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Leph & co come face to face with a Sytis. Leo and Fieru arrive at the capital while Cain's group is found by a strange being.

#eggboyforPM

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Grey Fox watched as the heat signature grew. “Cain, carry Nai. We should leave.”
Polos looked around. “What are you-”
The station began to shake violently. The scrape and crunch of metal, as well as a deep roaring sound, could be heard resonating through the halls. “Just go!”
Cain wrestled with Nai’s limp body while Polos started to put his helmet back on. “Go where? Most of the lower decks are decompressed, and so is our ship! Plus, we can’t go to hyperspace inside this dust cloud!”
Grey Fox didn’t have time to ask about the cloud before there was a sudden increase in temperature in the room. An unsettling sound could be heard from a hallway next to where Nai had been slumped, one that had not been depressurized. Grey Fox backed away. “Cain… drop him and get your gun.”
He obeyed. Polos found himself without a weapon as the shuffling and scraping sound became louder. There was a loud clang, then silence. Then with the sound of metal being ripped off a wall, a large thing flew into the room. Cain shot it. The thing was made of metal, so the shot bounced off and hit the wall instead. It was painted all over with strange tribal symbols and glinted in the light. It was a diamond shaped metal thing that floated in the air. It was wider than the hallway was, so it had to scrape through the hall. However, there were no scrape marks or scuffs on the thing’s body. It had no obvious sensors on the outside, but there were a few hatches on the sides. One of these hatches opened, a strange device protruding from it. Grey Fox shot his arm out. “Don’t shoot again you idiot!”
There was another scraping sound, and another. Soon three more of the floating things were in the room, pointing their weapons at the four. Grey Fox narrowed his eyes. “Who are you?”
“What are you, you mean.” Cain said.
The metal things didn’t move or speak. Polos stepped forward. “We demand to know why you’ve boarded our vessel!”
“You’re trespassing.”
An extremely thin man walked in. He was not Human or Atriean, but at least he walked on two legs. His face was long and thin, the skin taught and white as snow. Aside from that, there wasn’t much else to see on his face. He had no mouth, eyes, nose, or anything. His clothes were covered in different devices. One was presumably a speaker. “You’ve entered the domain of God. Tell me, how is it that you got here?”
Polos, Cain and Grey Fox exchanged glances. No one had an answer. The faceless man stepped forward, grabbing one of the devices on his clothes. “One of our Overseers in this section of space detected your vessel exit a strange anomaly. We’ve never seen anything like it. So, how did you get here?”
Grey Fox stepped forward. “It was an experiment gone wrong. We’re from… far away. We were testing a new method of travel and it brought us here. What about you? Who are you?”
“Me? I am no one. A mere Rhetorician.”
“A what?” Cain said.
“A mouthpiece. I speak for God.”
Polos gestured to the floating things. “What are those then? Robot soldiers?”
“Concierges. The soldiers of God.”
The Rhetorician took out a device and studied it. “God had passed judgement upon you for your transgressions.”
Grey Fox tensed up, preparing to act. Cain’s hand went to his gun. “God has determined the following mitigating factors: This is your first transgression, sensor data shows that your story about the new form of travel is likely, therefore this incident is an accident. God has determined the following aggravating factors: you attacked a concierge. You will be allowed to go free. If you require any assistance, the benevolence of God has allowed me to make available our resources. God would also be interested in learning how your new device operates. You are not within God’s sphere of influence, which is rare.”
Grey Fox began to speak, but Polos cut him off. “Uh, we thank you very much for your generosity, but we cannot share our technology with you.”
The Rhetorician remained silent for a moment. The concierges seemed restless somehow. Polos looked around nervously. The Rhetorician sounded slightly baffled. “I understand that you are new to our part of space. Truth be told you are the only other people, aside from the degenerate Sytis, that inhabit our space. It is… rude, to decline a request from God. Rudeness is a serious offence.”
Polos was about to respond, but Grey Fox pushed him aside. “We’ll show you. We’ll need the use of some sort of facility, as you can see our… ship, is destroyed.”
“Indeed. Follow me.”
The concierges slowly floated out of the room, and soon it was just the Rhetorician and the four. He gestured with his spindly hand at Nai. “This one Is hurt. Do you have the means to help him?”
Cain grabbed his body again and hauled him over his shoulder. “He’ll be fine, he’ll be awake in a couple of hours. He was hit with a discharge from one of our power relays.”
