Dynah Battleship, Fourth Quadrant, Andromeda Galaxy.

Zogan sat in the eating area surrounded by his men who all howled at some crass joke made by Azazel. He'd seen Mya walk into the room and his horn immediately ached. He hissed in annoyance remembering when he'd tried to warn her about his home world. Instead, he'd ended up angering her in some way. What he had said was true though, his home was rife with dangerous wildlife that would end her in a moment, and the fact that she'd willingly went so close to the Kyeet had only solidified that there was going to be great risk to her on Kozantei. It was as if she had no instincts, no warnings of imminent danger. He leaned back into his chair, grabbing his horn shaped cup and guzzled the leevine, his eyes never leaving Mya as she joined Yavik and his friends. Despite his best efforts not to, his gaze travelled over her small form. It seemed like Yavik had been successful in getting a second chance with her. Zogan's hearts warmed at the thought.

"She's fitting in nicely, isn't she?" whispered Azazel catching the direction of Zogan's gaze.

He shrugged, "I am glad, maybe Yavik will protect her when she gets to Kozantei, she will definitely need it."

Azazel looked at him, brow bones lowered in false disbelief, "The human female needs protection? Who would've thought!? I give her five solars before she begs to leave." He guffawed loudly, it turned into a wheeze when Zogan thwacked him hard in the chest. Azazel rubbed at his chest while glaring at his commander who coolly drank from his cup.

A loud beeping sound interrupted the conversations that filled the lunchroom. Zogan was instantly on his feet and moving towards the control room with Azazel close on his heels. In the control room the scanners showed a large blip positioned straight ahead. It was a ship, whether ally or foe was still to be determined. Zogan called for a clear visual. His tongue vibrated in dismay as he realized it was in fact the ship of one of their most trusted allies, the Qai. Why was their ship hovering on the edge of the flying path?

"Can you communicate?" Zogan asked. His eyes were fixed onto the diagnostics screen as it lit up, listing the damage the ship had sustained from live fire. It suffered with two destroyed engines, both of which were leaking fuel into the vessel. His communication tech shook his head, tampering with the controls to try to pick up any comm airways that were projected from the vessel.

Azazel who was studying the screens closely and manipulating it to study the graphics that showed the damaged Qai ship said, "The leaking fuel will cause an explosion if not dealt with."

Zogan grunted, he'd already calculated that possibility. "Is there anyone on board?"

His comm tech nodded, altering the scanners to show the glowing spots identified in the ship as living sentient organisms. They were numerous.

"Why aren't they communicating? Try again."

"Sir it seems that the communication antennae has been destroyed in the blast."

Zogan growled, if there were people on board it would be their responsibility to evacuate the ship as the protectors of the fourth quadrant and long-standing allies of the Qai. He locked eyes with Azazel, his weapons specialist; the same thought had entered his mind.

"It could be a trap laid by the Ajal." Azazel's face was grave.

"Do the scanners pick up any nearby ships?" Zogan asked as he moved to issue an order to his rescue team on board.

"No sir, there are none in the vicinity."

Azazel looked at him with raised brow bones, no indication of ships did not mean it wasn't a trap. He agreed whole heartedly but they had no choice, they could not leave innocent Qai to die when they had the means to help them.

He clicked his receiver to his ear; it would allow him to speak to his team from on the Qai ship. He and Azazel moved swiftly down the pathway towards the weapons room, they were joined by Ravanna and two other soldiers. He grabbed a circular armor device and clicked it onto his chest, layers shot out from the center coating him in a fitted, lightweight black material. He pulled on the hood that shielded his mouth and his hair. It would function as both shield and camouflage, next was his family's sword. He fastened it to his back, it bore his bloodline's sigil, a great writhing Nynsar serpent that bared its fangs to warn off all enemies.

Strapping in his blasters to his thighs he looked at his men and said, "Let's make this quick, clean and contained."

He nodded to Azazel who succinctly explained that he'd estimated the explosion time to be one quint in the best-case scenario. Zogan hoped like hell that it was the scenario they'd get. He initiated a lock down on his ship that ensured all passengers and crew were either in the safe rooms or manning their stations in case of any incoming threats. He passed Mya who looked at him and his men with widened eyes, her mouth opening to say something but her guide, Ma 'Loupe, hustled her forward before the words were out. Good. Now was not the time for niceties. He boarded his stealth shuttle and strapped in ensuring the coordinates set were accurate and clicked the ENGAGE button. The shuttle detached with a whooshing sound and they were on their way to the white, oval Qai ship.

The interior of the ship was not the cool blue it was supposed to be, instead it was flooded with darkness. Zogan's reptilian eyes adjusted immediately allowing him to see clearly. There were hanging wires that lit the ship in strobes of light from its sparks and pools of silver Qai blood on the floors. They moved as a silent unit down the winding corridor, there was no sign of the Qai. Zogan pressed his communicator and it hummed to life.

"The room that holds the life forms is directly ahead Sir." A soft voice said.

They moved forward steadily, there was no sound of life except for the steady hiss of a malfunctioning ventilation system.

Zogan's tongue flicked out, Fllt.

He tasted fear, blood, and death.

The Qai had been tortured before being left to die in the outward reach of their universe. Zogan's blood boiled at the thought of the torturers, probably the Ajal, running free in his quadrant causing hurt to those he and his people were sworn to protect. He hefted his large blaster higher, carefully turning a corner ahead, he saw a flicker from the side of his eye, his gaze shifted to the narrow passageways that branched off from their main route. He saw nothing. There was only emptiness and quiet. No sounds of breathing. No sounds of pain or whimpering. Azazel let out a low growl as they passed by the first dead Qai. Zogan stopped to assess the damage that had been done, it would help in identifying what had caused the attack. The male's elongated flowered head was broken open, as if something had crushed it with its bare hands. Along its body were claw marks that increased in severity towards its abdomen. Entrails were scattered over the pathway. It seemed that the assailants were not only vicious but hungry as well. There were more bodies, each seemed to have been killed in an equally brutal fashion.

