Mike turned back to the gate. “And here I thought it was for my winning personality,” he sighed. He widened his stance and carefully squatted down to the level of the bar he needed. He’d taken a weight-lifting class once in school. He’d been pretty good at it then, and he did his best to keep good form- not that he had much choice. One wrong move and he’d set off the sensors. He grabbed the bar, locked his elbows and lifted with his legs.

Oh boy. If they got out of this, he was going to hit the gym, get back in shape!

The gate lifted enough that he could shuffle his knee under it and give his arms a break. He lifted again and repeated with his shoulders. He carefully stepped over a beam of light on the other side to try to give himself a better stance as he lowered the gate back down. The angle was a bit awkward and it slipped halfway down and slammed loudly against the floor.

Both Mike and Simmo winced involuntarily. Simmo glanced down the hall they had come before turning back to glare at Mike.

He sighed and pretended to brush it off by continuing the rest of the way over the lasers. He was glad Simmo couldn’t see his hands or legs shake, or hear how fast his heart was beating. 

He was able to maneuver the rest of the way without incident. A little stumbling, and a lot of shaking, sure, but he made it.

He let himself take a bit of a breather at the other end, shaking his legs so they’d stop feeling like jelly. “Wow,” he muttered to himself. “Always wanted to do that. Always thought it’d be more fun. Life and death situations seem to suck the fun out of everything.”

He entered the code on the panel like Simmo showed him. The laser light show sensors turned off. Mike’s mind was starting to wander as he thought of what the differences there must be between his and Simmo’s - and whoever designed these things, eyes. Why could he see the beams that were supposed to be invisible? Was it with the cones or rods in the eyes? Was it because of how the brain processed the light? He didn’t get very far in thinking though. A loud clang nearly made him jump out of his skin. The gate was raising. That was the loudest gate he’d ever heard. Why did everything always so loud when you were trying to be quiet? After getting over his initial scare, he cringed as it continued its way up loudly. He really hoped no one else was nearby. They would get caught all because of a stupid gate that desperately needed some WD40. Or whatever the Burnti used.

Simmo quickly made her way over and entered the command to restart the security protocols. Mike wasn’t keen on the idea of having the dang gate move around again, but Simmo assured him it was necessary to maintain their cover while they were in the control room. Thankfully, the mechanism that moved the gate was a lot quieter going down than it was going up.

The control room itself was not exactly what Mike had been expecting. As soon as they opened the door, he anticipated seeing a few cramped desks or tables covered with computers and monitors, star maps, electrical displays, the works. Instead, it was a rather spacious room with large decorative tapestries with several inlets and nooks along the walls. In the middle of the room was an impressively large, round computer console. A few steps away was a set of shelves storing everything from datapads, books, what looked like scrolls, and cylinder can things of various sizes and colors.

“So,” Mike drew out the word as he walked in and looked around and up. This place had a vaulted ceiling? On a spaceship? Classy. “Is this like some sort of library, or…?”

“A what?” Simmo marched immediately towards the computer console. She opened up the holographic display and began entering information.

“You know, a library,” Mike circled the room, checking out the inlets and tapestries. “A place where people keep lots of books and movies and old magazines or whatever. You can read there, or study, or research things?”

Simmo didn’t answer. She was now moving through the readouts on the display and scrolling through what didn’t seem important. Mike ran a hand over one of the tapestries. It swayed with his touch. Behind it, there was a small nook tucked away. Nice. He grabbed the tapestry again to steady it. It was huge - it hung all the way from the ceiling to the floor, and it was beautiful. He wasn’t sure the shapes on it meant anything, they were a little abstract and there were symbols he couldn’t read, but it was beautiful nonetheless. He stared at it a while longer, admiring the handiwork and skill that had gone into its creation before walked back to where Simmo was still looking up where Jeb was being held.

“Any luck?”

“He was put in the brig two levels up from us and in the rear of the ship.”

“Okay. Great! That was fast,” Mike nodded and headed toward the door. “Let’s go get him, let’s… Simmo?”

Simmo didn’t move from her spot. Her antenna flicked slightly, but she kept searching the hologram.

“Uh, Simmo, we’re on a bit of a time crunch here, let’s get a move on.”

“And how do you plan on getting out of here without a ship?”

Mike stopped. “I thought we’re taking yours.” He paused for a moment, waiting for a response. Simmo just continued swiping and searching the computer. “Do you… not know where yours is?”

“It’s been missing for about a partec now. It was supposed to be moved to bay 9 after it was done with some repairs, but it never showed up. Rozar told me to not worry about it, that the repairs were probably just taking longer than expected. Thing is, he never checked into it further. Every time I try to do so myself, I never have clearance.”

Mike’s stomach dropped. That didn’t sound good. They had to find the Junk Lego, it had to be somewhere.

He stepped over to Simmo to help her look. He couldn’t really read many of the symbols on the display but moving felt like something he could do. He needed something to do, needed some way to help. Before he could get far, however, he heard the loud gate outside the corridor being raised again.

“Simmo, someone’s coming! We know where they’re keeping Jeb, let’s get out of here! We’ll figure out where your ship is later.”

But Simmo didn’t move from her spot. Files and reports continued coming up and she kept sifting through each one at incredible speed. Mike stepped closer to her, sizing up how best to grab her and pull her along in a way that wouldn’t end up with him getting cut up by her sharp hands. Suddenly, the screen froze. Mike glanced at the topmost file on display. He still couldn’t read it, and for several tense moments, Simmo couldn’t stop reading it.

“Simmo,” Mike ground out. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears and all this standing around business was beginning to feel torturous. They had to hide!

“My ship,” Simmo whispered without taking her eyes off the display. “It’s gone.”

The loud clanging noises of the gate stopped. Shoot. Mike looked back at Simmo. She must have heard it, even with the control room door being closed. She was still fixated on the screen.

“Simmo!” Mike hissed through his teeth. The voices were right outside the door now, muffled and talking quietly, but getting closer.

Mike slapped at the screen’s controls, shutting it down and all but tackled Simmo and dragged her behind the tapestry. Just in time too - the tapestry was still moving and swaying a bit when the door slid open. Thankfully, the new arrivals were too deep in their conversation to notice. Mike didn’t dare look around to see who it was, but he could swear he recognized the voice of one of the speakers.

“This is not what my people were told,” a silvery voice entered the room. “We’ve waited long enough. The Burnti aren’t the only ones with whom we can make deals.”

“We’ll have the truminium soon now that the Galactic Confederation out of our way.”

Mike shrunk back farther. He knew that second voice. Commander Rozar had one of those very distinct voices.

“That’s been partecs now. You’ve sure been taking your time since,” the silvery voice countered. “Having too much time with your galactic streamings about your little prizes, perhaps?”

Mike tentatively inched to the edge to get a look, being careful to not be seen. Sure enough, there was that grand, feathered sloth jerk himself, talking to an alien Mike had never seen before. She looked very catlike. Larger than a booka, but larger and with a much longer torso with thick spotted gray fur and long antenna-like whiskers all over her body. She was standing on her hind legs, or maybe standing was too generous a term. It was more like she was balancing on her back legs. It’s long, thick tail helped to keep her balanced.

Mike ducked back behind the tapestry. ”What ith that?” he lisped to try to avoid being overheard.

Simmo leaned over to peer around the corner. “Priso. They’re not with the Burnti. They’re from some coalition near the Green Mallak nebula.” “Ok. That doesthn’t help. I have no idea what any of that ith.” 

Simmo made some sort of gesture that Mike had to assume was Montauk sign language for ‘shut up.’ 

Rozar and the priso hadn’t yet noticed they weren’t alone. The priso had said something which caused Rozar to flatten the feathers at the back of his head cooly. “If you’re going to be keeping up with your delightful attitude, you can always spend another cycle or two in a cell.”

The priso shot him an icy glare. “Your diplomacy leaves much to be desired.”

“And what, do tell, are you going to do about it? Complain about me to your superiors? I’m sure they’d applaud the lengths I’ve gone to not outright strangle you.” The priso’s fur ruffled. “Is that a threat?”

