Gabriel opened his eyes and sat up. He yawned and looked around, and almost jumped out of bed before remembering where he was. “Oh, right, I’m on a spaceship” he mumbled to himself. The lights were on and food was placed on the floor close to the door out. He walked into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. “I need a shave” He looked around but found no razor or tools of any kind “Great” He quickly freshened up in the shower before pulling on the makeshift loincloth and walking out.

Madeline was awake and sat wrapped in her bedsheet on her bed. “Good morning,” Gabriel said with a level tone.

“Good morning” She responded before looking at him with her head tilted. “Is there something wrong?”

Gabriel sighed and nodded while he headed for the imitation of food. “I think the severity of the situation hit me during the night, I am feeling quite nervous for what might happen” He grabbed the bowls of more blue goop and handed one to Madeline. “But, I also woke up with an idea about what to do”

Madeline accepted the bowl, “and what would that be?”

“Well, when we arrive at a black market, if that happens you will act as my ‘trainer’ or handler and I as a dangerous pet or something. That way they can't just get rid of you and we both need to be bought or hired. If we land somewhere else I would like to try and escape and maybe get help from the locals.”

Madeline nodded as she ate her food. “It might work, but we need to convince the Quizeaterans of that.”

“Yeah, I don’t know how except that they will get rid of you without any...” Gabriel stopped and ate some blue goop.

“Mess?” Madeline added softly.

Gabriel nodded. “Yeah, but on the off chance that we land somewhere else or get a chance to escape, how good are you in a fight?”

Madeline stopped eating and stared at him. “I have never fought anything in my life”

“Right, but you have relatively sharp claws, you could do some damage with those”

She looked down at her feet. “Those are for climbing, but I suppose you are right, although I don’t even know where to start if I got into a fight”

Gabriel finished the small bowl and stood up. “Well, let’s go through CQC 101”

“What does any of that mean?”

“Close quarters combat and 101 just means the first course. It’s sort of a joke.” Gabriel gestured for her to stand.

“Oh, l think I get it.” She finished her bowl and stood up.

“Well then, I suggest we start with kicks as you look to have strong legs and of course you have those raptor claws”

“Raptor?”

“Oh, I think it means bird of prey or something, we have large birds with big claws that hunt small animals on Earth.”

Madeline looked down “Huh, we evolved from mammals though.”

“Anyway, let’s get to it”

Gabriel guided Madeline through simple forward kicks and swipes which would use her claws to the best potential he could teach. It took some time but she had excellent balance and leg strength so It did not take that long for the basics. They wrapped her claws in remainders of the bedsheet and Gabriel positioned himself in front of her.

“Alright, kick me,” He said and braced.

“What? why?”

“I want to see how strong you are” he patted his stomach, “I can take it” She still looked hesitant. “Well, start half-power first then”

“Alright...” Madeline got into almost a proper stance and then kicked forwards into Gabriel's stomach. He braced against the kick and Madeline almost fell back before catching her balance. “It felt like I kicked a wall”

“How much power was that?” Gabriel had felt like a soft punch had hit him.

“About half, I think,” She said and looked at him curiously.

“Full power this time then” He braced again.

She shook her head and got into the stance. “I’m sorry in advance if I hurt you” She grimaced and kicked full power. Gabriel took the kick and this time felt like he’d been boxed in the stomach. Madeline pulled back with a very surprised expression, at least if Gabriel read it right. She wiggled her ankle but did not look hurt. “How strong are you?”

Gabriel straightened and rubbed his stomach “I don’t know, we don’t exactly have a good reference, anyways you can definitely do some damage with your kicks. I would not want to take that head-on with claws bared” He sat down on his bed, “But I think that’s enough for the first training session, I hope we will have time for a few more before landing anywhere”

Several days passed in this manner, training, eating blue gruel, sleeping, and talking. Something was starting to bother Gabriel though and after three days he decided to bring it up. “Madeline?”

“Yes?” She said while stretching her legs after another training session. She was getting pretty good at the basics.

