Eli was stuck. A giant alien rock-tree was trying to kill him while it also fended off attacks from the other alien, a defleshed horse spider thing. Three times he'd made a break for the hallway leading back to the *Mad Dash* and the Glint. Three times either Silghen or Rass had either used him as a distraction to avoid the other or a long black limb would wrap around Eli's leg and yank him backwards.

Now he could see the only way to escape would be if Rass Misiun, the Guo'Saphyrn, was dealt with. It was not going to be easy. He'd already rebuffed Silghen's attempt at a truce between them and his cutting torch had been smashed by Rass Misiun early on. Eli was contemplating ripping off one of his hands and seeing if a strong voltage could incapacitate an alien that looked primarily based off of silicate structures.

Before he commited to any action, a milky white portal opened up in the room, about four feet off the ground. Six human soldiers raced out in a line, rolling as they landed. In an instant, they were formed up and the squad leader raised a microphone. A speaker from their pack blared with robotic, translated glintish.

"Do not move. We are here to rescue a team of Glint and one Human. Any interference will be deemed hostile and dealt with. If you understand, back away to a wall separate from any other being."

Silghen was the first to react, and flattened himself against a nearby wall. Rass Misiun and Eli both reacted at the same time. Rass Misiun took advantage of the distraction and used it to send one massive root crashing into Eli's chest, throwing against another wall where he crumpled. Rass Misiun then advanced on the soldiers. Who opened fire. Splinters and shards of obsidian bark were scattered everywhere. Viscous brown liquid seeped from where the bark was blasted away. Rass Misiun's trunk slumped as he toppled over, the crown of crystals just a scant meter away from the closest soldier.

The team watched the fallen Jeweller for a short time then fanned out. Two soldiers split off from the team and inspected Rass Misiun. One looked back at the leader and shrugged, no way to tell if he was dead or alive. Then they went to Silghen and began to tie his limbs together, and braced the one broken arm. Lastly they inspected the folded over form of Eli, one of the pair pulled out a device and connected it to Eli's suit. After a moment of reading data from the device they unhooked and called back to the leader.

"We have confirmation on the Surveyor, looks like a copy though."

"Good, detain him and signal the Aperio for a wormhole to pick up the captives. Let's find the Glint team now."

———

Saule was frozen midstep. A group of six beings that looked very similar to Eli, but flesh and blood, had just stepped out from an alcove in the hallway near where they had set off their bomb. They were much different to what he'd thought humans would look like in person. Their stature was much greater than a Glint's. They must have seen the glow from his eyes however, as one of them waved to him and spoke. "Be calm, we are here to rescue you. We are humans from Sol, here from an emergency broadcast from Surveyor Duilim."

As the human spoke, the other five fanned out and leveled their weapons to the opposite side of the hallway. "I'm Sergeant Jimzu, if you can lead us to the rest of your team we can leave this place."

Saule motioned for the others to join him as he responded to Jimzu, "We have some injured near the wreckage of our ship. However we were on our way to Eli to help him. There was an alien that did not seem kind, interrogating him."

The Sergeant leaned into his shoulder and pressed another button on his device, which Saule deduced to be a radio of some kind but he couldn't understand human language yet.

"This is Team Beta with some of the Glint team, does anyone have eyes on the secondary?"

The radio crackled after a moment and a gruff female voice responded, "Theta reporting, we have the secondary and have taken two prisoners."

A tenor male voice crackled after, "Gamma reporting, the crash site is secured."

Sergeant Jimzu put away the radio, turned to Saule and said through the translating device, "Looks like we are holding everyone up, let us go get the rest of you and leave here."

"My wounded crew is this way," Saule turned as he beckoned the humans, "How did you get here so quickly? Eli said it may take weeks for any help to arrive."

"Surveyor Duilim may be old, but he doesn't know everything." responded the Sergeant.

As they walked toward the injured, Jimzu asked Saule, "How did the Glint come by glowing eyes? Is that natural or an enhancement."

"It's natural or as natural as it can be. We may be an engineered race," sighed Saule, his blue eyes dimmed and shoulders sagged, "The alien of this facility said it had created our entire ecosphere."

Saule paused for a moment then continued, "It called itself by the name of a god in our prominent religion. It said it had a plan for us."