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Yriphayen watched the light projection devices with rapt interest as the four ships attached themselves to the two larger ones. It was something that took getting used to, decerning the lightwaves in a way it could interpret them. But that just made it wonder what exactly was happening.

"Infiltration successful, Sir. Enemy ships haven't seemed to notice they've been boarded." Coms reported.

"Excellent!" Admiral miles exclaimed. "Now, let's see how well our non-lethal weaponry works on these guys, shall we?" Turning to Koma, Admiral Miles motioned to the bridge guards. "Please escort our guests to their quarters. This is not the time for civilians to be present."

Koma nodded and waved to Yirphayen. "Let's go, buddy. I don't think they want us to be here for this part."

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Wabs Sneakily crawled through the odd in-between. At first, he wanted to try living in this comfortable space. It was easy to sleep standing up when the walls pinned you in place after all. However, he eventually decided against it, but that was only after he tried eating an odd-looking hose... He didn't like the hose. It seemed to be filled with zappy things...

Sneakily walking past the odd breather who Wabs decided was definitely trying to fix one of the long zappy hoses, Wabs paused to take in the oddity of the breather fixing one. It was covered in thick metal plates and had a sharp piece of metal on its rear with an odd device attached to its middle. Waving at the breather as he walked away, Wabs was happy to notice it waved back and continued on its work. Wabs decided he liked the breather fixing ones. They were nice.

Stealthily continuing his adventure through the breather home, Wabs came across a few more of the fixer ones. They were all nice when they noticed Wabs, Waving or oddly moving their head. Wabs decided to wave back when they waved at him. After all, being nice was a thing smart ones did.

It didn't take long until Wabs noticed a large pile of food; however, It was just sitting in the middle of his walking path. Wabs felt like it was his lucky day and sat down in front of the large pile letting out a warble of joy as he picked up the first piece. Quickly he began tapping the pieces of food. Some were more solid than others. Some had been a mix of the other foods that were left out. Some even had odd brown crispy flaky things on it, Wabs like the crispy brown things. After stuffing himself, Wabs picked up the few pieces of food he couldn't finish and stored them in his under pouch.

As he continued walking through the odd path, he hoped he would come across more food. The food left out by the breathers was delightful, and Wabs had never tasted such pure food. His was always mixed with the dumb gritty stuff.

After walking a bit, Wabs slowed his journey as he came up to an odd light screen of blue blocking his way. He first tried a warbled at it, hoping it would go away, but it didn't seem to work. So he tried the next best thing and decided to poke it. Wabs was happy to find that his finger slipped right through, happier yet that the stupid thick invisible breather food was gone, and he could enjoy not being surrounded by the unseeable substance.

Walking through the blue light, Wabs stretched and vibrated his feet in glee. The thick invisible stuff the breathers sucked in was gone, as was the annoying vibrations it carried. Now Wabs could send his words through his feet vibrations like an ordinary thinker.

Wabs decided that this spot was suitable for a nap and ejected the food from his under-pouch onto the floor, stomping merrily as he pushed his after-nap snacks into a pile against some sort of plate.

Stretching his four arms, Wabs leaned up against the wall. Wabs then closed his eyes and stuck his hands into his under-pouch, thinking that this was indeed a good place for a nap.

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"Well, there you have it. This one is definitely smarter than the rest." Dr. Edmon stated.

"Yes, well, we figured that. The scans we took of its brain tell us it has higher cognitive functions than the rest but lower muscle mass. A different gender from the others? Maybe a subspecies?" Another doctor added.

A female Xeno biologist stepped forward and threw a scan up on display. "Scans show it as having the same 'genitalia' as the rest of the captured subjects. We can assume it is of the same gender unless it has the ability to switch or is similar to the Eaenhreph, wherein gender is irrelevant. I would bet on a subspecies. It could also be that the ones we captured were of a warrior cast, and this one of a different one, possibly a labourer."

"You may be right. Warriors don't really need to be intelligent. They only need to be smart enough to pick up a gun and point it at something." Dr. Edmon replied, monitoring the sleeping being.

"Well, we can confirm they can survive in a vacuum. Maybe they feel more comfortable in it, seeing as this one fell asleep almost as soon as it entered the space we made for it." The biologist confirmed, moving the camera drone closer to the being. "It eats metals, and it seems to like the ones covered in rust the most as it deliberately ate those first. I think It's possible the being evolved wholly in a vacuum. The vibrations it sent through the floor section might be how it communicates, seeing as it initiated them almost immediately. I would bet a day's worth of credits that this thing evolved on a comet, asteroid, or moon with no atmosphere. Am I missing anything?" She continued, looking around the room at the gathered specialists as she threw up the list on a screen.

"I agree. They might have evolved in an asteroid belt or on a dead planet. Its legs are strong enough to launch them quite the distance at a reasonable speed. Maybe they hop from location to location looking for metals?" Dr. Edmon stated, adding it to the posted hypothesis.

"I'd like to point out that this one isn't violent like the others. It walked past the marines on guard and even waved at a few. It lends credence to the cast system." One of the gathered specialists declared adding the behaviour to the list.

The group nodded and continued their debate on the creature's behaviour. Comparing the bio-scan to the larger ones and decided on cast designation for the creatures. After hours of discussion, the group decided a break was in order. However, that would quickly be put on hold as an odd light illuminated the screen showing a live feed of the creature, followed by an intense beam of energy, incinerating the area and the creature sleeping in it.

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"Welcome to the Vaydien nature preserve. Please be aware of Aasteran predation instincts. Eating the animals is against the rules." Michael read aloud, holding back a laugh at the 'bipedal snake, eating an animal with an X over it' sign. "Well. Don't eat the animals." Michael said, Looking at Srettia, who had a disgruntled look on her face.