“No,” Rozar said calmly, “a statement. Though I’m sure many of your superiors wouldn’t mind if it were. I’m surprised you don’t hear more of them.”

The priso’s ears went flat against her skull, the same with its whisker-like antenna. She bared her teeth and let out a low growl.

“Oh do calm down, Sitran my dear,” Rozar sighed. “That’s what got you in trouble before.” He turned to the computer console and pulled up the display. Mike tensed. He hoped that whatever Simmo had been looking at before wasn’t still there, or if it was, it wouldn’t tip Rozar off that something was wrong. Thankfully, the display had reset itself when they closed it down in their rush.

“Ah, here we are,” Rozar looks closely at the display before turning toward a set of shelves. Picking up a datapad, he activated the display and handed it to the angry priso. “Perhaps this will help allay some ill will. This datapad should include the pertinent communications we’ve had with Earth. Or at least with the governments that have been expressing an interest.”

Sitran took it and began scrolling through with a paw. Her ears came forward and the offended expression on her face melted away into a mix of curiosity and wonder. “These are just the ones that...” she continued to scroll. “How many governments does Earth have?!”

Rozar stepped back toward the main computer console chuckling lightly. “My understanding is that humans just wandered around their planet. When they got too far from each other, they started doing their own things, made their own cultures, formed new languages, and even their widespread appearances changed in some cases to adapt to new environments. In short, there are enough for everyone to share.”

Mike felt a mix of confusion, alarm, and anger. He wished he could just step out there and wipe that smug look right off Rozar’s face. Like he knew anything important about humans! What was that jerk planning?

Rozar,still very much unaware of Mike and Simmo’s presence, was very much enjoying showing off his human-related knowledge.

“There’s a file with everything you need near the top. Several files actually. I’d recommend reviewing the health and safety files thoroughly. There are things you wouldn’t think would pose a health hazard. You wouldn’t want to get something in your paw broken during a customary human hand greeting.”

Simmo leaned into Mike’s ear, “Please tell me that’s not a real thing.”

Mike turned back to her and thought for a moment. “Uh, handshake? I think he’s talking about handshake-th. That’th tho dumb. They don’t hurt”

Simmo didn’t look comforted in the slightest. 

The priso was still looking through the files, fascinated. Her wide eyes were darting across the screen. “I thought most of this was just rumor. Humans sure don’t mess around, do they?”

“Oh no. They certainly do,” Rozar corrected. “That’s part of the problem with working with them. But I imagine that if the Galactic Confederation has been successful at integrating them, then it’s obviously manageable. The rewards vastly outweigh the risks, as you can see in the next file.”

Simmo leaned into Mike’s ear again. “I want a copy of that datapad.”

Mike pushed her face away from his and peeked back out.

“You’ll want to read through the behavioral files as well,” Rozar had now moved over near Sitran and was pointing out the folder in question. “We’ve tried to log as much information as extensively as we can, but it’s very much an ongoing endeavor. Our own humans have been exceptionally-”

The door slid open again. Mike jumped back a bit out of habit to avoid detection. He didn’t really need to, the new arrivals, a pair of yellow guards immediately rushed in and saluted Rozar.

“Commander,” the shorter of the pair rushed, she sounded like she was out of breath, “We have apprehended a ship, sir.”

“The escaped prisoners?”

“No sir, a Galactic Confederation ship.” That got Rozar’s full attention. 

Rozar ignored a quirked look from Sitran. “Come again? A Galactic Confederation ship?”

“Yes sir, we were in pursuit of the escaped prisoners and they came out of nowhere sir. By the time we had them, the prisoners had gone to hyperspeed.” “A diversion perhaps?” Sitran mused.

“Quite possible. Two of the three missing prisoners were Confederation officers, I believe.” Rozar’s tail swayed dramatically from side to side, red and purple feathers brushed lightly on the floor. “They helped them get away and let themselves be captured. We’ll know for sure after we’ve interrogated them. And then we’ll make an example of them for the rest of the meddlesome Confederation fools.”

The guards suddenly looked rather sheepish. “Ah, yes, about that,” the second, taller guard started. Rozar snapped his head towards him, which only disconcerted the guard more. “Their ship is still in docking bay 4, but they themselves… aren’t.”

Rozar stared at the pair of them silently for what seemed like forever. Mike leaned out a bit more from behind the tapestry.

“They aren’t… what?” Rozar nearly spat.

The guards shifted uncomfortably. “They… aren’t on their ship anymore. Ah, a few moments after the air seal locks disengaged, three of them rushed the doors and were able to break through the ranks. They, ah, well they are now loose aboard the Arum Bloom, sir.”

Silence.

“They... broke the ranks?”

“Ah, yes… sir. The guards were not prepared for them to leave their ship like that, or leave willingly at all. Several have had to be taken to the infirmary. Two granims have serious concussions and are in critical condi-.”

“How many?”

“Uh, sir?”

“How many Galactic Confederation soldiers are now running amok on my ship?”

The first guard paused nervously. The second piped up, “From the reports we’ve received, there are three, sir.”

Rozar stepped away from the computer console and began pacing slowly, sharp claws clacking against his jaw. Mike slipped a bit back behind his hiding spot as Rozar walked by. The Burnti Fleet Commander had his eyes closed, sure, but he still felt dangerous. Mike could feel the anger and tension building up. He was pretty sure everyone in the room could. Even Simmo, who had barely moved from her hiding spot at all, scooted almost imperceptibly closer to Mike’s side.

“Three.” Rozar sighed deeply. “Three soldiers were able to ‘break your ranks,’ injure several guards, and avoid capture?” Rozar stopped in front of the guards, his feathers puffed out a bit as he arched his neck to look down at the guards. “Please illuminate to me how, by all that is bright and shining, three soldiers were able to, thus far, elude you all.”

Mike did not envy the guards’ position. He knew it was silly, they were Burnti- his captors- but part of him even felt a little bad for them.

One of them, the second one, managed to gather a bit more courage and straighten up. “Two of them were human sir.” 

Mike gasped. Simmo glowered at him.

No one must have heard, thankfully, because the guard continued, “We had scanned their ship as we brought them aboard, but something was interfering with the scan. Before we could completely set up for boarding protocols, two humans and a booka attacked and got away.”

“Well, Commander,” Sitran drawled out dramatically, “It seems you certainly are busy. I can make sure my superiors take this,” he closed the display of the datapad, “as a gift of good faith for the truminium trade, shall I?”

Rozar made a sound that was a mix between a grunt and a growl.

Sitran walked toward the door. The two guards hesitated, unsure if they should try to stop her or not.

“I’ll just see myself out then,” Sitran stepped around them and toward the door, calling back smugly, “Don’t worry, I remember where my ship is, unless of course it’s been moved or stolen in all the commotion lately.”

Mike ducked back to hiding as Rozar stormed by. He was definitely growling now. After a moment, he heard the blips and hums of the computer console as he pulled up the report readouts the guards had brought him. More reports were sent in as the search for the intruders went on.

Simmo quietly thunked her head against the wall. “They are never going to leave. We need to get out of here,” she hissed under her breath.

“There are humans,” Mike whispered back. “They’ve probably come to rescue us!”

“Two humans. Two humans came. Oh, and a booka. Great.” Simmo started to roll her eyes but stopped herself once she realized what she was doing. “Against everyone else aboard the Arum Bloom? They’re idiots for coming at all.”

Mike sighed and leaned to spy on what the other occupants in the room were doing, but before he could, Simmo grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

“Now look here you little monster,” her face was right in Mike’s again, “don’t you go getting any stupid ideas. We’re getting out of here as soon as we can. I agreed to take you, Wenona, and for some reason, Jebannuck, but I draw the line there. We are not risking our plans to save more humans on a doomed mission.”

Mike smiled. “Aw, Simmo, you said our plan. Like we’re a team,” he teased. Simmo hissed quietly and pushed him back. It’d been a soft push, sure, but as Mike stepped back from it, he tripped over his other foot and stumbled back, landing on his butt past the tapestry.