The Rhetorician beckoned. “Come, then. You can use our ship. Show us your transportation device.”
He walked gracefully from the room towards where his ship had boarded the station. Grey Fox followed quickly while Polos and Cain took their time, apprehensive about what they might find on this “God”’s ship.

~~~
Leo and Fieru were too fascinated to be scared. As soon as they entered the ship, it was like being suspended in zero gravity, but they had a much easier time moving about. The alien reached out with its talons and the ship began to fly. Neither saw any sort of controls, even holographic ones. Leo moved closer to. “Tell me some things, Vaà.”
“I can tell you some things.”
“How is it you can… use verbal language with us?”
Vaà thought of this for a moment. “My machine. It… senses you. You speak in your head but you cannot speak to others. The machine allows me to understand your… voice.”
Fieru wasn’t the smart one of the two, so he just watched as Leo worked it out in his head. “I see… There’s a difference between what I speak verbally and what I think. Is this not the case for you?”
Vaà shook his head. “There is a difference. I simply can only speak with other Sytis.”
“Okay…”
Leo turned to Fieru. “He seems to have a hard time understanding what I’m trying to tell him, even if he knows what I’m saying.”
Fieru glanced at Vaà, who didn’t seem to be listening despite being right there. “Did you hear what he said, though? I think his translator read our minds to find out how we talk.”
Leo nodded. “Yeah. Sounds weird, but I think there’s some… telepathy going on here.”
Fieru shrugged. “If that were true, why isn’t he using telepathy on us?”
Leo snapped his finger. “Fieru, I think you’re on to something. Vaà!”
“Yes?”
“What does the word “Telepathy” mean to you?”
“Speech? That is how I communicate with my kind.”
“No, not speech, telepathy!”
“They are the same word.”
Leo turned to Fieru triumphantly. “There. Figured it out.”
Fieru nodded in admiration. “Great. They can talk to each other in their heads. What does that get us?”
“It’s good to know. Raises the question, though… why do they need to, uh, use language in the first place?”
Vaà flew over the trees, skimming off them slightly. Some of the trees were moving, writhing as Vaà flew overhead. If Vaà had been smiling, Leo would have guessed he was bothering the trees for fun. Vaà spoke. “Objects cannot be spoken. We use language to represent things we cannot speak. Our speech cannot travel far also.”
Leo nodded. “I see… thank you, Vaà.”
“You are not like Evil. I have decided this.”
“Thanks… I think.”
Fieru floated forward and tried to get a better look at Vaà’s face. “Who are these evil people anyway?”
Vaà did not speak for a moment. His face did not change, but when he spoke again he sounded surprised. “You do not know? This is not possible. Evil is everywhere but in this system.”
Both of them got chills from that answer. There was no time to talk further, however, when the ship began to descend towards a large structure. “We have arrived. You will be brought before the ambassador.She is a Sytis who can use language better than I.”

The congregation was flabbergasted. Leph stuttered slightly. “A-animals?”
Czyak turned his head to Leph. “Yes. You use spoken language. But her…”
He turned to Teliko. “Sytis.”
She felt a bond with Czyak. He knew her, and she` knew him. “We’re Atrieans, actually. Not animals or Sytis.”
Czyak was adamant about his position, that much Teliko could feel. Czyak stepped forward. The closer he got the clearer he was in her mind. In a moment, however, Teliko felt a shift in Czyak. He looked over the others. “She is right. I do not know how. You are not Sytis. You are not animals.”
He looked back at Teliko. “And you can speak to me.”
Cyan was still cowering. “Teliko, what is he talking about? I’m confused…”
Leena was strangely calm. Despite Czyak’s appearance, she got the feeling he was a gentle giant. Teliko looked at Leph, and he saw the flash of something behind her eyes. “He’s an empath, Leph.”
“Leph…?”
Teliko shook her head. “Dad… I mean dad. He communicates through emotion. I can feel everything he feels and vice versa.”
Leena perked up. “An empath! Mr. Czyak, is this true?”
Czyak nodded. “Yes… but I have been saying this already.”
Teliko giggled. “I don’t think that translator is working one hundred percent. But I assure you Czyak is harmless… wait…”
Teliko whirled around. “Czyak?”
He was tilting his head up. “I must speak with the other Sytis. Something is happening.”