“What do you remember from your kidnapping?” Gabriel asked, his eyes narrowed in thought.

“Not much, I was taken while I was asleep in a hotel during a trip with my father. I did tell you he was an emissary yes?”

“Huh, hotel translated correctly, And yes you did, and I was taken while I was asleep as well. But don’t you think the Quizeaterans are acting strange?”

She looked at him and leaned her head to the side, “I don’t know, why do you say that?”

“Well, you say they threatened to drug you when you were trying to tear the place apart when you first got here, but otherwise they have not talked to us at all. And they look scared when delivering food and prefer to do it when we are asleep or showering” Gabriel shrugged and scratched his now forming beard. “They just don’t act like any kidnappers or slave traders”

“Have you met many?” Madeline asked with another tilt of her head.

“Well, no none. But still, if they want our cooperation or at least obedience in order to sell us, they have to at least talk to us or ‘train us’, or me rather if I’m to be sold”

“Or just drug you and sell you” Madeline shrugged, something she had picked up from Gabriel over the last days since it was a favorite mannerism of his.

“Yeah, I guess they can do that, but still, don’t they look scared of us? you know even before they realized I was not very affected by the stun rods?”

“You do have a point, but I don’t really know what to do with it,” Madeline said and shrugged again. She apparently had taken a liking to it.

“Hmm” Gabriel scratched his beard while thinking “What if...” He started before the entire ship shook with a loud boom. “What the fuck!?” Gabriel got to his feet and looked around.

Madeline had put her hands on her head and ducked “What’s going on?” she said, sounding scared.

“I don’t know” Gabriel stood still listening for any sound at all for a few minutes. Their cell was very soundproof and he did not hear anything out of the ordinary. “What the actual hell is...” Gabriel started before two Quizeaterans almost tumbled into the room brandishing stun rods. They moved away from the door pointing the rods at it and not Gabriel or Madeline.

“Uh...” Gabriel said and took a few steps towards the door. Before he could peek through a large alien carrying a gun walked through. It did not have a hazmat suit on and was clearly different from the Quizeaterans from its build alone. A bit taller than Gabriel, it kind of looked like a humanoid insect crossed with a mammal of some kind. Two arms and legs with plates of chitin and eyes that while not faceted was solid grey. Its face had no nose, just slits for nostrils. Gabriel made a mental note to find a nickname for them. It wore dark coveralls with sparse armor plating. Probably to protect vitals but the armor looked plastic.

“Uh...” He said again. “Hi?” The alien turned with a shocked expression before raising his gun towards Gabriel's face. Gabriel ducked just before the gun went off, he pushed it out of the way with his left before giving the alien a haymaker with his right. He heard a crack as the alien’s jaw broke and it almost lifted off the ground as it fell back, hitting its head hard on the doorframe and leaving a smear of blood as it tumbled to the floor. “Alright, what the fuck?” He turned to the Quizeaterans.

“Please help us...” One of them whimpered.

“Why the fuck should I do th...”

“Watch out!” He heard Madeline shout and spun as another one of the large aliens stepped through the door and swung what looked like a stun rod on a baseball bat at him. With not enough time to dodge, he threw up both arms to block. The stun bat, he decided to call it, bounced off his arms and the alien gave him a confused look before looking at the stun bat. Gabriel looked down at his arms and flexed but nothing was broken so he decided to repay the alien by kicking him in the stomach.

This time the alien actually lifted from the floor and slammed into the far wall of the next small room. “Uh...” Gabriel said for the third time, “I guess it’s time to escape?” He looked at Madeline who in turn looked very confused.

“What are you?” She asked.

“A human, we have been over this” He picked up the stun bat and swung it around but it felt a bit too light to be an effective weapon. He found the button for the stun function and pressed it making small arcs jump between the prongs on the end. He pointed it at the Quizeaterans. “We need to have a long talk after this is over”

They sat huddled into a corner. “Yes, anything you say,” one of them confirmed.

“Well, alright,” He said, not expecting them to agree so easily. He turned to Madeline, “Shall we?”

“I don’t know what you expect me to do?” She said but stood up and carefully walked over.

