Chapter 2

'Damn it down to the blackest, coldest deeps!' Vojiss of the Na'ssent tribe cursed to himself as he stalked down the empty corridor.

He had been thoroughly enjoying a relaxing nap in the warm comfort and solitude of his cabin when a Marsubaran had commed him, humbly requesting his presence. Seeing as he was officially on duty and supposedly supervising it, he couldn't rightfully refuse. Not if he wanted to stay on captain Roqiss's good side. Those who didn't tended to end up with several new scars decorating their hides, if they were even that lucky. The captain had a well deserved reputation of throwing truly incompetent, irredeemable and just plain annoying crewmen out of the most convenient airlock. After first beating them senseless and appropriating their assets, as an object lesson to others of course.

That didn't mean that Vojiss wasn't pissed as hell though. The ship outside of his quarters was uncomfortably cold, dry and bright. With every step he took, he could feel his skin drying, his joints were beginning to tense painfully, and he was quickly developing a migraine. At least the gravity was comfortable, maybe even a little lighter than on the Theissss homeworld.

Though it was quite easy to adapt the environmental settings in individual quarters, changing them on the whole ship was quite beyond their knowledge and ability.

For the time being, at least.

'This had better be good, or that furry freak will pay, ' he thought, hissing through tightly clenched teeth, already imagining the punishments that he could dole out on the ship's slaves.

Eventually reaching the ship's medical bay, Vojiss punched down hard on the admittance plate, and the circular hatchway irised open, quickly and with a barely audible swish. The first thing he noticed as he strode purposely into the room was a large white sheet draped over and completely obscuring a form on top of one of the medical beds. Nearby was the Marsubaran that had commed him. It – Feng, was its name? - had obviously been studying a data pad when he entered, but now simply stood there fidgeting nervously, not meeting his gaze.

"De hoo-man is ded alredi?" He asked loudly after taking a few steps into the room, making sure to fully convey his irritation and resentment in his voice.

He was actually feeling better now – the temperature and humidity in this room was slightly more agreeable. Not ideal, but better. That didn't mean that he should go easy on the cowering wretch of course. It was important to keep them in their place after all.

"Yes ... ummm, sir. His central nervous system was severely compromised by the examinations." The Marsubaran responded subdued, his head bowed. "I tried to revive him, but it was beyond my knowledge and training."

'Perhaps they are finally learning to accept their new place in order of the universe?' He mused to himself. 'Too bad. I'll just have to work harder to keep finding reasons to occasionally keep on disciplining them.'

Vojiss's eyes unconsciously found themselves drawn toward the last occupant of the medical bay, the injured and still unconscious Marsubaran female. He couldn't keep a happy, but feral smile from gracing his face. Truthfully, he didn't even try. The memory of her terror filled expression and squeals of pain were the sort of thing that kept him going on this long, boring assignment. The female had brought it on herself of course. What in clear blue waters was she thinking, trying to steal and hide the human weapons?

'On the other hand, it might simply be feeling guilty about yet another dead test subject.' He snorted in disgust. 'An entire race of soft, sentimental fools if you ask me.'

"Git rid of it den!" He shot back, irritated at being inconvenienced for such a minor incident. He then quickly turned around to head back to his cabin. "We git a new one nex cycle."

"I did discover something quite remarkable though in his genetic structure." The Marsubaran nervously called to him.

Turning his head back, Vojiss saw it hesitantly gesture toward a complex image on the holographic display on the far wall, accompanied by vast amounts of streaming text and equations.

He restrained his first violent impulse, stilling his tongue and relaxing his grip on the pain-stick at his belt.

Yet another interruption, and one he couldn't simply ignore - the captain would certainly want some sort of report. He just hoped that he would be able to understand it all. Though he was a reasonably intelligent, especially for a Theissss, he was far from a trained and educated scientist. He had risen in the ranks of his tribe thanks to his sheer ruthlessness, cunning and greed.

'Perhaps Navess would be better suited to handle this... ' he considered for a few moments before dismissing the idea.

'I sincerely doubt that the pup has the strength necessary to fully join the Na'ssent tribe. He is proving much too "intellectual" for my liking, always reading and studying all manner of things. And the soft hand with which he treats the Marsubarans ... but Roqiss is becoming increasingly enamored with his knowledge. It might be best to not let him gain any more status.'

"Sow me dis "remarkable" discovry of yors." Vojiss sighed resignedly, closing the medical bay hatch and approaching the Marsubaran.