He took out a device. “Czyak.” The device said.
“It is I.”
“We have discovered some strange users of spoken language on the planet. They are unlike like the Evil. They are peaceful.”
There was a moment of silence, then the voice came back. “Yes. You are correct.”
Teliko perked up. “They found Atrieans! It could be one of the other ships! Czyak, can you take us to your planet?”
Czyak nodded. “The ambassador would communicate with you.”
Leph interjected. “Wait a minute, how do we know we can trust you?”
“Dad, they’re peaceful people. There isn’t a single malicious thought in them.”
Leena nodded. “I believe her, Leph. We should go to their planet, we might be able to find out how we got here.”
He glanced at Leena. “Fine. We’ll follow you in our shuttles, Czyak.”
“I will wait.”
He began to draw in air once again, then stepped into the airlock. Teliko hit the button and waved to Czyak. He looked puzzled, then waved too. The airlock shut and Teliko walked back down the corridor with confidence. Leph and Leena followed, Cyan walking out in front of Teliko. “That was so cool! You can really feel his emotions?! What’s it like?!”
Teliko still looked distracted. She smiled. “He’s so… curious about us.”
“Hey, I asked you a question!”
She shook her head. “Um… It’s confusing. I feel what he feels on top of what I feel… or are they the same? I-I don’t know…”
Leena was as curious as Cyan. “Is it uncomfortable? Are you in any pain?”
She shook her head. “No…”
Leph didn’t really know what to say. He gulped and looked down at his daughter. She had changed radically in the past day. A lump formed in his throat, but he tried contributing to the conversation anyway. “Um… what about us? Can you feel any of us?”
She glanced around. “No. Not at all.”
Cyan’s eyes were wide with wonderment. “You’re a superhero now!”
She laughed. “No, I’m not!”
They got back to the conference room. Serleah and Zach stood to attention, while everyone else looked up from where they were sitting. “We’re leaving the ship. That alien we just saw in the window is friendly and seems to… have formed a telepathic-”
“Empathic!” Teliko interrupted.
“...Empathic connection with Teliko. They’re going to lead us to their planet where we think they found another ship from the fleet. Then again, it could be the pirates. Whatever got us here might have done the same to them.”
Zach chuckled. “We’ll be ready this time.”
Leph nodded. “Serleah, Dez… uh Teliko, Cyan. You’ll go with Leena on one shuttle. I’ll take the rest of you. Bring only the things you need.”
He turned around as Serleah started to protest. “Hey-”
She growled and ran after him. Leena shook her head at the two and gestured. “Come on.”
The room filled with chatter as everyone started gathering their things. Lenny slipped the hormone injection pouch into his pocket and took Rico’s arm. “Can you stand?”
“Yeah. ‘Course I can.” Rico grumbled.
Even so, he allowed Lenny to support him as they followed everyone out the door.
Serleah caught up to Leph and grabbed his shoulder. He shook it off. “Hey! What is it?”
Serleah opened her mouth but hesitated. “Um… why aren’t I on your shuttle? You’re taking the prisoners, and I am your only security officer right now.”
“I want you to watch my daughter. I can handle some prisoners.”
He hiked the strap of the gun he was carrying higher up his shoulder. He turned and continued on. “It’s because of what happened, isn’t it?”
He stopped and looked around, voice cold. “No, it’s not. I thought we were going to ignore that.”
“I thought so too.”
Leph raised a finger. “I don’t want to talk about this right now, Serleah. Go with Leena. Now.”
Serleah shook her head at Leph and turned. “Fine.”
She walked back down the hall, only to see Dez waiting for her. She smiled. “Hey you.”
Dez raised his chin at Leph, who was just turning a corner. “What was that about?”
“Nothing. Let’s go.”
Dez frowned. “I’m sure he’ll forgive you.”
She looked at the floor as they walked. “I don’t know anymore. Maybe we should just focus on getting home for now.”
Dez squeezed her shoulder. “Okay.”
The others were already gathered in the shuttle. After some new laws regarding weaponry in space, Leph had to get rid of his fighters. They were replaced with larger, faster shuttles. They were unarmed. Serleah climbed in the back, Dez sitting next to her. Teliko and Cyan sat behind the cockpit, where Leena was preparing for launch. Serleah smiled as Leena’s paws skillfully flipped over the many switches on the shuttle’s control panel. “Haven’t lost your touch, I see.”
