Gabriel stood in the arena, a bit confused. He hadn’t heard anything after the muted explosion. No gunfire or shouting, just the spectators’ hushed whispers as they hurried out. Not that the peashooters the guards used made much noise so maybe that was the case. But what had happened? The list of what that might be was not that extensive but he couldn’t bet on anything. Still, this could be the opportunity he had waited for. He turned as three guards hurried towards him, weapons raised.

“Come with us!” An Igris shouted. Gabriel obeyed and followed them into the armory. “Take off the armor,” A surprisingly tall Roniean male said.

“My arms are hurt, will I get an injection?” Gabriel said and struggled to pull off the armor. While his arms did hurt quite bad, it was nowhere near as debilitating as he pretended.

The Roniean sighed and glanced at another Igris who grabbed bandages and the syringe. Gabriel let them inject the Nanos, or whatever it was and got help getting the armor off. He wondered if the armor would protect against the guns. Probably, considering his muscles did.

After his armor was off they pulled him to his feet and escorted him towards the cells, an Igris gripping each arm. The Roniean produced an old fashioned keyring and inserted a key into the lock. The previous fight the door had stood open, but then no one had been in the cells. Gabriel saw several other keys on the ring and took his chance.

“Hey!” Gabriel shouted. The Roniean turned around with a very annoyed expression and just barely opened his mouth before Gabriel drove his forehead into the Roniean face. The force sent the guards head rebounding against the metal wall. His legs gave out as he fell forwards to the floor. Gabriel didn’t give his two Igris escorts time to react. He kicked the right Igris in the knee to some crunching results, then he spun backward and elbowed the second guards in the head. His head also rebounded on the wall and he was out before hitting the floor. Perhaps permanently.

Gabriel crouched down in front of the last guard that was holding his leg and looked at Gabriel with frightened eyes. Maybe frightened eyes, Gabriel still had trouble telling expressions on Igris.

“So, If I get you a syringe and lock you up in a cell without breaking anything else, would you be so kind as to not raise any alarms?” Gabriel asked as he grabbed the guns from the other guards. “Seems like a fair trade to me,” he said. “Actually I might be losing out.” he mused.

“Y...Yes, I will not tell anyone,” The Igris said hurriedly.

“Good, then let’s talk as we go, and where do you keep more syringes? or Nanos, whatever they are?” Gabriel asked. The Igris pointed to the other one, lying sprawled on the floor leaking from his head. Gabriel found a small box of Nanos in a jacket pocket. “Oh, good, not all are crushed, lucky you.” Gabriel tossed the box to the wounded Igris who caught it clumsily and quickly injected himself.

Gabriel grabbed his collar and pulled him along to the cells, stopping briefly to go collect the keys. “So, anything else you think I should know?” He asked. “Wait, that might take to long, the opposite door leads out, yes?”

“Yes, up the corridor and turn left at the large gathering room, agh!” He shouted as his wounded leg bumped into the wall.

“You were saying?”

“The gathering room is after another door. There will likely be guards in the corridor.” He finished.

“Very helpful, thanks,” Gabriel said as he fumbled with the keys. “For the love of...which key is it?” He handed the keyring down to the guard who selected one and handed the keyring back. “You are very helpful, are you sure you’re fit for this?” Gabriel said as he unlocked Sen’s door.

“Not anymore...” The guards said as Gabriel dragged him past the confused Sen.

“What?...” He started before Gabriel punched a gun into his good hand.

“Can you still shoot?” Gabriel asked as he headed towards his and Deana’s cell.

“Not well, I’m right-handed.” He said.

“Damn, Deana, can you handle a gun?”

“Yeah,” she said as the door opened, “I was in the military you know,” She held her left arm over her stomach and limped out. Sen supported her left side the best he could with his arm still in a sling.

“Good, then we are breaking out of here or dying while we try.”

“I prefer the first,” Sen said.

“That might be the first joke I’ve heard from you,” Gabriel said as he led the way back towards the armor.

“You two are a bad influence,” He said.

“And a second,” Gabriel said.

“No, that was just stating facts.”

Gabriel paused and squinted at him, “Are you doing this on purpose?”

“Doing what on purpose?” Sen asked. As usual, Gabriel could not discern any specific emotion on his face.

“Nevermind, let’s go,” Gabriel said as he pushed open the armory door and walked in, gun at the ready. It was as empty as he’d left it. “Good, no one here.” He glanced down at the two downed guards on the floor. “Well, you know what I mean,” He said and moved over to the opposite door.