He froze. He felt like he could feel every. Single. Heartbeat.

Frewan.

He turned his head to the middle of the room. Maybe Rozar hadn’t seen. Maybe he’d had his back turned and didn’t notice.

Yeah, no such luck.

Rozar stared back at him, surprise coloring his wide golden eyes.

After a few tense heartbeats, the two guards finally snapped out of their shock and pulled their blasters, leveling them right at Mike. 

Before any of them could react further, the control room door opened again. A huge hairy mass raced towards Mike. Booming barks felt like they were shaking the entire room.

“No one shoot!” a familiar voice commanded. “Put your weapons down!”

Mike had his hands full of massive, hairy, very excited dog. By the time he was able to sit back up and wipe the slobber off his face, Wenona had disarmed the guards and was handing their weapons to Jebannuck. She kept her blaster pointed directly at Rozar, but carefully, her eyes wandered to where Mike was trying to settle down Carson.

“Oh, Mike,” her voice bounced cheerily, “I’m glad you’re still alive. Because I’m about ready to kill you.” She dropped the smile. “Where have you been?!”

“Uh,” Mike stood back up, “with Simmo.” He motioned for her to step out from behind the tapestry. She was hesitant, but as soon as Mike had acknowledged her, Carson started sniffing. Then growling. Mike stroked the dog’s head. “It’s ok boy, she’s a friend.” Which earned a simultaneous scoff from Simmo and a quiet “Well…” from Jebannuck.

Simmo cautiously took a step out from behind the tapestry. Carson sniffed eagerly at her while Mike held his collar.

“What is that thing?!”

“That’s Carson,” Mike scratched the dog’s ears. “He’s our unofficial pet until we can get him home to his real owners back on Earth.”

Simmo’s antenna were flat against her head and her mandibles clicked quietly, but she didn’t stop the canine and instead stood stiffly, waiting for it to be over. When Carson was done, he huffed loudly and stood resolutely between Simmo and Mike.

“Simmo,” Rozar’s voice broke the tense silence, “I assume I’m to hold you responsible for at least most of this mess.”

“Quite likely.”

Rozar looked like he was trying to kill Simmo just by glaring at her. He looked like he might say more, but Jebannuck spoke first. “Simmo, are you the one who opened the cells?”

Simmo tilted her head stiffly. “Yeah, whatever. You’re welcome.”

Jebannuck stared at her. “You opened the entire cell block. There were more than just prisoners in there. You almost got me killed.”

“If I’d known it was your cell block, believe me, I would have found another distraction.”

Mike waved them both down. “Okay, fine, it’s fine. I mean, now we don’t need to break Jebannuck out.” Simmo made a long grunting noise and looked away. Mike looked at her, but shook his head and chose to ignore whatever she meant by that. They were together now, and they had to act quickly. “Simmo, you said something earlier about your ship?”

Simmo looked to Rozar who gave the smallest hint of a grin.

“It’s gone.” Simmo clenched her sharp claws. Mike, Jeb, and Wenona glanced at each other. Simmo only had eyes for Rozar Silence. Finally, Wenona, still aiming a blaster at his chest, took a warning step closer.

Rozar sighed. “The parts were useful. Plus,” he sneered, “we didn’t want you getting any bright ideas. Apparently, I was right to be concerned.”

“So we steal another ship. We get out of here,” Wenona said matter-of-factly.

Jebannuck shook his head. “That may be impossible. They’ll have increased guard duty since the last prisoners did that.” “We can take them, we have the blasters.”

“We don’t need to.” Mike jumped in. “There’s a ship, a Galactic Confederation ship.” He nodded at Rozar. “I overheard them earlier.”

“Yeah,” Simmo scoffed, “with its crew now wandering somewhere on the ship.”

Rozar chuckled. Wenona readjusted her aim on him that had been slipping during the conversation. “So what will you do now? Will you steal their ship and save yourselves, or will you get yourselves captured by trying to find them?”

“Shut up, Rozar, no one asked you.” Wenona gave him her iconic glare.

“Shoot him,” Simmo growled. “We don’t need him overhearing our plans so he can stop us once we leave.”

“And give the Burnti a reason to go to war against the Galactic Confederation?” Jebannuck countered. “He’s not just some guard, he’s a fleet commander, and we wouldn’t be doing it in self-defense!”

Wenona sighed and looked back at Jeb. “We can’t just leave him either.”

Rozar used the momentary distraction and dove behind the computer console. Wenona shot a blast which barely missed him as he went, brushing over the feather tips of his tail. Carson barked wildly, pulling Mike who was still holding his collar with him a few steps before Mike could regain footing.

The entire control room erupted with noise and no small amount of panic. The guards, even without weapons, rushed them in order to protect their commander. Wenona swore and tried to move to get another shot at Rozar, but her limp slowed her down. Jeb was able to shoot one of the guards, but the other crashed into Wenona and both of them fell to the floor.

Carson was still barking wildly but was now trying to pull Mike along to defend Wenona. He let go of the dog’s collar and yelled to Jeb to throw him one of the spare blasters. The guard that had attacked Wenona screamed as Carson bit its arm.

A loud tonal beep blared from speakers that must have been installed in the walls or ceiling. Rozar’s voice echoed in the room, outside in the hall, and Mike assumed, everywhere in the ship, “This is Fleet Commander Rozar. Humans have escaped. Armed and dangerous. Kill on sight.”

Mike felt like a bucket of ice water had just been dumped on him. We need to go. We need to go! WE NEED TO GO! He wasn’t sure if he had yelled any of that as he rushed forward and pulled Carson off the alien guard who quickly scrambled away holding its arm tightly to try to stop the purple blood from where they’d been bitten.

Simmo picked up one of the dropped blasters and tried a few more shots towards the computer console at Rozar as Jeb helped Wenona to her feet. She stumbled and gasped in pain.

“For my ship!” Simmo roared as she blasted away at the console. “For my crew!” She rushed the side to get a better angle. Mike couldn’t see if she got him or not as he struggled to pull Carson towards the door. He wished he had some sort of leash to help guide the dog away from the now-cowering guard and toward the door. 

“Carson, come!” The dog grudgingly let Mike pull him along.

Jebannuck was trying to pick up Wenona who was almost bent over with pain.

“What’s wrong?” Mike yelled. “What happened?”

“No time, hold this,” Jeb handed him an extra blaster so he could lift Wenona over his shoulder, using his now free hand to hold her in place as he ran to the door. “Simmo,” he shouted back, “We’re leaving! NOW!”

The montauk was already at his side. She frowned as they headed for the door, “What’s wrong with her?”

Jebannuck didn’t answer immediately. He led the way down the corridor and paused at the next turn. “Did either of you happen to overhear where the Confederation ship is being held?”

Mike thought back for a moment, trying to remember. “Docking bay 4,” He turned to Simmo. “Do you know where that is?”

Simmo paused then nodded and took the lead down the corridor.

He backed up slowly, watching the bird who stared back calmly with unblinking eyes. His foot bumped into something small and furry. He jumped. A small black and white four-legged creature was sniffing at his feet. He didn’t recognize it, but he remembered on Gamnut, Mike had described a creature from Earth that seemed very similar to this one and he did not want to be sprayed with any foul-smelling fluids.

The creature, other than the initial sniff, seemed to be completely bored by Jebannuck and wandered off to explore the rest of the cell hall with its residents. There seemed to be plenty- and not just various animals, but also a few other prisoners were starting to investigate why the doors were open. Including Jebannuck, there appeared to be six in total.

“Do you know what’s going on?” A sturdy, orange, bi-pedal alien asked aloud. A few of the other prisoners chimed that they didn’t. A few let out alarmed squawks or shrill chirps as they noticed the various creatures who were now also starting to come out to explore their open doors.

A buggish-looking alien - a Mahben Jeb realized, motioned to him, “You’re a Sefra? You, you’re from the Galactic Confederation?”

“Yes, Jebannuck Sefra, chief security officer for the ESS Gladius. And you?”