I laid there on the bed, keeping as still as possible, a sheet covering my whole body, and doing my damned best to control my breathing and heartbeat. It was surprisingly pretty easy to do, especially considering the unusual and life-threatening circumstances I found myself in. But then again, I'd always been calm and collected under even the most intense of circumstances. In fact, the more dangerous and dire the situation, the more focused I seemed to become – its part of why I'd been such a damn good Marine.

How does that Kipling poem go? "If you can keep your head, when all around you are losing theirs..." and so on. Pretty good advice, all around.

Then I heard it ... the whisper soft noise of the hatchway to the medical bay hissing open, the sound of steps entering the room, and then a gruff and deep voice loudly saying something. Feng answered and the two voices spoke together in their alien language for a few moments.

There was an instant of grim worry then – I had no idea what Feng and the Theissss were saying. How was I to know if he was selling me out somehow?

I quickly dismissed the thought, seeing as it didn't really make any sense. He had as much – no, more in fact – to lose than I did.

I heard movement again, this time heading from near the hatch toward where Feng stood not far from the foot of the bed were I lay, playing possum. This was it.

I slowly slid the sheet from off my head and took a peak. Just as I had planned, Feng and the Theissss, one of the Marsubarans' captors, were on the other side of the room, their backs to me, and completely engrossed in examining a holographic image and its accompanying data on the wall screen.

Now all Feng had to do was keep it busy until I could sneak up on it and take it out. I hoped that he could handle the task ... the last thing I needed was for him to get nervous and glance back at me.

I sat up, gently gathering up the sheet so it would not rustle and give any of my movements away, and got my first look at my new enemy. It was a very slender, yet impressively muscular bipedal humanoid with a long, serpentine tail. It was a head taller than Feng, pretty close to my own height, with light grey-blue skin and no sign whatsoever of any fur or hair. It also apparently walked on its toes and balls of its feet, giving its legs a hooked shape, like the hind legs of a dog or horse.

'It can probably move pretty quickly and quietly.'

Unlike Feng, the Theissss wasn't clothed, at least not completely. From what I could see, it simply wore some sort of loincloth, with a belt brimming with numerous pouches around its waist and another hanging across its chest. There was also a pair of golden bands wrapped around its upper arms.

Though, physically impressive, it really didn't look much like a fearsome interstellar pirate and slaver. Truthfully, the main vibe that I was getting was one of a jungle tribesman.

No matter ... I knew better than to judge someone - or something - merely by what it looked like. Drawing the wrong conclusions can be dangerous, so for the time being, I was going to assume that it was a deadly and skilled opponent.

As I stealthily eased myself off the bed, making sure not to take my eyes off of the aliens in front of me, I was plagued by an errant thought.

One which I really should have had much sooner.

Most of my life I'd trained and had extensive experience in fighting other men – humans – but I had no experience whatsoever in fighting aliens. At least, no experience outside of the occasional video game. I didn't know anything about its physiology – bone structure, joints, soft spots, nerve bundles ... What was its range of motion, speed, strength and reflexes like? How much damage and pain could it take? Could it even feel pain and be knocked unconscious, or would I have to kill it outright? Did it have its own form of self-defense or martial arts? Did it have the added benefit of claws, fangs, spikes, venom or maybe even acid blood?

A lot of questions with no answers in sight. Not the first time that a soldier has gone into combat with little to no (or outright faulty) intel. It's a good thing that I was trained to improvise, adapt and overcome.

Afterwards, if I survived, I'd make sure to ask Feng to enlighten me.

I'd taken just two short and silent steps towards them, when my plan went all to hell. Of course, I should have expected Murphy to intervene.

While Feng droned on, talking about I have no clue what, I saw the alien freeze and tense its body slightly. Then, one if its large ears swiveled in my direction, looking like a small radar dish.

'So much for the stealth approach. Hell ... I've never been that good at it anyways.'

There were no pauses or hesitations; I simply rushed forward as quickly as possible, trying to close the distance before it could properly react.

It was fast. Damn fast. Under normal circumstances, I doubt that I could have matched its speed and reflexes, but I'd fortunately caught it by surprise and I was ready for it to react.

First, I spotted its tail start to whip around, so I stomped down hard on it to keep it from sweeping my legs out from under me. It must have hurt some, seeing as it flinched, let out a sharp hiss and almost went down to one knee. It wasn't enough to make it give up though. Even through the pain it was pivoting, moving to swipe at me with its left arm. I heard a snap-click sound, and I saw that it had some sort of collapsible baton in its hand, with several wicked looking barbs on the end. The blow never came close to connecting, seeing as I caught its wrist mid-swing. I'd expected the move, but I admit that the weapon came as a surprise. It surprised me even further once it started humming and small electrical arcs started jumping over the barbs.