“Shout if someone is coming up behind me with a bat” He waved it around. “All joking aside, just stay close, kick anyone that tries anything”

“I’ll try,” She said but did not sound sure about all this.

The adjacent room looked to be a small kitchen with lockers for stun rods and the hazmat suit the Quizeaterans wore. Gabriel had to find a nickname for them, why did they have to have such a long name. The alien inside had hit the wall at an awkward angle and was not breathing.

The room otherwise was the same white as the cell, but with grey floors and it looked more lived in. There were two more doors, but as he could tell one of them led into the observation room he ignored that one, the other one stood open and led into a corridor all the same white as the rest. The floor had some kind of anti-slip mat on and lines in different colors stretched on the walls, probably indicating different departments.

“So, what color is the bridge?” He turned to Madeline who shrugged.

“This is my first time in space,” She said and looked at the lines.

Gabriel took a few steps back and leaned into the cell. “Hey, where do we go?”

“They attacked the cargo hold,” said the same one that had spoken before.

“And what color is that, and what color is the bridge?”

“Red for the bridge, and Blue for the cargo hold”

Gabriel closed the door trapping them in before going back into the hallway, “Alright, red first” He found what he thought was the sign they used instead of an arrow, it looked more like a wave. “So, is it a wave in water and we should go the same way it would travel or…?”

Madeline looked at it for a moment before shrugging.

Gabriel sighed and decided to follow the wave to the right. The ship was eerily quiet even though it was under attack but after what felt like minutes of walking, although it was probably a lot less, they rounded a corner and Gabriel saw three of the Insect thingies, he held up his arm to stop Madeline. One of them was trying to get into the sealed bridge while the other two were just standing around looking on.

Gabriel pushed Madeline back and leaned close to whisper to her. “Alright, I need your help for this, I’ll tackle number one, that’s the one carrying the big gun. You kick number two in the back, that the one closest to us, and then you run back here. If it follows you run back to the cell and hide. I’ll take care of number three, the one poking around in the control panel.”

Madeline looked at him with wide eyes but waved her head feather.

“The small of their back is unarmored, aim there.” He patted her on the shoulder. “You’ll do great”

Madeline was almost hyperventilating but she waved her feathers again. Gabriel shook his legs and tried quickly limbering up as he had not run anywhere for several days, luckily this was just a few meters. He glanced at Madeline who looked ready but terrified. Gabriel wished he could have her stay here, but taking on three at the same time might be too much for him.

He gave her a countdown and then ran around the corner. It took number one a moment to see him coming and by the time he tried to raise his rifle at Gabriel, it was too late. Gabriel shoulder tackled him into the wall and heard a loud crack as the alien slammed into the wall and then it went limp. He turned to number two who was reaching for a weapon but Madeline caught up and kicked him in the back.

It shouted in pain and fell forward from the force of the kick. Gabriel quickly stepped on top of its back and kicked number three in the chest as it turned from the control panel fumbling for its gun. Number three slammed into the wall and Gabriel swung the bat into its face when it rebounded. Gabriel turned to number two who was wheezing and holding one hand to a bloody wound on its lower back. Madeline stood in shock looking on. Gabriel turned on the stun bat and pressed it to number two’s neck. It twitched before becoming limp as well. Gabriel checked the other two aliens but both were dead.

He put the stun bat under his arm and grabbed Madeline’s face in his hands. “Hey, look at me” She blinked and turned her attention from number two to him. “Are you alright?” Gabriel continued.

“Yes? I think so, I have not fought anything in my life I...” She trailed off.

“You did great, thank you, I might have been in trouble by myself,” Gabriel said, “But we need to keep going, there are more on the ship, probably”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then waved her feathers.

Gabriel smiled, “Alright, good, when it’s over we can talk” He ran his hands down to her shoulder and patted them. “You did good” She nodded slowly while waving her feather.