“Mahben Glaykur. I was part of the engineering crew for the… well for the former ESS Sicatna. Our ship was destroyed, but a few of my crewmates and I survived in a sealed-off section of the ship in the attack, but,” he looked around at the other prisoners, “I don’t see them here.”

Jebannuck took another look around at the other four prisoners. They weren’t from races in the Galactic Confederation. One wasn’t even one he recognized as a member of the Burnti Empire. They seemed to understand what was being said though if their large tufted ears that seemed to be twitching and following their conversations were anything to go by.

The orange alien- a kalot- who had spoken before stepped towards them. “They’re likely being held in another sector. I would worry more about yourself now though. Our first priority should be getting out of here.” Jebannuck studied the kalot. They were a race of sturdy, warm-blooded bipeds whose small planet was one of the original members of the Burnti Solar Alliance which later grew to become the Burnti Empire. What was he doing in the brig?

The kalot must have noticed Jebannuck’s attention. He gave him a quizzical look.

Jebannuck pointed behind himself. “The control panel to open the door should be over there.” “What?” Chirruped the Mahben, “You mean right under the… is that a flargin’ greable?” “Hmmm…” The kalot turned his attention from Jebannuck to the bird in question. “I’m fairly certain it is, but that appears to be our only way out.”

“Be careful,” Jebannuck warned, “Keep your distance from the… uh, specimens. I don’t know what all of them are, but they all appear to be exotic and/or dangerous.”

As if to emphasize his point, a new creature lumbered out of its cell to enter the short corridor. Jebannuck froze. He didn’t need any explanations or zoological descriptions to know that this creature was dangerous. It screamed dangerous. It was massive. Tall muscular legs ended in sharp-looking hooves. There were what looked like small trees growing from the top of its long head. It stared at them all as if sizing them up. 

The rest of the group turned to look back at what Jebannuck was staring at. There was a collective gasp. Glaykur looked like he was going to pass out.

Jebannuck glanced between the hulking brown beast and the door, or more specifically, the greable above the door. Instinctively, he reached for his blaster. It was, of course, not there. Mentally cursing the Burnti for the millionth time, Jebannuck steadied himself and tensed his muscles as he squared up to the large creature in the back.

“I need everyone to, very carefully, step into the closest open cell,” Jeb kept his voice as low and calm as possible. The other prisoners looked nervously between them before following his orders very slowly. 

The shaggy beast watched them all until it was only Jebannuck left in its sights. Its hairy brown ears flicked angrily and it threw its head back, its massive antlers connecting with the ceiling, leaving a hole in the otherwise pristine architecture. 

Jebannuck lowered his stance, steadying himself in the center of the corridor. “This had better work,” He muttered to himself. The beast bellowed at him. It sounded like a mix between a roar and a saw motor revving. His legs nearly melted like sarrot jelly, but he held his bearings as he filled his lungs to their maximum capacity and yelled back at the huge creature.

The massive antlers were lowered to Jeb’s eye level and the whole, colossal mass started moving toward him at a speed he didn’t think was possible.

There was a moment, just a brief moment when Jebannuck’s mind seemed to pause time. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. He could only stare forward in terror as his mind thought calmly and quietly, “This is the last thing I’ll see before I die.”

And the moment passed. At the last possible moment, Jebannuck could move again and he dove sideways back into the cell closest to him. The creature barrelled by, stuck in its momentum towards the door. There was a loud hollow smack, followed by cracks and creaks. Metal bent and twisted and gave away and was lost in the sound of the creature’s loud and angry bellows.

With a groan, Jebannuck rolled over and crawled to the edge of the cell. Peeking out, he looked toward the door. Or what was left of it. Metal bars bent beyond recognition. The material in between the bars was completely gone.

Frewan. That door was shot. On one hand, that was great news, but on the other hand, they had lost any hope for stealth. If only he’d been able to get to the control panel! He got to his feet and started for the door. Still, he thought, the door was open, and any nearby guards would be rather preoccupied with that raging behemoth!

He turned to look at the other prisoners behind him. He motioned for them to follow. They might not all be from the Galactic Confederation, but the fact they were here in this place meant they were no friends of the Burnti. Four followed. Which left one.

The alien whose race he didn’t recognize still stood in the corridor. Its long tail curled and flicked back and forth as it just stared at them.

“Come on,” Jebannuck gestured again. Maybe he had assumed wrong that they understood them. Had the Burnti not fitted them with an updated translator?

He stretched a hand out, taking a step back toward them. They just stared. The other prisoners were already picking their way carefully through the debris that had been the door. Thankfully, the greable seemed to have already left, so that was one less thing to worry about right now.

“Jebannuck Sefra,” Glaykur whispered loudly from the exit, “come on. They’re not coming. I don’t know if they even understand you.”

Jebannuck glanced back at him. The guard was passed out. The door was broken. The prisoners were escaping. What’s not to understand?

Still, the mysterious prisoner didn’t move.

Rolling his eyes - a very human gesture, he realized as soon as he did it- he turned back to the door. He wasn’t going to risk getting caught because of this weirdo. As soon as he was out, he noticed that the others had already taken off in different directions. Mahben Glaykur and the orange bipedal alien- the ex-Burnti officer, had waited. shifting nervously on his feet as Jebannuck caught up. He could hear the familiar bellow of the creature that had nearly killed him coming from the corridor in front of him.

Jebannuck bent to pick up a few scraps of the material that had once been the door. It was heavy but quite pliable. It could come in handy. He threw it over his shoulder and did his best to fasten it to itself so it would stay there.

“This way,” Glaykur started down the right corridor.

Jebannuck straightened up, watching Glaykur go and looking to the Kalot at his side for confirmation.

“That’s the best way to go. There should be a docking hangar not too far from here. It’s not a big one, mostly just for service craft and small ships, but it’s the best option we’ve got.” They both started running after Glaykur before he could get completely out of sight.

“That was incredibly brave, what you did back there. I thought that thing was going to kill all of us.”

Jebannuck nodded, too focused on keeping up with the scuttling Mahben ahead of them and watching out for security to form a coherent response.

“My name’s Tarbi. Kalot Tarbi Kurrenmi. I’ve been in there for megacycles, bit harsh I think, considering my only real crime was-”

Jebannuck clapped a hand over Tarbi’s mouth. His rough skin hurt a bit, but it got him to stop talking. Just ahead of them, he could hear guards coming around the corner, yelling orders and coming in at a run. Glaykur paused as well, looking back at them fearfully. Jebannuck tensed. There was nowhere to hide here, especially not for all three of them.

They didn’t have much time to think of another option as a group of four guards turned the corner and all but ran right into them. Relying on instinct and training, Jebannuck pushed Tarbi and Glaykur behind him and grabbed the nearest guard. They weren’t big - a small stocky guard with skin the texture of reddish stone- and in a fluid motion, Jebannuck spun them off the floor and threw them into the other two guards. They went down hard.

“Wow! How did you-”

Jebannuck ignored Tarbi as he narrowly dodged a blaster shot from the remaining guard. He leaped towards them, grabbing the blaster. Realizing what he was trying to do, the guard took a step back, twisting and trying to wrench the blaster back.

As they struggled over the weapon, the other guards were getting up to their feet. Before they could regain their bearings, Glaykur was on them, swinging at and biting anything he could reach.

With a bit of hesitation, Tarbi ran and jumped onto one of the guards, knocking them over a second time. He then bounced off the fallen guard’s chest and into the side of the one Jebannuck was fighting. They let go of the blaster as they fell and Jebannuck shot them and the remaining conscious guards- knocking them out cold.

“Take any weapons you can find. Quickly.” Jebannuck stepped over the fallen guards, checking around the corner as Glaykur and Tarbi rounded up an additional three blasters and a taser.

They continued on in relative silence, each armed and jumpy as a salkree in a bish factory. Thankfully, the docking hangar wasn’t too far.

