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Admiral Miles sat in a frustrated silence within his office. Currently, he was resting his head on his trusted desk as he considered what he had just witnessed. "What the hell are we fighting against?" He asked himself aloud, reflecting on the recent massacre.

Ordering himself a glass of wine with his implant, he opened his word doc and began to compose an official report to both the Fleet Admiral and Union President, a statement he wanted to put off on writing. Taking a long draw of his wine, he began to describe what had happened and how it transpired, including a breakdown of just how many of these... Things a team of three soldiers really could fight. "It's like we're fighting three-year-olds. How can beings so utterly devoid of intelligence make it into space, let alone enslave other beings?"

The most disturbing part of the whole ordeal was the anger radiating off Chrarada. Though physically weaker and smaller than Terrans outside of armour. The Aasteran people were just as, if not more combative, causing her anger to boil over at the thought of what these beings had done to her own.

Taking a few more sips of wine as he finished up his report. Admiral Miles filed the message and sealed it in a folder along with his other reports to be taken back to the Fleet Admiral upon Captain Michael's departure.

Yet, it was his First Officer that finally broke him from his stupor, sending a message reminding him to eat and rest. "Well, I guess I really shouldn't be drinking on an empty stomach." He said to the room, standing from his chair and walking towards the door. "Maybe I'll invite Norae over for dinner tonight."

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Michael transmitted his identification to the two massive Titan guards, the two in question currently standing at attention outside the medical facility as he continued to walk confidently up to them as the nearest soldier turned to stop him. Waiting for the confirmation, Michael looked at Srettia, who was studiously observing the armour-clad soldiers. "They're Titan guards, fully augmented soldiers. Nanofibre muscles with a host of implants and two-layered armour with multiple shield generators. You don't mess with these guys."

Getting the go-ahead, Michael and his entourage calmly entered the medical facility. To his surprise, he came face to face with eight more Titan guards, posted evenly throughout the medical bay. Ankiah burst into activity, eagerly sharing her theory that they were all infected with some sort of super-virus due to the amount of... 'Interaction' the group has had with the varying alien species. As she delicately put it.

"I don't think that's it. We have nanites that deal with that stuff and decontamination chambers to deal with the rest." Michael replied, clearing the air of the awkwardness.

" Maybe they just want to give us a checkup. Terrans are pretty keen on their medical attention, after all." Srettia guessed. "I think this is the most I've been to a medical facility in my entire life."

"Your health is important to us, Srettia. However, with the number of guards. I would assume we were called for something important."

"I've never needed a health checkup. I'm unsure what one entails." Yirphayen added, ringing with a slightly confusing tune as it tried to look past the dense minerals covering these new carbon forms.

"You're all wrong." Commander Brown stated from a chair in the back.

Michael straightened his spine and threw a salute at the Base Commander. "Ma'am! Why have you called us here, then?"

Commander Brown looked off to her side at a guard, then back to the group... "We've captured one of the aliens responsible for this mess. It was pretty badly hurt, though... The doctor thinks he patched it up, but alien physiology is, well, this one is a mess... You're here because you're watching over a Voktlix and Eaenhreph. Their opinion matters on how we proceed with its treatment."

"Ahh, so I'm just here to babysit. Got it." Michael replied with a thumbs up.

"Could be worse, partner. You could be asked to do some....... Work!!!"

Srettia burst into laughter and leaned into Michael. "Guess this has been kinda like a vacation."

Ankiah silently sat in a chair and looked to Caithen with a worried face. "Do I have to be here?"

Caithen put her hand on Ankiah's shoulder in support and gave her a comforting squeeze, causing Kendra to raise her eyebrow. " That was quick... I assume you ran that by your CO? If not, I'll have to report you." Kendra urged, pulling up a com list with her implant.

"Yes, ma'am! everything is above board." Private Caithen replied.

Commander Brown, eyed the private and shrugged. Not willing to push the topic any further. "Alright, then. We just have to wait for Chrarada to arrive, and we'll get started. In the meantime, feel free to grab a chair and some drinks."

The wait was awkward, to say the least... Jack and Yirphayen sang to each other while Caithen comforted Ankiah in the corner. Commander Brown played with a datapad, seemingly involved in some kind of work, while Srettia drooled in her chair, napping while she waited. Michael sighed and pulled up an old clicker game on his implant. He then began his cookie empire. A game he played on and off throughout the years. After nearly two hours of waiting, Chrarada finally stormed into the room with Ethuci hot on her tail, standing tall and proud.

"I have arrived. Take me to the prisoner!" Chrarada demanded, waking half the room.