Gabriel turned to the bridge door and banged on it. “I have dealt with your problem out here, and now I will head to the cargo hold. And then when I’m done we are going to have a long talk.” Gabriel shouted at the door, “Oh, and if you have weapons I think this one is alive” He kicked the downed alien. before turning to Madeline “Do you think they heard that?”

She shrugged. They headed down the same corridor following the blue line this time. “Why is none of these corridors straight? It’s like they just dropped a bunch of rooms in a pile and built around them” Gabriel said as they rounded another corner.

He slid to a stop and Madeline bumped into him. Four more intruders stood in the cargo hold with a visible airlock forced open to the right. Two of them were carrying a large box towards it. Everyone stopped and looked at each other.

“Uh,” Gabriel said, and glanced around. The aliens said something to each other before reaching for weapons. Gabriel shoved Madeline behind the corner and threw the stun bat at the closest alien. The bat hit it in the face and the alien’s head rocked back and it fell over. While the second alien looked over at its fallen comrade Gabriel ran forwards. The other two dropped the box and one reached for his gun while the other ran for two rifles that lay just inside the airlock.

Gabriel reached the second alien before any weapons were fired and jabbed a punch in its face before spinning it around and using it as a shield. He put his left arm around its throat and with his right twisted the alien's right arm so it dropped the gun. He kicked the alien's legs out so the taller alien was more or less carried forwards by its neck while off balance trying to get its feet under it.

Both other aliens were now pointing guns at him but his shield made them hesitant to fire. He slowly circled to keep them both on the same side. “Right, what’s my next move?” He thought as he continued keeping both in his sight at all times. “I wish I have actually finished military training right now” He let them approach and tried to look scared and panicked, at least more than he felt. They moved closer, probably readying themselves to pounce and free their companion.

As they were beginning to come to close for comfort Gabriel quickly switched grip on the alien and kicked him into the one carrying a rifle, which the result of both of them tumbling to the floor. He turned to the third one and threw his body to the side while closing the gap. The alien tried to adjust and nailed Gabriel in the thigh instead of any vitals. “Ow!, fuck!” Gabriel grabbed the gun and pulled, meeting the alien's face with his elbow and hearing a satisfying crack and the alien fell backward, accompanied by a small spray of blood.

The remaining two had dislodged themselves from each other and the one carrying a rifle was raising it to fire. Gabriel was faster and shot the alien three times in the chest and neck, just over the armor. The final alien froze and slowly raised his hands, holding them almost like bunny ears over his head. Gabriel looked down to his thigh and found a small squished piece of metal stuck in his skin. He pulled it out and flicked it away.

“No wonder this gun did not have much recoil, these are like BB guns” He turned to the corridor leading out. “Madeline! It’s safe now!” She peaked around the corner and after looking around waved her feathers.

“What now?” She said from the safety of the corridor.

Gabriel looked to the remaining alien, “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

The alien did not move or react, it just sat still with its hand over its head. Gabriel addressed Madeline again. “I need you to find something to bind this one with, rope or handcuffs, maybe the other ones have something” Madeline looked around the cargo hold before finding some straps used to hold down boxes. “That will work,” Gabriel said and traded the gun for the straps.

Madeline held the gun awkwardly and kept her finger well out of reach of the trigger. Gabriel tied the alien’s arms and legs, probably a bit more than necessary but he did not know how limber these aliens were. He took the gun back and pointed to the airlock. “I’m going to poke my head inside, but as no more have come through even with shots fired here I don’t think it’s empty”

Madeline nodded and when Gabriel took a few steps towards the airlock she followed. Gabriel looked back, “I’d prefer if you stay here, just in case” He walked over picking up the stun bat and looking over all aliens for signs of life, and found the one he’d hit in the face with the stun bat was alive but unconscious. He tied it up as well before handing the stun bat to Madeline. “If anyone of them struggles or tries to do something, stun them, or kick them if you have to, don’t hold back. If there were only nine of them their ship can’t be that big, I won’t be gone long”

Gabriel put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. She repeated the gesture, “Good luck Gabriel” She said and smiled a human smile. She was getting better at it.