Zogan saw the large doors ahead, the room where the survivors were held. A warning skittered down his spine as a roar filled the corridor. Guns raised, Zogan signaled the group to be still and to watch. They stood in silence as the sound died, there was only the sound of the wheezing vent system. The smell of rotting flesh hit them and something dripped from above, stretching from the ceiling onto the ground like a thick gooey gel. Zogan looked up slowly to see flickering waves in the air, his pupils grew to fill his eyes with a pure black.

"GET DOWN!!!!"

The flickering waves solidified to reveal the Zon, the only remaining allies of the Ajal. They could fade into their surroundings if they were powerful enough, it seemed this particular group was.

It was a large group.

Zogan fired his blasters onto the creatures that dropped from the ceiling in succession. The ones that were hit burst into steaming piles of flesh, splattering Zogan and his team. The Zon roared together, they were hive minded aliens and only knew what their leader told them, nothing else. The all formed a pyramid formation in front of the doors, Zogan guessed that those inside were being saved for extraction to their home hive. Those captured Qai would then be eaten slowly and granted very painful deaths. The Zon rushed forward, Zogan and his team fired expertly, hitting many; one sliced at Zogan with its skeletal fingers, each ended with curved talons. He danced back narrowly avoiding them and slammed the butt of his gun into the bulbous protrusion at the center of the Zon's head. The Zon screamed trying viciously to bite Zogan's arm with its rows of razor-sharp teeth. Zogan used his claws and dug them into the Zon's head, holding it off while ripping out his stuck gun and the contents of the bulb growth with it, they could not survive it.

Zogan's gun soon discharged, they hadn't planned for the large numbers of the enemy. It was useless now. He pulled out his blade and slashed and hacked through all who challenged him, lost in bloodlust and the destruction gift that consumed him. His eyesight was edged in red as he plunged his sword through the gut of his adversaries and slid it upward violently. Using his claws, he ripped out the four eyes of the beasts and beheaded them. His men did the same, avoiding the poison that would paralyze them if the nails of the Zon punctured their shield suits. They made sure that it did not happen.

Azazel's timer beeped, there were running out of time.

Zogan ran and jumped forward landing on a Zon and crushing its head with his heavily booted feet, he twisted grabbing the neck of the Zon that sought to bite him, his nails elongated, and he tore out its throat. He shot forward, and his jaws extended as he crushed the skull of an escaping beast. Seeing the damage he and his team caused, the remaining Zon turned to flee but Zogan nodded at Azazel who would be the one to track them all down, and end them violently, after questioning a few. Zogan shook himself to fall out of the battle rage that had descended over him, he pushed open the doors to the central room. There were Qai huddled together, packed so closely it was like they were Tseev fish in a hunter's net. They whimpered at the sight of him covered in gore, but he raised his hands slowly. They knew of him.

"Commander Zogan here, my team and I are here to get you out, we do not have much time."

He worked tirelessly to escort them out, females with offspring, elderly who had been abused by the cursed Zon, all of them showed signs of trauma. Zogan's blood sang for violence again.

Azazel joined him on the bridge as they sealed off the Qai vessel. He nodded at Zogan, the rest of Zon that had tried to escape were all destroyed. The Dynah was sailing away when a cataclysmic BOOM was heard throughout the ship, followed by a violent shudder as the Qai vessel was blown into smithereens.

Zogan and his men sat in the reception area, still covered in pieces of Zon while trying to calm their bodies and minds. Their gift was a great thing, but when one gave themselves over to the gift of destruction, coming back from it was usually a trying task that one had to take years to master. Zogan closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, he thought of his sweet mother who wanted nothing but the best for her children, his quiet father who loved them all undyingly, his sister, Mara, who as wretched as she was would die to protect them all, and Nezerra, who, he would die for in a heartbeat. His blood cooled, his breath escaped with a loud hiss and steam left his slitted nostrils. His inky scales smoothed. His pupils contracted leaving his eyes once again gold and clear.

He looked up to see Mya and Yavik entering the room with a group of other volunteers. She immediately knelt near a group of crying children and started tending to their wounds. He smiled slightly as he saw her concentrate, using her small gift to comfort the children whose tears dried while their sniffles softened. So, she has a kind heart... not so useless after all, his inner voice said. Perhaps she would surprise him on his home planet, maybe she would find a way to survive yet.

He rose slowly and stretched his now relaxed muscles; he needed to cleanse and then join the volunteers. He had to learn just how the attack had taken place and figure out the motive, even though he had a perfectly good idea of who was behind the attack. He would have to speak to Azazel when he was finished with his calming mantra. Each soldier had their own, it was a deeply personal practice, one that was only shared between trusted friends and family. Azazel's was a lengthy one as he seemed to have been gifted a little more destruction than most and so needed more time to come down from the high.

As he walked, he thought on the increasing frequencyof the attacks. The Ajal were stretching their only allies, the Zon, very thinthough. They were too eager to weaken Kozantei and were now systematicallyattacking their allies one by one. The parasites seemed to think that weakeningthe Kozan was the key to the fourth's downfall. Honestly, it was solidthinking, if the Kozan were to be somehow removed from the equation then theElders would be left extremely vulnerable. The Ajal had great ambitions, Zogangrunted in frustration. He needed to know what they planned on next, he wastired of running around and cleaning up the mess they left behind. It was timefor this to end