“The ships are right through here.” Tarbi stepped into the alcove and started entering a series of commands into the door’s panel. “We can get one, or even one for each of us, though I assume you two are going to the same place? Wherever the Confederation retreated back to? I’ll come too. Anything beats being here, especially after everything today. There’s no way I’m getting reinstated now.” He started angrily murmuring something to himself for a moment. “Although,” the door opened with a low beep, “if we do happen to come within range of the Slarsy System, I wouldn’t mind being dropped off-”

“You two go on,” Jebannuck interrupted. “Get out of here. I have companions who are still trapped somewhere aboard this ship.”

Glaykur froze. His antennae twitched as he blinked slowly, his translucent eyelids were pulled tight in a worried expression. “I… do too. I… I should stay and find them as well. Right? We can’t-”

“You two do realize that’s not going to do you or them any good, right?” Tarbi cut in. “Best case scenario, you’re just going to get yourselves captured again and be right back where you started. That’s if you’re not killed. Trust me, you’re not going to be doing anyone any good by staying.”

Glaykur frowned at the floor, shaking his head. “I… I suppose you’re right. We can… we can go back to the Confederation Fleet and… and we can let them know. We can get help.” He looked back up, “They’ll be able to sort this all out, right?”

“Right, so let’s go.” Tarbi stepped out of the alcove and made a break for the docking bay.

Glaykur followed hesitantly, looking back to Jeb who still hadn’t moved. “Jebannuck Sefra, are you coming?”

Jeb looked at the ships just beyond the door. Already Tarbi seemed to have picked one out and was entering commands on a console that started the ship’s untethering procedures. They could do this. They could make it out of here, especially with a former Burnti officer helping. 

“I can’t. Not without Mike and Wenona.” “Did you not hear us before? We can’t help them now. The best we can do is get out and get help. They’ll understand.”

“No. They wouldn’t leave me behind. I can’t leave them.” “You really believe that?”

“With every sinew of my soul. What’s more, I can’t leave them in the hands of the Burnti. Rozar has plans for the humans and I don’t trust them to be good for the rest of us.”

“They’re humans?” Jeb nodded.

Glaykur seemed to be lost in thought for a moment before nodding. “And it’s safe to assume that they’ve pack bonded with you?”

Jeb smiled.

Glaykur made a sound that was a mix between a chuckle and a sigh. “Well then, klern beyond shine for you. Or maybe for the Burnti. They’ll need all the help they can get if humans are involved.”

A loud bang made both of them jump. It was the ship’s exterior control panels. Tarbi seemed to be having a hard time with the controls and was losing patience.

Glaykur turned back to Jebannuck. “Go then. Get out of here, find your humans. Be safe.” “You as well. Stay out of view as best you can until you take off.”

They parted. Jebannuck was just a few steps around the corner when he heard guards approaching from behind. He ran, searching for another alcove or place to hide. He hoped Glaykur and Tarbi had enough sense to not be seen.

There were doors on either side of the hall. He tried the ones nearest. All locked. Between the alarm that was still blasting and the sound of approaching footsteps, Jebannuck could feel his anxiety levels rising. 

What to do? Where to go? He tried one more door. It opened. He hurriedly ran in and slammed the command panel to shut behind him. It was dark, but not so dark that he couldn’t see. Several machines filled the room. He didn’t know what they were for, but he was glad of the lights and bright panels that cast a soft light throughout the entire room. The soft hum of motors was calming, but Jebannuck knew that if this room was unlocked, it would be one that the guards would check. He’d have to hide. There had to be somewhere that wouldn’t be an obvious hiding spot.

His eyes caught sight of the ventilation intake on the wall. It wasn’t very tall, but it was wide enough and low to the ground. If he could get that panel covering off, it would be the perfect spot. He searched for something, any tool he could use to loosen the panel anything he could use to pry it from the wall. He pulled open drawers, searched cabinets. Nothing. Nothing that would work, anyway.

The door beeped. Jebannuck’s breath hitched. No time to find something, he had to hide now. He ducked into a narrow space between two pieces of machinery. The opening was facing away from the door, but if the guards cared to thoroughly look through the room, there was no way he wouldn’t be found.

The door slid open. Jeb could hear three sets of footsteps enter.

“Do you really think any of them would have made it this far?” “I don’t know,” Another voice answered. “Probably not? Hey, get the lights, would you?” The room lit up outside Jeb’s hiding hole. He blinked as his eyes adjusted. “Honestly, as long as we look busy right? Checking random rooms beats staring at boiler-room readouts all cycle.”

The footsteps seemed to split up and walk around the room. Jebannuck tried crouching down in his hiding spot as much as he could. It was only a matter of micro-moortiks before they found him.

“I wish they’d given us a better sector to search though,” the first voice whined. “This is boring. I thought we were going to see some action.”

A third voice spoke up, “Calm down, Chark’s right. I mean, sure we’re on the outskirts of the search parameters, but it is a nice break to routine.”

One of the pairs of footsteps was coming around the corner. Soon they’d be passing right in front of Jebannuck’s hiding spot. This was it. Try as he might, he couldn’t crouch down anymore or make himself look any smaller. He gripped the blaster he had stolen from the guard earlier. He could take out the one coming close to him, but would he be able to get to the others before they got him? He really had backed himself into a corner this time.

He was glad he had no room to jump when an alarm suddenly went off.

BRAAAAAAA! BRAAAAAAA! BRAAAAAAA! 

“What in gadring- What’s going on?”

“Hold on, let me-” the voice paused and heard muffled orders being given over a communicator. Jebannuck wished he could see what was going on. He wanted to peek around the corner, but he was not going to blow this lucky break by being spotted now.

“Right, they found them. They’re trying to steal a ship. The docking bay’s not too far from here! Let’s go!”

The footsteps ran to the door.

“This is way better than watching the boiler-room readouts!” And the door slid shut.

It took a few heartbeats, but finally, Jeb let out a sigh of relief. He all but fell out of his hiding spot and laid on his back next to the machine that had kept him safe from the guards. The alarm continued droning on, and honestly, he could think of no sound that was more beautiful right now.

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there, it was quite a while, and by the time he got back up to his feet, the alarm stopped. He paused. Did that mean the others had been caught? He had no idea about the three that split off as soon as they were out of the prison corridor, but he hoped Glaykur and Tarbi made it off the ship. It was a long-shot for them to try. They might have had better chances if he had gone with them. He inhaled sharply at that thought.

No. No, he shouldn’t feel guilty. If he’d been there, their chances at success would have still been slim. With Tarbi, it was at least possible. Besides, Jebannuck knew if he left without Mike and Wenona, he’d never get over the disgrace of letting them down. 

Who knows, maybe they did make it.

He decided to give it a few minutes before he left the room, let any chaos from before settle down. He was much more likely to sneak around the ship once the guards were back into a routine he could observe and predict. In the meantime, he searched the room for any sort of map or readout that could be useful. 

It was only after it had been quiet in the hall for several moortiks that he finally opened the door. He followed in the direction the last patrol went, trusting that they would follow a route and not double back towards him. As he went, he kept a careful eye out for possible hiding spots. Thankfully, he only needed to use the improvised hiding spots once. If the guards had been paying closer attention, they would have seen him clinging on the back-side of a beam as they walked by, but they were caught up in a conversation of a show they had seen recently on the galactic stream.

He followed them, from a large distance of course, for a while before he finally broke off. If he had been following the map he had seen before as well as he thought he had, there should be a stairwell just ahead. There was also an elevator lift nearby, but he didn’t trust that no one else would be using it. As he suspected, the stairs were deserted.

From what he could tell, most of the holding cells were clustered back where he and the others had broken out earlier. There was also a main brig several levels down. He suspected that the humans wouldn’t be there. There were some large holding cells two levels up that seemed likely candidates.

He reached the door to the correct level. Ignoring the control panel, he inched the door open manually, sliding it just enough to try to tell if any guards were nearby. He couldn’t see any movement and didn’t hear any either. Careful not to jam his fingers, he released the door which slid shut before he hit the control panel for it to open all the way.

As he crept through the halls, listening for guards or patrols, Jebannuck’s mind couldn’t help but wonder. The last time he had been on an enemy ship, he had been leading a boarding party. He’d had his own weapons out and at the ready. He’d been in charge of the situation. He’d had no idea who was on that ship and how they would change him. 