Deana and Sen followed behind, “So what’s the plan?” Deana asked.

“Open this door, then improvise,” Gabriel said and began fumbling with the keys. “Did any of you hear the rumbling and explosion by any chance?”

“No, are we being rescued or is this a gang attack?” Sen asked.

“I’m hoping for the first,” Gabriel said. “But the second did cross my mind, where’s the damn key?” He tried the next key to no success. “Why are there so many keys on this, haven’t they heard of keycards?”

“Still, this fits the aesthetics,” Deana said while looking around, “Were the arenas on Earth built like this?”

“No, they were made of stone,” Gabriel said. “Frankly I find this much metal strange, why did they feel the need to put metal sheets over everything?”

“If we find the boss you can ask him,” Deana said.

“He ran even before his visitors could get away,” Gabriel said as the lock finally clicked and opened. “Oh, thank god, I thought we would be here all night.” He swung the door open. A very big, very armed squad of guards on the other side turned with very surprised looks on their faces. Gabriel closed and locked the door. “On second thought, do you think maybe we should go through the other gate of the arena, It wasn’t closed the last time I checked.”

“Good idea,” Deana said as she limped towards the arena, still supported by Sen. Gabriel pulled a large, heavy rack of weapons and propped it in front of the door. Strangely the guards didn’t seem to want to follow. He wondered if there were bigger problems on the other side. However, a few seconds later the door opened and slammed into the rack. Maybe they also struggled with the keys. Just for good measure Gabriel aimed and shot twice into the wall next to the door. It quickly slammed shut. “That would buy them some time,” Gabriel thought as he hurried out onto the sands.

He was almost at the far gate and saw Deana and Sen move through when he heard shouting behind him. He risked a glance back and saw several guards raise weapons.

“Shit!” Gabriel ducked and tried to speed up, covering his neck with an arm. The guards began firing and Gabriel heard bullets whistling past. He took a few blind potshots which stopped the fire for a second or two. But they started up before he could turn the corner. He felt two stabs in his back and one in his left shoulder. He grunted in pain but managed to turn the corner without more injuries.

Deana leaned around the corner and squeezed off a few shots at the guards, “You alright?” She asked.

“Ow, yeah, I think so,” Gabriel said. “How does it look?” He asked and turned so Sen could see.

“Painful, but not lethal,” He said.

“Oh, good,” Gabriel muttered. He ejected the mag from his gun and inspected it. Because the rounds were so small it looked like he had around 20 round left. “Let’s not wait around for the guards to get here,” Gabriel said. They were standing in an armory much like the one on their side, this one just had more weapons and better covering armor. He walked over to the door he thought would lead to the same corridor on the opposite side. “Locked, of fucking course,” He grabbed the keyring and began going through the keys again.

“Please hurry!” Deana said as more rounds hit the wall and floor. Luckily the guards didn’t advance, most were content taking potshots from the arena.

“I’m trying, but this damn keyring has...Oh, hey, third time's the charm,” Gabriel said as the lock clicked open. The door swung open to a guard room, a large table in the center, and a kitchen with a counter on his left. four guards that were sorting weapons and ammo looked up. “Uh, hi,” Gabriel said. He briefly considered shutting the door but the guard squad behind him was worse. Instead, he charged into the room as the guards raised their weapons.

He drove his shoulder into the first guard with full force, sending him flying, bouncing off the table, and crashing into a guard on the other side. Gabriel then kicked the guards to his left sending him into the counter and over it. The last guards got two shots off but missed as Gabriel dodged to the left and threw the table upon its side. He drove his weight against it and smashed the guard into the wall.

The guard unfortunate enough to receive his friend in the face tried to get up but stopped when Gabriel aimed his gun at him. “Drop the gun,” Gabriel said. The guard in the kitchen got to his feet but before Gabriel could swing his gun in that direction he heard a gunshot behind him and the guard fell down behind the counter again. “Thank you,” Gabriel said.

“Don’t mention it,” Deana said as she limped in and Sen closed the door.

Gabriel grabbed the guard by his collar and pulled him up and turned around. “I don’t like killing when I don’t have to, you are still alive, how about we keep it that way?” Gabriel said into the guard's ear. The guards nodded vigorously. “Good, please tell your friends outside what I said. Open the door please,” Gabriel said to Sen. He quickly opened it and Gabriel shoved the guard through. “Right, let’s move,” Gabriel said once the door was locked again. He turned to the other door and found it unlocked. “Oh, thank god, no more keys.”