He smiled and nodded to her before entering the airlock. It was open and led into a small cargo hold that was mostly empty. Maybe the ‘pirates?’ had not had enough time to steal anything yet. He carefully crept through the dark ship. While the Quizeaterans ship felt sleek and clean, this one had exposed pipes and grating for a floor, accompanying a lived-in or almost stale scent. It also had a corridor running from the cargo to the bridge and Gabriel got quick confirmation that there was no one else on board.

He walked back out to a nervous Madeline who was trying to keep an eye on everything at once. She quickly handed over the stun bat and stood back. “Everything good here?” Gabriel asked her.

She waved her feather. “Yes, nothing happened”

“Good” Gabriel looked over the two remaining aliens. “Now, I wonder if there is a holding cell in this ship, apart from the one we are staying in that is. Would you mind checking with the ones I'm locking in our cell?”

Madeline quickly headed off, looking relieved to not have to watch over the prisoners. She returned a minute or so later with the Quizeaterans from the cell, probably but as they wore hazmat suits who knew. “We were told you wanted a holding cell”

“Yep, show me the way.” Gabriel grabbed both tied up aliens and began dragging them after him. It was not far to the cell which looked a lot like the one he and Madeline were in if the bathroom had been in a stall and the window had bars. He dumped both inside and removed the straps. “Alright, you two behave,” He said to the alien and its unconscious comrade.

He walked out and closed the door. “And now we are going to the bridge,” He told the Quizeaterans. He looked down at his leg, it had stopped bleeding but still, “Maybe we should pass through medical on the way, assuming you have something like that”

“Yes, we do” One of them confirmed and quickly headed out to show the way. A short walk later and they entered a room that looked the same as all others, apart from beds and sliding walls. Gabriel sat down on a bed and inspected the damage. It had broken the skin but he’d hurt himself more cutting vegetables. The Quizeateran walked over with a medkit, “I...I beg your pardon but I need to know what caused the injury to treat it correctly”

Gabriel held up the gun and waved it. The large black visor panned between the gun and Gabriel a few times. “You got shot!?” It and Madeline said at the same time.

“Yup!” Gabriel confirmed. “Don’t worry, I just need a bandage and I’ll be good to go”

After everyone recovered from the shock Gabriel got a nice square white bandage over his wound and he stood up. “Right, I want to talk to your Captain, or rather I’m going to talk to your Captain and want to make as little of a mess as possible” He glared at the Quizeateran who flinched and stepped back.

“Yes, of course, this way” It hurried away towards the bridge. Gabriel gave Madeline a grin before following.

She grabbed his hand as he passed. “Are you sure you are alright?” She said.

“Yeah, I am, thanks for worrying but I’m tough” Gabriel squeezed her hand gently. “Now let’s go give a stern talking to some Quizeateran” He took a step before stopping and turning back. They don’t have a simpler name by any chance? or shorter?”

Madeline's feathers rippled.

“Damnit, It took me several days to learn one name” He shook his head and walked out. “Who knows, the ones attacking might be called something longer,” He said with a sigh.

“I don’t know, my race has a short one, so maybe not,” Madeline said and shrugged.

Gabriel laughed which scared the Quizeaterans a bit. “Yeah, maybe you’re right”

They soon reached the bridge and the two leading carefully stepped around the downed aliens talking in hushed tones into some phone or whatsit. The door opened and Gabriel pushed past them stepping in scowling, fully intent to shout and threaten whomever he found inside. He looked at them and stopped.

The Quizeaterans inside looked at him with frightened expressions. “Crap, they are adorable,” he thought as he surveyed the aliens. They had long fur in colors from white to black with all shades of brown and yellow in between, and they had big eyes with large round ears and they reminded him of porcupines but instead of spines, they had long soft-looking fur. Gabriel had also misjudged their height as everyone he had seen wore suits that needed to fit their ears so they just about reached his chin.

They all wore white coveralls with colorful bands and patches probably corresponding to whatever station they were on. It seemed like most of the ship was here with around twenty crowding the space.

Gabriel closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “Alright, which one of you is the Captain because we need to have a talk...”