The fact that he was armed now did help a bit, but it wasn’t his own blaster. In fact, it was kind of awkward to handle. The grip was made for someone with much smaller hands than his. And much more-fingered hands than his - the settings were tiny and intricate! It was a struggle to keep the thing level with just three large fingers.

As he neared the spot where he was pretty sure Mike and Wenona were being kept, he slowed his pace. They’d probably be well-guarded and locked in whatever cell they were in. He had one tiny blaster.

The cell should be just around the corner now. He had to come up with a plan.

A low growl interrupted his thoughts. He froze. What. The. Frewan. Was. That? He waited. If it was a guard, they didn’t come around the corner. Quite a few species in the Burnti Empire could growl, but none of them sounded that terrifying when they did so. None that he knew of, anyway.

There was a quiet rustle and the sound of soft steps. Jebannuck tensed. This was not normal guard behavior. Something was definitely off here.

Well, at least it matched the rest of the day he was having.

He made sure his blaster was ready. Whatever was around the corner, it wasn’t going to stop him from saving his friends. He took a deep breath and jumped out around the corner, blaster aimed straight at…

“Wenona?”

The human had a blaster pointed at him. Her face softened from a hard grimace to shocked realization. Then immediately to alarm as the huge growling beast at her side lunged forward.

“No no! Down, down, down! Carson! DOWN! Come here! Heel!”

If Jebannuck’s finger hadn’t slipped on the stupid blaster trigger, he would have stunned the monster as soon as it started toward him. He’d had quite enough of huge alien creatures trying to kill him today. Instead, he lowered his weapon slightly as he watched, shocked, that Wenona could so easily call it off. It barked at him, she reached out to grab a collar around its neck and stroked its head.

“Good boy. Good boy, Carson,” Wenona holstered her blaster in a decorative sash the Burnti had given her to wear. She scratched behind the creature’s floppy ears, which stopped it from barking, but not from growling at and glaring down Jebannuck.

“Oh my gosh, Jeb, you about gave me a heart attack. What are- how the heck are you here?”

The beast at her side - Carson?- started barking again. 

“Carson, down!” She looked between “Carson” and him for a second as she continued to stroke the beast’s head. “Jeb, hold on just a second, I think I’ve got an idea. Carson. Sit.” It took a few repeats of the command, but amazingly, the creature obeyed. “Stay.” Wenona took a step toward Jebannuck. “Stay.” Another two steps. A few more steps. She was right by his side in no time.

“This is Jeb.” She pointed toward Jebannuck. “Jeb. He’s our friend, he’s good. We like Jeb.”

To accentuate this, she put a hand on his shoulder. “Friend. Good. Good Jeb.”Wenona paused and turned to look at Jebannuck. She seemed to be thinking about something intently for a few seconds before pulling Jebannuck into a tight hug. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he just waited patiently. This must be a human thing. Should he do it back? Would that be awkward? He decided to give it a try, slowly embracing her back. That seemed to be the right thing to do. She released her hold and returned to her previous spot, albeit kneeling now.

“Wenona, what by all that is bright and shining is going on?”

“Jeb, meet Carson. He was abducted from Earth too. He’s a dog. He was someone’s pet, but we’ve kind of been taking care of him since we found him in Drin’s lab.” Jebannuck hadn’t heard anything so ridiculous in several megacycles. The look on his face must have said so.

“It’s okay, he’s friendly, he just needs to get to know you first,” Wenona crouched down and motioned for Jebannuck to do the same. Hesitantly, he dropped down as well.

“Hold your hand out like this so he can sniff you.” “Wenona, this seems unnecessary and unsafe.” “Just do it, he’s got to sniff you to get to know you.” Wenona whistled a sliding note to the ‘dog’. “Come Carson.”

To a mixture of Jebannuck’s surprise and panic, Carson came right at the pair of them. The only thing that kept him in place was Wenona who rested her arm over his shoulder.

“It’s okay, just… let him sniff you. He sees that I trust you, just let him sniff you.”

And sniff he did. And drool.

He growled a few times, but Wenona put a stop to it each time. She tried to get Jebannuck to pet the thing on the head, but after a few attempts were halted with growling, she thought it safer to just pet him herself while he continued to sniff. Much to Jebannuck’s relief.

Finally, Wenona decided it was good enough and stood up. Carson followed her, always staying between Jebannuck and Wenona. 

Jebannuck wiped the excess drool off his arm and also rose. “Wenona, we need to go. Get Mike and we-” He stopped. He finally took in the rest of the scene in the corridor. The unconscious guard on the floor. The guard who was pacing inside the locked holding-cell with two more downed guards on the floor. Wenona looked very disheveled and seemed to be limping. And also-

“Where’s Mike?”

Wenona shrugged.

“Please tell me this is some joke.” “No. I’m convinced that wandering off is Mike’s superpower. Not even a supposed locked holding-cell doors can keep him in.” She turned to lean against the glass wall and grimaced. Carson was next to her in an instant, whining and nosing at her side.

Jebannuck frowned and stepped forward. “Wenona, what happened?” He had to push aside Carson to get closer and got growled at again for his efforts.

Wenona clenched a fist and hit the window. The thud caused the trapped guard inside to look up. Wenona’s face scrunched in pain and smoothed out as she took several deep breaths.

“I… I’m fine. It’s that idiot in there’s fault. Shot me in the side. Settings were on stun, but… dang.”

“You were shot?!”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I think I just tweaked a muscle or something, set it off again. I’m fine.”

“You were shot? And they haven’t taken you to the medics or anything? They should have checked you over before you even woke up! How long have you been in this condition? Those sick-”

“Jeb!” Wenona interrupted. “There hasn’t been any time. It happened just a bit ago when I got out.”

Jeb just stared at her. “What?”

“It was back when the alarms were going off.” Wenona still didn’t look completely steady, but she was able to straighten up again.

Jebannuck felt dumbfounded. She had… she had been shot. Stun settings or no, she should still be down and out. He held out his hands to help her get steady on her feet again. She ignored the gesture and continued to try to take a few steps unaided. Her eyes met with his. He had seen that look in those eyes before. The first time they’d met. Well, he thought, it wasn’t the same look, just similar. On the Montauk ship, there’d been fear, anger, and confusion. But there’d also been a hard-set determination. Looking in her eyes now, he realized that they had the look of a species that would out-fight and outlast anything, or pass through gadring and beyond trying.

He was once again glad to be considered a friend by one of such a race.

Still, Wenona was only able to make it a few steps before she stumbled and clutched at her side. Jeb grabbed her arm to catch her.

“Wenona, you helped me up the mountain on Gamnut 4, let me help you now.”

She took a few more deep breaths before she nodded. Carefully, he helped her wrap her arm around his shoulder so he could help her support her injured side. He was taller, so it wasn’t the most comfortable position to have to lean down, but he knew she wouldn’t want him carrying her like a youngling unless it was absolutely necessary.

Hopefully, they’d be okay like this for a while.

They were just almost to the corner when Wenona looked back and whistled again. Humans made such a weird variety of noises. “Come on Carson, let’s go find Mike.”

Jebannuck looked back as well to see the terrifying carnivore... dog... pet thing, whatever, follow. Great. Well, he thought, maybe if they ran into any more guards, they wouldn’t need to fight them. The guards would probably just turn and run.

Humans and their monster pets.

Carson bounded in front of them and started sniffing at the ground. He paced a bit back and forth until he lifted his head up and barked loudly and repeatedly. His tail smacked Jebannuck in the legs hard. It didn’t hurt, exactly, but it was surprising how much force it had behind each wag.

Wenona smiled. “I think he’s found Mike’s scent.”

****

And you guys thought I was joking about the moose comment

Jeb leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. Maybe that was why he’d been so well taken care of, all things considered. Whatever Rozar was planning, he needed the humans cooperation. It’d be easier to get on their good side if he was kept alive- as a show of faith at best. Or as ransom at worst.