He swung the next door open and was pleasantly surprised that no guards were crowding the corridor. He even found that the door could be locked from the outside which might give them some more time. He led the way with Deana and Sen following behind. There were shouting and gunfire far ahead in the sloping corridor.

“Hey Sen, are we underground?” Gabriel asked.

“Yes, the arena is below the street.”

“So I’m not getting this cardio for nothing, oh good,” Gabriel said. With all the warmup and fighting, he’d done he was thankful for the lower gravity. They continued for a surprisingly long amount of time. The corridors leading out from the two armories did not cross and Gabriel's best guess was that they snaked around each other. Surely they must have gone a lap of the entire arena at this point.

The corridor eventually flattened and Gabriel saw several guards with weapons defending a large room that appeared to be some kind of restaurant, with a stage included in a far corner. Two large doors were open and Gabriel heard shouting from outside from where he hid just out of sight from the guards. He turned back to Deana and Sen who had caught up, both breathing heavily and sweaty. Well, Deana was sweaty, Igris didn’t seem to sweat.

“So, to our right is the exit, to the left, plenty of armed guards,” Gabriel said.

“Tono crap,” Deana swore and leaned against the wall, “What do we do now?”

“I don’t know, I don’t fancy getting shot, again,” Gabriel said. Having metal pellets under his skin still hurt, though he figured the Nanos helped with the pain. The Nanos also raised the concern that the wound would heal over the pellets. But maybe he would get lucky and they would fall out first.

“We need to think of something, the guards will likely follow shortly,” Sen said.

“I agree, any ideas?” Gabriel asked.

“Not right now,” Deana said. Sen shook his head. Gabriel nodded and peeked around the doorway. Not much had changed, guards still sat behind upturned tables occasionally firing out the door and occasionally ducking as someone returned fire. Gabriel started to hear noise from behind them but before they were pushed into the room they got their chance as grenades bounced into the room spewing out smoke. The guards inside retreated towards the back and Gabriel saw two doors in the far wall which he guessed led to the stands.

“Sen, can you run?” He asked.

“Yes, but Deana can’t,” he said.

“I’m aware,” Gabriel said and walked over.

“Hey! what are you…?” she started before he slung her over his shoulder.

“Run for the door,” Gabriel said. Sen nodded and with a lot of protests from Deana they ran. “Please don’t shoot! Ambassador coming through!” Gabriel shouted as they ran the 10 or so meters from the doorway to the outside. The smoke was luckily not teargas or anything like it so he had no trouble shouting, or breathing for that matter. He cleared the smoke, narrowingly missing the doorframe, and slid to a halt as he stared down about twenty armed troops in full armor, helmets included.

“Sir, please step aside,” One said and waved his arm. Sen came out of the smoke and bumped into him. The Union troops raised their weapons.

“No, no! He’s friendly!” Gabriel shouted as he moved away from the doorway, pulling Sen after him. Several Security members, or maybe they were the Union troops Deana had talked about, broke off and moved into the smoke with drawn weapons.

“Are we safe? If so, please put me down,” Deana said.

“Oh, right, sorry,” Gabriel said as he lowered her down.

“You know my stomach is probably hurt worse than my leg right,?” She said, a hand over her midsection as she glared at Gabriel. “Throwing me over your shoulder like a sack of...” she grumbled. “But still, thank you,” She said, smiled, and punched his arm right on the bandage.

“Ow,” Gabriel said and smiled, “I suppose that’s fair.” Gabriel rubbed at his arm as someone walked up wearing an armor that sported a tail.

“You are Gabriel Walker correct?”

“Yes, and you are a Zilgi,” Gabriel helpfully pointed out. “I mean, that means that your government is here?” Gabriel took Deana’s gun and handed it, with his own to the Zilgi.

“Yes, we are working with the Union and Roniean government to find you,” He said and gestured for them to follow after accepting the guns. Gabriel shrugged at Deana and Sen and they all followed or limped along.

“How exactly did you find me?” Gabriel asked as they walked through an alley to a large plaza with a ship parked in the middle.

“I don’t know the details.” The Zilgi said and pointed ahead.

Gabriel saw more armored Zilgi and several other races standing around a table discussing something. One threw up their arms and walked out of the circle. Gabriel felt his face immediately split into a grin as Madeline walked towards him clearly frustrated at the group behind her. She was wearing some form of a bodysuit, only her head and tail exposed. She froze as she noticed him while her fur ridge stood on end.

Gabriel hurried past their Zilgi escort and left Deana and Sen behind. “I’ve missed you so much!” He said as he grabbed Madeline in a hug lifting her off the ground. He laughed and spun her around, his worries from the last week all melting away.

