Seethkar, First Quarter, Andromeda Galaxy.

Zogan

Zogan paused. Something wasn't right. Just then an object flew toward him, his hand whipped up to catch it. He looked down at the glowing ball in his hands, its pulsing light growing faster as he held it. He cursed and flung it away. An explosion rocked the room from the direction it had disappeared into. The group immediately took up a defensive formation. Yellow lights flicked on above them and Zogan scanned the figures surrounding them. They were severely outnumbered. A trap. It had been a trap.

His stomach churned as he saw the figure advancing before them. The Ajal elder. He stalked forward, long clawed nails tapping on the floor with each footstep. His brown chitin was lined with bone nodules on his legs while on his arms they'd grown out, looking like spears that jutted from his person. The bone growths lined up his arms and extended onto his shoulders. He wore the traditional wear of the Ajal, an armored skirt held in place by a thick belt. In its center a beast with a long-exposed tongue was carved into the large buckle.

The elder's ugly face held a grimace, Zogan supposed it was supposed to show his feeling of triumph. His face was like that of a skeleton, sunken and hard with four thick horns reaching out horizontally to frame his head. His eyes were black save for two tiny yellow pupils held in each that glowed at him, four in all. His lips so withered that they were nonexistent were raised over his fangs, some had been chipped away from his numerous battles. His cheek bones rose from his face in sharp angles. This was the first time Zogan beheld him in person, his father had told him tales of his numerous battles with this evil overlord. Dread formed a cold ball in his stomach as he realized, they'd been intercepted not just by under ranked enemies but by him, their leader, which meant that they'd been expected.

"A welcome gift."

He spread his arms before him indicating the bomb he'd thrown. Zogan stared at him blankly. He did not want to engage in any conversation with the elder, it was said he could do terrible things with that mind of his. Zogan's thoughts raced, they had to find a way out of here. The elder stalked closer, a few feet before Zogan.

"Nothing to say?" his mouth twisted to the side, "You came all this way and have nothing to say to me? What a terrible guest."

"Kneel." his voice lashed out.

Azazel, Ravanna, Aishmi -the Nvit female and Samil, another of his warriors fell to their knees. Zogan, Mara, Nezerra and Mya remained standing. The former all having strong mental shields put in place for exact moments like these, while Mya's gift protected her from the lick of power the elder had used. Zogan's hearts sank, Mya, this would draw attention to her. Fear bloomed in his chest as the elder cocked his head, eyes fixed on her now.

"You know why we are here." he said trying to draw attention away from her. "You've caused enough pain to the entire Andromeda galaxy."

The elder flicked his eyes between the two of them, eerie pupils dancing from Mya to Zogan and back.

"Yes, I know exactly why you're here, the question is do you?" the elder's gaze settled onto Zogan then. His full attention was blood curdling, but Zogan was glad that it was no longer fixed onto his mate.

The words of the elder took some time to settle in Zogan's muddled mind. What did this mean for his team? What did the elder have planned?

A low chuckle dripped from his withered lips, and Zogan inhaled sharply.

That smell.

A female stalked toward them from the group of soldiers at the elder's back, wide hips swaying with the movements. It was meant to be seductive, but Zogan wanted to vomit, he truly should've let Ravanna kill her when he had offered. Aini stepped up beside the elder and smirked. Ravanna jerked from his kneeling position trying to fight against the power that kept him there.

"Haven't you wondered about us always being one step ahead of you?" asked the elder, he slipped an arm around her hips.

"Us?" Azazel's voice trembled with rage.

Aini's face filled with disgust, and she raked a scornful gaze over them all.

"Regretting it all now, are you?" she said.

"How could you betray your own people? You are pathetic!" screamed the Nvit who struggled to get to her feet.

Aini jumped forward and slapped her - hard. A red welt immediately marked Aishmi's cheek.

"Do not speak to me, you weak Nvit." she wiped her hand against the tight skirts that she now wore. Her other arm was a mess of swirling scar tissue from where Artemisia had almost ripped it off. He wished that she'd finished the job.

Aini was the informant? That did not explain everything, there were things that she couldn't have known, plans that they'd put together before and even this one now that she would never have had access too. There was a missing piece to the puzzle that had stumped them at every attempt to end the war.

The elder laughed softly and Aini smiled, acid rose in his throat.

"She is of no importance, who is the one who has been sharing our information with you?" Zogan's voice was low, he tried to control the killing rage rolling through him.

Aini stiffened at his insult and her mouth popped open to respond but the elder cut her off.

"Yes, there is someone else... someone you seemed to have trusted too much I'm afraid," he paused, Zogan's fangs lengthened, "but that is to be expected for one of your cherished Elders, isn't it?"

All the Kozan growled, their voices clicking, low and vicious, "Who?"

The elder's lips pulled back from his broken teeth, "Vritri."

Zogan's head whipped toward his council, their expressions all the same as they locked eyes. Mara cursed loudly. Dread poured into him and Zogan's knees weakened. Vritri was one of the closest to the supreme, it meant that she was in danger.