Leena glanced back. “What? Oh, thanks.”
Teliko grinned. “Don’t sound so modest, mom.”
The airlock shut, and the shuttle silently disconnected from the ship. Leena frowned. “Wow… the particle density in this area of space is off the charts! 40 degrees below… very little pull… hmm.”
Teliko leaned over the pilot’s seat. “You’re mumbling.”
Leena jumped slightly. “Oh, just thinking. We seem to be inside a nebula. Which is impossible… at least, we couldn’t have gotten here with an FTL drive. We would have been torn apart by the gas. Never heard of a nebula this close to a planet before, though…”
Cyan nodded. Teliko looked at him sideways. “No funny remark from you?”
He shrugged. “I guess not.”
Teliko narrowed her eyes at him. She wished she was empathic with everyone. Ahead of them, Leph’s shuttle separated from the Frontier. He sat still for a moment, accessing the Frontier’s computers. “I’ll just make sure our autopilot keeps the ship here. Don’t want it floating off while we’re gone.”
Leph’s comment felt awkward in the shuttle full of strangers. Zach laughed halfheartedly. “Yeah, hehe…”
Yalogalil was gazing out the window. “Haze.”
Rico and Lenny looked back. “Haze?” Rico said.
Yalogalil pointed. “Look. There is a haze about this space.”
Leph looked at the scans coming into the computer. “Yeah, you’re right.”
He hit a button on his console. “Leena, you’re a woman of science, what’s with all this gas on sensors?”
“I… really don’t know. In a system like this, the gas should be forming rings or something, but it’s… everywhere. We can’t activate any FTL drives here, but ion engines will work fine.”
As she finished speaking, the sphere ships rounded the Frontier and seemed to wait for them. “Well… we can’t worry about that now. Let’s visit these, uh… Sytis.”
The two shuttles slowly rose clear of the Frontier, and were faced with a stunning panorama. Teliko pressed her face against the glass to get a better look at the red-cracked dead planet the Frontier had been orbiting. “Wow!”
She began to laugh uncontrollably. Cyan looked at her with concern. “Um… are you okay?”
Leena glanced back and smiled. “I’m glad you’re amused… it is quite pretty.”
Serleah and Dez watched the planet too Serleah chuckled. “We’ve seen better.”
The planet was in the process of tearing itself apart. The continents floated around desperately on the sea of lava that was coming up from the depths of the planet. From a distance, the spiderwebs of lava poking through the ground looked like horrible jagged gashes that bled slowly. Teliko suddenly stopped laughing and gulped. “Oh. Oh…”
Leena looked back in worry. She could see the Frontier disappear in the back window as they flew away, but she was more concerned with the tears that had begun rolling down Teliko’s face. “Honey? What’s the matter?”
“I-I… I don’t know I just… Something horrible happened here. I think.”
She sniffed and wiped her face. “This place fills Czyak and the others with… regret and sadness.”
Cyan patted her shoulder. She tensed up. “I don’t like this.”
“Oops, sorry. I was just trying to cheer you up.” Cyan folded his paws.
“No, not you. I mean… It was fun when I could feel positive emotions.”
Leena thought for a moment. “If they’re not your emotions, try and ignore them. Whenever you see someone you know who’s sad, you feel bad too, right? But you can’t let their sadness effect you too much.”
Teliko nodded. “I guess. I’ll try but… this is different from seeing someone with a skinned knee.”
Serleah leaned forward. “Hey kid. You’re bred from strong stock. You’ll be fine.”
She smiled. “Yeah. Thanks. I think… I think I’m cheering them up.”
Dez nudged Serleah. “And you say you’d be a bad mother.”
“Shut up, Dez.”
He grinned.
On Leph’s shuttle, no one was talking much. Leph was watching the sphere ships intently. A couple of them were quickly heading for a small planet in the distance, but a couple were deliberately hanging back. “They’re much faster than us.”
Zach nodded. “Yeah, and this is a fast ship. I’d say they can move faster at sublight than any ship I’ve seen.”
The ships flew through space for the better part of an hour. After a while, the planet could be seen in detail. It was not a small planet, like Leph had thought. He didn’t bother scanning it, he just looked on. Clouds rolled quickly across the surface. There were virtually no bodies of water on the side he could see, and not a single piece of land was without greenery. He jumped as the com blared to life. “We have arrived. Welcome to our word.”