Zon headquarters, First Quarter, Andromeda Galaxy.

Amaryah

Mya sighed and put her blaster back into its case on her thigh, its weight finally fatiguing her arm. "Whatever it is I can do it, let's just get the hell out of here." She rubbed at the dried blood on her goggles realizing that she was drenched in the innards of their dead adversaries.

"Something isn't right, it's too quiet," said Ravanna, his voice was soft and measured. Everyone stiffened. Mya scanned the surroundings while the others scented the air.

The Zon materialized before them, appearing out of thin air. So many before them that the scent of their flesh caused Mya to gag. Zogan cursed and pressed closer to her. She could barely breathe, adrenaline beginning to pour into her small body as she tried to calculate the odds of them getting out of there unscathed. They could get out alive, but she was the weakest link, what did that mean for her? Mara lifted her blaster higher; it dwarfed the one that was now holstered at Mya's hip.

"Take one step towards us and you're all dead." She said, her voice low and threatening. The Zon did not move an inch, the room was teeming with them, they were surrounded. "Where is your hive master?"

A shudder went through the mass before them, and a voice answered. Mya could not understand it. The voice was low, grating and the language sounded like a complicated mix of snarling and growling. The answer that was given caused Mara's face to twist into a sneer, but it was Zogan who answered.

"You know who I am ... where is she?" He sneered, "Your master?"

There was another sharp response that was lost to Mya. To their left the mob separated and a hulking figure slithered toward them.

It was a female. Grey skin stretched taut across its massive figure, there was the same bulbous head that held rows of razor teeth like the rest of the Zon. On its chest were mountainous breasts that hung freely, no clothing over them. Its torso tapered off to a V and was placed on top of a roiling mass of tentacles, some as thick as Mya's body. The tentacle statue that they'd destroyed while retrieving the Tyrhung flashed through her mind's eye.

Eww.

"Why have you come here?" she asked, Mya started, shocked to understand the larger Zon. Perhaps the virus within her needed to hear the strange language first and had now begun to translate it. The woman's rendition of it was not as growly as it had sounded through the lips of the males of the species.

"Do not play games with me Freharh." Zogan answered, "You threaten my quadrant and our universe with your decisions and alignments."

Freharh smiled, rows of teeth glinting under starlight and the distant sun. "I have no idea what you're speaking about, it seems to me like you're the one making terrible decisions."

Her head twisted on her neck and her eyes roamed over their small group. Her eyes fastened onto Mya who lifted her head and glared at the hive master. "You have a pet?" she slithered forward, "What is it? Where did it come from?"

The group stiffened at her approach and Ravanna growled, "Stay away from her."

Freharh stopped, her plump lips twisted to the side, eyes never leaving Mya's who held her gaze boldly, pouring every ounce of hatred into her stare.

"Never mind all that, why have you infiltrated my home? Have you not caused me enough trouble Zogan?" she said, making Zogan's name sound like a curse on her lips.

"That's Prince Zogan to you." Mara spat, she vibrated as if visibly holding back the urge of destruction.

Freharh laughed, her bosoms shaking with the movements.

"Curse your planet and all who live in it, especially your pathetic monarchy." Her face suddenly became serious and so filled with the promise of death and violence that Mya blinked. It was as if a switch had been flipped. "I intend to bathe in their blood." Her eyes were brimming with hate as she looked toward Zogan.

"You took something from us, we came to retrieve it." Zogan said simply, an air of cool confidence around him as if he were unbothered by the threat that had just left the hive master's lips.

She stiffened, lips curling with anger. "And how do you plan to escape with your precious device." She looked around at her hive, all of whom stood stoically, ready to pounce at her command. "You are surrounded, and I have no intention of letting any of you leave here alive..." she paused, "Except for her, of course, she'd make a great sport for my hive." Her eyes settled on Mya once more.

"If you touch her, you will die painfully, and I will take my pleasure in ensuring that it takes a very long time." He answered, voice easy and soft, as if he were discussing the weather.

"I wonder if she'll scream or if she'll beg when my males rip into her... would she scream your name? Or mine?" she gleefully continued, and Mara raised her blaster and fired.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. Mya saw Mara's deadpan face, her arm rising, the arc of light leaving the barrel of the blaster travelling across the room straight towards the female's chest. But right before it hit her one of the Zon males jumped into its path and was torn into two pieces, his body parts hitting the floor with a hollow thud.

Freharh's face contorted into rage.

"YOU DARE!?"

And that was when the chaos began.

The swarm rushed forward and Zogan grabbed Mya swinging her onto his back.

"Climb!"

The group sprang upward clasping onto the large columns connecting the floors within the room. The Zon followed, the room echoed with Freharh's screams of rage. Mya wound her arm tightly around Zogan clinging to his back as he heaved himself up the beams. In her other hand she pulled his smaller blaster free and fired at anything that moved.