“You’re safe,” she said, sounding almost surprised. She hugged him back, squeezing with surprising strength, and rubbed her cheek against his. “Thank the gods we made it in time,” she sniffed. Gabriel lowered her back down so they could talk face to face.

“You have very good timing,” He grinned and kissed her on the cheek.

Madeline chirped and blinked as her eyes teared up. Then she got a quizzical expression on her face. “Gabriel...why are my hands sticky?” she asked, still holding him.

“Oh, right, I might have gotten shot a few times while escaping, It’s probably blood,” Gabriel said.

“You dumb...” She said and nuzzled him again. “Let’s go to the medbay, actually let me call a medic.” She sighed and looked over as Deana and Sen finally caught up.

“I wouldn’t mind a trip to the medbay,” Deana said. “Sorry for ruining your reunion.”

“Health comes first,” Madeline said. She grabbed Gabriel’s face, smearing some of his blood on his cheeks. “I’m really happy to see you,” She hurried back to the group and brought a medic.

“Any emergencies?” the medic asked.

“None here,” Sen said. “May I go report to the command?”

“I would still like to take a look at your arm, but go ahead,” the medic nodded and Sen walked off. Gabriel got a quick look over, his wounds wiped and taped over and an injection of painkillers. Deana got a bit more thorough examination and some injections as well.

“There that should...” The medic put a hand to his ear. “I’m sorry, there are wounded in the fight, can you handle it from here?”

“Yeah, go,” Madeline said. She grabbed Gabriel’s face and put their heads together. “I’m so glad you’re safe, I know I said that already. There is much we need to talk about but I need to talk with my father first. But I’ll make it brief, don’t wander off.”

“You know me, what are the odds of that happening?” Gabriel said chuckling.

“Precisely,” she said. “Stay.” She broke out into a smile as she walked over to find her father.

“Wait, the Zilgi head emissary in here?” Gabriel said as Madeline reached the table and he remembered what she just said.

Deana gave him a ‘are you serious’ look, “Assuming that was miss Nioni, who else would her father be?” she looked over to the ship and got a strange expression on her face. Gabriel looked over as Cani walked down.

Cani waved at Gabriel “Hey!” she shouted before joining the group at the table.

“Who was that?” Deana asked.

“Who, Cani?”

“Yeah, the Roniean”

“The pilot I told you about,” Gabriel said, “Why…?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you ask, have you met before?” Gabriel sat down beside her.

“No...she was just...it’s nothing,” Deana said and looked away. Gabriel was almost certain she blushed.

“Um, what’s going on?” He asked.

“You didn’t tell me she was cute,” Deana whispered.

“What?” Gabriel looked over towards Cani. Cani did have some more slender features compared to Deana but Gabriel was certainly not an expert on Roniean physiology or beauty standards.

“...You know when I told you you weren’t my type?” Deana said after a minute or so.

“Yeah?... Oh, you like women?”

“Yeah... Don’t get me wrong, you’re cute but...,” Deana said shrugging while glancing at Cani.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you so meek” Gabriel grinned at her and got a scowl in return “And I don’t know if Cani likes women, but It’s worth a shot,” Gabriel patted her on the shoulder. “Leave it to me.”

“Leave what to...Gabe, no!” She shouted with a hushed tone as Gabriel stood and wandered over to the group.

“Hey Cani, glad to see you’re safe,” Gabriel said and extended a hand. Cani shook it.

“You too, though I have to say, after that business back on the market I’m going legit. I’m content with getting shot once,” She said grinning. Gabriel looked over at Madeline who was talking with a Zilgi almost Gabriel’s height. He had fur on his chin almost in a chinstrap pattern. His fur colors overall were more green with red stripes. Madeline probably took after her mom then. He looked over at Gabriel and they traded polite nods before he went back to talking with Madeline. Gabriel turned back to Cani.

“A wise choice, you see my new handsome friend over there?” Gabriel said and pointed to Deana who tried to look casual and scrub the panic from her face. “Her leg is hurt and the medic is busy, would you mind taking her to the med bay?”

“What makes you think I’m not?” Cani asked as she smiled and nodded to Deana.

“You’re a pilot and the ship won’t be going anywhere for awhile?” Gabriel guessed.

Cani chuckled. “Yeah sure, I’ll take her,” she said. She walked over to Deana and after an introduction helped her over to the ship. Deana shot Gabriel a look that might have been some appreciation mixed with anger and probably a bit of panic. After a minute or so more Madeline walked over.