What was the Burnti Empire planning? They wanted an alliance with Earth and were willing to destroy the planet’s relationship with the Galactic Confederation to do so. But then what? Jebannuck knew more about humans than most on his crew, they were resourceful, durable, and for the most part, glent-tic crazy. He shuddered to think about what all the Burnti Empire could accomplish with the Earthlings as allies.

He shifted. His back slid across the smooth metallic wall behind him. The pain was gone. From what he could tell, there was hardly any scarring after the medics had done their job. He could sit comfortably in his cell, or get up and move around freely. Or as freely as one could in a glorified prison cell.

It was a relief that the Burnti Empire seemed to follow a high code of treatment for their prisoners. that's great and all, but he was still a prisoner. So were Mike and Wenona. Simmo? He wasn’t really sure of her current standing. She'd be fine though. She'd find a way to sway their current predicament to her advantage. That was the way Montauk always seemed to work. Whatever her plans were, Jebannuck was sure he could rule her out of any strategies he'd have to make to get out of here. Thank goodness.

The guard somewhere outside his cell was relieved of duty. Like clockwork.

But the new guard wasn’t alone. A familiar blue scaly alien entered and stood in front of his door. Jeb recognized it as the one in the back of the throne room when they’d met Commander Rozar.

At first, it didn’t say anything, just tapped and scrolled through a datapad it held in its short stubby fingers. Jebannuck watched it silently, growing more annoyed with its presence with each passing moortik.

“If you’re here to intimidate me to give up any information, you might as well go back now and tell your superiors you failed.”

His visitor didn’t respond at first. When she did, she didn’t even look up at him.

“I think not. Besides, the information I’m after is hardly Galactic Confederation classifieds.” She made one last swipe on the datapad and looked up at him like she was calling for the next person in line at the galactic vehicle registration department. “Name?”

Jebannuck frowned. What the frewan were they playing at?

He must have been taking too long because his interrogator, a Blue Donkun if he wasn’t mistaken, tilted her head back and sighed loudly, “Name. Your name, please. I haven’t got all day.”

Whatever she was playing at, he wasn’t going to make it easy. “Tokkannib Sefra.” That was actually the name of his grandfather. He wouldn’t mind his grandson using it though, he’d died shortly after Jeb had entered basic training.

The Donkun’s face didn’t move, but it seemed to emanate a sense of tired frustration. “No. It’s Jebannuck Sefra, correct?”

Jeb leaned his head back against the wall behind him and growled. “Tell me something, is it common Burnti practice to ask questions you already know the answer to?” He lightly rubbed at his jawline, “Seems like a pretty inefficient work ethic.”

The Donkun’s short, wide snout twitched. “My orders. Your name. Jebannuck Sefra. Correct or no?”

Jeb dropped his hand back down into his lap and studied the Donkun. She was short, as most of her species are, barely reaching half of Jeb’s height. Her neck, arms, legs, everything about her was stout and somewhat blockish. Even the set of horns (if one could call them that) on her head and running down to her stubby tail were more like little white nubs than anything.

“Yes. Correct. That’s my name.”

The interrogation continued like that for several moortiks. His name. His age. His assigned ship. His assigned position aboard said ship. How he had sustained his injuries. How he and the humans had escaped Gamnut 4, and on. All of it was information they should have already known or would have been hardly inconvenienced to look up themselves. But she kept asking them, ardently typing down every answer he gave before moving on to the next question.

Finally, she asked something that once again made Jeb pause before answering.

“What was the designation code of the escape pod you used?”

Why, by all that is bright, would they need or want that information?

“I don’t see how that would be pertinent.”

The Donkun took a deep inhale and lowered the datapad slightly. “Look, this is the last thing I need. What was the designation code?”

Jeb thought about it. What was the designation code? He’d had to enter it to get it to launch it from the Gladius, and again a few times later at the console to activate different sustainability protocols. It was also painted on the hull as a way for rescuers to identify it.

“GLA-8…” he paused and tried to remember. “GLA-8-C2… Uh, C2-137, no wait, 147. I think it ended with 147.”

“GLA-8-C2-147,” the Donkun murmured slowly as she entered the information. All the while, Jeb’s mind was firing, trying to figure out why the Burnti Empire would want that information. Why would they want or need any of this information, really? Then it hit him. If rescuers could use the designation code to find a launched pod, then the Burnti could too. But why? Why would they want it? It was basically only good for spare parts at this point. Unless...

“If you think you can get anything on the Galactic Confederation from the pod’s console, you’re going to waste your time. It’s an emergency escape pod. You won’t find any information of interest to you from it.”

Again the Donkun barely looked up from her datapad as she finished up her notes. “Eh. Maybe not. We’ll see though. If there is, it will just be an added bonus for us. If not, well, no big deal. We’ll still have it in our possession as evidence.” Jebannuck frowned. “Evidence of what?” She turned around and began walking back towards the exit. “Evidence of what?!” Jebannuck climbed up to his feet, staggering a bit with his still-sore muscles.

She paused and looked back at him over her shoulder, her bored expression now tinged with annoyance. “Evidence of our rescue of the humans.”

“Your rescue? That's not what happened, that's not the truth! You abducted us!”

She hummed. “It's Commander Rozar’s truth,” she turned back and walked out the door, leaving Jeb alone with the guard once again. “So it's the only one that matters.”

***

It was bight. Like, stupid bright. Why did these lights have to be so up in his face?

Mike squinted to try to make out shapes in the shadows beyond the glowing panels surrounding him.

He'd been on film sets similar to this before, backstage sometimes when his parents had been interviewed or were guests on talk shows. He'd even been called on stage once when his parents announced that their son would be piloting a mission around Jupiter. They were going for the “family business” spin. It was a publicity stunt, really. Were there more qualified pilots in the company? You betcha. But were any of them the only son of the founders and owners of NearStar Explorations?  No, they weren't.

Maybe as it turned out, lucky them?

No. He had to stay positive. This plan was going to work. This… this had to work.

Oh, who was he kidding? With Rozar in charge of all of this, it was probably going to suck.

So, the plan. Yeah. He took in a deep breath and ran over things again in his mind.

Morse code. He’d had a few teachers and professor go over it briefly in various classes. It was simple enough. He’d even spent time trying to memorize it a time or two - the reason being that if he knew Morse code, he might be able to use it and see if there were secret messages being sent around in everyday life. Like flickering lights, or in the weird clicking noise the elevator at the academy made sometimes, etc.

As it turned out, there weren’t. Or at least, not as far as he could tell.

There was a story though, one that a teacher had shared about the uses of Morse code. It had really stuck with him through the years. During the Vietnam War, there’d been a pilot who had been shot down and captured, tortured, and later forced to appear in a press conference on tv by his captors. He said what they wanted him to say - that the POWs were being taken care of, that everything was fine, all of that. But while he was there - while he spoke, he blinked out “TORTURE” over and over in morse code.

And so he’d been practicing. He couldn’t remember all the letters he needed, but he remembered the pattern, and between him and Wenona, they figured something out. He’d also been blinking a lot lately to make what he was about to do not seem so conspicuous. It was especially easy to do when you were being blinded by stage lighting.

If he squinted or shaded his eyes, he could make out the hustle going on beyond the shadows. Strange, scaly blue aliens were bustling around, checking monitors and running cables. One with hunched shoulders and wispy hairs running down its spine ran up and clipped a small microphone inside the collar of his shirt. It was easily hidden by a colorful sash. It seemed to be part of the fashion or uniform on the ship. He wondered briefly of what the different lengths and colors meant. The ones he and Wenona had been given were a solid light blue color. It was the same color as the blue he remembered seeing on the hulls of many Burnti ships when he was still aboard the Gladius.

Red lights started glowing where he was pretty sure he’d seen cameras. Were they recording? Was this live? Or were they just going to record it and edit it? Was he going to throw up? Oh man, he hadn’t had stage fright in years, but there were definitely butterflies flappin’ around down there now! How many people were going to see this? How many planets? And not just that - what if he messed up? What if he had to talk and blink code at the same time and he lost track of how many blinks he’d done in the middle of a word? He and Wenona had practiced before after they found out about this whole ordeal, but that was back in their holding room. This was happening for real now.