The room lit up with the laser blasts and filled with the scent of charred flesh as they met their targets. They could not afford to miss. Hordes of Zon lithely climbed the columns below them, hissing and spitting with rage. Mya gritted her teeth and fired, again and again. She felt Zogan's muscles shifting beneath her as he pushed them upwards.

"You are not getting out of here alive." Freharh hissed.

"Try harder next time!" screamed Mara who was busying her free arm by tearing apart the Zon unlucky enough to get within her grasp.

Her clawed feet moved up the beams with her long torso facing out into the fray. Her face was contorted in rage and glee. Azazel was below her eviscerating Zon too. She watched as he thrust his clawed hand deep into the stomach of a Zon who'd come to close and wrench it out with a wet Squelch. Their kills were not clean.

Ravanna was measured, calm even. His kills clean and efficient, he loped off heads with a flick of his wrist his blade making quick work of his enemies. His movements made him seem like a machine that only knew one thing. Death.

They were all past the halfway mark of the floors now, just a few more to the ceiling. "Nezerra! Where the fuck are you!" Mya screamed into her transmitter, aiming the blaster at the head of a Zon lunging for them and squeezing the trigger.

"We're almost there! Those fuckers destroyed our transmitting antenna!" came Nezerra's voice, it was frantic. "We've only just fixed it."

"Get here NOW!" shouted Zogan, his voice was almost wholly a growl.

The Zon kept coming, like the pests that they were. One jumped toward Mya, and she kicked out, her foot connected hard with its Jaw. It grabbed onto her foot before it could fall and pressed its claws into her skin. They punctured her flesh easily; part of her suit was missing, gone from the fighting in the tunnels. A scream escaped her open mouth, her blaster slipped from her fingers, falling into the writhing mass of Zon below.

The creature roared and tightened its grip. She struggled, shaking her leg vigorously causing Zogan to slow down. He could not let go to help her, if he did, they would fall. To a very gruesome death, if the Zon did not get to them first.

"Mya!" he shouted.

"Don't stop, keep going!" she said and Zogan cursed, pushing himself up, faster this time.

Mya twisted, hanging from Zogan completely, only attached by her arm around his thick neck. The Zon dangled. He pulled out his claws and sunk them in again higher up on her leg, making as if to climb her.

Her leg was in agony, a burning pain shooting through it. It felt like fire rushed through veins. Dark spots bloomed across her vision; the pain so great that she wished she could get rid of the leg. Yes, the entire leg. She reached towards her other thigh, trying to grasp onto her long dagger. The Zon twisted – its claws shredding her flesh - a strangled scream escaped her as her hand grasped around the hilt. She pulled it free and plunged it straight into the Zon's bulb. She drew it out and gritting her teeth plunged it through again, her teeth clanging from the effort. She tore it out fiercely, tissue flying with the action. The Zon's grip lessened, and it fell away. They were at the ceiling. Ravanna already placing the pads against the glass. Blasters would not work this time; the material was too thick.

Mya held onto Zogan, who still held onto the beam with one arm; the other felt for her leg, she hissed as he touched her mangled flesh. He cursed, face livid. Her view was getting darker, the world slowing.

"Mya hold on! Stay with me!" he said, his voice sounding pained.

She only wanted to rest her eyes for a second, it would cause the pain to stop. 'Yes, it would make the pain go away.' She reasoned.

"Mya keep those eyes open!" came Zogan's voice, cracking on the last word. He sounded desperate.

'Why?' she wondered.

"I only want to rest a little." She said, leaning her cheek against his blood-stained suit.

"Esaie, just a little while longer, okay? Just keep your eyes open for me... you'll be able to rest very soon." Zogan's hand was clenched around her flesh, holding it together. Mya was so far gone she could no longer feel it.

"Promise?" she said, voice slurred, fighting to open her eyes wide.

"I....I Promise esaie... I promise."

There was a loud shudder above them, Mya did not look up, her eyes were fixed onto the scales exposed at the back of Zogan's neck. His hood had fallen away, the thought upset Mya for some reason that she couldn't grasp.

Those scales were so precise and fit together perfectly, like a knitted sweater. Such a deep rich black. She pressed her lips to them. Zogan let out a loud wail. His hand was drenched with blood. Hers. They jerked upward and were weightless. Pulled upward by some unseen force, Mya barely conscious could not make sense of it. She felt dizzy, focusing on Zogan's murmured urges for her to stay awake. Promising her anything that she wished if she would just keep her eyes open for him, her mate, her love.

She was so cold, her body shivered involuntarily against his back. They were pulled up into the Dynah, and the last thing Mya saw was a pulser falling through the broken ceiling. She heard a loud whirring and a fearsome scream reach up from below.

Freharh.

There was a blinding flash of light and then there was nothing.