Commander Brown stood from her chair and sent a notification to the doctor monitoring the being. "Of course, First Tail. The doctor will be out momentarily. He assures me the alien will make a recovery. It is, however, still in a sleep of some sort. He is unwilling to wake it as it may be some sort of healing phase."

Chrarada slammed her tail in anger. Stepping forward, she paused and took a moment to relax, her face softening slightly as she took in the sight of the unyielding Commander. "Fine... I will wait. But, Make it quick."

Srettia turned around in an attempt to hold back her laughter. It was only for a moment, but watching Ethuci tap her tail with his own as some sort of reminder was quite cute.

Having waited for only minutes, the doctor and his two titan escorts walked into the room, and Michael wondered precisely what kind of alien would require so many Titan guards. Were they that strong... If so, why did the capture of that command ship result in only minor injuries...

"I see everyone has arrived." The doctor stated, looking around the room eagerly at all the aliens in front of him. "Now, about my patient. While it has stabilized, it's still damaged. I believe it's in a regenerative state currently, so please keep your voices down. Now, if you will, please follow me."

Michael paused to let Chrarada take the lead and fell behind her as she walked up to follow the doctor into the observation room. It was then he finally got a good look at the alien. Michael scrunched his face in confusion. They really were just brownish-gray four-armed balls on three legs. They had eyes, of course, but what struck him was the mouth. It had enormous teeth... And a lot of them. "What's with the mouth, doc?" Michael asked. "Its teeth are massive and thick, but they aren't pointed or anything. That's not normal."

"Very astute for a pilot." The doctor replied. "Scans revealed a small number of rocks and large amounts of metals within its supposed stomach. It most likely uses its teeth to grind down rock formations to get to the metals inside." The doctor looked to Ankiah, then to Yirphayen and then back to Michael, ignoring Chrarada, who was pacing around the observation deck in anger. "There is no easy way to say this with a Voktlix and Eaenhreph present. But, I did find the same mineral clusters in its stomach as what appears naturally in Voktlix blood. I believe they may have been draining their blood as some sort of nourishment or maybe as a delicacy of some sort. I uh... I also detected large quantities of minerals, pieces of Eaenhreph in multiple cadavers reclaimed from both the command ships and recent boarding attempt."

Michael stared at the resting alien as it all sunk in. "They eat metals? Minerals and stuff like that? And they're using Voktlix and Eaenhreph as food and power?"

"This is unacceptable. These aliens must be dealt with immediately and swiftly."

Srettia looked to Ankiah, who was tightly holding onto Caithen as she listened to the doctor explain his findings to the group. "So what do we do with it... It's obviously guilty of murder if you found sentient beings in their cursed stomach." Srettia spat, eyeing the being with newfound disgust.

Chrarada slammed her tail on the ground and flared her hood in anger. "Agreed, I want this thing interrogated and pressured for information. Jack! I want you to work on translation immediately. I don't care if you have to break the rules and infiltrate allied systems. I want to talk to this thing."

"You are not my Commander. And I will not follow your orders. I will, however, agree with your sentiments and work towards translating their language regardless, as per Admiral Miles."

Chrarada slammed her tail once again in frustration as she looked down at the alien with anger. "Fine, as long as you understand, I want to be the first to talk to this... Thing..."

Ethuci walked up to Chrarada and stood beside her. "These things are... Why did they destroy Acarro and leave? Did they want the minerals inside it?"

"That is a possibility. As to why they lef... Detecting large energy build-up. Yirphayen, I request you to settle down immediately."

The Titan guards quickly expanded their energy shields and covered Chrarada and Ankiah as Private Caithen covered her charge. Chrarada, thinking quickly, grabbed Ethuci and dragged him into the shielded cover as he deployed a power shield from his new arm; quickly, he hugged her closely and raising the shield towards Yirphayen.

Letting out a screech of rage that echoed throughout the medical bay at learning that its brethren had been nothing but power and food for these beings. Yirphayen focused its energy, bottling it up within its core as an emotion it never felt before took control. Letting its energy condense into a single point, it allowed itself to discharge the energy upon the direction the alien was resting.

The condensed beam of light swiftly cut through the separation of trans-aluminum and bore a hole straight through the alien into the floor, incinerating the entire room and burning out conductors in the process.

Michael poked his head up from where he had covered Srettia and looked at the carnage the being wrought. "CALM YOUR SHIT DOWN, YIRPHAYEN!" Michael yelled.