"Why would I eat the animals? They're a part of the preserve, aren't they?" Srettia hissed back, seemingly annoyed by the sign.

"Well... They don't make signs like this just because. Maybe some of the soldiers visiting for refit came in here and ate something." He ventured, grabbing Srettia's hand and dragging her past the sign.

Srettia shrugged and enjoyed the heat swarming through her hand, and soon she moved to walk in step with Michael. "Then they were idiots. You should know not to eat something from a nature preserve."

"Well yeah. But, you never know." Michael added. Nodding at the park curator as they walked in, noticing the apparent look of worry on her face.

Yet, upon walking into the preservation, Srettia's mouth flew open at the sight of the massive trees. "The pictures do this place no justice. How can a tree grow so large?" She asked, craning her head to try and get a look at the top of the trees.

"Trees do what trees do best and grow tall and strong. This one is supposed to be a favourite to a berry-eating type bird. Apparently, it's easy to bend the branches inwards to make a nest or something." Michael replied, reading the description off his implant.

"Birds..... I don't like birds ... They make me want to shrink and hide." Srettia responded, hugging Michael's arm as the sound of flapping wings came overhead.

Michael double-checked the bird species and let out a sigh. "None of these birds are predator birds. They all eat nuts, berries and insects. No reason to be scared."

"It still makes me feel uncomfortable. You sure Earth is full of birds?" Srettia asked, flaring her hood in an attempt to look bigger.

"Yup, many, many birds. A lot of them are predators too. Though I bet they won't bother you at all, you're way too big for that." Michael replied as he scanned the horizon with his eyes.

Srettia stopped dead in her tracks and narrowed her eyes at Michael. "What do you mean, I'm 'too big?' " She hissed, placing her hands on her hips.

Michael stopped dead and realized how his words could be interpreted soon after. " I mean... Your mass is uhh... Hmm... You are too ta... You are people-sized, and birds don't eat people is what I'm getting at."

Srettia poked Michael with her tail and let out a joyous laugh. "You're easy to tease, you know."

Michael sighed in relief and continued to walk. "Man, you ladies are spooky when it comes to that shit, ya know..."

"And you better remember that feeling. I won't be so kind next time." Srettia replied. Taking Michael's hand as he continued to lead her down the path.

"Ohh, look, It's a Crofsel." Michael whispered, pointing at the two-tailed six limed mammal as it stalked slowly down the tree. "They sneak up and eat the nesting birds as they're sleeping."

Srettia quickly lowered her profile and felt her venom glands kick in. Separating from Michael, she got down on all four limbs and began stalking towards the creature, staying close enough to the ground her chest nearly dragged...

"Srettia, what the hell are you doing?" Michael asked, watching his partner expertly stalk the small mammal.....

....

Remembering the sign, Michael quickly grabbed Srettia's tail and gave her a good pull as she spat venom at the crofsel. "What the fuck are you doing, you idiot?!"

Srettia, upset that her hunt was interrupted, spun around and Tackled Michael, quickly pinning him to the ground as he held her onto her tail. Scenting the air in search of her prey, Srettia felt an ancient instinct take over, and she pushed her body against Michael's as his attempts to escape failed. Opening her mouth wide, she extended her fangs and quickly bit hard into the fleshy part of Michale's lower neck, grinding her body against his while doing so.

Michael felt his body go numb as his implant warned him of the introduction of a trace amount of neurotoxins in his puncture wound. Quickly, he ordered his nanites to clear up the mess, and he sucked in a deep breath in a hopeful attempt at using his failing strength, finding himself successful in pushing Srettia onto her back.

"Hey lady... You wanna wake up and let me go?" Michael asked, trying to ignore the fact Srettia was grinding her body against his.

Srettia slowly felt the haze lift as a larger, stronger predator silenced her instincts. Blinking a few times, Srettia noticed she had initiated a claiming ceremony with Michael and quickly let go, suddenly crawling back a few paces. "I... Umm... I dunno..." She tried, avoiding eye contact with Michael.

Michael just nodded and shook his legs a few times in an attempt to regain proper control as his nanites finished cleaning up his blood. "Well... I guess we know why the sign was there."

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"Well, that was odd. What now?" Koma asked, leading Yirphayen through the hall towards the lift.

Yirphayen sang in sorrow at the thought of Its trapped brethren and turned to the Terran specialist. " I would like to sit in an area with plenty of solar energy, in front of a 'star' as you call it."

"I suggest the observation area in section thirty-three. It is currently in line to receive direct sunlight from the local star."

Koma nodded as he entered the lift and keyed in the proper section. "Well, this should only take a few minutes. Anything else you need, Yirphayen?"

"My kind only requires nourishment from a solar source to subsist. Once I am in view of the local star. I will most likely take a rest cycle." Yirphayen replied, chiming a low tune.

Koma checked his implant for things to do while he waited, thankful the lift ride would take a minute before arriving. " Well, If you need anything, feel free to ask me." He tried, attempting to lighten the mood.

Yirphayen sang a tune of understanding as the door opened. "I will do so. Thank you for your concern."

"Hey, no problem!" Koma replied, waving Yirphayen out of the lift. "We'll get this mess sorted out soon. I'm sure the admiral has some plan to free the Eaenhreph held on those ships."

Yiyphayen followed Koma out of the lift and down the hall, harmonizing a slightly sad tune at the fate of its trapped brethren. " I understand. I hope they can be saved or otherwise free from their torment. It would be a better fate-" Yirphayen swiftly and sharply turned to the wall and began to gather energy within its core, focusing all its anger on one point. Screeching in rage, It unleashed its fury at the being hiding behind the wall.

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