In that moment my half remembered memories of a heavy beating, the sounds of screams, cries and whimpers of pain, and the distinctive smell of burnt hair and flesh made sense.

This was the bastard that had severely beaten Feng's mate, Merin.

Some people say that in combat its best to stay focused and unemotional.

Well, I say bullshit. I'd always had a bit of temper, and over the years I've realized that carefully measured and directed emotions can give a man a much needed edge, fueling his strength and determination.

Being abducted against my will in order to be tested and experimented on; discovering that even in space, amongst supposedly advanced species, there still existed such great violence, cruelty and disrespect for life; realizing that all of humanity was in danger of being invaded by extraterrestrial pirates. It had all really pissed me off royally.

I finally let my pent-up rage go as I pulled my right arm back and punched the Theissss with all my strength on the side of its head, about where I judged its temple to be. It struggled, but I was stronger, so between my death grip on its wrist, my booted foot firmly placed on its tail, and my disorienting first blow, I was more or less free to keep on swinging to my heart's content.

My next two quick blows were aimed at the base of its skull, sending it down on its knees about ready to topple over. It was down and probably out, but I didn't stop yet – better to be safe, than sorry, right. I moved on to kicking its body, specifically its ribs and kidneys (if it had any), ending things with a solid heel kick to its head, only backing off when it stopped moving and struggling. It was out cold, but still alive – I could tell because it was still breathing raggedly and actively bleeding.

Panting slightly, I looked down at the second alien I had ever met, and the very first I had ever beaten into unconsciousness.

Certainly not the last though.

"Mean and ugly looking bastard, aren't ya?"

On top of a thick neck, sat a bulbous, wedge-shaped head, reminiscent of snake's. There were six small eyes, three on each side of its head, with the first two facing forward while the other four were on the sides, undoubtedly giving it an enhanced peripheral vision. They were closed now, but I had caught a glimpse of them during our short struggle and they looked almost exactly like an alligator's slitted, golden-yellow eyes. There was no sign of a nose, but it did have two large catlike ears in the expected place, with a small pair of golden studs piercing them.

'With senses like that, no wonder I couldn't sneak up on it.'

There were angry red lines over some of its body – part of its face, upper chest and arms. They looked like intricate tribal tattoos, filled with wavy and spiral patterns. Its large mouth was opened slightly, with a trickle of purplish blood dripping from its corner, revealing two rows of small but sharp teeth, reminding me of the serrated blade of a handsaw. Thank God I didn't give it a chance to bite down on me – I could have lost a nice chunk of flesh.

There were no claws or nails on its hands or feet. At least not in the traditional sense. Instead, its long fingers (three to a hand, plus a thumb) and toes were capped by some sort of hard material.

'Good for digging or maybe jabbing.'

Overall, it looked somewhat reptilian, only with smooth skin, not scales. It was noticeably warm to the touch – maybe not as warm as me, but definitely not cold-blooded. With the slight webbing between each of its four fingers and toes, as well as the small ridge running down its back and tail, I deduced that it might be – or at least was in its recent past - amphibious.

And then I finally noticed something tucked into its belt ... my combat knife in its nylon sheath.

"That's mine asshole." I muttered as it took back my property, affixing it to my own belt where it belonged. No doubt that it would come in handy in dealing with the remaining two Theissss.

While I was at it, I also cut away its belts, just in case he was carrying any other weapons or nasty tricks.

Feng rushed over then, distracting me from my examination of the unconscious Theissss. He pressed some cylindrical device, around the size and shape of a roll of quarters, to its shoulder and I heard a whispered fsst.

"That should keep him unconscious for several hours." He said looking up at me, wide-eyed and panting. The fear, excitement and relief pouring off of him were palpable.

'Some sort of jet injector, ' I realized, nodding to him.

"If it takes that long to take care of the others, I probably won't be able to do it at all. Oh, and Feng ... good job keeping it distracted and focused on the wall." I said smiling, giving his shoulder a friendly pat as he stood up.

"I'd never been so scared before. I was sure that I would do something wrong and get us both killed."

"Being scared is normal. You just did your job despite of the fear. You did fine, especially for your first time." I assured him with a pat on his shoulder.