Chrarada looked down into the chamber, gasping for air as smoke blew into the room. "What... What in the world was that?" Chrarada asked, scenting the air in concern as she stared at the bed's former location. In comparison to the sight before, the only remanents of the room was the floor's melted remains, currently seeping into the reinforced rock underneath the now empty room.

"You cannot act out like that, Yirphayen. You will be considered a hazard if you do so." Jack supplied, making sure to let out a calming tune for Yirphayen.

Yirphayen slowly came back to its senses and looked at the havoc it had caused and began harmonizing a tune of apologies. "I am sorry. I did. I don't know why I did that."

Chrarada pushed the guard aside and stalked up to the being of light, pointing her finger directly in its supposed face. "If you do that again, I will have you executed for attempted assassination!" Turning to the guards that were already in place beside her, Chrarada held her hand out in a human gesture. "Thank you."

The guard held out two fingers for Chrarada to grasp and nodded in acceptance. "Anytime First Tail."

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Tanda watched as the final parts of the fold core were set and sighed. "This was easier than I thought it would be, ya know?"

Viscia paused her calculation and looked at her leaking male, scenting the air with a smile. "It's because you're good at your job. Also, because I'm doing all the hard stuff."

"You don't think making sure strange matter transfer conduits are properly installed within a nano-metre is hard?" Tanda quipped, measuring the conduits in front of him.

"Waving that wand around isn't hard. The calculations and programming to make sure the wand does its job so you can do yours. That's hard." Viscia playfully replied, earning a laugh from Tanda.

"Fair enough." He answered, picking up the conduit and slotting it into the manifold.

"I want to go into the civilian district tonight." Viscia stated, pausing her work.

Tanda picked up his datapad and keyed a few commands as he studied his work. "Alright, mind if I ask why, though? That kinda came out of nowhere." He asked, watching as the robot came over to pick up the manifold.

Viscia hesitated, looking down at her computer while she spoke. "I saw a female Terran with bright lights weaved into her hair... I want to find out if I can fasten my hair with them...Maybe lace my hood with them as well."

Tanda stroked his chin with a smile and nodded. "Ahh, neon implants. I don't see why not. People get neon piercings all the time. One of my old teammates had his fingers laced with them. Said they were handy since he could light up dark places while he worked and stand out in a club."

Viscia spanned her head to look at Tanda, who seemed lost in thought. "You don't think it's weird?"

Wondering just what kind of look Viscia could pull off, Tanda got up to help his robot companion install one of the last manifolds. "I don't see why I would. It's pretty common for people to replace their hair with neon cord so they can control the colour and length. It works well. You can have any kind of art in your hair while you're not working and standard hair when you are. It keeps you professional while letting you explore your creative side. Some people even let their company rent out space on their hair while they're working for a few extra credits."

Viscia continued her work, shaking her head upon heading of the renting situation. "You Terrans are so weird sometimes... Does it hurt?"

"Wouldn't know personally. But from what I hear, it's painless. We'll check out a few places tonight and hit the one you're most comfortable with when you decide on what you want. Deal?"

Viscia smiled and nodded her head, scenting the air again to get a taste of Tanda. "Agreed. Now let's get this core finalized and installed."

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Commander Brown stood at attention in front of Admiral Miles. The look of disappointment was written clearly on his face. "So, the only one of these things that has the remote possibility of waking up has been reduced to slag and ash..."

"Yes, sir!" She replied.

Sighing as he watched the video footage again, he waved her off. "Sit... I don't think this was anyone's fault... We should have taken better steps in explaining the situation" Pausing a moment, he nodded along with himself before continuing. "We can treat it as a learning experience for now, an important one at that. We knew the Eaenhreph dwell in a vacuum, and the larger ones can fire an intense beam of light. Finding out even the smaller ones can fire them... We need to be careful when introducing them to delegates."

"Speaking of the Eaenhreph, sir. What of the ones holding position around Aaster's star?" Kendra asked, taking a seat opposite the Admiral.

"Their elected clan leader, or Elder, is happy to let Yirphayen continue his diplomatic venture with us. They don't seem to want to talk much other than to tell us to ask Yirphayen when it comes to questions. I don't think they trust us yet, but I bet they also don't want to leave our protected space." Admiral Miles replied with a bit of frustration.

"That's understandable. Being food for beings too stupid to surrender after more than half their 'surprise force' was destro-"

Alarms blared as both Kendra, and the Admirals Implants were pinged, informing them of two enemy ships approaching the system. Kendra palmed her face and looked at the Admiral, who seemed to have the same thought. "I hope they don't think two will work where one failed." She stated, walking towards the door.

"I agree." The Admiral replied, donning his coat and following the Commander.

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