Zogan had never fully liked the red eyed Elder but hadn't questioned him when the supreme appointed him as one of her closest confidants. They had to find a way to warn her, but how could they? Would they return to a destroyed elder's sanctuary? His stomach swirled with unease; he'd never felt this helpless before.

"You must forgive him though, it is in the nature of beings to want more power, it is in all of us," his eyes fixed onto Mya again, whose chin jutted out under his attentions. Zogan's hearts shuddered once more. "That is why you are of interest me... sweet Amaryah."

Zogan bared his fangs ready to strike any of the assembled forces that tried to touch her. Aini let out a cry of protest at his words, her venomous stare on Mya now, her face contorted in rage,

"Her?! I thought you said I could kill her!?"

"I lied." came the elder's calm response.

Aini stomped her feet beginning to throw a tantrum. "You don't know what she's done to me! She took everything from me! She must be killed!"

The elder turned to look at her, his face impassive.

"You promised! I won't help you if we must spare her! I won't!" she was practically screaming the words at him, spittle flying, lost in her rage.

The elder angled his head and stared at her, his face still showing nothing. Aini visibly tried to tone down her tantrum seeing that it had little effect on her new master, she tried schooling her pretty face into a pout.

The elder just stared at her some more.

He stalked toward her and placed a hand on her face, she stiffened, her eyes growing round. Zogan could only see the elder's hulking back and his outstretched arm on her.

"I-I'm sorry." her eyes were on fixed on her master's, filled with fear.

Zogan saw his hand trail down her face to her neck, long fingers enveloping it. Muscles feathered over it as the elder squeezed. Aini thrashed and clawed at his hand, mouth opening and closing. A high pitch squeal was all that escaped her as the elder squeezed the life out of her. She bucked against his strong grip, but his fingers continued to squeeze until her body hung limp. He released her and she crumpled to the ground with a muffled thud. Zogan heard Mara snicker beside him. No one would mourn her death.

"How curious, a human developing a gift on her own, a gift like mine." The elder continued with the conversation as if nothing had happened, he pushed the body away with his feet and turned, walking toward Mya now, right into Zogan's striking range.

He lunged forward, thinking no further than getting that cursed male away from her but he froze. Something held him in its grip and squeezed as if to crush him, he heard Nezerra and Mara's gasps as the strange power enveloped them as well, they were all immobilized. Their mental shields did not protect them against the full unbridled power of an elder. A potential creator of worlds. Zogan watched, burning with rage as the elder stepped toward Mya who watched his advance with wary eyes.

"A gift like yours?" she asked cocking her head, mimicking the elder's earlier action.

Zogan could smell the fear coming off her. Her eyes moved between him and his sisters, she was uneasy. He struggled harder, trying to get himself between her and the evil trying to gain her.

"It is a gift that I had given to the people of my world generations ago, they lost it somewhere along the way though, those who did had to be purged... they were far too weak to exist upon my planet."

Disgust lined his words as if remembering an unpleasant memory. He'd murdered the elders of his quadrant and his own people, nearly bringing them to extinction for his crazy ideas on purity of his gift and breeding it back into the population. He was a true unhinged psychopath.

"I could use you." he finished.

Mya's eyes shot towards Zogan's he didn't know what she saw there but she visibly shuddered, "No thanks."

The elder chuckled and waved his hand towards her as if she were a petulant child, "That will soon change."

Zogan groaned as he and his sisters were forced to their knees.

Mya's nostrils flared, "Stop that! Let them up!"

"Or what? Do you know how to use your gift to stop me?" the elder taunted her, it was as if he wanted her to try, to see the true limits of her power.

Mya pointed her finger in his face, appearing completely fearless "You'd be surprised what I can do."

"I doubt that." he simpered.

Mya growled and clenched her fists. Zogan tensed against the bands holding him in place thinking to stop her from whatever it was that she was about to do. It would end with her either dead or in the elder's hands. He didn't know which would be worse.

A loud whistle sounded through the room and the lights dimmed. The bands holding Zogan released him, and he fell to his knees hard. He grunted as a light blinded him for a few moments. When he looked up, there was another team advancing on the enemy before them. It was Quang and more Vorreth warriors, they fired against the soldiers surrounding them.

Growls and caterwauls sounded around him as Zogan got to his feet looking around for Mya. He couldn't see her. Something grabbed him from behind. He whirled grabbing the horned arm of a lower caste Ajal and pulled, it gave away beneath his efforts and the Ajal screamed in rage. The arm hung limp from its socket, as it leaped forward again trying to tear into Zogan's neck with its formidable jaws. Zogan ducked and back handed it, still distracted by the disappearance of his mate. Quang fired off blasts that struck his opponent and it fell to the ground, a large glowing hole in its chest.

"Nezze isn't here!" screamed Mara over the blasts as she fired on the Ajal near her.

Zogan's hearts sank, had the elder taken them? He'd slipped the Tyrhung into Nezerra's suit, planning that she would be the one to plant it since she'd been so eager to do something on the mission.

He cursed, "We need to find them!"

Mara grunted in response, but the Ajal kept coming and Zogan pulled out his sword and blaster. They would find them if they ever got free of their enemy.