“Are you ready there, gorgeous?”

Mike jerked his head jerked to his left. He’d been so focused on not freaking out that he hadn’t noticed the new alien show up. The first thing he noted was the skin. At first, it looked rough or coarse, but upon further inspection, Mike realized it was just an illusion of the swirling patterns of color and shadows that seemed to be constantly changing. Its head was vaguely shaped like a lizard’s, though the snout was very short and blunt. It was honestly kind of hard to see what the rest of it looked like. It was wearing a lot of fine sashes and fabrics. Like, a lot of them. It was small though, the colorful crest on top of its head made it probably as tall as Mike’s chest. If that.

Another smaller alien was setting up a mic amidst the sashes, while another hovered about on a double set of gossamer wings, applying a fine translucent powder to the colorful face.

“You look like you're a lost deer head in the light.” She gave a musical laugh. Or at least he thought it was a “her”. He had a hard time telling with some species. Especially for ones he hadn’t encountered before. He’d learned a while back to not guess out loud. It got awkward sometimes. But for this particular alien, he couldn’t help but think she was a she. She sounded like a she. Wow, that was a lot of colors! It was kind of distracting.

“Did I say that right?” Mike forgot to not stare. He blinked a few times to try to make him blinking out code later seem more normal. What was it that she had said? What was she trying to say right?

“Uhm, yeah I think so,” he muttered as he tried to collect his thoughts again. “Wait, what?”

“It’s an Earth phrase, I believe.” She gave him a smile that made her small, slitted eyes nearly close completely. “It seems like an odd thing to say, but I’m sure it must make sense back on Earth?”

Mike smiled back, only remembering at the last minute to not show his teeth in his smile. He didn’t need to freak anyone out or scaring them. “Uh, yeah, deer in a headlight, sure am I guess.” That was what she had said, right? Oh, he needed to calm down! Seriously, where was this stage fright coming from? Deep breaths, deep breaths.

“Oh is that how it goes?” She gave another laugh. The colors across her face changed again. It was… mesmerizing. He nodded absentmindedly.

The smaller aliens finished their tasks and retreated back to the shadows beyond the stage lights, the winged one giving one last brush to the topmost sash before it flitted away.

“Now, before we start, your name is pronounced Mike, correct? I’d hate to get that wrong on live stream.”

He nodded, “Yeah. Mike.” He blinked a few more times for good measure.

“We’re going live in 7… 6… 5….”

Mike took a few more deep breaths and tried to focus on the patterns he needed to get his message out.

“Greetings all from the Arum Bloom, Second Command Cruiser of the Glorious Burnti Empire. For all our loyal returning viewers, you of course already know me, but for those of you who may be new or guests to our stream, my name is Urma Kalabretti Esh.” Music began playing from somewhere. It sounded happy and upbeat, but whatever instruments that were used to play it sounded tinny and hollow. There wasn’t a live audience present, but someone was doing a great job of playing recordings of various species cheering.

After pausing long enough for the music to die down, Urma Kalabretti Esh continued, “Thank you, thank you! Of course, it is always my delight to share with our lovely viewers the news, stories, and enlightenment of the Burnti Empire!”

She turned her head toward what should have been where the middle camera was set up. Mike realized they must have gone for a wide shot. He was on camera now. Okay. First letter. First letter? Oh, shoot! Uh… P!

Short blink. Long blink. Long blink. Short.

“Today we have a special guest with us to share some very exciting news. Prepare yourself, viewers, we’re in for a treat and a tale! May I introduce Human Mike Rockwell all the way from Earth!” The music started up again. It sounded a lot like the first time, but the melody was slightly different.

R. Short blink. Long. Short.

I. Short. Short.

S. Short. Short. Short.

“Now Human Mike, you’ve been with us here on the Arum Bloom for nearly three solar rotation sets, correct?”

O. Long. Long. Long.

“Yes.”

Oh, shoot, what was N? He sometimes got mixed up with N and A.

Long. Short. Pause. E. Short. Pause. R. Short. Long. Short.

“And you and your companion, another human, were found and picked up by our gracious Commander Rozar shortly after the fall of the Confederation Blockade?”

Was he being too obvious with the blinking? Someone was going to figure out what he was doing and stop him, right? Would they stop him on live stream, or would they wait until a break? Was there a break? Did aliens do commercial breaks? What would they do if they caught him? Oh shoot, he should start blinking again. Wait, what was the question she asked?

“Uh… yeah.” He hoped that would be a good answer to whatever the question was.

Short, long, long, short. Short, long, short. Short, short.

“Now, we all know your people have an alliance with the Galactic Confederation,” she paused as a series of “audience” voices moaned, hissed, and otherwise sounded very unhappy at the mention of the GC.

Short, short, short. Long, long, long.

“But tell me, Mike, were you yourself ever aligned with or signed up with a Confederation crew?”

Short. Long, short. Short. Short, long, short.

“No.” Short, long, long, short. “I was a pilot for my parent’s company.”

He focused on blinking out the word on repeat. All the while, Urma Kalabretti Esh continued the interview. For a good little while, she mostly fed Mike questions that he only needed ten words or less to answer. Together, they painted a picture of events that Rozar or whoever had made up- how he and Wenona had been abducted by a Galactic Confederation ship, had been forced to serve on board and to fight until they’d escaped in a pod during the battle at the blockade.

“Now, Mike, is it true that you and Wenona were stranded for a time on the planet Gamnut 4?” The “audience” gasped.

Mike continued to blink.

“Yes, everyone was distracted. We got away and we landed in an escape pod.”

“Gamnut 4,” the alien host gave a worried look, the swirling colors on her scaly face muted slightly. “From what I understand, it’s registered as a category 1 death world. That must have been terrifying for you two all alone!”

Long, short. Short. Short, long, short.

They hadn’t been alone, he wanted to say. But that wasn’t what had been scripted. “Uh, kind of. It wasn’t too bad. Actually, it was a lot like home.”

“Ah yes, how interesting! Your home, Earth, is registered as a category 3 death world, am I correct?”

Short, long, long, short.

“Um, yeah I guess. It’s just home, so I’ve never really thought about it as a death world.” And he hadn’t. At least, not before he left Earth. He’d heard so much about other homeworlds while aboard the Gladius. Most of them sounded like dream vacations spots.

“Truly remarkable! I suppose Gamnut 4 seemed like a breeze after growing up with all Earth could throw at you.” The colorful patterns brightened again. Mike tried to not let himself get too distracted. Thankfully, he felt that at this point, he had fallen into a bit of a rhythm with the code. Hopefully, the message was getting through.

“Now Mike, I know after you were rescued from the planet, Commander Rozar explained the situation with Earth’s alliance with the Galactic Confederation.” “He did.” Short, short, short. Long, long, long.

“Isn’t it terrible?! First, they block the Burnti Empire, getting a monopoly for Earth interactions, and then they turn on their supposed new allies by abducting you and who knows how many else?!”

The “audience” erupted into a cacophony of gasps, snorts, shouts of outrage, and whatever other noises they had on file to play.

Short, long, short. Short, short. Short, short, short. Long, long, long. Long, short. Short. Short, long, short.

“Tell me, Mike, if circumstances had been different if the Galactic Confederation hadn’t forced our people apart, do you think a Burnti/Earth alliance would have been better than what your people are currently suffering through?”

Oh, she was laying it on thick now. He knew she would. That’s how it was planned to go. He said what she wanted to hear. Or rather, what Commander Rozar wanted to be said.

Short, long, long, short. Short, long, short.

He agreed. He commended. He praised the Burnti Empire for saving him. He recommended them to his leaders back on Earth. Inwardly, he grimaced. He cited off all the things that had been scripted for him to say. All the while, the words felt dirty in his mouth.

Stick with the plan. If he didn’t, who knows what they’d do to Jeb.

Short, short. Short, short, short. Long, long, long.

Someone would catch on, right?