“I’ve spoken to my father and he would like us to meet him in an hour to discuss what happened,” she said and hooked her arm around his right. “Plenty of time for a visit to the medbay.” Gabriel noticed two faint and thin scars on her left cheek. He traced them with his thumb. Madeline smiled at him, “I got away pretty well for having a grenade tossed at me huh?”

“You know I talked with Cani after it happened, I don’t quite believe this is all,” Gabriel said and took her hand.

“It’s not, I’ll show you later, but all you need to know is that I will be back to full capacity in another two weeks or so,” she said and squeezed his hand as they walked into the ship.

“Alright, I’ll leave it for now, but didn’t the medic just head off? What are we going to the medbay for?”

“You’ll see,” Madeline teased. Gabriel shrugged and simply enjoyed Madeline’s company again. And he looked over the ship. This ship was not for delivering goods like Kanthuas. From the airlock in the middle of the ship, Gabriel saw that it was split into two. Towards the back were civilians and passengers, and to the front, crew, and military. Through the open doors on his left, he saw bunk beds, open lockers with weapons and gear, a dining area, and further on the bridge. All were pristine and far from cramped. They took a right and headed into the civilian section. Here the furnishing was more ‘classy’ and probably expensive. There were even wood details on the walls and floor.

“Huh, cool ship,” Gabriel remarked.

“Standard Emissary design,” Madeline explained. “Plenty of space for guards and for the emissary and his guests, large bedrooms and dining and all that.”

Gabriel nodded along as they passed meeting rooms, numbered bedrooms, and a lounge with something similar to billiards and another table that had holographic screens. This looked like a luxury yacht and a pleasant alternative to the cell or the cramped quarters on Scarrask’s ship. Though it felt a bit too expensive and Gabriel felt like he might break something. The standard mercantile version suited him just fine. If he ever got his own ship that’s what he would go with. With a few luxurious additions.

After passing through the living quarters they reached the medbay. A Phigos standing inside looked up from a tablet as they entered. “Ah, Gabriel, good to see you again.”

“Um,” Gabriel said, not quite sure who he was talking to.

“Oh, maybe I should have worn my goggles and protective gear?” He said and gestured to a bed.

“Morthri?” Gabriel guessed as he sat down.

“Yes,” Morthri confirmed. “Please take your shirt off and turn around.”

“What are you doing here?”

“After our talk about allergies a few weeks ago, I joined Captain Kanthua and Alith so we could keep studying your biology together. Alith is a very good xenobiologist and currently occupied with your new-found Roniean friend.” Morthri pointed to an adjacent sliding door. “When we heard about the kidnapping we were close by, relatively speaking of course. And we are the foremost experts on your biology as it stands so we joined the search.”

“Thanks for showing up,” Gabriel said as his wounds were once again poked at. This time the rounds were removed and all wounds bound again.

“Of course. Now this bandage is waterproof if you feel the need to clean up. The Nanos you had in your system fixed most of the damage but I suspect you have been moving about and aggravating your wounds so the treatment was not completed. For the better I say, you will have smaller scars this way.” Morthri said.

“Thanks, I would love to hear anything else you found, but we have a meeting to attend to and I would like a shower and change before that,” Gabriel said, holding up his tank top which sported a few more ventilation holes. His shorts were still in one piece but not exactly top fashion.

“I will confer with Alith and we will see what we have. Now If you’ll excuse me, I’ll see if he needs help.” Morthri said and after a polite nod walked out of the room.

“Come on, I’ll show you to your room,” Madeline said and took his hand. Gabriel followed along back to the corridor lined with doors. “The further forwards you get, the higher status most often.” She said. “Most rooms are unoccupied right now but with guests that are good to keep in mind.” She led him to a room far to the front and opened it.

“Ooh, much nicer than my cell,” Gabriel said looking around while Madeline chirped behind him. The room had a large bed against one wall, not set into the wall either but freestanding. There was a bathroom in the far wall and a desk as well as a dresser and a small seating area. He saw two outfits on hangers on the far wall, his clothes from Earth, and a set of his clothes he had made on US 535. However, the bed was clearly slept in and there were brushes on the desk.

“You like it?” Madeline asked.

“This is your room isn’t it?” Gabriel asked.

“Our room,” she corrected. She walked over and hugged him again. “Mhm, alright I’m satisfied, for now. Clean up and let’s have this meeting,” she said and walked over to the door.

“Alright...wait, for now?” Gabriel said and received a smirk and a wink as the door closed. “Tease,” He said to the room as he headed for the bathroom, grabbing clothes on the way.